Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I wished I had a family...

Tbf christmas doesn't exist for me since 2015, so I have to consider them just as usual vacation days unfortunately.

 

Oh, I forgot to tell that I managed to beat Robobot's True Arena yesterday. I don't know why this game is for people >=6, but I guess developers thought young kids aren't able to reach final stage of True Arena; one of the creepiest things I've seen in videogames.

 

Continuing Tokyo Mirage Sessions now; currently doing chapter 3. Actually this game would have been perfect for a LP, but too late to restart it all over again.

 

something relaxing

 

Edited December 26, 2020 by Jules Necrofantasia

[Armagon]

I know i said yesterday that Path of Radiance's gameplay is mid, but i gotta say, Ch.17 is one of the best maps in the entire series. It's like an FE4 map but split into chunks and each chunk has a different objective: rout, arrive, defend and defeat boss, in that order. I also liked that the defend portion of the map didn't have a conventional defend point, this time, Ike is the defend point.

Benice and Rubeino will now execute me for saying something really positive about PoR.

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Why I get the feeling NLA conducted city-wide polls over what to name the tyrants... and the entries were also left to the public to submit...

I like this headcanon.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, though I still have to finish my CK2 playthrough, I went ahead and got EU4.

*Plus Ultra intensifies*

But not yet... not yet...

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I made a list of completed games in 2020 since I think nothing more can be added this year:

1. Persona 5 Royal
2. Trails of Cold Steel IV
3. Trails of Azure
4. Trails to Zero
5. Tokyo Xanadu Ex+
6. Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
7. Atelier Ryza
8. Kirby Robobot
9. Sakura Wars
10. Nights of Azure 2
11. Trails of Cold Steel III
12. Super Mario 64
13. Kirby Superstar
14. Kirby Adventure

[Eltosian Kadath]

2 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

My Christmas... sucked. Most families are supposed to come together, mine just ripped apart, literally. Sorry I wasnt around but I wasnt exactly in the "cheery" mood, I apologise to everyone here for that. 

2 hours ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

I wished I had a family...

Tbf christmas doesn't exist for me since 2015, so I have to consider them just as usual vacation days unfortunately.

 

Hopefully things get better for both of you in the coming year.

...Virtual hugs...

 

Mine was a quiet Christmas, as my brother had to self isolate just before the holidays. His wife (well would be wife if the pandemic hadn't canceled the wedding...) was exposed due to a coworker having come down with the virus. Fortunately they have one negative test result so far, but they didn't want to risk spreading it before both test results came in (or in the event of a false negative...)

[Interdimensional Observer]

Phew! Minutes before midnight, I managed to finish the Triangulum story of Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker. I am satisfied.😁

I went into Triangulum with low expectations, given Atlus seems to have made iffy decisions from what I've heard secondhand about Strange Journey Redux (the Womb of Grief and the final boss and new endings related to it), Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (the Possible History ending), Catherine: Full Body (the addition of Qatherine), and maybe Persona 4 Golden (The Answer scenario) and Persona 5 Royal (Sumire and the post-final battle scenario). And I know firsthand that Devil Survivor Overclocked's 8th Days were of questionable writing quality. It seems like that after Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax edition back in 2004, Atlus has been unable to write good enhanced port story add-ons.

Triangulum... went above and beyond my pessimism. A good surprise 

There was the occasional nitpick or scene that I didn't quite care for, and the story did have some regurgitation of the same text ad nauseam for much of the first two days. But things felt dire almost from the start, Atlus somehow managed to raise the stakes and the struggle, to the point it's hard to envision that anything more could be done with the DS2 world, anything they could try couldn't possibly feel as intense. This finality isn't bad though, because, although my first read of the plot might not be as scrutinizing as subsequent ones, I didn't notice any major writing flaws upfront, although I didn't criticize them until after they had marinated for a while in my head, I do think I kinda noticed certain issues with the Overclocked 8th Days as I was playing them. Not to mention Yuzu's 8th Day had at least one glaring gameplay snafu that led me to question whether Atlus playtested it at all.

