Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Codename Shrimp]

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Maybe this was bound to happen to someone who chose the highest difficulty first time? Increased the likelihood you would eventually hit a hellish map.

yh rub it on me will ya xD

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Though I doubt it has seriously affected your opinion of the game, given how much you were enjoying it before, I imagine you've rolled with it.😀

yh pretty much. I just am a little bit annoyed because this is legit the first map that i think is unfair. Wether surprise changes without giving me a turn, or the no Ko condition with bosses with insta ko attacks, or 4 turn limit to kill 3 bosses which i had to bust super rare regen item for...twice. It was just...nope. I hope no more of that

...although i did hear of one really hell-ish map that shuould come while i am Radiant Historia'ing

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

ButterfliesxPsychology. Name an insect that goes better with the inner workings of the human mind.🦋🧠😛

I am just wondering why the inner mind is a puzzle map xD

Edited June 12 by Codename Shrimp

[Interdimensional Observer]

18 minutes ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Wether surprise changes without giving me a turn, or the no Ko condition with bosses with insta ko attacks, or 4 turn limit to kill 3 bosses which i had to bust super rare regen item for...twice. It was just...nope. I hope no more of that

...Yeah.😮

18 minutes ago, Codename Shrimp said:

...although i did hear of one really hell-ish map that shuould come while i am Radiant Historia'ing

Sounds probable. When you're trying to find the razor-thin path of light through time, the likelihood of ending up in nightmare conflicts is nonzero.

18 minutes ago, Codename Shrimp said:

I am just wondering why the inner mind is a puzzle map xD

Willpower and courage are things yes, but since when does one tackle their internal struggles with guns blazing? Ignore all the video games/pop entertainment stories, where indeed, you immaterially cut down menaces of the mind. 

[Capt. Fargus]

28 minutes ago, Lightcosmo said:

As stated above, you should be able by clicking in twice. I believe doing so only once allows for item organisation?

 

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

 

You can. Just go to items and select the item twice (once is if you want to change weapon/shield mid-battle, if I recall). If you want to use equipped ones, press up at the top of the item list.

Thank you both

I was only hittin it once and wonderin why nothings happening Lol 

Then I read somewhere that only worked if it was equipped 🤔

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, Codename Shrimp said:

I am just wondering why the inner mind is a puzzle map xD

At least it's not a spilling carton of milk.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Sure, I'd be fine adding Mexico. The Aztecs are inevitably going to feature too b/c they're too well-known and haven't skipped a game. But if Canada can make it in, no reason Mexico can't.

Redundancy? If they already had the likes of Gran Colombia...

I don't play Civ, but I will admit I would like to see Mexico get in there someday.

Actually, I remember once talking with someone here (as in, Serenes, not TeeHee) about a hypothetical Mex Civ.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Helps that Gundam Wing is pretty ordinary, it doesn't need anything imposed on the world lorewise to fit it in. -Though then I think of Dancouga in J, and that SRW could simply brush Muge and Muge Space out of existence.

 Good points BTW!😃

Yeah, more so if it's EW. TV series does need a more complex set-up. Which makes me wonder if that's why it's not used as often. Even D started almost by the end. It took until Z2 for TV Wing to be used again from start to finish.

And that's true. Sometimes SRW only uses the license partially. The most well known example is with Daitarn 3, but we do have other cases like Dancougar in J, yes. And some other games too. Though the Muge did showed up in Alpha 3, in Alpha 1 we only had the Shapiro subplot, as he joins the Aerogaters/ZeBalmary in there.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Certainly wouldn't have one issue that gasoline submarines had. The air permeated with engine fumes; the submersible's internal heat meeting the cold water outside, resulting in "sweat" along the walls and ceiling of the submarine. When the sweat mixed with the gas vapors, you'd see little puddles of petrol pooling atop your coffee and soup.😋 

Oh, interesting. Well, either way, that's not an issue when going to space either. Which is one of the major differences. Water gets to act as a heat conduit, something space can't since there's not much of anything there for the heat to transfer to.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Mazinkaiser W Mode!🤪

Oh lol, true. W = Double. It never occurred to me that could be why it has both attacks!

Despite, you know, that being the reason for the two-part structure too.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Here's your answer.😉:

🍿

Oh, NEO, huh.

I'll admit, the FDS I only ever associated with classic Getter and Mazinger, so I didn't expect that any other version would get to participate too. It certainly has never been a thing since we had Getter Robo Armageddon and Shin Mazinger as the mainstays.

Seeing it in R and D... I'll admit, I forgot it was also in those. Which proves how wrong I was about it being exclusive to the classic versions, hahaha.

Oh, Z1 also had Gaizock/ComputerDoll8 present and fightable? I thought Compact2/Impact was its only appearance. Interesting.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Should I blame the pandemic? Or maybe there's another reason for that. With Shin Getter Dragon, 30 would've brought something special to its rendition. Think that Grendizer U thing you posted about once before could be the reason behind a new FDS?

The pandemic certainly affected 30's development. And also T to a lesser extent (no PC port because of the pandemic, for example).

Actually... ah, here it is.

https://pastebin.com/LTmADucX

Datamined stuff from 30. I got it wrong, it's not the Final... but rather called True Dynamic Special. Or New Dynamic Special? It uses the Shin kanji, at least. What does True would've meant to be different from Final? Who knows.

Also... huh. The datamine includes mentions of Gundam ZZ and Domon. Though I think those might be holdovers from T that got left in the data. Either that or were considered additional DLC additions.

