Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

The Batman

4 hours ago, Sooks said:

The problem for me is that imo, these are almost mutually exclusive, at least with JRPGs.

Bro you liked Octopath Traveler.

56 minutes ago, Benice said:

Here, allow me to ruin it for you.

When the fuck did this happen?

[Shrimpica]

[Shrimpica]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

When the fuck did this happen?

Probably Akatsuki

Also has

[Armagon]

1 minute ago, Shrimpolaris said:

Probably Akatsuki

Also has

Oh right i forgot the gacha game exists.

[Eltosian Kadath]

2 hours ago, Robert Stewart said:

ah dang did I die

I didn't keep up with the updates, it seems

big F for me

Naw you are fine, I just like to give a little review of all the pokemon before each gym, to talk about how they are doing, and whether or not I plan on using them against the Gym Leader.

[Armagon]

 

[null]

Took down the second major story boss of Elden Ring. On the second try no less, though having the spirit wolves and NPC summon definitely helped. :')

A good number of hours into the game now (quite a bit of that being random running from here to there kek), I have more clear impressions of what I think about it so far.

Positives:

>The combat is clearly well thought out. It's obvious FromSoft knows what they're doing, even if there's still aspects of it that fall short for me.

>Stealth feels genuinely useful. I'm always down for some brutal takedowns, and the backstab fulfills that bloodlust.

>I like the use of resources for weapon upgrades. Not much more complex than that. It's just satisfying. Creating unique builds is interesting, to say the least.

>The difficulty, for better and worse, is high enough that it's truly satisfying to overcome when you do finally kill that boss, or clear that room of enemies, etc.

>Elden Ring is aesthetically a very interesting and varied game. I applaud it for featuring multiple environmental types, even if I don't particularly care for all of them.

>Checkpoints are reasonably placed compared to each other. Stakes of Marika ensure that the boss is never too far away if you do die.

Negatives:

>The difficulty. I don't mind a challenge at all (Souls is known for its difficulty, after all), but there's plenty of times where the difficulty has felt due to poor level design (looking at you Magma Wyrm) or wonky hitboxes from enemies and it just left me frustrated from it. It doesn't feel as balanced or well thought out as the combat itself does. For example, the first major boss of the game is a far more difficult fight than the second one. Makes little sense and can even be a turn off if it weren't relatively simple to go quickly become overpowered and make him a pushover.

It doesn't encourage me to get better, it just incentivizes me to go look up some guides for weapons and gear that can keep me from dying so fast. I'd rather the stat system be simplified or reigned in if it means that the player would need to have less reliance on level ups. That wasn't exactly apparent early on, but as I progress, it's crept up more and more. Never to the extent that a fight feels impossible at a certain level, but more spongey or time-consuming than it needs to be. I expect that kind of longer fight from a game like Monster Hunter, but traditional boss fights should ideally be fast and difficult rather than dragging things out and forcing the player to work through that kind of time-consuming tedium again after a death.

>The world, for all that it has to explore, isn't actually that fun to explore. Kinda ties back to the difficulty, but when the fear of stumbling upon something that can destroy you in a few seconds is always there, the freedom of exploration isn't easy to appreciate as much as, say, a game like BotW (not to compare, bc they're very different games, but they're both open-world, regardless). In fact, I usually feel less inclined to explore on foot because I never know what I'll run into. The horse is there to make travel convenient, but sometimes I just want to run around on foot without worrying that I'll end up getting wrecked for my curiosity. Maybe it takes a certain level of masochism I don't have to enjoy it. Idk.

In general, I don't think the open world actually does the game any favors. Yeah, it's neat to come across a new area, but I would have actually preferred a more linear experience. Maybe it's just burn out from open world games, but being more linear might suit this kind of game better than the free roam does.

>The camera. I've talked about it before, but even when turning off the auto lock-on, it's still not designed well enough to handle the bigger bosses that move around the arenas and environments you fight them in. You'd think that after designing several similarly styled games, FromSoft would've had this down pat by now. Its jittery as hell and there's a motion blur on console that can't be turned off, so it makes the effect even worse. Dungeons in particular highlight the sheer frustration this can cause. Enclosed spaces are not your friend.

>Visuals and performance. Ngl, ER just isn't that visually impressive, nor consistent with its performance. I don't expect some wild visual perfection (not a graphics junkie in general), but coming from the same system as a game like Ghost of Tsushima, it kinda falls flat. The frame rate is also kinda bad in general. Yeah, it's on PS4, so fair enough that it's a last gen version of the game, but other more visually impressive games run consistently on it without issue, so idk. Solid 30fps shouldn't be hard, but apparently it is for FromSoft.

>I'm fine with passive storytelling, but I have no actual idea what is even going on in ER. I watched the cutscenes, heard the dialogue so far, and it still makes no actual sense to me. Idk maybe I'm just too dense to get it lmao. It doesn't really matter because the gameplay is front and center, but some idea of why things are the way they are would be nice.

This got way more long-winded than I meant it to.

But yeah, that's what I think of it so far. I can understand if others already know that this is the GOTY for them, but it's gonna have to work some magic for me to feel the same. I'm not disappointed, but I'm not completely taken with it like many are. Curious if that will change any.

