Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

And there's or course the lack of opportunity in doing so in a White Clouds where not enough was done to differentiate the routes.

Knowing this to be the case, makes me ponder why the devs even made you pick a house for the game's first half.🤔

Having played a lot of Shin Megami Tensei, the franchise usually has multiple endings based on different alignments. But that's it, endings. Maybe there's a final dungeon difference too, yet despite having alignments be an essential trait of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise since SMT1 (and prototypically Megami Tensei II), the alignments barely have a serious impact on the overwhelming majority of the game. Call it laziness, call it limited resources, say it's b/c SMT is JRPGs and not WRPGs nor Visual Novels. Call it a shame, whatever you want.

Typically in SMT, you spend like 90% of the game getting to see the world. You encounter the different clashing perspectives, officially an outsider to all of them, occasionally making dialogue choices that may tilt you in one direction or another. Only in the 11th hour do you get locked into a specific alignment whose triumph over others thou shalt bring forth!

Which begs the question- why not let everyone be usable for White Clouds? -Besides the logistics of sorting out which students start immediately on the team and who has to be recruited.

...The SMT game that specifically makes me think of this is Devil Survivor 2. An SRPG spinoff that does, not to say too much (unless one asked), feature a fracturing of the cast late in the story. I've never witnessed 3H's plot, but why not just make the first half an ensemble experience that ends with you choosing with whom you belong for a second-half split?🤔

-Simply the inquiry of a removed observer. Who, having seen something different yet vaguely similar, couldn't help but imagine it as perhaps what should've been (loosely) done instead of the criticized reality.

 

30 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Tickets to the British Museum obtained.

Just remember, hands off, no repatriating. Leave that to official organizations. Nigeria has no need for you to try swiping a Benin Bronze.

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I don't think she'd lash out like Shion did at least.

True. The gals are very different. And I don't see the Lone Hero following his predecessor's every step. -Yet, in the absence of knowing, I can't help but imagine the extreme possibility of personality 180s.😆 

Alas, we have to wait until November of next year. Thankfully they'll be releasing an XCX remaster as a launch title for the Switch successor sometime in April, so those who skipped the U can see the story that X2 will be continuing.

[Acacia Sgt]

26 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Knowing this to be the case, makes me ponder why the devs even made you pick a house for the game's first half.🤔

Which begs the question- why not let everyone be usable for White Clouds? -Besides the logistics of sorting out which students start immediately on the team and who has to be recruited.

Since the focus was on the whole teaching/training up the students, it was likely they didn't want to overwhelm players with trying to focus on over twenty students at once. And since a player is likely to only train up as much as the deployment slots allow you so, then might as well just restrict your unit pool, but leave the option to get more if you so wish. It also offers variety in giving you pre-determined sets of "default" classes to choose from before, again, if you desire to branch off a bit.

Think of it as not being given the choice between the different parts of a large Neapolitan cake, but of three differently flavored smaller cakes, with the option of taking slices from the other two.

26 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Alas, we have to wait until November of next year. Thankfully they'll be releasing an XCX remaster as a launch title for the Switch successor sometime in April, so those who skipped the U can see the story that X2 will be continuing.

Wait, is this just like-minded joking, or there's actual rumors about a remaster of X incoming?

Edited Wednesday at 02:32 AM by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, those Stopper Sovereigns are crazy...

[Armagon]

HOLY FUCK, OFFICIAL CLIMAX LOCALIZATION 

[Eltosian Kadath]

9 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hmm, did Byleth ever told anyone about it? I'll admit I don't remember.

The game is a bit ambiguous about that, as there is a scene where Byleth talks about Sothis and the creator gods power being how they escaped the ritualistic forbidden magic of Solon, but we don't see what is exactly said, there is a fade to black with them talking a little about it after the fact to let you know what topic was being discussed in the fade out.

 

55 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Knowing this to be the case, makes me ponder why the devs even made you pick a house for the game's first half.🤔

One of the more baffling design decisions of Three Houses to me. To compare it to Fates, which definitely handled the multiroute system better (assuming you own all the routes) Fates gave you 3 chapters to get a feel for the two main forces before you had to lock in and pick, and they clearly should have done something similar here. Use part one to give us a sampler of the four routes, 3 chapters with Claude and his crew, 3 chapters with Dimitri's madness, 3 chapters with Edelgard's ideals, and 3 chapters fighting together with the church's knights and faculty. It would even make it easy to introduce a branch of fate mechanic right there at the end where you have to chose...

