Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

The Spanish are portrayed as weak-willed, petty, untrustworthy hypocrites

Ouch...

1 minute ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

a denomination of Christianity that preaches the tenets of Jesus, yet allows wicked monks

So, the Christian church.

1 minute ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

to torture and kill those who profane their monasteries and would willingly canonize a parricide who worked the will of the Holy Office.

Y'know, the real life church covers for arguably worse shit

1 minute ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

Mind you the novel was written by a Irish Protestant priest, so take that for what it’s worth.

I mean, I'm not a fan of the church myself. That's the institution, not the religion itself, mind you. Though I'll say, a priest being like "I'm going to write a whole novel that's a hit piece against our competition" sounds hilariously petty and probably not really in accordance with the tenets of his own religion.

Then again, priests and not following what they preach, name a more iconic duo.

[Sidereal Wraith]

8 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Though I'll say, a priest being like "I'm going to write a whole novel that's a hit piece against our competition" sounds hilariously petty and probably not really in accordance with the tenets of his own religion.

Then again, priests and not following what they preach, name a more iconic duo.

Don’t worry Rubenio, I’m sure if the Italians are brought up in the novel they’ll be nothing more then Satan worshipping cultists who engage in black mass, eating human flesh and drinking blood in their unholy eucharist. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Sidereal Wraith

[Sidereal Wraith]

The author was probably just pissed that he was Irish and couldn’t pick up the ladies like the Spanish can with their rugged, continental charm.

[ping]

  

20 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Okay that has to be the worst name I've seen in either of these games. And let me remind you, there's a guy called Sick in Exit Fate.

Sick stache though. That's pretty great stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp

And they say that reading Franco-Belgian comics can't replace a formal education. I don't even remember what role Earp played in Lucky Luke, but the name stuck.

Not a worse name than Erk even looked at in isolation, either

55 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I mean, I'm not a fan of the church myself. That's the institution, not the religion itself, mind you.

Personally, I find that the last time christianity was cool was before Konstantin solidified its transition from "religion of the downtrodden" to "state religion of the Roman Empire and central legitimising element of its authority".

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 11/19/2023 at 11:37 AM, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Coping Valley describes my mental state

I saw this today.🙂

[Codename Shrimp]

This looks like legit something i might enjoy

I hope there's a demo so the decision can be easy to make

Also, no PC. Why do they hate PC so much

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I saw this today.🙂

🙂

Even if i am not into Trails anymore, Estelle is a sight for sore eyes

Edited November 20, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Interdimensional Observer]

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/11/atelier-resleriana-forgotten-alchemy-and-the-polar-night-liberator-coming-west-in-2024

@Armagon Don't be jumping with joy seeing this headline. Reading the comments in this article, the game is 🔥🍿😈. Even for Japan, this is bad for a gacha. Res is dead already. -Hopefully the impact on the franchise is minimal.

 

@ping Did another two Civ5 runs when I should’ve been doing other things.😆

I felt like a Cultural Victory, so I took Babylon, went with an Immortal Continents map, eventually rolled my own isolated continent with room for five cities as well as Mt. Fuji and another Natural Wonder (Mt. Kailash I think?) for the usual Tithes-Pagoda/Religious Centers-Religious Community religion. I picked Babylon because the early Great Scientist gives an early advantage that would make getting at least some of the all-important midgame cultural Wonders (Globe, Sistine, Uffizi, Louvre) easier. I managed to blissfully obtain them the culture Wonders and peacefully crushed the competition, never once fighting a war.

