Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Interdimensional Observer]

Downloaded W. But, do I?🤔 It'll have the flavor of butter and table sugar mixed in unrestricted quantities, and just as bereft of nutritional value (but do video games ever have that?).🤤 It's the last easy to access not-too-old SRW available in English. And then I'd no longer have it as a "rainy day" emergency game. -But then does anyone actually keep games in strategic reserve or certain ones as things that -despite one's own desires- have to be kept apart?😐 ...Didn't I go through the black sheep quintet of Atelier last year almost without breaks? How did I do that again, when I was nowhere near as fond of those as I am of SRW? I don't understand myself from a year ago.🤨

There was some real desire to play W yesterday. -But then it faded.😆 And my mood seemed to bounce around through the day. Including a peculiar low-key... sadness, emptiness(?) following the completion of Berseria, which only affected me several hours after I finished it, not during the ending itself. Odd, since the ending, while some specifics were unpredicted, was if anything a pinch more saccharine than I was expecting. Perhaps it was a delayed feeling of the journey being over, and thus all the characters now being "dead", in the past, to me? Maybe it had to do with Velvet's Eternal End Without Death being more macabre in a sense than I first thought? Or maybe it's the one little Skit between Eizen and Laphicet before the final battle which touched on mortality? I don't like hearing that kind of stuff.😬

Honestly, XC3 aside, which I do insist on some spacing for, I can't think of anything except W that'd I've any genuine desire to play, even if I shouldn't(?). I did download a completely different old game at the same time as W ...for the foolish reason of wishing to reacquaint myself with one of the inspirations for this one fanfict idea I've been working on again.😆

[Codename Shrimp]

10 hours ago, Armagon said:

85 euro for a one way trip

flights cheaper. Flights in europe are really really cheap.

Edited May 16 by Shrimpica

[Acacia Sgt]

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Downloaded W. But, do I?🤔

I mean, look at it this way. Once you finish W, now there'd be no excuse to not delay getting VTX.

Edited May 16 by Acacia Sgt

[Interdimensional Observer]

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/05/fire-emblem-meets-superheroes-in-covert-crew-flying-onto-switch-this-year

Just saw this, if anyone interested.

 

37 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I mean, look at it this way. Once you finish W, now there'd be no excuse to not delay getting VTX.

-Except navigating the eShop in a script I don't understand.

...Sayeth the person who in these past days, has experienced an annoying resurgence of interest in trudging through a certain game via machine-translated screenshots.😆 (-Not an SRW, waaaaay too much text to make doing that enjoyable.)

[Codename Shrimp]

reminds me of

https://store.steampowered.com/app/251130/Chroma_Squad/

[Codename Shrimp]

 

[Acacia Sgt]

40 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

-Except navigating the eShop in a script I don't understand.

Hmm, that's true. Worth it, however, heh. If it helps, I had a Youtube video to guide me.

[BrightBow]

You now actually always get to face Ashram and Sujata in chapter 17 instead of only if you kill Beorn and Marlene. No murdering the entire family anymore, it seems.
You can also now bribe Ashram to stay out of your way, instead of having to kill them. So this doesn't necessarily cause a time paradox for VS2.

Beorn and Marlene also have the Deathless icon now, so I guess you now actually have to use Nina in order to get them to switch sides.
Which is fair enough, I suppose. Aslanne's squad is now under so much pressure that she cannot really afford flying over there and kill them. Especially if she takes the Doyenne along.

Still, it is part of a greater pattern of how this version of the game simply doesn't like it when events are skipped. For example it's no longer possible to skip Dune's events, because he is forced into the party in all relevant maps.
This can definitely have quite the impact on party composition. Like in chapter 6, the entire Luca Village squad is now forced. This leaves you with only 3 out of 7 slots to freely fill.

[Codename Shrimp]

Yeah watch my pain and suffering why won't you Ü

Also a multi-phase boss after a long ass map sure is a mood...

Man this game is hard xD

[Armchair General]

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/05/fire-emblem-meets-superheroes-in-covert-crew-flying-onto-switch-this-year

Just saw this, if anyone interested.

Well, it looks an little bit too much on the generic side when it comes to gameplay. Granted, the writing is kind of funny. But still.

[Armagon]

6 hours ago, Shrimpica said:

flights cheaper. Flights in europe are really really cheap.

Are these round trip prices?

