Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Sidereal Wraith]

1 hour ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

…The world had changed to my eyes. I had not expected such cruelty from the light. For in the embrace of the sun, I could find no comfort, only malice. This would change in time for the worse, along with other things.

[Codename Shrimp]

43 minutes ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

…The world had changed to my eyes. I had not expected such cruelty from the light. For in the embrace of the sun, I could find no comfort, only malice. This would change in time for the worse, along with other things.

[Sidereal Wraith]

50 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

 

[Codename Shrimp]

16 minutes ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

 

 

[Sidereal Wraith]

1 minute ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

 

 

[Lightcosmo]

Shrimpy Nep-posting again i see. XD

[Codename Shrimp]

5 minutes ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

 

You posting Bocchi? That's a Win in my book

5 minutes ago, Lightcosmo said:

Shrimpy Nep-posting again i see. XD

[Lightcosmo]

Just now, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

 

❤️

[Sidereal Wraith]

3 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

You posting Bocchi? That's a Win in my book.

 

[Codename Shrimp]

5 minutes ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

 

And the boomer returns to his natural habitat

 

[Acacia Sgt]

4 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

That was a nice read!

Although...i expected Clanne/Framme/Vandad shenanigans XD

Thanks!

Yeah, I ended up sidelining the stewards there, heh. I did had a scene or two more planned, but didn't ended up writing. At least one would've had the stewards present. Also a scene with Sommie. Well, I could still add them in.

As it stands, I don't have plans to flesh it out into a full-fledged fanfic. I might write more one-shots with Aurora, but yeah, not a full-blown story. Perhaps.

[Acacia Sgt]

I think I might just upload it as-is, however. But it will be after work.

[Sidereal Wraith]

21 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

And the boomer returns to his natural habitat

 

 

[Armagon]

after Onox is still somehow not dead after i hit him in the weak point with the Master Sword for like the 20th time.

55 minutes ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

 

Wait a minute, Wraith?

 

[Sidereal Wraith]

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Wait a minute, Wraith?

I am not what I am.

[Saint Rubenio]

I'd completely forgotten the Mario movie comes out on Wednesday.

I don't know if I'll go watch it. It doesn't exactly fill me with interest and I'm not a movie guy.

Anyway, I'm too ambitious for my own good. Time to fail at the first battle of Triangle Strategy NG+ some more. Stupid fucking Trish and her insane damage...

14 hours ago, Sooks said:

Octopath 2’s secret super boss is kicking my ass, just like in the first game. The difference is, there isn’t a mandatory boss gauntlet before (thank god) so I could do this legit without using a strategy from the internet to end the fight in 6 minutes.

…however after 100 hours I just kind of want to be done with the game. The ultimate conundrum.

Show them Hunter Osvald and they'll be filled with so much terror, they will cease attacking. It's a little known easter egg.

10 hours ago, Armagon said:

Thank you IntSys very cool.

I like how they had perfectly good exercising attires and still decided to have them do this in their regular outfits.

Eh. I'll stick with doing the Mario, thanks. The actor on that one didn't sound like he was bored out of his mind lol

10 hours ago, Sooks said:

And scholar Partitio, so his little hat can lead us to victory.

I always knew Partitio's little student hat would be the key to something. It's like Sommie's little top hat. Little hats contain big power, it is a known fact.

8 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

I remember seeing this tweet talking about how in Sweden they barely have any homeless and their healthcare is free and amazing and some self-righteous American smugly replied "Good luck becoming a billionaire there" 

Like...I'm sorry what?

Being rich is overrated. What do you even do with a billion bucks? Purchase ten thousand copies of Berwick Saga? Okay maybe being a billionaire does have its perks after all.

8 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Alright, it's finished! I knew I wasn't going to upload it to the usual sites... but I kinda want to upload it somewhere already, so...

Enjoy!

