Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[FlyingKitsune]

13 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Guess the fic's honeymoon phase ended since its metrics barely increased today compared to yesterday... likely it fell off to the second page of most of its tags. lol

Yeah, kudos drop off once it's old enough. That's why you gotta maximize the time on the front page by posting at the right time! How do you find the time? Uh...

[GuardianSing]

11 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Only in a dream could Three Houses be so good. Its a tragedy that the dream ended.

Alas...

Really I should've guessed because the name of the rout in the dream was "Cindered Scarlet Blaze" Or something along those lines.

11 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This reminds me of the time I dreamed I was Hanneman, and then I died.

Anyway, yeah. You've been thinking too much about Houses. Go play Berwick Saga.

Why? So I can instead dream of red haired lady knight?

11 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Very, but not as much as Claude x Hilda. Why people ship this freedom fighter with a woman whose family owns slaves and shows zero regrets about it is beyond me, but I guess she has boobs so all is well.

Hey there was actually a passage in the fanfiction I read yesterday that outlined pretty well why I dislike Hilda from a narrative perspective.

“She is…exactly the kind of noble that I despise. Lazy, entitled, quick and far too eager to use her privilege to her benefit and others’ detriment"

That being said, a character being bad in the story is not the same as a character being badly written and I haven't seen enough of her support conversations to give thoughts on whether or not the game gives a satisfying "arc" for her.

10 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

We at Teehee met Kaga

I like the implication that Teehee is like a council of members that you can visit.

[Saint Rubenio]

2 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Why? So I can instead dream of red haired lady knight?

...Yeah.

2 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Hey there was actually a passage in the fanfiction I read yesterday that outlined pretty well why I dislike Hilda from a narrative perspective.

“She is…exactly the kind of noble that I despise. Lazy, entitled, quick and far too eager to use her privilege to her benefit and others’ detriment"

That being said, a character being bad in the story is not the same as a character being badly written and I haven't seen enough of her support conversations to give thoughts on whether or not the game gives a satisfying "arc" for her.

Oh I agree.

The problem is that in her case, that doesn't happen, because the game's more interested in a marketable waifu than a character. Go read Ingrid's supports instead.

[Acacia Sgt]

5 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Really I should've guessed because the name of the rout in the dream was "Cindered Scarlet Blaze" Or something along those lines.

Ahahaha, Scarlet Blaze is Edelgard's route's name in Three Hopes.

Coincidence or did you knew that already?

5 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

I like the implication that Teehee is like a council of members that you can visit.

Just don't ask who isn't a Master but is on the Council.

[Acacia Sgt]

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The problem is that in her case, that doesn't happen, because the game's more interested in a marketable waifu than a character. Go read Ingrid's supports instead.

More like it happens offscreen.

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Someone forgot the Stier altogether.

Reference to how Rico's arc gets dropped.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

These little jumping spiders BTW are, evidence suggests, possibly capable of dreaming. If so they would be the first known invertebrates to do so

That's really interesting. I'm surprised octopuses don't, considering that they have the brain levels of a three year old (which is why many are fighting to keep them off the menu, like even beyond just the usual vegan protests).

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Just, guaranteed. She got off easy long enough.

"Acorette has a really good exclusive mage class but only if you let her be kidnapped by the slave trader in Ch.8 and then rescue her in Ch.14" -Kaga, because doing that shit once wasn't enough.

Edit: wait a minute, he did do that shit more than once.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Armagon

[Acacia Sgt]

59 minutes ago, FlyingKitsune said:

Yeah, kudos drop off once it's old enough. That's why you gotta maximize the time on the front page by posting at the right time! How do you find the time? Uh...

I guess I got lucky then. Or rather, the game itself still is under the spotlight, so any fics made during this time will get some attention guaranteed.

21 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Edit: wait a minute, he did do that shit more than once.

If you find your niche, gotta stick to it.

[Sooks]

I like how I said Castti’s theme was not that good yesterday and it, out of all the themes, is the one that got stuck in my head today. I think the universe is telling me to pick Castti.

