Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Interdimensional Observer]

I know the controversy over the belittling of the seriousness of modern war. 

I know the new aesthetic may pale against the pixeled auld. (Drake's new lack of a chin bothers me, young fat guys like I was am aren't common in games.)

I know these overpriced fossils were on the Wii U eShop for far less.

But, their brightly-colored cartooned conflicts were bliss for me. With the mind getting Divide By Zero frustration asking questions like "Why am I my consciousness?", "Why am I only myself?", "Why do I exist now?". With pleas for there to be something, anything, beyond this. With seeing myself as reduced to naught but a born-died listing of years in a textbook with a brief blurb like everyone else before me and for the imaginable future to come, and that's if I'm lucky! To bliss, please return me.

May happiness lay in the cold, dead past. As a certain NPC in predecessors of the series that begins with 3 ended every sale with. 

-Why is the sky getting cloudy only now, ambient distant thunder too? Please don't rain.🙁 Although the natural sounds may impede the audio from the little Switch, enjoying what remains of the sunlight, of the fresh air, and the warmth of northern hemispheric summer -which I have stayed so foolishly cloistered from all this time- would be nice to experience while I play. Is it a primal instinct of our species to seek verdure and brightness that hath emerged in me only when the feeling of death being omnipresent has emerged, is this some kind of accidental triggering of a "seek a safe place" biological mechanism? Had a license or if I lived in a walkable city, to a bustling city park I would possibly go. To lay in the shade, doing whatever I would -nothing or something else. Whatever it is, to hear and see the sight of other people living their daily lives unimpeded, to entertain some illusion that simply by being there, I can become them and become more than me however little. Perhaps another realm of existence is too remote, too lonely. Though distance I would think I prefer, doubting it in this present state, perhaps invisible yet on the same plane is ideal for me, the truly perfect distance from which to Observe. What a fool to feel this only now.

-Why now has my Muse, Apollo rather than the ladies if they do not mind, given me this prose?🤔 Or do I overstate the elegance of these typed words, thinking the mead of poetry passed from Odin's lips through my own, when instead it came through the lowest orifice of the wisdom-loving king?

Shut up, oh blabbermouth of madness. Or does announcing one shall and going onto boundless tangent grant more joy than the act of play itself? Retire from this.

--

...The moving images for this opening which replaces the two formers, are wholly new. But the music, I can tell, it's Black Hole Rising's intro, renewed. Nostalgia descending sonorously draped in new adornments, under normal conditions it would move thy soul. When trapped in Hades, without the cold acceptance and bitterness of its eponymous king, the effects of this to me an Orphean tune...😂.

[Codename Shrimp]

15 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hm, what happened?

Apparently Switch 2 was demo'd at Gamescom behind closed doors

Leakers are also going crazy with Prime 4, DK and F-Zero

2 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

People theorizing about Martinet's departure, I imagine?

nah

[Codename Shrimp]

4 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I know the controversy over the belittling of the seriousness of modern war. 

Look up when this game was released 🙂

 

[Saint Rubenio]

3 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I know the controversy over the belittling of the seriousness of modern war. 

I know the new aesthetic may pale against the pixeled auld. (Drake's new lack of a chin bothers me, young fat guys like I was am aren't common in games.)

I know these overpriced fossils were on the Wii U eShop for far less.

But, their brightly-colored cartooned conflicts were bliss for me. With the mind getting Divide By Zero frustration asking questions like "Why am I my consciousness?", "Why am I only myself?", "Why do I exist now?". With pleas for there to be something, anything, beyond this. With seeing myself as reduced to naught but a born-died listing of years in a textbook with a brief blurb like everyone else before me and for the imaginable future to come, and that's if I'm lucky! To bliss, please return me.

Hope you enjoy yourself and use Olaf in the final battle.

