Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Venger_06]

7 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I remember when I played Dragon Age and first encountered the Fade, 06 just went "install this mod to skip the fade" and I was like "no why would you want me to skip a part of the game on my first time."

Considering that Sooks dropped the game there, I don't think my concerns were unfounded.

5 hours ago, Sooks said:

It was. Oh yeah, Dudley exists, I wonder if he’ll actually be relevant for once…

When are you playing Haji?

[Interdimensional Observer]

I think I've finally had enough with Endless Space 2.

For my fourth match I picked Horatio, but the unique story quest was glitched and I was unable to complete it, that ruined the mood.🤨 I was looking forward to "Narcissistic trillionaire who finds a nice planet, declares himself emperor of the planet, discovers ancient life-extending technology, gets bored. Experiments with ancient cloning technology, proceeds to populate the entire planet from highest noble to lowest slave with clones of himself. And whilst living in a splendiferous, gilded and gaudy palace of his own design, looks up at the night sky, and realizes what the galaxy needs is more beauty, more Horatio". This said, it was fun, plenty of good star systems to expand into early on which allowed for plenty of infrastructure. Later made some easy war and proceeded to sacrifice conquered peoples to splice their worthwhile genes into Horatio in his quest for perfection. Then I unlocked the tech that lets you convert other peoples into Horatio, forced assimilation, yay! -Except for the abrupt part where I suddenly won economically instead of by taking all the homeworld planets as I had intended.

So next I wanted to try war earlier, so I picked the Vodyani. Religious zealots who have shed their physical bodies and refuse to live on planets and instead reside in space arks and drain the life essence of inferior species sounds cool. The thing is, I still don't see how early war is even possible in this game, getting the techs for new warships and better weapons means neglecting so much else in the earlygame. With the Vodyani you do want to really annoy the AI by leeching their population to create more arks, but you don't actually have to attack them and they might not attack you for doing this. They're narratively aggressive, but eh, the leeching should be faster and more devastating to planetary defenses so I don't have to do the tedious planet-sieging process. Maybe I'll work on finishing this match, but it probably won't be either of the two war-related victory approaches.

I've also generally gotten frustrated with reloading in hopes of a good start. This is a problem of mine with Civilization as well. When either or both the territory around you is crap or the AI boxes you in with barely any room to expand. With this game, there is no point in settling one-two planet star systems, and the need to research like a dozen different techs to be able to colonize all the different planet types really drags down your tech priorities for quite a while.

Still, nice game for cheap.

 

On 7/20/2023 at 9:58 AM, Armagon said:

I know I'm late on this.

As I said before, the rise of the automobile and corporate interests therein are to blame.

And to think the finishing of the transcontinental railroad had once been celebrated with a final ceremony golden spike being hammered into the track. The era of when small towns out west near the railroad tracks grew, those unluckily further away died off. The standardization of time zones found gradual origins in United States railroads, time = money when you're in the transportation -humans or goods- business. Atlanta grew to the point of becoming Georgia's changed capital due to its boom as a railroad hub. Some of southernmost New Mexico and Arizona were purchased pre-Civil War for the sake of creating a transcontinental railroad that ran through the South (the Civil War nixed that idea and the first sea-to-shining-sea railroad was the middle one in the map above). And ofc, people complained of "robber barons" and unfair monopolies in industries like the railroads ("Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt being the most famed of the railroad mega-rich), including practices such charging more for a short haul than a long haul over the same tracks. The Pullman Strike was a noted labor protest in the late 1800s, by workers who made railcars (there is also a type of almost-crustless bread known as a "Pullman loaf" because the kitchens on the trains made a lot of the boxy bread). The infamous case that legalized segregation -Plessy v. Ferguson- was about a segregated railcar.

To think the such an era had once existed.

On 7/20/2023 at 9:58 AM, Armagon said:

y-yeah.

As I remember being told in college, the rail infrastructure in Africa goes back to that infamous late-19th century European colonization era. Colonizers weren't the kind to care about the interests of the locals, nor were they inclined to cooperate in creating a rail network that connected adjacent colonies owned by different European powers. As a result, if what is shown above is still mostly the legacy of colonialism, it probably isn't as useful as it could be.

