Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Acacia Sgt]

1 minute ago, DragonFlames said:

So... question:

How tf am I supposed to get over there?

As always, when in doubt, Party Chat. I think normal dialogue has already stated the hint, but Party Chat should tell you again.

[DragonFlames]

2 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

As always, when in doubt, Party Chat. I think normal dialogue has already stated the hint, but Party Chat should tell you again.

Party Chat doesn't give me anything other than ellipses or that apple thing saying that it's not tasty at all, so I'm kind of stumped.

[Acacia Sgt]

3 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Party Chat doesn't give me anything other than ellipses or that apple thing saying that it's not tasty at all, so I'm kind of stumped.

Weird. It should have Maria stating something in the lines of "believe what you can't see". That's your hint.

The bridge is visually missing a segment. Now what would actually be the case if you were to believe there's something that can't be seen?

[Codename Shrimp]

10 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

So... question:

How tf am I supposed to get over there?

i am sorry

[DragonFlames]

1 minute ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Weird. It should have Maria stating something in the lines of "believe what you can't see". That's your hint.

The bridge is visually missing a segment. Now what would actually be the case if you were to believe there's something that can't be seen?

I tried walking over it, but I just ended up falling down.

...

And I just had to walk over it on another side of the bridge and not the middle. F***ing hell...

1 minute ago, Shrimperor said:

i am sorry

No jump button.

[Acacia Sgt]

Just now, DragonFlames said:

I tried walking over it, but I just ended up falling down.

...

And I just had to walk over it on another side of the bridge and not the middle. F***ing hell...

Admittedly, I don't know if you're hinted about that one, but I guess in-story it adds to the lore that the tower is testing about the hidden truth. After all, people figuring out the invisible segment trick are likely to cross through the middle. It's a test of faith.

Though yeah, the idea is that if you fell, you just have to try from another row, if there's really no hint.

[DragonFlames]

Just now, Acacia Sgt said:

Admittedly, I don't know if you're hinted about that one, but I guess in-story it adds to the lore that the tower is testing about the hidden truth. After all, people figuring out the invisible segment trick are likely to cross through the middle. It's a test of faith.

Though yeah, the idea is that if you fell, you just have to try from another row, if there's really no hint.

I feel stupid.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Started up Chapter 8 of XCX this morning. Chapter 8 is purest spectacle and I love it, I want it tenfold three days a week in X2.

To put my commentary in spoilers due to length and detailed talk of the chapter's plot content.:

Spoiler

First, the unexpected interruption of the lighthearted slice-of-life routine shtick with that blaring alarm. The silence of anything else as you're shown others in NLA responding to the sound of the red alert. Nagi's speech before the assembled BLADEs. The talk of your role in NLA's existential defense.

You're given a moment's preparation in the Barracks, complete with the shop and AM terminals relocated inside them managed by Nopon, including one that had a peculiar mix of a pink or yellow body with a jet black tuft of hair, never saw that before. Although you really, really, really should do all your prep work for Chapter 8 before you start it.

And then, you're standing in position awaiting the inevitable orders, fail to defend the East Gate, and Blade Tower will be overrun. It's raining heavy and unceasingly, the clock is stuck to 4:00 AM. It's all darkness from here on out.

The Ganglion approach in legion, innumerable Puges, supported by Marnucks- the only foot living soldiers here today. It is the brethren of the Puge that the Ganglion have unleashed, the Pugiliths, the Quos, and the piloted Qmoevas, Galdrs, and perhaps Seidrs. Barring the absence of Shrads and Zigs, the Ganglion have fielded the breadth of their mass production mechanized forces. How strange it is that they would not commit their elite Milsaadi or the common Cavern Prone. Yet look not at what isn't here, look at what is, the Ganglion might be holding back, but this is no toothless feint, if they have the opportunity to exterminate humanity today, they will.

Vandham does as many creatures do when confronted with a threat, he postures as ferociously as he can. The last warning makes the singleminded march towards NLA slow not a step, not that he or anyone else thought it would. A ten-second countdown, and by his command the Skells perched atop the outer rim of NLA open fire! The Battle of NLA is on!

