Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

Man, i think that the western gunslinger character having Spanish-themed ablities is neat

 

11 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

..:Time to replace the Agility Quartz Gems with something else then. Maybe if can craft another Arts Stealth 3, so she doesn't have to worry about evading attacks since she shouldn't aggro hmmm

Agility gems could still be good for evasion since you'll occasionally have to deal with enemy AoE Arts but yeah, Arts Stealth is good. 

11 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

I am also now listening to ''An Obastacle in our Path'' 24/7...

It is the best boss theme in the series, provided it's the remastered version.

(This is not counting Unique Monster themes).

2 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Ah, Makna, my least favorite point in the game, gameplay and storyline wise.

Not sure about storyline-wise but i definitly don't have Makna Forest as high as some might put it. Playing through DE made me fully realize exactly what that is: Landmarks are too scattered about and i'm not that big on the area themes. And aside from the Great Makna Falls and that giant ether crystal near the lake, it's not visually as impressive as the areas that came before and after it.

I think Valak Mountain is even worse than Makna when it comes to Landmark placement but at least it looks very pretty at night.

2 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

it's not as bad for me unless the character is the focus of the game...

Even here, it depends for me. If i don't like the character and the game is completely centeralized around them, then it's a problem. If i don't like the character and the game focuses on them but also focuses on other characters, then i can live with it.

2 hours ago, twilitfalchion said:

Luke fon Fabre from Tales of the Abyss. At least Tear is such an awesome contrast to Luke's jackass personality.

Tbf, Luke being an unlikable asshole for like the first half of the game makes sense with context. Risky move tho, ngl, because an unlikable main character can kill a story for a lot of people.

[Sidereal Wraith]

*The clinking of bottles can be heard coming from the hallway along with this music before Wraith enters the room*

 

[Strullemia]

Bought YS VIII today and then tried to collect the My Nintendo Points only to get an error code:

"You cannot collect My Nintendo points for this software as the expiry date has passed."

That's ain't it Nintendo.

[Sidereal Wraith]

Is the YS series any good?

[DragonFlames]

So, I just got done with the main story of Fate Extella Link. I'm not yet through with the game, however! There's still a lot to do and I'd like to try and do it.

With that being said, now that I've experienced the main story mode, I'd like to offer my full thoughts on the game. I'll keep it as spoiler-free as I can, of course!

If you want a TL;DR: I really liked the game and recommend it to anyone interested in Fate or just musou games in general.

Gameplay:
If you recall my first impressions of the game, I think this one improves a lot upon the prequel, Fate Extella: The Umbral Star. While the basic gameplay loop remains unchanged (you go from sector to sector to conquer them and make that territory yours while fighting enemies), Extella Link does a good job at spicing up the gameplay with skills you can use in battle, some of which can trigger Rush Attacks when they connect, Code Casts to support your Servant with (though the first game had these, too), just being able to select which Servant you want to play as for each battle, and of course through variying objectives, some of which are even under a time limit, which makes you prioritize certain things over others, which is something the first game tried, but failed at in retrospect. It is also much easier to execute a Noble Phantasm this time, Noble Phantasms being a Servant's ultimate attack, capable of wiping out an entire sector in one go. They have gotten rid of the need to find three items hidden in a stage to be able to use it, and have instead opted to make it a gauge you can fill while you are in what is called "Moon Drive Mode", which is a temporary buff to all of your stats and grants immunity to knockback, which is very useful when fighting other Servants. Moon Drive Mode itself is also a gauge you can fill by just killing loads and loads of mooks. It offers its own, slightly weaker finishing move, called a Drive Skill, which will instantly end Moon Drive when used. Think of it as a Noble Phantasm on a smaller scale.
Servants in your group will also ask you to fulfill side missions, which adds further variety. These range from conquering a certain number of sectors to defeating a certain number of enemies in a given time limit to defeating enemy Servants in certain ways. Fulfilling these will strengthen your bond with your Servants, which will in turn make them stronger by unlocking further equipment slots for passive skills. You can also interact with your Servants in your hubworld and learn a bit about them when you do. Strengthening bonds with your Servants will also make them more effective support members. You can bring two more Servants into battle with you and while you cannot switch to them in a fight, they can still provide your main Servant (the one you're currently playing as) with various means of assistance from attacking together to defending you from attacks.
All in all, I think the gameplay is certainly the strongest it has ever been in a musou-type game, and that Marvelous has managed to beat Koei Tecmo at their own game in this regard.

Presentation:
The presentation in this game is absolutely fantastic as well. Environments look stunning, character models are much improved from The Umbral Star, and the attack animations have received serious upgrades. In that same vein, the music in this game is absolutely fantastic as well. They brought back a number of tracks from The Umbral Star (mostly the individual Servant themes), as well as older Fate games in the Extraverse.