Actually, it seems it is holdover data from the entire VTX trilogy. I also saw Harlock and Haman in the data list. And also about the V and X OG's.

54 minutes ago, Capt. Fargus said:

Thank you both

I was only hittin it once and wonderin why nothings happening Lol 

Then I read somewhere that only worked if it was equipped 🤔

I think I have read that one of the games' remake did made that change, but I don't remember if it was with any version of IV.

Edited June 12 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

lol, I remember this.

 

[Armagon]

Playing Xenoblade 1 and 2 at the same time is such a strange experience. I know i've said it before but it does highlight how fundamentally different Xenoblade 1's approach to storytelling is compared to the rest of the series. Love it but man, it just makes me like 2 more lol.

Anyway

[Interdimensional Observer]

Scenario 39 completed. Kazuma in his ship log mentioned another thing that was learned on the other route, Akito had been captured, experimented on, and lost his sense of taste, a terrible fate for a chef. Yeesh, suffering for him and Yurika alike indeed.😒 Blue Cosmos was going to be given Chidori and Tessa, but the Martian Successors forked out more money for them instead, treating humans like chattel. Kazuma was then introduced to Closeau and placed his training regiment, having spent the first half of the game under Mao's & Noin's, something lighter. And so was yet another round of "let's find some pretty ladies!" dialogue by Kurz, Saburota, and other flirtatious men -these are getting a little tiring for all their frequency.

The battle began with a duel between Tekkaman Blade and the new Tekkaman Dead, who apparently showed up on the other route having been made an Armed Tekkaman by the Amalgam organization, but now choosing to join the Radam. After seeing what happens after a few turns, I reset and slapped a +20 Hit part and Flight Module on Blade, which allowed him in two Valored Focused Tek Lancers plus a third as a counter to defeat the 14k HP Dead, thereby securing me the Lifter Module it was carrying. Blade, with his body approaching its limits, was then defeated in front of the rest of the freshly-deployed heroes.

After Dead departed, it was a pack of the Radam minions. They're very easy to slay by now, thought the Alien Tekkamen can be pretty dodgy, and a few get those alien mounts forcing me to kill them twice. The Radam brought out the Evoluted , whose Eids upon dead now reveal Eid IIs (with a vicious cliff-jump attack animation) inside, though they're still easy to squish. Yoko Mitsurugi took the field here for her third time, she already had 14 kills, more than the ten she needs for her secret, but I got her a few more anyhow, it was very easy. A few Radam and Evoluted later, as the game was foreshadowing in this chapter's opening and throughout, Tomoru gets thrown into danger, and...

...At last I get Orgun. -Or not because he didn't join just yet. Nonetheless, I'm sure he will very soon. No Ankh Attack as the bluish original had, but this replica Solid Armor somehow containing the original Orgun's soul, is still good. I let him him solo the northern Eid reinforcements for two turns to rack up a few kills.

Overall, a filler & introduction battle. No leadership barring the Dead duel, simply grunts.

Afterwards, the heroes can't find Blade, yet the Serpent's Tail has, and so has Balzac. Possibility of the mercs joining Neue Warter in the foreseeable future, or at least they'll hand over Blade. Sounded like there was maybe an ASTRAY encounter at Orb I missed? Or maybe stuff simply happened offscreen.

Now it'll be off to space again, first the GGG Orbit Base with Tomoru in tow, then maybe Mars to attempt a rescue from the Martian Successors. Guy is a forced deploy on the next map, so I assume that we'll be moving the story of GGG Final forward with the demise of the one Bionet baddy before.

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I'll admit, the FDS I only ever associated with classic Getter and Mazinger, so I didn't expect that any other version would get to participate too. It certainly has never been a thing since we had Getter Robo Armageddon and Shin Mazinger as the mainstays.

The above video is also missing the GC version. It's the loneliest FDS ever, only Mazinkaiser and Shin Getter Robo, and Mazinkaiser uses the Fire Blaster instead of the Kaiser Blade. XO fixed this egregious mistake by adding Tetsuya to it and making it more interesting in general.

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Oh, interesting. Well, either way, that's not an issue when going to space either. Which is one of the major differences.

I've heard tortillas are popular in space nowadays.🌮 Bread is very crumbly, tortillas (flour and not corn I presume?) not so much, can't have food particles freely floating around in 0G. NASA in the 1960s tried making crumb-free bread (and other foods) by dehydrating and compressing it into cubes and then coating them in a layer of starch. The texture was awful and so was the taste -yet it still was regarded as tasting better than the food paste tubes of the 1950s. Thankfully we are long past those early days of space food now.😄

Another eating in space tidbit- the Apollo astronauts had food bars placed in the neck-rings inside their helmets. If you bent your neck forward, you'd be able to have a bite mid-moonwalk. Some complained though of the food bars being annoying to try eating, and getting them smeared on their chins unable to wipe it off for hours (b/c you take off your helmet in the vacuum of space to wipe your face, you die). Complaints were purportedly made of the drinking straws too, and if they leaked water into your helmet ...risk of drowning.😐

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Datamined stuff from 30. I got it wrong, it's not the Final... but rather called True Dynamic Special. Or New Dynamic Special? It uses the Shin kanji, at least. What does True would've meant to be different from Final? Who knows.

Banpresto almost got the OK from Sunrise to let Amuro in on it so we'd have an SRW Founding Trinity combination attack instead. Fin Funnels make great covering fire.

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Also... huh. The datamine includes mentions of Gundam ZZ and Domon. Though I think those might be holdovers from T that got left in the data. Either that or were considered additional DLC additions.

