Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, GuardianSing said:

So apparently, this specific Polish regiment when defeated decided to go all the way to uncolonized land in the Steppe to regroup

That's actually hilarious, imagine being in that regiment and being told that you have to go the several mile march across Russia just to set up camp in Siberia

 

Tsk, sending them to the gulag, eh.

[Acacia Sgt]

OMG, it happened. The Russians blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam.

[Acacia Sgt]

This is insane...

 

[ping]

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

I dunno, Zlatan easily could've dominated the international scene for another 10 years, minimum. He only retired to give youngsters like that Messi kid a chance.

 

[Saint Rubenio]

12 hours ago, Wartortle94 said:

Thanks 🦊 and okay I'll use him when I get it. I just looked him up and he looks pretty cool

Magical berserker best character.

10 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

I cannot for the life of me rationalize someone who apparently cleared Engage maddening then proceeding to get a game over in the prologue of Sacred Stones... Twice... IN A ROW.

I can totally see that, actually. The prologue of Sacred Stones is really rigid in how you can play it. You get two choices: Kill everything with Seth and waste both generic fighters' worth of experience, or fight them with Eirika and risk getting her killed if she gets hit, crits the first fighter, then gets hit again. Tanking, distracting, softening up or any other sort of strategy is impossible because Seth is so obnoxiously overpowered and the mountain pass is so narrow. On top of all that, the game literally just started, so there's zero reason not to risk Eirika's neck and reset a couple times.

10 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Like buying a freaking slim sword, which there is no reason to buy, like, ever.

...Yeah that one I don't get, though. Last time I bought a slim sword I think was literally an accident lol

7 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

So apparently, this specific Polish regiment when defeated decided to go all the way to uncolonized land in the Steppe to regroup

That's actually hilarious, imagine being in that regiment and being told that you have to go the several mile march across Russia just to set up camp in Siberia

 

Do not underestimate these strategic minds at work. You might yet find that this lost brigade may be the key to turning the war around.

7 hours ago, Armchair General said:

Kinda debating on getting Diofield, cuz I'm bored and an RTS for the Switch kind of feels too good to be actually true.

 

But the fact that it came and went without anyone talking about it is kind of an red flag, in an way

Diofeld piqued my curiosity slightly, but there's something about the way the gameplay looks that doesn't fill me with confidence. That and nobody has anything good to say about the story.

7 hours ago, Sinon said:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

🪔

7 hours ago, Armagon said:

I have completed the big three side adventures in Tears of the Kingdom, the ones that span the entire game. I'm officially going into "let's wrap this up" mode now because i'm starting to get just a little bit burned out.

Ultra large content open world games be like

If you want my advice, rush the end of the game and do whatever else after. You get distracted now and you'll end up like me with every non-New Vegas open world game I've ever played. My guy is still trying to sleep off a hangover at his manor in Skingrad...

4 hours ago, gnip said:

I dunno, Zlatan easily could've dominated the international scene for another 10 years, minimum. He only retired to give youngsters like that Messi kid a chance.

 

Oh hey, there's a name I know. Messi is all the rage in my country. Him and this guy called Cristiano, though we hear less of him these days. Possibly because he moved to some other country's team? I don't remember the details.

[Saint Rubenio]

I did it again, guys.

I put funny faces on a lord again.

@GuardianSing feel free to add these to your collection

[Armagon]

Kinda surprised it took them that long to change the name (it was previously called New World Order).

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Penultimate boss done.

Spoiler

@Armagon I didn't know what to make of one thing you said last night, but I see you spoiled that Shion ultimately crumbled. I was mistaken in thinking KOS-MOS's resolution gave Shion her resolve.

Certainly I don't think I can adore Shion after that decision. But I don't hate her either. And it still feels quite weird to have love become so important at the last minute. Allen actually got heroic this time, but I feel like he could've thrown in a "True love is when you don't care how the other feels about you", since that certainly describes how he has been all this time. 

I don't think the game had stated before that the Testaments are nonphysical/spiritual beings? And how did Wilhelm stumble on Kid Kevin? I know Willy looks young, but I would drag my child away from a person with those eyes ASAP. Working for him the whole time, I was right in my last-night guess on that then.