A pretty neat read! I particularly enjoyed the part where Vandad existed and did an inconsequential thing, prompting me to stand up and cheer. What can I say, I'm biased. Hey next time can you add a scene where Lindon casts thunder on Aurora and Alear tries to throw him off the Somniel--

However, I do have one criticism: there is a severe lack of Sommie. Endeavor to fix this mistake in future chapters.

[Armagon]

I like how Link just randomly obtains the completed Triforce at the end of a Linked Oracle run.

[Armagon]

Oracle of Seasons review:

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages is a fun time. This is the game that i chose to do the Linked run after playing Oracle of Ages and it's pretty good. Zelda's never really done overarching plots, even the direct sequels in the series are still standalone. So seeing something like that here is pretty neat.

I don't have too much to say about this one compared to Oracle of Ages. It's a lot simpler, focusing more on the combat than the puzzles. The item selection in this game is not that spectacular, apart from the Magnetic Gloves, which allow you to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, and it was the most interesting implementation of magnetism in the series until Breath of the Wild's Magnesis (i say that like Zelda's dabbled in magnetics more than twice).

The game, like Ages, is still a certified walkthrough game because the tiny GameBoy screen makes it impossible to see what's ahead of you. However, this game is far tamer on that, there's nothing as bad as Crescent Island or Rolling Ridges here. Likely because it was intended as a Zelda 1 remake originally, the game doesn't really ask much of you to enter it's dungeons. Speaking of, like Ages, some of the dungeon songs are bangers, most notably Ancient Tower.

Any gripes i have with this game are the same as Ages. A lot of it is just GameBoy moment. Menuing being annoying, navigation being ass, stuff like that. Give this game the Link's Awakening HD treatment please.

I think Ages is superior but Seasons is definitely the simpler one to get into and i don't think that's bad at all. Reading up on the Linked differences, i'd also say your experience with this game is enhanced if you play Ages first (even if Nintendo claims Seasons happened first).

8/10

10 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Tears of the Kingdom is going to feel a little odd then. If not without some precedent, as MM, ST, and perhaps the Oracles, are prior instances of an LoZ released upon the same console as a prior one in a similar general style, building upon a foundation created by their predecessor.

Forgot to respond to this bit, but also the DS Zelda games.

8 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Alright, it's finished! I knew I wasn't going to upload it to the usual sites... but I kinda want to upload it somewhere already, so...

Enjoy!

  Reveal hidden contents

Divine Legacy - The Dragon Child

Alear stirred awake. With a groan, he sat up at the edge of what he had been lying atop. It didn’t look quite like a bed, but it was clear it had been turned into a makeshift one. He took note of his surroundings. A mostly empty room, if it could be called that considering it only seemed to have one wall. It looked more like a large balcony or terrace, with a roof at least. Across him he could see the doors. The place was devoid of much furnishings, with only a drawer nearby and, of all things, a piano near the doors. A few decorative planters laid about, but not much else.

Where… am I? Alear could only wonder, puzzled.

Unfortunately, it seems he wasn’t able to recall much from before waking up. Just his name. So how he had ended up here, as well as where here was, were not questions he was going to get answers to. At least, not without finding someone to ask. Thus, intending to find said someone, he stood up and began to walk towards the doors.

He had barely taken a few steps when the doors began to open, making Alear stop in his tracks. From the other side emerged a little girl. She was clad in a white sundress that reached down to her calves, leaving exposed her sandals clad feet. A pink ribbon was tied around her waist. Her hair was periwinkle in color, and was tied in a braid that hung over her shoulder with another ribbon. She looked to be no older than ten. The girl held a watering can in her hand, no doubt with the intention to be used on the planters. However, the sight of Alear made her freeze.

“Oh, hello,” Alear said with a small smile.

The girl did not reply, remaining rooted on the spot. Shortly after, her red eyes began to water.

“Ah, w-what’s wrong?” Alear asked her, concerned.

Again, there was no reply. Without warning, however, the girl dropped the watering can. It bounced off the floor with a loud sound, but this was mostly ignored as the girl had then run over and hugged Alear.

