Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

I see I see.

I'm a lunatic, I know it.

I swear I'll get back to Episode III tomorrow (resuming RF5 is being saved for a rainy day, I left it in a good spot), but what else am I going to do tonight? *Cue the otherworldly portal at my feet with twenty hands reaching out for my legs, each shoving aside the others and trying to pull me towards the abyss of a different game.* My few days' break gives me some stamina to keep going at Iris, and part of me wants to know "when does it get good?".

Unfortunately, Imgbb isn't working right now, so I can't upload a bunch of images from the first hour or so of playing the game. I'll do that tomorrow morning, with plentiful commentary of course. However, from that hour, I can say there is a lot of little gameplay/QoL/narrative improvements over Eternal Mana, which when added up, have the potential to transmute this experience into philosopher's stone. It is entirely possible that Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny will be gud.

-However, that potential everlasting glory may have come at the price. Alchemy remains in narrative and gameplay, but tone, general direction? Allow me to present the game's opening trailer to you.:

This is the stuff "Whaaaaaaa! What happened??? This isn't Atelier anymore!😭" memes are made of. (Better quality opening than Iris 1's BTW, I forgot to share that.)

Eternal Mana was stuck in identity limbo, but Project A7 has embraced the JRPGeebism.

[Lightcosmo]

2 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Me: Marth Paralogue looks easy enough

Marth: You activated my longbow Archer! GO FULL THRUSTERS MY ARMY

This is truly excelblem Marth

Wait, Marth's was easy! Xd

[GuardianSing]

Me, obviously.

Girl, you have no idea.

Actually given the setting it's probably supposed to be more like Venice, but I'll keep dreaming.

Again, if they made an attempt to change the characters at all personality wise post time skip I think it would've been really cool to see Petra start speaking fluent English.

You know what would've been neat? Instead of spending all the resources on the one big monastery they instead divvy up the walkable locations of the game in the different capitals.

\

Dead, you'd be dead.

Really? Was it because you finally came to terms with the deeply seated corruption of the church and the archbishop and it how it negatively effects the lives of the thousands?

Oh no, it was just a reaction to something else, brilliant!

Uh oh.

Sorry mate, silent Pokemon Black protagonist is the only Hilda in my life now.

...Not that FE Hilda was ever in my life to begin but eh...funny joke is funny.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Edelguardiansing

[Venger_06]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

This man played an alternate version of FE4 lacked any political intrigue and thus the cult was able to work more seamlessly.

Politics in Gen 1 were just means to an end, which they achieved at the end of it. Despite the memes, FE4 is not Game of Thrones (and even then the main threat are the magical ice zombies, politics are just a diversion, that's the main theme of ASOIAF).

Edited February 2, 2023 by Newtype06

[Acacia Sgt]

12 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

You know what would've been neat? Instead of spending all the resources on the one big monastery they instead divvy up the walkable locations of the game in the different capitals.

Well, Engage's a good start with their post-battle explorable maps.

One thing I would hope, is that an eventual Genealogy remakes turns the Home Castles into, well, proper home bases as we've had for a few games now. Since we never stay in the same Home Castle for each chapter (barring one exception, technically two), that means we'd always have a different home base. And since it'd be all over Jugdral, it's a good way to flex the fact each country of Jugdral is meant to represent a different culture, thus they can make them all visually different. Even if most are still European-centered, but still, it'd be something.

12 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Uh oh.

Did you recruit her? Because I'm pretty sure you can.

12 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Sorry mate, silent Pokemon Black protagonist is the only Hilda in my life now.

...Not that FE Hilda was ever in my life to begin but eh...funny joke is funny.

Still, gotta hand it to her. Might not be much, but the character change she does display after the time skip is something to take note of.

I'm pretty sure you can avoid killing her, so whenever I get the chance to play TH and play through CF, I'd make the attempt. If not, I always headcanon, and something I also intend to do for fanfics, that in a CF scenario, she survives regardless.

