Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Sooks]

18 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Is this referring to that one Cindered Shadows map?

Wait, which one? I don’t remember any I would describe that way.

[Punished Dayni]

So, here we go, Dayni attempts to argue there's maps to defend in every game?

Bah, not the point, this took long enough. Let's see how I did putting 1 map from every separate title in (for this, Fates is treated separately on each route. It was rough picking these, especially as I was trying to pick some things which would make a somewhat consistent experience, not made easier by me not being clear on what I'd pick as The Bestᵗᵐ. Hell, some of these probably wouldn't be on best lists, but I didn't think that was the point once I said 1 per game anyway.

Spoiler

NMotE    The Grustian Expedition
This is a pretty simple starting map and I think it fits the balance enough to be a good starting point. So, for the story we're following it's the tale of a band of soldiers who've been in a fair few scrapes together (Yep, entire team is prepromtes), recently dismissed from their contract with a grateful lord who had bankrolled them for a large continent spanning conflict. They proceed to get news of a small rebellion in a backwater region and go to investigate. When they get there it turns out the rebels have descended into being mere looters and the man at the helm's gone in over his head, won't rescind his rebellion and has to be defeated. The crew's made up of an Armoured Druid protag, Sword + Throwing Thief, War Cleric (Light + Axe), Lance + Bow Knight, Fist + Staff War Monk and an Anima Gryphon Knight, along with some new recruits that are more standard units (Sniper, Swordmaster, Berserker, Halberdier and the Mage Knight Jagen). They also get a regular Bishop as a recruit, though instead of getting them out of the village it's about preventing the village from being burnt.

BS    Crazed Beast
I am still disappointed there's never been a map with the same conditions since, so I will go out of my way to bring this map up. It's a seize map where you have to get three places, but you're pretty free to figure out how to get to each one. You have a fair few options for each of your units to move about and with at least 3 units who can move over the lake that are at level you can more quickly move to take the NE fort. The story is that a band of thugs turned landlords of a remote region. This mission's given by a Duke Everice, having heard about the rebellion put down nearby and requests the group's services. The sole recruit is a Warrior, who will pop up out of the forest and request to join your forces, seeing as unlike the lord of the region you're doing something about these bandits.

SoV    Retaking of the Sluice Gate
This map is another mission from the Duke, where they learn a group of malcontents have taken over the dam at his border with the potential to poison the water, that's enough of a justification to go there. In this map the main thing is that a nearby chieftain asks you to save their kid who was taken by the crew and hypnotised to work for them. The trick is that it's not the teleporting little girl, but the "boss" of the map. Aside from that the map doesn't have that much in the way of surprises. The recruit is the boss Druid, who can be saved by capture and then offers to join them as they want to learn from the protagonist.

Awa    Five Gemstones
The Duke thanks the band of soldiers for the help with the dam and requests they stay for the night. The trouble with that is someone is not so happy and tries to use this as an opportunity to kill them. The map is about escaping, but you have to escape the enemies coming out of the stairwells that can besiege you as well as take enemies in front of you and reinforcing from behind, with the goal of reaching the bottom and beating the boss, who doesn't give away who he's working for. In terms of items, this is the first with a notable weapon: the Ca-nife, a throwing weapon that's effective against horses.

T776    The Escape
Directly after breaking out of the Duke's main fort, you come to the castle town and realise something's really off because the Duke's men will attack you. The map has a large set of enemies and the more you kill the worse it gets because they don't like that. This is also the map with the first appearance of The Hero of our Time, an anti-turtling incentive in the form of a stupidly overpowered unit who will demolish the units you have and is canonically the guy who defeated the big bad of the last war. Escape is the only way. You can recruit a General unit out of the houses, alongside obtaining a crit-nullifying item.