Also curious if it's just Elden Ring that I'd have these issues with, or if FromSoft's other games would appeal to me more. Sekiro in particular has always caught my eye as a sucker for the feudal Japan aesthetic.

Edited March 10, 2022 by twilitfalchion

[null]

16 minutes ago, Armagon said:

 

when one of your favorite anime is Bunny Girl Senpai, you bet I'll be calling it Seishun Buta Yarou if it means more people won't be turned off by the name :')

[Interdimensional Observer]

*Checks online to see how far I am into SMTV*

Somewhere between 30-50% of the game remains. Endgame level is apparently the mid-80s (I'm in the late 40s right now). And I'm already at 56 hours in. Thankfully, a rather thin plot (even by SMT standards) lets me take a few days' breaks from it without major issues.

 

33 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

But yeah, that's what I think of it so far. I can understand if others already know that this is the GOTY for them, but it's gonna have to work some magic for me to feel the same. I'm not disappointed, but I'm not completely taken with it like many are. Curious if that will change any.

It happens. Not every "masterpiece" clicks. We thankfully live in an era where the quantity of games is so great you can always look for something else.

33 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

I'm fine with passive storytelling, but I have no actual idea what is even going on in ER. I watched the cutscenes, heard the dialogue so far, and it still makes no actual sense to me. Idk maybe I'm just too dense to get it lmao. It doesn't really matter because the gameplay is front and center, but some idea of why things are the way they are would be nice.

This reminds me one article I was reading about the game having lore written by George R..R. Martin. Writer of said article said they couldn't discern what influence GRRM had on the game, which is pretty bad when it was hyped up.

Martin's style being described by the writer as exuberant with life's joys, and at a drop of hat lively with brutal death. Whereas Elden Ring clings to the FromSoft preference of everything being muted. At best the history of the world seems very Martin-esque, but the world as it is in the present moment is 100% FromSoft. Sounds like a waste then if you were going to drown your notable contributor in your usual ways.

 

4 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

But still RIP Hrist.

[Armagon]

57 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

when one of your favorite anime is Bunny Girl Senpai, you bet I'll be calling it Seishun Buta Yarou if it means more people won't be turned off by the name :')

Yeah but then if someone googles the Japanese name, they're still gonna get pictures of the bunny girl so you merely delayed the inevitable.

58 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

In general, I don't think the open world actually does the game any favors. Yeah, it's neat to come across a new area, but I would have actually preferred a more linear experience. Maybe it's just burn out from open world games, but being more linear might suit this kind of game better than the free roam does.

One criticism i have heard is that the open world makes the gaps between the moment-to-moment gameplay bigger.

58 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Also curious if it's just Elden Ring that I'd have these issues with, or if FromSoft's other games would appeal to me more. Sekiro in particular has always caught my eye as a sucker for the feudal Japan aesthetic.

FromSoft does have sci-fi games in it's library

But they haven't made any new installments in years, last one being in 2013. So now everybody just knows them as the SoulsBorne devs. Closest we got is Daemon X Machina i think but that's another studio.

I haven't played these myself either, i'm just providing information.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Armagon

[null]

34 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It happens. Not every "masterpiece" clicks. We thankfully live in an era where the quantity of games is so great you can always look for something else.

True enough.

35 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

This reminds me one article I was reading about the game having lore written by George R..R. Martin. Writer of said article said they couldn't discern what influence GRRM had on the game, which is pretty bad when it was hyped up.

Martin's style being described by the writer as exuberant with life's joys, and at a drop of hat lively with brutal death. Whereas Elden Ring clings to the FromSoft preference of everything being muted. At best the history of the world seems very Martin-esque, but the world as it is in the present moment is 100% FromSoft. Sounds like a waste then if you were going to drown your notable contributor in your usual ways.

That's unfortunate to hear.

I'm admittedly not terribly familiar with his works, but a shame all the same if that influence was snuffed out.

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

One criticism i have heard is that the open world makes the gaps between the moment-to-moment gameplay bigger.

I can see that.

On one hand, the reprieve from edge-of-your-seat dungeon crawling is welcome, (especially when said dungeon crawling becomes exhausting). But on the other, those breaks can make it seem like there's nothing going on if you have no specific goal in mind, which ER is unfortunately not very good at keeping in the front of the player's mind, IMO. Pacing could use work, no doubt.

17 minutes ago, Armagon said:

FromSoft does have sci-fi games in it's library

But they haven't made any new installments in years, last one being in 2013. So now everybody just knows them as the SoulsBorne devs. Closest we got is Daemon X Machina i think but that's another studio.

I haven't played these myself either, i'm just providing information.

Interesting to know. Would never have guessed that Armored Core were FromSoft's work, though I had heard of the series before.

---------

Eirika did nothing wrong or stupid.

I will die on this hill.

[Benice]

...I think I need to stop watching Yakuza stuff on youtube. I'm not sleeping tonight...

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

When the fuck did this happen?

When I looked up "Josette Capua" on Fandom Wiki, of course.

1 hour ago, twilitfalchion said:

For example, the first major boss of the game is a far more difficult fight than the second one.

