Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

15 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

That, despite all mainline games and some spinoffs before IV made it so MC death = Game Over.

I believe Persona 5 does this. Other than the fact that I still don't have a PS4, I won't lie, MC death = game over in a normal JRPG sounds like it could be detrimental to the experience.

17 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

You know I can understand how that feels.🙂

Yeah, it's pretty much the exact same scenario. The only difference is that while you missed out on an E-Tank, I'm missing out on a Missile Tank, which at this point in the game, I have more than enough. Like for real, there's way too many Missile Tanks in these games. Although based on gameplay footage from Dread, Missile Tanks now only give two missiles which should balance out the sheer amount that you can find.

[Venger_06]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

You know what. That's it. I'm tired of having that attitude when it comes to what I write. If anyone is interested, I'll PM you a link to where I host most of what I write... and you're free to judge me however you please... in private, I'd wish.

Me! I want to read them!

[Acacia Sgt]

Hah

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

I believe Persona 5 does this. Other than the fact that I still don't have a PS4, I won't lie, MC death = game over in a normal JRPG sounds like it could be detrimental to the experience.

The way I've headcanoned it in SMT is that demons are serving you only because they have to. The moment you collapse and can no longer control them, is the moment their fickleness surfaces and they abandon you, or worse eat you.

Said headcanon makes no sense for Persona however, since friends won't abandon each other so easily. And IIRC, it didn't happen in Old Persona, as I don't remember Tatsuya dying causing me that problem. Heck, it only makes slight sense pre-Nocturne, since the Hero has at least a human Heroine usually by his side in Classic SMT.

In terms of gameplay from personal experience... 

• I don't think MC death = Game Over was bad in SMT1, I don't remember that many instances where the enemy would pack so much attack power that they could surprise KO the MC with raw damage.
• Soul Hackers might've been slightly worse, but in both this and SMT1 I invested a lot stat points into Vitality and Agility to improve the MC's defensiveness.
• Nocturne is a different story however. 
  • Since the Demi-Fiend isn't a normal human anymore, they lost their species's natural Expel immunity (ordinary humans can't be killed by exorcisms apparently). This assures no matter what Magatama you give them, some form of insta-kill will have a chance of landing without the protection of Tetraja, since only the very last Magatama provides both Expel and Death immunity.
  • The Press Turn system is also nasty for survival. If the enemy lands a lucky crit, things can go very badly, or, if the Demi-Fiend's Magatama gives them an elemental weakness, it's very easy for things to go very dead.
  • Nonetheless, I was a glutton for the punishment and cleared Nocturne on Hard, having fun along the way.
• Strange Journey I never got to finishing, but, it's arguably worse than Nocturne in this aspect.
  • Sure, barring equipping equipment that gives an Expel weakness, the MC is immune to it. Thats a positive. Nor are there Press Turns, so random enemy crits aren't as potentially fatal.
  • However, unlike traditional SMT, the player has no say over the MC's stat point distribution. There is a quiz at the start of the game that determines the growth rates of the MC, but the growths are unreliable, and if you get screwed out of Magic and Vitality, then the hero will be dangerously more fragile and there is nothing you could've done about it.

I haven't played Modern Persona, but I am aware the MC can swap their Persona for different ones from any Arcana- a special power exclusive to them called the "Wild Card". The Wild Card didn't exist in Old Persona, anyone could use almost any Persona, albeit not all Personas were equally compatible for everyone. Since different Personas have different stat spreads and weaknesses, you can look for ones with less common weaknesses and greater durability. Considering I'm an SMT veteran, I ought to be totally fine with surviving in Modern Persona, but that is me, and I am not you, for I am not another you summoned from the collective unconscious.

Edited August 1, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Armagon]

Retro Studio whyyyyyyyy why do you keep ruining the endgames of the Metroid Prime games?

In Metroid Prime 3, in exchange for the mcguffin hunt not sucking ass, the final area now sucks ass because you have to do the entire thing without saving cause you can't save. Because the gist here is that Samus has to enter permanent Hypermode in order to just stay alive on Phaaze but if the yellow bar at the top fills up completely, it's instant game-over. Like maybe there's invisible checkpoints but I don't like how I essentially have to speedrun the final area because the "health pickups" do jack shit, they reduce the bar slower than it fills.