On 7/20/2023 at 9:58 AM, Armagon said:

Japan is like train city central.

I do remember reading a review about a Japanese rail simulator. It explained that in Japan, the rail companies are strictly limited in what territory they can own- one can control all the rail from X to Y, but nothing beyond that. To compensate, the companies are allowed to own the businesses that spring up at the terminals, so if you buy some cheap merchandise or grab a quick bite, they profit from that. I think the reviewer was British and said that it's the opposite of the British system, no limitations on what stations a company can own there, but they are forbidden from owning the businesses at the terminals.

On 7/20/2023 at 10:22 AM, Armagon said:

That's....not terrible. The most northern provinces suck but like it's ice so i get it.

More than 85% of Canadians live within 100 miles (160km) of the US border. So probably better than it looks.

On 7/20/2023 at 10:06 PM, Armagon said:

I feel like i stumbled upon this dude early.

So you do get a choice of which of the two places to do first. I almost went that way, ended up questioning if I was on the proper course and doing the other one instead.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Anyways i really hope there's something that lets me warp to the monuments at will later because only being able to do so at the monuments when they are color coded kinda defeats the point.

This will be fixed. And not mega-late either or anything.

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, I feel like I can resume writing again... though, now I'm facing a different dilemma.

I'm back to writing more for CoS, but I'm stuck back on that old decision if what I'm writing would be a separate one-shot, or like a second chapter. And if I do go for the latter, do I bother to make the chapter at least as long? I wrote Sacrifice as if it was a standalone one-shot so it was longer than what I've felt was my chapter average (somewhere around 2.5K words), but if I do go the multi-chapter story idea, which I've always felt I had to at least write every chapter at least as long as its previous one. Or at least never go below what the length of the first chapter ever was. So now I have to do chapters that are at least around 3.5K words...

Hmm... hmmm... hmm...

Ah, well, I guess for now I'll just keep on writing.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[ping]

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I remember when I played Dragon Age and first encountered the Fade, 06 just went "install this mod to skip the fade" and I was like "no why would you want me to skip a part of the game on my first time."

Funnily enough, it was one of the parts of the game I enjoyed more. Interesting concept, funky visuals and it taught me a lot about the game mechanics, whereas up to that point I had mostly fumbled.

I definitely agree with "interesting concept" and "funky visuals", but I find actually playing the Fade pretty frustating. Partially my own fault, being a completionist, going through the only segment in the game with stat boosters, where you have to backtrack a lot to get the boosters behind the massive doors and spirit doors that you can't go through initially, so it's very easy to miss several of them...

But there's also the part where you're going through an extended solo segment with disabling abilities aplenty on the enemies. That Arcane Horror cast Winter's Grasp on ya? Well, hope you hit the Save Game key recently. Not to mention that there's at least two enemies that will cast Curse of Mortality (disables all sources of healing, deals a lot of damage over time) and it's basically a Game Over if they as much as think about using it. Fuck that.

The concept is really cool, though, as are the transformations. The main areas being specific terrors for templars and/or circle mages is great, and so is gaining both power and more access through learning the transformations, which also parallels the Harrowing in the Mage origin. And, of course, Sten is once again great in his short dream sequence. He's perfectly aware that he's in a dream, allowed himself to be enthralled because it's a good dream, but then approves (including a bonus to his attitude towards the Warden!) if you remind him of his duties, which is in line with his banter in camp where he specifically puts duty above happiness or self-fulfillment. I really find Sten to be a great example of a character with an alien moral code, who tries to understand (but not adopt) Ferelden ways of life, and who appreciates (in his own taciturn ways) when the Warden tries to understand his line of thinking, too.

(come to think of it, his "are you sure you're a woman" dialogue must've hit a bit different for Ruben's not entirely conventionally attractive Warden)

[Eltosian Kadath]

Oof, this next death on my little Engage ironman stung, but in some ways was a bit expected. Ivy always had low luck, and a low percent crit death lingered over her head for a long time because of it. In the end, one of the cavs Mauvier warped in got that low percent crit that finally spelled her doom.

[Eltosian Kadath]

It is funny to see Ivy's corpse wandering around the Somniel.

