Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, Shrimpolaris said:

Cute! ❤️

[Benice]

Zoinks, we're having a real Depression Session™ in Lost Judgment right now.

[null]

Life is just an extended depression session.

[Benice]

Are you OK?

[null]

Oh, I'm fine.

Just rambling about nothing important, really.

 

[Lightcosmo]

Twilit, we are here for ya anytime! ❤️

[Elina]

Right we are, and so is Rune Factory!

[Shrimpica]

Take care of yourself, twilit!

[Lightcosmo]

I think I might run through Sky to cleanse myself of the "virus" that is CS.

[Sooks]

Yep Twilit, take care of yourself like you deserve as a human being. I’m here for you too, like the rest of teehee!

13 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

I think I might run through Sky to cleanse myself of the "virus" that is CS.

Ay, you can join me! I started an FC file on nightmare because I didn’t have much else to do, was feeling oddly nostalgic for it, and it helped me last time I was going through a rough patch, so I thought why not. And some CS cleansing was also needed.

Although I really don’t know how far I’m gonna take it, I just finished the first day.

[Armagon]

"I'm sure the days i'll spend with you will be the happiest of my life, even if i don't get to see you grow up". 

Yeah Sophie wasn't the only one who began to cry after Ramizel said that. God damn it, i was prepared for this inevitability when i started the game but then when it actually played out, i genuinely shed a few tears at this. This hit me harder than Atelier Ryza 2's ending, which is also one of the few games to make me cry. How'd you do it twice in a row Gust? 

See what it is is that this is supposed to be funny alchemist game so when something like this happen, it elevates the emotional impact higher than it would've been.

Review coming soon.

4 hours ago, Benice said:

You should try Yakuza 0 to confirm this

Oh yeah, Yakuza is on the waiting list (LAD may be my next PS4 RPG, i'd like to play a PS4 JRPG better than P5) but like, even among my top 10 favorite video games of all time, Xenoblade 2 and Xenoblade X stand in a league of their own. They are Gods among kings. Realistically, the only game that would personally reach the heights of Xenoblade 2 and X......is another Xenoblade game . Even Super Mario Galaxy 2, which i think is the only genuine perfect game in existence, doesn't reach those heights.

That's how high a bar Monolith Soft have set for me but i do not ask for that bar to be surpassed. That'd just be setting myself up for disapointment.

3 hours ago, Newtype06 said:

Also, I think it's time for me to see how the anime in part 6 is doing. The new episode batch must have already dropped. Now just hope that Japan catches up fast...

 

15 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

I think I might run through Sky to cleanse myself of the "virus" that is CS.

Would it not be better to run through a different game instead of one in the same series?

What i'm saying is i don't think you've played Metroid Dread. Play it.

[Acacia Sgt]

Super Robot Wars is always an option...

[Venger_06]

3 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Ew, worst mod.

It's not Gen 2, so it can't be the worst 😜

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

What were you trying to do, anyway?

Finish my WYBO entry. After changing so many things, all I had left was nothing I wanted to write.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Who are you and what have you done with 06?

I'm always evolving.

3 hours ago, Shrimpolaris said:

The hack has 4 difficulties. I played on the 2nd difficulty (difficult, Vanilla is the easiest one and the higher 2 are for perfect EVs and unfair experience according to discription) and found the difficulty on point, although later on stuff got a bit too much and i had a semi EV trained team. Except 8th gym that was easy because it was Bug gym, even with it's gimmick xD

3 hours ago, Shrimpolaris said:

I will say up to it, but in a different way. The game has alot of cool gimmicks when it comes to gyms and important events, and how you manage those gimmicks is what creates the difficulty.

Gimmicks?

Alright then, I might check it out soon.

3 hours ago, Shrimpolaris said:

Compared to Sun/Moon would be difficult to say, because back when i played Sun & Moon i played with no exp share and no items so i had quite a bit of trouble later on as i was 10+ levels under E4 and Prof., who had perfectly EV trained teams. Although tbf i consider S&M the hardest official Pokemon games, but i know many don't think that way

Don't they? Debates over the actual quality of the games themselves, it's common to see appreciation for the difficulty of Gen VII, especially among nuzlockers (USUM in particular) and fans of competitive play. You get so many options to build your team the way you want, there are tons of unique and interesting battles and you don't have to resort on wasting a movepool on someone with HMs. I think the only flaw in the battle system itself is that it encourages cheap tactics like toxic stall, kek. 

 58 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Life is just an extended depression session.

I hope things get better soon. Take care of yourself, man!

26 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

I think I might run through Sky to cleanse myself of the "virus" that is CS.

