Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Codename Shrimp]

@Armagon

Extended look as well

Man

This might actually be Day 1 for me - and while i do enjoy an Atelier every now and then, it was never a top series for me

This...is calling out to me

 

JRPG fans on overdose tbh with how good we are eating

[Codename Shrimp]

Staff girls spawning beds seems to be a trend

[BrightBow]

If they are going to have a Castlevania take place during World War II, at least let me kill nazis.
Have Nazis be the ones trying to control Dracula's power instead of this Brauner dork or something. Idk.
Then you can have this three-way battle between the Belmonts and Dracula, with the nazis terrified and dying left and right.

I mean, come on, Hellsing already showed that having Dracula kill nazis works wonderfully.

 

[BrightBow]

Never heard of this glitch before. Being able to do this without a crash should most certainly make Boss Rush a lot less obnoxious, since that's basically 90% waiting for the crab to climb the tower because it can only be killed with the Elevator at the top.

 

[Sidereal Wraith]

2 hours ago, BrightBow said:

If they are going to have a Castlevania take place during World War II, at least let me kill nazis.
Have Nazis be the ones trying to control Dracula's power instead of this Brauner dork or something. Idk.
Then you can have this three-way battle between the Belmonts and Dracula, with the nazis terrified and dying left and right.

I mean, come on, Hellsing already showed that having Dracula kill nazis works wonderfully.

 

Or better yet WW1. Also Manly Wade Wellman did the whole Dracula vs Nazis thing 50 years before Hellsing even existed.

https://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2013/02/manly-wade-wellman-devil-is-not-mocked.html?m=1

Edited September 2 by Sidereal Wraith

[Sidereal Wraith]

…Dear Diery,

     My childhood couldn’t have been buried alive when I was young because it was always a lie.

Sincerely,

Wraith’s Destroyed Sanity

[BrightBow]

You know how in Order of Ecclesia, Albus Mode is locked to a single audio language because it doesn't have a status menu and therefore you can't reach the settings?

Yeah, they fixed that too. They removed those settings from the in-game options and put them in the wrapper. So now you can enjoy Albus' bullshit in both dubs.
Goddamn, this release is amazing.

For the record, Portrait of Ruin still uses the old "Hold L on the main menu" method just like on the original cartridge.

The in-game button mapping option is also gone, which I didn't pick up on before. Probably because just like with audio language, the setting is already in the wrapper menu.
I think Order of Ecclesia was actually the only one of the DS games with button mapping. But of course Albus couldn't reach them for the same reason you couldn't change the audio.

[Saint Rubenio]

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

If they are going to have a Castlevania take place during World War II, at least let me kill nazis.
Have Nazis be the ones trying to control Dracula's power instead of this Brauner dork or something. Idk.
Then you can have this three-way battle between the Belmonts and Dracula, with the nazis terrified and dying left and right.

It's just funny how PoR starts on a giant scrolling text about WWII and proceeds to do absolutely nothing with the setting. And I kinda like Brauner, mind, he is no Barlowe but he is a fun old guy still with his art-themed boss fight. But imagine something crazy like, nazi vampire that you get to beat up.

2 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Never heard of this glitch before. Being able to do this without a crash should most certainly make Boss Rush a lot less obnoxious, since that's basically 90% waiting for the crab to climb the tower because it can only be killed with the Elevator at the top.

 

That caught me off guard. Not quite how I expected that to go down lmao

24 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

You know how in Order of Ecclesia, Albus Mode is locked to a single audio language because it doesn't have a status menu and therefore you can't reach the settings?

Yeah, they fixed that too. They removed those settings from the in-game options and put them in the wrapper. So now you can enjoy Albus' bullshit in both dubs.

O P T I C A L   S H O T

(Releases something from gun that has absolutely nothing to do with optics or vision)

24 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Goddamn, this release is amazing.

For the record, Portrait of Ruin still uses the old "Hold L on the main menu" method just like on the original cartridge.

The in-game button mapping option is also gone, which I didn't pick up on before. Probably because just like with audio language, the setting is already in the wrapper menu.
I think Order of Ecclesia was actually the only one of the DS games with button mapping. But of course Albus couldn't reach them for the same reason you couldn't change the audio.

Lots of subtle under the hood fixes, sounds like. Less lazy re-release than it first seemed, looks like they just focused on the key things.

[Dayni]

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time

Also, playing MotE I just realised something: Caeda only recruits one unit in MotEII. Ogma recruits more than her.