“Father, you’re finally awake!” She cried out, tears now flowing freely.

“F-Father!?”

---

Alear sat at one of the tables of the Café Terrace. At the seat to his left, sitting primly, was the girl. Aurora, as she had introduced herself as.

His daughter.

He frowned. Waking up with barely a memory was already bad enough, but that it included forgetting he had a daughter? It almost made learning the fact he was figure of worship to pale in comparison. Especially since that only brought forth countless questions. Perhaps the most pressing: The girl’s mother. Alear blinked.

I’m married?

He had noticed he was wearing a ring. It felt familiar, specially the blue stone that adorned it. Alas, he still couldn’t recall much of anything. Still, it had to be his wedding ring. But if so, then where was his wife? Aurora had yet to bring her up, and Alear had to admit he wasn’t sure if he was ready to ask himself.

His thoughts would be interrupted as a plate was suddenly placed before him. Atop were a small stack of pancakes.

“Your meal is ready, Divine One,” the old steward, Vander, said as he also placed a glass of orange juice next to the plate. “I hope it’s to your liking.”

“Th-thanks,” Alear turned to him and nodded, still feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Meanwhile the excitable twins, Clanne and Framme, were placing a similar set-up before Aurora.

“Here you go, Princess Aurora!” Framme said cheerfully.

“Please enjoy your meal, Milady,” Clanne added more subdued.

“Thank you,” Aurora said.

“Once you’ve both eaten, we will depart,” Vander told them. “But there’s no need to rush, Divine One.”

Alear nodded in understanding. Even so, he was looking forward to meet his own mother. She was bound to have the answers he sought.

---

“Aaaaah!”

Alear swung his sword at the monster. Despite the fear he felt. Despite the unnerve those… things, gave him. Despite that a thousand years of sleep had eroded his combat skills. He knew he couldn’t let it stop him. He had to defeat them.

“Raaaargh!” The creature screeched as it was struck down.

He had to keep them safe. The stewards… and his daughter. That was why he had joined the war against the Fell Dragon, was it not? To keep his family safe.

Even if I can’t recall, if I must take up the sword again for them, then…

He turned around, facing the next creature, and lunged.

---

Unsurprisingly, Queen Lumera had been disheartened to hear he could not remember her. Still…

“Regardless, I’m glad to have you back, my dear child,” Lumera said with a smile.

Alear wanted to return the gesture, but he found himself he couldn’t.

“Still, that it’s not the reunion you had hoped for…” he trailed off, glancing down.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Lumera shook her head. “It’s solace enough that you’re here now, with us.”

The Divine Dragon Monarch then glanced down to Aurora.

“Isn’t that right, dear?”

“Yes, Grandmother,” Aurora happily nodded. “Father is with us now!”

Alear glanced back up, finally mustering a small smile.

“Yes, I suppose that’s true. I am back.”

If only that could mean much more than what it did right now. Alear did not felt like he was coming back home, but rather visiting Lythos for the first time. Still, after a thousand years away, perhaps it did not matter in the end.

Lumera glanced back to him.

“I know there is a lot to discuss,” she told him, “but perhaps it shall be best to do so back at the castle.”

Alear nodded. At least he was not going to be facing all this without help.

---

Alear stood by the stairs leading up to the garden fountain. Not far away was Aurora, kneeling down, playing with one of the many cats that lounged about. At least, once they had come back after things had calmed down after their little mock battle. He simply watched her, a wistful smile on his face.

“It was a surprise, was it not?”

Alear turned around, to see Lumera approaching him.

“To discover you have a daughter.”

“Oh, yes, it was,” he admitted.

Lumera stopped right next to him, her gaze also on the little girl.

“Truth be told, you would’ve been surprised all the same, even if you still had your memories.”

“What do you mean?” Alear was puzzled.

Lumera turned to face him.

“She was born after your slumber began,” she explained. “A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Considering…”

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Forgive me, but it still pains me to remember. To have seen you be struck down, unable to stop it.”

