Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Saint Rubenio]

Just now, Armagon said:

I mean, what other games have entry-defining mechanics?

• Double Dash? Came out before the age of DLC.
• Mario Kart Wii? DLC was a thing already but not something Nintendo embraced at the time.
• Mario Kart 7? Just replaced by Mario Kart 8, which is 7 and Wii combined with anti-grav.

I'm not saying they should've stuck with a game from the past, I'm saying they should've kept going lol. The problem with this situation is that MK8's issues, like the craptastic playable cast and the middling gimmick, are just going to remain there for the rest of time.

...Still, I don't have much of a horse in this race, either way. F-Zero GX killed Mario Kart for me, but even without it, Mario Kart's "piss easy driving, luck based victories" shtick never really did it for me after I grew out of being a kid who just liked anything with Mario Luigi in it.

[Saint Rubenio]

Still, yeah, you know what? That's a great idea, actually. Let's do a Double Dash remaster, and use that as the Mario Kart Forever entry.

[Codename Shrimp]

Why is Vanillaware so anti-pc anyway.

[Interdimensional Observer]

45 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Still, yeah, you know what? That's a great idea, actually. Let's do a Double Dash remaster, and use that as the Mario Kart Forever entry.

Double Dash, and Super Mario Kart were the console Karts I owned growing up, alongside Super Circuit on GBA. Never got either 64 nor Wii for some odd reason.

While I have fond memories of it, looking at it now, Double Dash's gimmicky barely contributed anything? You needed co-op where someone was stuck half the time not-driving to fully utilize the double aspect. And the character-exclusive super items were simply extra power, which the totes rando last characters got access to all of. And two characters let you carry twice the items for twice the chaos.

If there was anything that Double Dash seriously contributed to Mario Kart in the long run, it was selectable vehicles, which also happened to be much bigger and more stylish than the generic dinky karts of SMK-64-SC. It was the first fully 3D MK too, but that was going to happen no matter what, DD just so happened to be the game that was.

...Thinking about it, gimmicks aren't really something that have contributed much of gameplay significance to Mario Kart in general. Fundamentally, it's always been the same at its core.

54 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

..Still, I don't have much of a horse in this race, either way. F-Zero GX killed Mario Kart for me, but even without it, Mario Kart's "piss easy driving, luck based victories" shtick never really did it for me after I grew out of being a kid who just liked anything with Mario Luigi in it.

In addition to hoping for FZGX, I want an Excitebots resurrection.😛 Not intensely technical sci-fi racing, but crazy racing where you might find yourself assembling a sandwich mid-race. Mario Kart isn't all that zany anymore. 

 

59 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Yeah i'm seeing comparisons to Ogre. Now if it will have the funny route shenanigans remains to be seen. That doesn't seem like Vanillaware's MO.

As in, they'll do routes and alternate endings but Tactics Ogre will be like "doing this will set you down this path, you won't know it tho". 

*Sees it described how you have to use lower/equal-leveled characters vis a vis the enemies to stay on the Law/Holy/Good alignment in the Super Famicom original, fighting when overleveled shifts you towards Chaos/Dark/Evil.*

...Integrating plot alignment and gameplay is a nice idea, but tying leveling to alignment? A step too far maybe for me.

...

I'm feeling slight disappointment that Vanillaware went back to fantasy now. While 13S was a dip into modernity and sci-fi, it was a very grey, down-to-earth sci-fi. I'd like more effusive use of color again, with more lively sci-fi.

 

2 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Why is Vanillaware so anti-pc anyway.

They're a small studio. Presumably they haven't had anyone to help with porting in the past. It's very unusual that Unicorn Overlord is showing up on Sony, Ninty, and even MS all at once. Maybe they're getting more help now? Atlus has usually been their publisher, did 13S reaching 1 million sales mean Sega is giving Atlus more resources for assisting Vanillaware?

Hopefully Steam releases eventually happen for their catalogue. Muramasa's better version is stuck on the Vita.

[Saint Rubenio]

25 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Why is Vanillaware so anti-pc anyway.

They hate sales.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

While I have fond memories of it, looking at it now, Double Dash's gimmicky barely contributed anything? You needed co-op where someone was stuck half the time not-driving to fully utilize the double aspect. And the character-exclusive super items were simply extra power, which the totes rando last characters got access to all of. And two characters let you carry twice the items for twice the chaos.

I did like the little item management side the mechanic provided. You needed to keep swapping your peeps to keep extra items. They brought back double items for 8, but they were super dumbed down, at that point it was just "okay here's two items, hope one of them isn't a coin."

Plus, I just thought it was a cute idea. It allowed me to use Luigi all the time without being forced to only run Luigi all the time!