Master Manipulator Ogma as the real final boss of Archanea III

11 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

But not only are they around 30% in both states, and in Thuringia they have a blocking minority, there's also BSW to consider, which, despite being seen as "Lefties" (LMAO) share quite few points with the nazis. In Thuringia both together have 49% - that gives them more than 50% of the seats.

11 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

And they still have more than 30% in saxony - and CDU over there is really pushing to work with them and only federal CDU is blocking that - but federal CDU under Merz is already going hard right anyway. If that happens it will open the floodgates for next years federal elections

  Ugh to all that, any updates on what will be formed in Thuringa and Saxony?

2 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Staff girls spawning beds seems to be a trend

I mean, I get it I think. If you could just call a bed to you at any time wouldn't you?

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

If they are going to have a Castlevania take place during World War II, at least let me kill nazis.
Have Nazis be the ones trying to control Dracula's power instead of this Brauner dork or something. Idk.
Then you can have this three-way battle between the Belmonts and Dracula, with the nazis terrified and dying left and right.

I mean, come on, Hellsing already showed that having Dracula kill nazis works wonderfully.

 

As someone who has not yet played PoR, is it confirmed Brauner wasn't?

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It's just funny how PoR starts on a giant scrolling text about WWII and proceeds to do absolutely nothing with the setting. And I kinda like Brauner, mind, he is no Barlowe but he is a fun old guy still with his art-themed boss fight. But imagine something crazy like, nazi vampire that you get to beat up.

PoR sequel?

Yeah, I know, not happening. But dangit it came to mind.

[Armagon]

4 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Extended look as well

This where all that gacha revenue went to (gonna get this one for the PS4 probably).

4 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Staff girls spawning beds seems to be a trend

Welcome back Tears of the Kingdom.

 

[Codename Shrimp]

26 minutes ago, Dayni said:

any updates on what will be formed in Thuringa and Saxony?

nope

13 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Welcome back Tears of the Kingdom.

"Echoes of Wisdom 3D" was my thought when i saw the beds xD

[BrightBow]

38 minutes ago, Dayni said:

As someone who has not yet played PoR, is it confirmed Brauner wasn't?

Brauner has a lot of contempt for war and the humans causing it, so probably not.

Despite this, don't expect there to be any acknowledgement of the actual war currently going on.
There is a single mention of World War 1 though.

Come to think of it, were people living during World War 2 even referring to it as World War 1?

[Dayni]

[Codename Shrimp]

sudden vore

[Codename Shrimp]

[GuardianSing]

No fucking way

[Armagon]

Gottem

4 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Echoes of Wisdom 3D" was my thought when i saw the beds xD

I mean that is just Tears of the Kingdom tbf.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

I've gone more than 24 hours without sleep (barring a tiny greatly uncomfortable nap outside). Partly because after much indecision I double-dipped and bought Civilization VI on Steam (which runs soooo much smoother than on the Switch) last night.😆 ...And partly because the whirlwind of thoughts which did include some of the global fears expressed here yesterday I was having last night before rebuying CivVI, so when I finally stopped Civ'ing at 4 in the morning, I so badly didn't want to be left alone with those thoughts before I entered slumber, that I simply booted up CivVI again and avoided sleeping altogether.😅 Thankfully yesterday, I had: a scone for breakfast, almond croissant for lunch, cinnamon roll for dessert, and a chocolate chip cookie for second dessert, so I had put enough sugar in my system to stay awake the entire time (and today's breakfast was another scone (with crumb cake for tonight's dessert) from the same excellent bakery I haven't been to in a while). The sweets also help with the fact shortly after I got out of bed yesterday, I stubbed my toes 😵 and they're still swollen and bruised.

 

...Trying to do some reading today- Elephantine (Greek name, Egyptian was "Yeb", meaning 🐘), an isle in the middle of the Upper (southern) Nile named after its role as a center of the ivory trade (and a fortress). The 1200m long by 400m at its widest island, was home not only to Egyptians, but ancient Jews.✡️ In the late 7th century BC, Egypt briefly conquered the Kingdom of Judah, and afterwards, some Judeans and others from further north in the former Kingdom of Israel (likely arriving in waves), came to work as mercenaries in Egypt's employ. When the Achaemenid Empire of Persia conquered Egypt, the Judeans swapped from mercs to merchants, possibly from having been given land as a gift of loyalty from the Persian overlords.

The Elephantine papyri were discovered in the 1890s, and are written in Aramaic -the lingua franca of the classical Middle East. These comprise the oldest and largest collection of non-biblical texts documentary early Jewish practice (one doc can be dated to 471 BC). There are also ostracon (pot shards on which people wrote stuff) which support the papyri. Elephantine is claimed to be the most important site in terms of the history of Jewish life prior to the Greeks.