Story:
As far as the story is concerned, it is a lot more basic than the previous game was and that works in its favor. It doesn't try to break new grounds or be overly convoluted, it is just a good, straightforward story that provides context to what you are doing, and that's all I really ask for. In that regard, it does a better job than Umbral Star did.
What I am also happy about is that they addressed many of my gripes with Umbral Star when it comes to how characters were treated. There is no more shafting of certain characters in favor of others, which was one of the main points of contention in the first game. In fact, it almost feels like they did the reverse, as Tamamo has much more agency and presence in this story than Nero does, whereas The Umbral Star engaged in quite egregious Nero wank and basically tossed Tamamo out the window save for her own route.
The one gripe I had with the story goes into spoiler territory, so be warned:

 

Altera siding with Rex Magnus Karl felt forced. Frankly, it didn't make much sense to me. It felt like they just wanted you to fight Altera at one point and did everything in their power to make it happen. Now, I know she thinks of him as her brother, but still. The guy is literally trying to rob the entire world of its free will. Something Altera was very brutally subjected to in The Umbral Star. You'd think she'd be a little more opposed to that kind of thing. I guess it's to show how good-natured she is that she would stay with someone who has no other true allies, but it still didn't sit entirely right with me.

Other than that, the story is solid.

Characters:
I liked almost every character in this game. Some fell down my personal rankings of Fate characters a bit, and there are some that I absolutely disliked, but I was otherwise cool with everyone. I liked most of the newcomers, as well.
One character in particular however has made it to my prestigious shit-list. Though he managed that by the end of Umbral Star, I had hoped he either would never appear here or would be somewhat more tolerable, but nope. He was a ranty, whiny bitch in Umbral Star; in Link, he's just a prick.
Well done, Type Moon. /s

Other gripes:
One gameplay mechanic I was bothered by is how the guard button may as well be nonexistent. Enemies just break right through it whenever you try to use it.
Also, once you're stuck in a combo, that's that, and if the enemy catches you against a wall or corner, you get stunlocked to oblivion and there's little you can do about it. That's par for the course in a musou game, but that won't stop me from bringing it up until the makers of these games finally fix it.
The main story mode is way too short. 27 stages distributed across three routes is not a lot. I feel like they could have done much more with what is essentially Fate Warriors.
DLC is hella overpriced. 10€ for a single character is ridiculous.

Conclusion:
I'm happy I played this game. Honestly, I did not expect to like it as much as I do. It has certainly made it to the top of my personal musou games rankings based on its great gameplay alone. Is it a perfect game? No such thing exists, but it's great fun and really enjoyable, even if you're not a superfan of Fate. It also does not feel like you need to be familiar with Fate in general to enjoy this game. There is a helpful glossary that walks you through the most important terms of that universe and the game does a good job at explaining itself and its world (which I appreciated a lot).

With that, I leave you with the finalized Fate Extella Link character tier list. Once again sorted by how much I liked a character vs. how much I enjoyed playing as them (spoilers for size reasons)

Edited July 17, 2020 by DragonFlames

[DragonFlames]

As a small addition to my point about the music being amazing. This is the main menu theme:

So... yeah.

[Shadow Mir]

Believe it or not, Aegislash actually fell to UU. People were thinking it was gonna get banned in short order. Sure enough...

[Strullemia]

7 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Absolutely love it! I played Extella: The Umbral Star prior to this, and Link is that, but one hell of a lot better.
Story is kind of basic, but it works for a game like this and it's still a good story, in my opinion. Gameplay is fun, especially since it offers you more options than just "press button to kill stuff". Only gripe I have with the gameplay is that the Guard button might as well be nonexistent, because guarding never works for some reason;

Good to know. If a price drop happens I might get it or even when one doesn't happen. Right now I just have too many games to play.

Edited July 17, 2020 by Strullemia

[DragonFlames]

1 minute ago, Strullemia said:

Good to know. If I price drop happens I might get it or even when one doesn't happen. Right now I just have too many games to play.

Definitely do check it out if it interests you and you have the time for it. It's a good game.

[Strullemia]

3 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Definitely do check it out if it interests you and you have the time for it. It's a good game.

I will but there's so much stuff I still need to do. At some point I got in the "getting old and having a big backlog of games" trap and I have a decent amount of games that I started playing but haven't finished yet. 

Those games being:

Crash trilogy, Spyro trilogy, Octopath Traveler, Atelier Lulua, Diablo 3, Luigi's Mansion 3, Rune Factory 4, Breath Of The Wild, Xenoblade, Trials of Mana and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. 