God damn it. 

 

49 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Since different Personas have different stat spreads and weaknesses, you can look for ones with less common weaknesses and greater durability. Considering I'm an SMT veteran, I ought to be totally fine with surviving in Modern Persona, but that is me, and I am not you, for I am not another you summoned from the collective unconscious.

This is basically how TMS goes except it's the weapon that determines the stats and such.

[Acacia Sgt]

Israel-Mexico baseball match of the Olympics was 6-5 at the start of 7th inning.

It's now 12-5, same inning.

One... wow. Second... my mother is losing it. lol

Edited August 1, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

I did it. I'll write a review tomorrow.

Will say tho, when I bought the Prime Trilogy, turns out I spent $20 for Metroid Prime 3 and I simply got two other bonus games along with it.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, at least it ended as 12-5. We went from:

To:

Real quick there. Oh well...

[Shrimpica]

5 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

but the endgame portion was the best point of the game to me

Trails.png

5 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

expected some challenge in Nightmare Mode

Atleasr crossbell still has some challenge. After Ao however...

5 hours ago, Armagon said:

He's the only final boss that feels fair. Everyone else has either too much HP, a stupid gimmick, or both.

Sky3rd has neither imo, and is what i consider the best one in the series

Edited August 1, 2021 by Shrimperor

[DodgeDusk]

Sky The 3rd has the best boss battles in the series.

Congrats on being Zero! I hope you're prepared for a Randy who's been absolutely battered by the nerf stick in Azure.

[Saint Rubenio]

Birthright time. I only have to get Dwyer and Shigure and then it's finally time to get back to the campaign.

9 hours ago, Maof06 said:

Tsundere Ruben.

Damnit, not again...

9 hours ago, Armagon said:

Ah yes, the girl who literally weaponizes her racism.

Her face is funny, okay? There's no point in looking at the morality of people in Fates, half of them are psychopaths.

7 hours ago, Sooks said:

Ah yeah, keep her around then.

Fine.

7 hours ago, Sooks said:

I just like his supports with Hinoka.

No, seriously, that’s it. I don’t think I’ve ever actually used him.

Pfft. Well, fine, then. I still wanted Dwyer more than another swordie I wasn't going to use. And it was you that told me not to waste Hinoka on a kid I wasn't going to use, wasn't it? Just following your advice here!

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Hinata is a bit on the weak side. You have a slight liking for the underpowered, albeit probably not as much as a disliking for the overpowered. Hinata tries to be a Samurai/Myrmidon who trades some Skill and Speed for concrete durability.

Alas, alright bases aside, Hinata flubbed it, big time. His pre-class growths total 235, a not-insignificant 30 below fellow Samurai Hana, and a disgusting 65 points below Ryoma. 235 is pretty bad, Setsuna is worse at 225, but that is as low as it goes other than four old Corrinsexuals. At 20/20 on average spent entirely in Samurai/Swordmaster, Hinata IIRC has 5 HP and 1 Def over Ryoma, who trounces him in all the other stats, and that's not factoring in the awesome Rajinto only Ryoma can use. Hinata does have a bigger concrete durability leads over Hana, who is at serious risk of being OHKO'ed on Lunatic, but she like Ryoma owns 'nata badly in Spd and Str. Hinata's personal Spd growth is 15%, that is low enough to be problematic even for a Swordmaster, and Hana has a 55% Str growth compared tp his slightly below average 35%.

Hinata does have access to the rather rare Oni Savage classline to emphasize his supposedly viable physical durability. But his glacial Spd will become even more of hindrance there, as it will kill his already lacking offense, although Clubs having good Hit will compensate somewhat for his shabby Skill. And since Hinata has low Res, it means he'll be susceptible to ORKO via a magic doubling or close to it; Wary Fighter could sorta fix that -but it's a Nohr-only skill so Hinata is out of luck.