It is recorded that in 526 BC, Elephantine had a temple dedicated to "Yahu"- an Aramaic spelling of Yahweh. (Yahweh apparently means "I Am" or "He That Is". Not a bad understated yet all-encompassing way of indicating one's fundamental universal existence, IMO.) Cambyses II destroyed the Egyptian temples on the island, but not the Jewish one. The presence of a Jewish temple on the island and the Persian mercy indicating a longstanding presence for such a construction and favorable relations with Egypt's conquerors.

The religion of these ancient Jews was not identical to their modern descendants. For one, the presence of a temple on Elephantine defied the later idea there is only one Temple to YHVH, in Jerusalem. Another was the presence of worshipped gods other than YHVH. 'Asm Bethel and 'Anath Bethel being two of them, Asherah the wife of YHVH being another. In the sixth and fifth centuries BC, Judea, and Samaria to the north had various groups of YHVH worshippers, each with their own distinct set of minor gods. YHVH was undoubtedly the chief god, but this wasn't monotheism just yet. It's not until the 2nd century BC that the Torah comes to centralize Jewish rules and beliefs and creates Judaism as we know it. The Sabbath is mentioned in the papyri, but one possible allusion to Passover aside, none of the now-essential Jewish holidays are. Women in this pre-Torah Jewish world could divorce, reject suitors, act as legal witnesses, even serve in priestly duties -unlike Judaism after the establishment of the Pentateuch.

There were growing tensions in the late sixth centuries between Egyptians and Judeans eventually brought things down. Possibly it was the Jews being too friendly with the Persian conquerors, but it could've also been a ritual divide. The Jewish community sacrificed rams, the Egyptians worshipped the ram-headed Khnum. In 410 BC, while the Persian governor was away, the Egyptians destroyed the temple to Yehu. The Elephantine Judeans (or Arameans as they also called themselves more inclusively) wrote to the Persian govern in Yehud/Judah, and to the priests in Jerusalems, and to officials in Samaria where more temples to YHVH were located. They eventually found a benefactor and rebuilt the temple -but with it was a little smaller possibly so the nearest Egyptian temple could be enlarged, and the Judeans were allowed to make offerings only in grain, not animals. About a decade after the temple in Elephantine was rebuilt, the Jews left Elephantine, as no Judean papyri dates to later than the very early fourth century BC. Although where exactly is uncertain, a Jewish community certainly endured in Egypt, eventually in the 2nd century BC, Jews in Alexandria would create the Septuagint.

Nice to get a history lesson in ancient Jewish beliefs. 🤓

 

On 9/1/2024 at 4:51 PM, Codename Shrimp said:

was an interesting listen.

...I'll keep this in mind to watch later.😀

On languages, I did hear of a game called Chants of Sennaar. A puzzle game where you have to decipher five fictional languages, quite well-reviewed. -Not that I'd think you'd play it.😆

Edited September 2 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

10 hours ago, BrightBow said:

If they are going to have a Castlevania take place during World War II, at least let me kill nazis.
Have Nazis be the ones trying to control Dracula's power instead of this Brauner dork or something. Idk.
Then you can have this three-way battle between the Belmonts and Dracula, with the nazis terrified and dying left and right.

I mean, come on, Hellsing already showed that having Dracula kill nazis works wonderfully.

Eh, personally, I feel adding the Nazis would've been too obvious/shoehorned. I prefer that PoR goes for something more unique, WWII in the background or not.

6 hours ago, Dayni said:

As someone who has not yet played PoR, is it confirmed Brauner wasn't?

If he's anything like his namesake, then he would've been a Communist Jew.

So... far from being accepted by the Nazis.

6 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Come to think of it, were people living during World War 2 even referring to it as World War 1?

Some. The Great War was the main term, but the usage of "World War" as a term dates to at least the 19th century. So while not referred to as 1, WWI did got called a World War, and when 1939 happened, referring it to as another World War also happened. Thus, making The Great War the First World War.

Edited September 3 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

They seem like really good friends.

[Acacia Sgt]

Roommates, even.

---

Aaaaaah, so close now. Story wise, only the final boss(es...?) left. But now I really have to focus on getting all items, shards, etc. So I can then tackle the optional bosses. Then I can finally bring this tale to its conclusion...

[Hrothgar777]

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The religion of these ancient Jews was not identical to their modern descendants. For one, the presence of a temple on Elephantine defied the later idea there is only one Temple to YHVH, in Jerusalem.

