#I have genuine trouble deciding if I like Origins or Inquisition best but 2 is definitely on the bottom for me lol 🥲

[skellagirl]

played DA2 for the first time and romanced the possessed bisexual poor little meow meow who's totally down for firebombing a walmart

[2ofswords]

for your analysis meme: clara

This is going to be so much fun and so very tough, because Clara is such an amazingly complicated character! God, I love her so much but part of that is because she is very ambivalent and hard to describe. She is one of these characters where you can find an opposite trait for every other one she has (which is kind of the point of her). Also: I still haven’t played the Changeling route in Patho1 and I have a stronger understanding of the Patho2 universe… so bear with me. I will try my best to analyse our favorite saint.

their biggest strength

I needed to think a while about this one and the term that stuck with me was attentive cleverness. Because I really couldn’t decide if I wanted to call her attentive or clever and luckily these two can be combined into something, I find pretty precise for what I want to describe. Clara is very clever and has a lot of knowledge that not really anyone else in the patho-universe can gain (or at least the amount of it, people share bits and pieces). She is the healer most aware of the meta-narrative and at least in routes that aren’t hers is telling you either that she knows more than you do or straight out telling you something, you needed to know (and probably didn’t want to). As is obvious by her focus on hands and talking her main skill is also interaction with other people… but I think a lot of it comes from the fact, that Clara is a good listener. Which seems to be counter-intuitive because listening is assigned as Artemy’s domain in the artbook, but I think the other word used – rhythms – is pretty important here. Artemy’s skill is finding connections, intuit solutions as well as similarities and differences (there is a reason he realizes his similarities to Aglaya’s description of the inquisition) and gaining cultural knowledge that he then transforms into practical and usable abilities. Clara’s “listening” is more about singular people’s well-being and personal struggle. (She is like a good therapist. If your therapist wanted to convert you into a sacrificial religion. ^^) She interacts with her surroundings directly and attentively. I mean, she is very well informed very early on without really having a live before that or at least not in town (again, I did not play the changeling route yet and do not know her origins or how ambiguous they are kept at the end. Either way, she arrives in town at the beginning of the game and navigates her way pretty well.) However only calling her attentive sounds like the trait is a passive one which is not something I mean. Both her personas as a saint and a thief use her knowledge that is gained by being attentive in unconventional ways and/or for unconventional means. As noted in the beginning, Clara is very clever and that in combination with her noticing even small discrepancies and listening to people makes her able to peek behind the curtain of the game in the first place. It also helps to get yourself into places people normally wouldn’t want a teenage girl to be and Clara knows and is fully willing to use this ability. It is both the reason why she knows so much more about the greater scope of the disaster and also why she always seems to be able to get into any place she wants to. By the way, just as an afterthought: Of course that ability doesn’t come and is in fact enhanced by empathy. I do not think, Clara is listening to people only to use them and to gain information. You can genuinely be willing to listen to someone and still use the information you get out of these conversations. Listening carefully and actively engaging with other people is a great part of that strength!

