Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

I do not understand why the Crescent Island subplot where the lizard people steal your stuff exists other than inconvenience you.

Like all the shit I did to get here wasn't enough, I gotta do some other shit too?

[Sidereal Wraith]

2 hours ago, Benice said:

 

 

 

[Lightcosmo]

11 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I do not understand why the Crescent Island subplot where the lizard people steal your stuff exists other than inconvenience you.

Like all the shit I did to get here wasn't enough, I gotta do some other shit too?

Its all a puzzle. Ages IS the puzzle oriented of the two after all!

[Armagon]

2 minutes ago, Lightcosmo said:

Its all a puzzle. Ages IS the puzzle oriented of the two after all!

This is just inconvenience honestly.

[Saint Rubenio]

Look at that immesurable power. The fact that this only costs 55k. I got there from 0 gold in like, three lap 2 battles.

He is truly deserving of it.

This mode is more fun than I first gave it credit for. Which is saying something, considering I called it something along the lines of best postgame I've ever seen lol. Of course, that's not saying much, I'm usually not the postgame type.

Anyway, Seraphic Gate good. The maps are simple enough, but I am quite impressed by the progression in this second lap. The entirety of lap 1 was baby mode, this is where it's truly getting interesting. I can still manage decently consistent one-rounds, but it takes planning, some timing for combos and great care with my positioning, since even Freya, godlike as she is, dies very easily.

...Speaking of Freya, her winning animation consists of no less than 20 frames of her sitting on thin air and crossing her leg in a really wide angle. It is still nowhere near as fabulous as Fauxnel showering himself with rose petals.

[GuardianSing]

18 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I guess I can give a little commentary on each of them...except the PSP games, which I haven't gotten around to playing.

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes: This is the Game Cube remake of Metal Gear Solid 1, and is in my opinion the better version, as the PS1 era was not friendly to 3d games like this, and it includes some gameplay improvements as well. A classic for the stealth espionage genre, and well worth playing, but I should probably warn you that one of the bosses is an Inuit code named Vulcan Raven, and while the name isn't as cringe given it is following the same naming scheme as his compatriots like Revolver Ocelot, and Sniper Wolf, etc. they do also claim he has shamanistic powers, but this is also a game with the psychic powered Psycho Mantis as another boss fight, so your mileage may vary with how you find that.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty: The subtitle is the original version, as you may well be playing the HD remake, or the improved Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance release. I have a hard time talking this one up, as I am torn about it. Originally I felt it was the weakest game in the series overall, but from a story perspective it is the one I most want to replay, as it was uncomfortably prescient about things that have been growing in relevance, from deep fake AI misinformation, to the mass collection of data to manipulate the populous through algorithmic spreading of memes (although they meant meme in the academic sense back then). Its story was nonsensically ahead of its time for 2001, but I want to replay it to see how much more relevant it has become. It is also a sequel to MGS1, so it should probably come after playing that one.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater: Again the subtitle is the original, as you may well be playing the HD remake, or the improved Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence release. My favorite of the series, and not a bad place to start, as it basically starts a prequel story-line that the PSP games, and MGS 5 continues. I love this game, gets my full recommendation for it.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: This game was made to be the last in the series, and does a good job of that. Ties up loose ends, kills off long running characters, and has a final fight that is a beautiful homage, and farewell to the entire series. MGS 5 gets away with coming out after it thanks to it being a part of the prequel storyline. Also gets a bit of a bad rap for how reliant it is on tying up those loose ends with nano machines.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain: This game is tragic, as it has the best gameplay in the series, but the story is jarringly cuts off before it should end. The last quarter, to third of this games story is so blatantly absent that it hurts. Admittedly it is also the game's story is also weakened by its over reliance on optional to listen too audio logs. Also has the weakest boss fights in the series despite the overall quality of the gameplay. You should also know coming in that Code Talker and Quiet are Najavo, and while it is interesting to hear Najavo spoken, it does also lead to discussions some of the atrocities that were done to the Najavo people by the USA. Also gets a bad rap for tying up random loose ends with parasites unnecessarily.

