Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Dayni]

I ended up thinking on how the main lord's weapon (or a more powerful one) would be so frequently locked to endgame and I ended up looking into pretty much every title in the series for it.

Spoiler

For most of them, it was so limited that they don't even get 3 maps to use them with (Marth (Regardless of version), Alm and Chrom's Falchions, Naga in Gen 2, Binding Blade if you don't have all the legendary weapons, Durandal/Armads, Ragnell in PoR, the final Yato form across all 3 routes and the Wille Glanz). But the exceptions.....

Tyrfing is in a weird place for it. In Gen 1 you get it broken and are going for the last 3 castles. Unless you double back to repair it you won't have it before the last 2 castles and thus fits in with the others. In Gen 2, you get it to fight the last boss in the penultimate map and the whole final map of Genealogy. The Bragi Sword is locked to 4 characters and is available for the last 3 maps counting the paralogue (There's also Holsety and how that can shatter the rest of the game, coming in at the same time), so not an exception if you don't play the paralogue (you monster).

The Binding Blade in the last 3 chapters is of course a nuke on the majority of threats but you have to hold back somewhat for the ending. The Twin blades of SS gets to show up for 5 maps, which is a pretty decent chunk considering you'll mostly be using it in the final two. Ragnell in RD is a particularly annoying one, in that Micaiah doesn't get an equivalent and that it's around for 10 maps, really emphasising Ike's prominence. It's such a risk in 3-13 people in the know leave him equipping other weapons because the alternative is him charging at you and nearly killing Volke from down ledge.

And then there's 3H. For Byleth, you get an upgrade to the SotC in Chapter 10. This is not even half way unless you're playing CF. Yeah, kinda OP, but not as much as the Lord's weapons, which also show up from Chapter 12 and are useable in at least 7 chapters. That's plenty of time to use them, especially with the smithy in mind.

[BrightBow]

Alm gets the Royal Sword in the middle of the game.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Got $100 in eShop funds as a bday gift. XC3 DLC shall be purchased on the morrow. As PG-totally-not-PG is both short and requires me to hunger for it, I'll be playing it infrequently, XC3 can be played without real interruption. Beyond that, maybe Bakeru? It released two days ago and is download-only I think. The kid-friendly aesthetic makes me think it'll be at home on the Switch more than Steam. I could wait for a sale since I've no shortage of things to play, but the game isn't overly pricey at $40. -I'd also consider the deluxe upgrade for Megaton Musashi, if only for the digital art book and to support the beleaguered dev (not that I'd really do anything to fix Level-5's assembly line problems). -Or I could simply save the funds for later.

 

54 minutes ago, Dayni said:

I ended up thinking on how the main lord's weapon (or a more powerful one) would be so frequently locked to endgame and I ended up looking into pretty much every title in the series for it.

Never bad thinking about endgame power-ups. -Says the guy who b/c flashy awesome power likes the idea of them.😆 Blame SRW.

56 minutes ago, Dayni said:

The Binding Blade in the last 3 chapters is of course a nuke on the majority of threats but you have to hold back somewhat for the ending. The Twin blades of SS gets to show up for 5 maps, which is a pretty decent chunk considering you'll mostly be using it in the final two. Ragnell in RD is a particularly annoying one, in that Micaiah doesn't get an equivalent and that it's around for 10 maps, really emphasising Ike's prominence. It's such a risk in 3-13 people in the know leave him equipping other weapons because the alternative is him charging at you and nearly killing Volke from down ledge.

The irony is that when you compare the swords: 1-2 range, 18 Mt, +5 Def; they're pretty similar. Binding Blade has 95 Hit and 10 Crit to Ragnell's 80 and 5, the Binding Blade has +5 Res, the 30 HP heal use, and Manakete effectiveness too; against Ragnell in PoR only having non-Wrath crit negation.

The Binding Blade should be the superior weapon -but durability is a stat.😛 And Roy's extremely late promotion is something that the Binding Blade can't compensate for fighting the Bernese, whereas PoR Ike ought to be endgame-level like everyone else. RD Ragnell: availability + infinite uses + excellent user >>>>> any final anti-final boss gimmicks the other weapons have.

Outside of RD Ragnell for the above reasons, Naga, the Sacred Twins, and the 3H weapons (which being the hoarder I am, never used), the lords' ultimates are never not good weapons -barring like Sol Katti and Blazing Durandal, just not exactly mega-crazy power boost outstanding outside of the specific threats they're made to deal with. Antivenin, not nukes, more a cure for a specific ailment (you know, crazed dragons, Arvis, Raydrik, etc.).

[Codename Shrimp]

Truly a specter

Poor Dragon xD

[Armagon]

I don't think we're hitting up Cardiff bros. But it's not completely over, I'll be checking out Wrexham instead.