And then, his meltdown. That look on his face. You had her, you were about to win everything. But you just had to drag out your slaughter and let the wimp speak, then she got involved. You blew it. The worst part is that she still loves you, yet she still betrayed her resolute betrayal. YOU WILL DIE THE ETERNAL DEATH A VIRGIN! SUCK IT KEVIN! SUCK YOUR FLAMING D---!🤪😂

...He put up a decent fight.😆

Now, to make the looooooong trek back to the Elsa to try the Sigma again, or not? This dungeon needed a teleporter back to the ship. Grinding 99 Sephirotic Canes for Ziggy's swimsuit and ultimate weapon is another quandary. I do need to load up on consumables at the least. I'll finish this game probably sometime in the afternoon or tonight.

[Armagon]

8 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Penultimate boss done.

  Hide contents

@Armagon I didn't know what to make of one thing you said last night, but I see you spoiled that Shion ultimately crumbled. I was mistaken in thinking KOS-MOS's resolution gave Shion her resolve.

Certainly I don't think I can adore Shion after that decision. But I don't hate her either. And it still feels quite weird to have love become so important at the last minute. Allen actually got heroic this time, but I feel like he could've thrown in a "True love is when you don't care how the other feels about you", since that certainly describes how he has been all this time. 

I don't think the game had stated before that the Testaments are nonphysical/spiritual beings? And how did Wilhelm stumble on Kid Kevin? I know Willy looks young, but I would drag my child away from a person with those eyes ASAP. Working for him the whole time, I was right in my last-night guess on that then.

And then, his meltdown. That look on his face. You had her, you were about to win everything. But you just had to drag out your slaughter and let the wimp speak, then she got involved. You blew it. The worst part is that she still loves you, yet she still betrayed her resolute betrayal. YOU WILL DIE THE ETERNAL DEATH A VIRGIN! SUCK IT KEVIN! SUCK YOUR FLAMING D---!🤪😂

...He put up a decent fight.😆

Now, to make the looooooong trek back to the Elsa to try the Sigma again, or not? This dungeon needed a teleporter back to the ship. Grinding 99 Sephirotic Canes for Ziggy's swimsuit and ultimate weapon is another quandary. I do need to load up on consumables at the least. I'll finish this game probably sometime in the afternoon or tonight.

Spoiler

Oh that's.....my bad. I got my events mixed up and thought you were at that point already.

 

[Armchair General]

12 hours ago, Armagon said:

There's a lot of games that come and go.

Could be worse. Could be Forspoken (another Squeenix title for reference here).

Yeah, but all I have is the Switch and that game is exclusive to the PS5

 

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

but there's something about the way the gameplay looks that doesn't fill me with confidence. That and nobody has anything good to say about the story.

Well, I genuinely don't expect much from the story, tbh. As far as the gameplay goes, I can see it getting repetitive after an hour or two; but I really don't have an lot of options left, lmao

[Saint Rubenio]

In FE6, if a character has a rank in staves, in combat they start automatically using only ranged animations, regardless of weapon type. Guess who forgot to remove Elen's staff rank when turning her into a lance user.

Holy shit, I heard FE6 was a weird game to hack, but they weren't kidding. Every two chapters this game throws a curveball. I'm not doing that complicated a hack, I shouldn't have this kind of trouble lol

51 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

Well, I genuinely don't expect much from the story, tbh. As far as the gameplay goes, I can see it getting repetitive after an hour or two; but I really don't have an lot of options left, lmao

Well, if you do try it out, let us know how it goes!

[Sidereal Wraith]

54 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

Well, I genuinely don't expect much from the story, tbh. As far as the gameplay goes, I can see it getting repetitive after an hour or two; but I really don't have an lot of options left, lmao.

Emperor preserve us.

[Benice]

12 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

This is insane...

 

Christ on a bike, that's awful... Did that happen on purpose?

[Sidereal Wraith]

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I did it again, guys.

I put funny faces on a lord again.

 

[ping]

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh hey, there's a name I know. Messi is all the rage in my country. Him and this guy called Cristiano, though we hear less of him these days. Possibly because he moved to some other country's team? I don't remember the details.

Ronaldo is playing in Saudi Arabia these days because apparently he still doesn't have enough money, so that's probably what you read somewhere. And the Portuguese player is a big deal in Spain? For shame, don't you have some funny neighbor rivalry like the Scandinavians?