SS    Turning Traitor
So, from escaping the Duke's palace, we go to a port to escape being wanted for assassination as the duke died while you were there. The town the group escape to happens to be occupied by a group who have made the decision to protect their people by blocking the movement of goods. Problem is, they're also preventing ships from leaving and you don't have time to be waiting around for them to let you pass, so there's a time limit on it to take the port's storage of boats. There's also a group of knights who were supposed to set sail to help another nation but were told to back off, giving your groups common ground to fight the port guard in the turn limit before it gets dark and a storm arrives. After the map we see tHooT show up, frustrated at the actions of these "guards" and requests their punishment. The man he's with the lord will not do so. Surprised by this, he asks if he is to follow the traitors and is told to get back to wandering the nation for trouble to fight. Recruit is the leader of the allies, a Paladin who can use Axes and Swords and will be available on the next map but leaves afterwards. There's also a gauntlet set that crushes armour in the house

BR    Another Hope
Arriving at that town the knights from Turning Traitor were heading to, you get the immediate sense things have gone wrong. Because they have and the people they were supposed to fight have taken over. Immediately the knights get attacked and are wiped out with only the paladin you recruited getting away. You listen to his testimony about the state of the town and confess if they do fight there'll be a power vacuum, but he insists he would stay to prevent disaster. The fight itself becomes a matter of crossing the river because the enemies are concentrated there in particular with no HP reducing DVs. This is a rout map, but there's been none since the Sluice map.

Rev    A Lost Peace
Box map! I thought about making it directly after the previous map, but no. Instead this is where the group learn that there's definitely something going wrong in the governing of the fallen kingdom of the last war, what with the governors being absent and letting towns fall to selfish people with no consistency from one to the next. The state of this one in particular is terrible: the centre has been devastated, most of the buildings ransacked and roving gangs claim it for their own. Two guards see the group and request their assistance in protecting an home for the orphaned from the war, meaning the third force is actually an allied force this time and thus you'll want the boxes to protect them too. The recruits are forced on the map, but are also temporary like the paladin from the last two maps. There's also an Anima tome with effectiveness against "inanima" (ballistae, barriers, golems, etc). It's also here where there's officially talk about something going wrong around the main lord and that there are those who can't be trusted.

GotHW    Birth of a Holy Knight
This larger map's a journey through the lands of a kingdom formerly ruled by a league of noblemen, but after the war has fallen by the wayside as the only authority figures who show up now are missionaries and those who claim themselves to be rulers by whatever means they believe. It's here when we get the real twist: the ministers around the lord have started turning on each other and a section of the Light's Fellows have taken the chance to make the nation theirs and from there the rest of the land if they can get to that point, with a "bishop of the wilds" having encouraged disorder in the former Big Bad Kingdom. As a result much of the map has you moving from place to place as more malcontents pop up in various places. The recruit in this map is a Paladin using Lances and Swords, also coming with a dragonslaying bow. They're the one who lets slip the Light's Fellows role in this.

BB    The Hero of the West
At this stage there's no choice left but to go back and call out their lord's company but the problem is that the main road back has been blocked off and there's also a morally bankrupt group tied to the LF who are exploiting the downtrodden of a nearby mountain. Naturally there's no choice but to go there and remove these overseers. In terms of twists, recruitment doesn't happen with a mercenary troop at all. You get two units, a Wyvern Knight and an Anima sage who are not only preparing a movement against the LF (partly with a young boy who might be a Guide of the Light, a major figure of the faith that heralds a new era in their eyes and should show a way to a golden age) but also help fight off the soldiers who show up to try and hold the place. Brigands still show up too. The rebels request assistance in removing these dangerous foes and put their faith in the group with a Light time that is effective against fliers. The HooT does show up, but then decides not to give chase, determining there's only one real way they'll go and he might as well stop them there, especially if his suspicions are correct.

3H    Sword and Shield of Seiros
This map's one that's on here because of the objective combined with the setting. You have to work to prevent enemies from overriding your defence, who are coming off the boats and attempting to seize your forces as well as this "guide" they've heard about after he went public. The enemies are relentless, flying, charging and swimming in from all directions. You can't let the town be destroyed as chances are if exposed they'll surround the Guide. There's an intent to push forward as well as you have to take two of the boats for this clear.

