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yellowocaballero · 2 months ago

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i see you reblogging aa, is this a sign an ace attorney fic is on the horizon 👀

I resign myself to the fact that any reblogging spree of one work inevitably results in people in my inbox asking if I'm currently writing fanfic about it. I can't complain, because the answer is usually yes absolutely of course I am.

I will say that the Great Phoenix Wright Trilogy Playthrough Of 2024 was this summer! It was very much a tether to sanity and I'm very grateful towards @lazuliquetzal for letting me watch her play and for making the experience so much fun. A very intricate bedrock of lore/in-jokes developed. Edgeworth thinks he discovered homosexuality and younger sister figures are mandatory in a court of law. We found it extremely well-written, very funny, and really interesting in character dynamics. I also got her to play Ghost Trick, which was awesome as usual. We're currently both obsessing about different things - and my fanfic to-do list is already VERY long - so no fanfic is actually in the works right now.

Of course I've already written some, who do you take me for. I wrote this just for us, so it's unfinished and rife with our in-jokes, but somewhat shockingly it probably has the densest joke-to-word ratio that I've ever written. Sometimes I want to continue writing something, but I look at it and I'm like, 'This is too good. I can't keep up this level of good. I can't reach this high again'. The short fanfic - sourced from our recurring jokes/efforts to figure out [SPOILERS FOR ACEATT3] how blind Godot is exactly, and what I would have found the most interesting - is, believe it or not, too good to keep writing.

Zany fanfic and spoilers for Ace Attorney 3 under the cut.

As it turned out, there was a prosecutor’s lounge.

Like a lot of Phoenix’s least favorite facts, it was both obvious in retrospect and deeply disturbing. The defendant’s lounge had an obvious purpose: confer with your client, beg them to tell you simple facts that would determine if they were sentenced to death via electric chair, let your coworkers blow off steam by making fun of you. Gumshoe is useful at the least useful second. None of these banal and extraordinarily stressful events had anything to do with a prosecutor.

That was why Edgeworth had always wandered into the defendant’s lounge and made vague yet affectionate threats at Phoenix. If he had his own sterile room to stand around awkwardly, he surely would have done so. This felt so obvious it ought to have gone without saying. There couldn’t, like, actually be a real lounge. That would imply a lot of things about Edgeworth’s choices.

As a result, when Gumshoe tossed Phoenix the updated coroner’s report and asked him to run it to the prosecutor’s lounge, Phoenix’s first instinct was to contemplate suicide. His only remaining link to sanity was the knowledge that running Gumshoe’s errands to an imaginary room was better than the alternative of staying here.

Much better. Gumshoe was looking at Maggey, Maggey was refusing to look at Gumshoe, Phoenix wanted to be nowhere near any of this, and he was taking the out. Gumshoe might as well have asked him to go check if his refrigerator was running. Call him a mechanic, because he grabbed both Maya and Pearl and high-tailed it out of there.

He had to ask for directions three different times before he even found the place. It was a place that could be found. In real life. Phoenix better go catch his fucking refrigerator!

It was also right next door to the defendant’s lounge. Had this really been here the entire time? Could Phoenix have been wandering into Edgeworth’s lobby and making vague yet affectionate threats at him? He could have even stood in front of the door and blocked Edgeworth’s ritualistic escape from his feelings. His was a life of missed opportunities.

“I bet they have free coffee,” Maya said grimly. “I bet they have tacos.”

“With free avocados,” Phoenix intoned. “As much as they want. Maybe caviar.”

Pearl blasted her large and doleful eyes up at Nick. “Why don’t you put avocados on the tacos you make for us? I love them…”

Poverty, but he couldn’t tell her that. Nick settled for patting her on the head. “Avocados are as immoral as the prosecutors themselves, Pearly. It’s a matter of ethics.”

“Ethics are so overrated,” Maya said mournfully, kicking the doors open. “Let’s go evil, Nick. For the sake of the children.”

The cops inside did not appreciate Maya’s dynamic entry, but nobody ever did. Disappointingly, the prosecutor’s lounge was identical to the defendant’s one – down to the cops, cheap sofa, and ugly-ass art. The only difference was – son of a bitch, they did have coffee!

