Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Shouldn't December be saved for an XCX rerun?

Why yes i'm mad enough to continue that second XCX replay i've left unfinished.

[Sooks]

51 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Just learned someone in my family is going through cancer and it isnt looking good. Sorry I havent been around much.

I’m so sorry, I hope they’re able to make a full recovery.

Take as much time as you need.

[Acacia Sgt]

Alright, reached the first picnic area. Hahaha, mixtapes, boomboxes, and dial-up internet...

Gonna stop here for today. Will likely finish the area tomorrow.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[GuardianSing]

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

 

Zelda's like half the reason you're able to beat Ganon in the first place.

I don't consider her ranged support all that meaningful when it's her role in the story that should matter. Tetra plays an active role in the story up until she is revealed to be Zelda, which white washes her, and makes her have no meaningful impact on the plot going forward.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

After spending most of the game helping you and also assists in the final battle anyways.

The only thing she does is hold Ganon down to allow Link to make the final blow, which is a very token support for a character who's most interesting contribution to the story is when they are pretending to be a different character.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Zelda assists in the final battle of a lot of the games now that i think about it. Either directly or indirectly. And a lot of her predicaments were of her own volition too. Replaying the Zelda games has me feeling Zelda has a lot of agency i didn't notice before.

Ultimately the issue is that the Zelda team wants to have it both ways, where they want Zelda to be important to the story but also want to fulfill the power fantasy for players.

It's honestly quite telling that the only Zelda game that actually has Zelda be a playable character are the spin-off games not made directly by Nintendo like Hyrule Warriors.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

She's still a main character and is the poster girl of the game.

Yeah, so is Zelda.

A character being a main character doesn't automatically make them have more agency.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Besides is not like Hector has it any better. "Hector's Tale" is literally Eliwood's but through Hector's PoV and all it adds is like three chapters.

When all you get is 10 tutorial chapters with very little relevance to the overarching plot, I wouldn't call a retelling of the entire story through your PoV "Not any better"

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

See it's funny because i went and did more research about this since i was legitimately curious (also tried to find if there was any outcry from actual Ainus but all i found was a Reddit post from a guy who found out he's related and it inspired him to look up the culture and found the Kanna connection and the only result with "controversy" on it was about fanservice in the show lol)

If you weren't raised with the culture you obviously wont see the problem with it. This is a very common thing I see in mixed race folks learning of the other half of their heritage, especially if they are younger. Since they weren't raised in the culture they might latch onto to anything they can find and that often has them attaching themselves to racist, stereotypical, or just outright false portrayals. This is no different.

Now I'm not an expert on the Ainu people, as I've never been to Japan to speak with them as I have always wished to, but I can guess the reason for no outcry is the same as why you may not hear natives send an outcry to incorrect portrayals in media

It's exhausting, and at some point you stop correcting people.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

 Kanna has the dress, that's already been established

• Kanna mentions she's from Ushishir Island. This is her cover story as a human but Ushishir Island is an actual real place sacred to the Ainu
  • Ushishir Island is also said to be the home of the Kanna Kamuy

I also found out about this(imaginary) scene

Iomante (she literally says this in the following shot, also the context was the kids were talking about ghosts). An Ainu ceremony in which (usually) a brown bear is sacrificed (though nowadays animals aren't killed, they use animals that have already died).

Kanna's father Kimun is named after the Kamuy of bears and mountains and his dragon form

is not even a dragon, it's a giant bear. I mean i guess it's kinda dragon-like. 

Considering how Ainus make up a mere 1% of the population in Japan and the author has gone out of his way to reference Ainu myths and culture.....i'm gonna say, i think he did his research. I can't find any malice or ignorance in this.

Now that i'm looking more into it yes. Apart from Tohru and Elma, the dragons are indeed based off the legends.

But like the thing with the Dragon Maid universe is that every religion is canon. Tohru canonically hates celebrating Christmas because it's Jesus' birthday (although she doesn't mind that much anymore). I'm not making that up.