Aztecs, Japan, Carthage, Austria, Russia, Indonesia, and Siam turned out to be the competition. Dido and Maria Theresa aren’t big on Wonders, so that might’ve helped me. Siam really likes culture -but Ramkhamhaeng was exterminated before I could meet him. Rammy K started it seems in flat riverine desert directly north of Monty, which likely sealed his fate, damned to lack sufficient production and or defensive terrain necessary to stop the onslaught of the Children of Tezcatlipoca. Siam got a few cities up but the Aztecs took everything. They also waged successful war on Japan, which survived handicapped to a small peninsula south of the Aztecs, the worst of the surviving group. Dido lost a city or maybe two to Monty, yet she retained a sizable empire. Austria did a lot of Diplomatic Marriage to nearby City-States, like five of them(?) and she was among the leaders; before my culture crushed the competition, Maria had begun fighting the Aztecs to some success. Indonesia and Russia were stuck in a stalemate on their own continent and did basically nothing.

As for the second match... WARNING- LONG!

Spoiler

I still had the urge to play more, so I decided to give the Inca as a whirl. I set up an Immortal pangaea Frontier with more hills, a Highlands would’ve been too easy I decided. I intended to go for a Science Victory.

I managed to a roll a real good start on like the first try. My starting position had no mountains, but plenty o’ sheep, so I stuck with it. Heading north I founded an awesome lakes, mountains, and desert city, obvious location for the Inca. Then I settled a third city with some juicy hills near mountains along a river with Mt. Kailash. Directly north of Shiva’s abode was Copenhagen, I knew Harald would likely at some point war against me for stealing this holy real estate. To the south of my starting position was Korea. To the east of Denmark not far to the northeast from my desert utopia was Honolulu, it wasn’t impossible that I’d be at war with Kamehameha.

Westward of my Mt. Kailash city, through some jungle lay Mongolia in the northwest end of the continent, and in the southwest corner separated from me and Genghis by some mountains were the Iroquois. The northeast end belonged to Poland, the center-south-east had Songhai. Oddly, there was a vast southeastern sector of the map, a lot of it tundra yet with sufficient luxuries and rivers to make some decent cities in there. Yet barring two City-States on its western edge, nobody bothered to occupy it. It became a land overran with barbarians and unclaimed ruins, I dubbed it “Anri’s Way”. Polynesia eventually plopped three late little disconnected from the rest of its territory cities there, and one from Hiawatha too, but still, a whole bunch of decent territory laid unclaimed.

Everything went well at first, too well even. Got some nice Worker steals from a nearby City-State and Harald. Then I went a Wondering. I’m not sure why, but the AI was really slow on the Wonders this time. I got Stonehenge, Temple of Artemis, and Hanging Gardens in my capital, atop the usual Oracle. Took a Tithes-Pagodas-Religious Community-Itinerant Preachers religion, with the last two religions taking forever to be founded. I got Borobudur and Hagia Sophia and bought some Missionaries after I got up the Pagodas and overwhelmed the world with Taoism (I should’ve gone with Hinduism b/c Kailash). Hiawatha and Casimir tried to stem the spiritual tide, but failed. Harald fared badly, and Askia’s faith never stood a chance. By the end of the match, I was raking in over 160 Gold per turn from Tithes specifically. Damn, religion pays.🤑

Outside of the religious picture, again things went swimmingly. Food caravans to a strong capital with Hanging Gardens and Temple of Artemis was bonkers (like 39 Population at the end), as one would imagine. I got Leaning Tower of Pisa, used it for a Great Engineer to take the Forbidden Palace after rewinding from seeing Hiawatha steal it (originally I was going to go big in Commerce instead, took just the opener and came back to the rest much later), I still managed to pick up the Globe and Sistine all in the capital. So little interest in such good Wonders.

On City-States, Hiawatha was competitive for a while, but I eventually allied with every single one of them, with just two Patronage points. Made World Religion an easy vote to win, and loaded me with Happiness. Maybe it was the Great Andean Road at play, but I was positively raking in the gold even with all of my early trade routes being internal.😄 I ended the game with over 700 GPT and about 80-100 spare Happiness during a Golden Age. -Why will soon be apparent.