2 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Apparently Switch 2 was demo'd at Gamescom behind closed doors

Leakers are also going crazy with Prime 4, DK and F-Zero

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

F-Zero! C'mon, people. Let's not be dumb now. I mean, don't get me wrong, if they release F-Zero GX on the virtual console of the Switch 2, they might actually get me to... Okay, I wouldn't support it because they'd do it with another NSO and I don't want to support that, not to mention I am not splurging hundreds of bucks on a console until I see enough games for it not to be an expensive paperweight, but uh... It would be nice. But they're not doing it, let's not kid ourselves.

[Codename Shrimp]

1 minute ago, Saint Rubenio said:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

F-Zero! C'mon, people. Let's not be dumb now. I mean, don't get me wrong, if they release F-Zero GX on the virtual console of the Switch 2, they might actually get me to... Okay, I wouldn't support it because they'd do it with another NSO and I don't want to support that, not to mention I am not splurging hundreds of bucks on a console until I see enough games for it not to be an expensive paperweight, but uh... It would be nice. But they're not doing it, let's not kid ourselves.

ye lol

The only one kinda semi confirmed is Switch 2 - multiple gaming outlets reported on it. Very known ones, too.

[GuardianSing]

So ya'll remember when I talked about playing Conquest while I was away?

Well now I beat, just now in fact. My first ever Fire Emblem game back in 2017 and only now have I finally managed to beat it. It's emotional really.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Personally, I thought it was kinda lame that, even when she wins, Elincia loses and has to be rescued by the awesome man that we all love. But that probably has to do with me liking Ike a lot less than most people. I probably would be a lot more giddy about it if Bastian made an appearance instead of being vaguely mentioned as the mastermind of the good guys

Oh no I agree, it absolutely is a pure fanservicey ex-machina but my lizard brain likes it nonetheless.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

So how did you end up liking the well regarded Elincia's Gambit map?

I personally really liked it, even though it was a more of a typical push forward map than a tight defense map, I kind of like how slow and careful that push is, I still felt like I was defending for a lot of it.

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hm? Did you not recruit Callil?

No I did. Would've been a much tougher chapter if I didn't

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hey, the player is also allowed their ambush spawns.

What a beautiful way of looking at it.

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

And so, Ludveck Trump's rallied march failed against the forces of Elincia Biden...

Prime Minister Ludveck enacts a coup over the Duma in hopes to bring in land reforms across the country to turn it into a capitalistic western state. Tsar Elincia hates this idea because she doesn't know what the word "reform" means.

22 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Apparently Switch 2 was demo'd at Gamescom behind closed doors

Leakers are also going crazy with Prime 4, DK and F-Zero

Nintendo leakers are obvious as hell whenever they bring out those four titles

[Acacia Sgt]

7 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Prime Minister Ludveck enacts a coup over the Duma in hopes to bring in land reforms across the country to turn it into a capitalistic western state. Tsar Elincia hates this idea because she doesn't know what the word "reform" means.

Yeah, I don't think that analogue works here. Elincia is the philanthropic, while Ludveck is the reactionary racist warmonger who carried enough charisma to sway the masses to support him despite being against their best interests.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh wow, Ludveck really is a "Make Crimea Great Again!" guy...

[Armagon]

47 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

ye lol

The only one kinda semi confirmed is Switch 2 - multiple gaming outlets reported on it. Very known ones, too.

Multiple gaming outlets have been "confirming" the Switch 2 for years. Until I see it, i will not believe it.

 

[Armagon]

>Goes to McDonald's

>Buys food

>Sits down

>looks at table next to mine

>wasp

IS NO PLACE SACRED?!

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

>Goes to McDonald's

>Buys food

>Sits down

>looks at table next to mine

>wasp

IS NO PLACE SACRED?!

What, you want McDonald's for humans and separate McDonald's for wasps? What's this, the pre Civil Rights era!?

Edited September 9, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Interdimensional Observer]

53 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Look up when this game was released 🙂

 

-September 24, 2003.

