Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Saint Rubenio]

7 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it because Maduro is enough of a dumbass to actually start seriously considering to take the Guyana Esequibo. They're holding referendums for now but I just know he knows his grip on the country is loosening and what better way to get it back than by taking land the government has considered their own for over a century.

This is literally just gonna be the Falklands War again if it escalates. Even though Guyana has nowhere near the military might of the UK, it'll still backfire hard because with what economy are you gonna wage a war with, Maduro? You cannot afford getting hit with Russia-level sanctions.

Bolded: Netanyahu moment. Actually uncanny how perfectly that line describes the current debacle overthere.

That being said, I agree with Acacia, it's probably just theatrics in Maduro's case. Probably. Venezuela is not Israel. If Venezuela rattles the status quo too much Maduro will be assassinated and replaced by a more suitable figurehead.

11 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Kaga is trying to copy Araki but missed the part where it has to be as gay as possible.

You say Araki like I'm supposed to know who that is. I mean I just googled it but I had no idea before.

Kaga would definitely benefit from finding out that gay people exist*. Seriously, dude's romances are so much more compelling when he has no idea he's writing a romance. Between two men.

* Some folks like to point out Marty's ending but considering his later, more personal (or in Vestaria's case, entirely personal, at least writing-wise) work has zero gay in it, I'm more inclined to believe that was slipped in by a nameless IntSys employee.

[Interdimensional Observer]

10 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That being said, I agree with Acacia, it's probably just theatrics in Maduro's case. Probably. Venezuela is not Israel. If Venezuela rattles the status quo too much Maduro will be assassinated and replaced by a more suitable figurehead.

By the US?

Eeeeeeeeeeh. I don't see it. Yes the US had historically done that kind of thing before, but I don't think anyone would want to now. Not to mention if the USA could've done it in Venezuela, it would've done it decades ago against Chavez, the charismatic leader who placed the country firmly on the Anti-American Axis of Evil.

[Interdimensional Observer]

• I told myself I should wait until it was ~$14.99 (was $20.09, normal price $29.99).
• I told myself to wait until it almost inevitably goes on sale on 🎄🎅🎁, to make it more special.
• I told myself I had no need to get it now.

But with barely 2 hours left on the sale, I caved.😆

The soul is weak. (The soul was also trying to justify this as an anti-depression buy a few days ago.) Shouldn't have excessively discussed this IRL with someone, they nudged me into just buying it, instead of overthinking everything. TBF, I prolly cost 'em more in holiday snacks a few days ago than this one game costs.😅

However, I have no intention of touching this game for quite some time. Gotta get through the thing to its immediate right first.😄

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Kaga would definitely benefit from finding out that gay people exist*. Seriously, dude's romances are so much more compelling when he has no idea he's writing a romance. Between two men.

It's kinda the shounen trap where the dynamics between men are written way better than the dynamics between a man and a woman. This is incredibly common, there are probably more Naruto/Sasuke steamy fanfics than Naruto/anyone else.

However, the average female shounen character is still more competent than the average Kaga female character.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

By the US?

Eeeeeeeeeeh. I don't see it. Yes the US had historically done that kind of thing before, but I don't think anyone would want to now. Not to mention if the USA could've done it in Venezuela, it would've done it decades ago against Chavez, the charismatic leader who placed the country firmly on the Anti-American Axis of Evil.

Thing with Chavez is that he was incredibly popular back in his day. Assassinating him would've caused massive unrest. Sure, hindsight is 20/20 and most Venezuelans wish Chavez never existed now but back then, the US wouldn't get away with it......I mean they would but it wouldn't be seen as "toppling a tyrannical dictator" like with Iran.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

But with barely 2 hours left on the sale, I caved.😆

Me reading this two hours later not realizing it was the deadline.

Eh, they'll probably make another one for Christmas.

[BrightBow]

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

It's kinda the shounen trap where the dynamics between men are written way better than the dynamics between a man and a woman. This is incredibly common, there are probably more Naruto/Sasuke steamy fanfics than Naruto/anyone else.

It's like the Awakening Robin x Chrom supports. The male Robin support is all about how much they mean to each other while the female Robin is just "Well, we have both seen each other naked and I threw a bunch of objects at you, so might as well marry."
One of them is way more romantic than the other and it's not the one that results in an S support.