Why does Cardiff have to be so out of the way man?

 

[Acacia Sgt]

10 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Was she trying to cross the border?

9 hours ago, Dayni said:

Imagine Dracula seeing them falling into pits and laughing about the potato Belmont

I think he got plenty a laugh when they got knocked down flights of stairs.

7 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Renon is such a fun shopkeeper character.

Making him trying to claim your soul if you spend too much money is such a fun concept. Showing that him being a demon with his own agenda isn't just some funny quirk that has no impact on the game.
Too bad the requirement is a bit high. You likely won't even collect 30.000 gold on a normal playthrough, let alone spend it all.

He certainly is quite unique as far as shopkeepers go.

If I recall, he also kinda drops hints that he is aware of The Great War happening (that very line in the picture, in fact, if I recall). Wonder how he got such knowledge...

7 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Plus, as a boss he is just a model swap of Death. Which is still nice for Carrie since she never gets to fight Death in her story.
Probably because Death is terrified of her. As he should. This most certainly does not look like the face of mercy.

Carrie when she finds out about Malus' Binding Contract.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Reminds me of that part in Bloodstained where

  Hide contents

the traitor claims to have been using the shards you gave her to power herself up

Unfortunately, that's a lie, they don't actually do that. Shame.

Sounds like a shame. Like fighting Dimitri... but not, huh.

5 hours ago, BrightBow said:

I didn't actually know how that upgrade system even works. And I didn't play long enough to figure it out through trial and error.

It's basically the Soul system of the Sorrow games. Beat enemies, they may drop shards. More shards make the powers stronger, like in Dawn of Sorrow, which is the Grade of the Shard. What Bloodstained adds is, yes, able to upgrade the Shard's Rank via Alchemy (so certain items are required for each shard) which brings forth an additional effect different from the Grade.

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

I remember when that came out of Bumblefuck Nowhere, Kansas.

So Courage the Cowardly Dog?

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Got $100 in eShop funds as a bday gift. XC3 DLC shall be purchased on the morrow. As PG-totally-not-PG is both short and requires me to hunger for it, I'll be playing it infrequently, XC3 can be played without real interruption. Beyond that, maybe Bakeru? It released two days ago and is download-only I think. The kid-friendly aesthetic makes me think it'll be at home on the Switch more than Steam. I could wait for a sale since I've no shortage of things to play, but the game isn't overly pricey at $40. -I'd also consider the deluxe upgrade for Megaton Musashi, if only for the digital art book and to support the beleaguered dev (not that I'd really do anything to fix Level-5's assembly line problems). -Or I could simply save the funds for later.

I take it it's all USD, huh. Else you know what I would recommend, pft.

[Armagon]

As part of Kai's plot, the gang just gets Isekai'd to Angkor Wat.

[Acacia Sgt]

They totally ended with King Louie.

[BrightBow]

55 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Carrie when she finds out about Malus' Binding Contract.

Official art seems to suggest that this is very much her normal attitude. If Malus actually pisses her off, I doubt even God could help him.

I like that Jason cosplay. Might have made for a better alternate outfit than the Maria one.

Her character profile on the old official homepage also suggests she is something of a misanthrope due to her original parents falling prey to witch burnings.

http://web.archive.org/web/20071211211158/http://www.castlevania.de/english/charakter1.html

Then Dracula's actual demons went and killed her adoptive mother.

[Armagon]

[Acacia Sgt]

27 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Official art seems to suggest that this is very much her normal attitude. If Malus actually pisses her off, I doubt even God could help him.

Probably also a remnant of her original storyline where she believed herself to be cursed. Hence why she even went to the Castle to begin with.

27 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Her character profile on the old official homepage also suggests she is something of a misanthrope due to her original parents falling prey to witch burnings.

http://web.archive.org/web/20071211211158/http://www.castlevania.de/english/charakter1.html

Then Dracula's actual demons went and killed her adoptive mother.

But yeah, either way, her childhood sucked.

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Well, can't beat the evil that is real.

Edited September 6 by Acacia Sgt

[BrightBow]

47 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

But yeah, either way, her childhood sucked.

But there are probably worse coping mechanism than killing vampires, turning their castles into rubble and stealing their pot roast.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, filling out the item list is not taking as long as I thought it would. Maybe I am getting lucky with some drops. Only have like three items left to craft, but getting the remaining materials for them shouldn't take long. It's just Orichalcum and Imbrued Skulls. Hmm, chest drop chance for one, boss drop for the other. Need two of each. Wonder which will take longer, heh.

Still, I feel what will take even longer is getting the last Shard. Mostly since the 8-Bit Overlord is at the end of a long corridor sub-level that I need to go through every time to fight him. Ah well...