Askia went to war on Sejong and took Korea’s little coastal second city near him. That left Korea with just one city. Sejong is one of the least expansionist AIs around, but this was horrendous. He also lost a Settler to barbarians, and refused to settle what I considered a decent location in the center of the map that I hadn’t tried to settle for fear of agitating Songhai. Nobody ever claimed the area, and Songhai was very anti-expansionist here too, sticking to two self-founded cities and its Korean conquest. Was that patch of land simply too hilly and thus lacking in growth potential for the AI?🤨 Mongolia failed to crush any one of several City-States near it, and Hiawatha expanded through his quadrant too. Polynesia was short on available land and had four cities, two of which Harald conquered.

When I saw Korea was down to a single city, I thought “Well, I only have three, why not take that capital? It looks nice enough.”.🤔 The problem was that Sejong’s refusal to expand meant if I took it, I’d be slapped with massive hate from everyone for exterminating a civilization. I should’ve founded and gifted Sejong a crap city to avoid this, but I didn’t think about doing this. When Sejong lost his next Settler to Songhai, I went I ahead and attacked the little outpost called Seoul protected by a single Warrior. I took it with no real planning and mostly just a bunch of City-State gifts including two Siege Towers.

Next turn, Harald declared war on me 😅, Hiawatha seemingly bribed into doing so too. I rewound and bribed Genghis into war with Harald (resulting in Mongolia losing a city) and then killed the powerless Korea again. This bought me precious time and it wasn’t until immediately after the Harald-Genghis war concluded that Harald + Hiawatha acted on their outrage against Pachacuti. This time, I was ready with some Pikemen, Crossbowmen, and Trebutchets. Given the hilly terrain that the Incans thrive in while others suffer, Harald acted very cautiously and did no harm and I held out. I had the free time to build units too, since the hilly terrain and food & production of Terrace Farms kept let me quickly get out all the infrastructure I needed.

I continued teching away as Harald was blunted, first to Industrialization, only to learn I had no Coal at all. Then to Public Schools, and used Oxford University for Radio, as is popular. By this point, I had decided to forgo a Science Victory, and with the power of the Terrace Farm, I didn’t exactly need Freedom’s specialist polices. The Sapa Inca decided to take a far-right turn and go Autocracy, I wasn’t expecting this.😆

I then researched Dynamite and unleashed the Artillery! After breaking through many Crossbowmen, Musketmen, and Norwegian Ski Infantry (which do get a Hill strength bonus coincidentally) along a board front, and fighting through the Great Wall (the GW’s slowing effect remains in effect, as long as its owner doesn’t have Dynamite) Copenhagen fell, I was victorious. Even before that however, as I diminished Harald’s fighting forces, everyone transformed into vultures and after a few turns, literally everyone was at war with Harald. Polynesia managed to bring one of its stolen cities, Tonga down to the capture point

-only for me to steal it and raze it.😝

I wanted it gone from the mountain pass it occupied, since it was the lone thing stopping me from getting to Honolulu.

Mongolia then took a small coastal city. One City-State razed a coastal city of Hiawatha, only for him to later settle another in the exact same place.

Since I had Tithe-paying believers to consider, I left Harald with three thoroughly pillaged cities and signed for peace, sending in a spare Great Prophet to cleanse his holy city of infidels. I had also made peace with Hiawatha a while before that.

Once I moved my army into place, I declared war on Polynesia and easily took Honolulu after a few turns too. Much of my army (I had mostly made Artillery) that wasn’t hard-built BTW was Militaristic City-State gifts, the policy that doubles the gifting rate from CS allies while at war was quite useful, more Artillery, anti-Horse/Armor, Gatling Guns, melee infantry, cavalry, plenty of everything sparing me a ton of Production. A nearby City-State of mine razed another Polynesian city, leaving Kamehameha reduced to an isolated northern coastal outpost surrounded by Poland and the three Anri’s Way cities, one of which Songhai later took.