Alear saddened upon hearing that.

“It’s okay, that’s in the past,” he said. “What matters is that I recovered.”

“At the cost of your memories,” Lumera stated. “Which means you also forgot about… her.”

Alear tensed up. This was it.

“Um, yes, I’ve been meaning to ask,” he said, bracing himself for what was to come.

For a moment Lumera did not reply, simply glancing up to the sky.

“Her name was Luz,” she said at last. “You only met during the war. It did not happen right away, but you two would soon become friends.”

“I see,” Alear glanced over back to Aurora. “We then became more than that, did it not?”

“Yes, you did,” Lumera glanced back down. “You two were so happy. Even with the war happening, and the costs it was bringing us. So few of us remained. Luz’s own parents had long died as well.”

“So then,” Alear turned to face Lumera, “if Aurora was born after I was wounded, does it mean…?”

Lumera shook her head.

“No, you did not married. You had decided to hold it off until after the war was over.”

A small sly smile then graced the queen’s lips.

“But it seems you choose to not wait on some other things.”

Alear’s face quickly went beet red.

“Ah…”

I guess that explains why there was no ring.

Having long learned the Ring of the Hero-King was not, in fact, a wedding ring, it had left him wondering where it was. Turns out, there was none.

Lumera gave a small giggle.

“It’s fine. Nothing to be embarrassed about. You were a young couple in love, so it’s only natural. Even being your mother, I understand. Though that’s because I’ve had a thousand years to come to terms with it. As well as an adorable granddaughter to spoil.”

Alear gave a nervous chuckle, though then it hit him.

“Wait, all this time you’ve been referring to her in the past tense,” he noticed. “What… happened to her?”

The fact that even now there had been no sign of Luz was already a worrying sign. It would only be confirmed when Lumera once again became forlorn.

“What happened to you had been a big blow to us both,” she began. “We were the only ones left. Everyone else had died. And now we had lost you as well. Not quite dead, but not awake either. I fear she never quite recovered.”

She glanced down at the ground.

“It wasn’t long after that we found out she was pregnant. Oh, how learning that uplifted our spirits. A light shining in the darkness that plagued us. It restored her resolve, vowing to stay strong for the child. But even so, the pregnancy got complicated. Then the moment of birth came. She… did not made it. I’m sorry.”

---

Alear stood in the balcony of his assigned bedchamber. His hands gripped the railing, as he gazed up to the star-filled sky, his mind full of thoughts.

Luz…

He knew he should be feeling more strongly than that. But tried as he might, his inability to recall anything about her frustrated him instead. He would soon give up, glancing downwards and closing his eyes, as a sigh escaped his lips.

If only I could remember…

He stayed there for a moment longer before finally leaving the balcony, returning inside. He would soon change to a set of nightclothes left for him to use, intending to finally retire for the night. He had finished changing when there was a sudden knock at the door. He went over and opened the door. Standing on the other side was Aurora. She too had changed into a nightgown, and her hair flowed loose down her back.

“Oh, Aurora, what are you doing here?” Alear asked. “Shouldn’t you be in bed already?”

“Um, I…” she shyly fidgeted. “I wanted to sleep with you? If that’s alright.”

“Eh?” Alear was confused. “Why?”

“It’s what I did, back at the Somniel,” Aurora explained. “Sleeping by your side, hoping that one day you would wake up with me. After doing it for so long, it felt weird to now sleep on my own.”

She then joined her hands together, a pleading look on her face.

“So… please Father, can I? At least for tonight?”

Whatever protest Alear would’ve had quickly melted away. He couldn’t bring himself to say no to those eyes. Not to mention…

She had to have done it for centuries.

It would certainly be hard to break the habit, he had to admit. Thus, he smiled.

“Sure,” he nodded.

Aurora smiled.

“Thank you, Father.”

He stepped aside to let her in, closing the door behind her. Soon they were both under the blankets.