Yeah, I agree with that. Maybe it's because I had a way better summon, but the first chap took me at least 30 tries, I got the second major boss on my third go at 'im. Rather comfortably as well. The hardest boss that I've fought in the game is still Tree Sentinel, though.

1 hour ago, twilitfalchion said:

It doesn't encourage me to get better, it just incentivizes me to go look up some guides for weapons and gear that can keep me from dying so fast. I'd rather the stat system be simplified or reigned in if it means that the player would need to have less reliance on level ups.

I agree with this, at least to an extent.

First off, with the agreeing part: I think levelling is a little too important so far with how slow it is in ER; I understand that they want you to explore, but I really don't enjoy simply getting OHKO'd by a good deal of field bosses because I'd rather invest into other stats, such as dex, at first. I never thought I'd say this, but I wish that ER took a little more after DS2*, in which levelling is really easy; there's so many cool weapons and things to do in this game that I wish I could do more than one thing at once, but I've found that lots of levels in HP are necessary to get off the ground with both characters I've used so far, and then the level curve quickly makes getting anything else a rarity. I'm only a little further along than you are, so maybe the level curve gets better towards the midgame, ('cause I've put 30 hours in and I'm still only 1/6th of the way done AAAAAA-) but I agree that that you start weak enough that levels become much more important that what I'd like. Perhaps a meatier class like Hero would have worked better, but overall I feel like earlygame damage by major enemies is off-kilter. Not to mention how HP bloat seems to be rather prominent in some bosses, most noticeably Tree Sentinel and Agheel.

*Alternatively, I wouldn't mind if it were more akin to DS1, which allows a ton of levels in the earlygame, which gradually decreases until levels become fairly rare. It has the disadvantage of the player having to figure out what their character will be earlier on, but it allows for so much more freedom.

That being said, one of the best parts of Souls game is player modulation of difficulty, and I assume that this will be present later on. I hope so, at least...

1 hour ago, twilitfalchion said:

Yeah, it's neat to come across a new area, but I would have actually preferred a more linear experience. Maybe it's just burn out from open world games, but being more linear might suit this kind of game better than the free roam does.

If you like the combat mechanics, I can recommend Bloodborne* to you! (Or a different Souls game, but Bloodborne is very cool even though I've never played it.) It also has camera issues, but otherwise will probably have more of what you're looking for.

*If you have a PS5, Demon's Souls is also excellent

1 hour ago, twilitfalchion said:

but some idea of why things are the way they are would be nice.

I've no idea, but typically things are elucidated towards the end of the game. (You can still drop it if you want, of course. I don't presume that ER is going to be the next Romeo and Juliet or Yakuza 0.)

2 hours ago, twilitfalchion said:

Sekiro in particular has always caught my eye as a sucker for the feudal Japan aesthetic.

Sekiro is absolutely incredible, and IMO From's best game-Keep in mind that I've never played Bloodborne, which lots of people consider to be Miyazaki's mangum opus. I don't know why, but losing in Sekiro feels different than losing in any other game for me.

I have four problems with Sekiro: The Headless and Shichimen Warrior minibosses, that one part of the game where the objective of what you need to do is unclear, and the camera is not very good. Other than that, it's fantastic from start to finish; the difficulty curve in near perfected IMO, failing in this game actively feels pretty fun, and it's really unique. Not to mention the visual style being quite nice at times. Mt. Kongo and the Fountainhead Waters are absolutely stunning, and the rest of the game looks decent around that.

Music's overall not excellent in my opinion, but Corrupted Monk's theme is so good. (Not to mention that it's probably my favorite boss fight in any game)

2 hours ago, twilitfalchion said:

The camera. I've talked about it before, but even when turning off the auto lock-on, it's still not designed well enough to handle the bigger bosses that move around the arenas and environments you fight them in.

...Wait, you're playing using lock-on most of the time, right? It's worth noting that a lot of the time, you're really not meant to. The games consistently do a bad job of teaching you this early on. Other than Dark Souls 2, ironically enough.

2 hours ago, twilitfalchion said:

The horse is there to make travel convenient, but sometimes I just want to run around on foot without worrying that I'll end up getting wrecked for my curiosity.

Hm, I didn't have a problem with being punished for exploration except for one specific place in the game; my problem with the exploration is almost that there's too much stuff-I kinda like just wandering about, but I feel like they've put so much stuff in the game that I'm mostly going from place to place with objectives all of the time-which I don't mind in a more linear game like a standard Zelda one, but in a game with an open world this vast? I think there's just not quite enough time to enjoy all that there is in the game.

2 hours ago, twilitfalchion said:

Maybe it takes a certain level of masochism I don't have to enjoy it. Idk.

...Er...

That being said, not many people do actually enjoy being given negative stimuli during their passtimes, and I get what you mean. I genuinely cannot tell you why I enjoy DS1*, nor why anyone else does. I can only tell you that after 50 hours of playtime, I finally got it and started enjoying the game. I fully understand why so many people hate Souls. Very few games are genuinely willing to make you as frustrated as Souls games are, and there's just something gratifying when you get past something and get to appreciate what you've done. Again, for me personally, I cannot explain it-there's just typically a click at some point. Perhaps it is when you stop brute forcing it and all of sudden you start being able to overcome things, maybe my brain just left, but it might happen.