Zlatan is, of course, another guy that is quite good at footsoccerballing and who just now retired at the age of 41. What makes him more entertaining than other sportsball people, in my opinion, is that he's acting with some... cheeky megalomania might be a decent description, as opposed to the professional empty phrases that you usually get from other players.

Plus, he can actually back up his words.

[Acacia Sgt]

18 minutes ago, Benice said:

Christ on a bike, that's awful... Did that happen on purpose?

Nothing's been confirmed so far, but considering things and some evidences coming to light... things do point to yes.

[GuardianSing]

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I did it again, guys.

I put funny faces on a lord again.

@GuardianSing feel free to add these to your collection

That's actually terrifying.

But it is done

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra, is finished.

Spoiler

Part 1- Before The Final Battle.

First, let's get Kevin out of the way. His betrayal of Wilhelm doesn't salvage him for me, it helps ever so little, yet he was still a prick overall. Wanting to escape death is very understandable from someone who has at times been cripplingly fearful of death, but I have no sympathy for Kevin. His and Shion's love story- a bad romance, you ain't no recurrence of Fei and Elly, that's for sure. The only good period of the love story was the time spent on building KOS-MOS, the part Shion coincidentally cherished, the start on Old Miltia and ending in the present were both bad.

Second- Wilhelm. He isn't a great villain. His reasons for his actions- saving the universe, not bad. But he spent all the time behind the scenes, a lack of interaction with the heroes sinks him. Why is the universe dying? I think Mizrahi had earlier said it was because of its continued expansion. Yet, like the ending of the first Xenoblade Chronicles, the end of the universe is spoken of, yet left wholly under-explained. -Peculiar -without me being critical of it- that Wilhelm is never fought, yet the villain of villains who manipulated everything.

Third- Who was Wilhelm? -What? I'm serious about this. He existed during the life of Christ, and Mary Magdalene just so happened to pick him to oversee Zarathustra? 

Fourth- Who was chaos? -Same issue as the above. chaos FINALLY gets his time in the spotlight, he FINALLY reveals himself. He existed during the life of Christ, he had the powers of Anima, he met Mary Magdalene, his powers were sealed away. I didn't understand what they meant when they called him a "failsafe". And I never got an answer as to why his name isn't capitalized, or even why he changed names to chaos.

Fifth- Abel is a terminal of U-DO in this world, I get that. I felt they could've explained more however that U-DO isn't actually evil. Jr. was created to fight U-DO, I feel like the heroes would've had a 🤯 moment if it had been more emphasized what the true nature of U-DO is.

Sixth- Jumping to past the ending for a moment, I still don't understand who Nephilim is. She isn't Mary, but Mary went into her and grew up into spirit-nude Elly?🙄 I don't quite get what that was about.

As points 3-6 indicate, I think we could've used another circa 30 AD cutscene or two. The origins and the people behind everything had unfolded in Xenosaga, simply aren't fully explained. Only Mary gets a truly satisfactory answer even in these rushed circumstances.

Intermission- The Final Battle

A patchwork final boss aesthetically. Pretty easy, rather short with a single phase. Jin routinely used Heaven's Tracker and then Gale Slash and did the majority of the damage. KOS-MOS did only a little damage, Hilbert Effect and various supportive capacities were her primary function. Shion buffed including auto-revive and healed. Music was forgettable.

Part 2- The Ending

Looooooooooong.🥱

Jiiiiiiiiiiiiin! His sacrifice felt very unnecessary. Shion made up with him, that was nice. But to be twice impaled.😲 His words on his deathbed show the very desire for eternal recurrence Wilhelm spoke of and the Gnosis desired, even if he passed on accepting death as the heroes had insisted they would. His death like was the one thing that brought be to the verge of tears in this ending. Screw the shirtless prettyboy! There is but one XenoJin, and it ain't iceman!😭

-Between Jin's choice to sacrifice and the event itself, a moment of humor with Allen pinning down one Gnosis. A nice touch. Him and Shion almost touching hands later bodes well for him, and for her, can't lament one man forever.

Oh yes, KOS-MOS. She showed real emotion before Shion parted from her. Nice. When she went into combat mode after Mary left her body, she shouted, a battle cry -the mark of irrational emotion- twas its own little sign this cold android had grown a heart. Her own sacrifice was touching, if not as much as Jin's, and undermined by her fragmentary survival floating in space. Jin didn't get that.😢

Owing to my above problems with chaos, I couldn't feel anything for his sacrifice. Because I only barely knew who he really was, what he has been feeling for millennia.

