Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Saint Rubenio]

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Today is a day of love! No no, not just romantic love but love of any kind, be it love for a family member, a friend or even a potted plant. In spite of what marketing will tell ye, Valentines day is not just a day to give chocolates to your significant other, it's a day to celebrate love as a whole and how it binds us all together. Love for your family, love for your friends, and most importantly, love for yourself. That is what this day was meant to represent.

It's also the Telegrapher's day, don't you forget. But yeah true.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

I love it.

Thanks. I love it too.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Xander's works way more then it should, oh my God.

Right? I was surprised by how natural it looks. Xander really is Little Garon Jr.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Elise looks like her neck was snapped but that might be because of the beard it looks like that.

Elise looks like her neck was snapped because her artwork is horrible to edit. That, and I didn't really bother much.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

My weakness for long messy hair and my discontent with forced fan-service cancel each other out with Camilla which is probably why I can tolerate her more than most folks.

Ohh, I see.

...Honestly, I just wish she wore pants and a shirt. Her design would be perfectly fine - great, even! - if it made any sense whatsoever.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Now this would've been interesting! Though to make it work we would have to see him act as a benevolent leader early on so the player can get attached to him and have their heart ripped out when he starts acting all evil like.

I mean, yeah. There are a number of ways in which Garon could've been written better. One of them would've been to have monkeys write him some dialogue.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Aww, Echoes spoilers.

I mean I kind of assumed that's what was going on anyways but still.

Ah, crap! I'm so sorry... I can't believe I spoiled to you that Rudolf's secret identity is Garon.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

He hates everything equally.

Truly a role model.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

It's Roy and Lissa, two Fire Emblem's in one.

Or Pokemon in this case.

Roy's even a redhead. The connection could not be any clearer.

2 minutes ago, Benice said:

Play the game and find out for yourself.

It's from Substory 35 of Like A Dragon, though, if you wanna skip playing the game.

Dang it, Ben! How dare you leave me hanging!

[Eltosian Kadath]

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

 

I dont even remember if I'm still alive. Probably not!

Still alive so far.

 

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Happy Telegraphist Day, people!

HAPPY TELEGRAPHIST DAY

 

19 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

 

Today is a day of love! No no, not just romantic love but love of any kind, be it love for a family member, a friend or even a potted plant. In spite of what marketing will tell ye, Valentines day is not just a day to give chocolates to your significant other, it's a day to celebrate love as a whole and how it binds us all together. Love for your family, love for your friends, and most importantly, love for yourself. That is what this day was meant to represent.

Now that is a nice reminder for the true meaning of Valentines Day.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Played a little ways into the second area of SMTV. More of the same urban ruins scenery, though there is a change of lighting and things feel denser, due to Tennozu, IIRC, being in the former Tokyo Bay region, so shipping containers and storehouses abound. No ships so far though.

Stopped when I got to the first boss in this region. Now I need to grind to update my team with ice and expel and no elec weakness to take it on. A good Jack Frost will be lovely with its ice damage + Rakunda unique spell. I mostly avoided battle along the way. It's not that I'm too weak to fight a lot, it's the choice to restrict the Nahobino and his demons' skill slots that's getting the way. Once I find the Abscess that gives me the Miracles for the 6th skill slots, I'll be amped to start fusing demons again. Five skills is okay right now, but I don't like the limitation. The eventual 7th and 8th would be great too, but not as potent additions and I know they're even further away. I also require more demon slots, 12 isn't enough for me.

I noticed the game has thrown a few alignment dialogue and sidequest choices at me. So far, I'm leaning Law, though I might try for balancing my decisions for the Neutral outcome. The game has yet to give me any good reason why, other than their signature arrogance, the angels are bad.

 

Although I'm thinking that's since it's Valentine's Day, I could get back to Story of Seasons FOMT at last and finish doing the dating events for the last three (or was it four? I can't remember.) characters then wed one of them. That would free me to get RF5 sometime shortly after its initial release, since part of me is saying "Why buy another game where romance is part of the appeal, when you can't be bothered to propose in a game you already have?". -But then this would only add ever more to my backlog. I feel less like a video game player sometimes, and more like a video game collector.

