Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Sooks]

I forgot to mention, I got a vast majority of (as in, all I can do for now, which is all but a handful of things) my packing done!

[Interdimensional Observer]

25 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

And if I say SMTIV is easier than TMS, everything is said.

I don't remember any difficulty with that boss on my TMS run. And I was playing on Hard. A few bosses took me a few tries don't get me wrong, but that wasn't one of them, otherwise I would've remembered it. I don't recall EXP gain being that slow for characters not on the active cast either. Although, I was frequently rotating my teammates to master their new Carnages as they came along, and to better exploit weaknesses too.

Although, SMTIV was relatively easy once you got past Minotaur and Medusa, and then figured out the incomprehensible world map. Things only got hard again towards the very end, the final bosses coming to mind, probably the Fiends with extremely low encounter rates that I never fought, and definitely Beelzebub because of its tendency to Megidoloan spam. I played that game on Normal from beginning to end, since I think Hard was NG+ only.

[Armagon]

20 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

Then should love Shin Megami Tensei's main games and spinoffs.

Well mainline SMT is too bleak for my tastes so I'll give it a pass. I'm curious on the spin-offs and Persona tho.

20 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

The best thing of TMS for me is seriously the music ngl.

As far as the vocal songs themselves go, they are good but the OST as a whole is pretty weak imo.

10 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

Well if you’re playing a game about the Japanese idol industry then the music better damn well be banger. Otherwise what’s the point of making a game about Japanese idols

The point would be to make it not rely soley on the idol industry. As someone who hates the idol genre of anime, TMS was pretty enjoyable because it actually did something with it instead of being copy-pasted Love Live.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Armagon

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

29 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

Well if you’re playing a game about the Japanese idol industry then the music better damn well be banger. Otherwise what’s the point of making a game about Japanese idols

It has been my first game with Japanese idols, so the songs were a pleasent surprise for me.

Well maybe the second one after Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ which also featured an idol group, but it to a less extent for being only one party member from this group.

23 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I don't remember any difficulty with that boss on my TMS run. And I was playing on Hard. A few bosses took me a few tries don't get me wrong, but that wasn't one of them, otherwise I would've remembered it. I don't recall EXP gain being that slow for characters not on the active cast either. Although, I was frequently rotating my teammates to master their new Carnages as they came along, and to better exploit weaknesses too.

Although, SMTIV was relatively easy once you got past Minotaur and Medusa, and then figured out the incomprehensible world map. Things only got hard again towards the very end, the final bosses coming to mind, probably the Fiends with extremely low encounter rates that I never fought, and definitely Beelzebub because of its tendency to Megidoloan spam. I played that game on Normal from beginning to end, since I think Hard was NG+ only.

Minotaur was my only real problem I had in SMTIV (one of the reasons was that I had no bufu for this fight), the one boss I had to turn down the difficulty. After that it became way more managable since there's more freedom once reaching Tokyo's map, so easier to train the units. I can't remember having any problems on normal difficulty (the lowest which can be picked from the start), not even with Lucifer.

In TMS however I can't even beat some encounters on "friendly" difficulty which is caused by my abandonment of (over)grinding my units.

19 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Well mainline SMT is too bleak for my tastes so I'll give it a pass. I'm curious on the spin-offs and Persona tho.

As far as the vocal songs themselves go, they are good but the OST as a whole is pretty weak imo.

The point would be to make it not rely soley on the idol industry. As someone who hates the idol genre of anime, TMS was pretty enjoyable because it actually did something with it instead of being copy-pasted Love Live.

I would recomment to start with the Devil Survivor series first for being the closest one to Fire Emblem for being a tactical turn based JRPG.

 

And I agree, whilst the vocals of the cast members are great, the OST like the battle themes is  unremarkable.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Jules Necrofantasia

[Armagon]

5 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

Well maybe the second one after Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ which also featured an idol group, but it to a less extent for being only one party member from this group.

Yeah, I'd say that doesn't count. That's like saying Neptunia is an idol game because 5pb is a party member (though there is that idol sim spin-off).

6 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

In TMS however I can't even beat some encounters on "friendly" difficulty which is caused by my abandonment of (over)grinding my units.

This shouldn't be happening. Are you upgrading your weapons and skills?