A moment of action -minus the sorrow that came with the tight choreography of Jin and KOS-MOS- with the Elsa's Overboost. Did we need that? Well, it added more variety of a lighthearted kind to this ending.

Shion speaking of the weakness of humans- she would know. She sure isn't a hero who shows godliness in her abilities and behaviors. I know KOS-MOS was designed by Monolith to be the opposite of a human- strong body, weak mind/soul. Yet, KOS-MOS feels like she is actually strong of both, and Shion is pure weakness, even if she learns not to give into it. Nice to see Shion nice to Miyuki.

Well, Ziggy seems like he'll be getting MOMO to call him "Daddy" soon enough. Reading the Pied Piper, I could see the parallels between Juli & MOMO and his deceased wife & stepson. Considering Jr. will eventually propose to MOMO no doubt, that's one interesting family-to-be. -Yes this really isn't in the ending, but I'm going to think happily upon this future for them.😄

Helmer's image showed up on a monitor screen during the ending. The black guy lived? I assumed the Gnosification would've wiped out at least 80% of humanity. They didn't say why the UMN collapsed, but I can readily accept and assume Zarathustra was the foundation of the system. Humanity has lost the means to conveniently travel through space as it has, and is presumably devastated, the Galaxy Federation surely can't have communicative technological means to endure on so large a scale without the UMN. Yet Scientia is prepared to work on new technology to replace it, nice to see Doctis mentioned again.

Overall, a bittersweet ending. The heroes suffered casualties, humankind has lost a lot too. But that seems appropriate for a serious grand space opera, and actually the second time I've seen such a thing. Albeit I think Xenosaga did it better.

---

...And the final post-credits planetary shot that as it gradually panned out revealed the dormant KOS-MOS. It reminded me of XCX's opening, just as Episode I's opening did in a different way.

Honestly, after see Shion's fate, I'm a little worried about Elma. The Lone Hero shall show up again, most certainly a villain by all estimations. Please be strong Elma, don't give into temptation, it's okay if you struggle, just don't cross the line. I'll love ya regardless, but it'll hurt if you make a decision like Shion's.

I'm glad it's over. I am done with Xenosaga, I know it from beginning to end, 2/3rds experienced firsthand. 

Is Xenosaga great? ...No. The tragedy of Xenosaga's finished state is going to loom over it too much for me. It has good things within it, but for reasons beyond Monolith Soft's control, could not soar as it could've.

---

Xeno 3 is done, next up is Xeno 3! -NOPE! I'm good on Xeno for now, I need a break.😆 And a better TV, because the current one with its terribly faded colors has yet to be replaced, and I would like to enjoy the majesty of a 'blade on the big screen.

Besides continuing Rune Factory 5, well I haven't tired of giant robots yet, so I'll treat myself to starting the second SRWJ run tomorrow.

And besides that... maybe I'll give Triangle Strategy a dusting off. My Switch hasn't been used in a while. The seal on 13 Sentinels has now been lifted with Episode III's completion, I've some inclination to start that big-plot sci-fi game, and despite Vanillaware's hand-drawn 2D majesty, it seems like it be suitable for undocked play. But, SRW craving aside, I think I want to step away from sci-fi for a few days.

Right this second, my eyes are tired and I've a bit of a headache.😒 Too much Xenosaga, and too much writing about Xenosaga. I know stepping away from the electronics is the best solution, but I think I'll treat myself to a little anti-inflammatory med for bringing an end to the Saga after MONTHs of heel-dragging.😄

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, GuardianSing said:

That's actually terrifying.

And you've not seen the minimug. I think it's my favorite part.

I love it. I don't know what it is about it, but at risk of sounding arrogant, that's got to be the best minimug I've seen since Moulder's. He looks so happy to be here!

1 hour ago, GuardianSing said:

But it is done

I love how you have a whole folder for those.

[Lightcosmo]

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And you've not seen the minimug. I think it's my favorite part.

I love it. I don't know what it is about it, but at risk of sounding arrogant, that's got to be the best minimug I've seen since Moulder's. He looks so happy to be here!

Oh my... Xd

[Lightchao42]

I can't wait to store Pikmin 2 in my DNA one day.