...2003, easy, US invaded Iraq. *Invasion of Iraq... began on March 19th.*

And to this I say:

Release	NA: September 10, 2001[1] AU: 2001 EU: January 11, 2002 JP: November 25, 2004 (as part of Game Boy Wars Advance 1+2)

Advance Wars 1.

 

53 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hope you enjoy yourself and use Olaf in the final battle.

Well, I'll for completion's sake play the AW1's standard campaign twice to unlock everyone (Advanced Campaign for AW1... never?). So yes, Olaf will see the final battle at least once. AW2 doesn't require him for unlocking anything in its final battle, and unfortunately, fielding him prevents Grit from commanding an army, and he is pretty useful on at least the Advanced version of its final battle.

Olaf is a pretty mediocre CO in both GBA games. No day-to-day abilities, his CO/Super CO Powers make it snow for only one turn IIRC, which simply isn't enough time for the enemy movement penalties to make a big difference. That atop it needing so many turns to charge up in the first place. It is known that Strum the No-Terrain-Penalties god does feel the effects of snow, which means Olaf should -ignoring the one-turn effect every so many turns only thing- be something of a countermeasure against him. -Except both final battles are 3 vs. 1 and Olaf's two allies don't get snow penalty immunity! Using Olaf's CO Powers cripples 2/3rds of your army, which severely mitigates its already-limited usefulness. For Black Hole Rising, the real reason for using Olaf becomes taking advantage of that 2 HP damage to all enemies from the SCOP, which Drake can also do if you don't mind weaker air units or not-using Eagle or Jess (and I remember the western front of the Advanced final battle is naval-oriented, perfect for Drake).

Dual Strike ditched the movement penalties of snow in favor of doubled movement fuel consumption, which feels like a bit of a nerf. But they did give Olaf +20% firepower for all units when it's snowing, which is okay if lacking against Max, Grit, Eagle, and Kanbei having +20% firepower on select units all the time. And more importantly, they doubled the snowfall duration to two turns. Best Olaf... but still comparably underpowered.

Romi/Penny/Lili is what it took for IS to figure out how they could've made Olaf good (at least outside of the GBA final battles where that friendly-fire effect would still be a problem). Nothing special, just give the applied weather effect a 3-turn duration. That seems like it would've been enough to make the impeding conditions seriously weigh down on the enemy, and you can recharge for ANOTHER weather bomb during those second and third turns too. Penny's snow is only -1 Move to everything when I think GBA Olaf's was more +1 Move cost to every type of terrain, roughly halving enemy movement, it would've been bonkers if Olaf got three turns of his dense, white, flakey, cold H20.

TL;DR Olaf was bad and it adds to the lack of surprise that you like the bearded one.😃 I'll squeeze Olaf into at least one of AW2 final battles. And I'll get Olaf on the first run of the AW1 campaign (the second will have to unlock Grit), I'll have Olaf roll out the tanks while Eagle on the right churns out the planes for the swiftest possible defeat of Hell Monk well Max to the left is faster, but you don't unlock anyone if he is there, Olaf-Eagle is best if you're trying to unlock things. -In return, for your next FE fanhack, add him as a (Wind) Mage b/c ice is associated with wind in FE, make him a personal tome named after his Super CO Power. Also, Wind Mages in FE have typically been young men, sometimes lithe and speedy too, you'd be changing that image if you threw Olaf in there.😛

 

43 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Well now I beat, just now in fact. My first ever Fire Emblem game back in 2017 and only now have I finally managed to beat it. It's emotional really.

👏

I get this feeling.😀 It has happened for me before.

[Lightchao42]

Godzilla Emblem is real

Or is it more like Godzilla Advance Wars...?

Trails into Reverie pre-final dungeon

Spoiler

I can't believe my conspiracy theory of bad ending Rean being the Zeroth's Knight's awakener was right. Or technically not, because he's bad ending Rean possessed by... something. Ishmelga again, maybe? I hear alternate universe antics are all the rage these days.