Edited September 6 by Acacia Sgt

[BrightBow]

Albus is really going for that Lifis color scheme. Rocking the purple pants.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I take it it's all USD, huh. Else you know what I would recommend, pft.

I was thinking $100 would be much anyhow.😛 -But yes, I had considered the thought.

 

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

I don't think we're hitting up Cardiff bros. But it's not completely over, I'll be checking out Wrexham instead.

Why does Cardiff have to be so out of the way man?

*Played Civ VI all day, checks its entry for the Cardiff city-state.*

Cardiff is the largest city in Wales, which boomed during in the 19th and early 20th Centuries during its height as a coaling and industrial city. It remains an important industrial and administrative center today as the capital of Wales.

Romans built a small fort at a ford in the River Taff, on the road between Gloucester and Carmarthen near where the Taff empties into the Severn River and the Bristol Channel. The Welsh name for the city, Caer-Taff, literally means “the Castle on the River Taff.” Norman lords occupied the site of the Roman fort, and a stone keep dating from 1150 is still preserved in the city. A prosperous walled city grew up around the castles, both expanding as land and port trade increased through the middle ages.

Cardiff's history is linked with the Industrial Revolution in England. The development of iron and coal mines at the end of the 18th Century led to expansion of the Cardiff port, as coal was brought down the mountains and loaded onto ships. The railways craze of the 19th Century brought railroads, and steelmaking and manufacturing businesses took advantage of the proximity of both iron and coal. Workers flooded into the city from Wales, England, and Ireland. The port continued to grow and expand, and by 1913 Cardiff was the largest coal port in the world, supplying customers around the world.

John Chrichton-Stuart, Marquess of Bute is probably the person most responsible for the industrialization of Cardiff. As the landholder of Cardiff Castle, he used a combination of talent for planning and brutal medieval law to develop and promote trade through the Cardiff docks and away from those of his nearby rivals. He was also frankly opposed to worker organization, and the 19th century history of the region is replete with labor crises and conflicts.

The Cardiff coal industry peaked during World War I, and began a precipitous decline afterwards. Manufacturing continued to decline through the twentieth century, although the city was becoming a more important center of political administration for Wales. In 1955, Cardiff was recognized as the capital of Wales. In recent years, the city has continued to reinvent itself, find new domains for manufacturing and engineering industries, and even has a robust film and television industry. Cardiff may no longer be famous for its coal, but rather the adventures of a quirky, time-travelling doctor from a distant planet.

I see now.😛

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

As part of Kai's plot, the gang just gets Isekai'd to Angkor Wat.

It's not Angkor, it's Eternia. YsxTrails time. If you hadn't bounced off of Ys before, I'd say "Play Ys VIII!".

I'm pretty sure Eternia is inspired by Angkor/the architecture of the Khmer Empire.

The Khmer Empire (modern Cambodia) rose from minor kingdoms to a great power starting in 802 under Jayavarman II. The Khmer Empire fell in 1431 to the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya. Between these dates, the Khmer dominated most of Southeast Asia, reaching its peak under the reigns of Suryavarman II (r. 1113-1150) and Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-1219).

The Khmer Empire's wealth lay in one simple thing- food. The Khmer produced A LOT of rice 🌾, 80% of the population being estimated to been involved in rice farming. With heavily-populated India to the west and China to the northeast there was no shortage of hungry customers, and in exchange the Khmer imported manufactured goods and other things from China. The enormous quantities of rice couldn't have been grown without some serious irrigation and yes, Khmer indeed had excellent hydraulic engineering. It was also very densely populated (thanks to the food surplus) with incredible urban planning for the time period (we're talking the Middle Ages after all).

Suryavarman II was responsible for constructing Angkor Wat, as a Hindu Vaishnavite (Vishnu-worshipping) temple, representing Mount Meru (the Hindu-Buddhist-Jain center of the universe).🕉️ The "Wat" in Angkor Wat means "enclosure" in Sanskrit, and in practice simply refers to a full-fledged temple with rooms for everything the priests may require (a prayer room, living quarters, a library, a school, a study room, a pavilion for relaxation). Jayavarman VII restored Angkor Wat after a Khmer rival the Champa (in modern Vietnam) had ransacked it and the surrounding city. Jayavarman VII was weird though, as for 400 years his predecessors had favored Hinduism (in a kingdom where the two religions coexisted), but Jaya 7 was Buddhist, and a Mahayana Buddhist at that in a region that later became and remains to this day Theravada Buddhist. Angkor Wat was likewise converted from a site of Hindu worship to a Buddhist temple, which again it still is today.☸️

[Dayni]

I heard my brother say he wanted to get a PS5 for the goblin to play the new Astro Bot

It finally got games /s

10 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Alm gets the Royal Sword in the middle of the game.

I did say later weapons for a reason, otherwise I'd be pointing to all the rapiers lords start with

Nobody asks which lord would win a fencing tournament.