PoR    A Guiding Wind
BOAT MAP! This one's different because of the objective and it involving 3 boats where you're not in the middle. The enemies are on a boat and also some fly in too, from all directions. The generics are all fresh recruits, so the goal will be ensuring they're not too overwhelmed and getting the enemy ship off your case. The recruit on this map is an assassin who was met during the last war who happens to have found an opportunity to sneak into the middle ship, but after the misunderstanding gives the Guide a crystal that reacts by glowing brightly and giving the boy a transformation. The assassin joins the party at this point and gives the last of the bonus weapons, a Dark tome with effectiveness against light magic and reaver effect.

CQ    Unhappy Reunion
I know, Conquest, you're picking the easy option, you bitch. And fine, I am. The twist is that you're the ones having to try and break through the barricade off the boats. There's a lot of enemies in the way, the siege towers are in full force and you're not going to be able to wait forever. The HooT is the boss of this map, but while you might fight him, killing him's a game over, so manoeuvring around him and escaping is the way. Recruits join you early on, the characters who've been travelling with your guys for the last few maps, the Guide (who can transform into a Pheonix and has dancing abilities) and his assistant, a Archsage.... who has no combat and is entirely support. The HooT stops following, confusing the group, but they leave it out of their minds to try and warn the lord about the LF.

SD    A Knight-Filled Sky
This map might be made easier with ballasticians, but we don't have those things. For all the fliers you do have, the enemy has plenty and many will fly down on top of you. At this point you've reached the capital and the main lord's missing with a minister having claimed regency and the LF as his allies. The map itself is seize, but how easy it'll be to skip depends on if you can fight an armoured mage with no weakness on the throne. The village on the edge gives the revival staff, which is freely useable. The revolution has to be stopped here, but then it's discovered the main lord was not inside, only for your force to be trapped by the LF's elites.

RD    Elincia's Gambit
This is a map that has always been cool, but in terms of differences, let's see what happens when the enemies are even stronger and you only have your full party to work with, no generics. Your goal is survive, but good ending requires defeating the final boss, a Bishop with stupid good stats and a habit of using staves to teleport enemies closer to the top of the map. If the enemy gets in the castle will probably blow up, several units can't die, no cannon fodder.... it'll be rough. But you can make it and persevere. For the plot it's in the same castle that was taken in the previous map and the conspiracy has to do something before they're revealed. That something being kill you and anyone else siding against them. As for new units, a small party joins, made up of the main lord (A mage with lances) who I mentioned earlier alongside their trusted retinue (A GK, Bow Gryphon Knight and a Summoner with magic gauntlets) and tHooT, coming in with his good gear and a ton of frustration at the church's betrayal. Survive and the nation can recover but beat the boss and there's a better chance.

I'll put the longlist here, note just because I wanted to pick more maps from certain games is no objective reflection on the game's quality.

Spoiler

SD: 9, 11, 12, 16, 17x, 22, 25
SoV: Grieth, Aqueduct
NMotE: 1, 2, 8, 10, 17, 21
Gene: P, 3
T776: 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 14x, 16A, 17B, 22
BB: 7, 11A, TM3
BS: 17x, 18, 24, 25 (H)
SS: 5, 7, 9Er, 10Ep, 11Ep, 13Er, 19, F1
PoR: 5, 11, 13, 17 (All of it?), 22, 28, TM2
RD: 1-3, 1-6-1, 1-8, 1-F, 2-3, 2-F, 3-P, 3-3, 3-6, 3-9, 3-13, 3-F, 4-4, F-1, F-3, F-4
Awa: Pro, 7, 10, 17, 21, Inigo, Brady, Tiki
Bir: 8, 13, 22
Con: 10, 14, 15, 23
Rev: 13, 19
3H: 7, 8, 19AM, 17CF, 22VW, 4CS, SaSoS

Edited March 24, 2021 by Dayni

[Shrimpica]

30 minutes ago, Dayni said:

I made up my 15 map post, but it's pretty long and I wasn't sure anyone was interested in looking at it. It's a long piece and meandering at that.