C's Act IV revealed that the wonkiness of the Great Twilight created a continent-sized AI in the septium veins, hence all the previously unheard of technology being used by the villains. I happen to like godlike AI antagonists, so I'm interested in seeing where this goes. I can't believe Lapis was a chatbot AI all along. Grimwood was arguably better utilized here than he was in Trails to Azure.

With the final chapter upon is, it's time for all 40 characters to unite to liberate the city. It's a cold day in Gehenna when even the Red Constellation is helping the heroes (because Dieter hired them again, to protect Crossbell this time). I'm glad that Fie and Garcia got to talk about Zephyr for a bit, since I've wondered for a while now if they ever met each other.

In the end, C gets to show his character development, Ilya is unbrainwashed after a dance off with Rixia, and Rufus is defeated... though it's a shame that Crossbell happens to be a superweapon magnet, so the game isn't over yet. There's plenty of content to do even after the final dungeon, for one thing.

 

19 hours ago, Armagon said:

i will be pirating this because it looks great for TV but i'm not paying for fucking AppleTV.

I also still need to watch that Kong series.

The show looks interesting, though I'm not entirely sure what Apple TV is so you'll have to let me know how good it is. I haven't seen the Kong series yet either.

Each Monsterverse movie so far has basically had a standalone human cast (I don't think any human character has appeared in more than two movies) so I like the apparent connections with Kong: Skull Island. Though that movie being mostly standalone was inevitable, given that it occurs decades before the Godzilla films.

2 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Leakers are also going crazy with [...] F-Zero

[Saint Rubenio]

I have made a cry for help.

Please, I'm begging you on my hands and knees, if you know someone, anyone, who likes FE6 and might be interested in playing a hack like this, let them know. Please. I need to know there isn't a horrible bug anywhere.

 

[Shaky Jones]

Tick

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh, hey, finally reached the Voyager episode with that Garon alien and... I think they renamed him in the dub? Sounds more like Galen/Garen... something like that, it's actually a little hard to hear properly.

[Codename Shrimp]

[Acacia Sgt]

Wait, never mind, wrong alien. XD But now that I think about it, I don't think they mentioned Garon's name out loud. I guess his name came from checking the script, then.

[Saint Rubenio]

20 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Tick

Gaming

19 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Oh, hey, finally reached the Voyager episode with that Garon alien and... I think they renamed him in the dub? Sounds more like Galen/Garen... something like that, it's actually a little hard to hear properly.

Stars are like seeds. You have to blackhole the void before they sprout.

18 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

There he is, the man, the myth, the legend.

Chokepoint Man.

[Codename Shrimp]

4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Chokepoint Man.

Spd will overtake def at this rate lmao.

+9 Spd in 10 levels wew

[Saint Rubenio]

6 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Spd will overtake def at this rate lmao.

+9 Spd in 10 levels wew

They captured the Draug experience so well.

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, I think I'll finally start that VP Lenneth playthrough I wanted to do. Still not sure if I want to do two playthroughs of it. I guess it depends if I want to play through those "not available in Hard Mode" dungeons for completeness sake. Considering how easy it is to slide back to Ending B even when unlocking Ending A, there's no need for a separate playthrough of that. The only thing that worries me is how easy or hard will be doing Einherjar transferals, considering some of them it's random when you get them, and that can screw things around a bit. Ah well, hopefully it's not much of an issue...

Admittedly, the playthrough is also meant to be one of research, for fanfic purposes. Which is why I could need that second playthrough.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

This is so meta, pft.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Locking Black Hole Rising I see. Well, it is the sequel, although I actually played BHR first. I know I saw AW1 beforehand however, Nintendo Power covered the final battle of the first game, and like only that one for some reason. I recall the image of Andy using Hyper Repair (a lot of horseplop that is against Meteor Strike) and Strum shouting his defeat.

Casual Mode. I don't need it, but nice addition.

They actually explain her CO abilities a little better now. Although, has Luck been changed from adding a little extra damage into boosting a unit's Firepower stat? Seems like Luck is the same actually doing some fighting.

