Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Feel the flame war that would inevitably break out if I were to try out Xenoblade, you mean

And then you realise you actually enjoy the games!

[Saint Rubenio]

7 minutes ago, Lightcosmo said:

And then you realise you actually enjoy the games!

Hey, that would be ideal! Believe it or not, I don't want to dislike games. Nevertheless, knowing my tastes and preferences, somehow I feel I won't be quite so thrilled about Gigachad Rex and his harem shenanigans as you all. Armagon once described XC2 as a "boy meets girl" story, and well, I like romance best when it's not the focus. And the creators actually make up their minds.

Xeno 1 does seem like it might be somewhat up my alley, though. It has less generic teens, for one. It has Vangarre. I would 100% meme Vangarre into my favorite character in the game. I mean, I already am doing that and I know absolutely nothing about the man other than he has a massive Waluigi mustache! I like him so much that he probably dies. My favorite characters have a tendency to do that. Where's that Vangarre mod I demanded, anyway?

[Saint Rubenio]

Been a while since I drew something. I decided that the obvious best motivation is to draw a Best Girl.

...I am drawing Zelkov. Will share when it's closer to done.

[ping]

37 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Been a while since I drew something. I decided that the obvious best motivation is to draw a Best Girl.

...I am drawing Zelkov. Will share when it's closer to done.

...how can Zelkov be Best Girl when he doesn't even wear a beard?

(relevant Discworld fan art behind this link)

Edited May 2, 2023 by ping

[ping]

...why does the link not work?

https://naara_andrade.artstation.com/projects/WmGxNX    <-- relevant Discworld fan art

[Lightcosmo]

What's this doing in DE?

None of this was really needed, Monolith. XD

[Benice]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Armagon once described XC2 as a "boy meets girl" story, and well, I like romance best when it's not the focus

I'd argue it's not the focus because the story is bad

Actually, I do think you might like it. It certainly has its silly anime moments you wouldn't particularly like, but there's so much about the game that is good that you'd probably be able to look past it. I personally wasn't huge on much in the game- The overall gameplay, the UI, the sidequests, etc. all weren't things I enjoyed, but I still think it's a really good experience on the basis of visuals, world design, and music alone, certainly worthy of the time and money I put into it. I think I'd enjoy XB2 about as much as I did if it were a walking simulator, which a testament to how good the music and visual design is. (And also kinda how meh I thought everything else was, butthat'snotimportanti'mtryingtoconvinceyoutoplayit)

Also, don't forget that you can still finish Yakuza 0!

Edited May 2, 2023 by Benice

[Acacia Sgt]

13 minutes ago, Lightcosmo said:

None of this was really needed, Monolith. XD

Or is it...?

[Lightcosmo]

10 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Or is it...?

I... certainly hope not!

-

XC3 FR Fogbeast Abaasay has the wrong battle BGM set, using the normal battle BGM rather than the Fogbeast or UM version.

[Interdimensional Observer]

You know, thinking of Advance Wars Re-Boot Camp and the reason it got delayed...

Battalion Wars is even worse. The Tundran Territories is a Sovietphilic caricature to the 1917th degree.😬

The two AW RTS spinoffs do have charming visuals, just a shame some of the charm is used on Marshal Nova and his very red army.

[Saint Rubenio]

30 minutes ago, ping said:

...how can Zelkov be Best Girl when he doesn't even wear a beard?

Hey, he's trying. He has the most pathetic stubble on his chin, it's kind of adorable. When he gets to Vandad's age he'll have a respectable mane of beard, I know it.

28 minutes ago, ping said:

...why does the link not work?

https://naara_andrade.artstation.com/projects/WmGxNX    <-- relevant Discworld fan art

That is so cursed, it caused the hyperlink function to shortcircuit.

25 minutes ago, Benice said:

I'd argue it's not the focus because the story is bad

...well. Of all things to happen in this place, that is not one I expected.