Although, I will say, her chapter from the demo was… strange. Like the core ideas were cool, and I like where it ends up, but it feels overly reliant on… contrivances, I guess you would call them, to get there? I mean they’re not solutions to actual conflicts or anything so it’s not really a problem but you do have to suspend your disbelief a little bit when it doesn’t seem necessary. They could have written it differently, presumably pretty easily if a rando dude like me came up with several more believable outs. And considering the plot twist they were going for, knowing that temporary party members are a thing in this game, having one would have been helpful… I think anyway, depends where they go with this. The dialogue was also a little on the nose with exposition sometimes, but I guess that wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) vary depending on the story.

I am starting to question my choice of protagonist though… what’s actually gained/lost from it? You can do all the stories and use all the characters. So should I be picking my favorite story for protag? If they’re locked in your party like in the first game, it would make more sense to pick based off of character and gameplay. But concoct is fun, and although her character is kinda tropey, they pretty much all are, and I like her trope well enough. Having that stuff would be a gain from having her as protag. What would I gain from someone else? Being stuck with a character I (probably, maybe) don’t like much to have a cool acronym starting on my protag in my ”past stories” screen? It’ll probably be good with Castti.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The problem is that in her case, that doesn't happen, because the game's more interested in a marketable waifu than a character. Go read Ingrid's supports instead.

You like Ingrid? Nice.

[Saint Rubenio]

Look @Sooks look I drew Osvald at work.

Please don't look at the hand. I hate the hand. The hand haunts me.

Now convince me to draw Castti tomorrow.

6 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I like how I said Castti’s theme was not that good yesterday and it, out of all the themes, is the one that got stuck in my head today. I think the universe is telling me to pick Castti.

Although, I will say, her chapter from the demo was… strange. Like the core ideas were cool, and I like where it ends up, but it feels overly reliant on… contrivances, I guess you would call them, to get there? I mean they’re not solutions to actual conflicts or anything so it’s not really a problem but you do have to suspend your disbelief a little bit when it doesn’t seem necessary. They could have written it differently, presumably pretty easily if a rando dude like me came up with several more believable outs. And considering the plot twist they were going for, knowing that temporary party members are a thing in this game, having one would have been helpful… I think anyway, depends where they go with this. The dialogue was also a little on the nose with exposition sometimes, but I guess that wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) vary depending on the story.

Now I'm curious to see this chapter. I guess the time will come soon enough. This game's release just snuck up on me lol. Engage occupied all of my attention for a while, then I finished it and Osvald popped up out of nowhere like "hey this is coming out in a couple weeks by the way."

6 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I am starting to question my choice of protagonist though… what’s actually gained/lost from it? You can do all the stories and use all the characters. So should I be picking my favorite story for protag? If they’re locked in your party like in the first game, it would make more sense to pick based off of character and gameplay. But concoct is fun, and although her character is kinda tropey, they pretty much all are, and I like her trope well enough. Having that stuff would be a gain from having her as protag. What would I gain from someone else? Being stuck with a character I (probably, maybe) don’t like much to have a cool acronym starting on my protag in my ”past stories” screen? It’ll probably be good with Castti.

Starter Osvald gets you evasive maneuvers immediately.

Just sayin'

6 minutes ago, Sooks said:

You like Ingrid? Nice.

I do, yeah. She suffers from your typical "development is reset on every C", but she's a bolder type of character than this series usually tackles.

[Codename Shrimp]

XBC3 Spoilers

Spoiler

 

Poor Melia

 

2 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

I like the implication that Teehee is like a council of members that you can visit.

you mean we aren't?

 

[Sooks]

53 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Look @Sooks look I drew Osvald at work.

Now I’m more convinced than ever. Shave off all that hair and this is actually just a shot from scene 5 of Breaking Bad. And he can totally conjure fire because chemistry. That’s the reason for every plot convenient thing.