Nell's theme is nicely remixed BTW. The modern instrumentation isn't as light as the old chiptune was, but still good. I won't get to hear it again for a loooong time.

Nothing to note about the first couple of tutorial battles, this is going to ta-

-a while? This was waaaay longer than three battles originally. Is this because I said I had played Advance Wars before when Nell showed up at the title screen first time?

They also edited Olaf/Blue Moon out of the tutorial? Why?

Hachi... the new grin is okay. Not sure it's as cheery as his old smile. Him having an English VA is a little strange to me though, since he is named after a Shinto war god- Hachiman. But then, Red/Orange Star, while based on the American military aesthetically, has something of a Japanifornia vibe to it IMO. Like, while 'Comet is supposed to be Japan, 'Star being the starting heroic nation makes me think it has some Japanese spirit in the American bodies? Does that make sense?

Ah yes, the reason that this got that ill-timing delay.

-Neo is the Switch profile name the game automatically took when I started it. No choice to enter your choice of name this time. Neo has long been a go-to name for me in video games, not sure how it came to me (I have never seen The Matrix BTW, the rapper wasn't around yet ether). But I think I remember discovering it when the first Metroid Prime was a brand new game, so again, really old pseudonym for me.

As incredibly airheaded as he used to be. How Andy was chosen to be a CO will forever remain a mystery.

Also, this is not the first campaign map! Did they rip this out of the tutorial and bring it here with a new introduction for Andy?

Good question! I'd answer with dark humor, but I'm not exactly in the mood to think that respectable.😔

There's a flatulence joke here I'm not going to make. 

Although, if I -jestingly- assume only certain people are capable of emitting CO Power, then I'll assume Orange Star had no choice but to draft Andy. Question then shifts to why they didn't throw him in a lab to cultivate that power and train him into a supergenius at single-digits age then.

And before this battle is over...

...he is back. Fluffier than ever, using his AW2 international design even in AW1. That's fine for me, though I'm sure a few are remiss.

Also, still calling the Mid-Tank the Mid-Tank despite AW1 not having anything heavier. I get it's almost certainly a borrowing from Super Famicom Wars, which had Light-Medium-Heavy-Prototype Tanks. AW1 ditched the Heavy and AW2 toned down the Prototype and made it much less rare and unique than it used to be when they renamed it the "Neotank" (also I did not name my aforementioned pseudonym after this either. Why do that when the Neotank is a usually a waste of funds better spent on a Mid + Artillery?). Still weird though, should've renamed it "Heavy", not like the garishly hulking Megatank is around in this two-game bundle.

Three woods near the exposed enemy HQ, I know there's an indirect hiding somewhere in them.😠 I won't fall for it this time!

I forgot to take a picture, but there were actually two. Artillery in the northern forest, one rocket in the woods where the cursor was in the above screenshot. And a useless Lander on the reef b/c the game just had to inorganically force that lesson in here, even though it hasn't said a word about naval units yet.

The Artillery didn't attack the Mech in above the blue city in the prior screenshot despite being in firing range. That must mean that the AI obeys the rules of Fog of War, unlike the original GBA games (outside of land units in woods and naval units in reefs). That's improvement! Although the "lights up every tile a unit passes by" of Days of Ruin and all its other vision alterations are not carried over. Still, better than what it used to be, much less cheaty for the AI.

Another Andyism.😏 While the meme one is in AW2, he certainly felt more like "Bring your child to work day and let them perform a liver transplant" in AW1, going off of memory. Although TBF, part of that is b/c Andy isn't around much after the initial Orange Star campaign in Black Hole Rising.

Yesiree...

...it has been rotated 90 degrees, but this is the very first non-tutorial map from AW1's campaign! Rather complicated for a first battle, owing to the designated tutorial taking care of all the tutorial-ing.

It does read like they abolished that whole "Advisor" thing from the first game's script. No occasional nod to the player guiding Andy and the other two anymore. Nell chats with you during the six-battle two-part tutorial but that seems to be it? Andy and Olaf have so far said nada to me.

