Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

Alright guys, i've got my full thoughts on CrossCode after a day of thinking it over (copying from twitlonger): 

As a fan of RPGs, i've been feeling that sci-fi RPGs are kinda uncommon, or at least in terms of what i'd like. Most are either fantasy, modern times or is post-apocalyptic. And as sci-fi is probably my favorite genre, i feel the uncommoness of sci-fi RPGs more than most would. Of course, Xeno being my favorite video game franchise of all time makes up for it but i've been wanting a sci-fi RPG that wasn't Xeno for a while now. Final Fantasy exists but i've never really been interested in it or the Square Enix big three for that matter. I tried Star Ocean but it plays like a typical Tales game so i was turned off pretty early on. Anything else, i hadn't really thought about. 

So here's where CrossCode comes in, a game i've had my eye on for a while on after it was recommended to me. Sci-fi Zelda-esque RPG with a main lead that looks like KOS-MOS? Yes please. There's a lot to like about CrossCode. The combat is cool, feels a lot like Ys (specifically the top-down games). The spritework is very appealing, the puzzles are very cool and then there is Lea, the best part about the game. I never expected to like Lea as much as i did but damn, she's such a good character. If you had told me before a silent protagonist would rank among my favorite video game protags of all time, i would've called you a dumb dumb because while i don't usually have anything against silent protags, i prefer characters that actually talk. But somehow the guys over at Radical Fish Games did it. Made the perfect blend of a protagonist with a lot of personality while also being silent (most of the time). Lea is so expressive that you can basically fill in the blanks to what she says. She has a few words she says that the game explains by saying they are preset words hardcoded into her and these few words still add a lot of character to her. Lea is so good that she is the reason the story works in the first place. Changing any aspect of Lea's character would make the story just fall apart because Lea *is* the story.

The other characters in the game are nice but nothing too special. They're all pretty static in comparison to Lea but it's fine, it works for this kind of story. But i do need to talk about Emille. Emille is Lea's first friend and this is very important because out of all the characters Lea befriends, Emille is definitely the closest friend she's made. There's this one cute scene where Emille is talking about her dislike of bugs and she's clearly exaggerating it but Lea takes it 100% seriously and gives her a comfort hug because Lea cares about Emille that much. Lea is so good guys.

Moving onto the gameplay, the combat and puzzles are great. As i've mentioned before, combat feels a lot like Ys, perhaps a bit more involved due to the multitude of skills you get. And i really like how each of Lea's modes has different stats, not all of it is just a raw power boost. Although i will say i wasn't a fan of Elemental Overload. Basically, using one of the modes too much causes it to stop working. Problem is, Overload is universal so if one mode is close to that, all modes that aren't normal mode are. This is pretty annoying, especially with bosses that can only be hurt by a certain element. I can't really think of a reason for Elemental Overload to exist, certainly it's not to prevent spam because SP does that already. But that's my only gripe, combat is cool and the Lv.2 and Lv.3 Arts are very based. The boss fights also make good use of the modes you've unlocked and it all culminates into the absolutely incredible final boss. That second phase is one of the coolest final boss fights i've ever played.

The puzzles in the game are very cool conceptually but it's kinda hard for me to talk about them in detail. You just gotta see it to believe it. That said, the first two dungeons simply have too many puzzles and in that regard, those two dungeons are basically gonna be an endurance test for some people. Get past it, and it's all smooth sailing after that. That said, slow-mo puzzles are bad, there isn't a single good one.

I will say that as good as the spritework is, the depth perception kinda fucks with you sometimes. It was at it's worst in Sapphire Ridge in my experience, due to the area being in eternal night. 

Now, when i finished the game, i was conflicted on what score i wanted to give it. Because at this point, you can tell i like the game a lot *but* the ending is kinda underwhelming. Underwhelming enough to where it conflicted me in the first place. But after thinking about it for a while, i decided that the good of this game makes up for any issues i have, so i have decided to go with an 8/10 score for this game. Honestly, i want to give it a 9/10 mainly because Lea is so good but then i think about the sheer length of the first two dungeons and the ending and i gotta dock points unfortunately. And as for the ending, it's not *bad*, just underwhelming. But i can take solace in the fact that the post-game DLC will continue the plot and serve as an epilogue.

Which brings me to this point: there is a 95% chance i double dip and get the PC version. The console versions are behind on updates which means they'll likely be getting the post-game DLC much later than PC. And i'm too invested on Lea's character and story to wait longer than usual so yeah, i'm probably gonna double dip.