“Good night, Father.”

“Good night… Aurora.”

The girl would fall asleep quickly, though Alear remained awake a moment longer, staring at the ceiling.

It doesn’t matter if I don’t remember, he thought. Whatever my life was before, I have to focus on what it is now.

He turned to the side, to see Aurora’s peaceful face. He smiled.

Luz, I promise. I’ll take care of her in your steed. I’ll make sure she can grow up in a peaceful world. I’ll do both of you and mother proud, you’ll see. Even if the Fell Dragon were to return, then I’ll strike him down. I won’t let him tear apart our family. Our actions back then, they won’t be in vain.

With that he finally closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep. The road ahead was not going to be easy, but it was one he wasn’t going to traverse alone. Whatever tomorrow shall bring, he’d be ready to face it with all his might.

But for now, he’d rest.

Sorry, don't have time to put up an author's notes, so... if you got anything to ask or comment, I'll answer in the morning.

But for now... sleep.

Went back to this, ngl, i thought that this was continuing your Alear/Ivy story and then i got to the child.

Cute.

[Acacia Sgt]

32 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

A pretty neat read! I particularly enjoyed the part where Vandad existed and did an inconsequential thing, prompting me to stand up and cheer. What can I say, I'm biased. Hey next time can you add a scene where Lindon casts thunder on Aurora and Alear tries to throw him off the Somniel--

However, I do have one criticism: there is a severe lack of Sommie. Endeavor to fix this mistake in future chapters.

Yeah, I figured you'd comment on that. lol

If I do write more of this, I do intend to have that Sommie scene I scrapped, don't worry. XD

I mean, maybe next thing I write is that one-shot idea about Lindon experimenting if Emblems can take over Fabrications, so there's that.

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Went back to this, ngl, i thought that this was continuing your Alear/Ivy story and then i got to the child.

Cute.

Ahaha, no, this is meant to be a separate thing. Although, part of me is tempted to add Aurora over there. But, well, the other one is meant to have very minimal pre-canon rewriting, so likely not. Still, I do intend to write more snippets with Aurora in the future, so her interacting with the rest of the Engage cast is still in the cards.

[Saint Rubenio]

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Yeah, I figured you'd comment on that. lol

I am a man who has his priorities in order, to be sure.

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

If I do write more of this, I do intend to have that Sommie scene I scrapped, don't worry. XD

Dew it. You must.

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I mean, maybe next thing I write is that one-shot idea about Lindon experimenting if Emblems can take over Fabrications, so there's that.

Reading this gave me a different mental image.

"Hahaha! The twelve Emblems are mine! With these, I can open a portal to other dimensions, and--"

"Hold, Fell Dragon!"

"Oh? A single human hopes to oppose me? How foolish..."

"Oh, no, no. I just want to watch! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I simply must know how you intend to go about opening this portal of yours."

"......."

"Hey, after you're done, would you mind letting me cast thunder on you--"

[Acacia Sgt]

You know, I just realized how easy is to make him pull a Victor Frankenstein. XD

[Armagon]

Originally i wanted to save LoZ1 for before BotW. But i'm think i'm gonna do that now. Because now it's LoZ1 -> SS -> BotW. Very interesting because we see the game that started it all, followed by the complete antithesis of it, and then the game that returned to it.

[ping]

Oh boy, getting directions from my mum when the road is blocked by construction work...

"I think you had to go right there."
"OK, you should go right here." (...) "I wonder if it's even possible to go right here."
Me: "Last sign said to go left soon." Mum: "OK. (...) You should swap to the right lane."

[Codename Shrimp]

6 minutes ago, ping said:

Oh boy, getting directions from my mum when the road is blocked by construction work...

"I think you had to go right there."
"OK, you should go right here." (...) "I wonder if it's even possible to go right here."
Me: "Last sign said to go left soon." Mum: "OK. (...) You should swap to the right lane."