13 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

In addition to hoping for FZGX, I want an Excitebots resurrection.😛 Not intensely technical sci-fi racing, but crazy racing where you might find yourself assembling a sandwich mid-race. Mario Kart isn't all that zany anymore. 

I also played a bunch of Excitebots in my old 3DS. I remember those car rides. It was a fun time.

13 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

They're a small studio. Presumably they haven't had anyone to help with porting in the past. It's very unusual that Unicorn Overlord is showing up on Sony, Ninty, and even MS all at once. Maybe they're getting more help now? Atlus has usually been their publisher, did 13S reaching 1 million sales mean Sega is giving Atlus more resources for assisting Vanillaware?

Hopefully Steam releases eventually happen for their catalogue. Muramasa's better version is stuck on the Vita.

The idea of a team not being able to release on PC, the haven of indie and freeware games, because they'd rather spend all their small studio resources on contending with the restrictions of console is rather backwards ngl

[Codename Shrimp]

>SO2 Demo

>Arise DLC

Well

15 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Atlus

explains everything

Even tho they have been becoming more pro pc lately

I just wanna play 13 somethings without shelling out 60 bucks ngl because i am not sure i will like it lol

[Saint Rubenio]

8 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

I just wanna play 13 somethings without shelling out 60 bucks ngl because i am not sure i will like it lol

Same reason I haven't tried it, myself. Sooks spoke really well of it and Armagon but he doesn't count because we hardly ever agree, but Observer wasn't so crazy about it and what little I've seen of it hasn't really piqued my interest. For 60 bucks? Too much of a gamble.

[Codename Shrimp]

State of play lookin cool tbh

[Codename Shrimp]

That day i isekai'd as a protag's lucky shrimp

[Interdimensional Observer]

25 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Plus, I just thought it was a cute idea. It allowed me to use Luigi all the time without being forced to only run Luigi all the time!

...But how often did you run Luigi + Baby Luigi? Be honest.

25 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The idea of a team not being able to release on PC, the haven of indie and freeware games, because they'd rather spend all their small studio resources on contending with the restrictions of console is rather backwards ngl

Audience? Audience? They don't put out that many titles, Japan hasn't been into PC gaming for like decades but seems to be gradually warming up to it now? Or maybe Japanese devs are turning more towards international sales for income?

Let's take 13S for the most recent instance (well GrimGrimoire would be, but Nippon Ichi Software co-developed it and may factor into the decisions). Until lately, Playstation could attract a large share of the hardcore Japanese and Japanese-gaming crowd in the West, Nintendo wasn't doing so well with the Wii U. 13S had been in development since 2013, putting it on a Playstation in 2019 was a safe choice. By 2022, it had become apparent Japan was shifting to the Switch, which has become something of a Visual Novel machine, and the Switch was doing remarkably worldwide as well. A calculated but safe bet.

-Just speculation.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

..But how often did you run Luigi + Baby Luigi? Be honest.

...Sometimes.

I was more fond of the Loogi/Waloogi combo, though.

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Audience? Audience? They don't put out that many titles, Japan hasn't been into PC gaming for like decades but seems to be gradually warming up to it now?

Let's take 13S for the most recent instance. Until lately, Playstation could attract a large share of the hardcore Japanese and Japanese-gaming crowd in the West, Nintendo wasn't doing so well with the Wii U. 13S had been in development since 2013, putting it on a Playstation in 2019 was a safe choice. By 2022, it had become apparent Japan was shifting to the Switch, which has become something of a Visual Novel machine, and the Switch was doing remarkably worldwide as well. A calculated but safe bet.

-Just speculation.

Probably something along these lines, yes. It's just the "we can't release on PC, too difficult to port" thing was funny to me because developing on PC is plain easier. You can just throw your game out and be done. Push patches if you need to, when you need to. When you release on console, you have to deal with the terms, services and conditions of the big corpo sitting on top. I hear delivering patches to console games is a massive pain, for instance.

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Fundamentally, it's always been the same at its core.

The Glider and Propeller were pretty big imo, as they fundamentally changed how courses could be designed. Somewhat the same for anti-grav but not as much.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Sees it described how you have to use lower/equal-leveled characters vis a vis the enemies to stay on the Law/Holy/Good alignment in the Super Famicom original, fighting when overleveled shifts you towards Chaos/Dark/Evil.*

...Integrating plot alignment and gameplay is a nice idea, but tying leveling to alignment? A step too far maybe for me.

Also like certain characters will join and leave at the drop of a hat. There's supposed to be 60 recruitable characters in Unicorn but nothing suggests the game will have some alignment system like Ogre or even Triangle Strategy.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm feeling slight disappointment that Vanillaware went back to fantasy now. While 13S was a dip into modernity and sci-fi, it was a very grey, down-to-earth sci-fi. I'd like more effusive use of color again, with more lively sci-fi.