Rean and Cold Steel still living rent free in your head, eh

5 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Super Robot Wars is always an option...

I'm actually surprised that SRW J is story-heavy. I thought the story was supposed to be just background like in FE.

 4 minutes ago, Armagon said:

 

Pain.

[Acacia Sgt]

7 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

I'm actually surprised that SRW J is story-heavy. I thought the story was supposed to be just background like in FE.

Oh no, SRW by its nature is always story heavy, because you're playing through the adaptation of several stories in each game. So it's a lot of story to go through.

---

Man, we're close to the anniversary of... the announcement.

 

On 6/16/2021 at 8:26 AM, Acacia Sgt said:

It'd be nice if it could get an official release outside East Asia, but sadly I know it's unlikely to be the case. It's practically a torture to see SRW get Steam releases now but region lock is still a thing in there. At least they're getting official English translations now, even if it's not sold worldwide.

I can't be any more glad this comment aged like milk...

[Armagon]

16 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Super Robot Wars is always an option...

Speaking of, i think it'll soon be time to resume my playthrough of Exceed. 

10 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

Pain.

We really thought they'd just resume in April.

[Acacia Sgt]

 

[Benice]

22 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

It's not Gen 2, so it can't be the worst 😜

 

26 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

Finish my WYBO entry. After changing so many things, all I had left was nothing I wanted to write.

Sorry, mate. At least you started, I didn't even muster that up! Well, maybe next time. I'm still wanting to write, but I'm lacking inspiration.

[GuardianSing]

7 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Life is just an extended depression session.

Life can be the embodiment of happiness and bliss, you just have to make it so. It can be well difficult, but it is worth it.

[Elina]

7 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Life can be the embodiment of happiness and bliss, you just have to make it so. It can be well difficult, but it is worth it.

True wisdom, my friend

[Interdimensional Observer]

I took on Sylvis's personal mission. Much like Kramer's in concept, and Ruby's to a lesser extent. Looked very easy, but Larentia did need some RNG to survive. Izerna promoted beforehand (yes, I know this sounds late for her, but I'm conservative with my healing), so did Kramer, and although it doesn't really matter for him, Reese as well.

Berwick Saga has given a weight and specialness to promotion FE usually doesn't. Sure there is no lightning or flash of light, nor slightly epic music, and the number increases are much smaller. But, as each promotion isn't from a holding special item, but instead a boon granted by society upon the deserved, it feels more earned and more glorious in its own way. Nobody cares if Geese promoted to Berserker, an entire guild does that Dean did. (Roswick & Lebough finally got the upper hand against Volcens for once too.) 

Similarly, the mercenary system and two layers of recruitment has something special in it. On the one hand, like FE most of the time, the initial recruitment is easy, and you don't know much about the people you're getting. For some characters, the second recruitment is also easy. And admittedly, if you were to play totally blind -unlike myself- you wouldn't realize Knights of Sinon enlistment is necessary to keep the characters into the final battles. At the least however, each knighting has some form of gravitas behind it. Marcel's is cheeriness with formal ceremony, Axel's and Sylvis's have some sadness by contrast, and Esteban's... feels pretty rough. It's a variety of circumstances for a variety of people.

I brought Faye to the ship battle to get her a little more EXP, I thought I might as well given she'll be forced in the finale, and the map appeared simple enough. I was surprised to see it was enough happiness to get early access to her mission. I'll go for it next. Sounds like reinforcements will show up, but the enemy count looks fairly low to start at least. Poison swamps are usually diabolical, but they neither impede movement enough, nor cover so much of the map that they look like cruelty in this case. Dark mages are present, but the choice to give a bunch of them maces instead of magic keeps this from bringing back bad memories from FEs 3-5 and TRS. Compared to Kaga's last poison swampass chapter (aka warpskip), it seems he actually learned something. I'm feeling the urge to destroy those obelisks too, the Raze priests are reallllllllly tempting me by telling me not to.

 

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, the important thing is that you did it, not how long it took you! Also, I love that you managed to get through without killing Grauve. That's just amazing.

Not really.😅 It was the big brain moment after too much trial & ERROR! of trying to kill him. Thank Mother Veria he doesn't drop anything. Maybe that, and the fact Grauve has:

• Absurdly high Def
• A bulky shield that can 33% chance recoil on you with Shieldfaire for a 102% activation rate.
• Freakin' Magicbane (I didn't pay attention when I started the map😆, thought he'd be another Pallas Riana victim.)
• Robust
• Counter
• And a weapon that can OHKO all but the bulkiest units

...is all to suggest the possibility of rushing to the engineer instead of fighting?