Also Session Attacks, make very good use of those.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

8 minutes ago, Armagon said:

This shouldn't be happening. Are you upgrading your weapons and skills?

Also Session Attacks, make very good use of those.

If I have the ressources, I do it instantly.  Same goes for doing all the sidequests to give the party members new roles. Also buying the best possible equipment. Itsuki/Chrome became a master lord after the reported fight (probably should have done it before).

I think my team was just underleveled. Touma was 13 levels behind at this fight which explains why he was 2RKO'ed and hardly got a turn => will train everyone from now

Quote

Yeah, I'd say that doesn't count. That's like saying Neptunia is an idol game because 5pb is a party member (though there is that idol sim spin-off).

It's only Rion from SPIKA, but she still was an idol after all and her songs had at least little meaning in the story for comforting other people.

That's the only JP idol person I'm aware of.

Can't speak of any other series.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Jules Necrofantasia

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Well mainline SMT is too bleak for my tastes so I'll give it a pass. I'm curious on the spin-offs and Persona tho.

Not trying to evangelize in any way, just offering a detailed breakdown on the most of the spinoffs as I'm aware of them, not all of which I've played.:

• Shin Megami Tensei: If...
  • This is the game that later inspired the creation Persona. A high school ends up trapped in the demons' world. It's old-school SMT, got a recent fan translation, but is probably too dated. I've played SMT1 on mobile, If... was two games later on the same system. I've also played Soul Hackers, which was two games after If... and I thought SH was dated, so If... likely will be dated for you too.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
  • The first Devil Summoner -like the sequel a Sega Saturn game- has never been translated. It was supposed to be a successor to mainline SMT, but Atlus later changed their minds. Soul Hackers is still old-school SMT, and hence, not very recommendable. Though the game ain't bleak, the story and characters are still weak, it didn't use its 90 Internet premise very well.
• Majin Tensei and Majin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis
  • Super Famicom attempts at an SMT SRPG. Not sure how good they are, but I'd say skip for now, given the age. Maybe I'll try them later and mention how they are.
• Jack Bros.
  • SMT had a Virtual Boy spinoff. And it's kinda good. But, in case you can't tell, it has a problem.
• Last Bible/Last Bible II/Last Bible III/Another Bible/Last Bible Special
  • Lighter and easier faire with a medieval setting released on the Game Boy and GameGear. First was officially translated, the rest have fan translations. Haven't tried one yet, but how good can they be being Game Boy spinoffs?
• Demikids
  • SMT tried aping Pokemon, it didn't work in the long run. The GBA games were officially translated, the GBC ones have no translation at all.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga I & ii
  • These two PS2 games play rather similar to SMTIII: Nocturne, the game which invented modern SMT on the same system. Instead of demon allies, you've a fixed set of five heroes who learn new skills by purchasing Mantras. The plot is a little dystopian in a young adult novel way, it's SMT trying to be to more mainstream JRPG to an extent. These are two halves of one story. -One story where cannibalism features upfront, but it's never gruesomely portrayed besides some blood, and the heroes only do it because it's necessary to get stronger, they know it's inhuman.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army & Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
  • I only played the first of these two PS2 games. It felt like a primitive, stiff Tales. I'm told vs. King Abaddon improved the combat, but besides the pretty take on 1920s Tokyo, I'm not sure if these games have much going for them. Music is alright, but the characters were thin, the story eh, and the detective aspect could have been much better in the first game.
• Devil Survivor and Devil Survivor 2
  • Now this is much younger than all of the above stuff, being no more than a decade old. A blend of modern SMT combat with an SRPG grid, both titles releasing first on the DS and then being ported to the 3DS. If you can run Desume but not Citra, you may wish to skip Devil Survivor 1, the lack of a compendium that lets you resummon any demon I've ever fused for a price is a bit of a downer to me regarding its it's DS version (DS2 DS version has it though), but if you don't mind that then it's fine.
    • The first Devil Survivor retains traditional SMT themes (read- the controversial angels vs. demons thing) and multiple endings. But the characters are better written than they usually are in mainline SMT, and things are toned down somewhat to suit a more popular anime feel.
    • Devil Survivor 2 has a stronger anime vibe. For some, its characters may be insufferably tropey, but I liked them, and the Persona-esque Fate events for bonding to the heroes were a nice addition. There is still a Japan in world-ending crisis, and multiple endings, but they removed the Abrahamic God and Lucifer from the narrative altogether, this is a different world. The game can be serious, but the game lets in more than a few rays of humor that aren't in any way dark. Just don't watch the actual anime.