53 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Please don't look at the hand. I hate the hand. The hand haunts me.

Now I’m imagining him doing that hand to Ochette saying “you are my child now”.

Anyway, good work. I’m very proud. Now you need to draw—

53 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Now convince me to draw Castti tomorrow.

Fun concoct shenanigans + mysterious tragic backstory + “I have no cure for evil”

53 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Now I'm curious to see this chapter. I guess the time will come soon enough. This game's release just snuck up on me lol. Engage occupied all of my attention for a while, then I finished it and Osvald popped up out of nowhere like "hey this is coming out in a couple weeks by the way."

I’ll do your character’s demo chapter if you do mine.

And I’d be doing two chapters, so you’re getting a great deal!

53 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Starter Osvald gets you evasive maneuvers immediately.

Just sayin'

Ah yes, the funny speedrun strategy.

I mean, Castti gets you a skill that restores HP and SP by quite a bit between battles very quickly which… might have been in the base game?

[Shaky Jones]

It is I. Saucy Bones. I've finally beaten Engage and am obligated to shill my endgame team, just as many here have during the week of making out with Engage at the expense of one or two people. Engage...le good. 

Spoiler

The noodle arms

The Builder.

The iron wall.

The Charlotte.

The British

The one who is *not* Yunaka

The one who is disgusted by your crass religious views

The Bord

The Redeemed.

The Cringe

Yeah, I just really needed a healer+dragonic hex user. 14 slots moment...

 

Now here's the REAL gold. The best of the best. The top of the list. The Big Three.

The Old

The Bold

The One Who TOLD...

He told a message. About Fire Emblem. About Jeigans. About character. About the Divine Dragon. About beards. He was in every lategame cutscene. He is canon. He is eternal. He is a return to the classics, but somehow, even more based, and balanced to be awesome. This is the best part of playing Engage. Thank you Vandad. You made Engage one of the most fun FE runs I've had since I started this franchise. This game gave me so much to love. The old! They're back in business baby!

 

Use Vander. Use Lindon. Use Saphir. Heck, if you're feeling charitable, use Boosh too. It may be much to ask, but give at least one of them a chance, and you will be elevated, and praised by Ruben for once. Great game. So stupid, but challenging in all the...most of the right ways. This game's cast is amazing. Generic boring lords and waifus for the lot of yas, the silly Bord and Cords (Etie & Boosh) for strength lovers like me, and walking corpses for Ruben and I together. There's also Rosado if you're that down bad. I can't imagine a single person hating all the characters. Not a single one. Nobody would be that bitter. Just no one. Absolutely everyone is happy. Yay.

 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Please don't look at the hand. I hate the hand. The hand haunts me.

They're wrong in all the right ways. I love the ominous vibe that comes from it.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I do, yeah. She suffers from your typical "development is reset on every C", but she's a bolder type of character than this series usually tackles.

I'll get back to you if I ever get an Ingrid that deals damage.

1 hour ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

you mean we aren't?

Perhaps a board meeting where everything is on fire? 

[Acacia Sgt]

22 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Perhaps a board meeting where everything is on fire? 

And Wraith filled the minifridge with booze.

[Acacia Sgt]

Meanwhile I'd be off in the corner building Gunpla.

[joevar]

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Great.

Also I would recommend to use the Item List feature. That way you have easy access to the inventories of all characters. Including those that are currently not available to talk to.

Of course.

Its great berwick already had this feature, just like FE. Altho, i wish we can do it too while selecting unit when starting a battle.

Also they put Load but not retry/restart sm. need to load save file in the city when still below turn 5. A bit of a problem since i like sorting out equipment in last minute before deployment

 

[joevar]

57 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

  Hide contents

The noodle arms

The Builder.

The iron wall.

The Charlotte.

The British

The one who is *not* Yunaka

The one who is disgusted by your crass religious views

The Bord

The Redeemed.

The Cringe

Yeah, I just really needed a healer+dragonic hex user. 14 slots moment...