In the end, the only real use I can find for Hinata is as someone's Defensive Stance backpack. Here, Hinata is versatile and his crappy stats don't matter. Coming at level 10, Hinata needs no training to use a Master Seal, and once he does, you have options. Samurai/Swordmaster will let him give someone +4/5 Spd. Master of Arms gives a balanced +2 Str/Skl/Spd/Def.  Toss him a Heart Seal to Oni Savage/Chieftain and you'll get +4 Str and +2/4 Def, a rarity on Birthright.

So he's a bad unit, huh. I definitely should've used him...

5 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hah

 

Pffft.

Hilarious.

[DragonFlames]

17 hours ago, Armagon said:

Are there any other games you plan to get around the same time-frame?

I don't know about the timeframe, since I haven't memorized each game's release date, but this year has a bunch of games coming out that I'm looking forward to! Samurai Warriors 5 (which already came out a few days ago, I just wanna finish Memories of Celceta first before getting that one), Tales of Arise, Blue Reflection Second Light, and for games that are already out, Ys IX is on my list, as is Atelier Ryza 2.

Send help.

17 hours ago, Armagon said:

Was it one of the sisters or was it someone else? The box-art shows two blue-haired girls, one of them more sinister-looking.

If you mean this boxart, the blue-haired girl that has her eyes closed is a playable character (and a really neat one, too).
This boxart actually does a pretty good job at hiding the twist, now that I look at it, since it shows that girl right alongside the playable cast. Neat!

And yep, it is one of the sisters you meet right at the beginning. The one with the odd hairclip.
I thought you finished Ys Seven? XD

17 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

Yeah as you said they are very similiar, but there a few majore key differences

All true.
There were no dragons in Ys VIII either (not in the traditional sense, anyway), but that is why I said they basically went "let's do that again, just change up a few things". Both stories do a really good job at telling what they want to tell, I just couldn't help but take note of how similar the subject matter actually is.

17 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

Waifu kinda... deserved her Fate imo. As much as shitty many of Altago's people were, many were also good and trying to help everyone. She just went and wanted to doom everyone in the country. I can understand why, but i don't agree with her

The tipping point for her was her adoptive sister catching Iskan Fever, actually. Before that, she was hopeful for people.
I don't agree with her either, necessarily, but I can sympathize with her despair.

Which is exactly why reminds me of my all time favorite antagonist.

The underlying principle of what drove them into doing what they did is actually the exact same.
A pile-up of unfortunate circumstances that eventually made them say "screw it, this world ain't worth it anymore".
With key differences being that Malvasia (pictured) wanted to plunge the world into an everlasting night, in which only demons and fiends would survive, whereas Tia wanted to press the reset button and start Altago over from scratch, killing everything and everyone on it, herself included.
And the circumstances of Malvasia becoming the Moon Queen are very much distinct from Tia becoming who she is (Tia was basically born into that role, her despair only made her embrace it). Malvasia didn't start out as an all-powerful being. Instead, well...

That happened to her first.
And that happened because humans are idiots, who did not tolerate her being together with a human (because she's a demon, you see), which drove the human to attempt a murder-suicide, so the two of them can be together in death... though demons resurrect after death if their heart is still intact (as in, not destroyed completely). So Malvasia resurrected just in time to find out that her lover had killed herself, leaving only a note that said "If only I could be reborn as your heart". And then she got captured and experimented on by other humans, and quite brutally at that. "It contains memories of rage from a demon who was killed, resurrected, and violated countless times in the name of science", it says in the description of the "Fragment of Rage" you find in an abandoned underground laboratory as part of the main storyline.

And put all of that together and you know why she decided to screw over humanity by plunging the world into an eternal night.
And with the context of how demon powers work in this universe, you could very much say that the people who slandered the lovers, and the ones that subsequently experimented on her very much doomed the rest of humanity by making her strong enough to go through with her plan. And making her have that plan in the first place, I guess, because Malvasia genuinely loved humans at first.

Also, did I use this talking about the main antagonist of Ys Seven to gush about an aspect of Nights of Azure (2) again? Heck yes, I did.