Hiawatha had gone Freedom as the second to Ideologies and I thought could’ve been threatening. He really wasn’t as my next target turned out to be. Lots of cities, but it seems he either had no forest or cleared most of it and his cities were under-improved. I gifted my first Iroquois conquest to Mali to get it out of the way. I considered inching through the narrow zone outside of city-strike to attack his capital, but I noticed the one Wonder Hiawatha had built was in an expo of his. Since that Wonder was Machu Picchu, I had to take it being the Inca 😝, that city then made it much safer to march on the capital, and was in a good position for attacking Mongolia. I got six Great War Bombers, all purchased in a city with Brandenburg Gate and a full set of military buildings at this time for less than 400 Gold each (thanks to Big Ben + Mercantilism (Commerce) + Mobilization (Autocracy tier 1 tenet) for -73% on unit purchase costs), but their range was just a little too short to reach the Iroquois capital. I might’ve been attacked by one or two GWBs from the Iroquois, but it was but a pinprick, he didn’t spam them whatsoever.

Crushing the Iroquois finally turned the great Central Eurasian warmonger against me with a denouncement (he had also chosen Order). I took an expo of his, gifted it to Songhai, and then marched towards his capital. I got Range +2 on the GWBs and that was enough to trash Mongolia’s capital. Though surrounded by Iroquois and Mongolia, both had been defanged and my raw military strength was such that nobody dared to attack me ever again after Denmark’s defeat.

With the western capitals secured, I sued for peace with the Mongols and began the march east. Autocratic Poland was starting to sour on me, but I was still too strong. Casimir had conquered Gao and a little coastal city nearby from Songhai, razed another nearby city and the lone Hawaiian conquest; he oddly never took the Korean conquest. With this, I could stay friends with Askia and never had to declare war on him. Poland had churned out a lot of cities in the eastern end of the continent, some reaching 20 Population. Importantly, Warsaw was close enough to Honolulu, not coastal, but not far from the sea.

I took a break from warfare to march east, built the Pentagon and completed the Manhattan Project, and upgraded to Rocket Artillery, Mobile SAMs, Bombers, Infantry, Anti-Tank Guns, and Tanks. When the time was right, around turn 286 I think, I took Clausewitz’s Legacy and began the final campaign.

I used four Battleships and a Privateer and Infantry to claim Gao and liberate a little coastal city directly southwest for Askia, Poland never sent anything to try reclaiming these. Poland had Artillery, Great War Infantry, some Great War aircraft, and lots of Winged Hussars, none of which stood much of a chance.

And then...

I used a Nuclear Bomb on one city and gifted it to Askia 😃,

then I ☢️💣💥 another with the Uffizi in it it turned out and kept it 😀, despite the possibility of the easy immediate-reconquest due to enemy aircraft nearby. This cleared the way up the west coast of the east and exposed Warsaw.

One Nuclear Missile OHKO’ed Casimir’s handful of defensive troops and a round of Battleship and Bomber fire left the last capital on its last legs, but my tanks fell one movement short of enough. And so, on Turn 300…

Domination Victory at last!😁🎊 And I hadn’t even intended to do this at the outset.🤣

Was nice for a change, I guess. If only I had done it with a civ that had actual warmonger bonuses (but I suppose better infrastructure >>> superior fighting prowess). Buuuuuut, pre-Artillery war just doesn’t jive with me, probably. That, and my opposition was weak and accessible while I lucked out into being veeeeery strong.

 

36 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

I hope there's a demo so the decision can be easy to make

They did a demo for GrimGrimoire: OnceMore, and Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir as well. There's a real possibility of one for Keeper of the Fetishized Thirds of Threesomes.

37 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Also, no PC. Why does they hate PC so much

Juuuuust a special kind of ineptitude.😛 I can't say "small studio can't afford it", when plenty o' indies do PC + console releases. Maybe Vanillaware just old school in a peculiar way, though you'd think their usual publisher Atlus would push for all platforms nowadays.

[Acacia Sgt]

Hm? I see Xenoblade 2 is part of the current sales... it'll end before I get my aguinaldo, but... hmm...