Edited December 4, 2023 by BrightBow

[Saint Rubenio]

33 minutes ago, Armagon said:

It's kinda the shounen trap where the dynamics between men are written way better than the dynamics between a man and a woman. This is incredibly common, there are probably more Naruto/Sasuke steamy fanfics than Naruto/anyone else.

The fact that this is "incredibly common" is very sad.

34 minutes ago, Armagon said:

However, the average female shounen character is still more competent than the average Kaga female character.

That is true. I mean, I could whip up a bunch of examples of female characters in Kaga's games I like, but they're... definitely not "average", unfortunately.

[Armagon]

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The fact that this is "incredibly common" is very sad

For what it's worth, shounen has gotten much better at it. It's just that we're past the days of the super-long running shounen now. But back then, it was common for a female shounen character to just slowly fade away over time while the men take all the credit.

Although, people clown on Fairy Tail but ironically it's one of the few shounen during that era that treated the women on equal, sometimes even better standing than the men. Consistently. Uh, fan service aside.

Now shoujo on the other hand, that handled things more consistently.

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That is true. I mean, I could whip up a bunch of examples of female characters in Kaga's games I like, but they're... definitely not "average", unfortunately.

And you have to make sure Kaga doesn't notice them. Like with Hilda. Kaga realized he accidentally gave her agency so he had to take that away and that's why VS2 open up with Hilda thrown in a dungeon cell because reasons.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

It's kinda the shounen trap where the dynamics between men are written way better than the dynamics between a man and a woman. This is incredibly common, there are probably more Naruto/Sasuke steamy fanfics than Naruto/anyone else.

The classic shounen pairing I think is GokuxVegeta. I've flown past more than a few pieces of that randomly checking BL smut on Reddit. Also CloudxSephiroth which is very shounen too, but 🤮 to that one I say. Not all ten-sions🥰 make good relationship material.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Eh, they'll probably make another one for Christmas.

And that's why I was thinking of holding off. But the instant gratification of simply buying something NAO.😅

Black Friday sales for digital games... don't make the practical sense physical item sales do. You can't run out of digital copies (unless you're an MMO trying to prevent server overload, so I heard once), and the item gets shipped to your virtual doorstep in a matter of seconds. Having both BF and Xmas-NY's sales is kinda redundant with how close they are.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Me reading this two hours later not realizing it was the deadline.

Eternights the reviews said is only about 10 hours long (so it ought not to have the time-related problems you found with modern Persona). I could thoroughly run through it first and give you my opinion before you buy.

I know the critic reviews were pretty mixed, though player reviews seem to be better. Perhaps because the average critic is more of a general gamer I imagine, whereas Eternights caters to a specific niche, and that niche mostly writes the player stuff. 

I read all of the criticisms Eternights received. Visually not fully polished, cringey dialogue, not the most in-depth gameplay. But, I'll show some forgiveness for it having been developed by a single guy. And, I simply couldn't ignore the thing furthest to the left in the title art.🥰😝 I know I'm not alone in this.😆 Only one option, but I'll take it!😄 And one could very well be fine when I currently can't decide who to 💒 in RF5. My gut says Martin, but is he too vanilla an anime boy?🤔 Murakumo to change things up physically, and I keep laughing at the remote possibility of Hina saying "Uncle Ares".😄 Reinhart has surprisingly grown on me too. Can Marvelous reveal the Project Dragon bachelors right now so I can coordinate my 5 and RFPD choices?

Edited December 4, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[BrightBow]

3 minutes ago, Armagon said:

And you have to make sure Kaga doesn't notice them. Like with Hilda. Kaga realized he accidentally gave her agency so he had to take that away and that's why VS2 open up with Hilda thrown in a dungeon cell because reasons.

Because she kept fighting to protect her fellow mercs while everyone else was panicking, running or dying. I don't know, I thought that was pretty metal.

[Armagon]

16 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Eternights the reviews said is only about 10 hours long (so it ought not to have the time-related problems you found with modern Persona). I could thoroughly run through it first and give you my opinion before you buy.

Oh no, I meant, I didn't get anything from the sale at all. I don't have any interest in Not Persona but I hope you find it enjoyable.