Entirely possible that Godot refused to step foot inside the courthouse unless they installed a coffee machine. But it was the principle of the thing, goddamn it! Nobody ever cared about Phoenix’s hunger strikes!

Potentially entirely due to coffee, Godot was sitting on the scratchy sofa with his head tilted back and one earbud in his ear. Its cord snaked onto the cushions of the couch, attacked to some small black media player. Was he awake? Was he asleep? Was he dead? If they were really quiet, would he sleep through the trial and leave Phoenix to win by default –

“They have a chartreuse board!” Maya screeched. “Those rat bastards!”

Pearl gasped, hands flying to her mouth. “Is that sushi? Free sushi!? I love sushi!”

“Get my purse, Pearl-chan! Grab much as you can!”

“So it’s hereditary,” Godot growled. Phoenix winced, instinctively checking for coffee cups in his vicinity. The familiar cheap coffee table seemingly only had one, but on closer look Nick could tell that they were carefully stacked into each other. How tidy! “How did you even know this place existed, Trite?”

One of these days Phoenix was going to start pronouncing his name “guh-dot”. That would show him. He hadn’t mustered the courage yet, but one of these days! “How could I not know it existed?” Poker face, Phoenix. Look condescending. Evoke Edgeworth. Show him what’s what. Literally nobody else you know is scared of him, therefore you are not scared of him, we are manifesting absolute zen in the face of the tallest man Phoenix had ever met in his life. He was sitting down. This shouldn’t be hard. “It’s right next to the defendant’s lounge, how could we miss it?”

“Is that so?” Godot slowly leaned forward, like a great beast awakening from a mighty slumber. His movements were stiff and disjointed, like a fat bear waking from hibernation. “The spotlight of truth must be like a floodlight to the most enlightened defense lawyers. Illuminating all. Hiding nothing. But shadows cling to the undersides of society, and true darkness lurking underneath the charcuterie board –“

“I have the updated coroner’s report,” Phoenix said, flapping the envelope loosely. “Gumshoe wanted you to have the other copy.”

“Yeah, give it here.”

“If the charcuterie board is evil don’t tell me.” Maya was plowing through a hunk of goat cheese like a rabid coyote. “I don’t wanna know. None of my business. Put the wasabi in my coin purse, Pearl-chan.”

There was something inherently evil about having a cheeseboard at the workplace, but the legal system couldn’t get much worse. Godot didn’t stand up from the couch – he just thrust out a hand, making shockingly childish little grabby hands, forcing Phoenix to cross the entire room and put it in his hands. Pearl ran up to Phoenix and helpfully smeared wasabi on his hand.

Godot took the coroner’s report and dropped it on the table. He leaned back, reaffixing his earbud in his ear. “Charmed. Clean us out of the nori, girls, it’s Payne’s favorite and I want him to experience suffering.”

Pearl helpfully tugged at Phoenix’s sleeve, dying it a light green. If he lost this case because the judge thought he smelled bad… “Can you pour me the last of the coffee, Mr. Nick? I wanna be a big girl and do it for me but the big jug is too heavy.”

“Are you kidding? You’re way too young for coffee.” The last thing they needed was a nine year old bouncing off the walls. In a courtroom. During a murder case. Phoenix turned to Godot, who was biting his tongue and barely restraining himself from cursing out a nine year old. Was that blood? “You’ll want to take a look at that, Mr. Godot. There’s a new piece of evidence that could change everything.”

“Save the dramatics for the courtroom.” Godot leaned back again, waving his hand absently. Yeah, that was definitely blood on his yellowed teeth. Phoenix had to admire the restraint. “What’s this new tidbit that’s so important, then?”

Was he everyone’s errand boy? “The report’s right there, read it yourself.”

“Seems like I was correct in pegging you as the lazy type, Trite. Look at you refusing to do a simple task.”

Pearl made an ‘ooo’ing noise behind her hands. Maya broke a cracker in half, giving her the smaller piece. “Don’t say that world, Pearl-chan.”

“What wo –“

“You can’t insult me into doing the most basic aspect of your job. You read it.”

“I’m a busy man. I’m hard at work actually making justice.” But he was sleeping?! “Defense attorneys clearly have nothing better to do than eat our precious cheeses. Show me that you can do the most basic element of the job.”