 

Now here's the REAL gold. The best of the best. The top of the list. The Big Three.

The Old

The Bold

The One Who TOLD...

He told a message. About Fire Emblem. About Jeigans. About character. About the Divine Dragon. About beards. He was in every lategame cutscene. He is canon. He is eternal. He is a return to the classics, but somehow, even more based, and balanced to be awesome. This is the best part of playing Engage. Thank you Vandad. You made Engage one of the most fun FE runs I've had since I started this franchise. This game gave me so much to love. The old! They're back in business baby!

 

Use Vander. Use Lindon. Use Saphir. Heck, if you're feeling charitable, use Boosh too. It may be much to ask, but give at least one of them a chance, and you will be elevated, and praised by Ruben for once. Great game. So stupid, but challenging in all the...most of the right ways. This game's cast is amazing. Generic boring lords and waifus for the lot of yas, the silly Bord and Cords (Etie & Boosh) for strength lovers like me, and walking corpses for Ruben and I together. There's also Rosado if you're that down bad. I can't imagine a single person hating all the characters. Not a single one. Nobody would be that bitter. Just no one. Absolutely everyone is happy. Yay.

 

No Royals?! exactly opposite of me, nice. Agree with "Absolutely everyone is happy" , this time the characters are back to old days variation, with enough (should already be retired) old-timers who are as good as the young ones. I see that you use Jade for that iron wall crit, good.

Some reclass are.. interesting to say the least. Berserker old man is something that i dont expect to see lmao.

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

just as many here have during the week of making out with Engage at the expense of one or two people. Engage...le good. 

Im sorry if i happen to be one of them..

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

With the XG models in my head, I decided to rewatch all the Gear Deathblows, listened to a few tracks of the OST while doing a daily walk, and then took up reading parts of Perfect Works. My brain crashed when it got to the long explanation of phenomenon shift.🤯 Thank the WE it has the "for dummies" pictorial summary. I'm still lost on why Animus is humanity and what exactly Anima is besides being emulators of the Zohar. Although it did dawn on me that Logos-Pneuma-Ontos finds its origins in the minutiae of the System.

Still, better to overload on XG than remember what day it is. That's been bothering me for the couple few 24-hour cycles, and it has been nixing my mood for playing anything today.

[Lightcosmo]

3 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

you mean we aren't?

Well, I believe so at least.

[Codename Shrimp]

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

This game's cast is amazing

So good that I've never hated deployment limits more than in any game lmao.

That's good cause it keeps me coming back for more. Glad to see that Ike!Jade is just as valid as Ike!Louis.

11 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Ah hell naw what is this bruh

[Shaky Jones]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

And Wraith filled the minifridge with booze.

If I was a part of the council, it would be a pipe bomb. There'd be 3 people left in a week. 

1 hour ago, joevar said:

No Royals?! exactly opposite of me, nice

I point and I laugh.

The fact that so many people seemingly had the exact same royal army that led to a grumpy broken record repeating himself, I was only further motivated to be the only person that Ruben can leap to, probably breaking all my bones for being too big to carry. Really though, I just loved the other units more, because I'm just naturally based like that. Why be humble? I'm not Alcryst.

1 hour ago, joevar said:

this time the characters are back to old days variation, with enough (should already be retired) old-timers who are as good as the young ones

Binding Blade reference.

1 hour ago, joevar said:

Berserker old man is something that i dont expect to see lmao.

Use him. He is absurd as a berserker. 100 crit man won't stop killing. His heart won't give out until it's conquered 500 more. Sweet old man. I shed a tear.

1 hour ago, joevar said:

Im sorry if i happen to be one of them.

I'm sure someone will forgive you.

11 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So good that I've never hated deployment limits more than in any game lmao.