 

1 hour ago, Dayni said:

My thinking process was "if I wrote this down, I would rehash it in my head less" where it has been for a while. Maybe it's working, maybe it's not.

1 hour ago, Dayni said:

As someone who only has MK7 because it was bundled with his console and has next to no MK experience, when it comes to tracks from older games do they do large graphical updates with changes to the background? I don't know.

For a more radical update, see Ribbon Road. For something less so, how about Moo Moo Meadows?

[GuardianSing]

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ohh, I see.

...Honestly, I just wish she wore pants and a shirt. Her design would be perfectly fine - great, even! - if it made any sense whatsoever.

To be fair I think it's more to do with her character than her actual design. Were she handled better and not clearly made to pander to specific players yet her character design remained the same, I think it would've been fine. When you boil it down, it's hardly the worst character design for a Fire Emblem woman, it's just the combination with her poor character that makes it easy to pick on her overall design.

But do I have the edit for you

*Chief's kiss* Beautiful in it's subtly

I'd swoon were this not the same woman who was really enthusiastic on chopping off Hinoka's head.

 

 

[Sidereal Wraith]

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Oh yes, 

...happy Valentine's Day!💕

 

Yes, happy international singles awareness day!

[Saint Rubenio]

33 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

To be fair I think it's more to do with her character than her actual design. Were she handled better and not clearly made to pander to specific players yet her character design remained the same, I think it would've been fine. When you boil it down, it's hardly the worst character design for a Fire Emblem woman, it's just the combination with her poor character that makes it easy to pick on her overall design.

Yeah, this is true enough. Camilla has several flaws. Like Garon. Truly her father's daughter.

Quote

But do I have the edit for you

*Chief's kiss* Beautiful in it's subtly

Yeah, I've seen a couple mods that do this. Kind of unreal how much better the design looks without all the idiotic fanservice windows.

Quote

I'd swoon were this not the same woman who was really enthusiastic on chopping off Hinoka's head.

Oh yeah, that was a great moment. I remember thinking "soooo is nobody going to stop the psychopath? We had them convinced to stand down, this is completely unnecessary!"

Edited February 14, 2022 by Saint Rubenio

[Seazas]

On 2/3/2022 at 1:26 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

The rockslide one I'd consider specially egregious.

In the original Gaiden it was just a natural occurrence, and Celica was way out of the zone of danger. In SoV, they changed it so the rockslide was a deliberate Duma Faithful attack against her, and then have Conrad come to her rescue.

"A natural occurrence." The rockslide was one of the most blatant examples of Gaiden's forced plot contrivance. There were zero signs of rocky unstable terrain beforehand. It legit just happened to further the plot and force the two to be separate. It's the polar opposite of something happening naturally since we never get a meaningful rockslide or earthquake event again. The rockslide event in SOV makes 10x more sense for the world Gaiden created, even if the moment with Conrad was less than preferable. 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Seazas

[Acacia Sgt]

3 minutes ago, Seazas said:

"A natural occurrence." The rockslide was one of the most blatant examples of Gaiden's forced plot contrivance. There were zero signs of rocky unstable terrain beforehand. It legit just happened to further the plot and force the two to be separate. It's the polar opposite of something happening naturally since we never get a meaningful rockslide or earthquake event again. The rockslide event in SOV makes 10x more sense for the world Gaiden created, even if the moment with Conrad was less than preferable. 

The point wasn't about the rockslide itself. The point was that SoV turned an event where Celica was never in danger into one where she was, and have someone come to her rescue.

[Seazas]

10 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

The point wasn't about the rockslide itself. The point was that SoV turned an event where Celica was never in danger into one where she was, and have someone come to her rescue.