Post it!

We gotta see Dayni Emblem after we saw the various other Emblems over here

Edit: Well, you posted it xD

Edited March 23, 2021 by Shrimperor

[Sooks]

Hmm, does Sooks Emblem deserve a story?

@Dayni I’m trying to quote you and say that your selection from Three Houses in the second spoiler tag is wonderful, but SF will not let me.

Your selection in general is wonderful though, I think.

[Armagon]

7 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Wait, which one? I don’t remember any I would describe that way.

Ch.4 CS is an escape map where you have to hit levers along the way to open the doors so you can escape.

This map sucks because of zone-based reinforcements btw. That trigger every time a unit crosses a specific line. At least it's not ambush.

Well it's semi-ambush because they still show up during your turn.

[Shrimpica]

CS Ch4 is like, one of my all time favs xD

And iirc the reinforcements show up far enough they don't reach you.

[Sooks]

3 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Ch.4 CS is an escape map where you have to hit levers along the way to open the doors so you can escape.

This map sucks because of zone-based reinforcements btw. That trigger every time a unit crosses a specific line. At least it's not ambush.

Well it's semi-ambush because they still show up during your turn.

There weren’t that many levers though!

Ironically enough I put that map in Sooks Emblem (meaning it’s one of my favorite maps). I personally didn’t find the reinforcements to be bad, but I usually don’t like them much in general so I can understand.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Sooks

[Punished Dayni]

12 minutes ago, Sooks said:

@Dayni I’m trying to quote you and say that your selection from Three Houses in the second spoiler tag is wonderful, but SF will not let me.

It was an easier pick than I anticipated once I'd decided the Gronder map didn't really fit my intentions behind this. As for the longlist, I felt like none of the overlapping Part 2 maps were quite as good, while the other Part 1 maps are there despite themselves for being busy.

10 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Ch.4 CS is an escape map where you have to hit levers along the way to open the doors so you can escape.

Chapter 3's levers are worse, but the ambushes in 4, particularly right at the end are something alright.

[Sooks]

 

[Acacia Sgt]

While that little exercise being far from what I can easily do, I'm reminded I should perhaps flesh out some more my own idea.

[Benice]

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This is what will execute Mario on march 31st.

57 minutes ago, Dayni said:

Benice Reasons why you'll never see me do a randomised nuzlocke: Legendaries. I just don't want to use them.

F

 

'Morning, everyone!

[null]

Alright. 15 maps, eh?

Ordered by the games' release rather than the order they would be in the game itself, of the games I include anyway.

FE1/11: Ch. 1

FE3 Book 2/FE12: Ch. 12, Ch. 13

FE5: Ch. 4

FE6: Ch. 12

FE7: Ch.16x, Ch. 25

FE8: Ch. 15

FE9: Ch. 17, Endgame

FE10: 2-E, 3-13

FE13: Ch. 25

FE16: Ch. 12 (BL), Ch. 17 (BL)

[Sooks]

Alright, chapter 11 time.

[Sooks]

Well this is... a lot of enemies.

[Sooks]

That moment when a unit dies not because you miscalculated or RNG, but because you misread the HP on battle forecast. Big smart.

[Sooks]

I have five of these, so chapter 13 can’t stop me.

[Saint Rubenio]

Just now, Sooks said:

I have five of these, so chapter 13 can’t stop me.

Yeah probably not, I think this Byleth alone runs laps around every single one of my units when I played Maddening.

[Acacia Sgt]

Five wyvern riders?

They coming in like:

 

[Sooks]

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah probably not, I think this Byleth alone runs laps around every single one of my units when I played Maddening.

Yeah, definitely rng screwed. That’s just a bit above the average Byleth level.

[BrightBow]

And people say Berwick is RNG dependent.

I suppose there is Enid needing at least 2 magic levels. But that's about it, I think.

