Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

And there's or course the lack of opportunity in doing so in a White Clouds where not enough was done to differentiate the routes.

Knowing this to be the case, makes me ponder why the devs even made you pick a house for the game's first half.🤔

Having played a lot of Shin Megami Tensei, the franchise usually has multiple endings based on different alignments. But that's it, endings. Maybe there's a final dungeon difference too, yet despite having alignments be an essential trait of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise since SMT1 (and prototypically Megami Tensei II), the alignments barely have a serious impact on the overwhelming majority of the game. Call it laziness, call it limited resources, say it's b/c SMT is JRPGs and not WRPGs nor Visual Novels. Call it a shame, whatever you want.

Typically in SMT, you spend like 90% of the game getting to see the world. You encounter the different clashing perspectives, officially an outsider to all of them, occasionally making dialogue choices that may tilt you in one direction or another. Only in the 11th hour do you get locked into a specific alignment whose triumph over others thou shalt bring forth!

Which begs the question- why not let everyone be usable for White Clouds? -Besides the logistics of sorting out which students start immediately on the team and who has to be recruited.

...The SMT game that specifically makes me think of this is Devil Survivor 2. An SRPG spinoff that does, not to say too much (unless one asked), feature a fracturing of the cast late in the story. I've never witnessed 3H's plot, but why not just make the first half an ensemble experience that ends with you choosing with whom you belong for a second-half split?🤔

-Simply the inquiry of a removed observer. Who, having seen something different yet vaguely similar, couldn't help but imagine it as perhaps what should've been (loosely) done instead of the criticized reality.

 

30 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Tickets to the British Museum obtained.

Just remember, hands off, no repatriating. Leave that to official organizations. Nigeria has no need for you to try swiping a Benin Bronze.

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I don't think she'd lash out like Shion did at least.

True. The gals are very different. And I don't see the Lone Hero following his predecessor's every step. -Yet, in the absence of knowing, I can't help but imagine the extreme possibility of personality 180s.😆 

Alas, we have to wait until November of next year. Thankfully they'll be releasing an XCX remaster as a launch title for the Switch successor sometime in April, so those who skipped the U can see the story that X2 will be continuing.

[Acacia Sgt]

26 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Knowing this to be the case, makes me ponder why the devs even made you pick a house for the game's first half.🤔

Which begs the question- why not let everyone be usable for White Clouds? -Besides the logistics of sorting out which students start immediately on the team and who has to be recruited.

Since the focus was on the whole teaching/training up the students, it was likely they didn't want to overwhelm players with trying to focus on over twenty students at once. And since a player is likely to only train up as much as the deployment slots allow you so, then might as well just restrict your unit pool, but leave the option to get more if you so wish. It also offers variety in giving you pre-determined sets of "default" classes to choose from before, again, if you desire to branch off a bit.

Think of it as not being given the choice between the different parts of a large Neapolitan cake, but of three differently flavored smaller cakes, with the option of taking slices from the other two.

26 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Alas, we have to wait until November of next year. Thankfully they'll be releasing an XCX remaster as a launch title for the Switch successor sometime in April, so those who skipped the U can see the story that X2 will be continuing.

Wait, is this just like-minded joking, or there's actual rumors about a remaster of X incoming?

Edited 4 hours ago by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, those Stopper Sovereigns are crazy...

[Armagon]

HOLY FUCK, OFFICIAL CLIMAX LOCALIZATION 

[Eltosian Kadath]

9 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Hmm, did Byleth ever told anyone about it? I'll admit I don't remember.

The game is a bit ambiguous about that, as there is a scene where Byleth talks about Sothis and the creator gods power being how they escaped the ritualistic forbidden magic of Solon, but we don't see what is exactly said, there is a fade to black with them talking a little about it after the fact to let you know what topic was being discussed in the fade out.

 

55 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Knowing this to be the case, makes me ponder why the devs even made you pick a house for the game's first half.🤔

One of the more baffling design decisions of Three Houses to me. To compare it to Fates, which definitely handled the multiroute system better (assuming you own all the routes) Fates gave you 3 chapters to get a feel for the two main forces before you had to lock in and pick, and they clearly should have done something similar here. Use part one to give us a sampler of the four routes, 3 chapters with Claude and his crew, 3 chapters with Dimitri's madness, 3 chapters with Edelgard's ideals, and 3 chapters fighting together with the church's knights and faculty. It would even make it easy to introduce a branch of fate mechanic right there at the end where you have to chose...

 

Also random side note, but did they really just introduce an arbitrary 2 week time skip just to cheat Ignatz of his birthday...this game is just bullying that sweet little boy at this point.

[Dayni]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Knowing this to be the case, makes me ponder why the devs even made you pick a house for the game's first half.🤔

Which begs the question- why not let everyone be usable for White Clouds? -Besides the logistics of sorting out which students start immediately on the team and who has to be recruited.

...The SMT game that specifically makes me think of this is Devil Survivor 2. An SRPG spinoff that does, not to say too much (unless one asked), feature a fracturing of the cast late in the story. I've never witnessed 3H's plot, but why not just make the first half an ensemble experience that ends with you choosing with whom you belong for a second-half split?🤔

-Simply the inquiry of a removed observer. Who, having seen something different yet vaguely similar, couldn't help but imagine it as perhaps what should've been (loosely) done instead of the criticized reality.

I would suspect the devs insistence on it being that way. We saw in interviews the academy being something of an allusion to Sigurd, Quan and Eldigan alongside the War of the Three Kingdoms, so it makes sense that there would always be a divide made.

I'd had my thoughts on a "golden route" and the idea of the houses being put in the one class group as such made sense as part of it. The question of who would be available could be as simple as the students being at set levels as you go through the academy year until you permanently recruit them, with all available to use but not gaining exp. Maybe, I'm a bit undercooked at the minute and kinda rambling with this now.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

HOLY FUCK, OFFICIAL CLIMAX LOCALIZATION 

Well, that confirms BinB has less excuse now.

And a track editor was in that one? Didn't know.

20 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

One of the more baffling design decisions of Three Houses to me. To compare it to Fates, which definitely handled the multiroute system better (assuming you own all the routes) Fates gave you 3 chapters to get a feel for the two main forces before you had to lock in and pick, and they clearly should have done something similar here. Use part one to give us a sampler of the four routes, 3 chapters with Claude and his crew, 3 chapters with Dimitri's madness, 3 chapters with Edelgard's ideals, and 3 chapters fighting together with the church's knights and faculty. It would even make it easy to introduce a branch of fate mechanic right there at the end where you have to chose...

Like that, fine.

Personally I think a branch of fate esque option could have been done in 3H. I wonder if someone internally thought NG+ was good enough to provide cover for that, but we all know it doesn't from an exp perspective.

20 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Also random side note, but did they really just introduce an arbitrary 2 week time skip just to cheat Ignatz of his birthday...this game is just bullying that sweet little boy at this point.

Ignatz deserved better.