I sure hope that you aren't using the rockslide event against the game. What we have now is an improvement regardless of how outdated and cheesy it can be sometimes. It's one of the rare things that both sides are equal on, that being the writers' attempts to try and add stakes. Remember the Berkut encounter where only 3 generals are stated to give Alm and his army massive trouble with a cutscene and dialogue to boot? While in Gaiden, it was just a sweep to reinforce Alm's strength.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Seazas

[Acacia Sgt]

14 minutes ago, Seazas said:

I sure hope that you aren't using the rockslide event against the game. What we have now is an improvement regardless of how outdated and cheesy it can be. It's one of the rare things that both sides are equal on, it's the writers' attempts to try and add stakes. Remember the Berkut encounter where only 3 generals are stated to give Alm and his army massive trouble with a cutscene and dialogue to boot? Meanwhile it was a sweep in Gaiden like everything else in the game.

It is against the game when it's one event of several added in order to make Celica have more damsel in distress moments, which did not exist in Gaiden. SoV may have "fixed" the contrivedness of Alm and Celica being forcefully separated, but it did not had to do it at the expense of Celica's agency. Since, again, in Gaiden Celica was never in any danger or need of rescue from the rockslide.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Benice]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Dang it, Ben! How dare you leave me hanging!

I'm doing you a favor, I promise!

 

NOO THE SHORT STORY WE'RE GONNA WRITE FOR ENGLISH HAS A WORD LIMIT

[Acacia Sgt]

Just now, Benice said:

NOO THE SHORT STORY WE'RE GONNA WRITE FOR ENGLISH HAS A WORD LIMIT

Is it 800 words?

[Seazas]

9 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

It is against the game when it's one event of several added in order to make Celica have more damsel in distress moments, which did not exist in Gaiden. SoV may have "fixed" the contrivedness of Alm and Celica being forcefully separated, but it did not had to do it at the expense of Celica's agency. Since, again, in Gaiden Celica was never in any danger or need of rescue by the rockslide.

Both of Alm and Celica's agencies were lessened for the sake of attempting a more balanced plot, it's not exclusive to Celica. Sometimes things are taken but a lot's given to both of them at the same time. They still do the things they do, but SOV actually added a lot for Celica too. She's given more focus on her passionate desires to save her people. They made up a brand new birthmark for her and made her promotion significantly more important rather than having it happen with a random unnamed woman in Grieth's jailcell. Alm had more fanfare in comparison, SOV went and fixed that issue.

Echoes also added new scenes of people constantly doubting Alm with him needing to defend and justify himself, a far cry from Gaiden where he just did what he wanted without anybody talking about it. They added deliverance infighting over Alm's presence. They actively bring up the sus vibes of Mycen's grandson rather than letting it exist with no issues. They even added people like Tatiana having no idea someone like Alm was supposed to be the leader. That lessens a lot of the overbearing charisma and tight grip Alm had over the plot in Gaiden. Alm had everything go perfectly in comparison to SOV to the point Gaiden made up a random birthmark that Celica didn't have just to make sure Zeke fights with us. 

I'd argue that despite some added contrivedness, things are more balanced than they've ever been.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Seazas

[Benice]

21 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Is it 800 words?

I don't actually know yet, we haven't discussed it in class.

[GuardianSing]

58 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, this is true enough. Camilla has several flaws. Like Garon. Truly her father's daughter.

She's insane like Garon or she's sexy like Garon?

 

[Saint Rubenio]

4 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

She's insane like Garon or she's sexy like Garon?

I elect not to answer this question.

[Seazas]

5 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

She's insane like Garon or she's sexy like Garon?

 

Both.

[Sidereal Wraith]

4 minutes ago, Seazas said:

Both.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, Seazas said:

Both of Alm and Celica's agencies were lessened for the sake of attempting a more balanced plot, it's not exclusive to Celica. Sometimes things are taken but a lot's given to both of them at the same time. They still do the things they do, but SOV actually added a lot for Celica too. She's given more focus on her passionate desires to save her people. They made up a brand new birthmark for her and made her promotion significantly more important rather than having it happen with a random unnamed woman in Grieth's jailcell. Alm had more fanfare in comparison, SOV went and fixed that issue.