🤩

As I prepped the 3000 TP for an Overdrive ahead of time, the first clash at the first defense line is over quickly, but the enemy did put up a fight. Because I ended with less than 3000 TP, after the short breather from the action, the second half of the battle goes south halfway in, not having a fourth member for this chapter makes it a little hard. I had to swallow pride and resort to a little Skell action to succeed in defending the East Gate.

 

The first phase over, behold what emerges in the distance, a Xern! This is one of the greatest commitments the Ganglion can possibly make, one of their gigantic claw-like deployment stations floating effortlessly in the high sky, able to store dozens of Skells. It drifts with purpose over to BLADE Tower, bypassing all the defenses that NLA had resolutely prepared. Holding the shell is meaningless if the heart is destroyed, and thus Elma's team retreats to commence urban warfare.

To pass the time as Elma withdraws, to Irina's team things are turned. Glorious Skell battle choreography, even if it rends the Ganglion too easily. Missiles fly towards NLA, and Irina's teammate, somewhat close to her if you had noticed in earlier chapters, makes on instinct a noble sacrifice, not to be discredited by being overwhelmed with fear in their last moments.

I like the use of vehicle mode for speeding into the fray and carrying that momentum over into the attack, it justifies the existence of vehicle mode more. Marcus's sacrifice had one hella jump for a Skell, a little too ridiculous, as if they wanted to write this moment with the flight module, but not having it didn't stop them from including it. Not that I mind, this sweetalicious action movie sequence deserved it.

 

And after this and more I leave unsaid, Team Elma is brought to the road going from the lower Administrative District to the Commercial District. It's still dark, and as with the NLA Primary Defense Line, you have decorative Skells and Ganglion Skells shooting at each other, the feeling of not warring alone in stillness is real. And it feels so different, seeing NLA's peaceful lower quarters, so familiar to me, now devoid of sunny skies or five-moon nights, the so So-Cal NLA theme is gone, and where NPCs once gathered, Marnucks and Qmoevas now stand in droves. Sure I'm stuck by invisible walls into the tiny Commercial District alone, but compared to Colony 9 and Auresco on their bad days, Chapter 8 feels far more dire dare I say.

I opted not to fight on foot through NLA to the site of the boss battle, because non-OD felt slow. And while I could in 20 seconds replenish my TP with Essence Exchange, I didn't want to repeat that every time I finished a battle with less than 3000 TP. Instead, I used my trio of Skells for everything and keep the TP full for the boss fight. Using Skells made things too easy, even the Qmoevas and the one Galdr I found died very quickly though they were fellow mechs. This chapter's difficulty seems to be made with on-foot combat in mind, but the sheer number of enemies screams Skell use. Because this was EPIC Time!, I was willing to surrender to the raw power of Skells and pretend I was in an anime instead of a game. Elma without my command used her Skell Overdrive once or twice, I noticed the red halo on its back.

Technically, I could've sprinted right to the boss battle in the center of the district in a half-minute, but I wanted to fight more, to defend NLA and slaughter every last Ganglion scum. Elma and Lin got two whole levels by the time I grew tried of sweeping the NLA Last Defense Line, by which point I might have Megabeam Slashed 30-50 Ganglion of varying sizes. Not a single Seidr in the city, but everything else seen earlier minus the Xern was present, and they added the native Miran "living metal" Oc-servs too. How long until humanity and it's Ma-non and Orphean brainiacs find that control signal that the Ganglion randomly chanced upon so we can use Xe-doms for the city's defense?

Although I hate the boss, I gave them a more honorable end- death by on-foot Overdrive. No challenge, none at all, she's all rage and no bite. She used Decoy at one point, but 50 certified "MISS"es means nothing but a minor delay when my Arts and auto attacks recharge in no time. Elma's post-fight actions start off as weak compared to her "Samaarian witch!" attitude in the prior chapter, but she somewhat amends her turn to diplomacy against the brazenly undiplomatic when she threatens to kill them if they don't get gone now.