12 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

At the risk of sounding a broken record... you really need to try Three Hopes next.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

his is the stuff "Whaaaaaaa! What happened??? This isn't Atelier anymore!😭" memes are made of. (Better quality opening than Iris 1's BTW, I forgot to share that.)

Eternal Mana was stuck in identity limbo, but Project A7 has embraced the JRPGeebism.

Yeah it feels like a Tales OP lmao.

That being said, the Dusk OPs probably lean more into the JRPG than the Iris OPs seem to

This gives off a completely different vibe doesn't it? 

Well Dusk is a declining world. The slice-of-life elements are still very much present but it contrasts with the declining world. I'd say it's because Dusk is one of the more 'plot-based" Ateliers but then so is Ryza and 

the slice-of-lifeness is far more apparent there.

(Ryza started the trend of 3D openings for the series, barring the one time Meruru did it. Lulua was the last time we had a 2D opening).

47 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Instead of spending all the resources on the one big monastery they instead divvy up the walkable locations of the game in the different capitals.

You'll love Engage then.

48 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Uh oh.

But did you recruit her? 

39 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

Politics in Gen 1 were just means to an end, which they achieved at the end of it.

And thus the story became far less interesting.

And then Kaga did it again in TearRing Saga and it was even worse. Like i was actually pissed, God damn it. Man had a good human conflict going on, with the enemy side actually not being demonized but nah, we gotta have the evil cultists lead by dollar store Nergal ruin the show.

And he's still doing that.

[Armagon]

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THE FUCKING BIG BOOBY OC WON AND THE STORY HAS BARELY EVEN TALKED ABOUT HER YET LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

FEH PLAYERS VOTED WITH THEIR DICKS FOR THIS ONE CONFIRMED

[Acacia Sgt]

So not much different like how Gatekeeper won.

[Armagon]

6 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

So not much different like how Gatekeeper won.

But like Gatekeeper was an established meme. Gullveig just now showed up.

[Acacia Sgt]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

But like Gatekeeper was an established meme. Gullveig just now showed up.

I was speaking about that. Where a lot of the drive was not exactly standard.

[Armagon]

Just now, Acacia Sgt said:

I was speaking about that. Where a lot of the drive was not exactly standard.

I think it's the time also though. Cause Gatekeeper was a meme like a full six months before CYL happened.

FEH Book 7 started in December. Like barely two months ago.

Gatekeeper won because he was funny, Gullveig won because boobies. Coincidentally, both their names start with a G.

This is the most hilarious outcome.

[Acacia Sgt]

Alright, time for Micaiah's Paralogue.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Newtype06 said:

Politics in Gen 1 were just means to an end,

Means, end? Call it them the journey and the end. It's possible to love the one, and dislike the other. Author's intention of what is supposed to be important isn't always important, particularly with the fluffy entertainment Fire Emblem generally is. Not like this is serious literature with an urgent plea to humanity contained inside.

Kaga in an interview outright belittled Sigurd's story and praised Seliph's as Genealogy's crowning glory. If that's the case, it would appear he goofed in communicating that to a sizable chunk of the players within the game itself.

It happens. Final Fantasy Tactics ran into the same problem, the initial trappings of politics, but really it is demons contained inside crystals that matter. That disappointed me, though I learned to accept Final Fantasy's penchant for crystals & summons even when it outwardly downplays them afterwards. Once acknowledged, I learned to keep my expectations in check. (Not to say FF doesn't try to spice things up with same old fantasy objects, FFX's Aeons contribute a decidedly different flavor to the story than VI's Espers and other games' plain old summons/Eidolons. And to avoid coming off as Kaga/Final Fantasy-bashing, I will concede the Xeno franchise loves its Zohars and other junk. All JRPG/JRPG-adjacent franchises seem to have objects they simply do not like to do without.)

 

32 minutes ago, Armagon said:

This gives off a completely different vibe doesn't it? 

Well Dusk is a declining world. The slice-of-life elements are still very much present but it contrasts with the declining world.