[Saint Rubenio]

Well.

I see Leo's got some competition.

I like how Jakob is so angry at his son for deciding to become a doctor. You know, every real life parent's dream?

Jesus fucking Christ, Nohrian scum...

[Lightcosmo]

3 hours ago, DodgeDusk said:

Congrats on being Zero! I hope you're prepared for a Randy who's been absolutely battered by the nerf stick in Azure.

Thank you!

--my thoughts on Trails from Zero:

the storyline. I thought the story was alright. i think that it took a bit too long to actually get something started, and the endgame had to push to hard to make something of a beginning that was to slow to get going. One of my favorite points was compiling the evidence to figure out who did what, that was sweet. It took way too long to get all the pieces in place for the endgame baddie to do their thing, or any thing really.

The whole deal with Yin never really amounted to much. Now, i'm sure this is expanded on in the next one, but if it takes that long to grab interest in a characters story/background, then i think that says to me that it wasn't that well handled in the first place. I liked the idea, but as i said, they hardly brought it up. 

The characters: So besides Tio and partially Randy, this game was rather weak in this area. Lloyd was alright, but Elie was just... there. No real story to speak of like the rest of em, i wasn't sure why she hung around besides she wanted to prove herself, which isn't really a back story. But Tio was for sure #1 in the character department to me.  Randy's story as a Jaeger has plenty of potential, though. Most of the characters conversations felt a bit... convoluted to me. Their character to character talks just didn't grab me all that much.

The gameplay: This was probably the games strongest point. I do wanna begin by saying that it was WAY too easy, for nightmare mode. And slapping on "oh the enemy resists every status!" to make the game "difficult" was pretty uninventive. The team crafts were crazy broken, so much that i never seen a reason not to use them. (ahem, Joshua and Estelle) Speed was way too important compared to the other stats. As for the gameplay positives, it's got the same charm that the other Trails series games had. They put you in some fights were strategy won over brute force and vice versa, which i liked. 

The music: This was a major step down from Sky for me. Now, that's not to say i didn't like this games music, i just enjoyed Sky's that much more. There really wasn't a "powerful" piece to me. Emotionally, mostly. Granted, i still enjoyed some of them enough.

so, as i said, it's 8/10 worthy for me. 

Now, @Shrimperor, where can i get the next one!? XD

Edit: Here's my endgame time and stuff:

Spoiler

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by lightcosmo

[Shrimpica]

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Also, did I use this talking about the main antagonist of Ys Seven to gush about an aspect of Nights of Azure (2) again? Heck yes, I did.

Fav. Game moment xD

13 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Now, i'm sure this is expanded on in the next one

...only if you do her bonding events (the worst mechanic known to mankind)..

Speaking about that, whose final event did you see in Zero?

14 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

So besides Tio and partially Randy, this game was rather weak in this area.

And stays that way in Ao as well. Although in Ao Randy is stronger than Tio imo. Still these two are my fav. from Crossbell, and usually fan fav. as well.

Lloyd  is a massive downgrade from Estelle and Kevin, and Elie is just there for choose your waifu purposes.

Crossbell, as much as i love it, is what started what lead me to dropping the series in cold steel

17 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

They put you in some fights were strategy won over brute force and vice versa, which i liked. 

You got 1 more game of that before you head into "at delay and s-craft go brr" games.

21 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

where can i get the next one!? XD

I already sent you Ao's link. Check our pm history xD

If you don't have it tell me and i will send you it again^^

[Saint Rubenio]

I have found the perfect weapon for Fishtail.

Also, paladin Dwyer is surprisingly good.

I have no room for Selkie or Oboro. Hopefully they'll let me squeeze Selkie in sooner than later. Oboro might have to sit on the bench, unfortunately.

That's all for now.

[Lightcosmo]

33 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

...only if you do her bonding events (the worst mechanic known to mankind)..

Speaking about that, whose final event did you see in Zero?

And stays that way in Ao as well. Although in Ao Randy is stronger than Tio imo. Still these two are my fav. from Crossbell, and usually fan fav. as well.