Moving away from the DSO comparison, the finality was fine for other reasons. Namely, by the time I saw the ending, I felt at peace with the virtual world I was soon to depart, I didn't have any scrutinizing itch to see more of something or to change another thing. The cast of 13 heroes and heroines, paired to the staple Atlus Silent MC, were as good as they were before. Everyone remained who they were from the Septentrione story, except for Ronaldo, who lost his problematic qualities and was thus improved. There were some subtle changes in the characters, but whatever your opinion was of a character before Triangulum, I don't think it would change afterwards. This said, I love the entire DS2 cast, even those who aren't so huggable or in another way would make someone else wish they'd die in a fire. I wouldn't remove anyone from it, not even those I admittedly don't enjoy as much. The new 15th character was fine overall, the Triangulum plot understandably placed a lot of emphasis on them; they aren't my favorite, they're too mixed a bag for that, but I could empathize at least.

Despite the cataclysmic circumstances, the game still found time up to the handful of hours before the final battle to make me smile with joy and outright laugh. The handful of OST additions were fairly good. The various battles, well I can't fully judge them because I cheated via NG+, I went as far as bringing Metatron, Lilith, and Masakado among other level 70+ demons into the picture. Nonetheless I could get some sense that none of the Triangulum battles were totally unfair, perhaps they would be tough on Apocalypse difficulty, primarily because of the damage being dished out on you, but not cruel beyond all belief.

For my choice of Triangulum ending, which you only get to choose when all thats left to do is fight the final boss, I went with ENDING SPOILERS FOR BOTH SEPTENTRIONE AND TRIANGULUM!:

Spoiler

Yamato's option. My favorite Septentrione ending was Saiduq's, and what Yamato proposed was the same ending, but potentially better because it could the reset to a primeval world that Saiduq's ending had (though that was beautiful, ardent fans of civilization aside).

Saiduq's option was nice in itself, and Saiduq is an absolute favorite of mine. But Yamato's choice was better and that outweighed my preference for Saiduq's character. And as mentioned, Saiduq backed the same plan in Sept when the Shining One proposed it. 

Ronaldo's idea seemed the worse of the three, the most perilous and the most seemingly futile, even if it could be perfectly good after the ten billionth regression. The silver lining is that Ronaldo actually thought it through this time, his Sept ending was arguably mere contrarianism opposed to whatever Yamato stood for.

I was willing to bear with the loss of Saiduq upon creation of the new world, because Saiduq ceased to be with his Sept ending as well. That Yamato's Tri ending slipped Saiduq back in at the very last moment... 😍. I need good fanart of Surfer Saiduq now!

Was Triangulum better than Septentrione? No. It's hard to be when it's the Sept story that created everything which the Tri story continues with. Sept not only created the people, ideas and things and the world which contained them, its development of everyone and the plot's details were mostly done well, the execution was good. Tri is a solid "season two" that didn't have to salvage a middling or bad "season one", and thus it's hard to surpass it.

This said, I wasn't ever expecting Triangulum to exceed Septentrione. I didn't need to either. Discovering that Triangulum's writing didn't do Septentrione's plot any dishonors was enough to sate my expectations. To learn that the quality of Tri is roughly comparable, probably marginally less at worst, makes me quite happy about it.

 

This took me over an hour to write in the late hours of the night, but it doesn't bother me. Off to sleep!🥱

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

^ nice

If I love Devil Survivor 2 for one reason, then it's how Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem is suppossed to be. Great roundbased tactical JRPG with a story to its finest. Will definitely replay it sometime.

9 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Hopefully things get better for both of you in the coming year.

...Virtual hugs...

Thanks!

hugs back

 

I mean family won't come back, so I don't see any changes in near future.

Sorry for sounding selfish, but it still saddens me and makes me a bit jealous when people can spend time with their family on christmas. I never cared for material things since being an early teenager, just wanted to have a nice dinner with relatives, listening to relaxing music in the backround and maybe playing the one or other card and board game.

I had a little dinner at my aunt on fourth advent which was nice, so it was something at least.

[Sidereal Wraith]

Christmas was pretty good this year. Got some good gifts, had my girlfriend’s great food, did...other things, and watched some movies.