Actually, it seems it is holdover data from the entire VTX trilogy. I also saw Harlock and Haman in the data list. And also about the V and X OG's.

Is it okay for Banpresto to be so messy? Are they sure they can't be sued if somebody finds out?

[Acacia Sgt]

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

...At last I get Orgun. -Or not because he didn't join just yet. Nonetheless, I'm sure he will very soon. No Ankh Attack as the bluish original had, but this replica Solid Armor somehow containing the original Orgun's soul, is still good. I let him him solo the northern Eid reinforcements for two turns to rack up a few kills.

Oh, finally, huh. Even if momentarily.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The above video is also missing the GC version. It's the loneliest FDS ever, only Mazinkaiser and Shin Getter Robo, and Mazinkaiser uses the Fire Blaster instead of the Kaiser Blade. XO fixed this egregious mistake by adding Tetsuya to it and making it more interesting in general.

Oh, now that does sound weird. Good for XO.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I've heard tortillas are popular in space nowadays.🌮 Bread is very crumbly, tortillas (flour and not corn I presume?) not so much, can't have food particles freely floating around in 0G. NASA in the 1960s tried making crumb-free bread (and other foods) by dehydrating and compressing it into cubes and then coating them in a layer of starch. The texture was awful and so was the taste -yet it still was regarded as tasting better than the food paste tubes of the 1950s. Thankfully we are long past those early days of space food now.😄

Oh yeah, had heard about the tortillas for space food before, heh. Thanks to our very first astronaut.

Yeah, I believe they do make them out of flour, the ones meant to be eaten up there. And yeah, lack of crumbs, easier to carry more for (as they're much thinner than bread slices and more flexible), etc. It proved a much better option.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Another eating in space tidbit- the Apollo astronauts had food bars placed in the neck-rings inside their helmets. If you bent your neck forward, you'd be able to have a bite mid-moonwalk. Some complained though of the food bars being annoying to try eating, and getting them smeared on their chins unable to wipe it off for hours (b/c you take off your helmet in the vacuum of space to wipe your face, you die). Complaints were purportedly made of the drinking straws too, and if they leaked water into your helmet ...risk of drowning.😐

Interesting. It just shows you just how thorough you must be when it comes to space travel.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Banpresto almost got the OK from Sunrise to let Amuro in on it so we'd have an SRW Founding Trinity combination attack instead. Fin Funnels make great covering fire.

Man, how long I wished such a combination attack could exist. They've never dare to do cross combination attacks. When it does happen, it's between series who are part of the same "franchise" anyway (Like Combattler and Voltes, or Daitarn and Zambot). I think the closest we ever got was the R-1 and Cybuster having one in the Dreamcast version of Alpha 1. Sure, both are OG, but even within OG they also stick to their own. So Alteisen and Weiss Ritter, both from Compact 2 / Impact, can have a combination attack, but not Alteisen and, say, the Granteed, as its from J.

Considering DD has experimented often with cross-piloting, I hope they dare take the next step and do a cross combination attack next.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Is it okay for Banpresto to be so messy? Are they sure they can't be sued if somebody finds out?

Well, unused stuff still in the data is nothing new. I guess so long it's not actually used, then it's fine. The data seems to be just a list of event flags, no sprites or voices or anything, so it's probably fine in the first place.

Come to think of it, the Gundam Sentinel stuff in the data of Alpha 2 and 3 would be another example. But no issues arose from that, either.

[Interdimensional Observer]

56 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Oh, finally, huh. Even if momentarily.

It's 39 missions in, and only now I'm close to getting the protagonist.⌛ ...Okay, that's probably partly why the original/blue Orgun was temporarily playable throughout the first half, as a nugget of something. (And I could imagine that Orgun's first half appearances didn't copy any actual moments from the three-part OVA itself.)

At least with Kira, one of the other two missing leads, I get it that SEED has been relegated to the background ...I predict maybe until Spitbreak. A major issue with Kira is the Archangel being shackled to the Earth Alliance that the other heroes know is bad. Once they've been backstabbed at Alaska, they'll flee to Orb, it gets invaded, and they'll have no choice but to seek refuge in Neue Warter I'm sounding like a villain laying out a trap writing it like this. -Akito was playable all through his happy days, so I don't find his playable absence in the second half to leave me impatient.

I just need to keep things in perspective, Zeorymer doesn't permanently join until its story is finished in MX (albeit that apparently is scenario 29, so still earlier than Tomoru-Orgun). And there's always Betterman.😛

56 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Man, how long I wished such a combination attack could exist. They've never dare to do cross combination attacks. When it does happen, it's between series who are part of the same "franchise" anyway (Like Combattler and Voltes, or Daitarn and Zambot). I think the closest we ever got was the R-1 and Cybuster having one in the Dreamcast version of Alpha 1. Sure, both are OG, but even within OG they also stick to their own. So Alteisen and Weiss Ritter, both from Compact 2 / Impact, can have a combination attack, but not Alteisen and, say, the Granteed, as its from J.

Funny you pick Alteisen, when 2nd OG threw Ariel of Real Robot Regiment on Team ATX to freshen it up. And then gave her Flickerel Geist a combination attack with Alteisen- E.D.N.. Which they then proceeded to nerf in Moon Dwellers, possibly because it was stronger than Rampage Ghost. Speaking of, since in the OGverse the Alt & Weiss inspired the designs of the 'falken & 'wuerger, we should have RGxTBS, I heard of that idea a great many years ago.

56 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Considering DD has experimented often with cross-piloting, I hope they dare take the next step and do a cross combination attack next.