Although enough crit weapons, Daoud with a Battle Cry-stacked Pulverize, perhaps a shield-breaking axe or arrow if you have one, could bring Grauve down to something actually killable. I brought no such things, and when you've logged 90 turns into a map, you tend not to want to reset to fix your mistake. I suppose I could've rigged Kramer's Knock Back and followed it with a Steal to do one better and get the shield for myself. But then, I still would've had to go through the ordeal of actually killing him and having Thaddy dodge at least one OHKO and maybe another if not be Guarded through it, and I was not prepared for that.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Wouldn't have been bad to give him the ability to use crossbows, either. There are only two units in the game who can use them, anyway.

I suppose they didn't do that because his class is Hunter, and who hunts with a crossbow? Holmesteban got Knifes for a niche at least, 5 Str at a minimum is more than Czene can ever get. Highly inconsistent due to the 0-@ randomness, but maybe he can do something against high Def units if you really tried. It's flavorful for a hunter at least, gotta be able to skin your prey.

My crossbow criticism is why Sherlock can't crossbow while Christine can. They look good early on when basic bow accuracy is shoddy, and Sherlock alone (barring Faramir) doesn't get Aim either. But, setting aside the rarer crossbows, they do seem to fall off a little later once enough bow skill levels and Str are obtained. 

 

2 hours ago, twilitfalchion said:

Life is just an extended depression session.

You know I can offer my sympathy to that!😄

 

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Yeah Sophie wasn't the only one who began to cry after Ramizel said that. God damn it, i was prepared for this inevitability when i started the game but then when it actually played out, i genuinely shed a few tears at this. This hit me harder than Atelier Ryza 2's ending, which is also one of the few games to make me cry. How'd you do it twice in a row Gust? 

See what it is is that this is supposed to be funny alchemist game so when something like this happen, it elevates the emotional impact higher than it would've been.

Or, it can just feel out of place. Like the one time in this one seemingly-kid friendly game where the line "People choose death too quickly" came after an NPC self-sacrifice in the endgame happened. And on an unrelated note, Kirby gets attention as "dark" on the few occasions it has had blood in the franchise, which in a less child-friendly series would go unnoticed.

I'm just sitting here, finding your deep appreciation for a franchise that has usually been written off as "7/10, niche" for every single game a little entertaining.😛

58 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Speaking of, i think it'll soon be time to resume my playthrough of Exceed. 

No rush!😜 I've tarried on Xcode for months, and haven't started watching XS Ep. II yet either.

Hopefully the later portion of Exceed doesn't sour it for you, so far it does seem like it has been good to you. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Interdimensional Observer

[Eltosian Kadath]

1 hour ago, twilitfalchion said:

Life is just an extended depression session.

I know the feeling, but just keep going. Life is full of ups and downs, and we have all been suffering through some of the worst times in living memory. Things will brighten one of these day, and the joy will be all the sweeter for the current bleakness.

[Shrimpica]

1 hour ago, Newtype06 said:

It's not Gen 2, so it can't be the worst

That's a real hot take

Hotter than your Trails ones, even xD

1 hour ago, Newtype06 said:

Gimmicks?

For example, one gym has inverse effectiveness, another one buffs all fliers, etc.

Most are fun, some can be ignored, and the 8th gsm gimmick is tedious imo

1 hour ago, Newtype06 said:

there are tons of unique and interesting battles and you don't have to resort on wasting a movepool on someone with HMs.

I especially loved these. Also really lived the island challenge imo. Totems were much more interesting then gyms.

Also i grew to really love the starters there, definitely among the more unique bunch.

Also Lillie :p

[Sooks]

28 minutes ago, Shrimpolaris said:

That's a real hot take

Hotter than your Trails ones, even xD

I thought 06’s Trails’ opinions were the common ones? Well, other than “Joshua should have been protag”.

[Lightcosmo]

51 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

haven't started watching XS Ep. II yet either.

Did you ever finish EP I?