I'll also get the new Neptunia for the Switch when that gets released and need to start Ys VIII (Shrimp considers it one one of his top 3 games so it's gotta be quite good).

It doesn't help that I've been bussier in my vacation with other non-gaming stuff then I expected to be so I've had less time to work through that but it's good to hear that Fate EXTELLA LINK is a solid game, I've always wanted to play more Fate games but most of them are Japanese exclusive or not that great (I haven't heard good things about Fate Extella the umbral star). We need more good Fate games.

Edited July 17, 2020 by Strullemia

[DragonFlames]

18 minutes ago, Strullemia said:

I will but there's so much stuff I still need to do. At some point I got in the "getting old backlog gamer" trap and I have a decent amount of games that I started playing but haven't finished yet. 

Those games being:

Crash trilogy, Spyro trilogy, Octopath Traveler, Atelier Lulua, Diablo 3, Luigi's Mansion 3, Rune Factory 4, Xenoblade and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.

That is a lot of games. Best of luck with them!

18 minutes ago, Strullemia said:

I'll also get the new Neptunia for the Switch when that gets released and need to start Ys VIII (Shrimp considers it one one of his top 3 games so it's gotta be quite good).

If you mean Megadimension Neptunia VII, that one is one of my top three games. You're in for a great time!

20 minutes ago, Strullemia said:

It doesn't help that I've been bussier in my vacation with other non-gaming stuff then I expected to be so I've had less time to work through that but it's good to hear that Fate EXTELLA LINK is a solid game, I've always wanted to play more Fate games but most of them are Japanese exclusive or not that great (I haven't heard good things about Fate Extella the umbral star). We need more good Fate games.

*cries in Fate Extra CCC*

[Codename Shrimp]

And finished Makna Forest...

Too many Side quests, waaaaaaaaay too many.

And i didn't even get into Colony 6 construction yet, mainly because i lack the items, and i really don't wanna go hunt them.

5 hours ago, Armagon said:

provided it's the remastered version.

yeah, i am talking about remastered^^

3 hours ago, Wraith said:

Is the YS series any good?

one of the best around imo. If you want some high speed action game, that's the one for ya!

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

I'm happy I played this game. Honestly, I did not expect to like it as much as I do. It has certainly made it to the top of my personal musou games rankings based on its great gameplay alone. Is it a perfect game? No such thing exists, but it's great fun and really enjoyable, even if you're not a superfan of Fate. It also does not feel like you need to be familiar with Fate in general to enjoy this game. There is a helpful glossary that walks you through the most important terms of that universe and the game does a good job at explaining itself and its world (which I appreciated a lot).

 

Gratz on finishing! And seems you greatly enjoyed it 👍

 

[DragonFlames]

Just now, Shrimperor said:

Gratz on finishing! And seems you greatly enjoyed it 👍

Thanks! ^^
Also, forgot to tell you but...

She's back in action.

[Codename Shrimp]

3 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Thanks! ^^
Also, forgot to tell you but...

  Reveal hidden contents

 

She's back in action.

Nice 😄

Btw, what did the game do about the harem situation?

[null]

47 minutes ago, Strullemia said:

Rune Factory 4

A man of culture, I see. Seriously though, great game.

[Sidereal Wraith]

3 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

A man of culture, I see. Seriously though, great game.

One day I’ll be a man of culture again...maybe? I don’t know. Just gotta keep drinking.

[DragonFlames]

1 minute ago, Shrimperor said:

Nice 😄

Btw, what did the game do about the harem situation?

They scrapped it, basically. Nero and Tamamo are named as Hakuno's main Servants and that's basically it.
Well, Tamamo still calls Hakuno her "Husband" and flirts with them as per usual, but that's just Tamamo being her usual self. Or they went with the Tamamo route for this one.

The actual ship for this game is Hakuno x Charlemagne, anyway.

[Codename Shrimp]

10 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

The actual ship for this game is Hakuno x Charlemagne, anyway.

[Strullemia]

37 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

That is a lot of games. Best of luck with them!

If you mean Megadimension Neptunia VII, that one is one of my top three games. You're in for a great time!

*cries in Fate Extra CCC*

Yup, that's the one. I've also heard good things about that game.

20 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

And finished Makna Forest...

Too many Side quests, waaaaaaaaay too many.

And i didn't even get into Colony 6 construction yet, mainly because i lack the items, and i really don't wanna go hunt them.

I told you that I decided to take a break from XB after I got spoiled right. Well what also didn't help is seeing the amound of side quests that showed up xD

11 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

A man of culture, I see. Seriously though, great game.

I already played the game on the 3DS but my L button broke down which made it kind of difficult to complete. From what I recall I did finish Act 1 but nothing more than that. I didn't even get married.

