Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

Nintendo is actively just fucking with us at this point. Honestly, it's hilarious.

30 minutes ago, joevar said:

another fun bit is somehow Ryza3 trade blows with RE4 remake. being released at the same date

You can pet the dogs in both.

[Acacia Sgt]

Alright, beat the Necromancer.

[Acacia Sgt]

Tfw I missed using the Ice Whip on those floating brain enemies...

*some backtracking later*

Okay, arrived at Machine Tower. Reached the first Save Point and stopping for the night.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

*looks at the Fox Archer enemy*

Okay, why is Disney's Robin Hood working for Dracula...

[joevar]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

*looks at the Fox Archer enemy*

Okay, why is Disney's Robin Hood working for Dracula...

because the bad rich guy been whipped by belmont dudes

work become sparse, and dracula minion recruitment just happen to comes at the right time

Edited March 25, 2023 by joevar

[joevar]

5 hours ago, Armagon said:

You can pet the dogs in both.

engage cant pet cat. bad game

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if you know, you know

[Saint Rubenio]

All right, I have beaten Landroi. It really did only require a slight change in (triangle) strategy. I even had the team nerd beat him to death with his book. That was hilarious.

Stupid democracy may have forced me to retread my steps from a year ago, but at least I can deviate from the path now. Instead of fending off the ugly guy from the Land of Racism who wants to conquer our demesne, like last time, we're going to... cast our lot with him, and fight our temporary allies instead. And pray the guy won't just stab us after we've dealt with our allies for him. Keeping the Roland spirit alive, even when he's gone!

1 hour ago, joevar said:

engage cant pet cat. bad game

You can, however, pet Sommie. Good game.

[Sidereal Wraith]

2 hours ago, joevar said:

engage cant pet cat. bad game

 

[joevar]

Anyone plays triangle strategy? Wgats the pros and cons of that game after playing it. And which had more "oomph", the gameplay or story?

---------

 

39 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You can, however, pet Sommie. Good game.

What if, you cant oet sommie in dlc 4, or maybe sommie not even exist there

 

[Lightchao42]

While I knew all along that Trails had an interconnected narrative, as it was one of the reasons I played it, the West Zemuria Trade Conference starting is the first time it actually felt like one. Though oddly, some of the games referenced here were released after this one.

Spoiler

Olivert is introduced reading reports from Class VII, probably from Sara saying that Rean couldn't figure out how Crow made his 50 mira disappear. Rean and co. should be in Legram right now, if I recall. It's funny how the first thing you learn about the Imperial Liberation Front is that they're working for Duke Cayenne, now I feel silly for not figuring it out earlier. No wonder they hate Osborne, with him spending 100 million taxpayer mira on bodyguards.

Kloe has returned, all is right in the world. Noel has good taste. Julia and Mueller are back too, even Richard got a mention. I was wondering if Estelle and Joshua would attend as Kloe's bodyguards, but apparently not. Also Towa is here, even though she technically didn't exist yet when Azure first released.

Already more proactive than he was during the Gospel Plan, Campanella is up to... something. It makes me wonder how Ouroboros will involve itself with all these factions at work. It seems like the next fews days will mark a turning point in the plot.

 

13 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Excuse me, what.

https://www.tumblr.com/bogleech/712678065823793152?source=share

The planet is as big as the Sun? Magcargo is hotter than the surface of the actual Sun, so maybe the Pokémon universe's Sun is hotter than that.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Instead of fending off the ugly guy from the Land of Racism who wants to conquer our demesne, like last time, we're going to... cast our lot with him, and fight our temporary allies instead.

Having played TS's demo, I can't tell whether "the Land of Racism" refers to Aesfrost or Hyzante. I'm not sure if any of the countries are great places to live in, now that I think about it.

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, joevar said:

Anyone plays triangle strategy? Wgats the pros and cons of that game after playing it. And which had more "oomph", the gameplay or story?

The story is held back by VA work (at least in EN release.)

[Shrimpica]

Now that i am at the home stretch of my maddening run, a preview of "Will Engage dethrone Conquest?"

All you probably know that Fates is my fav. FE, only mainly due to CQ gameplay.

For me, CQ is the undisputed king of FE gameplay. And it's late game, starting Stairway until Endgame, is some of fav. gaming experiences ever, with the Hoshido invasion trio -Sakura, Takumi and Hinoka's maps- being straight up my fav. maps in the series.