Someone who is more capable of speaking could probably tell you about it better. Maybe watching positive reviews of the game would be helpful? Vaatividya and Ymfah both make excellent videos about Souls games that I could advise looking into if you ever want advice for how to make 'em more interesting.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

But they haven't made any new installments in years, last one being in 2013. So now everybody just knows them as the SoulsBorne devs. Closest we got is Daemon X Machina i think but that's another studio.

A new Armored Core is coming out pretty soon, I think!

1 hour ago, twilitfalchion said:

Eirika did nothing wrong or stupid.

I will die on this hill.

[null]

8 minutes ago, Benice said:

The hardest boss that I've fought in the game is still Tree Sentinel, though.

It was super easy to misjudge the range he had on his halberd, honestly.

Killed me a good number of times just for that alone.

9 minutes ago, Benice said:

First off, with the agreeing part: I think levelling is a little too important so far with how slow it is in ER; I understand that they want you to explore, but I really don't enjoy simply getting OHKO'd by a good deal of field bosses because I'd rather invest into other stats, such as dex, at first. I never thought I'd say this, but I wish that ER took a little more after DS2*, in which levelling is really easy; there's so many cool weapons and things to do in this game that I wish I could do more than one thing at once, but I've found that lots of levels in HP are necessary to get off the ground with both characters I've used so far, and then the level curve quickly makes getting anything else a rarity. I'm only a little further along than you are, so maybe the level curve gets better towards the midgame, ('cause I've put 30 hours in and I'm still only 1/6th of the way done AAAAAA-) but I agree that that you start weak enough that levels become much more important that what I'd like. Perhaps a meatier class like Hero would have worked better, but overall I feel like earlygame damage by major enemies is off-kilter. Not to mention how HP bloat seems to be rather prominent in some bosses, most noticeably Tree Sentinel and Agheel.

*Alternatively, I wouldn't mind if it were more akin to DS1, which allows a ton of levels in the earlygame, which gradually decreases until levels become fairly rare. It has the disadvantage of the player having to figure out what their character will be earlier on, but it allows for so much more freedom.

That being said, one of the best parts of Souls game is player modulation of difficulty, and I assume that this will be present later on. I hope so, at least...

Yeah, I agree here.

9 minutes ago, Benice said:

If you like the combat mechanics, I can recommend Bloodborne* to you! (Or a different Souls game, but Bloodborne is very cool even though I've never played it.) It also has camera issues, but otherwise will probably have more of what you're looking for.

*If you have a PS5, Demon's Souls is also excellent

I'll keep that in mind.

10 minutes ago, Benice said:

I've no idea, but typically things are elucidated towards the end of the game. (You can still drop it if you want, of course. I don't presume that ER is going to be the next Romeo and Juliet or Yakuza 0.)

I'll be interested to see that. It's definitely nothing to break the game for me, not even close, but just something I noticed.

10 minutes ago, Benice said:

Sekiro is absolutely incredible, and IMO From's best game-Keep in mind that I've never played Bloodborne, which lots of people consider to be Miyazaki's mangum opus. I don't know why, but losing in Sekiro feels different than losing in any other game for me.

I have four problems with Sekiro: The Headless and Shichimen Warrior minibosses, that one part of the game where the objective of what you need to do is unclear, and the camera is not very good. Other than that, it's fantastic from start to finish; the difficulty curve in near perfected IMO, failing in this game actively feels pretty fun, and it's really unique. Not to mention the visual style being quite nice at times. Mt. Kongo and the Fountainhead Waters are absolutely stunning, and the rest of the game looks decent around that.

👀

That sounds very interesting.

"You had my curiosity, now you have my attention, etc."

Failing being fun is the kind of difficulty I can get into. So long as it's fair, I really don't mind.

13 minutes ago, Benice said:

Hm, I didn't have a problem with being punished for exploration except for one specific place in the game; my problem with the exploration is almost that there's too much stuff-I kinda like just wandering about, but I feel like they've put so much stuff in the game that I'm mostly going from place to place with objectives all of the time-which I don't mind in a more linear game like a standard Zelda one, but in a game with an open world this vast? I think there's just not quite enough time to enjoy all that there is in the game.

I can see that as well. Which is odd considering I usually really enjoy open worlds.

14 minutes ago, Benice said:

That being said, not many people do actually enjoy being given negative stimuli during their passtimes, and I get what you mean. I genuinely cannot tell you why I enjoy DS1*, nor why anyone else does. I can only tell you that after 50 hours of playtime, I finally got it and started enjoying the game. I fully understand why so many people hate Souls. Very few games are genuinely willing to make you as frustrated as Souls games are, and there's just something gratifying when you get past something and get to appreciate what you've done. Again, for me personally, I cannot explain it-there's just typically a click at some point. Perhaps it is when you stop brute forcing it and all of sudden you start being able to overcome things, maybe my brain just left, but it might happen.