This reminds me of how Rick Riordan did a similar thing in his......what do you call that combined universe anyways? The Greek and Roman stuff is Half-Blood Chronicles but not sure how Kane Chronicles (Egypt) and Magnus Chase (Norse) factor it other than they are canon. Anyways in the Kane Chronicles, it is mentioned that when people die, they go to the afterlife they believe in (and must abide by the rules of that afterlife too)....and if they don't believe in any, then that's what they get.

Quetzalcoatl has a similar backstory as the real deal too! 

"In the Codex Chimalpopoca, it is said Quetzalcoatl was coerced by Tezcatlipoca into becoming drunk on pulque, cavorting with his older sister, Quetzalpetlatl, a celibate priestess, and neglecting their religious duties. (Many academics conclude this passage implies incest.) The next morning, Quetzalcoatl, feeling shame and regret, had his servants build him a stone chest, adorn him in turquoise, and then, laying in the chest, set himself on fire. His ashes rose into the sky and then his heart followed, becoming the morning star (see Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli)." -from Wikipedia

Lucoa's backstory in Dragon Maid is more or less this, only more humorous. She got drunk and caused a scandal, which got her kicked out of the pantheon.

And yes, her dragon form is accurate: a feathered serpent (dragon)

This just makes it all worse in my eyes.

This is just taking the mythologies and stories of millions of people, all of which are Non-European and Non-Japanese, and turning it into a big joke.

Also that hardly looks  authentic to Quetzalcoatl.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Edelguardiansing

[Acacia Sgt]

... I'd say, AO3's tag system can be quite overwhelming...

[Acacia Sgt]

So, took a while, but I finally decided to start uploading my one shots of the writing thread elsewhere. Starting with the Rune Factory 4 one. Well, started with AO3, but at this point it's too late to do the rest. I'll do it tomorrow after work.

Speaking of, recently I wondered if to expand it into a longer story. I even thought of a possible way:

Spoiler

Was thinking the story would start instead post Arc III, after Ventuswill has returned. She ends up in conversation with both Lest and Margaret shortly after, and then starts noticing something's... off. Despite the couple trying to hide the fact, Venti manages to pry the truth out of them that they've been body swapped. Starting shock aside, Venti is further shocked to then hear that they got swapped not long after the defeat of Ethelberd... and then cue even bigger shock when Noel and/or Luna (I was thinking on having both of them be present, unlike the game restricting you to just one) come in, as it then it outright reveals that they while swapped... uh huh. Thought it'd be funny to have Venti come back from her years-long abscence to... that. lol

Anyway, cue they starting to explain how it all went down... and then the part I already wrote would begin. So the story would be in a format of switching time frames between the present (post Arc III) and the past (post Arc II but before Arc III begins).

So yeah. Might do it like that, might not, but I would certainly have that stuff with Venti happening somewhere. XD

But well, it's going to be put on the looooooong backlist of writing projects.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Codename Shrimp]

5 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

which was using some random integers between 0 and 1 and using this command (ROUNDUP(RANK(C10,C1:C32)/4,0)) to then sort them in order which would form the groups

tfw Commands

I was just gonna do it the same way they do it in football xD

Although instead of pots i was gonna use a random list picker XD

5 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

5: Hector, Ike, Robin, Claude

Group of death

I like your groups i think i might use them. If no one has anything against it 

[Codename Shrimp]

Wolf

[Dayni]

3 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

I was just gonna do it the same way they do it in football xD

Although instead of pots i was gonna use a random list picker XD

I tried some of those and they weren't working as I hoped, hence my roundabout method.

I rolled dozens of times because every other time two from the same region would be in the same pool.

3 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

Group of death

Yeah, thought that as well.

1 hour ago, Imperator Squilla said:

Wolf

Byleth just straight up tells you "How could you miss he was three feet in front of you?"

Also, neat, generic Wolf Knight.