[Sidereal Wraith]

@Saint RubenioDoes this count as becoming more of a weeb?

 

[Saint Rubenio]

10 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Pretty much!

10 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

That almost looks like he's Gimli's anime counterpart. LOL

Nah, everyone knows Gimli's anime counterpart is Dozla.

9 hours ago, Capt. Fargus said:

@Saint Rubenio Were your ears burnin last night?? 🤔

I got to ch 5 on your hack, got all the bad guys cleared out, and said alright its trainin time

Next thing I know some dude comes outta the arena and says "wtf a battle out here?? Sorry we're closed"

SaY WHaT?! 🧐

 

Lol 😁

Ahahahaha...

Yes, you are correct. I heard you say that and I traveled back in time to close the arena at the right moment.

9 hours ago, Sooks said:

Cog of Destiny is a bitch. I got Oswin, with 16 speed, 24 defense and like 12 res killed. Because the enemies had luna and I didn’t really look that closely, just at their raw damage. Then I got my best unit, Heath, who I gave the Afa’s drops to and had strength, speed, and defense all in the 20s, killed to a 5% crit that I didn’t even pay attention to (I don’t think I could have done much about it tho). Farina then died because I accidentally put her in range of a hero and she got sleep staved there. Oh and Geitz died because I put him in range of two siege tome users that I forgot about (I’m noticing a pattern here). But Luna took both Heath and Oswin, it really is a bitch. At least I’ll get to turn it around on the enemy when I give it to Athos in the final map.

Vaida is the only flier left, although she’s honestly not as good as my trained Heath and Farina were (14 speed is… okay).

LMAO 2 UNITS hhm is a meme

Vaida benefits from being in FE7, a game where enemies are hilariously slow. Yeah, 14 speed looks meh in a vacuum, but it suffices for her purposes, and her other stats are all pretty fantastic.

9 hours ago, Sooks said:

Cog of Destiny is a bitch.

8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

It is one of the most dangerous maps in HHM, in small part thanks to it being one of the only to feature one of the most dangerous enemy types of FE7, Valkyries. Add to that how its one of the few magic focused maps in the game, it has nasty status staves, and

Meanwhile in my last run I just threw my RNG-blessed Serra at the enemy and she solo'd the entire map.

What a run that was...

5 hours ago, Newtype06 said:

Considering that Sooks dropped the game there, I don't think my concerns were unfounded.

I suppose I'm just weird.

5 hours ago, Newtype06 said:

When are you playing Haji?

Those two twins or something?

3 hours ago, gnip said:

I definitely agree with "interesting concept" and "funky visuals", but I find actually playing the Fade pretty frustating. Partially my own fault, being a completionist, going through the only segment in the game with stat boosters, where you have to backtrack a lot to get the boosters behind the massive doors and spirit doors that you can't go through initially, so it's very easy to miss several of them...

But there's also the part where you're going through an extended solo segment with disabling abilities aplenty on the enemies. That Arcane Horror cast Winter's Grasp on ya? Well, hope you hit the Save Game key recently. Not to mention that there's at least two enemies that will cast Curse of Mortality (disables all sources of healing, deals a lot of damage over time) and it's basically a Game Over if they as much as think about using it. Fuck that.

The concept is really cool, though, as are the transformations. The main areas being specific terrors for templars and/or circle mages is great, and so is gaining both power and more access through learning the transformations, which also parallels the Harrowing in the Mage origin. And, of course, Sten is once again great in his short dream sequence. He's perfectly aware that he's in a dream, allowed himself to be enthralled because it's a good dream, but then approves (including a bonus to his attitude towards the Warden!) if you remind him of his duties, which is in line with his banter in camp where he specifically puts duty above happiness or self-fulfillment. I really find Sten to be a great example of a character with an alien moral code, who tries to understand (but not adopt) Ferelden ways of life, and who appreciates (in his own taciturn ways) when the Warden tries to understand his line of thinking, too.

I can understand why most don't like it, but I appreciated the opportunity to run around on my own and learn how to properly control my character, the quirks of the combat system and so on. I came out of the Fade a more knowledgable Heroofferelden. Still, I can see why people would want to skip it on replays.

