Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[joevar]

1 hour ago, Lightcosmo said:

Playing Berwick like you would normal FE is going to get you into trouble. You really need to consider most of your units strengths carefully to begin with.

if you mean by strengths are skills then of course, i take that into account. because i sure dont feel like taking thief in this game anywhere else if i just see its STR stat.

but really, seeing misses 8 out of 10 with no way to speed up other than turbo boosting the emulator is tiring for me. thats what i dislike more than the unit performance (neither the inability to brute force with any unit).

 

56 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Oh wow. Faye = Rutger is not a comparison I ever thought I'd see.

I think she is better than her reputation at least. Her sword rank is crap now, but it does grow at an insane pace.

well, between everyone who keeps wasting turn juggling between misses like a circus she kill enemies way faster with her many retries, sure hit skill, and crit (that happen quite often for this early game) she is that good to me. what about VOlo, which one is better?

59 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Zalius is the biggest problem here. He is way too dodgy to get hit reliably and his crit chance ensures that even for Ward it is risky to 1v1 him.
Ideally you would lure him onto a cliff to set his avoid to 0, at which point he is Sylvis fodder. But even if that ends up being too hard to set up in the heat of battle, it should at least be possible to have Elbert lead him at the nose with Provoke until Sylvis' arrows find their mark.

yeah, thats what i used, using elbert provoke then kill him using Faye and Kramen (risky)

Sylvis is way ahead already she didnt help in that part. but she did score a couple cripple

49 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Also you can show movement cost for each type of terrain with... the triangle button, I think? Not 100% sure because emulator and all that.
Movement cost and movement type are extremely important.
It's baffling that Fire Emblem never added a feature like that. Not like they are strangers to the concept. It IS a thing in Advance Wars.

Anyway, in general the game gets a lot of use out of the Playstation's many buttons. There is a ton of useful bullshit you can do on various screen.
For example, if you pick up an item from an enemy but have a full inventory, you are given the option to drop an item already in your inventory. BUT...
...if you have an adjacent ally, you can use L and R to access their inventories and place the item there without having to drop anything. 

helpful tips!

[Acacia Sgt]

 

[Armagon]

8 minutes ago, joevar said:

seeing misses 8 out of 10

This was like the main reason I dropped the game, the other being the dynamic turn order.

[Codename Shrimp]

Use Sylvis

[Sidereal Wraith]

What Wraith felt was happening to him when he first witnessing this support conversation:

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Sidereal Wraith

[Sidereal Wraith]

And the crazy thing about the support conversation? Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont couldn’t have written a scene as subtly horrifying as that exchange was in the end.

[Acacia Sgt]

I'm reminded it would be fun to think Bond conversation ideas for my Sonya&Genny Emblem.

Jade's would definitely be with Genny as they talk of their love for novel writing, heh.

It would have a bit of a serious moment in their A Bond where, Emblems being what they are, Genny laments she can't write anymore... but Jade pledges she can do it for her.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[BrightBow]

Trading in Berwick Saga is also unlimited.

Like, even more unlimited than in Thracia. Because you can trade both after and BEFORE moving.
Only thing you can't do is to take items that your trading partner has equipped.

But if you do any trading at the end of your movement, you lose the charge bonus for spears.

Edited February 12, 2023 by BrightBow

[Sidereal Wraith]

The plot twist is probably that Sooks was in league with the Stop signs the whole time, Rubenio never had a beard to begin with, Shrimp-kun never had a thing for younger sisters or that I was always the howling man.

[Lightcosmo]

54 minutes ago, Armagon said:

This was like the main reason I dropped the game, the other being the dynamic turn order.

This imo was one of the things i liked most. It made option choosing much more important.

[joevar]

Berwick post chapter 2, part 2

"hey our current boss is weaker, he was just a weakling to our previous bosses"

*checks level*.. having higher level makes you weaker now huh. well no big deal, just slight discrepancies between spoken and gameplay practice like usual

is this THE Derrick that someone told me before? is this the one that i *should* kill?

lets see how it goes

Spoiler

i let him go. being a worrywart i keep dean close to since he is the highest dmg dealer lol.

this one takes 15 turn much more manageable. since i now use turbo boost just to speed up the game, it becomes less tiring.. except the button somehow right next to load state, and an accident happen that i press load state instead even though eveyrthing goes smoothly for a while.. smh 🤦‍♂️

---------------------------------------------

overall a good harvest. many low level peeps get level up, many weapon also break in the process, and no horses was killed while marching

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

This was like the main reason I dropped the game, the other being the dynamic turn order.

lol yeah. being different and interesting is okay. but the very low hit rate + dynamic turn order make a very powerful combo of making this game a real slog. it drains player patience. not to mention cant skip...