their greatest weakness

Does “not being able to hold a knife when the town wants you dead” count as a weakness? Okay seriously, I have a really hard time to put what I consider her weakness into one expressive term. So I will talk about it first at length and then we will see. What caught my mind first was ironically Clara’s problems with communication. That might be the case because, yes, I still haven’t played her route, so I am working mostly on her ways of communication with the other healers. But Clara really has a lot of strong points that she has trouble getting across or acknowledged. Sometimes that is definitely not her fault and one of her problems is, that she is not taken seriously by other people. But trying to persuade someone to their cause and emphasizing the reason with an elaborate monologue how the other healers are demons. Daniil was genuinely asking, why you wrote your letter about your destiny, it’s fine! Same happens in Pathologic 2. Saying someone to stay put when they are in a pretty bad spot already is not a bad idea and Artemy is pretty open to both warnings and clairvoyance in general but saying. “Nope, do literally nothing even if you know you want to, I am a better doctor anyways” is… yeah hurting him in his professional pride isn’t exactly a smart move. Often it feels like she really has a chance to explain and the other healers would probably listen but then there is just a terrible miscommunication. (Which is a thing for all of the healers but Clara I-am-going-to-call-your-father-a-horrible-person-while-we-are-at-his-funeral Saburova… Look, it might be true but it is also hilarious.) But putting communication skills here would still be weird, since… you know… she is pretty good at communicating in different ways! And also all three healers are pretty prone to miscommunication albeit in different ways and for different reasons… So I think we have to dig a bit deeper still… So why is this happening and hindering her? There are multiple reasons to come to this conclusion. One I would call childlike stubbornness. (Which btw. Is also one of her strengths, but… it is Clara, everything is also its opposite. God I love her so much, she is just so hard to describe, it’s amazing!) Even with all of her wisdom and cleverness… Clara is still a child. As she should be, it makes her so much more interesting! But she also has this childlike quality of just… assuming people will completely understand and accept what she is trying to see and getting frustrated the moment it doesn’t happen. This is one of her contradictions. She is so very attentive, and she can touch other people with her hands as well as her words, but she also is inexperienced and doesn’t really know a lot about the world or about how to socially approach people which can be a big problem, if she desperately needs someone to listen. The other argument would be about her role in the plot and the way she regards her own role as well as the other healers. She is the most aware one and she does indeed know a solution to the dilemma of the story (if we do not conclude that this is a three way battle, but I exclude my thoughts about the factions themselves for this. She definitely though knows how to get rid of the town vs. polyhedron conflict) but this also puts her in direct opposition to both healers. Which… you know is completely fair and not a weakness. But, she is very uncompromising about this and while all of them are – at least when they are not the main protagonists – Clara is the most unmoving and also uncompromising of the three, telling everyone always very directly how she things the others are shit. Which again, is very justified but becomes a big problem when she needs help and makes it harder for her to express her own thoughts, even if they are very justified and might even help all parties. Speaking in riddles and of concepts beyond something we would see as our reality surely doesn’t help there either.

a headcanon about their childhood

Oh dear, tbh I am not even sure how metaphorical she just crawled out of the earth at the beginning of the game and if she even has a proper childhood… I think it is pretty literal but there are allusions in Patho2 that she actually has a past? At least she speaks about it and I guess it can be as made up as real. (A classic Clara move ^^) And having no defined past is kind of a big thing for her so… sorry, no childhood headcanon here.  

a headcanon about their future (if they have one)

Again, I am not really sure if she stays in town or leaves with Block and I have read fanfiction with both, so I am not sure if there is a consensus in fandom either… If she stays in town I imagine her still being with the Saburovs but I do not know, if I really like this headcanon, since abandoning your newly found orphan in the middle of a plague is really something that should revoke parent rights… But on the other thing the position among the mistresses seems to still be pretty defined at least in the endings in Patho 2. I like to see her travelling with Block at least for a while. Maybe not at the front, that would be just… bad. But she also seems like the person who would just poke their head around at random intervals and nobody really knows, when she will get back and somehow Clara still knows exactly what is going on in town… Still she also seems pretty bound to the place and she has business there… it’s a tough call. She will definitely fire up the rivalry of the mistresses by a lot though. Probably even if she is just there for a second, she would definitely sow some mischief between Capella and Maria! Another triad of petty politics for her! Yay?

a small detail/scene that leaves a great impact

Oh dear, every scene she is in is just so impactful! (Also never knowing which Clara is with you right now (if there even is a difference) doesn’t make this easier...) I really like her quest in Artemy’s run, where she is upset about not knowing what exactly she is in the first place… but that is not really a small details or scene. Same goes for the cathedral and her offer to meet the inquisitor together with Dankovsky to stand up for that whole disaster. Which is still a really heroic but also not really a small scene and there is nothing to talk about there aside from “man, is Clara brave and set on doing the right thing!” I also think the letter about her ending is really interesting because it is just so out there and giving all of her bound a demonic nickname is just so over the top, but tbh all of the ending letters are very… passionate. So this might be more the games writing even if they lampshade it and talk to each other like the other one is the only healer in town who wrote a completely insane letter… But I digress. While I love Clara’s Patho1 design, I will say that I love her shaved hair in Patho2 and the commentary the artbook has for it. Seeing it as a sign of sickness or a deliberate mark of sainthood is just so on point for her! It is a really nice visual piece for her characterization and I also think putting the beany on top of it makes it even better. It is contradicting but firstly she deliberately kind of tries to hide her own contradictions (I mean, it is not part of her! It is just the sister, she is wrong!), which is also a nice added detail. Also, she might combine contradicting elements, but god, she is doing it with style!