They might feel more at home with fantasy but the sci-fi was to take a breather, so to speak.

1 hour ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

explains everything

Even tho they have been becoming more pro pc lately

I just wanna play 13 somethings without shelling out 60 bucks ngl because i am not sure i will like it lol

It's on sale right now, is it not?

(It would be $60 on PC anyways).

 

[Armagon]

Tales of Arise: Future Connected.

[Acacia Sgt]

A good. and I think cheaper too, alternative is...

[Codename Shrimp]

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

It's on sale right now, is it not?

...is it?

I don't buy switch digital

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

(It would be $60 on PC anyways).

Steam sales baby 😄

[Armagon]

2 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

is it?

Last I checked.

2 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Steam sales baby 😄

>Atlus

>Sales

[Interdimensional Observer]

38 minutes ago, Armagon said:

The Glider and Propeller were pretty big imo, as they fundamentally changed how courses could be designed. Somewhat the same for anti-grav but not as much.

Yes we have these ...but then I grew up with some Diddy Kong Racing. Planes and hovercrafts make gliders and going underwater but still a kart feel less significant. I forget how planes felt compared to karts, but hovercraft bouncing on the water's surface do feel different from karts for sure. All gliders seem to often do is create moments of mandatory slowdown with the occasional need for a Lakitu rescue in a track.

Antigrav is noted as running to recent issues with tracks that simply have none.

21 minutes ago, Armagon said:

>Atlus

>Sales

Actually they do sales quite frequently. They did on the 3DS, they appear to be doing so on the Switch as well.

Atlus's problem isn't sales, it's charging too much initially. -And then you add in the certainty sales and there's no reason to buy right away unless to devoted support them/impatience.

38 minutes ago, Armagon said:

They might feel more at home with fantasy but the sci-fi was to take a breather, so to speak.

True.

This could just be personal taste speaking. -I remember one of the 13S interviews said something about a scrapped scene featuring a Sentinel emerging from the ocean, maybe the size of Mt. Fuji, I think the interview referenced MaZ when describing it. Which came off as odd, because such a thing would be wholly out of place in 13S. But it does leave me with an slight craving for something that breathes happy wondrous sci-fi without a care, and doesn't feel so much like a serious deconstruction ("love letter" would be the openly-positive spin) of the century of sci-fi media that came before it.

With regards to colors, Unicorn Overlord looks fairly muted. Not exactly the brightness of Odin Sphere, but then, maybe OS was excessively colorful by Vanillaware's standards. Nor is it as realistic as 13S though. -The wyvern riders look good I noticed.

29 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Tales of Arise: Future Connected.

Oiiii. I own it and still need to play it, and Berseria. 120 hours right there, waiting for me to get to them.

At least it's only DLC. Surprised Namco has announced the next gatcha mainline Tales yet. Besides DLC, maybe they're being very conscious of quality and deciding on the direction for the next Tales after Arise did so well?

Edited September 15, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

Phantasia international remaster please.

[Lightcosmo]

10 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

For a moment I misread this as Kuro III. I know Japan isn't that far ahead, yet

Give it a few months, they'll be five games ahead of us by then. Xd

[Codename Shrimp]

>Earthquake

>Last night

>Couple Happy

🤨📸

A shitty place

ayy a new reaction face to the list

The vibes...so nostalgic. A certain series....

Bad Westa. Bad

>First dungeon

>Mines

Classic

(I like arranged OST more, but not yet on youtube)

Jeez Claude did you have to remind us of our future.

 

Well, i quite like the demo so far. Story feels like it's moving a bit too fast, and Party AI seems stupid, but other than that, i quite like what i saw

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

>Atlus

>Sales

I am pretty sure i saw Persona games at like 50% sale already.

More even according to isthereanydeal

[Acacia Sgt]

Still wish they ported over First Departure already.

[Armagon]

15 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Well, i quite like the demo so far. Story feels like it's moving a bit too fast, and Party AI seems stupid, but other than that, i quite like what i saw

Oh combat is different? I tried the first game and it was Tales combat so I was like "nah I'm good".

[Codename Shrimp]

4 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Oh combat is different? I tried the first game and it was Tales combat so I was like "nah I'm good".

It's a bit Tales like, but there's a difference in how combat flows honesty.

Dunno how to explain it lol

[Armagon]

Just now, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

It's a bit Tales like, but there's a difference in how combat flows honesty.

Dunno how to explain it lol

Granted i played like the PSP version of the first game so maybe it's different.

[Acacia Sgt]

It was certainly different, since Star Ocean already had a bi-dimensional battleground over Tales' "Linear Battle System"... or however the name was, that it had during the pre-PS2 era.