[Armagon]

Atelier Sophie 2: A redemption arc for Sophie Neuenmueller (review)

The precedent that Atelier Sophie 2 followed was a genuine surprise. Like Atelier Lulua, it was a new entry in a subseries that had already concluded years ago. And like Atelier Ryza 2, it was an Atelier game which featured a character reprise their role as the main protagonist. But where it differs from those two games is the circumstances of it's release. Before Ryza came along, Sophie was Gust's fan-favorite Atelier protagonist, so when the time came to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series, it made sense why Gust chose to go back to Sophie. However, the currently ongoing Secret subseries of Atelier had not yet finished so in addition of following the precedent set by Lulua and Ryza, Sophie 2 would set it's own: that a subseries can be interrupted, temporarily. Now, i doubt it'll happen again for a good while but it is no longer out of the question. While i'm always in the mood for Atelier, i will admit that the reveal of Sophie 2 set off some concerning bells for me. First, while i enjoyed Sophie as a character, i was never really a fan of her original game. Second, while the Mysterious series does get better with each installment, it was still in my opinion the weakest subseries in my opinion. Third, i was really enjoying the Secret series coming off after Ryza 2 so for the next game to not be Ryza 3.....yeah, i was a little disappointed. Fourth, Lydie & Suelle was such a natural conclusion to all of the character arcs in the Mysterious series that i wasn't sure if going back in time would be worth it. Despite all that, i went into this game with an open mind, as i always do with games that aren't Balan Wonderworld. What i would proceed to play would be yet another banger entry in the series.

First off, Atelier Sophie 2 manages to do something that Mysterious kinda struggled with before: great characters, but more importantly, great characters that can stand on their own, without needing to be carried by the main cast. Sophie 1 sucked at this, having no returning cast because it's the first game in that series. Firis was better at it but was still mainly carried by returning characters. Lydie & Suelle's original characters were much much better but like half the cast, playable or not, were still returning characters. Sophie 2 manages to continue that trend of improving in each installment by having a cast of characters that stand on their own, finally giving Mysterious a cast that stands among the great casts from across the series. Sophie 2 only has two returning characters: Sophie herself and Plachta. By not having a lot of returning characters, this gives a lot more time for the new cast to shine, while also allowing newcomers to jump into this game with no prior knowledge (there is even a recap video covering Sophie 1). Every character is good, from Alette's over-the-top energy to Diebold's cool guy factor. But the two shining stars of this game's cast are Ramizel and young Plachta. Due to this game's isekai setting, it allowed for some out-of-time interactions but i am so glad that Ramizel's character wasn't just "wow Sophie, you're my future grandaughter, that's crazy" and young Plachta's character wasn't just "wow future me, that's what happens to me in the future, that's crazy". Instead we get genuine interactions that rarely bring up the nature of meeting someone from your own future. The nature of the isekai setting also allows Sophie 2 to blend elements from the previous Mysterious games: obviously we have Sophie and Plachta representing Sophie 1 but besides that, the game's structure builds off of what Firis tested out long ago and some of the areas are very reminiscent of the Mysterious Paintings from Lydie & Suelle. I just think this is neat.

As far as the story goes, it's Atelier so it doesn't matter too much but i did find it interesting how this game's tone and structure is more akin to the Secret series than the Mysterious games. But unlike Secret, this game found a different way of showing Sophie's growth. Whereas Ryza 2 allowed Ryza to relearn her recipes from her first game with SP since she "needed to get used to the new equipment", Sophie 2 has Sophie keep most of her original recipes at the get go and has her initial battle and alchemy level be set at the levels which it would be maxed out in the first game, which honestly was a way better way to do it. Another good thing about the story here is that despite the story being light, it was still one with an ending that genuinely made me shed a few tears. Ryza 2 did this as well but i feel like this one hit harder. I have no idea how Gust managed to do this twice in a row but they did it and yes, this ending bumped this game up to top 3 Atelier material.

Gameplay-wise, this game saw a bunch of numerous improvements.....even if it did take some steps back, more on that later. As far as the combat goes, this is right up there with Escha & Logy and Shallie in terms of having the best combat in the series. This is because Sophie 2's combat basically rips off the combat in those two games, in a good way plus it makes some neat additions. For the first time ever in a turn-based RPG, i am able to see aggro lines (that's a lie, i've seen it in Three Houses but that's an SRPG). This is a mechanic i'm familiar in more action-oriented games but i've never seen it done in turn-based games and believe me, it does make a difference in strategy making. The combat also features a team-attack combo thingy, in which the front and the back characters swap in while attacking. In E&L and Shallie, you could not do this, you could only swap in to defend. Here you can do both, even if being unable to swap without preforming these actions is a little bit cringe. Honestly, if you ask me, this is the best turn-based combat Atelier has had period and the only annoyance is that giving regular enemies Aura barriers can drag some fights out.

On the other half of the gameplay, the crafting, i can finally say that i fully enjoyed the "Tetris crafting" in this game. I barely enjoyed it in Sophie 1, found it unintuitive in Firis and liked it enough in Lydie & Suelle but i never really got addicted to it until this game along and made very well improvements to it. I won't really go about explaining the crafting mechanics, they rarely hold up to simple text explanations but just know that i was able to enjoy it significantly more than the previous Mysterious games.