Indeed.

The music is fragile, yet not powerless, perhaps the lyrics would indicate otherwise, yet it doesn't sound like it has surrendered to the inevitable stillness. The imagery on the other hand has perhaps yielded to the decline.

30 minutes ago, Armagon said:

THE FUCKING BIG BOOBY OC WON AND THE STORY HAS BARELY EVEN TALKED ABOUT HER YET

I don't think much about this. Prior CYL polls already showed OCs with barely any screen time getting lots of votes. I don't belittle voiceless masses who do so, though some of the vocal minority might chastise them. This is when nonattachment from petty affairs pays off.😌

Though I do detect a slight internal smile seeing that Soren reached 2nd. Can't not when I was quite fond of him in my youth, relatable even.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

Ah, why must we still wait months for the Another Wonderful Life remake... Japan already playing for days...

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 minute ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ah, why must we still wait months for the Another Wonderful Life remake... Japan already playing for days...

That's Marvelous for you. Global releases don't seem to be their thing. Just yesterday or the day before I saw some surprise when a yet-to-released Marvelous game was revealed as having a mere 5-day release gap. For a game not part of an established franchise and that nonetheless would appear to be wordy (social sim+JRPG). How'd it get that?

I'm not interested in AWL myself, though I am nonetheless doing a little searching for details. Seems like a pleasant remake from what little I've encountered on the Web. 

[Armagon]

I think reclassing to Wolf Knight is optimal.

16 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

All JRPG/JRPG-adjacent franchises seem to have objects they simply do not like to do without.)

It's all about the execution at the end of the day. The problem with evil cults, at least in Kaga games, is that Kaga has more than once attempted to give them sympathy in a specifc way. Both FE4 and TearRing Saga are like "people think the evil dragon blood people are evil and anyone suspected of having that blood must be kille" and that's like a basic witch hunt scenario but then when you're shown people who actually are connected to the evil god, it.....proves them right. They are evil. So it's like ???? 

16 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The music is fragile, yet not powerless, perhaps the lyrics would indicate otherwise, yet it doesn't sound like it has surrendered to the inevitable stillness. The imagery on the other hand has perhaps yielded to the decline.

Mmhmm. I remember it caught me off guard the first time because I was coming off of Escha & Logy's OP, which was a lot more upbeat

Idk what's going on in these visuals lol.

I'll also add that both Dusk and Mysterious each have a second opening in the games, which plays after you beat the tutorial segment. They have different songs but the visuals are basically just pngs and backgrounds of the different areas. It's more interested in the opening credits, basically.

Like here's Shallie's for instance, and notice how the song is more upbeat than the first one

 

[FlyingKitsune]

@Saint Rubenio Guess what popped into my recommended.

Also, is it just me or is the attachments limit absolutely tiny? I guess it makes sense...

[Eltosian Kadath]

59 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Actually given the setting it's probably supposed to be more like Venice, but I'll keep dreaming.

Tenochtitlan? Isn't that on a lake, not the ocean? I guess even Venice is more on a sea, but close enough.

 

1 hour ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Oh no, it was just a reaction to something else, brilliant!

It is especially silly that Rhea was apparently practicing her villain laugh, that no-face over here caught her doing it, and that this is somehow what made his decision...

 

1 hour ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Sorry mate, silent Pokemon Black protagonist is the only Hilda in my life now.

...Not that FE Hilda was ever in my life to begin but eh...funny joke is funny.

That is a fitting coincidence, that made for a perfect little cross play-through joke.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well... that was an anti-climatic paralogue...

[GuardianSing]

 

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Did you recruit her? Because I'm pretty sure you can.

I did though I don't plan on using her since I already used her plenty enough in the Verdant Wind playthrough with how broken she was.

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Still, gotta hand it to her. Might not be much, but the character change she does display after the time skip is something to take note of.

Honestly she was the one that felt the most striking as it felt like she changed the most across the five years, at least going off of her quotes in battle.