25 minutes ago, Benice said:

Actually, I do think you might like it.

And then you go and tell me this, which is the opposite the actual fans of the series have told me.

Amazing. 10/10 Esteban would be proud.

25 minutes ago, Benice said:

It certainly has its silly anime moments you wouldn't particularly like, but there's so much about the game that is good that you'd probably be able to look past it. I personally wasn't huge on much in the game- The overall gameplay, the UI, the sidequests, etc. all weren't things I enjoyed, but I still think it's a really good experience on the basis of visuals, world design, and music alone, certainly worthy of the time and money I put into it. I think I'd enjoy XB2 about as much as I did if it were a walking simulator, which a testament to how good the music and visual design is. (And also kinda how meh I thought everything else was, butthat'snotimportanti'mtryingtoconvinceyoutoplayit)

Interesting way to go about it, I will give you that. If I may ask, could you describe why those aspects didn't click with you in more detail? You were pretty vague and now I'm curious to know. Especially when everything I've heard about the sidequests in this thread up to now is that they are literally the best ever made in gaming.

25 minutes ago, Benice said:

Also, don't forget that you can still finish Yakuza 0!

Oh hey, true. Maybe one of these days I ought see if there's some kind of difficulty mod or something that makes the combat less repetitive. That was my main gripe, really.

[Lightchao42]

9 hours ago, Armagon said:

But Ryza.

Anime girls are temporary, Doom is eternal.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Nevertheless, knowing my tastes and preferences, somehow I feel I won't be quite so thrilled about Gigachad Rex and his harem shenanigans as you all. Armagon once described XC2 as a "boy meets girl" story, and well, I like romance best when it's not the focus.

Eh, Rex and Pyra/Mythra's relationship is pretty important but it being romantic isn't emphasized much, if that makes sense. Heck, there's barely any handholding.

I would like to say you're wrong about the harem shenanigans, but I will say that it's only in the next game.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I like him so much that he probably dies.

If you want to know (not really spoilers, unless Vangarre's future is very important to you)

Spoiler

he appears to get blown up early in the game, but he inexplicably appears alive later. His mustache must make him invincible.

 

45 minutes ago, Benice said:

I'd argue it's not the focus because the story is bad

(Though I respect your opinion)

48 minutes ago, Benice said:

Also, don't forget that you can still finish Yakuza 0!

I mean, I'm not sure if you're in a position to remind people to finish things.

[Acacia Sgt]

9 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

 

  Hide contents

he appears to get blown up early in the game, but he inexplicably appears alive later. His mustache must make him invincible.

Spoiler

Cervantes' long lost cousin.

 

[Lightcosmo]

And thats FR 100% complete!

[GuardianSing]

Centrists be like.

7 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Playing games on release is overrated anyway. I do it sometimes, but I still stan playing old games instead and waiting for a sale 6 months later.

I think the only game I've ever played on release date was Smash Ultimate.

I wanted to get Engage when it released but I didn't have the budget.

[Shadow Mir]

On 4/30/2023 at 2:49 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

Funny you say that, as I remember the Covert Fog Machine as one of the most busted uses of Corrin. It obstructs enemies and give +60 evasion to the Covert user to make them almost invincible. I have even heard praise of the healing terrain as well. Just being able to generate a chunk of terrain like that is really good, almost no matter what the specifics are, as the player will find a way of abusing it.

Honestly, I find the covert fog strategy overrated. Sure, it works, but... it's kinda damning for both Yunaka and Zelkov that they need to hog Corrin to stand out. Also, I ended up dropping Yunaka as she was falling off; she couldn't take a hit, and faced hit rates that were much too high for her to reliably dodge without terrain support.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Shadow Mir

[Shadow Mir]

On 5/1/2023 at 2:56 PM, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

What i did is take out the armors first turn with magical Aoe's attacks

Celine Propaganda let's gooooo

The bow knights on the left i stopped in their tracks for a few turns using Corn fire, and the right i evasion tanked the spear ponies.