In the rest of the gameplay, Gust has finally, finally added in quest markers for items and enemies.....although this has a little asterisk because this only applies to main and quest objectives. You'll still be forced to search for anything you'd need outside of that but with so much shit to keep track of, it was just easier to bust out a guide at that point. It's especially egregious when the game has a point of no return (you are warned of this) and any character events get locked out forever after that but the last two character events require items that would be easy to get after the point of no return. If i didn't look it up, i would've never found which quest specific boss i needed to kill in order to get that one item drop i needed. I would like in the next game for me to just be able to set trackers for anything i'm searching for. This is baby steps but i'm actually kinda shocked it was never implemented before in the series about gathering and crafting items. However, while the gameplay is mostly good, i was disappointed at the removal of some features from the Ryza games. Gone is being able to swim, swing and ride beasts. Instead, we get the ability to change the weather which sounds cool but it honestly gets a bit annoying at times, making the navigation of some areas a bit confusing (and don't even get me started on the exclusive enemies and items that depend on the weather, once again making the absence of markers outside of quests strange). The Item Rebuild mechanic, which allowed you to upgrade already existing equipment instead of starting from scratch, is also gone though at least thankfully Ryza's duplicate system remains intact, even if it just requires money now instead of gems, so it's not as easily farmable (although after certain discount upgrades, it becomes a non-issue anyways, ironically making it better than requiring gems).

Visually the game is a marginal improvement over Atelier Ryza 2's visuals, which were already good to begin with. The typical Gust budget is still there but you really don't think about it with these recent games. Sophie 2 has a graphics/performance toggle, of all things, not that it seemed to make too much of a difference, at least on Switch. Musically, it's an Atelier game, which means it's got bangers. The desert theme in particular gets high praise from me, i haven't heard an RPG desert theme that good since Xenoblade X and 2. Only negative thing i could say about the presentation is that some of the areas are a little bland compared to Ryza 2 (the hub town especially) and there's a surprising lack of CG stills.

When i think about it, Atelier Sophie 2 did exceed my expectations going in. A direct sequel to a game disliked, in a subseries i saw as the weakest, should've not popped off like this, yet Gust managed to pull through. And in hindsight, why wouldn't they? These guys have been on a great roll with Atelier since Lulua (fine i'll be fair and say since Lydie & Suelle) and i don't see them stopping anytime soon. Keep it up!

9/10

______________

And hey, since it's the 10th game i've beaten this year, it's time to update the list

Normally i link to the list itself but it's still short enough to fit in one screenshot. If you want to see the scores and reviews: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Armagon/journal/

Just putting out the FYI that Balan Wonderworld is in a league of it's own, being the only game in this list and possibly ever that i've gained zero enjoyment out of. No i did not beat it. Yes i scored it a 1/10. It is truly that bad.

30 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Or, it can just feel out of place. Like the one time in this one seemingly-kid friendly game where the line "People choose death too quickly" came after an NPC self-sacrifice in the endgame happened. And on an unrelated note, Kirby gets attention as "dark" on the few occasions it has had blood in the franchise, which in a less child-friendly series would go unnoticed.

Obviously it depends on the execution. In Atelier, these emotional movements are very personal to the characters and it ends up working. If there is sadness, is the result of emotion, not because "suffering" or anything like that. Not that Atelier can't get dark, the series isn't shy to mention and occasionally show death (no character has actually died during the course of an Atelier story FYI, any deceased characters have died prior to the beginnings of the stories and also, recurring series character Pamela is a ghost anyways) and the Dusk and Secret games are generally more serious but still maintain slice-of-life.

Unrelated note but in the case of Kirby, i think that "dark" attention is just a meme

44 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm just sitting here, finding your deep appreciation for a franchise that has usually been written off as "7/10, niche" for every single game a little entertaining.😛

Like i told Ruben yesterday, i've really come to appreciate the simple stuff haha.

If you told me when i was 15 that i'd playing the funny alchemist series, i'd have called you crazy but here i am now, enjoying these cute games about cute girls doing cute things.

Atelier might actually be my second favorite RPG series at this point. It used to be Trails but Atelier does this neat little thing of actually localizing the games in reasonable time. 

49 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Hopefully the later portion of Exceed doesn't sour it for you, so far it does seem like it has been good to you.

It's been good yeah. I just had to put it down for a while because i did really get burned out.

Speaking of burnout, i didn't end up doing my Dread run this month after all. I do think i got burned out at least for now. Boss rush mode next month tho, that's dope.
 

At least i have done enough runs to where i've committed this game to memory.