[ping]

29 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Took a Tithes-Pagodas-Religious Community-Itinerant Preachers religion

Ol' reliable. My default combination, too, if the AI allows it

32 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Was nice for a change, I guess. If only I had done it with a civ that had actual warmonger bonuses (but I suppose better infrastructure >>> superior fighting prowess). Buuuuuut, pre-Artillery war just doesn’t jive with me, probably. That, and my opposition was weak and accessible while I lucked out into being veeeeery strong.

Crossbow timing can work, although straying from the path to Education is a pretty big opportunity cost if you want to hit a sharp one. China is a nice civ for doing this, I find - not as absurdly broken as Arabia's Camels, but Chu-Ko-Nu are still plenty OP and the faster XP gain from firing twice right away is very satisfying. And +3 gold per city from their unique library is one of those inconspicuous, but strong bonuses, especially when you're paying upkeep for a bigger military.

But of course, now that you've had the Inca experience, every other civ is going to feel bad in comparison. Sorry, that's just how Civ5 works. Nothing quite like spotting multiple 4-5 food Terrace Farm spots.

[Codename Shrimp]

Man

i wish i was good at Kaizo

That new hack is looking hella fun

But i am not good at Kaizo lol

[Acacia Sgt]

Kaizo Trap?

[Codename Shrimp]

Grand Poo World 3

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

I hope there's a demo so the decision can be easy to make

It's Vanillaware, guaranteed to be based to some degree.

Gameplay premise still fascinates me. Open-World SRPG-lite. You can go to the final battle frame one and be instantly KO'd. Quests can largely be done in any order.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Don't be jumping with joy seeing this headline. Reading the comments in this article, the game is 🔥🍿😈. Even for Japan, this is bad for a gacha. Res is dead already. -Hopefully the impact on the franchise is minimal.

They already said they were working on the next console game anyways.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I can't say "small studio can't afford it", when plenty o' indies do PC + console releases. Maybe Vanillaware just old school in a peculiar way, though you'd think their usual publisher Atlus would push for all platforms nowadays.

I think Vanillaware legit just doesn't care for PC. Consider:

• Vanillaware is a very small studio
• Vanillaware's library is tiny and they don't do yearly releases (well they used to but their games got bigger)
• Thus, any porting is done by the publisher.

Vanillaware games didn't actually go multiplat until GrimGrimoire OnceMore. (Switch version of 13 Sentinels came later). Everything else was just one one platform, occasionally two but only when in the same house (a.k.a Sony platforms). Muramasa Rebirth also came out later and that was on the doomed Vita.

That said, Unicron Overdrive has one more platform than OnceMore, that being the Xbox Series. So maybe the next Vanillaware game gets a PC port. But they are not yet in a situation where they can port to all. The fact that it's going to Xbox makes the lack of PC even weirder though. PC is a minority market in Japan but at least it still exists. Xbox? Lmao.

[Codename Shrimp]

16 minutes ago, Armagon said:

It's Vanillaware, guaranteed to be based to some degree.

never played any of their games, so..

16 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Gameplay premise still fascinates me. Open-World SRPG-lite. You can go to the final battle frame one and be instantly KO'd. Quests can largely be done in any order.

can't wait to see Pot lid strats SRPG edition.

If the gameplay is as good as it looks, i most likely will get it. Will have to wait for some reviews tho.

[Armagon]

13 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

never played any of their games, so..

Muramasa on the Wii should be fairly easy to emulate.

Rebirth version probably better but lmao Vita emulation.

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, since the sale ends on December 3, I'll think if I do get Xenoblade 2 already on next weekend. I already spent enough this week as it is.

[Acacia Sgt]

Ahahaha, aw man, only reached 56 hits in the chain combo. XD Guess I still need one or two more to join in.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Nippon Ichi Software's devotion to developing/publishing extremely niche 6-7/10 J/SRPGs with novel gimmicks/thematics, is financial foolishness (and they've skirted bankruptcy before), yet nonetheless I appreciate it. I never buy any of it, and this one is roguelike which I don'tlike, and NISA -we all know its reputation. Nonetheless, a roguelike with dating sim elements at a bar/parallel world of drunkeness featuring a gender-ambiguous(?) protagonist is not the norm.