 

[Codename Shrimp]

FUCK YOU

Although the boss fight took longer than it should've because i misread one of her abilities lmao - when i went to look for a guide online i read her ability correctly and then was able to figure it out on my own kek

Boss fight is cool ....if only i didn't misread one of her 7 abilities lmao

More than 4 freaking hours on this map xD

...How hard is this game gonna get?

34 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Are these round trip prices?

 

Yes.

If you book early enough and at the right times you can really get cheap prices.

Remember by UK trip last year?

I went to London, then Edinburgh and then back home for like 80€ altogether.

Beware tho that on these cheap flights you can't take too much with you. Only a small bag

Edited May 16 by Shrimpica

[Interdimensional Observer]

-I didn't begin, however. Juuuust checking to make sure it works. Maybe tonight, probably tomorrow.

...MelonDS doesn't have a screenshot function? How did I take sooooo many Luminous Arc 3 shots then?🤔 Eh, I probably went overboard with J and GC. Screenshotting everything arguably takes away from the experience, I did basically zilch with Berseria, live in the moment and all that.😆

-----

And the Kickstarter for Runa just closed. Fell 7k Euros short of the next goal, but (limited) voice acting is a fine endpoint.😄 (Unless it's really bad, any voice acting > no voice acting. I'm not great at mentally inventing voices for characters.) Now, I wait until 2026 at the earliest for it's hopefully-good release.⏲️🤞

 

1 hour ago, Shrimpica said:

More than 4 freaking hours on this map xD

...How hard is this game gonna get?

I don't know, and I'm not sure if I care to ever personally find out.😨

Although, you are giving me an SRPG narrative idea. The game consists of one giant battle that goes on for days. All maps are mere fractions of this clash to end all clashes.

Edited May 16 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

-I didn't begin, however. Juuuust checking to make sure it works. Maybe tonight, probably tomorrow.

Oh, this will be fun to read about, heh.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

(Unless it's really bad, any voice acting > no voice acting. I'm not great at mentally inventing voices for characters.) 

Hmm...

Gonna say, what I'm playing right now is a voice-less game. Despite being made in the PS2/NGC/Xbox era (and for those platforms specifically). The character models are very expressive, complete with their mouths moving to the script... but no voices. Both PC's have your typical grunts and yells and stuff, but other than that, that's it.

Considering how much of a Zelda-like game it is, it doesn't seem weird to me, at least.

[Interdimensional Observer]

25 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hmm...

Gonna say, what I'm playing right now is a voice-less game. Despite being made in the PS2/NGC/Xbox era (and for those platforms specifically). The character models are very expressive, complete with their mouths moving to the script... but no voices. Both PC's have your typical grunts and yells and stuff, but other than that, that's it.

Considering how much of a Zelda-like game it is, it doesn't seem weird to me, at least.

I'm not saying you can't have a good game without voice acting. After all, I began SRW with none at all, and between dead/aging or expensive/busy VAs and the planet-crushing mass of wonderful dialogue, it's no wonder the franchise has never once attempted full voice-acting.😄 

A game can be perfectly fine with no voicework. And if they weren't, we might as well now call every book ever written total garbage.😜 

But, even if it's that one actor again, (good) voice-acting can add another dollop of definition to a character. -Albeit, definition that vary in the case of a game with multiple voiced languages, a voice actor and a seiyuu can differ in what definition they provide. Although, for those who care about "hearing" characters and have strong imaginations (I don't), they can probably whip up masterful voices in their own minds, and don't need voice-acting to hear the characters speak.

25 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Oh, this will be fun to read about, heh.

Considering the "sequel to J" status, I'll be curious about the "continued" franchises. The Prince, The Second Raid, the Astray, 'Blade II. It'll be the opposite with GaoGaiGar and me, since I beheld its very end in 30.

And as I said before, placing GC between J and W was likely a good move. Since the only thing GC has in common with W is Mazinkaiser. Not like I saw everyone only yesterday though with my decent memory, last December(?) might as well be yesterday.

[Acacia Sgt]

20 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Considering the "sequel to J" status, I'll be curious about the "continued" franchises. The Prince, The Second Raid, the Astray, 'Blade II. It'll be the opposite with GaoGaiGar and me, since I beheld its very end in 30.

It's certainly a curious decision. More so since you go through them again before reaching the second parts. I guess they thought might as well. It's certainly not uncommon. As I once mentioned, V pretty much has a lot of immediate reuses. There's only like... 4-5 series in V that weren't in Z3, pretty much. In a way it's cost effective, admittedly.