In conclusion, CrossCode is so good guys.

9 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

My personal least favorite part in RD is actually Part 2.

Hey man, at least is nice and short. And it ends with one of the best defense maps in the series.

9 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Also, they have Makalov. So..

Astrid unironically defending him in that one scene makes me think that she's been Jedi Mind Tricked into thinking that Makalov is a good person.

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I just want beefier enemies so Ike's chapters don't make me fall asleep, damnit!

Ngl, i like that the Greil Mercenaries are busted for the most part. Because why wouldn't they? 

3 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

soon we wont even have a playable roster, haha! We'll be back to the Smash64 cast number. 

Reject modernity, embrace tradition.

13 minutes ago, Dayni said:

McConnell, the one thing I keep seeing him called besides horrible is a turtle.

I like to call him a reanimated corpse because you cannot convince me that McConnell looks alive.

11 minutes ago, Sooks said:

But then again, all I know is who McConnell is and that people don’t like him.

He was (well technically still is but shh) the Senate Majority Leader. Senate Majority Leaders are basically responsible for deciding which bills get voted on from my understanding. He's been called the Bill Reaper because a lot of bills just sit on his desk for eternity (which is a fate for most bills but it seems there is an unusual number under McConnell's reign) if they try to get past the Senate first. Other times, a bill can make it through the House but then the Senate never votes on it because McConnell blocks it. Like the most recent stimulus bill where the House passed to make it $2000 (the one time Trump and Democrats agreed on something) instead of a mere $600 but then McConnell blocks it because "$2000 is too much".

Unsurprisingly, a lot of sane people are very pleased to see his imminent downfall.

(If i'm wrong on any of this, let me know).

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, twilitfalchion said:

No, it's definitely appreciated. I haven't studied the language since 10th grade.

Glad to hear it!

1 hour ago, Sooks said:

I see! I edited that in because I wasn’t sure if I could use mayor on its own.

Can I do that?

Depends. "Mayor" works on its own when you're talking about the oldest of a group. Say, "the oldest of us" would be "el mayor de nosotros."

1 hour ago, Sooks said:

I accidentally typed the plural, that’s why. I also didn’t have the word for at...

You were trying to say "I'm very lazy at home"? If so, that would be "soy muy perezoso en mi casa." For example.

Just now, Armagon said:

Ngl, i like that the Greil Mercenaries are busted for the most part. Because why wouldn't they? 

Oh yeah, for the story it works. But the gameplay suffers, in my opinion. They didn't give them enemies that could match Ike or Titania.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Saint Rubenio

[Acacia Sgt]

I can't wait when we find clashing grounds over Castilian Spanish and Mexican Latin American Spanish...

[Saint Rubenio]

12 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I can't wait when we find clashing grounds over Castilian Spanish and Mexican Latin American Spanish...

Castilian/Latin dubs are superior to Latin/Castillian dubs! This is an uncontestable fact!

...No but seriously, a part of me dies inside every time I see this exact fight taking place in the comments of some youtube video.

[Sooks]

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

He was (well technically still is but shh) the Senate Majority Leader. Senate Majority Leaders are basically responsible for deciding which bills get voted on from my understanding.

I said I know who he is!

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

He's been called the Bill Reaper because a lot of bills just sit on his desk for eternity (which is a fate for most bills but it seems there is an unusual number under McConnell's reign) if they try to get past the Senate first. Other times, a bill can make it through the House but then the Senate never votes on it because McConnell blocks it. Like the most recent stimulus bill where the House passed to make it $2000 (the one time Trump and Democrats agreed on something) instead of a mere $600 but then McConnell blocks it because "$2000 is too much".

But this part is news to me!

14 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You were trying to say "I'm very lazy at home"? If so, that would be "soy muy perezoso en mi casa." For example.

Hmm... does from home make sense in Spanish? Like working from home?

17 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Let's see...

"Those Spanish translations...Cervantes is rolling over in his grave.

No, only (I don't know). Certainly you all need more practice."

How bad was that? XD

I just used a translator. I haven’t learned most of those yet.

11 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I can't wait when we find clashing grounds over Castilian Spanish and Mexican Latin American Spanish...

That invested already eh?

[Acacia Sgt]

Just now, Sooks said:

That invested already eh?

You should see our dubbing wars...

[null]

2 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I just used a translator. I haven’t learned most of those yet.

I was guessing for some of it, tbh. Long has it been since the days of my youth.

Edited January 6, 2021 by twilitfalchion

[Acacia Sgt]

Now I'm reminded me of...