DEATH WATER!
DEATH WATER!
DEATH WATER!
DEATH WATER!
DEATH WATER!

[Codename Shrimp]

[Shadow Mir]

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Saphir got doubled and killed exactly due the speed loss from Citrinne's horrible meal.

This is why I save before cooking.

[Benice]

5 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You were pretty vague and now I'm curious to know

That moment when I spend years saying "Yakuza good" only to convince someone to play XB2 instead.

6 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

well. Of all things to happen in this place, that is not one I expected.

Apparently it's one of those "it gets good later" kinds of stories. I'm on chapter 6 of 9 (I think) (nice), but, like... Well, the story's been pretty inconsequential so far. It's not offensively bad or anything like that unless I'm mistaken, but it's certainly not memorable, really. 

14 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And then you go and tell me this, which is the opposite the actual fans of the series have told me.

Amazing. 10/10 Esteban would be proud.

Let's just hope I have better aim than Esteban with my recommendations...

15 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

If I may ask, could you describe why those aspects didn't click with you in more detail?

Sure! To go over things one by one:

(Oh lordy this was way longer than I meant for it to be)

Gameplay (but I meant combat oops)

Combat is really, really confusing. I know that the tutorials are bad in this game, apparently, but... I dunno, I just don't get it. It's flashy and it feels nice when you perform a combo, but I also have no idea what's actually going on, and therefore don't know what I'm doing for strategy or planning or anything like that- I just fight whoever I have to fight, and sometimes I win. I'm sure there's something there, be it in the strategy or the execution- There's no way there isn't something there- But I didn't get it. It's not altogether bad, it just didn't click in my brain.

Additionally, when you explore levels (particularly the first real one), enemy levels are all over the place. For example, there are these froggy lads in a swamp in the first main level who are about level 40 IIRC. Which means they all one-shot you if they decide to attack you. This would be fine, except that enemies have colossal range and tremendous aggro. This makes exploring some areas much less enjoyable, since you die constantly while trying to find your way forward. Dying isn't a huge problem, since there's no game over screen (though I'd argue most bosses probably could have stood to cause one because it's kinda anticlimatic when you die to one then respawn next to them again), but christ on a bike, I hope Rex doesn't live in America, because Bill Gates couldn't pay off his medical bills.

UI

One of the coolest things about Xenoblade 2 is the worlds. They are so beautiful, with so many things to look at or explore. I grew up spending a lot of time in nature, and Xenoblade's worlds really feels like perfect worlds to explore in. Part of the genius of the world is how well it uses verticality to grant new locations or new viewpoints, meaning that on any given part of a mountain, there are dozens of places to find things. As such, you'd expect the map to show verticality or have "floors", so to speak, so that you can effectively see where things are.

...It doesn't show that at all, though. In the worlds themselves, this usually isn't too bad, but in cities... Wow. The cities are really cool and densely packed with NPCs, quests, and tons of little alcoves and things to see hand-crafted into every nook and cranny. Furthermore, they are often quite vertical with lots of levels to explore. The cities themselves rock everywhere from visual design to music, but finding things from the map or compass is a complete pipe dream- Both are completely useless. The worlds have so much detail put into them, and the map and compass simply cannot cope with it and are far too often altogether not worth following for how little information they give. This is incredibly sad, considering how good the exploration itself is.

Side Quests

Idk, they're just not that special. You can improve the economy of the cities you visit by doing enough quests, which is a great idea and apparently has tangible effects on the cities, but the quests themselves are pretty mid. I certainly haven't seen anything that compares to any Yakuza substory, even.

...And, of course, they can be a complete pain to complete due to both the aforementioned map/compass waypoints sometimes being unhelpful, and because of...