Agreed, what's the harm in it?😄 Them suits allow SRW to do ridiculous things with their characters in the first place, how's a cross-combination attack a bridge too far?😝

Now have DD bring back Tekkaman Blade and give me Claymore Voltekka, if it doesn't break your speakers you get 50 free gatcha pulls.

Edited June 12 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It's 39 missions in, and only now I'm close to getting the protagonist.⌛ ...Okay, that's probably partly why the original/blue Orgun was temporarily playable throughout the first half, as a nugget of something. (And I could imagine that Orgun's first half appearances didn't copy any actual moments from the three-part OVA itself.)

At least with Kira, one of the other two missing leads, I get it that SEED has been relegated to the background ...I predict maybe until Spitbreak. A major issue with Kira is the Archangel being shackled to the Earth Alliance that the other heroes know is bad. Once they've been backstabbed at Alaska, they'll flee to Orb, it gets invaded, and they'll have no choice but to seek refuge in Neue Warter I'm sounding like a villain laying out a trap writing it like this. -Akito was playable all through his happy days, so I don't find his playable absence in the second half to leave me impatient.

I just need to keep things in perspective, Zeorymer doesn't permanently join until its story is finished in MX (albeit that apparently is scenario 29, so still earlier than Tomoru-Orgun). And there's always Betterman.😛

Indeed. lol

Though, to be fair, in the original Betterman anime the protagonist was Keita, not Lamia. Still, the fact he is the one the anime is named after makes it weird that he was not playable... but then, that was kinda his role anyway. Show up, help out, then leave. Like Tobikage, except not ridiculously OP that you feared being robbed of the EXP and money. XD

But the fact that in 30 he's not playable until waaaaaaaay late, and then optional to boot, just makes it even more jarring.

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Funny you pick Alteisen, when 2nd OG threw Ariel of Real Robot Regiment on Team ATX to freshen it up. And then gave her Flickerel Geist a combination attack with Alteisen- E.D.N.. Which they then proceeded to nerf in Moon Dwellers, possibly because it was stronger than Rampage Ghost. Speaking of, since in the OGverse the Alt & Weiss inspired the designs of the 'falken & 'wuerger, we should have RGxTBS, I heard of that idea a great many years ago.

Oh, really? Well, guess they are taking the steps already, then.

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Agreed, what's the harm in it?😄 Them suits allow SRW to do ridiculous things with their characters in the first place, how's a cross-combination attack a bridge too far?😝

If it does end up happening, that'd certainly be the day, heh.

[Eltosian Kadath]

17 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

 

Also I don't why only Order got its name changed to what it's supposed to represent but that aside, I'm reminded how Freedom, this game's stand in for liberalism, is the only ideology that isn't recommended for a domination victory.

You know, liberalism.

They really drank the US is definitely the good guys just "policing" the world Koolaide with that implication. Hell just calling it "freedom" is already hinting at that.

 

16 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

 

Yet, even then we have Denmark in V/Norway in VI as an all-war European civ, leader included. And at the same time, VI tried branching out with a rather peaceful-looking Kublai Khan for Mongolia & China, whose leader ability leaned towards economics, not so much war.

It is a cool idea to try and capture the feel of the Pax Mongolica that empire ushered in, instead of just the conquests of Temujin.

 

8 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Butterfly effect

Philemon?

 

7 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Oh, interesting. Well, either way, that's not an issue when going to space either. Which is one of the major differences. Water gets to act as a heat conduit, something space can't since there's not much of anything there for the heat to transfer to.

That leads to a different technical issue of how do you then deal with all that heat you are generating in the spacecraft before all the humans and technology with the thing roasts.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Scenario 40 for the morning. And indeed GaoGaiGar Final kicks things off. And what a better -if perhaps overused- dramatic trick in a sequel, then to have a once-beloved good guy become a bad guy without immediate explanation!😛 (And Tekka Hive has left for some reason, while Tekka Sommer continues a conversation with the one they didn't realize was Dead back on the Orb split that I missed. Tomoru also gets talked at to try compelling him into joining sooner or later. Ruri called in a favor, and Hikaru and Izumi should be coming back soon, and Prospector already has. Kazuma wrote in his ship log about ZAFT's signs of preparing for Spitbreak, yet states Neue Warter is officially uninvolved in the Earth-ZAFT war.)

The battle of this episode begins with Guy vs. Mamoru, soon joined by J. They both drop parts, and Mamoru has the +2 Range part, which GaoFighGar would really really like to fix its one problem. GoLion returns on turn 2, and reveals that while in the Leo Union, Mamoru attacked them so it must be the Darksphere at play then. Lion-linked-licenses-luminously-lunge-as-legion!🦁😄 Coveting those parts and concerned if enough turns pass the plot will end this battle for me and deny me those parts, I'm willing to pop Valor + Hell & Heaven (including another H&H as a counterattack on the enemy phase), I take down Mamoru (22k HP) first in case it's an either-or here. King J-Der has 28k, but two Spirits + Valor for a Ten Kings' Sword paired with more H&H sinks that ship too. Afterwards, the returned Kaido explains these were copies and gets rid of them both. -Rarely do these "sequel shocking "betrayals"" turn out to be either true betrayals or all that great, right?🤔

The Galrans led by Sincline then attack, having allied with the 11 Sol Masters Kaido mentioned. This is a separate battle from the 2v2, so Guy and Kogane have had everything of both of them fully replenished, I hoping for this, though prepared I was in case I'd exhausted their SP for the entire scenario. The rest of the heroes arrive on the turn next and deploy too, Mic Sounders XIII among them once more. -But as soon as they do, the Database led by Aria arrives. A triple alliance of Galra-Sol Masters-Database, not the most obvious sounding of ententes.