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by joevar

[Sooks]

Goddammit, I’m such an idiot.

19 hours ago, Sooks said:

but the beginning of the story has been decent, although the “mystery” aspect has been a little heavy handed. Either they’re making the mystery super predictable, or they’re not, and I’m gonna get thrown for a loop. We’ll see.

I was sooooo confident that I had everything figured out that I fell for the end of chapter twist hook, line, and sinker. It feels so obvious. It should have been obvious. But I was convinced they would do the other obvious thing, that I never thought about it! I have failed.

Anyway, I was a little unsure, but the end of the chapter sold me. Castti is the character for me. Her boss battle proved to me that she is really fun to play as, and the story moment after hinted that the mystery might not be 100% predictable (even if I’m more sure than ever the thing I was talking about in the quote is true) and just had some really cool presentation. You use her inquire skill to get info on her past and the pop up that comes up tells you literally nothing, but certain key words turn yellow and the screen has this glitched effect before going to a flashback… it’s good. Forgetting something important, a glitched effect, tragedy, I think I just like this cause Omori you guys.

Also I’m pleasantly surprised because I thought, going off of where the characters are when you choose your protagonist, I would have to get Partitio second, who I’m not that interested in. However, instead I get Hikari, who I am interested in. Alternatively, I might be able to go to the eastern continent, idk if I have to get everyone in the west first. In that case I’d end up with… Ochette. Uh, never mind.

Looking at the two continents, I thought I came to the realization that the west had all the characters with the “noble” path actions from the previous game and the east has all the “rogue” ones, but then I saw that Agnea is supposed to have Allure somehow, so that doesn’t quite fit. Tenemos has guide, but he’s an asshole (while she really doesn’t seem like it), so maybe that’s what they were going for? Then again, Ochette has provoke, which doesn’t seem to fit at all, just like the hunter in the first game! I’m probably overthinking it, if there is a reason for who is to the east and who’s in the west, that’s not it.

And… nooooo. Even though it’s not intuitive to get characters in that order at all this time, in the menu where you can watch story scenes you’ve already seen, the characters are displayed in OCTOPATH order, starting with the letter of whichever character you chose and looping around to the beginning of the word. Meaning, it only looks cool if you start with the right character. Must resist urge to go with… Ochette? Nvm, this’ll be easier than I thought.

@Saint Rubenio

Edit: Nevermind. You can switch continents as soon as you have access to a port to use. The ferry is kind of expensive tho. But it looks like you can just fast travel between continents after using it.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Sooks

[BrightBow]

18 minutes ago, joevar said:

"hey our current boss is weaker, he was just a weakling to our previous bosses"

*checks level*.. having higher level makes you weaker now huh. well no big deal, just slight discrepancies between spoken and gameplay practice like usual

It's funny how between Valentin and Garias, he is the only one of the three to NOT have a bounty, despite being supposedly in charge.
But they do have the same level. Garias stats are higher though.
It's probably meant as a hint towards the fact that Garias is more likely to get crippled than normal enemies, courtesy of the hidden Weakness skill that some enemies have.
But I suppose you could also say that his boss reputation was due to Battle Cry making him potentially much more dangerous than his raw stats would suggest.

Btw, it's a good idea to deploy Arthur for this map. Hurry giving him 5 movement ensures he can secure the exit of the hallway, so you don't risk getting stuck in there for a while.

Edited February 12, 2023 by BrightBow

[Acacia Sgt]

I don't know why Fanficiton.net has me constantly update the Guidelines... that haven't been updated since 2008 apparently!

[Saint Rubenio]

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Probably doesn't help that Reese is a country bumpkin.

Yeah, it's easy to forget because of the fancy get-up, but being heir to Sinon is the equivalent of being the son of Texas's governor lol

4 hours ago, joevar said:

not reese. lord vermilion or something who arrange her i mean

Pretty sure Vanmillion does refer to her as an assistant. It's Reese who is confused when he sees her, assuming she's got to be a maid.

1 hour ago, joevar said:

but really, seeing misses 8 out of 10 with no way to speed up other than turbo boosting the emulator is tiring for me. thats what i dislike more than the unit performance (neither the inability to brute force with any unit).