A game developed by IS reduces its overlong tutorial and removes references to an player self-insert. -This means zilch for Blazing Remake when all my hair will have turned gray and that releases.😝 The issue is that Fire Emblem is still very much alive, and has entered a tantric embrace with the avatar concept, which AW coldly ditched after AW1. Mark is coming back, I question if they'll even be optional via skipping Lyn Mode next time or if IS will expand on Mark instead. Contracting Lyn Mode, that 12-battle tutorial, is also a difficult proposition, since it has Actual Plot in it. And, it's Lyn's Mode. Her one time of true relevance is that tutorial, Lyn has solid popularity, it is staying, and I'd think IS would try to find a way to give her more in the main plot somehow even though Blazing is already a fully fleshed-out game.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

25 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Locking Black Hole Rising I see. Well, it is the sequel, although I actually played BHR first. I know I saw AW1 beforehand however, Nintendo Power covered the final battle of the first game, and like only that one for some reason. I recall the image of Andy using Hyper Repair (a lot of horseplop that is against Meteor Strike) and Strum shouting his defeat.

I think I recall reading it's not locked, actually. You can choose it just fine.

25 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Casual Mode, I don't need it, but nice addition.

Something tells me it's not the FE kind of casual? XD

25 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Hachi... the new grin is okay. Not sure it's as cheery as his old smile. Him having an English VA is a little strange to me though, since he is named after a Shinto war god- Hachiman. But then, Red/Orange Star, while based on the American military aesthetically, has something of a Japanifornia vibe to it IMO. Like, while 'Comet is supposed to be Japan, 'Star being the starting heroic nation makes me think it has some Japanese spirit in the American bodies? Does that make sense?

Well, just like its inspiration, I suppose Orange Star is meant to be a varied bunch. Wasn't he taught by someone from Yellow/Gold Comet? So moving to Orange Star can be a thing.

25 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Ah yes, the reason that this got that ill-timing delay.

Better a delay than nothing at all, yep.

25 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

As incredibly airheaded as he used to be. How Andy was chosen to be a CO will forever remain a mystery.

Maybe Eliandy's dad is someone important somewhere.

25 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It does read like they abolished that whole "Advisor" thing from the first game's script. No occasional nod to the player guiding Andy and the other two anymore. Nell chats with you during the six-battle two-part tutorial but that seems to be it? Andy and Olaf have so far said nada to me.

A game developed by IS reduces its overlong tutorial and removes references to an player self-insert. -This means zilch for Blazing Remake when all my hair will have turned gray and that releases.😝 The issue is that Fire Emblem is still very much alive, and has entered a tantric embrace with the avatar concept, which AW coldly ditched after AW1. Mark is coming back, I question if they'll even be optional via skipping Lyn Mode next time or if IS will expand on Mark instead. Contracting Lyn Mode, that 12-battle tutorial, is also a difficult proposition, since it has Actual Plot in it. And, it's Lyn's Mode. Her one time of true relevance is that tutorial, Lyn has solid popularity, it is staying, and I'd think IS would try to find a way to give her more in the main plot somehow even though Blazing is already a fully fleshed-out game.

Huh, that's curious. I guess they want for AW to be more distinct than just "modern-day FE", at least for the modern audience who would know of FE but not much about AW, considering how long it was since its last game. So if FE is now doing Avatars, then AW1's had to go. Or almost gone.

I can see them making Mark show up no matter what. Perhaps even made playable, even. Though to their credit, they kept Mark almost as-in for when they finally added them to Heroes (if as a child, but still in). Maybe Lyn Hard Mode (which is just Lyn Normal Mode without the tutorial prompts) will be unlocked from the start, or just be the new Normal Mode and the tutorial prompts be something to toggle. Perhaps even make Lyn Mode always mandatory to go through? Or perhaps that's too much...

Edited September 10, 2023 by Acacia Sgt