I am leaving out of the bullets: Giten Megami Tensei- the old PC game with sex scenes, SMT: IMAGINE- the MMORPG, and SMT: NINE- the failed game that was released on the Xbox of all things. Partly because they're all set in the SMTI & II world, partly because really, why bother?

As you can see, most of this is old stuff. Besides Devil Survivor, which itself won't be seeing any sequels methinks, SMT has seen spinoffs die off after the PS2 era. A combination of rising development costs and SMT's lack of popularity may be to blame. Meanwhile modern Persona has been so lucky being popular as to receive fighting game, first-person dungeon crawling, rhythm, and Warriors-esque spinoffs.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Devil Survivor's anime was the first and only anime I have watched yet.

Now you can guess why...

[Armagon]

(Copying my PoR thoughts from Twitlonger)

 

I have a little story to tell here: I played Path of Radiance about two years ago but i didn't get far enough before the USB i had it on literally fell apart. I lost motivation to play and i wouldn't regain that motivation until a good friend of mine gifted me a physical copy of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn as an early Christmas gift. So i figured now would be a good time to finally finish what i've started.

I've known the plot of both Tellius games for years. And finally playing the game has confirmed for me that Path of Radiance's story is one of the better ones of the series. It's for the most part, perfectly simple. Ike being a non-noble makes him a lot more relatable and he has one of the better arcs as far as FE Lords go. I also like that the citizens of the enemy country aren't all sunshines and rainbows. Usually in Fire Emblem, once you go into the enemy's homeland, a lot of the villagers are like "oh we didn't want this, our king just started this war because he could, please save us" but in Path of Radiance, the Daeins are like "fuck you". It was a nice change of pace from what the series is used to.

Of course, the story still falls to classic Fire Emblem pitfalls like having bad villains. The Black Knight is the only good villain and it's really more because of his appearance and relation to Ike as opposed to the character himself. Ashnard is just a generic mustache twirler with a stupid plan, the Four Riders of Daein are so underused, the only ones who have any relevance as Petrine and the Black Knight and....that's about it. There are some minor villains but i hardly have anything to say about them (Oliver's meme status isn't gonna save him). Also, i know Zelgius and the Black Knight are the same person but it's definitely an OG Darth Vader situation where they didn't think of that until much later.

Gameplay-wise, Path of Radiance is the most middle-of-the-road gameplay in the series. Right in the middle. Although i will say Ch.17 is one of the best chapters in the series. The map is basically an FE4 map except actually good because it's split into chunks and each chunk has a different objective: rout, arrive, defend and defeat boss, in that order. Unfortunately, the rest of the game failed to reach those heights but it's not like the maps were *bad*.

I will say, i was surprised about how i played this game differently compared to how i usually play Fire Emblem. For once, i actually used the Christmas Cavaliers all the way to the end. That never happens. I also actually waited until Lv.20 to promote for most units. I turned off battle animations. I never do that. The battle animations are insanely slow in this game. I never do that. I barely used Mages in this game, even though i always do. Ngl, maybe i did something wrong but i felt that Mages were *abysmal* in this game. I felt like bringing them to a fight would just be a waste and i only brought them if i had to. Archers kinda suck and by that, i mean Rolf can't kill at all and Shinon joins too weak.

As for other mechanics, between this, Xenoblade 2 and XenoblaDE, i am fully convinced that Bonus EXP needs to be the norm for RPGs. Having an extra reserve of EXP to boost your characters levels is only a good thing. BEXP was pretty easy to come across too. As for what i don't like, i really don't like the Laguz meter. Path of Radiance is easy enough to where it really isn't a detriment but i don't like how Laguz characters need to charge up a meter before they can actually do anything. Some start battles already transformed and i always prioritized using these over Laguz that needed to wait but eventually, i just slapped a Demi-Brand on Lethe (who turned out to be my second best unit) and called it a day. Lethe was pretty much the only Laguz character i used all the way. Everyone else just fell off because there's only one Demi-Brand to go around and i didn't want meter to run out for those that start transformed.