[Saint Rubenio]

28 minutes ago, Armagon said:

For what it's worth, shounen has gotten much better at it. It's just that we're past the days of the super-long running shounen now. But back then, it was common for a female shounen character to just slowly fade away over time while the men take all the credit.

Although, people clown on Fairy Tail but ironically it's one of the few shounen during that era that treated the women on equal, sometimes even better standing than the men. Consistently. Uh, fan service aside.

I'm... aware of that series's existence. And, y'know, the loads of fanservice. Wouldn't have thought it'd take that for girls to be treated well in anime, but I suppose it's better than like, Naturo. I've heard girls in Naturo basically only exist to fall in love with Naturo and get beaten to shit lol

28 minutes ago, Armagon said:

And you have to make sure Kaga doesn't notice them. Like with Hilda. Kaga realized he accidentally gave her agency so he had to take that away and that's why VS2 open up with Hilda thrown in a dungeon cell because reasons.

Hilda in VS2 is such a fucking tragedy, seriously. She was so fucking cool and badass in VS1. When it ended I was fangirling over her and Siegfried and seething that I didn't get a resolution on their arc. Then the monkey's paw curled and VS2 gave her to me for three chapters, damselled the shit out of her on the sceond map and then hodgepodged a really hasty conclusion to the ship after she spent like 10 chapters offscreen finding the guy. And then didn't rejoin the army, because fuck it, no cool axe girl. Heck I'm thinking about it, I don't think there's any axe girls in VS2! Game still manages to not be a complete downgrade girls-wise because Penneloupe is awesome, but sheesh...

Also, I've mentioned it in the past but what you said is literally what happened to Orphelia. In VS1 she was a NPC that had a pretty nice interaction with Zade at one point, and I was like "hey I like this gal, I hope she's recruitable." Then in VS2 she joins the gang, but Kaga clearly couldn't give less of a crap about her because she barely does anything in the story... Which, of course, means she gets to sidestep the obligatory damselling. Woo.

[BrightBow]

6 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Also, I've mentioned it in the past but what you said is literally what happened to Orphelia. In VS1 she was a NPC that had a pretty nice interaction with Zade at one point, and I was like "hey I like this gal, I hope she's recruitable." Then in VS2 she joins the gang, but Kaga clearly couldn't give less of a crap about her because she barely does anything in the story... Which, of course, means she gets to sidestep the obligatory damselling. Woo.

No she didn't. Ophelia was captured and tortured by Lagniel until Troy saved her.

[Saint Rubenio]

34 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

No she didn't. Ophelia was captured and tortured by Lagniel until Troy saved her.

I completely forgot. That was entirely offscreen, wasn't it? I guess Penneloupe's the only good Vestaria girl, then.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Huh...

I’ve been curious how Valentine’s Day and White Day work out. The Japanese bifurcation of the holiday for romantic gift-giving has one little problem- it doesn’t account for queer love. Valentine’s is women-gifting-men, White is men-gifting-women. Nothing for people giving to the same sex (or non-binaries for that matter).

In the Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town remake, the girls show up and gift you Chocolate or Orangettes outside your house on Valentine’s Day. And the guys visit your house on White Day and give out Cookies or Chocolate Cookies. While the player can gift the guys on VDay and the girls on WDay. This was regardless of which gender you picked. A little odd, but then I suppose there’s no better solution if a game preserves this Japanese divide.

Rune Factory 5's solution... is make everyone (including non-bachelor/ettes) give out Cookies on Valentine's Day? And everyone eagerly awaits them too? *Checks to see what White Day is like.* ...Literally the same thing, not even a change in the festive gift?🤨 Redundant then. They could've handled the same-sex updating of these festivals better, and ought to have fixed the ❤️🤍 holiday situation in the next RF.

Apparently you can ask someone out on a date on these two holidays ...but you have to do it on the days right before. And you already have to be dating them first, which I'm not with all my heel-dragging.😅

Still, I like the dialogue.😀 Although the game doesn't stop you from picking the romantic choice with more than one person when giving a cookie to the bachelor/ettes. All it does apparently is give out a bigger affection boost than the friendzone choice. (And you can literally give the Cookies people give you right back to them and it'll count, I was foolish and baked a whole bunch not knowing this.😅)

 

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Oh no, I meant, I didn't get anything from the sale at all.