Exploration/Affinity chart/Field skills stuff

I've been saying the whole time that the exploration is incredible, and don't get me wrong, it really is. However, I do have one gripe with it, which is the affinity chart system. The Blades you get from core crystals, whether unique or common, have different "field skills", such as, say, fishing or foraging, which are things you can do at certain spots in the world. Higher skills in things like fishing or foraging gives you better stuff (I think), while other skills, like jumping or Water Mastery, give you access to new areas altogether. You can have up to nine Blades equipped at any given time, and their field skills stack, so a 4-skill foraging Blade and 1-skill foraging Blade give you 5 total skill. 

There are a couple different types of field skills: Elemental mastery (I can't remember what they do oops), Collection skills, which gets you stuff, whether it's ingredients or quest items, and Interaction skills, which is stuff like strength, lockpicking, ancient knowledge, etc..

You can level up the affinity charts of Blades by accomplshing milestones with them. Sometimes they'll be "Use X skill in combat 20 times", which is fine... But some charts take a crazy long time to complete, and some are locked behind quests which require you to have other skills, and so on and so forth. At present, I am 60 hours or so into my playthrough, and I have not completed a single affinity chart yet. Plus, since each blade has only some of the skills, you can be simply waiting to roll a blade that has the skills you need, and you'd best also be hoping you get one with an affinity chart that's easy to complete. This is, to me, easily the worst part of the game, since it flat-out can gate you from doing all kinds of things, from quests to exploration, and even extends to sometimes blocking you from getting useful skills on your Blades with no immediately foreseeable way of remedying the situation.

Misc stuff

The levels in Xenoblade are all essentially islands on the cloud sea. This is cool. What is not cool is that it is very easy to fall into the cloud sea, which for some reason does not void you out and instead leaves you to wander around trying to find a way back onto the island. This is annoying.

Also some of the Blade designs are a bit terrible.

 

Contrary to everything I just said, though, I do think that XB2 is a good game in many ways. I read this article earlier about a woman who... Well, y'know, during a performance of Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony. Her reaction to the symphony is approximately my reaction to the game's soundtrack. I don't hear the fight themes that much because the characters talk so loudly and the fights are so busy, but the area themes are better than most battle themes I've heard. They sound incredible and all have areally distinct feeling that fits exactly with what you're seeing. It's absolutely masterful, no other word for it. As I mentioned earlier, the cities all have great music and are really interesting in and of themselves, and even though the story so far is literally "Rex goes on a silly road trip, but there's also terrorists and Hinoka from FE Fates", it's a fine enough excuse to wander through the stunning, unique, and atmospheric vistas the game has to offer. It's a great experience, even if the "game" part of it can be a tad lacking at times.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh hey, true. Maybe one of these days I ought see if there's some kind of difficulty mod or something that makes the combat less repetitive. That was my main gripe, really.

I don't know if there are any, but I would recommend it! The last few chapters of 0 are absolutely incredible, and there are some great tunes.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Especially when everything I've heard about the sidequests in this thread up to now is that they are literally the best ever made in gaming.

This is a matter of variance from game to game within the franchise.🧐:

• Xenoblade Chronicles 1-
  • There are simply too many quests.
  • The writing bit per quest isn't bad, but it's decidedly not good enough to justify so many.
• Xenoblade Chronicles X-
  • The central narrative is weak in XCX, it is also unfinished and crying out for a direct sequel.
  • Fortunately, XCX has very good quests! The world and its inhabitants are excellently fleshed out via Normal Missions.
    • It's not like just a single quest will make someone love the game. And I'm sure there is the rare bad one or two tossed in. Yet one by one, things overall positively add up to a well-built new society on a new planet.
    • XCX was intended to be story-heavy at first, but then the MC got changed to an avatar and the lite online multiplayer element was added. Thus changing the game's structure to exploring & side quests, with only periodic interruption from the main plot.
  • Affinity Missions were Xenoblade's first attempt at playable character-related sidequests. They've the occasional dud (lol at Irina's last not being about her), but they weren't a terrible addition for its 17 non-MC playable characters.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2-
  • The basic quests are lacking. XC2 was decidedly a step back from XCX. While the quantity has thankfully much declined, the writing is back to XC1 levels.
  • The new Blade Quests for all the no-real-money-involved lite gatcha element characters exist to try to flesh them out. The results... I'm not exactly fond of them myself, taken as a whole, the tropey characters do feel ever so "gatcha-ish".
    • They're zestier than XCX's side crew members (which could still be quite tropey), but more zaniness doesn't equate to being better for everyone.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country-
  • This shorter game demands a lot of sidequest completion later in order to progress, that could be considered a fault to some.
  • That aside, the writing is solid enough, it creates a nice sense of community, a smaller, less exotic one than XCX. The quests are good here, and need be considered apart from the XC2 main game's.
• XC1: Future Connected-
  • I don't remember them very much.😆 Future Connected is a short bonus to the Definitive Edition of XC1, which I guess XC3 or Future Redeemed explains the relevance of.
  • Being brief however, the quest load at the least could not have outstayed its welcome. They aren't mandatory like Torna's either.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3- No idea, I haven't played this yet myself. Yet, the other XenoFreaks here insist they're gud, or at least Arma does.

Xenogears and Xenosaga did not partake of Xenoblade's love of questing. Xenogears and the Xenosaga episodes had only a paltry few quests each. The focus in these games was the central narrative (which developer inexperience/overambition and Square's/Namco's decisions, were prevented from being fully actualized even so).

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Interesting way to go about it, I will give you that. If I may ask, could you describe why those aspects didn't click with you in more detail? You were pretty vague and now I'm curious to know.

When it comes to combat, the usual criticism I see of Xenoblade by its dislikers is that combat devolves into mashing buttons to spam Arts. Not very strategic.

Now, proponents of Xenoblade say the button-mashing criticism is only if you don't understand the system. -Personally when battles get too hectic I can get spammy b/c it can be a bit difficult to follow everything. By your tough standards, it is most certainly not tactical enough for a JRPG.

[Codename Shrimp]

On 5/2/2023 at 1:13 AM, Armagon said:

Spoiler

*looks at the current state of American politics and the increasing right-wing trend across the world*

Nah like come on one of the State governments here (North Dakota i think) literally voted to deny free lunches in schools and then a week later voted to give free lunches to themselves.

 

Ok but tbf i am not american

 

On 5/2/2023 at 1:13 AM, Armagon said:

Spoiler

I mean.....yeah? No? It depends? Cause there's shit from the past i look at and go "that was nice" and then there's other shit i look at and i'm like "oh thank God we moved past that"

 

Spoiler

If only there was something nice in Aionios tho

 

Xenosaga DE incoming?

Edited May 3, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Acacia Sgt]

16 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Xenosaga DE incoming?

No, you just haven't found the obligatory KOS-MOS cameo.

[Codename Shrimp]

13 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

No, you just haven't found the obligatory KOS-MOS cameo.

 

Spoiler

but i did

 

[Venger_06]

Mood

On 5/1/2023 at 6:41 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

Nice. Ignited is the go-to track for SRW to use with SEED Destiny, but I guess it's a given when it's the OP.

One of the best OPs too

23 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

Character note my beloved... There's no time for giving out student notebooks (again), I must talk to everyone first. A brief comment about the plot:

A good thing about CS3 is that you can get all achievements in one playthrough

23 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

the society will probably be a recurring threat for most of the plot (hopefully).

>wanting more Ouroboros

23 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

obviously Falcom knew they would rerelease Zero and Azure eventually

23 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

why else would Juna and Randy already know each other?

She has the necessary assets to get his attention

Speaking of her, what do you think of the new female lead?

11 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I guess. Though who knows. Maybe if I had the chance to have played FFXII when I could've. Since it's what the battle system reminds me the most of.

It is. I'm pretty sure I wrote a comment about it a few years ago