their philosophy/worldview (or part of it) described in one neat little sentence

I am throwing the towel! How should this even work with Clara??? She has different philosophies and worldviews! Also, I think they differ a bit between the first and second game. The first one aligns a lot with the humble faction from what we hear but in the second game her dialogue alludes more vaguely to touching and changing people and not necessarily to “The right people must die for our world to continue” which is most of what I heard from her. Hm… How about: A saint’s duty is to touch the immoral and diseased, thus one can never rid themselves of all dirt. I am not that happy with this one, but… at least it has the whole touching other people thing in it and it is about good people not being pure, which also is a theme with her. It still sounds a bit judgemental and I don’t really like this emphasis of the “dirtied” but… I mean this is what Clara talks about in her letter, so I still think it fits, even if I would dare to say that she shows a lot more compassion than this sentence shows.

[mageknight404]

Hey, Ray! It's thanks to your videos on the 3DS release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney that I got into the series. After the first trial of Turnabout Goodbyes, I decided to buy the trilogy for myself, and I had a great time with all three games! It was the characters' personalities and developments that kept me engaged with the stories they had to tell, so I'm curious. Who are your favourite characters in the series and why?

Hey, glad to hear it! The Ace Attorney games are a lot of fun and remain the only visual novel series I can easily get into, so I’m glad others can find it just as accessible.

There are a lot of characters in this series that I like, both major and minor, throughout the entirety of the series, so I’m rather spoilt for choice. So I think it’d be best to list my Top 3 under three categories - Legacy(main characters across the whole main series), Pre-Apollo Justice(characters from the original trilogy and the Investigations games), and Apollo Justice onward. Likely spoilers on this list, but I’ll try to keep them light.

LEGACY

1. Maya Fey - I think it’s pretty safe to say Maya’s my favorite character in the whole series. She’s cute, her antics are hilarious, she has great banter with much of the main cast, and she goes through so much turmoil in only 3 years(ranging from losing loved ones, being tried for murder multiple times, and being kidnapped), and even more when she returns for Spirit of Justice, yet sticks it out with a smile and a grin no matter how bleak it gets.

She always tries to be helpful and shoulders a lot of burden when she feels she’s let people down(mostly Phoenix). She acts playful and junk when it comes to her becoming the next Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique, but she certainly understands the gravity of it as the games go on and we learn more about her and her family, ultimately embracing her title as Master come Spirit of Justice; at this point she’s 28 years old now, yet is still the same cheerful happy-go-lucky spirit medium we’ve all come to be familiar with. She even manages to utilize her powers in clever applications several times to either help herself or others get out of a jam. She’s a well-written, fun, and engaging character and I’m looking forward to what Capcom does with her next.

(also she looks so freaking cool in Spirit of Justice, look at her!)

2. Miles Edgeworth - Edgeworth is another dude who benefits from having so much character development in the main series and his spinoff games, going from an antagonistic jerkface with a smug streak, to a morally conflicted lawyer seeking his true purpose in the law world at large, to being a genuine rival and friend to Phoenix in their search of finding the truth in cases, which makes it all the more incredible when he was intended to be a one-off unlikable boss character in his initial appearance in the first game. He’s smooth, he has great wit and top dialogue, and it’s all the more hilarious when he makes simple blunders and loses his composure. You really do get to appreciate the nuances in his character as it gradually changes with each game in the series, and the payoff being fantastic post-AJ.

Investigations 2 gets special mention as it goes to great strides to show Edgeworth’s legal conflict when his badge and methods get called into question, suggesting he is more like a defense attorney than a prosecutor. Despite all odds he is unfettered and continues to pursue the truth by carving his own path instead of embracing the teachings of his father Gregory, or mentor Manfred von Karma, to the hilt.