[Lightcosmo]

5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Hopefully things get better for both of you in the coming year.

...Virtual hugs...

Thanks, I could really use the support right now.

[null]

2 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Thanks, I could really use the support right now.

--------

Morning, everyone. *waves*

 

[Sooks]

I have acquired a heated blanket! I live!

@lightcosmo and @Jules Necrofantasia also revive virtual hugs, if they want them. I do hope that things improve either way.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

^ thanks

 hugging back virtually

 

I'm almost at the end of the eight hours marathon of Star Wars. I have to admit Episode I wasn't as bad as I remembered, definitely better than II. The main issue for me was Anakin: He's just an arrogant brat. And I do wonder, why he's still a Jedi at the beginning of Episode III after all the shit he has done in II, even if he saved Obi Wan's ass multiple times. Also his sudden change to the dark side in III makes no sense. That II is more romantic makes sense, considering the birth of Luke and Leia must be arised. The scenes are beautiful as amazing, the plot less tbh. At least I don't like Anakin's role in II and III at all. Still was a nice experience to watch these parts and to know how the story was built up for the classic parts.

Edit: Ending of III is epic, ngl. Also Ewan McGregor did a fantastic job in playing Obi Wan.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Jules Necrofantasia

[Sooks]

You mean you didn’t like hearing how sand is coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere?

[Shrimpica]

*gives virtual hugs*

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Huh, were you talking to me?

If so, I have no idea what you meant.

 

Anyways I'm aware of Luke's, Leia's and Darth Vader's origin now.

[null]

Ewan McGregor was the highlight of the Prequels for me, personally. An excellent actor.

[Sidereal Wraith]

1 hour ago, Sooks said:

I have acquired a heated blanket! 

Luxury! I had to sleep outside in the snow unless it was Christmas, then I got to sleep in the garage.

[Sooks]

32 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

Huh, were you talking to me?

If so, I have no idea what you meant.

 

Anyways I'm aware of Luke's, Leia's and Darth Vader's origin now.

It’s a line of Anakin’s in I think episode II that people like to quote a lot (for sucking, I think).

[Acacia Sgt]

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Ah, I see.

I'm not an English person after all, so I watched the movie in my native language.

 

Anyways Home Alone 2 is rounding off dull christmas time for me now.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Jules Necrofantasia

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

Also his sudden change to the dark side in III makes no sense.

Yeah, we know he's always been prone to anger and recklessness but with all the information we were given, Anakin just does a complete 180 turn based on unverified information.

I'm leaving The Clone Wars out of this. Yes it's a good show and yes it does make Anakin's fall to the dark side make more sense, but like, the movies need to be judged by what happens in them, not by stuff that happens outside of it. 

24 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Ewan McGregor was the highlight of the Prequels for me, personally. An excellent actor.

Him and Ian Mcdiarmid as Palpatine.

[Acacia Sgt]

Wait, your dub didn't mention sand? It does in mine.

[null]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Him and Ian Mcdiarmid as Palpatine.

Ah, true. He did great work as well.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

1 minute ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Wait, your dub didn't mention sand? It does in mine.

It was on German TV, so German was the language here.

Quote

Ian Mcdiarmid as Palpatine.

Yeah, he was good too.

 

I have heared about the Clone Wars series, but I have no idea about their content much less quality.

[Armagon]

This description gives conflicting information.

Also ignore the Light tome, i was under the assumption that Valkyries use Light magic.

12 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Ah, true. He did great work as well.

The best kind of villain is the one where you can tell the actor is having an absolute blast playing them.

Almost makes me forget that Palpatine's plan in the Prequels makes zero sense.

9 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

I have heared about the Clone Wars series, but I have no idea about their content much less quality.

Well there's two actually. Clone Wars 2003 (also referred to as Genndy Wars), and Clone Wars 2008, which ran for way longer and is considered canon.

I can't speak to Genndy Wars' quality (i've heard it's good tho) but Clone Wars 2008 is one of the best animated shows i've ever seen. Seasons 5 through 7 have some of the cleanest 3D animation i've ever seen for animated TV shows. 

Edited December 26, 2020 by Armagon