LOL 2real

reminds me of the one time my brother tried to cook something new and asked my mom about it

"Do it like this"

"sure"

*couple hours later*

"Mom this sucks"

"Does it? Good to know so that i don't do it!"

She tested it on us lmao

[Interdimensional Observer]

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis is done. It took about 50 hours and 2 minutes. The game overstayed its welcome, it didn't need to be that long.

The game gave me a treasure trove of X-Heals, Heal-Alls, Elixirs, Tranquilizers (big SP restorative), Super Nectars, and Shining Grails (party revives, including the back row) in the section right before the final boss. I ended up using only one Elixir and a few Heal-Alls (which aren't a full heal, only like 200 HP per character), the final boss was surprisingly lacking in viciousness. It was worse than AI3's, it compared not at all to AI2's overtuned monster of a last baddie. It was downright easy.

The ending CG is nice, if not the happiest-looking b/c I picked the smug rival-trope character as the BAFF (Best Alchemist Friend Forever). (I do give Roxis points though, being able to cheaply snap giant meteors out of existence before they crushed me is something no other character could do.) Turns out checking online that there is a bad ending if Vayne doesn't view anyone's final bonding event. You'd have to be one hella flunky of a student or very indecisive about who you like/want to hang with to naturally see that though.

I've expressed my thoughts going through MK: AoAR as I played it here, so I'll fail to keep things short.😆 MK1 began with a nice opening trailer, followed by a bit of a rough introduction.