I left the Guard-spamming Golion and Guy mostly alone to fight the Galran forces in the south, including their new but unremarkable Mechablack Beastmen, I choose to prioritize the Database to the west instead. The Opus drone fighters of the Database were fought once in the first half, but only now do I notice their Accuracy debuff. As these deal juuuuust enough damage to get over Koji's S Barrier, he finds them very annoying, as does Valguard. But like mosquitoes the Opuses are annoying yet almost harmless. Aria has just below 40k HP, and all her attacks have debuffs, but she's no real threat either and she gets a Valor'ed Kaiser Nova for debuffing Mazinkaiser and a like two other things before the killing blow going to Kazuma, Original bad guys get finished by Originals. Applicant then shows up with Regulate in their battleship and drop Kazuma (probably meant the Valhawk had I not combined for the Valguard) to like 700 HP and then warp out with Aria's successful escape. No risk of game over, all the Opuses were already destroyed, and Akane freely casts a 20k HP Guts on the next turn, I feel like a boss doing that. 

I finish the map by sinking Sincline and his two other Galran battleships, his has 60k HP, the other two 28k each, yet no MAPs nor anything else of remotest notability. Come back next time with a demon dragon lion robot prince lusty!😝 -Attacking him with Shin Getter triggered dialogue that I'm 85% certain was a same-VA joke with Classic Ryoma. He dropped an M Barrier, which I do veeeeeeeery much appreciate. I'll swap Mazinkaisers S for the M, and past the S to Getter. The other two contenders for future Barrier parts are GoLion and Valguard, though the latter can get by just fine with 20k HP + three sub-pilots who separately provide Guard, Guts, and Vigor.😀 If Val' is to get a barrier, I'll wait on the final form and have the barrier replace the +100 EN part, I can use its Favorites status to give it that same +100 EN via the five upgrade slots, a barrier would be 👌 on this busted Banpresto masterpiece. 

The episode's post-battle dialogue delves sees Kaido give a full explanation of what transpired elsewhere in the universe and what the Q-Parts are. First it was an anti-stress program terribly awry, now it's a system-restoration system without morals, the GGG world needs to learn to review its AI coding. -Except for the Super AIs, they're good. Neue Warter then concludes all the information they've learned needs to be report directly, so we're heading to Alaska after all.🙄 At least we'll be there by complete coincidence, not because AzBert put us there, I like this better. Then, unexpectedly, I'm shown Kira having ascended to a heavenly PLANT after he had his body rest three days in his watery tomb. Freedom shall be mine! Nooooo dozens of chapters spent using the dishwater-dull Strike, I don't regret one iota "missing" out on that in W -if only the Strike's upgrades had passed on to the Freedom.

This wordy chapter conclusion (so much to take in) concludes with the Database members chatting amongst themselves in what -given the backdrop of binary code- must be their headquarters. Aria is mercifully dismissed, and Applicant, stated as the one responsible for maintenance on these ...whatever they are Database people... declares that he shall deploy in their next mission (if it's Alaska, well Fu-Lu Mu-Lu warped in there in J). The 11 Sol Masters and Honerva and Emperor Dai-Bazaal show up in the Database base and they discuss their alliance. The Galrans shall rule the world, the Sol Masters shall restore their Trinary Star System, the Recorders of Knowledge shall record everything; they are united by: a common enemy in Neue Warter (plus the Radam and Evoluted), and their lack of goal-overlap (only one of them wants to -at least on the surface- rule the universe). The second thing is some logic for sure.

 

7 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

They really drank the US is definitely the good guys just "policing" the world Koolaide with that implication. Hell just calling it "freedom" is already hinting at that.

I don't think Civ meant it like that. Yet when we envision what democracy should be, it's peaceful and respectful of all human rights. That isn't the case at all with fascism; and with communism while such a utopian ideal exists, it sure hasn't seemed as remotely feasible IRL as it has been with representative liberal democracy (despite its own seriously flawed record).

It's also a matter of Civ V gameplay balance, which has inevitably will have some disconnect with historical reality.

• Freedom already gets great economic/scientific/cultural/diplomatic bonuses, it needs a weakness among the three Ideologies to balance it out. Lacking almost anything in military boosts is just that.
• Autocracy by contrast is almost purely war-oriented. Even one of its two cultural boosts is war-derived, and its special way to win a Diplomatic Victory is by surrounding city-states with troops to pressure them into become allies (the Gunboat Diplomacy tenet).
• And Order gets mostly economic/scientific/cultural bonuses, none diplomatic. These aren't the same as Freedom's peaceful boosts and works better for a different type of empire -a wider empire (more cities, each less developed) than Freedom's tall empire (fewer cities, more development/population in each).
  • The military bonuses of Order aren't actually all that many. The only one of true aggressive significance turns out to be the Iron Curtain tenet, which simply makes swallowing rapid conquests easier. It doesn't actually help you conquer those cities in the first place.
  • Order ends up being great for war, only if you've already research/production/money resources to wage it well. Whereas Autocracy can help any player no matter their scoreboard position attempt world domination.

[Acacia Sgt]

20 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

-Rarely do these "sequel shocking "betrayals"" turn out to be either true betrayals or all that great, right?🤔

Hmm... maybe? Still, I'd prefer that over true betrayals.

20 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

-Attacking him with Shin Getter triggered dialogue that I'm 85% certain was a same-VA joke with Classic Ryoma.