Brightbow has offered better advice than I ever could, so I will simply second it. There are ways to improve reliability, you just need to stop playing this like it were a regular FE. Don't go out of your way to feed every single kill you can to growth units. If Dean or Volo can handle a conundrum, do it, don't take potshots with Adel. I mean, Adel with Leon nearby is a really accurate unit earlygame, but I digress.

I believe I already saw that you mentioned not using Sylvis at one point because she was "way ahead", I'm assuming in experience? Which is not only inadvisable, it's also flat out wrong. Sylvis's class may be "sniper", but promotion doesn't affect experience gains, and in fact you want to level Sylvis to 10 sooner than later.

1 hour ago, joevar said:

what about VOlo, which one is better?

Objectively speaking, Volo is way better, yes. He's more expensive to compensate, but he's one of the best combat units in the game, and Deathmatch only makes him even better. Faye needs a TON of work to get to his level.

3 hours ago, joevar said:

oh whats that, Reese talk back against shrewd Minister when they are still in public audience, pfft. okay that one is nice, need more protag like this that knows how to twist words against shrewd politician

Reese has his moments.

35 minutes ago, joevar said:

Berwick post chapter 2, part 2

"hey our current boss is weaker, he was just a weakling to our previous bosses"

*checks level*.. having higher level makes you weaker now huh. well no big deal, just slight discrepancies between spoken and gameplay practice like usual

To be fair, Gariad is weaker than the other two in combat, even if his level is higher for some reason.

35 minutes ago, joevar said:

is this THE Derrick that someone told me before? is this the one that i *should* kill?

You do that and you are dead. I will kill you myself.

35 minutes ago, joevar said:

lets see how it goes

  Hide contents

i let him go. being a worrywart i keep dean close to since he is the highest dmg dealer lol.

 

Spoiler

Good Joevar. Good Joevar.

 

35 minutes ago, joevar said:

overall a good harvest. many low level peeps get level up, many weapon also break in the process, and no horses was killed while marching

Well, that's great!

35 minutes ago, joevar said:

lol yeah. being different and interesting is okay. but the very low hit rate + dynamic turn order make a very powerful combo of making this game a real slog. it drains player patience. not to mention cant skip...

I suppose that's fair enough. It's a game that takes some getting used to. It's not that much of a problem for me, but then, I will admit I liberally use emulator speed-up whenever it's an option. I am not a patient man.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Saint Rubenio]

Oh, whoops. Missed the Octopath talk.

27 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Goddammit, I’m such an idiot.

I was sooooo confident that I had everything figured out that I fell for the end of chapter twist hook, line, and sinker. It feels so obvious. It should have been obvious. But I was convinced they would do the other obvious thing, that I never thought about it! I have failed.

...Well.

Now go and do Osvald-- Nah but all jokes aside, do you intend to do at least another one or two, or is this enough for you?

27 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Anyway, I was a little unsure, but the end of the chapter sold me. Castti is the character for me. Her boss battle proved to me that she is really fun to play as, and the story moment after hinted that the mystery might not be 100% predictable (even if I’m more sure than ever the thing I was talking about in the quote is true) and just had some really cool presentation. You use her inquire skill to get info on her past and the pop up that comes up tells you literally nothing, but certain key words turn yellow and the screen has this glitched effect before going to a flashback… it’s good. Forgetting something important, a glitched effect, tragedy, I think I just like this cause Omori you guys.

Oho! Now that's some interesting words, my fellow Omori enjoyer.

27 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Also I’m pleasantly surprised because I thought, going off of where the characters are when you choose your protagonist, I would have to get Partitio second, who I’m not that interested in. However, instead I get Hikari, who I am interested in. Alternatively, I might be able to go to the eastern continent, idk if I have to get everyone in the west first. In that case I’d end up with… Ochette. Uh, never mind.

Looking at the two continents, I thought I came to the realization that the west had all the characters with the “noble” path actions from the previous game and the east has all the “rogue” ones, but then I saw that Agnea is supposed to have Allure somehow, so that doesn’t quite fit. Tenemos has guide, but he’s an asshole (while she really doesn’t seem like it), so maybe that’s what they were going for? Then again, Ochette has provoke, which doesn’t seem to fit at all, just like the hunter in the first game! I’m probably overthinking it, if there is a reason for who is to the east and who’s in the west, that’s not it.

And… nooooo. Even though it’s not intuitive to get characters in that order at all this time, in the menu where you can watch story scenes you’ve already seen, the characters are displayed in OCTOPATH order, starting with the letter of whichever character you chose and looping around to the beginning of the word. Meaning, it only looks cool if you start with the right character. Must resist urge to go with… Ochette? Nvm, this’ll be easier than I thought.