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Shrimpica said:

Beware tho that on these cheap flights you can't take too much with you. Only a small bag

They also offer no free services lmao. 

Of course, i'd like to visit the non-touristy areas too. Maybe i could get dad to rent a car and drive from London to Cardiff, seeing the sights along the way. I mean, there's a train too but we'd just be passing by.

Course, London to Edinburgh is definitely a flight trip tho.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

MelonDS doesn't have a screenshot function?

It doesn't. So i just print screen.

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

It's certainly a curious decision. More so since you go through them again before reaching the second parts.

Assuming similar total game length, that ought to accelerate the pacing of earlier events. Guess I'll have to see.😛

 

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

It doesn't. So i just print screen.

Alack, my laptop lacks that.

...Also, I only now read that the Marvelous fiscal report for the 2023-2024 mentions a game from an existing series releasing somewhere between Oct 2024 and Mar 2025. Sizable chance of it being Project Dragon. As for whether it'd be Japan alone in that possible timeframe, the same report says last year 60% of Marvelous sales were overseas, which they want to increase to 80%, may raise the possibility of a simul/near-simul release. -We should know soon enough, the reveal of PD was the 25th May last year, late May/June summer game stuff is just around the corner.

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, did the fourth Mummy segment. The main prize was the Hands of Amun, which is basically this game's version of the Power Bracelet/Glove. Before that, I went to return the stolen jewel, getting a parasol in the process. This is to be exchanged with an NPC at the Bedouin Outpost and thus I get the Big Wallet Scarab Bag, and now I can carry 900 Scarabs instead of 400. Anyway, now with the Hands of Amun, the way opens to a different section of the Great Wall, finding the Ice Darts on the way (as expected of its name, you can freeze enemies and use them as platforms or button weights), and reach the Uruk Islands. The place ain't that big, but it contains the Uruk Temple to pad things out I guess. It also houses the Bouncing Darts. Yeah, the Blowpipe ended up being more a puzzle tool than for battle. Though the darts do hurt enemies, but it's best to just use the Blade of Osiris. In any case, the islands contain the Geb Queen, the second boss.

So, another fun fact. As the previous boss, the Geb Queen is another remnant of a cut area. The jungle region of Sakkara. It was apparently cut before Akkaria, as it seems it was more incomplete than the latter. I think details include a place called the Hittite Village (as with the Bedouin Outpost, just same-in-name only I guess), the locals you were suppose to help. In any case, it was here where the Geb Queen was to be found and fought, and thus it was the Sacred Crown of Sakkara you were suppose to get, not Uruk. Interestingly, the scrapped Geb enemy appears in a cutscene in the finished game, but the queen does not use them during the battle, instead a different enemy type. Why they also cut them I don't know.

Now, it begs the question. Were the Uruk Islands created as a replacement of Sakkara, or did they had a purpose that had to be changed due to Sakkara being scrapped? I don't think there's an answer for that. As it were, it was clear the time constrains issue was at fault again. Sakkara apparently had like 5-6 maps to roam through, while Uruk Islands is just the single map. Two counting Uruk Temple. Ah well.

So, with the second crown in hand, it's time to revisit Anubis, who reveals Set's plan is to kill Osiris, who is currently in a weakened state. Anubis now sends for Sphinx to retrieve the Sacred Crown of Heliopolis, and gives him the final jewels to uncurse the remaining people, including the Pharaoh. I'll do that next time.

[Codename Shrimp]

8 hours ago, Armagon said:

They also offer no free services lmao. 

Tbf, these flights are like 1-2 hours max, so see it more as a flying bus lmao

10 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The game consists of one giant battle that goes on for days. All maps are mere fractions of this clash to end all clashes.

FE but it's WW1

[GuardianSing]

Real tweet.

[Acacia Sgt]

Media: "WhY tHiS iS bAd FoR bIdEn, reeeeee!!!"

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, Shrimpica said:

FE but it's WW1

I was actually thinking of something more mythological and epic.😆 Like, envision two big gods (with a Hindu flavor I was imagining) fighting it out, a nonstop brawl that has been ongoing for years, maybe decades or even centuries -all equally irrelevant measures of time for these immortal beings of power beyond human comprehension. And for however long it has been, mortals and lesser deities have been clashing around the great gods, for reasons I will not attempt to invent. 

 

55 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Real tweet.

Nice to see you again.😃

[Acacia Sgt]

Doh, right.

Welcome back!

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, GuardianSing said:

Real tweet.

What a way to make a return.

It's joever.