That's good cause it keeps me coming back for more

That really is a tell of how good a game's cast is. I love larger casts because it lets me replay more often, trying different teams that lead to different approaches each time I replay the game. Engage doesn't really have a large cast, but I am left wanting to use more. Amber, Bunet, maybe Louis, Diamant, any unit whose support I missed with Vander (I have no idea what Goldmary would have to say to him, but I'm curious). Most people might not care for FE12 supports or the cast, but I can and have replayed a dozen times to see practically all of them, happy that these old bozos from early 90s now have supports at all, and they're just classics to me. 

15 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Ah hell naw what is this bruh

He didn't juju on that beat.

[Codename Shrimp]

17 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Ah hell naw what is this bruh

3H/Awakening simulator aka Tempest Trials

Stat inflation to the max, stupid formations, etc. You name it lol

[Armagon]

Eagle's Tower is so annoying if you don't break the pillars in the correct order.

[Lightchao42]

Since I wanted a break from Engage and I didn't feel like waiting another month to talk about Trails, I viewed Randy and Elie's final bonding events in Trails from Zero. The achievement completionism demanded it!

Spoiler

Randy's event is basically the only detailed look into his history in this game, since it was only loosely touched on before. The Red Constellation is preoccupied with Heiyue in Calvard at the moment, which is why they aren't bothering with Crossbell yet. It also reveals the actual reason why Randy was kicked out of the CGF, even if the previous reason of "he's a massive pervert" was implied to be untrue before. Not that he isn't a massive pervert, mind.

Randy's event discussed Lloyd's insecurity regarding Guy, but Elie's event places a greater emphasis on it (because we got her backstory already). Why is this optional again? And they almost kiss oof my heart... Though now it feels odd that Tio's event didn't talk about Guy much.

Supposedly the final bonding event doesn't influence the next game too much, and I don't feel like going through the final dungeon again at the moment, so I'll stick to the choice I originally made for now.

Wait, achievements mean I have to spend an hour on a shooting minigame with Rixia in the next game, darn.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Please don't look at the hand. I hate the hand. The hand haunts me.

He has ZA HOT HANDO

30 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

3H/Awakening simulator aka Tempest Trials

Stat inflation to the max, stupid formations, etc. You name it lol

It sounds like the place where sinners in Elyos go after they die. Be good in life or else you have to deal with fifty flying units forever!

[Sooks]

Hikari is literally an FE protagonist. Straight up.

His story is also kinda generic and not super interesting. The change in setting and an actual established nation existing is cool though, so there’s that. There is one semi-twist near the end that is a little interesting, just because it partially shatters  the formula I assumed the rest of Hikari’s story was going for. His ending somewhat reaffirmed it however, so I guess the formulaic story will be modified. It’s interesting that Hikari’s story doesn’t really have a final dungeon, you walk through an area with random encounters for like, two minutes, that seems like it’s just a normal road/danger area, and then boom, boss. And speaking of that boss fight, it is just as hard as the one with the apothecary by herself (if not more so, since she at least has reliable healing access. For him it’s either healing grapes or die.), I was impressed. Hikari’s latent power seems pretty fun. His day time path action is one from the previous game with a bit of added flair, which is nice, and his night time… seems like a complete waste of money. But it depends how expensive it gets, I dip.

More important of note, however, there is one very concerning plot point. As in, one of my least favorite plot points out of all the plot points, and potentially story ruining, depending on how they deal with it. Hopefully it’ll be okay. Either way, Castti better.

It seems like all the chapter ones in this game are going to be flashbacks, with the character they’re about by themselves. This is good, as you get to do the fun “one character vs the boss” eight times. It’s interesting that they’re all optional, however. I wonder why they included that, I can’t imagine why anyone would skip a chapter unless they’re speedrunning or something.

One of the voice actors sounded really familiar, so I googled him… to find that the only role of his I recognize is Count Gloucester in 3 Copes, whose actual voice I don’t remember at all. The more you know.

13 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

Wait, achievements mean I have to spend an hour on a shooting minigame with Rixia in the next game, darn.

It doesn’t take that long if you’re good at it

and you only have to pick Rixia if you want the best ending