3. Ema Skye - Here’s a character that isn’t as utilized as the other two and was retconned into existence post-original trilogy, yet still managed to be much more than a Maya expy. She’s introduced as a replacement for her in the added Case 5 for the DS port of the first game - plucky, bright, and really into science and forensics, and is looking to learn more about these to help solve crimes, starting with clearing her sister’s name of murder. She eventually gets to study abroad and is ready to apply her earned knowledge into action come Investigations(which was supposed to be her game but eh, it worked out for Edgy in the end)…

…And then we see her again in AJ and she’s just a detective, bitter that she failed her exam to become a forensic investigator and her personality change becomes all the more sad and real. Even so, her eyes still light up whenever she gets a chance to practice her skills, and when she returns in Spirit of Justice, now a full-fledged forensic investigator, her cheerfulness, inquisitive nature, and plucky attitude return in full force, and I get so giddy seeing Ema be so happy after her sour streak two games prior. Like Maya, Ema always tries to be the bright spot if she can lend a hand to a friend, and she’s such a fangirl of Edgeworth, even in SoJ.

Me personally, I’m waiting for some genuine chill interaction between Ema and Maya in a future title. (aside from the very end of the DLC case in Spirit of Justice, we never get to see the two interact much on amicable terms, which made me sad.)

PRE-APOLLO JUSTICE

1. Adrian Andrews(Justice For All/Trials and Tribulations) - JFA was a game full of problems, but Case 4 was not one of them. Headlining a great deal of that case was Adrian, manager to the accused, Matt Engarde and stellar Samus Aran cosplayer. She starts off cold, confrontational, and analytical but is a classic and rather tragic defrosting ice queen. She was left devastated after her close friend and mentor(sister in the anime) Celeste Inpax commits suicide after a skeezy and petty love triangle with her, Engarde, and his rival Juan Corrida goes horribly awry, which almost drove Adrian to commit suicide herself after losing her pillar of strength(Adrian has a dependency issue). This is brutally dragged out in court in order to get her to talk about her role in tampering with the crime scene of the main case, and it just about leaves her as a broken mess.

Fortunately for her, the truth about the crime comes out and exonerates her as being a potential murderer, but still has to do jail time for her role mentioned above. She doesn’t mind though and we see her with a smile on her face to show that she is now free of grief and ready to move on. Her debt is paid seven months later, as we see her again in Case 2 of T&T having done her time, which a much sunnier disposition and outwardly friendly towards Phoenix(who she was at odds with for most of Case 4 in JFA). We even getting to see more of her real self - still meticulous, but now helpful yet very clumsy and prone to making slip-ups as a result. I know a few people who have suicidal thoughts, and it’s very disparaging to see a woman like her so broken in JFA, but so refreshing to see her be so better off in T&T, as seeing Adrian smile is a wonderful feeling. As far as incidentals are concerned, she’s my favorite of the original trilogy. (and it made me feel all the more sorry for her seeing her squirm in despair animated in the anime)

- 1b. Lana Skye(Ace Attorney - Rise from The Ashes) - Ema’s older sister and the accused of Case 5 of the first game. I’m putting this here because Lana shares many traits with Adrian - mannerisms, troubled past, and desperation to hide said past from others(in Lana’s case it’s to hide it from her sister instead of herself). They even look similar to one another, haha. She goes from being a skilled attorney to Chief Prosecutor, but is actually more of a puppet being stringed along by the mastermind of the crime and has done some very morally grey things in regards to her troubled past, all to make sure to protect Ema’s innocence even if it damns her own image. It wouldn’t be fair if I mentioned one and not the other because of how similar both Lana and Adrian are as characters, so why not.

Also I really like Lana’s prosecutor design and wished she showed up or got referenced to in future games along with Ema.