Now this is a great guide, I'll have to save this somewhere for when I'll play these games.

21 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ah, that explains it.

Yeah, the anime takes a few liberties on those aspects, as it were. Moving Sabrina to being the fourth GYM leader to be fought is one of them.

Not that far, actually. There's only like, two episodes between Sabrina and Erika.

I probably did watch it when I was a kid then, I guess I just didn't remember it in comparison to Sabrina's wild episode.

[Acacia Sgt]

Man, serving as a reminder. Watching Kanto as a kid... and now Ash's time in the spotlight comes to an end in just two weeks.

[Benice]

2 hours ago, Sooks said:

Well, mom, wish me luck at science fair tomorrow.

Good luck, son! I know you'll slay!

Why does it feel right to be called mom

Edited March 10, 2023 by Benice

[Acacia Sgt]

The Sylveon pfp?

[Venger_06]

Darkness corrupting

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Man, serving as a reminder. Watching Kanto as a kid... and now Ash's time in the spotlight comes to an end in just two weeks.

[Sooks]

1 hour ago, Benice said:

Good luck, son! I know you'll slay!

Thank you!

1 hour ago, Benice said:

Why does it feel right to be called mom

I mean, if that’s what you are…

[Lightcosmo]

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

This is just inconvenience honestly.

Im just gonna disagree and leave it at that. Xd

[Interdimensional Observer]

The lategame route split is over. The third battle felt like filler, though the enemy quality was graciously thankfully weak enough for the 10-turn time limit. The last battle of the Little Bharm route was easy, thank the game for starting me on a good plot of 20% Def & Evade 10% HP & EN Regen tiles, I praise the Bharmians for letting me turn their home into my fortress. Unit vomit was a thing, but it made sense b/c the Vegans were making a desperate last assault, narratively it felt good.

King Vega piloting what was merely a jet engine pretending to be a battleship... no wonder they gave the droppable Haro (which is given to the Don on the Jovian route) to Olban instead, the tone of the battle was decidedly different from the final Bharmian and Meganoid showdowns. Gandal making the surprise transition from a battleship to a mech piloted by his alternate self that is only slightly less dated than Baron Ashura was unexpected, as why didn't they do this sooner?

Richter's demise felt unwarranted. I think it would've made more sense if he permanently joined in the Gimeria if you went Little Bharm, since the A protagonist does have a short personal chat with him beforehand, should've tipped his internal scales. It would serve as a good counterbalance to Tsukumo, one of them would get to live, the other would have to die. As is, knowing the outcome for Bharm is the same regardless of your choice, while you save a life if you head to the Jovian Federation, leaves things lopsided well, the menace that is Von Bolt means I don't feel that bad skipping Tsukumo.

I'll play another map, maybe two, then consider this second playthrough more or less finished. (I'll cheat and kill Haman and Vindel when I feel like a third run with Axel in the Ash Saver.) Then I'll be able to move on to J when I feel like it. Though getting back to Mana Khemia and after that Xenosaga would be my priorities for now.

 

6 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

This reminds me how the three of them (as Combattler V's Garuda was the first) never got to work together in SRW. Alpha 1 had Garuda and Heinel working together, but since Garuda never lives past that game, he misses out.

Which... just highlights that Garuda is the one most shafted of the three. Unlike Heinel or Richter, he has never been a secret character to unlock or something like that.

Ah, so that's who he is! The character Hyoma names as being honorable and tells Janera to greet in the afterlife as she goes kaboom. The character who Hyoma's profile also says destroyed his arms. Was he relegated to the Nanbara Connection battle I didn't see? Feels weird if he wasn't here at all and yet got name-dropped. 

Considering the sheer number of Combattler appearances in SRW (albeit most of them are pretty old at this point), that

wasn't ever playable sounds odd.