 

Also random side note, but did they really just introduce an arbitrary 2 week time skip just to cheat Ignatz of his birthday...this game is just bullying that sweet little boy at this point.

[Dayni]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Knowing this to be the case, makes me ponder why the devs even made you pick a house for the game's first half.🤔

Which begs the question- why not let everyone be usable for White Clouds? -Besides the logistics of sorting out which students start immediately on the team and who has to be recruited.

...The SMT game that specifically makes me think of this is Devil Survivor 2. An SRPG spinoff that does, not to say too much (unless one asked), feature a fracturing of the cast late in the story. I've never witnessed 3H's plot, but why not just make the first half an ensemble experience that ends with you choosing with whom you belong for a second-half split?🤔

-Simply the inquiry of a removed observer. Who, having seen something different yet vaguely similar, couldn't help but imagine it as perhaps what should've been (loosely) done instead of the criticized reality.

I would suspect the devs insistence on it being that way. We saw in interviews the academy being something of an allusion to Sigurd, Quan and Eldigan alongside the War of the Three Kingdoms, so it makes sense that there would always be a divide made.

I'd had my thoughts on a "golden route" and the idea of the houses being put in the one class group as such made sense as part of it. The question of who would be available could be as simple as the students being at set levels as you go through the academy year until you permanently recruit them, with all available to use but not gaining exp. Maybe, I'm a bit undercooked at the minute and kinda rambling with this now.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

HOLY FUCK, OFFICIAL CLIMAX LOCALIZATION 

Well, that confirms BinB has less excuse now.

And a track editor was in that one? Didn't know.

20 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

One of the more baffling design decisions of Three Houses to me. To compare it to Fates, which definitely handled the multiroute system better (assuming you own all the routes) Fates gave you 3 chapters to get a feel for the two main forces before you had to lock in and pick, and they clearly should have done something similar here. Use part one to give us a sampler of the four routes, 3 chapters with Claude and his crew, 3 chapters with Dimitri's madness, 3 chapters with Edelgard's ideals, and 3 chapters fighting together with the church's knights and faculty. It would even make it easy to introduce a branch of fate mechanic right there at the end where you have to chose...

Like that, fine.

Personally I think a branch of fate esque option could have been done in 3H. I wonder if someone internally thought NG+ was good enough to provide cover for that, but we all know it doesn't from an exp perspective.

20 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Also random side note, but did they really just introduce an arbitrary 2 week time skip just to cheat Ignatz of his birthday...this game is just bullying that sweet little boy at this point.

Ignatz deserved better.

[Codename Shrimp]

6 hours ago, Armagon said:

Is it like this in Germany too? Even with stronger labor laws?

Not that bad yet, but knowing how we like to follow the US a few years later...

Also labor laws don't guarantee HO

[Interdimensional Observer]

10 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Wait, is this just like-minded joking, or there's actual rumors about a remaster of X incoming?

A joke, I rarely indulge in rumors.

 

8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

One of the more baffling design decisions of Three Houses to me. To compare it to Fates, which definitely handled the multiroute system better (assuming you own all the routes) Fates gave you 3 chapters to get a feel for the two main forces before you had to lock in and pick, and they clearly should have done something similar here. Use part one to give us a sampler of the four routes, 3 chapters with Claude and his crew, 3 chapters with Dimitri's madness, 3 chapters with Edelgard's ideals, and 3 chapters fighting together with the church's knights and faculty. It would even make it easy to introduce a branch of fate mechanic right there at the end where you have to chose...

I forgot about that when thinking of the above.😅 But having an alternative example within FE does make the criticized decision stranger indeed.

6 hours ago, Dayni said:

I would suspect the devs insistence on it being that way. We saw in interviews the academy being something of an allusion to Sigurd, Quan and Eldigan alongside the War of the Three Kingdoms, so it makes sense that there would always be a divide made.

...Except aside from the Yellow Turban Rebellion (not even in DW8), the elimination of Dong Zhuo, Red Cliffs, and Fan Castle, all three kingdoms never got into a battle together. The prior two instances being before the kingdoms got underway, the two latter after. Doesn't really help explain the clouds of peace.

 

9 hours ago, Armagon said:

HOLY FUCK, OFFICIAL CLIMAX LOCALIZATION 

Nintendo is usually lazy with this kind of thing? I forget which games, but IIRC some which aren't text-heavy were NSO'ed without actual translations?