Cold Steel III mid-ch. 4

Spoiler

I will admit that I got a little emotional at the Class VII reunion, they grow up so fast. Though it wasn't a complete reunion, since the missing guy was right outside at the time.

I also appreciate how the crew figured out that something happened at the graveyard and investigated it immediately, instead of saying "huh that's weird, let's ignore it for ten more hours of gameplay".

Relations between Erebonia and Calvard have grown increasingly worse over the past eight games or so, and it seems the empire is going all-in on preparing to invade. It feels surreal that it might happen now after so much buildup, but it makes sense to go big for the end of the first half of the series. Not to mention that Osborne is working with the Black Workshop, and the society and Vita have their own plans that will inevitably come into conflict.

Black Records 1 covers the founding of the Heimdallr, but parts of it are incomplete, curses. We just need to find a quartz fragment in a chest somewhere to complete it...

Lastly Sandy's quest confirmed something I've suspected since Sky the 3rd, that "Lenheim" is the surname of Olivert's mother and that's why he used it as an alias in Liberl. How he came up with "Olivier" is still unclear, however. It also established that he was born and raised in Alster, which was implied if you talked to Sandy while he was in the party in Crossbell.

 

On 6/4/2023 at 8:50 PM, Armagon said:

Yes i have done it. You get elemental effects depending on the dragon.

I see, now you just have to find Naga somewhere to get a sword of light that's effective against Ganondorf.

On 6/4/2023 at 10:32 PM, Lightcosmo said:

Haha, alright, fair enough!

I'm working on that! But i need to decide what color to go with! 

I went with Shiny Normal Chao color for Hero Chaos.

I think Sky Blue would match the watery extremities... but if you're feeling bold, you can make it a Shiny Jewel Gray.

(Which is invisible, for the uninitiated.)

6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Third- Who was Wilhelm?

My Xenosaga knowledge is a bit rusty but I'll try to explain some things:

Spoiler

Wilhelm is a creation of the collective unconscious, created to prevent the destruction of the Lower Domain. People who refuse to join the collective unconscious when they die become Gnosis and stick around in the Imaginary Number Domain, which along with the Real Number Domain (the physical world) comprises the Lower Domain. When the IND overflows with Gnosis, it collapses and results in the destruction of the other domains (i.e. the Upper and Lower Domains, the former of which containing U-DO) and the entire universe.

The universe's failsafe for this is the power of Anima (personified as chaos), which is designed to destroy the Lower Domain if it became a threat to the Upper Domain. But the collective unconscious obviously doesn't like that (as it exists in the IND), so it created Wilhelm as the Lower Domain's guardian. The Eternal Recurrence is Wilhelm's way of saving the universe, by resetting time whenever the collective unconscious is at risk or if the power of Anima is on the verge of being activated.

Mary Magdalene, meanwhile, has the power of Animus, which keeps Anima in check. Being personifications of Animus and Anima, she and chaos aren't humans in the conventional sense. The Testaments also exist in the IND, which is why they need to lose their physical bodies in order to become one.

[Lightcosmo]

58 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

I think Sky Blue would match the watery extremities... but if you're feeling bold, you can make it a Shiny Jewel Gray.

Do you mean normal Sky Blue or Shiny?

[Acacia Sgt]

Dorothy was not in Heroes yet? Well, she's in now.

[Armagon]

Dorothy being ugly was definitely an artstyle thing cause she actually looks pretty cute in FEH.

18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra, is finished.

  Reveal hidden contents

Spoiler

18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Jiiiiiiiiiiiiin! His sacrifice felt very unnecessary. Shion made up with him, that was nice. But to be twice impaled.😲 

I think they had always planned for Jin to die but because......you know, they had to rush how it happened.

18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Honestly, after see Shion's fate, I'm a little worried about Elma. The Lone Hero shall show up again, most certainly a villain by all estimations. Please be strong Elma, don't give into temptation, it's okay if you struggle, just don't cross the line. I'll love ya regardless, but it'll hurt if you make a decision like Shion's.

I don't think Elma is anywhere near as emotionally unstable as Shion was.

Congrats on finally finishing Xenosaga. Now play Xenosaga Freaks /s

Edited June 7, 2023 by Armagon

[Acacia Sgt]

Or subjective. Even with her Binding Blade art she never gave me the impression she was ugly.