That makes sense. A lot of games have that "click" moment. The same thing happened with me and Monster Hunter, actually, a game reasonably similar to Souls, tbh.

I'm sure I'll hit that moment with Souls, as I'm still actively engaged with ER. Kinda even want to play more rn, tbh.

15 minutes ago, Benice said:

M-Miyazaki-san... 👀

16 minutes ago, Benice said:

high five

[Eltosian Kadath]

Alright, enough of a break from my little Nuzlocke. To be fair, part of the delay is that I thought I missed my images for the big battle at the end of this update, and considered trying to find a way to reattempt it for image capture purposes, but I found them eventually, as I just accidentally saved them in a different folder from the rest of the images of this run...

What a fascinating little bit of world building

...or I am a bit gullible...

Now that is a dangerous option to have around. I will have to think a lot about whether or not to teach this one to a pokemon

I have to agree, it is kinda neat. Although it is kinda weird that there is no PokeMart in this town.

I guess this is the closest to town to where you start the process of awakening the Regis, so it makes sense that you would learn about their legend here

I guess this is hinting to be on the lookeout for the three different closed caves each surrounded by six rocks.

~

More talk about that mysterious pokemon flying around Hoenn.

This lady knows how internet theories work.

Oh my goodness, are they really making this meta of a joke

Heh, they did. I kinda like how earthbound did this joke, by having Yes actually be the answer to the question asked...

They go the whole way with making fun of the cliches of silent protagonists, and their ability to make choices despite the seeming silence. Side note, but I am reminded of how they use Copycat's dialogue in the first two generations to imply that the main character isn't actually silent, just that their words aren't shown.

What a weird conclusion to reach. What does he think, that I am a mermaid or something.

What ludicrous self delusion (or nepotism).

Although if he is giving such a good TM away, it is hard to complain.

Aw, somebody likes Horsea it seems

'

Not really, as I already have a nice Horsea already

Wow, what a rip off...

Oh this is an obscure aspect of generation 3. Each day a random number determined, and if you have a pokemon with a personality value that matches that number it will spawn an island with liechi berry, and wild Wynaut. The odds of any one pokemon matching is less than that of encountering a shiny, but with enough pokemon, and checking each day it isn't unheard of to find it, although I have personally have never seen mirage island. Also I don't see any mention of mirage island encounters in the hack info, so who knows if this was changed.

Alright that is enough messing around in Pacifidlog, time to

catch up with that terrorist attack on the space center.

This guy is really nonplussed about this terrorist attack are they.

I guess team aqua isn't all that reviled...

at least when Team Magma is currently attacking. I am sure she would say the same thing but in reverse if Team Aqua were attacking instead.

Alas this grunt is foolish enough to let us crush him in a pokemon battle, and thus

he abandons his post in defeat, unable to stop a 10 year old girl from getting past him.

What is wrong with you guys, Triple Battles aren't around for like two more generations...fortunately these grunts, true to their name take me on one at a time, letting me crush them one by one.

Admittedly having to face them back to back, without the opportunity to heal, or change leads could be dangerous, if these guys had more than one pokemon each, or even pokemon that are actually dangerous. I mean one of these guys has one of those Mightyena that can only swagger pokemon...

I guess team Magma wants to be blasting off again.

Wait, THAT is what they want the rocket fuel for? What kind of harebrained plan is this?

I guess they needed a parallel with the comments about team Aqua destroying the environment to create their "secret" base, to emphasize their hypocrisy, but this is kinda silly.

I guess team Magma is trying to villainously erupt the volcano, for real this time.

I really appreciate that they let me back out of this fight to prepare, which I will actually take them up on. Wanted to grab a pokemon from the box in preparation for this one.

This is an interesting little detail from this generation, that they make you pick three pokemon for the team battle here with Steven. I kinda like this, as it felt a bit unfair on future generations that when you and your teammate get effectively 12 pokemon to take on 6, although there are some difficulty hacks that switches the balance over to 12 v 12.

I forgot that they let you see Steven's three for a moment. Alright time for this team battle with me and Steven vs Tabitha and Maxie.

And poor Tabitha is really out of his league, bringing pokemon in the 36-40 range, when everyone else has 41-43. Although the Mighteyena makes thing as a bit dicey by Swaggering @BrightBow just as it dies, so I need to switch out, letting

Letting the Camerupt get off an Earthquake. This is exactly the kind of thing I brought @Seazas to deal with, as he ignores it, and can still keep surfing. Although if the Metang hadn't used reflect this would have probably taken it out.

Although he isn't strong enough to wipe out the Camerupt with a surf, even with the double-super effective. The Crowbat in the back is what I brought @AnonymousSpeed for, but it proved unnecessary, as Steven tore it apart almost on his own.

By exploding a Volcano onto the people of Lavaridge...

You were out of that battle before we even saw Maxie's last pokemon...

And that is a very good things, you fool.

I don't what you were expecting there, you didn't even try to catch or control it as far as I can tell...

Now that it is too late, Maxie has finally realized the errors of both his, and Archie's ways.

Yeah, Archie's Camerupt could have done a number on your team, but with Tabitha taking up half the enemy pokemon I think you could have handled them.