• The cast of playable characters did not come together "organically", which is often true in JRPGs, but here it felt particularly forced together. The rather bleh character portraits were jarring at first given the trailer too. Things did slowly improve, and it's fair to say I like/am fine with pretty most of the eight.
  • Pamela, Jessica, Anna, Nikki, and Roxis all work for me. 
    • Pamela is charming and uniquely playable here when she hasn't been elsewhere in the prolific Atelier franchise.
    • The other four above all have their differing and understandable reasons for taking up alchemy. And while everyone in this game is tropey, that wasn't a problem.
  • Flay never really jived with me and I still don't understand why he's in alchemy school. Also, he sometimes-literally dragged half the cast into joining the group workshop. He's the lowest character in my personal estimation.
  • Muppy is kinda out there as just a strange eighth mascot-ish character. 
  • The bonding events were almost always more than just Vayne & the other character. Some of these didn't land, but most were at least decent. Plenty of chatter and some events outside of Free Time made it 
    • Considering the Iris trilogy had no dedicated character events, this was in a way a serious improvement.
• There were moments of world-building, but really this game didn't have that much of it. The Al-Revis and its NPCs didn't come particularly alive.
• Narratively, there is almost isn't one in Mana Khemia.
  • The story is basically generic high school stuff with very low stakes. Behind it all, is the story of the main character Vayne.
  • The problem, is Vayne is nothing special. A naturally-talented, low self-esteem, kind, with an overall muted personality, non-silent MC.
    • Oh, and it gradually comes to light something is special about Vayne, which he has to have to stand out in an Atelier game where everyone is an alchemist and thus being an alchemist by itself ain't special.
    • I don't dislike Vayne, but I can't say there's anything to uniquely love about him either.
  • The thing is, in Japanese and Western stories alike, it possible to do "high school with a special protag" -and have more to it. Fantasy high schoolers can fight evil empires and the legions of darkness and basically do everything while still finding time to study and graduate with straight As.
    • Alchemists of Al-Revis opted to keep things peaceful, perhaps "cozy" to spin it positively. But it didn't amazingly excel whatsoever in what little it opted to execute, and was dull because it chose to leave out more.
• The game's loop is as follows: 
  • Chapters, divided into Weeks:
    • The first Week is always a pinch of plot.
    • Followed by Weeks where you carry out special requests Assignments for grades.
      • Assignments can take like only 15 minutes each, and aren't that difficult to get As on to maximize Free Time for bonding once you get used to them. A little reloading of saves can always let you easily 
      • The threat of Detention never once fell on me, so I can't say how bad that is if you fail to get good grades.
    • Then you have Free Time for money-giving requests (jobs) and bonding.
    • And then the week ends with more story, usually culminating in a boss battle.
  • ...This never fully clicked with me.
    • It felt like there was too much slowdown. B/c first Assignment week I would always go on synthesis spree b/c new recipes became buyable, then quickly do and ace two Assignments, then do all the jobs for the Chapter on the first available Free Time, usually three item requests and three boss-type battles. And then at last move on to bonding.
      • The brief story week at the end of each Chapter never felt like enough to compensate for the rest of the game feeling like "downtime" between these scattered few moments where I was actually doing "something of significance".
    • Technically, this should be an improvement over Iris 3's sidequest-heavy structure, but it didn't feel like it to me. Is that strange?
      • To speak on dungeons for a tangental moment, these were objectively better than Iris 3.
        • The "pop-up" 3D look was nice, the dungeons had a bit of visual variety, even if they could've used more.
        • A strict time-limit inside dungeons as in AI3 was replaced by a day-night cycle that made visible enemies much easier to bump into at night and faster once in battle (an early deterrent for exploring at night, but fighting at night becomes no-sweat about halfway through). Neither games did more than a molecule with the theoretical aspect of time passing inside a dungeon affecting it, so I won't fault either of them.
  • I do appreciate that this isn't a true time-limit system though. Being able to run around the school campus and dungeons without fear of wasting time was very pleasant.
• Alchemizing was a bit more complicated than it was in the Iris trilogy. I disliked the random components of this system, and maybe there was another kink or two in the details. Overall though, the randomness didn't detract from this synthesis system being approachable and manageable.
  • I do like that in several ways the heroes other than Vayne could help him in his alchemy. Good for Alchemists of Al-Revis and a positive sense of heroic cooperation.
• Combat was a pretty solid turn-based system. It made sideways changes and upwards improvements from Iris 3, which itself had built upon Iris 2. 
  • Things yet again began a little rough here. But as is often the case in a JRPG, given time and unlocking more characters and skills and features, things got better. It was fun. Certainly, combat was the most enjoyable aspect of Alchemists of Al-Revis.
  • Difficulty began a tad on the high side with optional bosses, but gradually the game became middle-of-the-road most of the time for bosses. Grunts weren't toothless at first, earlier battle could demand some finesse, but gradually receded in strength.
  • The Grow Book system directly ties combat strength to alchemy. Fail to keep up in your synthesizing, and the crew of eight shall be lagging in martial prowess. You don't have to synthesize stuff with superb traits/Mana Effects, just craft everything you can just once and you're good.
    • Whether or not Grow Books are a heavy-handed way to force the player to alchemize... that's a good question.🤔
      • I'd rather it be upfront in how to become stronger in combat via synthesis as in the case of Grow Books than not though. If alchemy need be seriously necessary to stand a chance of winning battles, then it should not be subtle and under-explained in how alchemy can strengthen one's warrior powers.
• Music had an annoying tune or two, but felt like an gradual improvement over the Iris games, at least in battle tunes.

...I think that's enough of a review?😅

-Ah, score... 7/10? Combat great, but the pacing/length and lack of significant story drag it down.

 

20 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I like how Link just randomly obtains the completed Triforce at the end of a Linked Oracle run.

I mean, the Oracles' opening has Link being teleported to Holodrum/Labrynna by the Triforce itself. The will of the golden triangles strangely was the things that gave him his mission. It was already completed, in an accessible place. It just... chose not to make things superbly easy for Link by letting him shoot yellow divine power lasers from his left hand from the get-go.

The Triforce not being an inert object was once before- the whole ending of ALttP had it talking (more as a "Welcome new user! I am the Windows TF operating system, allow me to explain how I work and how you can use me." thing). But outside of that and the Oracles, it has usually been portrayed as a mindless object that gets used. The Oracles are probably the only case where they actually show favoritism towards good or evil.