I mentioned this before, actually, but yes, they do have the same VA, heh.

20 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

...whatever they are Database people...

There's a bit of interesting trivia behind the generic Database mooks. But it'd be spoilers to tell now, I think.

20 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The Galrans shall rule the world, the Sol Masters shall restore their Trinary Star System, the Recorders of Knowledge shall record everything; they are united by: a common enemy in Neue Warter (plus the Radam and Evoluted), and their lack of goal-overlap (only one of them wants to -at least on the surface- rule the universe). The second thing is some logic for sure.

Gotta be a catch somewhere, huh.

[Codename Shrimp]

 

quite like the look of this

[GuardianSing]

18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The Mongol Empire of old was the world's largest contiguous land empire though. That's a not-insignificant claim to fame in history.

Oh for sure, I understand why, but there's something to be said about what Civ considers to be a significant claim to fame in history and how many times for one Civ they repeat that same claim. Going back to Germany, Civ implies several different aspects of Germany just in both five and six alone, the Holy Roman Empire, the Hanseatic league, the era of militaristic Prussia, the unification of the modern German state, and the modern concept of the FRG being a very industrial productive country.

Not to mention the Roman Empire and how Byzantium gets to be it's own separate Civ, which is one of the only times Civ has ever made a separate Civ out of what was essentially the medieval version of another Civ (I'm still salty about it's last minute inclusion in six) I wouldn't say that type of inclusion is undeserving, but it does show a bias when they could very well do the same thing with even more justification for say China or Arabia, places in which the continuity in Civ's eyes is more about the culture and ~vibes~ than specific bloodlines or political ties.

They've definitely been getting better at it in recent years, what with Kublai Khan for Mongolia and adding more city infrastructure abilities for the Aztecs, but I still think there is a bit more to be desired, which is a consequence of the game's roster being 2 to 1 European.

A more modern take of Egypt would be fun I think, and we desperately need more Southern African Civs, Shaka Zulu has been the only one since game 1.

Also on the topic of Civ never having a communist state, I had a thought about how many of the government structures in six are actually represented.

The first governmental structures are incredibly vague with the exception of Classical Republic. Autocracy and Oligarchy could apply to many of the representative Civs depending on how you define those terms. The civilopedia isn't talking about classical versions of those concepts so we pretty much just have to take them broadly. Classical Republic is pretty much only represented through Athenian Greece, The Cree, and maybe The Maori and Phoenicia.

In the medieval era you get Merchant Republic, Monarchy, and Theocracy. Most civs in the game are Monarchs and to my knowledge there isn't any Merchant Republics now that Venice is gone. I don't think there are any Theocracies either unless you count places like England for being technically Theocracies because capital G God is the one who appoints the monarchs.

After that is communism, democracy, and fascism, and yeah there aren't a lot of modern leaders but of the ones that exist there are zero communists and fascists. The only democracies are America, Australia, Gran Colombia, and Canada, and maybe India under Gandhi? Guy never held office obviously but nonetheless existed at a time when India was united under a representative democracy.

Side note, the Civilopedia entry for Communism is hilariously long compared to the entries for all other government forms.

18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Tomyris at least is portrayed more as an honorable warrior than a brutal conqueror. And as for the Huns, I've heard it argued they were a bad choice for a civ in Civ anyhow, we're not even sure where they came from (the Xiongnu hypothesis I've heard is quite problematic), and they left little behind, and their one big famous thing was the short-lived Attila. The Scythians were an improvement on that, and at least they have the Kurgans as something not-military.

We did have a Samarkand city-state in Civ VI, but I think we could use a full-on sedentary Central Eurasian civ (Sogdia, Greco-Bactria?). Civ has also struggled with representing the lifestyle of nomadic peoples- the franchise has been since its inception built around the sedentary city. If they could come up with a solution for that, a peaceful nomad civ could be very fun.

Central Asia for sure needs more love. Afghanistan would be a fun addition I think. 

Africa in general also could use a lot more since a lot of it feels very token at the moment, basically having one for each geographical axis with the exception of north having 2 with Egypt and Nubia. I would say Carthage but in six they're represented as Phoenicia which is more in the Levant region.

10 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

They really drank the US is definitely the good guys just "policing" the world Koolaide with that implication. Hell just calling it "freedom" is already hinting at that.

Six does it bad too by simply calling it "Democracy"

It's weird, six and five has this weird reverse situation where the names for ideologies in five sound more like government structures while the names for governments in six sound more like ideologies. 

In six they don't really account for how a communist state can also be democratic or how Fascism has historically risen up from democracies.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Scenario 41 bagged. Alaska it was, everything perfectly not normal as it should be. Intro began with the Radam this time and Dead actually interacting with the non-Blade II Radam Tekkamen, interesting. And Kira assisted by the Junkmen's rebuilt ReHOME ship, Serpent's Tail, and Balzac escapes to Earth with the Freedom aware of what's about to unfold, so this was Balzac's earlier request to Mr. Murakumo. At Anchorage, the feeling that something is amiss is accompanied by ASTRAY characters and some Orgun talk too. This Ripper guy doesn't sound psychotic at all, thankfully, or so it seems at least. And the Earth Alliance is very unequal with the Atlantic Federation holding unequal power and favoring itself over everyone else -a tale as old as the Delian League. Kazuma talks with Flay again and catches up on what happened aboard the Archangel, she was going to apologize to Sai for the breakup -but Le Creuset catches her accidentally finding him.