2. Dick Gumshoe - He doesn’t appear in AJ onward except in a flashback, otherwise I’d consider him a Legacy character. Gumshoe is the Maya to Edgeworth’s Phoenix before Kay Faraday; a bumbling, scatterbrained detective, and the posterboy for pistolwhipped butt monkey who’s always in danger of having his salary slashed, but he’s a helpful dude and always pulls through at the last second when it counts, pal. There really isn’t much I can say about him, as he’s very much a self-demonstrating example, but he’s so much fun that I don’t think it matters.

What really makes Gumshoe so much fun for me is how much of a foil he is to Edgeworth and his interactions with him in general, as well as the lengths he’s willing to go to help him out. Investigations made it clear that he has no less than infinite respect for him from the moment they met, seen in Case 4, and more or less weighs on him hand and foot from then on. Edgeworth may find some of his antics irritating, but nonetheless considers him a reliable asset and welcome ally to help solve cases, likely due to how dependable he is in critical moments. Even when he’s in danger of losing his job or is kicked off the case, he still finds ways to help the cause, either by himself or by enlisting Phoenix’s help(to the point that part of me wonders what’d happen if Nick actually hired him to work at the office). He’s a good man, loyal to his job and his supervisor, and I can’t help but admire the man.

3. Shi-Long Lang(Investigations 1 and 2) - Hugh Jackman and his Wolf Fang Fist! Lang’s more or less Edgeworth’s rival in these games(moreso the first) and is very much an “act now, debate later” fellow, whose ideology comes to blows with Edgeworth’s more than a few times, and in his haste often makes a few leaps in judgement that punches holes in his logic. At the same time, he’s a badass Interpol agent with a boa collar coat, a smooth theme, and is a father to his very loyal police force. Despite conflicting ideologies, he’s still able to help Edgeworth out from time to time, even if it’s not for his sake but for Lang’s own or the case at large. And when things get serious, oh boy is he ready to throw down(see both Case 5s). He’s a pretty simple dude, but I just really like him.

(also it takes some balls to be able to block Franziska’s whip midlash)

APOLLO JUSTICE ONWARD

1. Apollo Justice - Wow, surprise! I like the main character of this arc! To be perfectly honest, I liked Apollo in his home game, but didn’t think much of him at the time as he was more or less in the back seat for 40% of his own game, while Phoenix did the rest of the work for him and usurped glory that should’ve gone to him alone.

That all changed starting with Dual Destinies and especially with Spirit of Justice.

Apollo was intended to be Phoenix’s replacement as he starts his own thing, but Capcom exec mandates forced Nick to be included in AJ and he was shafted some prime opportunities for establishing character development and backstory, only really getting some hints about his heritage to another character. Dual Destinies gives him a best friend who instilled a backstory for his rather quirky catchphrase “I’m fine!”, turning it into something heartwarming when he reveals they used to shout it to one another to lift their moods, and then made Apollo go on the warpath when he learns of his pal’s death and who might be responsible for it. Expanded even further in the next game where we finally find out about Apollo’s upbringing, his biological and foster fathers, and his relation to the local prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmahdi. These events put my boy in the spotlight, who proves by the end of the game that he’s more than capable to walk tall with the big boys. He goes from being a loud and hot-blooded youth to being a worthy member of the Wright Anything Agency Triuumverate, to eventually standing on his own as a bonafide lawyer.

SoJ was the best thing to happen to this kid, and I’m so glad he was able to rise to the challenge.

2. Simon Blackquill(Dual Destinies/Spirit of Justice) - Simon is the local prosecutor for DD and makes a welcome extended cameo in SoJ. He’s a prison inmate, but gets to do the lawyering thing from the slammer because he’s just that good. His main deal is that he serves as an antagonistic force to Athena as Edgeworth was to Nick and Klavier to Apollo, and he was a bit of an edgy dude himself being a swordsman and styled like a samurai, always quick with his razor-sharp wit AND razor-sharp wind, commanding his pet hawk to handle evidence, SILENCE-ing the crowd, and using his psychological knowledge to play the situation to his advantage. He was also a jerk for most of DD.