Talk about a turnabout! This man had cranked the hostility meter up towards eleven and broke the knob off. Francizka had spent most of a year almost gnawing his face off, but she had never made Phoenix feel so specially hated. “Sorry, Godot, I’m not falling for it. But you’ll definitely want to read the report yourself. It has essential information for the trial in literally five minutes.”

“If it’s so important than why did we give it to him at all?” Maya garbled, spewing pita chips everywhere. “We could have hid it and won this case!”

“Because that’s unethical –“

“You never let anything go! You and your silly ethics –“

“Silly?!”

Godot leaned forward and swept his hand over the table with incredibly unnecessary drama. He swept the folder into his hands, yanking the crumpled police report out. He ostentatiously snapped the paper and held it up to his visor, reading it closely. He nodded several times. He even hummed once.

Finally, Godot straightened and tossed the report on the table. “Boring! So much for crucial evidence. You’re looking at the shadows in the cave and calling them innocent of heinous crimes, Mr. Trite. Turn away from illusions and overcome your cowardice by entering the deepest depths of Plato’s cave, facing your inner demons and reckoning with the truth of –“

“Boring?” Phoenix cried. “The window for the potential time of the murder is completely different than we thought? And I’m the one living in a fantasy land?”

Godot stared at him. “Really?” Phoenix made a garbled noise of outrage. Godot ignored him. “What’s the new window, then?”

“Read it yourself!”

“Hm.” Godot angled his head to the side, facing away from Phoenix. “Hey, little girl. I bet you can’t read.”

Going for the throat?! Pearl clearly didn’t know whether or not to puff herself up in indignation or start crying. “I am such a good reader!!!!”

“Really? Prove it.” Godot picked up the crumpled page and wave it at her. “Or are you a liar?”

“Being a liar is for bad girls! I am a very good girl!” Pearl reached up on her tip-toes and nabbed the paper out of Godot’s hands. She scanned the page seriously, eyebrows furrowed. “Here! Right here! The new time of death is –“

“Are you making a nine year old read a coroner’s report?!”

Maya slurped slivers of ginger with pitying eyes. “She channels the dead, Nick.”

“And that’s the time,” Pearl finished smugly. Phoenix hadn’t even heard her say it. She held out the papers to Godot again, who ignored her. “Now you know the time, because I am such a good reader.”

“You’re a diamond in the rough, kid,” Godot told her seriously. “Never let these dullards dull your shine.”

“My name’s not Diamond,” Pearl informed him, equally seriously. “It is Pearl Fey. Don’t feel bad. It’s a very common mistake.”

“I don’t make mistakes, kid. I’m just one step ahead of reality. Count on it.”

“You don’t have to be prideful, Mr. Godot.” Pearl smiled brightly and encouragingly at him, as if she was trying to connive a pit bull into a doing a trick. “It’s okay if you aren’t a good reader. Or if you aren’t a good speller. I’m a bad speller but that doesn’t make me a bad reader. Being a bad speller has nothing to do with being a good reader. I am a piece of decisive evidence about that.”

Maya looked grimly at Phoenix, who was contemplating suicide again. “We’re ruined her vocabulary.”

“We let her sit in during murder cases, Maya.”

“And it’s ruined her vocabulary.”

“What’s ruined your brain?”

“Do you need me to read more things for you?” Pearl asked sweetly. “I like practicing my reading. I’m always practicing with Mr. Nick’s court records. They’re lots of fun and very educational. I can read ‘five counts of manslaughter’ very well. Do you want to see me spell it?”

Godot looked at Maya. He looked at the coffee table, where the papers were not. He looked contemplative, maybe. Finally, he said, “How are you at serving coffee?”

“If the jug is medium sized I can be very good at it!”

“You’re hired.”

Alright, that was enough. Phoenix had a lot of responsibilities, but his responsibility to Maya and Pearl came before every single one. That conviction had been put to test during that awful Engarde case. Phoenix almost sacrificed his integrity as a lawyer for Maya’s sake - he was not going to lose it now!