 

---

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/593110/view/3823053915973575701

Next Steam sale be starting soon. -Not that I have any need nor want to buy anything before Xmas arrives.

 

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

They already said they were working on the next console game anyways.

Fair. You did say they outsourced this, and it probably was more a Koei than a Gust decision.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Rebirth version probably better but lmao Vita emulation.

All the four new characters (nekomata, farmer, ninja, oni princess) have wholly-different movesets from both Kisuke and Momohime, and from each other. That alone would make it better IMO. I don't think their stories are overly long either, perhaps short even, so they ought not to get stale.

 

1 hour ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

never played any of their games, so..

Just to contrast with Arma's point about Muramasa, Vanillaware doesn't have a consistent genre.

• The first things they made pre-founding was Princess Crown. A kinda weird, stiff ARPG/beat 'em up with considerable item use.
• The awkward combat setup carried over into Vanillaware's first game as an independent studio- Odin Sphere, to questionable reviews.
• GrimGrimoire ended up being developed concurrently with Odin Sphere, and was a side-perspective real-time strategy game.
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade is basically a beat 'em up with the RPG elements rather subdued. Combat became fluid for the first time in a Vanillaware game and it's generally well-liked in this aspect.
• The Japan-only Grand Knights History went for classic turn-based JRPG combat. ...And I only barely played it.😆
• Dragon's Crown continued with Muramasa beat 'em up fun. Well-liked again.
• The Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir edition PS3-4 port drastically overhauled the combat. Classic Mode retained the original format, Refined Mode copied Muramasa and DC and is faaaaaaaar more enjoyable.
• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim be a not-long visual novel, with segments of top-down real time strategy. Some people complained, preferring the Mura-DC-OSL gameplay, and they're still begging for more of it since UniO ain't it.

So really, it's hard to say if 🦄👑 will be good or not based on prior dev history. Vanillaware bounces around a lot.

[Acacia Sgt]

And it's done. Tomoyo's route complete. Seven lights.

...

Welp, guess it's time to shift to Tomoyo After.

Phew, so close to unlock After Story. I think I only have Fuko's route, Koumura's ending, and Nagisa's route left to do. Well, deciding that will be for next time...

[Armagon]

 

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Just to contrast with Arma's point about Muramasa, Vanillaware doesn't have a consistent genre.

• The first things they made pre-founding was Princess Crown. A kinda weird, stiff ARPG/beat 'em up with considerable item use.
• The awkward combat setup carried over into Vanillaware's first game as an independent studio- Odin Sphere, to questionable reviews.
• GrimGrimoire ended up being developed concurrently with Odin Sphere, and was a side-perspective real-time strategy game.
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade is basically a beat 'em up with the RPG elements rather subdued. Combat became fluid for the first time in a Vanillaware game and it's generally well-liked in this aspect.
• The Japan-only Grand Knights History went for classic turn-based JRPG combat. ...And I only barely played it.😆
• Dragon's Crown continued with Muramasa beat 'em up fun. Well-liked again.
• The Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir edition PS3-4 port drastically overhauled the combat. Classic Mode retained the original format, Refined Mode copied Muramasa and DC and is faaaaaaaar more enjoyable.
• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim be a not-long visual novel, with segments of top-down real time strategy. Some people complained, preferring the Mura-DC-OSL gameplay, and they're still begging for more of it since UniO ain't it.

So really, it's hard to say if 🦄👑 will be good or not based on prior dev history. Vanillaware bounces around a lot.

Track record has generally been great though, i think they've put out consistent bangers.

Granted, i haven't beaten Dragon's Crown and i've place like, the opening of Grand Knights but they haven't messed up yet.