Byleth bringing Thyrsus with him, looking pretty versatile, which I'll admit I thought the emblems wouldn't be.

[Codename Shrimp]

37 minutes ago, Punished Dayni said:

Byleth bringing Thyrsus with him, looking pretty versatile, which I'll admit I thought the emblems wouldn't be.

seems like the weapons we he brings with him depends on the character he enjeji's with

For example Thyrsus with a Mage, Failnaught with an Archer, etc.

[Codename Shrimp]

Quote

Blades seem rather different to what we're used to; they can't followup, and they force you to be the counterattacker (i.e. go second), but strikes are guaranteed to Smash (which presumably is the Heroes Knock Back effect). Also at least compared with Blutgang below has a higher Crit rate

Found on this leddit.

Are they finally spicing up weapons?

 

Quote

Backup gets Blutgang

Mystical gets Thrysus (+2 range and the halving of all damage, but I can't tell if that's a % chance here?. Can't be equipped as a weapon for obvious reasons but all effects apply while in inventory)

Covert gets Failnaught (interestingly when Yunaka uses it she suffers 2 recoil damage for firing it...)

Qi Adept gets Rafail Gem (seems odd, but remember that so far our only Qi Adepts seen are Framme, a healer, and Seadall, a dancer; I think it's intentional)

Dragon (Alear) gets Aymr and Vajra-Mushti, but as for which first at Bond 1...?

Flier gets Luin

Cavalry gets Areadbhar

we haven't seen Armor yet. Given all the others above, I'm wondering if they get Crusher (the idea of armors wielding the poster child relic to flatten things to dust is too funny to me)

presumably SoTC is the Bond 15 weapon since that is Byleth's regalia

more stuff from leddit

Edited December 2, 2022 by Imperator Squilla

[Dayni]

14 minutes ago, Imperator Squilla said:

more stuff from leddit

Armour getting Aegis shield would super basic, but I could see that. Of the others we've not seen Thunderbrand, Lance of Ruin, Freikugal or the Fetters of Dromi alongside Crusher, but is there enough categories to account for them?

(Oi Adepts not getting Vajra-Mutshi feels cruel now)

[Lightcosmo]

8 hours ago, Sooks said:

I’m so sorry, I hope they’re able to make a full recovery.

Take as much time as you need.

9 hours ago, Armagon said:

My condolences.

 

8 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Man, that's... my condolences. It's alright, take whatever time you may need.

 

8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Suffering of this kind is something most humans are bound to experience at some point in their lives. Your family isn't alone, if that provides any solace.

Thank you everyone for the kind-hearted words! ❤️

[Lightcosmo]

7 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

 

I wouldn't put Seasons and Ages in the top category, Zelda is hardly there at all and only gets kidnapped at the end of the game plus Vire nabs her mid game somewhere.

In fact she is only in game via transfer so she wouldn't really qualify i don't think.

Edit: The Adventure of Link she also isn't kidnapped, just put to sleep i believe, you see her in the very first scene!

Edited December 2, 2022 by lightcosmo

[Codename Shrimp]

9 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Just learned someone in my family is going through cancer and it isnt looking good. Sorry I havent been around much.

My condolences, Cosmo.

Stay strong, and i hope they are able to recover.

[Lightcosmo]

1 minute ago, Imperator Squilla said:

My condolences, Cosmo.

Stay strong, and i hope they are able to recover.

Thank you, Shrimpy! ❤️

[Lightcosmo]

Tactics Ogre: Reborn heavenly General fights are now alot harder than before, nice.

They literally have a one hit kill detonator button that has huge range + AoE. Their personal weapons got major boosts from LUCT, making them actually good this time around (for what you put in to get them, they should be)

[Dayni]

9 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Just learned someone in my family is going through cancer and it isnt looking good. Sorry I havent been around much.

  Apologies for not seeing this earlier, I wish you and yours well in what'll be a hard time.

3 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Tactics Ogre: Reborn heavenly General fights are now alot harder than before, nice.