7 hours ago, Dayni said:

Well, that confirms BinB has less excuse now.

F-Zero is rather dead, plus GP Climax stands no chance of getting remade. FE is still alive and Binding Blade will eventually be given a fresh coat of paint with a postgame featuring a cast of 25 playable characters of which Roy is the only one continuous with the maingame.

[Acacia Sgt]

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I forgot about that when thinking of the above.😅 But having an alternative example within FE does make the criticized decision stranger indeed.

...Except aside from the Yellow Turban Rebellion (not even in DW8), the elimination of Dong Zhuo, Red Cliffs, and Fan Castle, all three kingdoms never got into a battle together. The prior two instances being before the kingdoms got underway, the two latter after. Doesn't really help explain the clouds of peace.

I mean, it's an inspiration, not an adaptation. Fates was likewise inspired by the Arran/Samson choice of the first game, but Fates did the inverse of that.

You also gotta factor the "Four Seasons" poem, 風花雪月, to the point that is its subtitle in Japan, not Three Houses.

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Nintendo is usually lazy with this kind of thing? I forget which games, but IIRC some which aren't text-heavy were NSO'ed without actual translations?

The Starfy games, if I recall.

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

F-Zero is rather dead, plus GP Climax stands no chance of getting remade. FE is still alive and Binding Blade will eventually be given a fresh coat of paint with a postgame featuring a cast of 25 playable characters of which Roy is the only one continuous with the maingame.

That's just the Trial Maps expanded.

Still, Al's campaign as a Hector Mode analogue or bust!

Edited Wednesday at 02:01 PM by Acacia Sgt

[BrightBow]

8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

One of the more baffling design decisions of Three Houses to me. To compare it to Fates, which definitely handled the multiroute system better (assuming you own all the routes) Fates gave you 3 chapters to get a feel for the two main forces before you had to lock in and pick, and they clearly should have done something similar here. Use part one to give us a sampler of the four routes, 3 chapters with Claude and his crew, 3 chapters with Dimitri's madness, 3 chapters with Edelgard's ideals, and 3 chapters fighting together with the church's knights and faculty. It would even make it easy to introduce a branch of fate mechanic right there at the end where you have to chose...

Assuming someone bought 3 full price games at the same time is assuming quite a lot.

What you are describing is how Fates could have handled the multiroute system. But that's not what they actually did.
The choice was made in the store, before a single chapter was played, let alone 6 of them.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, they did had a Special Edition with all three games.

Also, it wasn't "three at full price". You already had the option to get the other from Conquest/Birthright at half price, and Revelations was always half-price since it was technically DLC.

[Interdimensional Observer]

14 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

You also gotta factor the "Four Seasons" poem, 風花雪月, to the point that is its subtitle in Japan, not Three Houses.

The international title change b/c of internal talks about an FE-SoS hybrid game were underway at the time.

7 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

That's just the Trial Maps expanded.

I wonder if these would be brought back, or simply forgotten and tossed aside. They have no story, unlike the BS FE stuff.

8 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Still, Al's campaign as a Hector Mode analogue or bust!

I used the number 25 with Roy as the only constant to allude to Melee. Because Roy truly isn't a Fire Emblem character.😝

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Well, they did had a Special Edition with all three games.

Yeah. That "3 chapters with each side before making a choice" thing would apply if the "Special Edition" is what the actual game would have been.

But of course it wasn't.

Edited Wednesday at 03:10 PM by BrightBow

[Eltosian Kadath]

2 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Assuming someone bought 3 full price games at the same time is assuming quite a lot.

Getting all three routes is less than Three Houses and its DLC. Heck if you don't care about Revelations, the two main routes cost about as much as Three Houses alone.

 

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

Yeah. That "3 chapters with each side before making a choice" thing would apply if the "Special Edition" is what the actual game would have been.

But of course it wasn't.

Or if you were willing to pay a price comparable to Three Houses for your Fire Emblem experience...

 

[BrightBow]

49 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Or if you were willing to pay a price comparable to Three Houses for your Fire Emblem experience...

The concrete price is hardly a factor here.

Conquest and Birthright each have their own cartridges, sold in their own boxes.
They were sold as individual games, so they are individual games.
That is not a complicated concept.

They don't get credit for what's on an entirely different cartridge. Just like how Oracle of Seasons doesn't get any credit for what happens in Oracle of Ages. They each stand on their own.