Last time I played the Switch version I was taking my time just farming and the like. I'm planning to confess to three girls (Forte, Margaret and Xiao) and see which one I like the most and then make my final choice.

[Shadow Mir]

2 minutes ago, Strullemia said:

Last time I played the Switch version I was taking my time just farming and the like. I'm planning to confess to three girls (Forte, Margaret and Xiao) and see which one I like the most and then make my final choice.

Well then. Where are you at? Also, look out for killer plants. And giant mooks.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Just now, Shrimperor said:

And finished Makna Forest...

Too many Side quests, waaaaaaaaay too many.

And i didn't even get into Colony 6 construction yet, mainly because i lack the items, and i really don't wanna go hunt them.

And Frontier Village is a chore to navigate, falling off those bridges is painful.

On the positive side, a little later when you make a five-second return to Makna Forest, a part you couldn't reach ATM, and provided you got the Area Affinity of Central Bionis to ⭐3, upon completion of set of four more quests concerning the ruins in Makna Forest (available at the Archaeology Centre in Frontier Village), you'll get Monado Eater- an optional Monado Art for Shulk.

As for quest fatigue in general, the next place will be... concerning on that front at first. But don't worry about a future of tedium it's all right, because the future you will find, just like you in your dreams, they'll be free to do for a long time. (I won't give you any clues when if you don't want any hints.) The new quest overload will slowly die down after the next place, for a while.

 

---

On my own Nopon front, after more questing, I realized welcoming the Nopon to NLA could be accomplished sooner than after Chapter 6. The first Affinity Mission for that is available after Chapter 4, but you need to complete Chapter 5 for the second one to become available, so you can get them right after the Ma-non, and with the Orphe arriving after Chapter 6, NLA quickly goes from empty save for humanity to a thriving outpost in the universe of interspecies diversity. Nopon Commerce Guild is selling weapons too now.

I wonder if X2 would include Bratty Papaya's father- he isn't dead they said (I thought he was before watching the relevant mission again), just off being Heropon for the year to pay family expenses. The job involves fighting "wicked gods" that choice of words says "Baten Kaitos funtime parody" to me, whatever that means. Why didn't we ever encounter him in XCX in spite of all the questing that is done across Mira? Hopefully the father is unlike son, but how to write him for maximum actually funny comedy I do not know.

Oh, I sorta remembered this, but Ma-non don't wear underwear. One Ma-non is interested in it, and tries some custom-made by humans for Ma-non on, but it's too tight and restrictive. Ma-non as a whole don't care about fashion- they wear whatever is easy, comfortable and utilitarian- so loose, light, and protective. It fits in with their Candid and Credible armor, which is said to me made using the same fabric as Ma-non clothes, the materials of which provide protection against electromagnetic waves during interstellar travel. The Ma-non aren't shy about their body measurements either, several females willingly without embarrassment offer their sizes when asked during the Ma-non fashion-startup mission.

[Codename Shrimp]

5 minutes ago, Strullemia said:

Well what also didn't help is seeing the amound of side quests that showed up xD

I tried to count the ones i did so far

Keyword tried

I was at 60 and not even at half of the list lol

I will ask you what you got spoiled about after i finish the game hehe

[Acacia Sgt]

That reminds me, I still have my "just finished Act II" file on my 3DS...

I might end up starting over, as it is. Then it will be all over again once I get it on the Switch, haha.

[Shadow Mir]

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

On the positive side, a little later when you make a five-second return to Makna Forest, a part you couldn't reach ATM, and provided you got the Area Affinity of Central Bionis to ⭐3, upon completion of set of four more quests concerning the ruins in Makna Forest (available at the Archaeology Centre in Frontier Village), you'll get Monado Eater- an optional Monado Art for Shulk.

Speaking of optional Monado Arts, you're gonna want to do some questing in a certain spoileriffic location. One quest there gives another Monado Art. By the way, that Monado Art you mentioned is guarded by a Unique Monster that's probably gonna be higher level than you. Then you find you can't open the goddamn thing it was sitting on.

[Codename Shrimp]

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And Frontier Village is a chore to navigate, falling off those bridges is painful.

yeah i fell one time lol

4 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

On the positive side, a little later when you make a five-second return to Makna Forest, a part you couldn't reach ATM, and provided you got the Area Affinity of Central Bionis to ⭐3, upon completion of set of four more quests concerning the ruins in Makna Forest (available at the Archaeology Centre in Frontier Village), you'll get Monado Eater- an optional Monado Art for Shulk.

thanks for the tip!

 

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

he new quest overload will slowly die down after the next place, for a while.

thank god!