I like how much you despair over the order in which to get characters. Meanwhile I intend to nab Osvald and figure it out from there.

[Sooks]

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...Well.

Now go and do Osvald-- Nah but all jokes aside, do you intend to do at least another one or two, or is this enough for you?

I’ll grab Hikari and likely continue this save file on the full game.

I might do Osvald or something just for fun, though.

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oho! Now that's some interesting words, my fellow Omori enjoyer.

It’s a very surface level comparison, but I’d be lying if I said that’s not what I immediately thought of.

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I like how much you despair over the order in which to get characters. Meanwhile I intend to nab Osvald and figure it out from there.

Look, Ruben. When you you get the funny Octopath anagram spelled out on your view story scenes screen, everything is right with the world. When you start with Ochette, everything is wrong the world. What do?

I liked Castti’s chapter though, so 99% chance I’m sticking with her.

[Interdimensional Observer]

A fishing minigame, finally an Iris game that's actually playable. That colossal success zone and rapidly moving bar means it's a monster fight, you'd rather hope you fail.

A two-phase boss fight while it's still just two heroes with this gargantuan (and recycled from AI2) thing as the second phase. Too soon game. Even if I won.

Hello. Call it deja vu, but have I met you before, or maybe your sisters?

Despite ditching the Eternal Mana subtitle, the Mana (I think it's both plural and singular for the beings) are still here, uniting the Iris trilogy. Although they chose to make the first Mana introduced Dark instead of Wood like the other two.

 

This language is familiar.

In Atelier Iris 1, Mana helped with alchemy and Mana were equippable to characters. In Atelier Iris 2, Mana were only used in alchemy, and in a much more simplified capacity. In Atelier Iris 3, Mana play no role in alchemy whatsoever, yet become equippable again in what appears to be a more detailed manner than Iris 1.

This appears to be a simple class system. Although the tutorial stated the team can equip Mana, only Edge can actually do so right now. Plua did provide Iris with a sleep spell via summoning her, yet it does not appear that Iris -despite making the pact with the Mana as only an alchemist can- can actually equip them. At least not right now.

Perhaps the third playable will be able to equip Mana, yet she hasn't joined yet. She showed up, but it probably won't be until I complete Hagel's mission that she joins. The issue is that Hagel demands I rank up the Raider rank first, and that requires doing quests. It would appear that generic fetch *insert X item of Y quantity* quests and monster hunts don't provide rank points. Only certain other quests do, which makes this group of requests with actual writing associated with them mandatory to progress the plot, at least, so far that is.

Also, on alchemy, the game did introduce the mechanic already. No more Element-based synthesis, it's all combining materials, no more shortcutting via merging the pure and pluripotent building blocks of existence. No more mid-battle synthesis either. Recipes for new items of all kinds can be bought, or you can examine objects and Iris will suddenly realize a new recipe. More "? Things" that later result in inspirations are unlocked when Iris's alchemy level goes up, which she gains experience toward with each uncrafted item she alchemizes for the first time. Narratively, alchemy this early into the game doesn't feel as relevant as it did in Iris 1 and Iris 2.

 

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

@Interdimensional Observer so i found a full list of what exactly the Baten Kaitos remaster is doing.

https://www.bandainamcoent.asia/sea/news/baiten-kaitos-i-&-ii-hd-remaster-coming-soon

One of them is "Instant KO" which is basically just the kill everything button. So i guess there isn't a fear of getting softlocked on Giacomo's wild ride anymore.

Nice to know. Although me knowing these games as well as I do means I wouldn't bother with this Official AR Code unless I was massively grinding. Origins also becomes fairly easy later on -provided one gets used to bosses being able to near-OHKO for pretty much all of the game.

The one change I don't see here would be removing the "can only select one Magnus per battle won" caveat in Eternal Wings. -Barring boss fight rewards and constellation fragments which were always obtained. I don't quite get why EWatLO had that limitation. Though again, auto-battle + instakill = painless grinding.

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

Also NG+ and a "New Game" mode, which from the wording just sounds like hard mode?

Origins did have NG+. Although the only things that carried over was some data- the Gathering and monster book (which, as the final boss counts in this, means you need to NG+ to finish the Gathering for the Magnus you're given for 100%ing the book), and Pac-Man would start pre-fed with a randomized half of the edible Quest Magnus and the game wouldn't tell you which.

A hard mode NG+ would be really brutal for Origins, given what I said above. Even the first boss can smack the shiitakes out of Sagi, not to mention Chaotic Dance 2 round 1.