With any luck this is the Dive HM, that will let me explore...even more water....

Whoa, slow down there Steven, she is like 10.

Although I think I will grind up the new catches a little before continuing the Aqua half of this plot. See you all soon.

[AnonymousSpeed]

21 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Whoa, slow down there Steven, she is like 10.

I hope I am sometimes still helpful.

[Benice]

25 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

It was super easy to misjudge the range he had on his halberd, honestly.

For me, I think it was his chonky health combined with multiple really quick attacks that OHKO'd me. I found his animations really hard to read as well.

36 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

'll be interested to see that. It's definitely nothing to break the game for me, not even close, but just something I noticed.

Yeah, for sure. Souls lore is cool, but I will leave it to Vaati to find it out for me.

37 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Failing being fun is the kind of difficulty I can get into. So long as it's fair, I really don't mind.

Well, I can't promise that you'll have the same experience, but that was mine. Part of what's so cool about Sekiro to me is that it kind of embodies mind over matter, especially early on. You can get past really insane challenges because of all the tools you have, and playing smart gets you pretty far into the game before you have to get good. Stats are also directly tied to progression, so it doesn't have any of ER's problems in that regard.

40 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

can see that as well. Which is odd considering I usually really enjoy open worlds.

I've only played two so I can't particularly judge... Perhaps I'm simply on Souls burnout from speedrunning.

41 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

m sure I'll hit that moment with Souls, as I'm still actively engaged with ER. Kinda even want to play more rn, tbh.

Hope you do! This game's got some real cool stuff from what I've seen, and I think the general consensus is that the game gets better after the earlygame. I can't wait until you find Siofra River.

42 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

M-Miyazaki-san... 👀

The hero we all needed but none of us deserved

(Source, by the way)

44 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

👀

That sounds very interesting.

Yeah, Sekiro's great IMO! If you try to play it like Souls, you'll probably perish, but when you play it fresh, it is one of the best games I've ever played. It's definitely lacking in the story department so I can't say I love it more than the best Yakuza games or Skyward Sword, but in terms of fun, it's one of the good ones, y'hear?

46 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

I'll keep that in mind.

The best part about Bloodborne is that if you ever get stuck, you can use the best money-farming method in any game ever: The Cummm dungeon.

...Sorry about always replying to your posts about ER, by the way. I just don't have many other people to discuss it with because most Souls players I know have already finished it.

[null]

45 minutes ago, Benice said:

Well, I can't promise that you'll have the same experience, but that was mine. Part of what's so cool about Sekiro to me is that it kind of embodies mind over matter, especially early on. You can get past really insane challenges because of all the tools you have, and playing smart gets you pretty far into the game before you have to get good. Stats are also directly tied to progression, so it doesn't have any of ER's problems in that regard.

That sounds great. 👍

46 minutes ago, Benice said:

Hope you do! This game's got some real cool stuff from what I've seen, and I think the general consensus is that the game gets better after the earlygame. I can't wait until you find Siofra River.

I look forward to it.

46 minutes ago, Benice said:

Hope you do! This game's got some real cool stuff from what I've seen, and I think the general consensus is that the game gets better after the earlygame. I can't wait until you find Siofra River.

Amazing that this is real and not just some shitpost/photoshop, etc.

46 minutes ago, Benice said:

Yeah, Sekiro's great IMO! If you try to play it like Souls, you'll probably perish, but when you play it fresh, it is one of the best games I've ever played. It's definitely lacking in the story department so I can't say I love it more than the best Yakuza games or Skyward Sword, but in terms of fun, it's one of the good ones, y'hear?

I getcha. Sounds like a great time.

47 minutes ago, Benice said:

The best part about Bloodborne is that if you ever get stuck, you can use the best money-farming method in any game ever: The Cummm dungeon.

The what?

47 minutes ago, Benice said:

.Sorry about always replying to your posts about ER, by the way. I just don't have many other people to discuss it with because most Souls players I know have already finished it.

No need to apologize at all! It's always nice to chat with folks about games like this who don't come from the "git gud"/elitism perspective, especially folks I know already.

[Saint Rubenio]

10 hours ago, Robert Stewart said:

Rubenio is really the anti-Trails fan for liking the worst character in SC.

Benice likes her too and he's not anti-Trails though

9 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Triangle Strategy update i guess!

  Hide contents

So I just denied helping the scum of the desert kingdom, and they are now angry (shocking) and want to silence us (surprising) 

 

Wow, this is completely different from what's going on in my run. Unless you've overtaken me massively and this happens way in the future, it seems the routes really do differ a ton.

9 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

I never thought I'd see the day I'd have an anime girl as my profile picture...

You guys and your anime girl profile pictures.

8 hours ago, Benice said:

Here, allow me to ruin it for you.

How dare you.

This is terrible.

...Wait, is she wearing a stupid tiny hat? That's amazing. I love that specific thing in particular. Look at that thing, it's barely sitting on her head! It's gonna fall off any second, girl! Then again, Team Rocket was never known for their competence...

7 hours ago, Armagon said:

Bro you liked Octopath Traveler.

I mean, so did I. I can attest to the fact that the game appeals to people who aren't into generic JRPGs.