And yeah, common Sten W.

3 hours ago, gnip said:

(come to think of it, his "are you sure you're a woman" dialogue must've hit a bit different for Ruben's not entirely conventionally attractive Warden)

I don't remember it, but it probably did.

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

It is funny to see Ivy's corpse wandering around the Somniel.

"I am defeated, but I can't fall here. I must make my retreat."

"You literally have a spear sticking through your neck."

"Yes, modern medicine is truly a wonder, isn't it."

1 hour ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

@Saint RubenioDoes this count as becoming more of a weeb?

 

You are the weebiest weeb that never weebed, Wraith.

Also why are you asking me? I'm not the expert on all matters weeb here. Ask Shrimpers, or 06, or Armagon.

[Capt. Fargus]

On 7/21/2023 at 1:44 AM, Sooks said:

It was bad enough that I was genuinely afraid of soft-locking myself, so when I got to the chapter where Legault joins and can grab a blue gem from a chest but he escaped before I could get to him, I reset (I should have deployed Matthew in case that happened but I didn’t think of it).

That’s the biggest pain in the ass in the entire game IMHO... tryin to get a lord up there in time to recruit Legault before he hauls ass

On 7/21/2023 at 1:44 AM, Sooks said:

Oh that reminds me that in the beginning I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to stick with an iron man or not, so I quit this chapter out of frustration and 16 when three units died. For this one at least I basically just traded Guy’s death for Dorcas’ with the attempt I ended up keeping (which isn’t really a fair trade but oh well), and then 16 I just needed to get my shit together, I guess. I really have a failed at this being an iron man…

There’s only 2 times I put ever put Marcus in the game, and 16 is the other. You need him to plow through them archers quick enough to get Priscilla to Raven before he starts wackin the Caelin soldiers

On 7/21/2023 at 1:44 AM, Sooks said:

 

Also nice job not getting anyone killed in the boat map. I’m really bad at that one on HHM (because you have like no deployment), at least while going for the guiding ring

I typically keep Florina close by for that and rescue Matthew once he grabs it then use Florina to kill the shaman, while keepin my fingers crossed for no criticals

On 7/21/2023 at 1:44 AM, Sooks said:

 

(I could probably manage just gurgling it out in the top? Maybe?). I lost 3 units there, which is even more impactful when you realize you only get to deploy like 8.

16x on EHM you only get to send 6. I’m like damn do I even wanna attempt this? 🤔

On 7/21/2023 at 1:44 AM, Sooks said:

 

And all of them were really good units (well Florina is a bit of an investment without Lyn mode but I played it and gave her both stat boosters).

For me angelic robes always go right to the pegasus knights, since get used for a lot of fighting

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Those two twins or something?

More like... Two peas in a pod. 

[Saint Rubenio]

16 minutes ago, Lightcosmo said:

More like... Two peas in a pod. 

They look identical, though. Same facial structure, same body build, almost identical hair and eye color... They truly look like twins.

[Lightcosmo]

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

They look identical, though. Same facial structure, same body build, almost identical hair and eye color... They truly look like twins.

That's my point, they are supposed to be the same but not related. It's that kind of case.

[Lightcosmo]

9 hours ago, Newtype06 said:

When are you playing Haji?

But the EN version is trash. XD

[Sidereal Wraith]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You are the weebiest weeb that never weebed, Wraith.

Also why are you asking me? I'm not the expert on all matters weeb here. Ask Shrimpers, or 06, or Armagon.

Because I’m still waiting for my refund.

[Capt. Fargus]

@Saint Rubenio You’re in Spain, right?

You near a place called “Ronda punta nuevo malaga” or something like that?

The misses paused her tv show for a bit and now my tv is showing different pics from random places around the world. That pic of this place in Spain kinda reminded me of something out of Devil may cry. Pretty cool lookin

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, Capt. Fargus said:

@Saint Rubenio You’re in Spain, right?

You near a place called “Ronda punta nuevo malaga” or something like that?

The misses paused her tv show for a bit and now my tv is showing different pics from random places around the world. That pic of this place in Spain kinda reminded me of something out of Devil may cry. Pretty cool lookin

Seems to be a monument in the city of Malaga. Nowhere near my location, no, but it does look like a pretty impressive place.