They literally have a one hit kill detonator button that has huge range + AoE. Their personal weapons got major boosts from LUCT, making them actually good this time around (for what you put in to get them, they should be)

Can you confirm if the 110 or so floor dungeon is a dungeon you have to play through in one go (with saves of course?)?

[Lightcosmo]

Just now, Punished Dayni said:

  Apologies for not seeing this earlier, I wish you and yours well in what'll be a hard time.

Can you confirm if the 110 or so floor dungeon is a dungeon you have to play through in one go (with saves of course?)?

Thank you very much!

The Palace of the Dead? Yeah you have to complete it in one go, but it's much easier, and the drop rates for stuff is really high now. I already finished it once.

[Saint Rubenio]

11 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Just learned someone in my family is going through cancer and it isnt looking good. Sorry I havent been around much.

Oh, no... No wonder you've not been in the mood for silly videogame talk.

Hang in there, buddy. Don't lose hope.

7 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

I like your groups i think i might use them. If no one has anything against it 

I mean, considering the line-up is all protagonists, I'm going to be rooting for the referee, so... Sure, why not, go ahead. I don't mind either way.

I don't mind either way, as long as you make sure to implement Garon as the referee. Otherwise earth will be salted.

6 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

Wolf

That's the most creative class I've seen in a mainline FE game since... Well, since Fates.

This game has no business looking this good...

3 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

 

Quote

Backup gets Blutgang

Mystical gets Thrysus (+2 range and the halving of all damage, but I can't tell if that's a % chance here?. Can't be equipped as a weapon for obvious reasons but all effects apply while in inventory)

Covert gets Failnaught (interestingly when Yunaka uses it she suffers 2 recoil damage for firing it...)

Qi Adept gets Rafail Gem (seems odd, but remember that so far our only Qi Adepts seen are Framme, a healer, and Seadall, a dancer; I think it's intentional)

Dragon (Alear) gets Aymr and Vajra-Mushti, but as for which first at Bond 1...?

Flier gets Luin

Cavalry gets Areadbhar

we haven't seen Armor yet. Given all the others above, I'm wondering if they get Crusher (the idea of armors wielding the poster child relic to flatten things to dust is too funny to me)

presumably SoTC is the Bond 15 weapon since that is Byleth's regalia

more stuff from leddit

..."L"eddit?

Okay but listen to me, does this fabled leddit place have an answer to Ugly Old Man's playability

[Armagon]

So those tiles will instantly fill your Engage meter. I wonder if the enemy can make use of them too.

So anybody can open chests now. Interesting.

7 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

I don't consider her ranged support all that meaningful when it's her role in the story that should matter.

Her role in the story is literally helping you defeat Ganondorf. Again, she is half the reason you're even able to beat him.

Considering the simplistic nature of Zelda plots that aren't Majora's Mask or Breath of the Wild, i'd say this works.

7 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

which white washes her

Oh yeah no that part was kinda sus.

7 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

which is a very token support for a character who's most interesting contribution to the story is when they are pretending to be a different character.

You're acting like they are two different characters.

7 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

but also want to fulfill the power fantasy for players.

It's a simplistic fairy tale-like plot for most of these games, it's not that deep. Unless it's Majora's Mask.

And even then, you're just saying "oh she gets kidnapped" without looking at context of some of the instances.

• Minish Cap: Zelda was a legitimate threat after she used the Light Force to protect her father and Link.
• Twilight Princess: Sacrifices herself to buy time for Link and Midna, actively assists in the final battle
• A Link Between Worlds: Figured out ahead of time what was happening, gave Link the Pendant of Courage, and that single act literally saved both Hyrule and Lorule. Gives Link the Light Arrows in the final battle despite being trapped in a painting.
• Zelda II: She's not even kidnapped in this game!

I think you and i have very different ideas about what "not doing something" is.