The other thing I want to comment on is the Wrothian strike, that was clean and quiet, it was very professional, but the silence says to me they weren't enjoying it either, and we know they weren't. Oh, and while the "get a new mim for Marcus" thing made little sense when the Lifehold Core means the real bodies will be brought back, I liked the moment with Irina and Gwin meeting up with Elma and Lin.

Following the thrill of Chapter 8, I went to the Barracks to complete Nagi's first Affinity Mission. I took a leisure ride to Northpointe Cove and met with the Defense Secretary, this mission has no fighting nor gathering, and that was fine, because I really wanted Nagi.

More XCX log unrelated to Chapter 8:

Spoiler

After this, I took Nagi onto my team and brought him with me for the first Celica AfM. I stopped in the Barracks first, Nagi comes at level 33, so I passed him my Amdusias-turned-El-Stier and gave Cross the Chozoskell, which I had given a more hands-on Taunt machine + GP gain for Skell Overdrive setup. Although I criticized Skells earlier, without flight, it feels cool having a colorful squad of them stomping around Mira.

I took a joy ride through Primordia, set up a couple FrontierNav sites I had missed, and remembering Cross had mastered Winged Viper during Chapter 8, I went into FMJ, and I opted to ditch the Photon Saber + Psycho Launchers to try the Knife+Raygun again, this time with my 42 bonus seconds from the Extend OD Vs and Hellhound, maintaining it was sooooooo easy. Not as compact as an Arts: Gain TP XX, but available infinitely sooner and faster to obtain. Enemies die too quickly now! 

Crossing into Noctilum, I with some precise Skell jumping in a cave, I got to an Unexplored Territory I remembered, but wasn't quite sure were to find it again. I could've jumped atop the mountains of Noctilum to enter via a skylight, but this was more fun and "appropriate" I felt. I got into the place during Dense Fog weather, boy that was greeeeeeeeeeeeat! I killed some Terebras there that were at level 40, a little above me, it was almost as effortless with OD as something ten levels weaker, though they did do some heavy damage.

Passing by the Elephant's Trunk for the Celica mission, I saw Yama, the Obliviator, a Sylooth- a giant- of a low 33 levels. I thought "dare I try killing something this gargantuan on-foot"? I decided, that yes, I should, to test OD to its true limits, and because I wanted something that wouldn't vaporize before I reached MAX. First try was okay, until I saw my all attacks were doing single-digit damage and it was "IMMUNE" to my Ether Res Down inflictions from Black Butterfly. The one Tyrant I had picked to fight had 100% Ether Resistance. I ran away and swapped to a no-Augments Elma using non-Ether weapons, rather than change Cross from Knife+Raygun, which was entirely Ether-dependent. With Elma, it took me I dunno, maybe a whole ten minutes to Executioner through it's 706000 HP, but I did, all AI pals alive even. Yay!

I continued my joyride to the marked destination, albeit much more straightly at this point, and then went where it told me to. I killed a few more Ganglion, and Celica and Rock came to NLA. I need to complete Chapter 9 before Celica can be recruited, so she'll have to wait a little longer. The Ganglion named Rock's species, I hadn't noticed that before, he's a Gaur. Why'd they name living weapons after those musical open fields?

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I don't know about you, but for a city that is meant to be Los Angeles, even if it's a "future LA even if by just decades", seeing them talk in British English rather than American English would be kinda off. At least, if the idea is that they are almost all American residents. Considering things.

Yeah but the Japanese version....

1 hour ago, Shrimperor said:

I noticed from the Video, but it seems XB2 has more variety in races. I hope the game does explore that theme a bit

Wouldn't say it's a direct focus but XB2 does feel a lot more lived in compared to Xenoblade 1. The political status of each nation is also explored, some more than others (but don't expect Trails-level of world politics). 

The only real downside to Xenoblade 2's world (and Torna by extension since it takes place in the same world) is that the areas aren't interconnected apart from a select few towards the end of the game. Valid complaint all things considered albiet a minor one in the long run. You get used to it.