A temple in the ancient world had political and nationalistic connotations. This is why, in 2 Samuel, Jeroboam was so preoccupied with establishing an alternative to the Temple in Jerusalem after seceding with the north. Whether or not you accept this account as history, it does offer insights into how ancient Near-Eastern peoples thought. With the Hebrews living as Persian subjects, "the one true national temple" made less sense and there was probably no one to enforce it (see the mere existence of the Samaritans, a splinter sect who've been openly worshiping at Mt. Gerizim for the past 2,500 years). It does not prove, however, that such an arrangement hadn't existed previously, or that a Jerusalem-based temple hadn't at least made an unenforceable claim to exclusive religious authority.

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

In the sixth and fifth centuries BC, Judea, and Samaria to the north had various groups of YHVH worshippers, each with their own distinct set of minor gods. YHVH was undoubtedly the chief god, but this wasn't monotheism just yet.

This has often been said and uncritically accepted as fact, but in my opinion, it's an overreaching conclusion just going on the available evidence.

The first issue is that iconoclasts who worshiped YHWH on apophatic/iconoclastic terms would've left behind no archaeological proof of their existence. Only those who did produce idols, such as golden figurines of YHWH that've survived, would've, so mere absence of evidence is not, in this case, evidence of absence. This is relevant because a monotheistic God tends to take on apophatic/iconoclastic qualities (it's probably not a coincidence that Christianity is the only Abrahamic faith with both visual depictions of God and non-unitarian doctrine).

Second, the Hebrew Bible itself laments that some people were making statues of YHWH or worshiping Him alongside idols, which is presented as an aberration from original practice. With this in mind, there may've been a longstanding conflict in the pre-exile period between the monotheists and those loyal to a bigger pantheon which happened to include YHWH. In modern Biblical criticism, it's believed that there were several different sources whose material got compiled into the Pentateuch. Per Wikipedia the Jahwist source depicts God as more anthropomorphic while the Elohist source has an "abstract" view of God. My guess is that these different sources equated to different theologies in the pre-exile period, even if the final compilation was done post-exile.

 

Interesting post. I enjoy this sort of content.

Edited September 3 by Hrothgar777

[Hrothgar777]

I'll add that, though we tend to think of in terms of a linear progression from polytheism to monotheism, with one big "G" coming to replace many little "g"s, polytheistic gods were at times reinterpreted by some individuals in loftier cosmic terms, with different interpretations of the same god coexisting in a given society. A famous example can be found in the writings of Epimenides of Crete, who in the 7th or 6th century BC wrote of Zeus:

 

"They fashioned a tomb for you, high and holy one / Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies / But you are not dead; you live and abide forever / For in you we live and move and have our being."

 

This seems to describe more than just a sky god. Zeus here is an eternal and all-powerful sustainer of life, perhaps an occasionalist force in the vein of Allah. In classical mythology even Kronos died and many gods and goddesses were responsible for upholding the natural order (e.g. Demeter makes the crops grow and regulates the cycle of four seasons), but Epimenides wrote of Zeus as transcending the limits to which even the gods were thought to be subjected. Different people came to monotheize independently of each other; the idea did not have to be invented at one specific point in time and then exported elsewhere. There is no cutoff point before which monotheism couldn't have existed.

Edited September 3 by Hrothgar777

[Dayni]

TIL there's a cat and a bear in CKII.

Meanwhile, I managed an interesting game over. In MotE II Chapter 6, you have a recruitment that can occur in chapter 5. If you bring Julian and Ricardo, you get the option to start their dialogue and it's the same as Chapter 5, not surprising. Thing is, if you do, the game then gives a game over and asks you to load your last save, which was not what I expected.

So yeah, don't repeat yourself Ricky boy.

2 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

No fucking way

Looks up Deseret

I have several questions

Who established Deseret?

What is Mormon Market?

When did Trotsky on his journey to Mexico decide to stop and go to Deseret before ruling it?

Where

Why did it become atheist?

Which neighbour is going to invade first?

16 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

On languages, I did hear of a game called Chants of Sennaar. A puzzle game where you have to decipher five fictional languages, quite well-reviewed. -Not that I'd think you'd play it.😆

There is a demo for it. I definitely stumbled on that one and it'd barely gotten through the first language.

6 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

If he's anything like his namesake, then he would've been a Communist Jew.

So... far from being accepted by the Nazis.

Okay, very much not the case.

[Codename Shrimp]

You should be able to conquer a country will these boss dragons lmao