 

[Saint Rubenio]

5 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Hmm... does from home make sense in Spanish? Like working from home?

"Trabajar desde casa", yes.

4 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

You should see our dubbing wars...

He should also count his lucky stars that there are no such wars between American and British English. At least not to my knowledge!

[Sidereal Wraith]

...For some reason I’m feeling empty inside all of a sudden.

[null]

That's a very familiar feeling. 

*sigh*

Bapanada.

[Sooks]

11 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

You should see our dubbing wars...

How different are the two... Spanishes, I guess you could call them?

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

He should also count his lucky stars that there are no such wars between American and British English. At least not to my knowledge!

The Englishes (wow I’m sticking with this) really are not that different. No one should care enough because it’s easy to follow along either way.

12 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

I was guessing for some of it, tbh. Long has it been since the days of my youth.

You’re still young!

[Saint Rubenio]

5 minutes ago, Sooks said:

The Englishes (wow I’m sticking with this) really are not that different. No one should care enough because it’s easy to follow along either way.

Exactly. Except for some reason, when it comes to Spanish there's a group of morons that like to pretend that their dialects are superior for one arbitrary reason or another, when really they're both fine and there's no reason for it to even be a competition.

[Codename Shrimp]

15 minutes ago, Wraith said:

...For some reason I’m feeling empty inside all of a sudden.

 

 

[Acacia Sgt]

10 minutes ago, Sooks said:

How different are the two... Spanishes, I guess you could call them?

There's certainly a slew of differences. Language evolution became divergent when words from the Native Languages got incorporated here, for example. Also, one thing to keep in mind is that Spanish here in Latin America deviates further depending on where you live.

Mexican Spanish isn't like Colombian Spanish, or Bolivian Spanish, or Cuban Spanish, or Chilean Spanish. It's mostly slang, but even then there are more tangible differences (smh why do the Platinean countries use ananá for the piña!?). The video I linked is a good example of how things can deviate... though still mostly on slang.

It comes to the point that it's been stablished that things like dubbing works would be done in "Neutral" Spanish, since for long countries in charge of dubbing works added a lot of the local Spanish, which made it a bit troublesome for other areas to understand.

Because then you get stuff like this!

Edited January 6, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Ugh, still could not finish the goddamn first map. Stuck for almost an entire week now since there are still triggered event issues I cannot fix for some reason. 

I need to sleep now since my past two nights were ruined for thinking too much about the map instead sleeping.

 

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I've heard some people say it started as Warriors-like, but during development became less so as time passed. I've heard some comparison to Dragon Quest Heroes, another JRPG-franchise-meets-Musou spinoff that apparently leans more heavily than the average Musou into being an RPG. I wouldn't know firsthand what DQH is like though, because the Switch port hasn't left Japan despite the passing of several years.😑

I don't know about Dragon Quest Heroes's gameplay, but from the footage I saw Strikers didn't look too bad for me overall.

I will buy it, even if it's only for the P5 cast.

I think Nights of Azure 2 was a good entrance into this genre for me.

Still have to play the prequel, but I'm not really into the mood to play a PS4 game right now.

 

[Benice]

8 minutes ago, Sooks said:

The Englishes (wow I’m sticking with this) really are not that different. No one should care enough because it’s easy to follow along either way

That's because we all know how bad our language is.

Seriously,  we messed up the word "Pineapple." Why?

 

Anyways.

Happy very late birthdays to @1% Critical Hit, @bløød, @GlitchWarrior, @Maaka, and happy early birthday to @joevar

[Acacia Sgt]

Just now, Benice said:

That's because we all know how bad our language is.

Seriously,  we messed up the word "Pineapple." Why?

Because so long ago the word "apple" used to mean "fruit". So, the pineapple was "fruit from the pine", or something like that. Or maybe it was "fruit shaped like a pine[cone]". But then English began to use fruit instead of apple to refer to, well, fruit. But Pineapple didn't change to Pinefruit. As a side note, this is usually why people think that in the Biblical story, the fruit that Adam and Eve ate was an apple. Because apple used to mean every fruit, but it also wasn't changed when the word's meaning changed.

If you think that's weird, you should see us Spanish using Piña...

[Benice]

Everything but spanish and English uses Ananas, though...Literally every other language! AAAAAARGHHH

[Dayni]

5 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

 

Maybe it's more like he's going under?

I still like their music this won't stop me.

2 minutes ago, Benice said:

Seriously,  we messed up the word "Pineapple." Why?

To save us from me using pineapples to dunk on Anankos constantly.