Point at hand here is that while I thought the game was playing up his psyche knowledge a little too much(he came off more as a more intense version of AA!Edgeworth instead), he was still a wonder to witness. He’s a delightful smartass with a really cool theme and I dug the swordsman motif. Dude even breaks free of his shackles multiple times whenever he’s ready to make a serious statement. Eventually we find out that he was framed for the death of Athena’s mother(of course) and is acquitted by DD’s end. Though it was a little hokey, I did get a great feels moment between and Athena and thought nothing else of it.

And then he shows up in SoJ to assist Athena in Case 4. Here, all limiters are off - he’s a full snarkmaster with excellent comebacks, such as calling Nahyuta “Sad Monk” constantly, SILENCEs him, and even tells Athena to get her act in gear in a great moment when she breaks down in the middle of the case. This case made me appreciate Simon a hell of a lot more, and it showed that he was a great foil and aloof big brother figure to Athena when they’re on the same side for once. He’d better come back for more!

3. Dhurke Sahdmahdi(Spirit of Justice) - THIS FUCKING GUY. Introduced as the possible culprit of Queen Amara’s assassination of the Kingdom of Khura'in and insinuator of starting the rebellion against its corrupt legal system, we eventually find out that he’s actually Apollo’s foster father and is the most real, coolest guy ever. Seriously, I adore this dude. He’s such a nice, chill guy and a respectable father figure, constantly lamenting that he wasn’t able to be in Apollo’s life more often due to him being a wanted man. Case 5 is a roller coaster of intensity, and Dhurke helps bring out a lot of fun in that case. I can’t say anymore without going into heavy spoilers, but by playing the game all the way through, you’ll understand why I love this man so much.

It should be noted that SoJ’s Khura'in segments being so unrelentingly bleak for the first half of the game was actually turning me off from playing it, as I became gradually more and more apathetic to the kingdom’s plight and was in fact dangerously close to dropping the game for a while as I was getting impatient and disinterested… until the backstory bomb dropped about Dhurke and Apollo halfway through Case 3. This instantly revitalized my curiosity about the two and their relationship and helped push me to complete the game. Long story short, the payoff was damn well worth it, and Dhurke footed that bill personally.

Also he’s voiced by freaking Jamieson Price. Bless this dragon who never yields.

HONORABLE MENTION - Athena Cykes - I mentioned a few years back that Athena was a character who when she was first introduced, I had apprehension toward, as I was forebodingly expecting her to be a super annoying sidekick or supporting character. Her design, which I thought was silly at first but has now grown on me immensely, did not help at the time. Then Dual Destinies came out and I was immensely surprised at how much I enjoyed her character.

Let’s be honest, DD was Athena’s game. Even though she, Nick, and Apollo were tritagonists, its story centered around her and she was featured prominently in every case, DLC included. As a whole, this was Athena’s story. People may have differing opinions whether or not this was warranted or justified, especially when it meant pushing AJ alumni to the side, but Athena kept proving her salt in each case regardless - whether it’s by serving as the heart for Phoenix or Apollo, or getting dirty herself to save her close friend Juniper, twice, she was ready to help out.

I have a very delicate tolerance when it comes to Genki Girl characters - if done properly, I pretty much love them on the spot; if done poorly, I want to wring their necks out of existence. It all depends on how well the girl in question exerts her energy. And to my surprise, Athena passed with flying colors. She’s excitable, competitive, and eccentric, with just a pinch of sass. She’s also really impetuous, but remains focused enough to deliver a good argument, especially when it comes to using her heightened hearing to dispel one’s discord in their heart. When the pressure is too much, she breaks down and regresses back to her sheltered childhood state where she becomes emotionally repressed and almost catatonic, yet even in her darkest hour she fights against the pain.

I found myself enjoying Athena’s character arc a lot in DD and really grew to like her more and more. Her willingness to help stems from her relationship with Simon and wanting to set him free by proving he didn’t murder her mother, as they were close friends prior to that event, and I genuinely wanted to see her succeed. Outside of her heavy plot, she’s a fun character and, I’ll be honest, I’m thankful her role was toned down to a more supportive one in SoJ to let the AJ alumni shine(and boy howdy do they ever).

Oof, that was a lot to get off my chest, but I hope this was satisfactory for you, anon!