Edited March 23, 2021 by BrightBow

[Saint Rubenio]

21 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Yeah, definitely rng screwed. That’s just a bit above the average Byleth level.

That still doesn't save the difficulty for me, I must say. The near complete lack of prepromotes is the biggest reason it sucks so much. Without units with proper bases, you're left to the mercy of the RNG. Closest thing the game has to Jeigans are Catherine and Shamir, and I had to rely on them and recruited Leonie the entire way through, because my other units all sucked and the game wouldn't give me anybody else to replace them.

Then chapter 13 comes around and takes away all but eight growth units without warning, and well... Yeah. The eight growth units didn't grow well or were benched? Fuck you, then, you lose the game!

I will never understand how some people out there can defend that chapter, seriously.

16 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

And people say Berwick is RNG dependent.

I suppose there is Enid needing at least 2 magic levels. But that's about it, I think.

I mean, if worse comes to worst you can level her to level 16. A huge investment, but hey, it's not like it's completely RNG dependent.

And yeah, I entirely agree with you on this one. I always find it funny when people complain about Berwick hitrates, a very surface-level problem that can be easily remedied like three chapters into the game by just using the tools the game gives you (not to mention, the enemy suffers from them as well and the game is designed around them), but then they're willing to accept shit like Three Houses's more subtle, yet far heavier RNG issues, such as the lack of prepromotes forcing you to rely on growth units growing well.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Saint Rubenio

[Armagon]

@Interdimensional Observer so I did the Celestial Alps boss fight.

Spoiler

Now the fight didn't last as long because my attack cheats are set in place but yeah, I can definitely see why this would take a long time if you were to do it legit.

Because you have to fight the Chaotic Trio twice in a row, no breaks in between.

Anyways, I'm doing the little character dungeons now and I should finish the game later today (as in, after class).

21 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And yeah, I entirely agree with you on this one. I always find it funny when people complain about Berwick hitrates, a very surface-level problem that can be easily remedied like three chapters into the game by just using the tools the game gives you (not to mention, the enemy suffers from them as well and the game is designed around them),

At least for me, part of the reason I couldn't vibe with Berwick was because it wasn't that fun seeing my characters and the enemy units engage in a fight and both miss, so the battles get literally nowhere.

And yeah, I know the early game is balanced around that but I didn't feel like powering through Stormtrooper Saga just to get to the part of the game where you can actually reliably hit things.

[Lightcosmo]

I dont think Berwick's hitrates were that bad...

Besides, raising weapon ranks isnt that hard...

[Saint Rubenio]

Just now, Armagon said:

At least for me, part of the reason I couldn't vibe with Berwick was because it wasn't that fun seeing my characters and the enemy units engage in a fight and both miss, so the battles get literally nowhere.

And yeah, I know the early game is balanced around that but I didn't feel like powering through Stormtrooper Saga just to get to the part of the game where you can actually reliably hit things.

Yeah, that's fair enough, I suppose. Berwick requires more patience than FE.

Just now, lightcosmo said:

I dont think Berwick's hitrates were that bad...

Besides, raising weapon ranks isnt that hard...

Neither do I, but a lot of people seem to think so, and I'm not about to start calling people names for disagreeing with me, so... Meh. As much as I hate it, I suppose I'll have to accept that some people out there will look at Three Houses and go "yes, this is the closest strategy games get to perfection."

[Sooks]

45 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Five wyvern riders?

They coming in like:

 

The Black Eagles rolling up to chapter 13 

Anyway, I cleared chapter 11 right after posting that Byleth level. After school I’ll likely attempt 13. I think I got 20 something turns on 11, taking away one of your most powerful units and then making you spilt up was difficult, thoughtI managed. I even got everyone to level 20 like I wanted to, although Flayn’s reason isn’t high enough to attempt to certify for Warlock.

The game gave me Catherine, Cyril, Seteth and Shamir as freebies so I can add them to the team. Catherine, Cyril and Seteth I anticipated, so I gave them C supports with Byleth, but not Shamir. Gonna rush with that one.