For the battle, it's less epically SEEDy than before. The initial ZAFT enemies are all I get of them this time, and none of them drop parts except for Yzak (I don't think he was at Alaska in J?), whose defeat (twice b/c Assault Shroud) is the starting objective here. Nicol is apparently dead, though Miguel who I recall died quite some time ago in J is alive here with his shiny orange GINN, which is nice thing apparently brought in from ASTRAY, since in J he felt like the pitiful 5th member of the ZAFT Brats, having been denied the latest in stolen Mobile Suits as all his friends got by the existence of Kira. Two other ASTRAY bad guys are here, IDK why. But I do take out everyone before Yzak, for the funds and because of what I know to be coming.

On his second defeat, Yzak moves to attack the newly-deployed Archangel, but Kira descends and stops him. Yzak retreats, Kira warns everyone about the Cyclops, Mu takes to his Skygrasper and confirms the claim. Freedom looks solid, yet without the METEOR and Athrun it isn't operating at full power. J's BGM Strike Shutsugeki has been replaced by Fly, Freedom!, which has a grander heroic tone to it. The Archangel has a new sub-pilot named Neumann this time, instead of Murrue being reliant on kids who were initially forced by crisis into helping.

Radam grunts appear after Kira, (Lance isn't here but was the one to deploy them) and this battle shifts focus to the Tekkaman. I've five turns to destroy them all -until Tekkaman Dead arrives and the objective changes to defeating him (I wasn't completely sure of Dead's gender until after the battle). Taking out the Radam Beasts only makes more appear, so I opt to defeat Dead on the second turn instead. Dead being utterly apathetic to dying makes this doomed battle well-suited for them. Tomoru is motivated to fight and becomes Orgun at the point -though the moment I injure Dead he leaves to help get Professor Kanzuki to safety. D-Boy returns too, apparently Yumi's earlier brief absence was training with D-Boy, nothing concerning as others may have thought. I defeat Dead (I used David/Sommer for the defeat since the two did meet twice before) and gain another S Barrier out of it, to GoLion this second barrier in two fights shall go. Blade reveals his new Voltekka Crash Intrude for the story kill on Tek' Dead. The heroes then immediately withdraw as new ZAFT forces descend, their cries as they get fried and that of the Radam Beasts are the last thing that happen on this map itself.

Afterwards, it turns out Dead somehow survived, and loses their interest in killing Blade and the others now. A wandering shell whose fate I'll have to see. And then Blade passes out yet again, Blaster Mode when? Yoko of Orgun and some ASTRAY Coordinator NPC as of now who grew up on Earth but then left for the PLANTs b/c racism but now has nowhere to go (nice backstory) also survived Alaska, she fled to save herself, he went after her. The much bigger fish is the Archangel. As I correctly predicted, Murrue & Mu have been backstabbed, Kira wants nothing to do with the Alliance, they have nowhere to go -until Ruri suggests Neue Warter as she is its leader (I forget what specific title she used). 

So ends Alaska, which was as much Tekkaman as SEED this time around. My roster sure has grown now with the Archangel, a second permanent non-Original battleship at last. Plus Yoko in her Birdman Mk.III (until she upgrades later), Kira in the Freedom, Balzac in his Sol Tekkaman 2 (where on Earth is Noal?), Mu for how long? in the Skygrasper, the unmanned Skygrasper No. 2 and Mu's ancient Moebius Zero have been tossed in as well. And before I forget, Orgun has joined!😄 I spend half a mil to put the last five upgrades in GoLion's HP & Armor along with the latest S Barrier part, then give max EN to the Archangel and maximum EN & Mobility to Orgun. Still have about 1.6 million funds in reserves.

The heroes are surprisingly collected for having been almost-sacrificed by the Earth Alliance, but then they can be when they've never been part of the Alliance and always distrusted it. They really think being part of the UN Secretariat provides them with official protection. That calm shouldn't be for long however, like a glass orb, it'll be shattered soon enough.

 

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hmm... maybe? Still, I'd prefer that over true betrayals.

Oh I don't disagree with that. Sincere betrayals of (former) good guys are bad things I don't want to see happen.

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

There's a bit of interesting trivia behind the generic Database mooks. But it'd be spoilers to tell now, I think.

You can hold off on that, I'm no-lifeing through this game, so it's only a matter of days until it's okay to say.😛

 

1 hour ago, Codename Shrimp said:

quite like the look of this

Mana has been a franchise with a lot of ups and downs for Square, I'm hoping this doesn't turn out to be yet another stumble for it. Otherwise, with Square's proclaimed business plans being what they are right now, Mana could very well get slammed into cold storage for a long time.

 

42 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Oh for sure, I understand why, but there's something to be said about what Civ considers to be a significant claim to fame in history and how many times for one Civ they repeat that same claim. Going back to Germany, Civ implies several different aspects of Germany just in both five and six alone, the Holy Roman Empire, the Hanseatic league, the era of militaristic Prussia, the unification of the modern German state, and the modern concept of the FRG being a very industrial productive country.

Good point.

2 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Not to mention the Roman Empire and how Byzantium gets to be it's own separate Civ, which is one of the only times Civ has ever made a separate Civ out of what was essentially the medieval version of another Civ (I'm still salty about it's last minute inclusion in six)

-So that's where you fall in the ever-contentious Eastern Rome-Byzantine debate? I'm more inclined to say Eastern Roman to start (Justinian being peak East Rome), gradually over the centuries transitions into something different which we can call Byzantium (Basil's realm). Which is to say, I politely and mildly disagree on this unending scuffle.