A female character being kidnapped isn't inherently a bad thing. I make fun of it about Kaga because Kaga actively has a fetish for it but if a female character gets captured or whatever, it's not an instant eye-roll for me. I think the only time i actually did was pre-release Blaster Master Zero 3 where i was like "are we really saving Eve again when we just cured her in the last game" and then i actually played the game (it's Inti Creates, why wouldn't i) and saw the context and was like "oh ok, i get it now".

8 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

It's honestly quite telling that the only Zelda game that actually has Zelda be a playable character are the spin-off games not made directly by Nintendo like Hyrule Warriors.

She's literally playable in Spirit Tracks. Or are you gonna say that doesn't count because she's a ghost in that one?

8 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

When all you get is 10 tutorial chapters with very little relevance to the overarching plot

You know, as someone who values characters a lot, i'm gonna partially disagree with this take. Yes, Lyn's story isn't that relevant to the overarching plot but it's still a personal quest for the character. 

8 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Since they weren't raised in the culture they might latch onto to anything they can find and that often has them attaching themselves to racist, stereotypical, or just outright false portrayals. This is no different.

I sure hope they figure that out for themselves though and not have someone else tell them. Not accusing you of doing this fyi, but i've seen instances people (usually white) tell others this this and that is an offensive stereotype and then the actual people that are supposedly being offended by it are like "nah, it's cool"

8 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

This is just taking the mythologies and stories of millions of people, all of which are Non-European and Non-Japanese, and turning it into a big joke.

In the case of Dragon Maid, it is a comedy, my guy. Of course things are going to be exaggerated a little bit. Not every story involving religious figures has to be 100% serious. There's literally a comedy manga series were Buddha and Jesus Christ are hanging out. The issue is when it becomes mockery but that's not what's really happening here.

Ultimately, i'm against the idea that you have to be part of whatever culture you want to use in your story if you're writing it. What you should do if you aren't is do your research. And to avoid stereotypes, it's important that the character in question isn't just "hey i'm ___". Back to the case of Kanna, i can tell the author did his research plus Kanna's character isn't "hey i'm an Ainu". She's a nine-year old girl who likes to sleep, play, and beat up child traffickers.

Rick Riordan does the same thing. He does extensive research on the mythologies he uses, even digging deep into the more obscure bits. It's also why he hasn't written stories about Asian mythologies and people, because he's not really familiar with them. The closest he got was with the character Frank Zhang, a Canadian-Chinese guy who's the son of Mars and his character isn't just "hey i'm Chinese". Frank doesn't even know Chinese all that well, which i'm sure is something some mixed-heritage people can relate to.

9 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Also that hardly looks  authentic to Quetzalcoatl.

There's multiple depictions of Quetzalcoatl. Earliest known depiction is this

We also got this

And this

And of course, the human forms that you have posted.

Quetzalcoatl is most commonly depicted as a feathered serpent and there are a multitude of different ways you can interpret that. Especially once it starts to reach public conscious. Out of the entire Aztec pantheon, i think most would at least have some basic familiarity with Quetzalcoatl. At least know the name. There's even a dinosaur named after it!

6 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

Wolf

So i'm guessing this is a "Beast Tamer" Class. Wonder what other animals we could be riding.

Will we finally get Elephant Knights?

3 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

Blades seem rather different to what we're used to; they can't followup, and they force you to be the counterattacker (i.e. go second), but strikes are guaranteed to Smash (which presumably is the Heroes Knock Back effect). Also at least compared with Blutgang below has a higher Crit rate

I smell funny strats here.

[Acacia Sgt]

Ahahaha

[Saint Rubenio]

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ahahaha

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh my fucking God, that's one helluva blast to the past.

Thanks for sharing that. It got a big hearty chuckle outta me.

[Venger_06]

11 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Just learned someone in my family is going through cancer and it isnt looking good. Sorry I havent been around much.

I'm sorry they had to go through this, man. Hope that person recovers well. Here's a cute cat to make you feel better

[Venger_06]

Roundabout... kino...