While going through hard run Engage almost scratched Conquest for me, but it lacked a certain punch i felt. Unfair comparison, since i am used to CQ Luna, and last i played CQ hard was....7 years ago xD

So now Engage Maddening is giving me the punch hard lacked and might legit overcome Conquest.

What it needs for that?

Ch. 23 to 25 need to impress me as much as the Hoshido invasion trio did...and they might! Their design philosphies is really close anyway.

Ch. 23 is quite similar to Sakura's map, except in reverse. Where in Sakura's map you had to deal with the obstacles and remove them using Dragon veins, here the enemy is the one destroying the obstacles using dragon veins to try to destroy you and swarm you. Sakura with her staves and the Shuriken Ballista where annoyanced you had to play with, and i think Engage ch.23 needed a couple more enemy staff users to match that. Hopefully Maddening will give that!

Ch.24...is more similar to CQ Endgame than Takumi's map but that is Takumi's map as well so lol. It's CQ Endgame on 3 lanes, and without Maids from hell to destroy the living fuck out of your army, and instead of Takumi damage wave you gut a pushback wave to mess with you combined with a turn limit to make a really cool challenge...Although also here i felt the map needed staff users while going through it on hard, so hopefully maddening will give me that? Or something that gives me the experience i needed.

Ch. 25 Also feels like a combination of different CQ's maps. The Railgun beam can be compared to Takumi's late game wave, and the layout seems semi Iago/semi Garon. It was quite a tough experience on hard thanks to the Meteor Mages, the Wyrms and the reinforcements, so how tough & fun will be this on maddening? Also the music on this game is gasmtastic.

Impress me, Engage, and dethrone Fates! I found you more fun in some areas (more fun tools, base gameplay system), and weaker in some areas (high difficulty balance, class and weapon variety), but you are the only other one besides Berwick Saga to be even able to scratch Fates amongst all other FEs, so go, overtake it!

That aside, with Fates and Engage being the last 2 non-remake games IS worked on (as 3H was done by KT), i am really looking forward to the future of the series gameplay wise, and wonder how they can improve, change and top this! Yeah it's most likely 5 years until the next non-remake FE, but it's something to look forward to nonetheless!

Honestly, writing aside, modern FE is quite honestly peak FE Era. Fates and Engage are just on completely different level gameplay wise compared to the rest of the series. Although, Thracia remake modernized and it's gameplay tweaked might join them...if they ever remake thracia that is.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[joevar]

1 hour ago, Lightcosmo said:

The story is held back by VA work (at least in EN release.)

well, im used to play game using JP dub, prefered it even. so thats one problem solved

but back to my initial question which of the two had more weight, story (assuming its JP dub) vs gameplay

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Although, Thracia remake modernized and it's gameplay tweaked might join them...if they ever remake thracia that is.

Delete fatigue first 👍

[Saint Rubenio]

33 minutes ago, joevar said:

well, im used to play game using JP dub, prefered it even. so thats one problem solved

but back to my initial question which of the two had more weight, story (assuming its JP dub) vs gameplay

Well, I'm playing it right now! If you give me some time I'll put a little write up together. Short answer is, the focus is on story, but not at the cost of gameplay, which is still very good.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Shrimpica]

41 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Delete fatigue first 👍

Eh

Fatigue is not a problem really with how batshit weak enemies in Thracia are. 

Thracia has quite a few problems yes, but fatigue is not one of em imo

Edited March 25, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Venger_06]

I got the Jeanne d'Arc event

I wonder what happens if I burn her at the stake

18 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I guess it depends on where you play.

Asturias is basically Hard Mode at the beginning, for starters. It's been a while since I last played CK2, though, so I can't tell much right now.

At least it doesn't end up as mess of infidels invading central Europe, heresies and bordergore, right?

Right?

13 hours ago, Armagon said:

Fellas, is it gay to compliment your friend's handwriting?

6 hours ago, joevar said:

if you know, you know

Modders will have to do what CAPCOM is afraid of

[Shrimpica]

5 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

Worst ending in the existence of story writing

[Saint Rubenio]

3 hours ago, joevar said:

Anyone plays triangle strategy? Wgats the pros and cons of that game after playing it. And which had more "oomph", the gameplay or story?

Long answer: The focus is on story... kind of. There's a lot of text, cutscenes are long and plentiful between battles, and there are exploration and voting phases where you explore dioramas and talk to people. In other words, a fair bit of time you don't spend fighting. The first two chapters are particularly egregious about this, there's two battles and a whole bunch of scenes introducing the world, the characters and setting the stage. This "issue" becomes less prevalent later on, when you unlock mock battles, but you have to know what you're getting into.