Lloyd  is a massive downgrade from Estelle and Kevin, and Elie is just there for choose your waifu purposes.

Crossbell, as much as i love it, is what started what lead me to dropping the series in cold steel

You got 1 more game of that before you head into "at delay and s-craft go brr" games.

I already sent you Ao's link. Check our pm history xD

If you don't have it tell me and i will send you it again^^

How do i tell? If it was my first time, i'm not sure what the sign would be. XD

Great, so two of the four are interesting again.

No kidding. Lloyd is so bare...

Shrimpy Trails moment

Alright, so the fun stops soon. Got it.

Yep, you did, i just didn't realise it! 

[Shrimpica]

11 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

How do i tell?

Who did Lloyd talk with alone at the bank?

11 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Great, so two of the four are interesting again.

Basically Zero is Tio's game while Ao is Randy's. Rest are either just there or held back by the worst mechanic known to mankind, bonding imo. And many character arc conclusions, including Tio's and Randy's, are in their Ao final bonding event, which you can view only one of per run, and you can only view them if you got enough bonding points with said character.

11 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Alright, so the fun stops soon. Got it.

Well, maybe you will find breaking the game to oblivion fun. I know many people do. I don't think Trails gameplay is suited to that myself.

Well, you still have Ao, and it has some real good boss battles!

11 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Yep, you did

Enjoy Ao!

Edited August 1, 2021 by Shrimperor

[Saint Rubenio]

I like how Leo's sounding more villainous than Hans right now.

If only I didn't know that he survives, I could've enjoyed this... Oh, well. At least I get to beat him up.

[Sooks]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well.

I see Leo's got some competition.

I like how Jakob is so angry at his son for deciding to become a doctor. You know, every real life parent's dream?

Jesus fucking Christ, Nohrian scum...

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

I told you so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I have found the perfect weapon for Fishtail.

 

Beautiful.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Also, paladin Dwyer is surprisingly good.

I mean, Hinoka is his mom. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to make her someone’s mom and not get a great physical unit unless that kid is like, Tharja clone, or something.

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, Shrimperor said:

Who did Lloyd talk with alone at the bank?

Basically Zero is Tio's game while Ao is Randy's. Rest are either just there or held back by the worst mechanic known to mankind, bonding imo. And many character arc conclusions, including Tio's and Randy's, are in their Ao final bonding event, which you can view only one of per run, and you can only view them if you got enough bonding points with said character.

Well, maybe you will find breaking the game to oblivion fun. I know many people do. I don't think Trails gameplay is suited to that myself.

Well, you still have Ao, and it has some real good boss battles!

Enjoy Ao!

...would it be silly to say I dont remember? That was a while back, haha. 

So they force more than one playthrough then? Well, I dont think i enjoyed the first one enough for me to go that far...

Doubtful, but we'll see.

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, Sooks said:

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I told you so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My logic is the same as with Forrest: Just because his dad is a dick doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to exist.

Besides, Jakob's not as bad as Leo. He came close for one second, but then I reached chapter 18 and Leo reminded me that he's the worst Nohrian by acting like a jealous little dipshit and being more evil than Hans.

1 minute ago, Sooks said:

Beautiful.

He literally beats people with a fishtail. It's perfect!

1 minute ago, Sooks said:

I mean, Hinoka is his mom. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to make her someone’s mom and not get a great physical unit unless that kid is like, Tharja clone, or something.

He rocks the red hair, too.

[Shrimpica]

5 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

would it be silly to say I dont remember?

Nah. Could also be you didn't unlock any.

5 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

So they force more than one playthrough then? Well, I dont think i enjoyed the first one enough for me to go that far...

Youtube ftw!

But yeah bonding is the worst thing ever. Not to mention makes everything MC-centric

Edited August 1, 2021 by Shrimperor

[Lightcosmo]

I dont know if I wanna do another Nightmare run. When I got through sky again, maybe.

[Lightcosmo]

1 minute ago, Shrimperor said:

Nah. Could also be you didn't unlock any.

Alot of the story scenes are just a blur to me...