SORRY!😅🧎‍♂️ Now I feel like an idiot for writing all that.😆

Edited December 4, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Codename Shrimp]

I need a vacation

Edited December 4, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Wouldn't have thought it'd take that for girls to be treated well in anime, but I suppose it's better than like, Naturo. I've heard girls in Naturo basically only exist to fall in love with Naturo and get beaten to shit lol

The fan service is what has gotten in the way of noticing but when you compare it to other battle shounen at the time (One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, etc), Fairy Tail's female characters actually matter in like the long run. I mean for starters, it's a battle shounen where the main team isn't a sausage fest and the female characters more often than not end up saving the day more than the guys iirc.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hilda in VS2 is such a fucking tragedy, seriously. She was so fucking cool and badass in VS1. When it ended I was fangirling over her and Siegfried and seething that I didn't get a resolution on their arc. Then the monkey's paw curled and VS2 gave her to me for three chapters, damselled the shit out of her on the sceond map and then hodgepodged a really hasty conclusion to the ship after she spent like 10 chapters offscreen finding the guy. And then didn't rejoin the army, because fuck it, no cool axe girl. Heck I'm thinking about it, I don't think there's any axe girls in VS2! Game still manages to not be a complete downgrade girls-wise because Penneloupe is awesome, but sheesh...

Kaga when he sees a woman who has agency

 

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Rune Factory 5's solution... is make everyone (including non-bachelor/ettes) give out Cookies on Valentine's Day?

I have heard that RF5 does get to a point where all romancable characters do have "intimate" dialogue when their friend points are high. Not like actually intimate but enough that the "I'm interested" switch triggers in them.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

SORRY!😅🧎‍♂️ Now I feel like an idiot for writing all that.😆

Nah it's fine.

45 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

I need a vacation

I'd say go watch Godzilla: Peak One but I actually don't know if Germany's got screenings.

[Codename Shrimp]

3 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I'd say go watch Godzilla: Peak One but I actually don't know if Germany's got screenings.

We do, but only late night ones at specific days.

[Armagon]

5 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

specific days.

Oof.

[Codename Shrimp]

29 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Oof.

starting 23:00 as well

Which means i will be home at like 2:00 am xD

..which i have no problems with tbh, but eh...

Will see if i can get some friends to go watch together or something.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Interdimensional Observer]

27 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I have heard that RF5 does get to a point where all romancable characters do have "intimate" dialogue when their friend points are high. Not like actually intimate but enough that the "I'm interested" switch triggers in them.

-Although, succubus. She was only at 4 LP.😄 (And NGL, the writing was good for this moment.)

Nothing else from anyone else, all in the 5-(barely) 7 range. Other than the above, Livia has one thought to herself. And there was this from 'kumo.:

...But it's just an embarrassed nudge from him, not the same as flirtation.

[Armagon]

 

30 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Although, succubus. She was only at 4 LP.😄 (And NGL, the writing was good for this moment.)

I've always wondered what happens if you actually use the Love Potion on someone. 

[Armagon]

>GTA6

>Florida Man simulator

[Acacia Sgt]

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

Kaga when he sees a woman who has agency

Clearly, Caeda and NES!Celica hogged all the agency and left scraps for the rest of them to fight for.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

I've always wondered what happens if you actually use the Love Potion on someone. 

Hmm...

Spoiler

You made me drug a little girl Armagon.

*Cough*

...The reactions are similar, yet varied. As seen from many reloads.:

• Four to seven people seem to find it tasty, yet appear to be immune to its amorous effects.
• Two individuals know it's a Love Potion, one of whom then chooses not to drink it.
  • Everyone else just thinks Ares/Alice is giving them a refreshing drink, not realizing what it is.
    • I ain't gonna sugarcoat it, this is noncon.😐
• Many feel a burst of love for Ares/Alice.
  • Some feel embarrassed about it and say little.
  • Some speak that Ares/Alice is shining brightly from their visual perspective. 
  • Three individuals go so far as to outright say to the effect  "I love you".
• Overflowing with energy is another sensation experienced via the Love Potion. Very possibly due to the reported quickened heart.

Now, as an FP/LP booster... I didn't keep track of that.😅 But I don't think it's super effective. I assume cheap gifts will always win out in practice.

I screenshotted everyone's dialogue if you're curious.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Aw yeah, Castagnier is in FEH!