And oh, if there's one thing that is still true it's English accents arguing with one another's still a thing.

[Codename Shrimp]

1 minute ago, Benice said:

Everything but spanish and English uses Ananas, though...Literally every other language! AAAAAARGHHH

I kinda always forget that fact when talking with english speaking peeps and usually say/write Ananas lol

[Acacia Sgt]

For it's worth, a few South American countries do use Ananá. Mostly the Platinean ones (Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay).

Likely the closeness to Brazil, who also uses a variant of Ananá. Argentina is mostly due to its European Immigration. They brought Ananá with them, and it got stuck.

[Interdimensional Observer]

59 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Now, when i finished the game, i was conflicted on what score i wanted to give it. Because at this point, you can tell i like the game a lot *but* the ending is kinda underwhelming. Underwhelming enough to where it conflicted me in the first place. But after thinking about it for a while, i decided that the good of this game makes up for any issues i have, so i have decided to go with an 8/10 score for this game. Honestly, i want to give it a 9/10 mainly because Lea is so good but then i think about the sheer length of the first two dungeons and the ending and i gotta dock points unfortunately.

Glad to hear you unexpectedly enjoyed it more than you thought! A happy surprise is the best kind of the unexpected. 

I do have a wad of eShop funds sitting unspent now, but indie titles... I don't know. Shovel Knight was great fun, but Wargroove... for some reason, it just didn't sate the Advance Wars craving I bought it for and hoped it could resolve, although it wasn't bad. The old charming old magic AW still has over me wasn't there.

 

17 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

There's certainly a slew of differences. Language evolution became divergent when words from the Native Languages got incorporated here, for example. Also, one thing to keep in mind is that Spanish here in Latin America deviates further depending on where you live.

Mexican Spanish isn't like Colombian Spanish, or Bolivian Spanish, or Cuban Spanish, or Chilean Spanish. It's mostly slang, but even then there are more tangible differences. The video I linked is a good example of how things can deviate... though still mostly on slang.

It comes to the point that it's been stablished that things like dubbing works would be done in "Neutral" Spanish, since for long countries in charge of dubbing works added a lot of the local Spanish, which made it a bit troublesome for other areas to understand.

I've been told Arabic run into similar great national divides. "Classical Arabic" as codified in the Quran is the internationally used, but nobody actually speaks it at home with friends, it's divine, but sterile. Due to each country from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east having a quite distinct history, the living Arabics are only roughly intelligible to each other. Egyptian Arabic being the best understood by a non-national audience due to a lot of Arabic TV shows and movies being made there.

Language divides can be fascinating, and that they, surprisingly to an English audience, endure to this day is evidence that the past is not truly dead. Although dialects may be declining with modern communicative technology and media and widespread public education, the era of human history when most humans were in their mother tongue wholly unintelligible to their fellow countrymen even when they spoke what was, purely nominatively, the same language, still has some twilight years left.

 

9 minutes ago, Dayni said:

And oh, if there's one thing that is still true it's English accents arguing with one another's still a thing.

I would never use alu-mini-um for airplanes or wrapping my half-eaten tilapia in the fridge, too precious must protect!😛

However, some British accents are that bad. I don't think they say actual words, they make a random grunt in a tone so low that I can't tell the difference.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Sooks]

19 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Mexican Spanish isn't like Colombian Spanish, or Bolivian Spanish, or Cuban Spanish, or Chilean Spanish. It's mostly slang, but even then there are more tangible differences (smh why do the Platinean countries use ananá for the piña!?). The video I linked is a good example of how things can deviate... though still mostly on slang.

I don’t know which one I’m learning.

[Acacia Sgt]

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I've been told Arabic run into similar great national divides. "Classical Arabic" as codified in the Quran is the internationally used, but nobody actually speaks it at home with friends, it's divine, but sterile. Due to each country from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east having a quite distinct history, the living Arabics are only roughly intelligible to each other. Egyptian Arabic being the best understood by a non-national audience due to a lot of Arabic TV shows and movies being made there.

Language divides can be fascinating, and that they, surprisingly to an English audience, endure to this day is evidence that the past is not truly dead. Although dialects may be declining with modern communicative technology and media and widespread public education, the era of human history when most humans were in their mother tongue wholly unintelligible to their fellow countrymen even when they spoke what was, purely nominatively, the same language, still has some twilight years left.

And that reminds me. Modern Spanish, regardless of which side of the Atlantic, also has Arabic influence, thanks to the centuries-long occupation of Hispania/Iberia.