All in all, Path of Radiance is decent. As an overall package, i'd say it's at the top of B-tier in the series' rankings. If you can get GameCube games running on your PC, i'd say give it a shot.

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Devil Survivor and Devil Survivor 2

• Now this is much younger than all of the above stuff, being no more than a decade old. A blend of modern SMT combat with an SRPG grid, both titles releasing first on the DS and then being ported to the 3DS.

I still have my 3DS and i can't imagine these two games being that expensive anymore. If i'm in the mood for it, i'll check it out.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

SMT: IMAGINE- the MMORPG, and SMT: NINE- the failed game that was released on the Xbox of all things.

I can see why it failed haha.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Physical copies of Devil Survivor 1 and 2 share the same fate as the Tellius games.

Digital copies cost about 40 $.

 

Copy of Devil Survivor 2 for 126 € on Amazon, that's even more than for Radiant Dawn.

Still need to rebuy 1 since I had to sell my former bugged copy.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Jules Necrofantasia

[Armagon]

11 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

Digital copies cost about 40 $.

 

So Altus takes the Nintendo route of selling last-gen games at full price, huh?

Imagine buying a last-gen game at full price haha. Yes I bought Xenoblade X at full price but that's different, Xenoblade X could've cost me $80 and it'd still be worth it.

[Benice]

Glad that you enjoyed PoR, @Armagon! Hope that you'll enjoy RD even more, because in my opinion, it's phenomenal and probably the most "tight" of all the FEs made.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Benice

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

36 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So Altus takes the Nintendo route of selling last-gen games at full price, huh?

Imagine buying a last-gen game at full price haha. Yes I bought Xenoblade X at full price but that's different, Xenoblade X could've cost me $80 and it'd still be worth it.

Older and newer Shin Megami Tensei games weren't reprinted apparently, so that's why they became superexpensive. Same goes for Radiant Historia and Stella Glow. At least 3DS games can be purchased digitally although I can understand having a physical copy of these games.

[Eltosian Kadath]

I saw a Fire Emblem game tier list here a bit earlier today, so I decided to share one of my own making

[Benice]

FE tier lists?

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

What does "Peri" exactly mean?

Perished?

 

Anyways I made a rating last month, so no desire to make a new list since nothing has changed anyways.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions, if I even can call it a Fire Emblem game, would land somehow in the middle. It can be fun, but it has a very unbalanced difficulty.

If I made categories, I would make one for Binding Blade "Play the Redux Hack".

Edited December 29, 2020 by Jules Necrofantasia

[Benice]

17 minutes ago, Jules Necrofantasia said:

What does "Peri" exactly mean?

Peri.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Well, perished was still my right guess then.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Uh, how to make growthrates with the SRPG Studio?

 

Why am I thinking it's made by Falcom when listening to the music?

 

Edit: Played a first map. My ally never hit with 80s and the enemy critted him with 3% - interesting!

Edited December 29, 2020 by Jules Necrofantasia

[Codename Shrimp]

we doin this again huh?

[Saint Rubenio]

Not gonna lie, the Binding Blade rating gave me a big chuckle. Thanks.

[Codename Shrimp]

repost because we are know at the snickers phase again

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, Father Shrimpas said:

repost because we are know at the snickers phase again

I always found it funny how none of the waifus in the waifu wars section are my kind of waifu.

My tier list can be found in my signature, as always. I'm not entirely comfortable with the placing for Vestaria, to be honest. I mostly dropped it down for the replay value, because I got bored while trying to replay it. But perhaps I was just not in the right mindset for it at the time.

[Codename Shrimp]

5 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I mostly dropped it down for the replay value

Ya know, if i valued replay value high Conquest will be S and everything else F, as conquest is still the only game in the series i completely replayed, and 4 times at that (+1 run my brother accidently deleted when i approached late game xD)

5 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I always found it funny how none of the waifus in the waifu wars section are my kind of waifu.

maybe i should add Ward to the list and update it

Edited December 29, 2020 by Father Shrimpas

[Saint Rubenio]

Just now, Father Shrimpas said:

maybe i should add Ward to the list and update it

Never do that again, my gut hurts from laughing too much.