It's Portugal which bothers me in VI's final additions, the New Frontier Pass had noooo indigenous from what is now the US/Canada. Portugal added the least diversity to the existing civ list if you ask me.

17 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

wouldn't say that type of inclusion is undeserving, but it does show a bias when they could very well do the same thing with even more justification for say China or Arabia, places in which the continuity in Civ's eyes is more about the culture and ~vibes~ than specific bloodlines or political ties.

I see your point.

China is probably going to get kind of favoritism from here on out, owing to it being a vast market whom Firaxis/2k would like to have good relations with (there was a specifically Chinese part of the Leader Pass). 

As for Arabia, having Morocco in Civ V helped, yet VI didn't have that. Another Arabian would've been nice, maybe Al-Andalus with a cultural-scientific emphasis.

India is a third who is definitely the deserving of multiple civs, owing to it never being completely united historically.

25 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

A more modern take of Egypt would be fun I think, and we desperately need more Southern African Civs, Shaka Zulu has been the only one since game 1.

I think that has something to do with a popular movie of the time? I think that's what I heard, the Zulu being for that moment higher in the mass conscience than other Sub-Saharan African peoples. And now, the Zulu are eternal as one of the original civs.

43 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

In six they don't really account for how a communist state can also be democratic or how Fascism has historically risen up from democracies.

Don't remind me of the latter thing if you want to me to sleep at night.

Civ could possibly use elections of some kind, though much of human history lacked those. As is, regardless of government choice, in Civ there is very little doubt that you're an immortal ruler of unlimited power over your empire.

[Lightcosmo]

2 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

 

quite like the look of this

Shrimpy, interested in a SE game?

[Codename Shrimp]

3 minutes ago, Lightcosmo said:

Shrimpy, interested in a SE game?

Ultra Rare Shrimp

[Lightcosmo]

23 minutes ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Ultra Rare Shrimp

More like imposter Shrimp! Lol

[Acacia Sgt]

I feel I could put Trials of Mana next after I'm done with Chrono Cross...

[Codename Shrimp]

>Gave birth to Jefuty

But that means-

That-

Me confused - in a good way, i might add xD. Let's see where the story will twist us while Radiant Historia'ing xD

Soo many Loops, finally got you!

>Crits

>Warps

>Clones

>Knives

>Damage Blocks

>Pass

Ho boy, seems like she'll be a fun one to use, but will take time to figure out.

Sadly, sleep is calling due to work.

 

Finally into the game again after that hell-ish map xD

Not to mention Story is picking up outside timeloop stuff.

Edited June 12 by Codename Shrimp

[Armagon]

TIL Blades from party members you don't have yet will still show up at Garfront in NG+.

 

[GuardianSing]

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

-So that's where you fall in the ever-contentious Eastern Rome-Byzantine debate? I'm more inclined to say Eastern Roman to start (Justinian being peak East Rome), gradually over the centuries transitions into something different which we can call Byzantium (Basil's realm). Which is to say, I politely and mildly disagree on this unending scuffle.

 

Did the cultures shift to something else entirely? Absolutely, but in a game that is trying to have aspects of all world history, not just European, I just think it is odd for them to single out the child of the two mythologized jewels of western civilization to be its own Civ when they could very well do that to several other Civs.

Now you could say that a similar thing was done with Egypt and Saladin's Arabia in 6, in that Saladin was the sultan of Egypt and the Ayyubid dynasty is what would become the Sultanate of Egypt but I disqualify that one on the basis that a single state called Arabia has never existed and if it did it would be pretty weird if it was the name of an Empire that barely covered half the Arabian peninsula.

I'm fairly confident that when Civ says "Arabia" what they mean is whatever the influential Islamic empire at the time is. The in game abilities for Arabia relate to the wording of the last prophet in Islam despite the Ayyubid dynasty not being a Caliphate. Saladin himself was likely Kurdish, not Arab.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

China is probably going to get kind of favoritism from here on out, owing to it being a vast market whom Firaxis/2k would like to have good relations with (there was a specifically Chinese part of the Leader Pass). 

As for Arabia, having Morocco in Civ V helped, yet VI didn't have that. Another Arabian would've been nice, maybe Al-Andalus with a cultural-scientific emphasis.

India is a third who is definitely the deserving of multiple civs, owing to it never being completely united historically.

The Mid east does have Sumer and Babylon as stand ins for Iraq, though I imagine that thought process didn't even hit the design team when the idea was brought up.

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Civ could possibly use elections of some kind, though much of human history lacked those. As is, regardless of government choice, in Civ there is very little doubt that you're an immortal ruler of unlimited power over your empire.

Yeahhh, civ has a fairly bread and circuses approach to revolution. Your population in 6 has pretty much nothing to say about specific government types. I'd like for them to make things less autocratic in the new game but who knows, Civ often prefers to keep things fairly light.

 

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Always a classic.

Also, huh, Alexis and Ratsel have the same VA? Interesting.

[Acacia Sgt]

I've decided. If I do go that Marth and company get involved in a historical event, I think I might go one of the internal ones. At least in the sense of not involving another country as a country. So no stuff like the Mexican-American War, or the Second French Intervention. Mostly in terms of scope. Would want something on the smaller (relatively speaking) side to keep it simple.

My personal bias would want to use something closer to home. Right off the bat the first idea is William Walker's filibuster expedition to Baja California in the 1850's. Of course, for it to make sense it would mean they'd have to be living there during their stay. Doubt it'd be their first choice, unless that's where they end up first. Still, I feel the idea has potential. His home was conquered, his second home would soon suffer the same, and now the place that is his third home is invaded by foreigners that want to take over?