This, however, does not mean the game sacrificed gameplay for story. The battles, story and optional mock battles both, are varied and well designed. There's an emphasis on enviromental manipulation; you can push enemies off heighs or into other units for extra damage, set things on fire or spread electricity through bodies of water, utilize the contraptions on the map to your advantage... Even if you don't spend every waking moment fighting, when you do fight, it's a great time. Challenging, too, depending on the difficulty you choose. Hard is pretty damn hard.

The cast of units is another highlight of the game, in my opinion. Insanely creative bunch. There are less playable story characters than you might expect, with a big portion of the playable roster being random tertiary characters, but the good thing about this is that it gave them a lot more freedom to go wild with the units. For a few (early) examples, there's a shaman that can manipulate the weather, a bureaucrat that grants TP (points needed to use special abilities) to his allies, a blacksmith that builds traps and ladders on the battlefield, a hilariously old archer who can't move very well, but is unmatched when it comes to range and damage; a clown girl that can create copies of herself to distract enemies... And those aren't even the most out there units you'll get!

As for the story itself, I find it pretty good. It takes its time, like I said before, but the characters are enjoyable and the politics of the war and the worldbuilding are given great care. It's not incredibly groundbreaking, but it's a solid, sober, grounded take on a war drama. Not unlike Berwick in tone, though Berwick goes for a different scale, so it's not too great a comparison.

Of course, TS also has its branching paths. They don't have a massive impact on the narrative at large, but they still result in big chunks of the game playing differently, which adds quite a bit of replayability. Add to that NG+, which is the best kind of NG+ (you get to keep your entire roster of characters and just keep playing as if the game never ended, with all the maps scaled up to your level), and this is a game that's well worth playing multiple times. Of course I didn't do so back in the Switch days, but we'll see how it goes now

Also it's pretty (prettier on PC if you use some commands to fix a couple of visual issues), the soundtrack is great and the voice acting... ehhh it's not a masterclass in voice acting, but I enjoy it well enough. It's kind of dry, but it's grown on me with time. It suits the game's more grounded tone.

Sooo uhhh yeah. Game good. You just have to know what you're getting into and not ask the game to be something it never set out to be. If you go the game's Steam page and look through the negative reviews, 9 times out of 10 you'll see "it's not Final Fantasy Tactics." For some reason people are obsessed with comparing the game to FFT, even though they have almost nothing in common aside from the turn order system. And of course, "too much read" is another common complaint. I mean, yeah, but I find the text to be good, so I don't mind.

3 hours ago, joevar said:

What if, you cant oet sommie in dlc 4, or maybe sommie not even exist there

Darkest timeline.

A timeline without Sommie is not worth saving. Sorry, Nel.

2 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

Having played TS's demo, I can't tell whether "the Land of Racism" refers to Aesfrost or Hyzante.

Haha, well, when you play the game it becomes pretty clear which one it is. Not that the other one is that much better, but there's a definite winner in that regard.

2 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

 I'm not sure if any of the countries are great places to live in, now that I think about it.

Glenbrook's probably the nicest to be at, and even that one's got a pretty massive issue with corruption running rampant in the background.

57 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Delete fatigue first 👍

You can delete fatigue in the original game. You just spend some time at the chapter 9 arena, buy a stockpile of stamina drinks, and there you go. Fatigue doesn't exist anymore.

Honestly, of all of Thracia's issues, fatigue is vastly overstated. It doesn't really have that much of an impact, and you can just stockpile stamina drinks to neutralize it entirely. The godawful map design of the lategame that pretty much tells you to warpskip it or go home is a much greater issue, in my opinion.

[joevar]

7 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

 

Modders will have to do what CAPCOM is afraid of

reiner not just complimenting but sniffing his friend handwriting, thats next level

-----------------------------

i dont know which to compliment, RE engine being very moddable, or modder having found way to mod RE engine very seamlessly

maybe a little bit of both in the end. (since many games had extensive list of modders but spent way longer to do what they did in Resident evil remake)

5 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Worst ending in the existence of story writing

 

[Acacia Sgt]

7 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

I got the Jeanne d'Arc event

I wonder what happens if I burn her at the stake

In my megacampaign playthrough I didn't got her event... but did for Robin Hood's.

It was amusing, since location does change their title, so they were the Merry Band of Toledo. XD

7 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

At least it doesn't end up as mess of infidels invading central Europe, heresies and bordergore, right?