Echoes also added new scenes of people constantly doubting Alm with him needing to defend and justify himself, a far cry from Gaiden where he just did what he wanted without anybody talking about it. They added deliverance infighting over Alm's presence. They actively bring up the sus vibes of Mycen's grandson rather than letting it exist with no issues. They even added people like Tatiana having no idea someone like Alm was supposed to be the leader. That lessens a lot of the overbearing charisma and tight grip Alm had over the plot in Gaiden. Alm had everything go perfectly in comparison to SOV to the point Gaiden made up a random birthmark that Celica didn't have just to make sure Zeke fights with us. 

I'd argue that despite some added contrivedness, things are more balanced than they've ever been.

It ultimately doesn't change the fact that the rockslide change was not to Celica's benefit. Which was the topic of the conversation you only quoted a single post of. The previous posts were in discussion about Conrad's inclusion into the game. The fact he was added in order to rescue Celica at least three times does not reflect well on the decision to include him to begin with. Because it is unlike the way Alm's route was changed. Celica is more negatively impacted by her changes than Alm is to his.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Seazas]

33 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

It ultimately doesn't change the fact that the rockslide change was not to Celica's benefit. Which was the topic of the conversation you only quoted a single post of. The previous posts were in discussion about Conrad's inclusion into the game. The fact he was added in order to rescue Celica at least three times does not reflect well on the decision to include him to begin with. Because it is unlike the way Alm's route was changed. Celica is more negatively impacted by her changes than Alm is to his.

I still believe the rockslide change doesn't matter, leaving it the way it was from Gaiden would suck. Celica's route had a lot of changes than just Conrad, she benefits heavily from them. It's a massive exaggeration to say that only Alm benefitted. And he didn't get it perfectly either since the mirror subplot and illusion of Celica was infinitely more pointless and contrived than Conrad. At least Conrad has a payoff and does matter to Celica personally. Alm got nothing out of either those scenes, he even gets his strength and agency lessened since he actively struggles on 3 Rigelian clowns despite having a whole army by his side.

We get some decent stuff and overall ok character out of Celica's more divisive changes, we get 5 seconds of "oh no...! anyway." with Alm's. Celica's family was horribly shafted in Gaiden, now we get to know more about them than before. We get nothing new with the more egregious changes on Alm's end. So I'm more than willing to argue that there's a balance here and Celica's route is still great.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Seazas

[Acacia Sgt]

10 minutes ago, Seazas said:

Celica's route had a lot of changes than just Conrad, she benefits heavily from them.

It largely depends on the combined weight of all the good against the one of all the bad. 

Quote

It's a massive exaggeration to say that only Alm didn't benefit.

No one said that.

Quote

And he didn't get it perfectly either since the mirror subplot and illusion of Celica was infinitely more pointless and contrived than Conrad.

The mirror thing seems to be the compensation that SoV removed Alm being trapped at the Dragon's Maw. Since in Gaiden he couldn't leave, unlike SoV. Every time you moved Celica on the map, you had to do a forced battle against Dracozombies with Alm. Which was part of the reason why Celica submitted to Jedah's demands. Something that SoV took away. In fact, Alm escapes from the mirror's spell due to the charm Celica gave him as kids. While it's still Celica bailing him out like in Gaiden, the context is completely different. Since for starters it's no longer a conscious self-sacrificing decision that Celica is doing at that very moment.

Quote

At least Conrad has a payoff and does matter to Celica personally. Alm got nothing out of either those scenes.

Which, again, didn't quite need to turn Celica into a continuous damsel in distress.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Seazas]

17 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

It largely depends on the combined weight of all the good against the one of all the bad. 

No one said that.

The mirror thing seems to be the compensation that SoV removed Alm being trapped at the Dragon's Maw. Since in Gaiden he couldn't leave, unlike SoV. Which was part of the reason why Celica submitted to Jedah's demands. Something that SoV took away. In fact, Alm escapes from the mirror's spell due to the charm Celica gave him as kids. While it's still Celica bailing him out like in Gaiden, the context is completely different. Since for starters it's no longer a conscious self-sacrificing decision that Celica is doing at that very moment.

Which, again, didn't quite need to turn Celica into a continuous damsel in distress.