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Talk about an one-sided matchup. The Doctor already destroyed Doc Brown in a rap battle. If he could not take down the Doktor, what chance does his inbreed mutant cousin have?

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, my three-day weekend is comning to an end. I think the last one of the year will be for Christmas. Then again, New Year's is also free...

Edited November 21, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[BrightBow]

Didn't think keeping a castle alive against such an assault was even possible.

I do wonder if this was even a good play, though. What with all the resources and villager working time spend on it.

[Saint Rubenio]

15 hours ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

The author was probably just pissed that he was Irish and couldn’t pick up the ladies like the Spanish can with their rugged, continental charm.

Hah! Lotta good it's done me so far, the rugged continental charm.

14 hours ago, ping said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp

And they say that reading Franco-Belgian comics can't replace a formal education. I don't even remember what role Earp played in Lucky Luke, but the name stuck.

Hey, come to think of it, I might've seen it in Lucky Luke too. It's been so long, though...

14 hours ago, ping said:

Not a worse name than Erk even looked at in isolation, either

Hah, fair point.

9 hours ago, Armagon said:

I think Vanillaware legit just doesn't care for PC. Consider:

• Vanillaware is a very small studio
• Vanillaware's library is tiny and they don't do yearly releases (well they used to but their games got bigger)
• Thus, any porting is done by the publisher

You sy this as if it was good reasons for a console-only company, but ngl if anything it fascinates me more that a company in these circumstances is strictly on consoles.

Consider this also: "Porting" to PC isn't a thing. Consoles are useless for anything that isn't playing, you make games on a computer and then adapt and bring them to the console. It's also much less of a hassle to patch a game on PC, consoles require you go through hoops. Also also, Steam exists, alongside GoG and even Epic and their money if you have to go down that route.

There's a reason the grand majority of small devs do their games on PC and only later, IF the game is successful enough, consider undergoing the ordeal of a console port. If you have to pick one platform, PC is just easier and more convenient for the devs.

Still, more power to 'em if this works for them. I'll basically never play their games because lol consoles, but more power to 'em.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Saint Rubenio]

...Oooookay, so I'm starting to notice a problem. A big problem.

This is a bog standard JRPG. This means, it doesn't have the EXP gain formula that Exit Fate had. The formula that allowed underleveled characters to shoot up to the level of the enemies vanquished in one or two battles flat, while the growth of aptly leveled characters halts until stronger enemies appear. You know, the really fucking awesome formula that neutralized any need to grind and ensured swapping characters in the team was easy peasy? That made exploring fun alongside the bribery system?

Yeah no, this one works like any other JRPG. And like in any other JRPG, random encounters are extremely unenjoyable - and also extremely suboptimal because not only does Last Scenario lack Exit Fate's system where characters automatically used all MP and heal magics left to recover their HP at the end of each battle (not that it'd work here, since mana doesn't function the same way), but mana recovery items are not buyable so far. Fighting random encounters costs you a precious, unrenewable resource. Well, it is renewable, but to get it back it's a trot back to the inn with us, of course. Yet another thing I hate in JRPGs that Exit Fate avoided with the grace of a ballet dancer.

So I've mostly been escaping. And now I've hit a wall - literally, a wall that is a boss.

The LParchive playthrough for this game has the team at level 25 for this area of the game. I am at level 20. The boss one-shots my characters with some of its attacks, two-shots them with all of its attacks, and my damage is not good enough to take any of its three parts down before it can overwhelm me. I don't believe I can win.

...Yeah, if this doesn't get good soon enough I might not be able to see it through. I do not want to grind, especially not in a JRPG so bog standard as this where generic battles are completely mindless and unfun.

It was foolish of me to expect Exit Fate to not be lightning in a bottle

Maybe I should replay Exit Fate and remind myself of how good JRPGs could be if they weren't allergic to fun

tl;dr: Exit Fate has ruined JRPGs for me in ways Berwick Saga could only dream of doing for SRPGs.

I miss Exit Fate.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Saint Rubenio