[Armagon]

9 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

As I said before, the rise of the automobile and corporate interests therein are to blame.

This is exactly what happened to Argentina's railway network too. 

9 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

To think the such an era had once existed

I have heard that part of the problem is simply the United States is too big. All those railways in Europe, those were individual countries making them that just happened to connect with railways in other countries. Canada is of a similar size, but as you said, most of the population lives near the border, so things are grouped together closer. Even when you get theoretical maps of a high-speed rail network like this

if you notice, the upper mid-west......is just fucked. I understand that a total of three people live in that region, but that's still a huge chunk of the country that gets no railway access. It's better than what we have now but even then some states are not made equal. Nevada gets one stop, which is Las Vegas, which is tbf the only place in Nevada that people actually live in, but still.

9 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

o you do get a choice of which of the two places to do first. I almost went that way, ended up questioning if I was on the proper course and doing the other one instead.

I found it by complete accident.

[Acacia Sgt]

7 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Oof, this next death on my little Engage ironman stung, but in some ways was a bit expected. Ivy always had low luck, and a low percent crit death lingered over her head for a long time because of it. In the end, one of the cavs Mauvier warped in got that low percent crit that finally spelled her doom.

 

[Armagon]

Duren:

[Armagon]

Oh whoppee

Whopee freakin' doo, we're doing this shit again aren't we? Falcom felt the need to inject the whole 

from Trails into Ys too huh. Although since this game technically predates Trails, maybe it's the other way around.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Armagon

[Sooks]

12 hours ago, Newtype06 said:

Considering that Sooks dropped the game there, I don't think my concerns were unfounded.

I dropped the game right before getting there, I don’t think I actually started it.

12 hours ago, Newtype06 said:

When are you playing Haji?

when your dad comes ba- I’m not sure, maybe never. Who knows if I’d like it…

4 hours ago, Capt. Fargus said:

There’s only 2 times I put ever put Marcus in the game, and 16 is the other. You need him to plow through them archers quick enough to get Priscilla to Raven before he starts wackin the Caelin soldiers

I’m about to start deploying Marcus here at chapter 31 because everyone else is dead.

4 hours ago, Capt. Fargus said:

I typically keep Florina close by for that and rescue Matthew once he grabs it then use Florina to kill the shaman, while keepin my fingers crossed for no criticals

I brought Florina.

She died because I assumed all the dark mages were the same when one of them had nosferatu instead of flux.

[PostZordem]

19 hours ago, Lightcosmo said:

If you REALLY don't enjoy it, then I would say no.

I will say that KH I and II are peak gameplay for KH generally speaking.

Can't say I hate the game, and I seem to be going through Sora's section at a good pace since there appear to only be 13 floors in Castle Oblivion (Yep, definitely was a Gameboy Advance game in its past life). I think I'll continue since I'd rather experience it myself than watch it online. 

Yeah, KH2 seems to be the popular entry in the series from what I've seen on the web. Eager to play that one once I finish up CoM. I wouldn't say KH1 had peak gameplay because the worlds are hard to navigate sometimes and... *Cough* Deep Jungle & Atlantica *Cough* but otherwise the first game set up a good foundation for future entries to follow. 

17 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

To be fair, the voice acting was done after KHII released. Given that Sora was 14 in the first game, he probably should've gone through puberty before then...

Hol' up, Sora was 14 in the first game? I thought he was like, 11 years old in Kingdom Hearts 1. Well either way, I'm gonna miss KH1 Sora's voice a bit, there's an odd charm to it, like Tails' voice in the Sonic Adventure games. 

[Acacia Sgt]

I've never found them that confusing to navigate.

Maybe only the first time I played KH... when I was like nine, but I learned quickly.

[Lightcosmo]

9 minutes ago, CyberZord said:

wouldn't say KH1 had peak gameplay

When it say this is purely mean from a combat PoV. The speed/flow, etc.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Lightcosmo

[Lightcosmo]

Unless youre playing their DLC, KH III's combat is slow, extremely floaty, and just doesnt feel like it flows. At least from my PoV thats how it feels.