Edited Wednesday at 05:15 PM by BrightBow

[Armagon]

Me when I'm shown all my wrong answers on the math test.

9 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

but knowing how we like to follow the US a few years later..

Big conservative talking point here is deregulation of everything so if that takes over, you get to see it happen to your country in a few years. Let's pray that don't happen.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Got around to trying the second level in Terra Nil, the game isn't as relaxing as it's claims to be b/c I'm still figuring the mechanics out, but I still like the concept. -And that's why it offers halved and nonexistent resource cost options which I could consider until I get a somewhat better grasp on things.

 

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Me when I'm shown all my wrong answers on the math test.

Yet the post-debate reception indicates he seriously improved his likability. At best, it was a changes-nothing boring tie, as Minnesota Nice wasn't as pugnacious as he may have needed to be to win the debate.

[Eltosian Kadath]

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

The concrete price is hardly a factor here.

Conquest and Birthright each have their own cartridges, sold in their own boxes.
They were sold as individual games, so they are individual games.
That is not a complicated concept.

They don't get credit for what's on an entirely different cartridge. Just like how Oracle of Seasons doesn't get any credit for what happens in Oracle of Ages. They each stand on their own.

I only own one cartridge of Fates, and yet I can still play all three routes, and that isn't a complicated concept either. I didn't have to connect cartridges together, or in any way interact with the other cartridge to get access to the route it contained. That is very clearly different from your Oracle of Ages and Seasons example. If your argument is still what is only on the cart counts and updating the content with console memory shouldn't, then even Three Houses had a day one patch meaning the game you played wasn't just what was on the cart, but supplemented in a very similar way.

 

[Sidereal Wraith]

Wraith:

This will do a world of wonders for my insomnia. Yawn, I’m already feeling sleepy!

———————————————————————————

The Warlord Chronicles breathe new life to Arthurian legend, weaving together historical fact, intense battles and the old world magic of Merlin. 

Wraith:

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:20 PM by Sidereal Wraith

[Armagon]

37 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Yet the post-debate reception indicates he seriously improved his likability

I mean.........when your likability is that far into the negatives, going from -22 to -3 might seem like an improvement.

[Capt. Fargus]

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

FE is still alive and Binding Blade will eventually be given a fresh coat of paint with a postgame featuring a cast of 25 playable characters of which Roy is the only one continuous with the maingame.

That would be cool, especially if it fixes some of the more hemorroidal stuff about it 

[Sidereal Wraith]

15 hours ago, Armagon said:

 

 

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I only own one cartridge of Fates, and yet I can still play all three routes, and that isn't a complicated concept either. I didn't have to connect cartridges together, or in any way interact with the other cartridge to get access to the route it contained. That is very clearly different from your Oracle of Ages and Seasons example.

Well, I also only own one cartridge of Fates and I can only play Conquest. The game pretends there is an option, but whenever I pick anything besides Nohr, it says "Nope".
I doubt it was any different for the dozens of other cartridges they had in stores at the time.
 

Quote

If your argument is still what is only on the cart counts and updating the content with console memory shouldn't, then even Three Houses had a day one patch meaning the game you played wasn't just what was on the cart, but supplemented in a very similar way.

Three Houses got patched? Given what I've seen of it's terrible performance (while being ugly as sin) and what I heard about it's many glitches that were never addressed, I figured it was left as is.

Edited Wednesday at 08:13 PM by BrightBow

[Eltosian Kadath]

5 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Well, I also only own one cartridge of Fates and I can only play Conquest. The game pretends there is an option, but whenever I pick anything besides Nohr, it says "Nope".
I doubt it was any different for the dozens of other cartridges they had in stores at the time.

Mine didn't start that way either, and its why the concrete price matters. Fates is on what I will describe as the Spirit Airlines model (to steal a term from Jenny Nicholson's most recent video essay here), which while objectively better for the consumer feels worse psychologically, as if you can't afford Three Houses prices, or don't want to pay extra for routes that are not what you want, you can still play the route you want for a lower price, although you need to pay extra for the DLC to reach a similar experience and price to Three Houses, as all of its routes are bundled together even if some of them are subpar experiences I otherwise wouldn't pay for.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

From this... (throwing the rest in spoilers due to size).:

Spoiler

to

this

...And then you pack it all up, leaving no trace behind of the human machinery that restored nature.

Still feels a little awkward, but I think I'm finding the progression relaxing.😀 (And the tropical biome is prettier than the temperate one the first two levels use.)