[DragonFlames]

Faced off against the next boss and got utterly destroyed. Entire party died in two hits from that thing.
I f***ing suck at this game, I swear.

Nevermind, take two goes much better.
Thank you, Dazzle spell!

Edited July 29, 2020 by DragonFlames

[DragonFlames]

I found Wraith:

[Caster]

35 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Faced off against the next boss and got utterly destroyed. Entire party died in two hits from that thing.
I f***ing suck at this game, I swear.

Nevermind, take two goes much better.
Thank you, Dazzle spell!

Remember to use buffs and even statuses. Statuses usually work on quite a few bosses in Dragon Quest.

[DragonFlames]

Just now, Caster said:

Remember to use buffs and even statuses. Statuses usually work on quite a few bosses in Dragon Quest.

Will do!
I'm not used to status effects working on bosses, especially not in Squaresoft/Square Enix games, so me using Dazzle on that boss was pure desperation.
Desperation that paid off, luckily.

[Sidereal Wraith]

19 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I found Wraith:

*Burps* I have no...idea what you talking about...*swigs more whiskey*

[DragonFlames]

Point proven. XD

---

So, I made it to a village named 'Ay-- I mean, Hay.
Pretty little place. Everybody speaks with a stereotypical hillbilly-accent, which is kind of funny. I'm supposed to find some kind of monster there and the reward will be 3,000 gold. Just enough to get a Morning Star, which seems to be a pretty good weapon to have at this stage.

[Armagon]

Memes aside, Roundabout is a legitamately good song

[Sidereal Wraith]

Jeez, everyone is playing DQ5. I can’t believe I beat it well over a decade again.

Edited July 29, 2020 by Wraith

[DragonFlames]

lol

[Acacia Sgt]

22 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Will do!
I'm not used to status effects working on bosses, especially not in Squaresoft/Square Enix games, so me using Dazzle on that boss was pure desperation.
Desperation that paid off, luckily.

Indeed. Now, there are some bosses immune to certain statuses, but most of the time it's just a % chance of the spell not hitting.

DQ, for the most part, operates on "50% resistance to a spell means the spell only has 50% accuracy, not that it does half damage". However, V is one of those exception. Spells do get their damage reduced depending on the % of resistance, not their accuracy.

[DragonFlames]

1 minute ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Indeed. Now, there are some bosses immune to certain statuses, but most of the time it's just a % chance of the spell not hitting.

DQ, for the most part, operates on "50% resistance to a spell means the spell only has 50% accuracy, not that it does half damage". However, V is one of those exception. Spells do get their damage reduced depending on the % of resistance, not their accuracy.

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

[Armagon]

14 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

lol

That's just a Scooby-Doo monster.

[DragonFlames]

Just now, Armagon said:

That's just a Scooby-Doo monster.

Made of clay... ton.
sorrynotsorry

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

The only real downside to Xenoblade 2's world (and Torna by extension since it takes place in the same world) is that the areas aren't interconnected apart from a select few towards the end of the game. Valid complaint all things considered albiet a minor one in the long run. You get used to it.

Really? I always thought that the world building was actually pretty good. They go in depth with quite a bit overall. Maybe that's just me?

[Armagon]

6 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Really? I always thought that the world building was actually pretty good. They go in depth with quite a bit overall. Maybe that's just me?

No i meant, the areas aren't connected to each other. Gameplay-wise. Only way to travel between most areas is by skip travel. 

[null]

My reaction to Sky FC's ending:

Seriously, what a way for a game to go out, with such a massive cliffhanger.

The game as a whole had some really memorable moments for me, but the ending was a perfect way of leading into the second chapter.

I loved how so many smaller moments throughout the story built on each other to build the world of Liberl and its characters (Estelle has quickly become one of my favorite video game characters ever). I can't say I've seen it done better in any games I've played before (not that I've played many RPGs beyond FE, and Zelda doesn't really count as an RPG).

Final boss was tedious, but still kind of fun in a way.

Amazing game. Great experience. Absolutely spectacular.