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

But there are probably worse coping mechanism than killing vampires, turning their castles into rubble and stealing their pot roast.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Cardiff may no longer be famous for its coal, but rather the adventures of a quirky, time-travelling doctor from a distant planet.

No mention of Torchwood smh

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The Khmer Empire (modern Cambodia) rose from minor kingdoms to a great power starting in 802 under Jayavarman II. The Khmer Empire fell in 1431 to the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya. Between these dates, the Khmer dominated most of Southeast Asia, reaching its peak under the reigns of Suryavarman II (r. 1113-1150) and Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-1219).

The Khmer Empire's wealth lay in one simple thing- food. The Khmer produced A LOT of rice 🌾, 80% of the population being estimated to been involved in rice farming. With heavily-populated India to the west and China to the northeast there was no shortage of hungry customers, and in exchange the Khmer imported manufactured goods and other things from China. The enormous quantities of rice couldn't have been grown without some serious irrigation and yes, Khmer indeed had excellent hydraulic engineering. It was also very densely populated (thanks to the food surplus) with incredible urban planning for the time period (we're talking the Middle Ages after all).

Suryavarman II was responsible for constructing Angkor Wat, as a Hindu Vaishnavite (Vishnu-worshipping) temple, representing Mount Meru (the Hindu-Buddhist-Jain center of the universe).🕉️ The "Wat" in Angkor Wat means "enclosure" in Sanskrit, and in practice simply refers to a full-fledged temple with rooms for everything the priests may require (a prayer room, living quarters, a library, a school, a study room, a pavilion for relaxation). Jayavarman VII restored Angkor Wat after a Khmer rival the Champa (in modern Vietnam) had ransacked it and the surrounding city. Jayavarman VII was weird though, as for 400 years his predecessors had favored Hinduism (in a kingdom where the two religions coexisted), but Jaya 7 was Buddhist, and a Mahayana Buddhist at that in a region that later became and remains to this day Theravada Buddhist. Angkor Wat was likewise converted from a site of Hindu worship to a Buddhist temple, which again it still is today.☸️

Won't pretend I knew much about the Khmer Empire, but that piece about rice as a staple export makes a good deal of sense. Wonder if there was any attempt to get another

Also, Angkor Wat was repurposed for another faith. Wouldn't be the only one, just interesting to hear it happening to a place well known enough I'd heard of it before access to the internet.

[Lightcosmo]

Just seen Rean/Altina/Kevin's Kai S crafts and... They could be a bit better, imo. 

For Rean, the camera is way too inconsistent, I think.

Altina doesnt really do that much? No impressive graphics by any means, either.

Kevin was not as graphically in-depth as it should be, either I think.

[Armagon]

Van when Falcom confirms his marriage to Agnes

 

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Cardiff may no longer be famous for its coal, but rather the adventures of a quirky, time-travelling doctor from a distant planet.

What's funny is that this really only applies starting nearly 20 years ago. Which is relatively recent i suppose.

And yet despite that, there hasn't been a Welsh Doctor or companion. 9 Englishmen and 1 woman and 4 Scotsmen (granted Tennant used an English accent) but no Welsh.

What's really lacking is Ireland though. I'm seeing in online spaces, people really hoping for an Irish Doctor at some point or even just a companion. Hell the first time Ireland physically appeared in the show was in Ascension of the Cybermen, an episode that aired in 2020. 56 years it took for Ireland to show up once.

I do plan on visiting Ireland btw, just not this trip. There's no land (undersea) connection like there is between Britain and France so Ireland will have to be it's own dedicated trip. Apparently the distance between Ireland and Britain is greater than that of Britain and France.

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If you hadn't bounced off of Ys before, I'd say "Play Ys VIII!".

I didn't bounce off, it's just that so far every Ys game i've played has been alright at best.

3 hours ago, Dayni said:

No mention of Torchwood smh

Torchwood's back is breaking for carrying all the Welsh rep in the show. 

[Lightcosmo]

They need a cutscene dedicated to Van choosing to be with his car! XD

[Armagon]

11 minutes ago, Lightcosmo said:

They need a cutscene dedicated to Van choosing to be with his car! XD

 

[Lightcosmo]

4 minutes ago, Armagon said:

 

Haha that would be so perfect! Now we definitely need that!!

[Armagon]

@Saint Rubenio sorry this happened to you bro.

[Codename Shrimp]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjlxvg2gj7o

[Armagon]

1 minute ago, Codename Shrimp said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjlxvg2gj7o

When I'm in a "piss off my country's people" competition and my opponent is the French government.

[Armagon]

Meanwhile over here we had JD "Couchfucker" Vance saying school shootings are a "fact of life". He says as he stands behind bulletproof glass and flanked by Secret Service agents.