6 hours ago, twilitfalchion said:

Eirika did nothing wrong or stupid.

I will die on this hill.

Not a bad hill to die on. I will fight neither against nor with you. I like Eirika well enough, but well... I don't care much for neither Eirika nor Ephraim. Lyon is the best lord of Sacred Stones.

[The Roger The Paladin]

16 hours ago, Benice said:

I don't know why, but I find it really funny that three of the accounts following me are the same person: Some chap who got banned, their alt account which got the boot for being an alt account, and then the account they made after they got the other two banned.

Plot twist. Everyone on Serenes is the same person. And it's you.

 

16 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm not for unfortunate name changes, I was more extemporaneously thinking of another place name that IS could use in the future that I happen to like.

And thank you for the information. I had assumed (I don't pay one iota of attention to comics and superheroes) that Marvel had invented Black Panther after the IRL organization came into existence, to diversify its superheroes after the 1960s or something.

Don't worry about it. I was merely giving some of my thoughts on the matter.

Marvel's first major (non-stereotypical) Black Character was Gabe Jones in Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos. Gabe debuted in 1963''s issue one. Mind Sgt Fury was a war book, but it was considered quite risky by rival company DC to have a black character. So much so that making Ferro Lad in Legion of Super Heroes was forbidden... which resulted in the writer making the character famous not for being the first black hero at DC, but for being one of the earliest examples of a character being killed permanently seeing as his mask never was allowed to come off by the management. Black Panther debuted in issue 52 of Fantastic Four... which gives him a cover date of June 1966. Mind cover dates tend to be three months later, to trick the News Agents into keeping them on the shelf longer. As it goes between Black Panther, and Japanese hero Sunfire's debut at the tail-end of 1969 in X-men (a team he'd later join before becoming a founder of the Big Hero 6... who were pretty different in the comic being based out of Tokyo), as well as Red Wolf, a Native American hero debuting in early 1970 in Avengers before getting his own short lived solo feature... Marvel was kind of pushing the envelope in the field pretty early. Back in the 60s, one has to remember Marvel was this upstart company that had a lot to say, and as long as sales improved they were allowed to. To the point there's a Spider-man story addressing Drug addiction that they had to publish without approval of the comics code, which was considered suicide at the time because it meant news agents wouldn't carry the book. The comics code forbid portrayal of drugs flat-out, because it was a heavy handed censorship mechanism that existed. The success of the story meant they relaxed standards. Stories about the perils of drug addiction could be told.

DC on the other hand avoided having a black super-hero until July 1976's Superboy & the Legion of Super Heroes 218. And believe me the introduction of Tyroc and the hatred certain writers felt towards the character is another story. Apparently in the year 2976, the solution to race relations was literally to have all the black people on Earth live on an island by themselves and totally segregate themselves from other races.Of course, Paul Levitz who took over the book soon after felt this was "stupid" and "race relations couldn't possibly still not be sorted out in a thousand years". This kind of resulted in it a) turning out there were indeed black people elsewhere that hadn't segregated themselves, and b) Tyroc and his island somehow going through an "interdimensional rift" between issues so they'd not be seen again until 2010... when Levitz decided to bring the character back. The incident's rather... infamous in comics to tell the truth.
 

16 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And that I totally agree on you with. The winter weather also played a role in Napoleon's defeat of course. Although it did nothing to stop the Mongols on their initial raids of post-Kievan internecine-civil-warring Rus. They invaded from the east, and actually liked the winter to an extent, since it froze the rivers so their horses could cross.

In both the cases of the Emperor of the French and the German guy, the winter by itself wasn't enough of course. Russia is really big, and regardless of warhorses or tanks, the logistical nightmares imposed on the aggressors were daunting. Those same distances provided large "crumple zones" that the Russians could surrender without losing. Bad winters are one thing, but Russia sorta needed its enormity. And historians debate, in the case of Napoleon at least, the extent to which tactical retreat and exhausting the enemy was actually something the generals planned vs. a happy accident. In Stalin's case, there is no debate, he stupidly had let down his guard and paid the consequences for trusting his Teutonic brother-in-pure-evilness.

Let's not forget the "scorched Earth" tactic employed. After all, you destroy infrastructure as you flee so the enemy can't use it, and the task gets worse. I'm aware of Napooleon's issues with the winter. Though the incident with the Mongols somehow just makes me think of Martel in Binding Blade. You guess why.

[ping]

26 minutes ago, The Roger The Paladin said:

Plot twist. Everyone on Serenes is the same person. And it's you.

"No! I must ban the alt accounts" he shouted

The Roger The Paladin said "No Benice. You are the alt accounts"

And then Benice was a zombie.

[Lightcosmo]

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Wow, this is completely different from what's going on in my run. Unless you've overtaken me massively and this happens way in the future, it seems the routes really do differ a ton.

I think that's a good sign?

[Armagon]

This is now one of my new favorite Specials in any game.

[Lightchao42]

I wasn't particularly interested in Triangle Strategy from the prerelease, but seeing people talk about it makes it seem more appealing. I'll get the demo and try it out for myself.