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

At the risk of sounding a broken record... you really need to try Three Hopes next.

I might actually, maybe during Radiant Dawn after this I'll play that game.

 

[Benice]

Hello, Ruben.

I wanna watch it but I can't because I haven't played Engage yet

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, will do the other Paralogue tomorrow.

[Venger_06]

39 minutes ago, Armagon said:

And thus the story became far less interesting.

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Means, end? Call it them the journey and the end. It's possible to love the one, and dislike the other. Author's intention of what is supposed to be important isn't always important, particularly with the fluffy entertainment Fire Emblem generally is. Not like this is serious literature with an urgent plea to humanity contained inside.

Don't get me wrong, there are several problems that I identify and criticize in the second generation of Genealogy, such as the lack of characterization of the child units, which are mostly defined by being children of X, the slow pacing resulting in flawed worldbuilding (3 chapters in Thracia and then Miletos is skipped) and the story is basically the same plot beats as Shadow Dragon (protagonist starts a rebellion and goes stomping the evil empire while making allies along the way), but the cult is not one of those problems.

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Kaga in an interview outright belittled Sigurd's story and praised Seliph's as Genealogy's crowning glory. If that's the case, it would appear he goofed in communicating that to a sizable chunk of the players within the game itself.

Rushed game please understand /s

Kaga bit more than he could chew, but it's still impressive what they did at the time.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It happens. Final Fantasy Tactics ran into the same problem, the initial trappings of politics, but really it is demons contained inside crystals that matter. That disappointed me, though I learned to accept Final Fantasy's penchant for crystals & summons even when it outwardly downplays them afterwards. Once acknowledged, I learned to keep my expectations in check. (Not to say FF doesn't try to spice things up with same old fantasy objects, FFX's Aeons contribute a decidedly different flavor to the story than VI's Espers and other games' plain old summons/Eidolons. And to avoid coming off as Kaga/Final Fantasy-bashing, I will concede the Xeno franchise loves its Zohars and other junk. All JRPG/JRPG-adjacent franchises seem to have objects they simply do not like to do without.)

I don't think it's a problem that there are fantastic elements in the plot. Yes, FFT has all that franchise baggage, but they are interwoven into the game's "political" plot.

36 minutes ago, Armagon said:

It's all about the execution at the end of the day. The problem with evil cults, at least in Kaga games, is that Kaga has more than once attempted to give them sympathy in a specifc way. Both FE4 and TearRing Saga are like "people think the evil dragon blood people are evil and anyone suspected of having that blood must be kille" and that's like a basic witch hunt scenario but then when you're shown people who actually are connected to the evil god, it.....proves them right. They are evil. So it's like ???? 

If that's the thing you've learned by the end of the game, then you've missed the point.

I'll use Zeta Gundam as an example, since I'm watching it. Yes, it's true that Zeon has the body count of billions of people because they believed in spacenoid supremacy, but that doesn't mean that every spacenoid is blamed for Zeon's crimes, nor that the Federation is justified in stooping to their level. The Federation's brutal treatment post-OYW is the reason the UC is plagued by remnants of Zeon out there. Driving them to a corner was what made them cling so much to their past. Considering the Gundam references in Fire Emblem, Kaga was probably thinking something along those lines.

[Acacia Sgt]

Ahahaha, at last, got an S Rank Olwen Ring! Time to forge that Thunder tome, mwahahaha...

Ive gonna be like...

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, actually, haha, it might only be situationally beneficial, and efficiently the earliest you can do it. So... you need the luck of the draw with the Bond Rings.

A +5 Thunder has 10 MT to a +5 Thoron with 23 MT. Even with Ike's Engrave, Thunder would have 13 MT. So the choice is between doubling at 3-range with 13 MT vs a single hit of ~30 MT with Thoron (with Ike's Engrave and an S Rank Mae Bong Rind).

Perhaps doubling with Thunder can be used for softening purposes than as a magic nuke, more so by late game. Still...

THUNDER BREAK