Right?

Or in other words, the midgame, pft.

[Acacia Sgt]

Now that I think about it, Lythos is like the only country in Elyos not following a name theme, right? I mean, there's only like three native Lythians to begin with, but even so their names don't have much relation between each other, right? Or more like, between Vander and the twins.

I like that it makes thinking up names for OC's much easier when you just need to tick the corresponding checkbox.

[Lightcosmo]

39 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

9 times out of 10 you'll see "it's not Final Fantasy Tactics."

Ruben... It's not FFT. XD

[joevar]

20 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Long answer: The focus is on story... kind of. There's a lot of text, cutscenes are long and plentiful between battles, and there are exploration and voting phases where you explore dioramas and talk to people. In other words, a fair bit of time you don't spend fighting. The first two chapters are particularly egregious about this, there's two battles and a whole bunch of scenes introducing the world, the characters and setting the stage. This "issue" becomes less prevalent later on, when you unlock mock battles, but you have to know what you're getting into.

This, however, does not mean the game sacrificed gameplay for story. The battles, story and optional mock battles both, are varied and well designed. There's an emphasis on enviromental manipulation; you can push enemies off heighs or into other units for extra damage, set things on fire or spread electricity through bodies of water, utilize the contraptions on the map to your advantage... Even if you don't spend every waking moment fighting, when you do fight, it's a great time. Challenging, too, depending on the difficulty you choose. Hard is pretty damn hard.

The cast of units is another highlight of the game, in my opinion. Insanely creative bunch. There are less playable story characters than you might expect, with a big portion of the playable roster being random tertiary characters, but the good thing about this is that it gave them a lot more freedom to go wild with the units. For a few (early) examples, there's a shaman that can manipulate the weather, a bureaucrat that grants TP (points needed to use special abilities) to his allies, a blacksmith that builds traps and ladders on the battlefield, a hilariously old archer who can't move very well, but is unmatched when it comes to range and damage; a clown girl that can create copies of herself to distract enemies... And those aren't even the most out there units you'll get!

As for the story itself, I find it pretty good. It takes its time, like I said before, but the characters are enjoyable and the politics of the war and the worldbuilding are given great care. It's not incredibly groundbreaking, but it's a solid, sober, grounded take on a war drama. Not unlike Berwick in tone, though Berwick goes for a different scale, so it's not too great a comparison.

Of course, TS also has its branching paths. They don't have a massive impact on the narrative at large, but they still result in big chunks of the game playing differently, which adds quite a bit of replayability. Add to that NG+, which is the best kind of NG+ (you get to keep your entire roster of characters and just keep playing as if the game never ended, with all the maps scaled up to your level), and this is a game that's well worth playing multiple times. Of course I didn't do so back in the Switch days, but we'll see how it goes now

Also it's pretty (prettier on PC if you use some commands to fix a couple of visual issues), the soundtrack is great and the voice acting... ehhh it's not a masterclass in voice acting, but I enjoy it well enough. It's kind of dry, but it's grown on me with time. It suits the game's more grounded tone.

Sooo uhhh yeah. Game good. You just have to know what you're getting into and not ask the game to be something it never set out to be. If you go the game's Steam page and look through the negative reviews, 9 times out of 10 you'll see "it's not Final Fantasy Tactics." For some reason people are obsessed with comparing the game to FFT, even though they have almost nothing in common aside from the turn order system. And of course, "too much read" is another common complaint. I mean, yeah, but I find the text to be good, so I don't mind.

hmm alright let see some pointer i can spot

+ the good

• grounded take on war drama. (taking it too high will just make it stumble harder, war drama is unlike adventure drama usually)
• varied and well designed. (yes)
• environmental manipulation (good)
• challenging (nice)

- the bad

• branch path dont have massive impact. (if saving private ryan not worth saving, theres no way they would save him. decision in war must have impact)
• less story character, more random mook. (i dropped Tactics Ogre with this reason being one of them)

? the divider

• lots of text. (dont mind long text, doubt it will be as long as some CRPGs out there anyway. quality and quantity not mutually exclusive nor contradict each other)
• mock battles (mock battle either for grinding or other reasons can be tedious instead of cathcing your breath, we'll see)
• long pause between actions (highly situational, this could break or make it. but it tends to be good since FE short pause always bad)

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, time to resume braving through Machine Tower.

...

I swear, someone in Konami must've recently seen the Disney movie or was a fan of it when the game was made, because why else are there anthropomorphic archer foxes.