14 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I will say, she has the coolest design out of anyone in Trails. That fur coat is awesome, the goggles are a cool touch and I like her hair.

On the subject I'm partial to Kloe's second outfit, she looks stylish.

Spoiler

And, of course, Olivier is always stylish as well.

11 hours ago, Armagon said:

The Batman

Ah yes

 

[Saint Rubenio]

Oh, hey. I didn't think the game would leave room for debate on this.

Spoiler

Minister Fatass wants us to help him smuggle salt to Aesfrost for slimy profit. I have to choose between reporting Minister Fatass's illegal salt dealings to Hyzante, which no doubt would make him quite salty, or... Accept his request and act as smugglers for him? Why in the everloving world would we do that? The only argument my guys have in favor of that is that we could procure more solid evidence during the job, but he could just as easily throw us under the bus...

I love it. We're doing that. I hope Erador won't be too angry. He keeps arguing in favor of honor and pride and I keep being an asshole.

Also

Erador: The nerve of 'im, askin' the honorable House Wolffort to do such a filthy job! No way we'd agree to that!

Meanwhile Rooben: Already decided to do it because he's determined to drag the "honorable House Wolffort" through the mud.

2 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

I think that's a good sign?

Looks like it to me. We'll see.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Sword art. If it isn't glitches (and this almost certainly involves an item duplication glitch), BotW fans are coming up with something else.

Incredible understanding of perspective to realize how to make something so precise, especially when you have no idea what it looks like as you're assembling it on the ground below. Can someone give these people the money to do this IRL? It's the talent of an artist, but probably won't be recognized as such relegated to being inside a video game.

 

8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I have to agree, it is kinda neat. Although it is kinda weird that there is no PokeMart in this town.

Pacifidlog is very unique indeed. Between this, a treehouse city, and a city inside a dead volcano, later game Hoenn sure was visually creative. And thinking back on Gens 1&2 with their more urbanized and visually generic settings (minus like Ecruteak and Blackthorn), perhaps this was striking at the time. And Gen 4 being a dense, rocky, cold region probably left more than a few wanting for Hoenn's vibrancy again.

Pokemon can delve into pure fantasy, but I ponder if there was anything IRL that could've inspired Pacifidlog. The only premodern on-water architecture I've any familiar with is Indonesian stilt houses (the generic term for "village" in Indonesian being kampung), which are impressive, but much taller than what we see in this quaint, completely optional, Pokemon town.

 

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...Wait, is she wearing a stupid tiny hat? That's amazing. I love that specific thing in particular. Look at that thing, it's barely sitting on her head! It's gonna fall off any second, girl!

It's not the first time I've seen such a thing.:

I take it it's an idol thing of some sort. Although given the British ladies have a liking on special occasions for ridiculous slanted hats of normal or extra-large size that speak to some old-timey haute couture style of fashion. Maybe that's where the mini headwear came from.

 

3 hours ago, The Roger The Paladin said:

Marvel's first major (non-stereotypical) Black Character was Gabe Jones in Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos. Gabe debuted in 1963''s issue one. Mind Sgt Fury was a war book, but it was considered quite risky by rival company DC to have a black character. So much so that making Ferro Lad in Legion of Super Heroes was forbidden... which resulted in the writer making the character famous not for being the first black hero at DC, but for being one of the earliest examples of a character being killed permanently seeing as his mask never was allowed to come off by the management. Black Panther debuted in issue 52 of Fantastic Four... which gives him a cover date of June 1966. Mind cover dates tend to be three months later, to trick the News Agents into keeping them on the shelf longer. As it goes between Black Panther, and Japanese hero Sunfire's debut at the tail-end of 1969 in X-men (a team he'd later join before becoming a founder of the Big Hero 6... who were pretty different in the comic being based out of Tokyo), as well as Red Wolf, a Native American hero debuting in early 1970 in Avengers before getting his own short lived solo feature... Marvel was kind of pushing the envelope in the field pretty early. Back in the 60s, one has to remember Marvel was this upstart company that had a lot to say, and as long as sales improved they were allowed to. To the point there's a Spider-man story addressing Drug addiction that they had to publish without approval of the comics code, which was considered suicide at the time because it meant news agents wouldn't carry the book. The comics code forbid portrayal of drugs flat-out, because it was a heavy handed censorship mechanism that existed. The success of the story meant they relaxed standards. Stories about the perils of drug addiction could be told.

DC on the other hand avoided having a black super-hero until July 1976's Superboy & the Legion of Super Heroes 218. And believe me the introduction of Tyroc and the hatred certain writers felt towards the character is another story. Apparently in the year 2976, the solution to race relations was literally to have all the black people on Earth live on an island by themselves and totally segregate themselves from other races.Of course, Paul Levitz who took over the book soon after felt this was "stupid" and "race relations couldn't possibly still not be sorted out in a thousand years". This kind of resulted in it a) turning out there were indeed black people elsewhere that hadn't segregated themselves, and b) Tyroc and his island somehow going through an "interdimensional rift" between issues so they'd not be seen again until 2010... when Levitz decided to bring the character back. The incident's rather... infamous in comics to tell the truth.

Thank you! This is all interesting information.😃