And the combined weight still outclasses the bad. Celica got a way more expanded character, more times to show her strength and desire to protect the people she holds dear even through violence if she has to, her promotion is significantly better and thought through than in Gaiden, more scenes to show the two's mutual care for each other, the equal amount of charming dialogue overall like Alm gets, her past and family is actually shown to us than a blatant afterthought like in Gaiden, we get a new character related to that past (even giving Halcyon more purpose through that character... now giving Halcyon more than just plot convenient powerup for Alm and Alm alone), etc. They even changed the entire lore to fully account for Mila and Celica's end. She got the plot birthmark she was denied of in Gaiden and exclusive Mila related abilities that are given importance in the lore of Valentia rather than Alm getting exclusivity with the Kingsfang. Celica gets to have actual prf weapons and abilities now! 

That was a mistake, I meant "only Alm benefitted". You seem to argue that's the case and his route got massive positive changes and Celica's are negative... which I can't agree with. There's so many good things that got underappreciated or ignored for the sake of negativity.

That logic would work if it weren't for the fact that Alm is still heavily implied to be stuck in dragon's maw since Jedah still brings Alm up like in Gaiden. The story never mentions Alm backtracking, it's just an attempted QOL gameplay change. The canonical Drama CD goes as far as to put that the charm is a unique case that heavily helped Alm out and is meant to repel Duma's magic, it's not a replacement for dragon's maw. These are two instances of him being bailed out by Celica in two different ways (technically three since the charm is used again to defeat a specific spell Alm had no counter to). SOV didn't take it away, the factor is still there if Jedah's going to randomly mention Alm like in Gaiden. They put focus on other things now too since in Gaiden: it is mentioned in dialogue that Celica's main mission is still to bring back Mila at all costs.

"I am Hark.
You have journeyed here on a quest to seek the vanished Mila?" -Act 4

Does the damsel stuff matter too much when Alm gets a similar treatment anyway? He gets his strength lessened rather than being peak male fantasy and had to get saved by her more than once. He gets more people questioning him and isn't a steamrolling god like in Gaiden. There's a balance here that I'm arguing about. Alm didn't just get good while Celica got bad. Celica got to have impactful things as a character that are equal to Alm's.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Seazas

[Saint Rubenio]

Why oh why is there limited inventory space in Pokemon.

Stop making me toss away all these temporary statboosters that I would've never used anyway.

[Punished Dayni]

6 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Why oh why is there limited inventory space in Pokemon.

Stop making me toss away all these temporary statboosters that I would've never used anyway.

1: They could have helped in some of those fights.

2: Sell em if you're not wanting to use them.

3: They finally resolved this in Gen 4.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Dayni

[Saint Rubenio]

You've got to be kidding me.

I found this "meteorology institute" place. I spotted a pirate lady, so I decided to walk all the way back to Malavida town or whatever Erico's place is called to visit the pokemon center, as I had four dead mons.

Then, upon coming back, I find that there's a random bed in the institute in which I can sleep to restore my pokes. Thanks a lot, game. Truly appreciate it.

Anyway

I've got to hand it to you, game. You got me. I've encountered two of these ninja kids so far, and they've been the smartest people in the game.

Also, I haven't shared pokemon naming screenshots in a while. Mainly because I've been feeling pretty uncreative. I named one of them AAAAA, so you get an idea. That being said

Let's see if you get the joke with this one.

6 minutes ago, Dayni said:

1: They could have helped in some of those fights.

Game's easy enough as it is. It doesn't need to be made even easier. If anything I want it to be harder, I've been avoiding trainer battles for a little while because the game has devolved into the "press A a lot of times to win" tedium that I so despise in JRPGs. When Garon is beating water types, you know something is just not right.

6 minutes ago, Dayni said:

2: Sell em if you're not wanting to use them.

See, the problem with this is that I'd have to leg it back to the nearest town, sell an item, then leg it back to the item to find it's a useless elixir or something like that. I don't want to do that.

6 minutes ago, Dayni said:

3: They finally resolved this in Gen 4.

Good for gen 4.