Although, speaking of incompleteness, my lack of experience with Zeta Gundam's plot does create something of an issue for me with AP. Since Zeta serves as the basis of the backstory global conflict in the game's backstory and Vindel brings up its relevance, not knowing it is a slight disconnect.

 

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

I do not understand why the Crescent Island subplot where the lizard people steal your stuff exists other than inconvenience you.

Like all the shit I did to get here wasn't enough, I gotta do some other shit too?

When you were mildly complaining before, you were doing so before you even got to Crescent Island?😮

Edited March 11, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Armagon]

10 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

When you were mildly complaining before, you were doing so before you even got to Crescent Island?😮

Did it come off as a complaint? I thought it was kinda funny actually. Granted my main complaint would be the lack of navigation but whatever, Game Boy issues.

But now I'm just annoyed a bit.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Armagon

[Venger_06]

[Interdimensional Observer]

12 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Did it come off as a complaint? I thought it was kinda funny actually. Granted my main complaint would be the lack of navigation but whatever, Game Boy issues.

But now I'm just annoyed a bit.

Well, I wasn't sure what to call it. I suppose "comment" would've been a better choice of word.

Oracle of Ages can be a tad involved in its overworld stuff between dungeons. Whether this connective tissue is any worse than a typical Zelda in this aspect, and if so, how, are things that I am unable to discern ATM. Feels like I'd need to refresh myself with a slew of LoZ plays to do that.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Armagon]

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Oracle of Ages can be a tad involved in its overworld stuff between dungeons. Whether this connective tissue is any worse than a typical Zelda in this aspect, and if so, how, are things that I am unable to discern ATM. Feels like I'd need to refresh myself with a slew of LoZ plays to do that.

This is where a remake would benefit immensely. Cause this was somewhat an issue Link's Awakening had too that was mostly fixed in the remake.

Expect my main criticism of this game to be "you're playing on a tiny 4x4 screen". And also the fact that you can only have two items equipped at a time would make some parts more annoying than they should.

[Lightcosmo]

Just wait till you need to get to dungeon 7, lmao. You think its annoying now.

[Armagon]

Just now, Lightcosmo said:

Just wait till you need to get to dungeon 7, lmao. You think its annoying now.

I already got past A Link to the Past, which had the worst dungeons. I'll be fine I think.

[Acacia Sgt]

52 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The lategame route split is over. The third battle felt like filler, though the enemy quality was graciously thankfully weak enough for the 10-turn time limit. The last battle of the Little Bharm route was easy, thank the game for starting me on a good plot of 20% Def & Evade 10% HP & EN Regen tiles, I praise the Bharmians for letting me turn their home into my fortress. Unit vomit was a thing, but it made sense b/c the Vegans were making a desperate last assault, narratively it felt good.

King Vega piloting what was merely a jet engine pretending to be a battleship... no wonder they gave the droppable Haro (which is given to the Don on the Jovian route) to Olban instead, the tone of the battle was decidedly different from the final Bharmian and Meganoid showdowns. Gandal making the surprise transition from a battleship to a mech piloted by his alternate self that is only slightly less dated than Baron Ashura was unexpected, as why didn't they do this sooner?

For being the overall boss of practically the entire non-human alliance (barring outliners like Butcher and the Meganoids), Vega was anticlimatic, huh. I should probably play that route one of these days, heh. 

52 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Richter's demise felt unwarranted. I think it would've made more sense if he permanently joined in the Gimeria if you went Little Bharm, since the A protagonist does have a short personal chat with him beforehand, should've tipped his internal scales. It would serve as a good counterbalance to Tsukumo, one of them would get to live, the other would have to die. As is, knowing the outcome for Bharm is the same regardless of your choice, while you save a life if you head to the Jovian Federation, leaves things lopsided well, the menace that is Von Bolt means I don't feel that bad skipping Tsukumo.