[Sooks]

1 hour ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

The plot twist is probably that Sooks was in league with the Stop signs the whole time

Damn, he’s on to me.

[Saint Rubenio]

Dang, they improved PCSX2 so much when I wasn't looking. Fancy new UI, greater ease of use and QoL, more graphical improvements... It used to be an eumlator that worked well enough, but now it actually looks pretty nice!

4 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I’ll grab Hikari and likely continue this save file on the full game.

Right... Honestly, I think I'll just restart when the full game is out. Keep it fresh in my memory.

4 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I might do Osvald or something just for fun, though.

Dew it.

4 minutes ago, Sooks said:

It’s a very surface level comparison, but I’d be lying if I said that’s not what I immediately thought of.

Well, not bad. I might have to go and grab her.

Right now I'd say my order of interest for the characters would be Osvald > Temenos = Castti > Partitio > Throné > Agnea > Hikari > Ochette. We'll see how that list changes when I play the game. Yours? I know Castti is at the top but I'm not so sure about the rest.

4 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Look, Ruben. When you you get the funny Octopath anagram spelled out on your view story scenes screen, everything is right with the world. When you start with Ochette, everything is wrong the world. What do?

Yes, but counterpoint: Osvald. You can start with Osvald, and all will be right with the world.

4 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I liked Castti’s chapter though, so 99% chance I’m sticking with her.

Guess the power of nurse waifu is greater than the power of symmetry.

For me, well... Osvald rocks a combination of round glasses and a somehow well trimmed beard with a wild mane of hair and a tattered robe over his prisoner outfit. The end result is an insanely cool take on a scholarly character.

[Sidereal Wraith]

I finally found the source of inspiration that the Engage writers use when crafting the plot and characters of the game:

 

[BrightBow]

51 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Brightbow has offered better advice than I ever could, so I will simply second it. There are ways to improve reliability, you just need to stop playing this like it were a regular FE. Don't go out of your way to feed every single kill you can to growth units. If Dean or Volo can handle a conundrum, do it, don't take potshots with Adel. I mean, Adel with Leon nearby is a really accurate unit earlygame, but I digress.

Just swinging at enemies is also enough to increase weapon rank, which is basically the most important stat besides level.
Once a weapon rank reaches 20, it needs to actually be successfully used to see an improvement. So for example Ward won't see any improvements from his misses because all his ranks are above 20. But all those other scrubs will still improve even if they fail.
 

51 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I believe I already saw that you mentioned not using Sylvis at one point because she was "way ahead", I'm assuming in experience? Which is not only inadvisable, it's also flat out wrong. Sylvis's class may be "sniper", but promotion doesn't affect experience gains, and in fact you want to level Sylvis to 10 sooner than later.

Not to mention she starts out at only level 3, same as Sherlock. And he is not exactly a Jeigan.

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by BrightBow

[Sooks]

56 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Right... Honestly, I think I'll just restart when the full game is out. Keep it fresh in my memory.

Well, I guess you did have two chapters to play through.

Castti’s chapter one is pretty simple, although if I ever feel lost I can always use the journal to go back and look.

56 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Right now I'd say my order of interest for the characters would be Osvald > Temenos = Castti > Partitio > Throné > Agnea > Hikari > Ochette. We'll see how that list changes when I play the game. Yours? I know Castti is at the top but I'm not so sure about the rest.

Mine is… pretty different. Again, heh.

Castti > Osvald = Throné > Hikari > Agnea > Partitio > Ochette > Tenemos. Right now anyway, the last three keep switching with each other depending on my mood.

56 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yes, but counterpoint: Osvald. You can start with Osvald, and all will be right with the world.

Well no, the two Os are set to Osvald and Ochette, and Osvald gets the second one. OPATHOCT.

56 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Guess the power of nurse waifu is greater than the power of symmetry.

It’s actually the power of mystery amnesia waifu + “If I can help people, who I am is ultimately trivial” + concoct in battle. But yes.

56 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

For me, well... Osvald rocks a combination of round glasses and a somehow well trimmed beard with a wild mane of hair and a tattered robe over his prisoner outfit. The end result is an insanely cool take on a scholarly character.

Yeah, he’s cool. He’s in my top 3 after all.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Sooks

[Acacia Sgt]

Alright, I uploaded the one-shot.

Fanfiction.net?
AO3?
Or even Deviantart?

Got it all covered for my usual sites!

 

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

you just need to stop playing this like it were a regular FE

Hey, i already used this line!