It's just how Richter is. Be thankful AP gave him a more meaningful "honorable" dead by him and Raiza trying to take out the Vega alliance forces with them. In the anime, Raiza was dead at this point, and Richter pretty much commits seppuku by driving straight into the sun. For Daimos' first appearance, in SRW 4, he just decides to fight against you on the final map as way to suicide by cop. Not allied with Zezenab, but more like a third faction unit that still prioritizes fighting you than the Guest forces. I don't know what he does in Alpha 3, but he dies there too. MX has Daimos be post-script, so Richter's long dead there.

Remember how I said Compact had the most unique take for Daimos? It's the only one where Richter, once you fulfil the requirement to recruit him, sticks with your party to the very end and doesn't have any suicidal tendencies either. Heck, Compact also has Aizam playable (joins with Richter), if you remember him from the mid-game part of AP. Since you played through 30, then you'll be familiar with it, but in Compact, Olban allies himself with Poseydal. He even has Small Bharm move over to Pentagona. As a result, there's no "if I die the whole thing falls into Jupiter" since... well, it's no longer orbiting Jupiter. And none of the Pentagonan planets are gas giants, anyway.

But yeah, it was a bit missed potential. The Full Armor ZZ Gundam doesn't feel like a good counterpart for Tsukumo. 

52 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'll play another map, maybe two, then consider this second playthrough more or less finished. (I'll cheat and kill Haman and Vindel when I feel like a third run with Axel in the Ash Saver.) Then I'll be able to move on to J when I feel like it. Though getting back to Mana Khemia and after that Xenosaga would be my priorities for now.

It will be interesting to see how you handle J. If you want some starting pointers before you dive in, I'll be happy to oblige.

52 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Ah, so that's who he is! The character Hyoma names as being honorable and tells Janera to greet in the afterlife as she goes kaboom. The character who Hyoma's profile also says destroyed his arms. Was he relegated to the Nanbara Connection battle I didn't see? Feels weird if he wasn't here at all and yet got name-dropped. 

Considering the sheer number of Combattler appearances in SRW (albeit most of them are pretty old at this point), that wasn't ever playable sounds odd..

No, Garuda dies near the end of Combattler's Season 1 (the Janera stuff is Season 2), and in 30 Combattler is post-script. Which was... something of big missed potential, since it was Combattler's grand return to mainline SRW (it was already in DD, and at least there they did used its storyline)... only to be post-script? Yeah.

But yeah, for some reason he has not been given the same treatment as Heinel or Richter.

If I still worked on my fan SRW idea, and added Combattler, I would totally give him his chance, heh.

52 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Although, speaking of incompleteness, my lack of experience with Zeta Gundam's plot does create something of an issue for me with AP. Since Zeta serves as the basis of the backstory global conflict in the game's backstory and Vindel brings up its relevance, not knowing it is a slight disconnect.

Well, at least it's mostly background stuff. It might change if you played a game where Zeta's storyline is used.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

Although actually, how would the Crescent Island work in a hypothetical Oracle of Ages HD? The whole thing hinges on the Power Bracelet being an equippable instead of a passive.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Armagon

[Venger_06]

7 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Well, at least it's mostly background stuff. It might change if you played a game where Zeta's storyline is used.

In which translated games is Zeta's storyline used?

I need to save Four

[Lightcosmo]

28 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I already got past A Link to the Past, which had the worst dungeons. I'll be fine I think.

Dungeon 7 is a pain in the ass to navigate, and take that from me who doesnt mind that stuff normally speaking.

[Acacia Sgt]

Just now, Newtype06 said:

In which translated games is Zeta's storyline used?

I need to save Four

None translated yet, actually, sad to say.

Zeta's story is used in the following:

4 (not a full-blown adaptation, but does use some plot points; heck, Scirocco is already dead by this point)

64 (I think, it does have some plot elements)

Alpha 1

Compact (kinda, it's not wholly fleshed out, since it's a Wonderswan game)

Z1 (Movie Trilogy version, not TV series)

... I think that's it, actually, for the most part.

 

[Armagon]

Moonlight Grotto theme going hard.