“Absolutely not,” Phoenix said. It didn’t matter how insanely tall this guy was. Phoenix was taking a stand - right here, right now. Granted, the stand would go to his shoulder, but it was the conviction that counted! “Child labor is against the law, and her legal guardian does not give consent for this.” Phoenix made dangerous eyes at a cowed Maya, just to reaffirm that her legal guardian was not giving consent. “Don’t you have your own co-counsel? Make them do your chores, and stop stealing mine!”

“I wasn’t planning on paying her,” Godot said affably. “That’s a violation of child labor laws, you know.”

Maya appeared to be seriously considering his proposal. Which shouldn’t have been a big deal, but please refer back to the legal guardian wrinkle in this case. “I don’t know, Nick. Don’t you think it’s time Pearl flew out from underneath your shadow? It’s not exactly as if you pay me either.”

“You’ll get paid when you do something helpful that gets me paid,” Phoenix said instantly. Maya glumly accepted this reality. “There’s no paycheck in moral support, Maya. Godot can use his own co-counsel –“

“I don’t have a co-counsel,” Godot said. “Do I look like I’ve received an ounce of moral support in the last four years? Of kindness? Hell has no comradeship.”

Phoenix flapped a hand. “Yeah, whatever. Your plucky imouto, co-counsel, whatever. Just get her to do it.”

For the first time, Godot actually gave him a baffled look. Maybe. It was insanely hard to tell. “What would I do with a – younger sister, is it?”

Everybody froze. You could have heard a penny drop. Maya and Pearl’s eyes practically goggled out of their heads.

Godot just stood there, ignoring Pearl and Maya but clearly unsettled by the silence. “Cream and sugar undercuts the delectable bitterness of the black coffee. A life without siblings is a satisfyingly dark roast.”

Slowly, Phoenix said, “I’m sorry. You’re a lawyer with no plucky female sidekick?”

“I’ve had kouhai,” Godot said defensively. “I have a certain talent for mentorship –“

“Mentorship? What makes you think you’re qualified to give any sort of mentorship? You’re a rookie!” Phoenix said the word ‘rookie’ like how Edgeworth said ‘polyester’, which was deeply satisfying. “And haven’t you lost every case you’ve ever taken?”

Maya looked close to tears. “No wonder he’s such an awful lawyer…he doesn’t have a single imouto.”

“Is that the ‘hell’ Mr. Godot talks about?” Pearl asked, voice wavering. “A world with no women?”

“You’re projecting,” Godot snapped. “Just because you’re surrounded by teenage girls all day doesn’t mean any other lawyer is obligated to do the same.”

“Any good lawyer. Why do you think Edgeworth has an imouto.” The thought of Edgeworth with no Franciska to hone his…edge…how sad. “And Franciska has Edgeworth as an imouto. This is law one-oh-one, Godot.” Phoenix propped his hands on his hips, grinning. “Hah! No wonder you can’t beat me! You don’t know the first thing about law, do you?”

“And he can’t read,” Maya said sadly. “Maybe Mr. Godot isn’t exaggerating when he tells us how sad and pathetic he is…”

“You thought he was exaggerating?”

The tragic sight of the thoroughly baffled man clearly tugged at Pearl’s heartstrings, but she quickly found her resolve too. She rolled up her sleeves, as if they were at the office and she was ready to attack Phoenix’s toilet with a scrub brush. Once she had almost fallen in. “That does it! If Mr. Godot doesn’t have an imouto, then I’ll - ”

“Nope. His problem, not ours.” Frankly, Phoenix was just trash talking a little. If you pretended Edgeworth and Franciska didn’t exist – impossible for Phoenix, but he could stretch his imagination – then Godot was a pretty good lawyer. To be a pretty good lawyer without the massive handicap of no young girl…Phoenix better stop giving the competition a hand like this. “Come on, the security guard’s started glaring at us again. It’s definitely time to start the trial.”

“Your face will freeze like that, you know,” Pearl seriously told the security guard. He didn’t visibly react to her words at all. Maybe Pearl was onto something… “Mr. Nick, I have a duty to my fellow man -”

“You can practice your reading with picture books, like a normal kid.” Pearl indignantly opened her mouth, doubtlessly about to launch into a meandering and breathless rant about her favorite Newberry Award winning children’s book author. “In English, not Japanese. Reading in English is your problem. At this rate you’re going to know how to read legalese and nothing else.” Phoenix yanked open the door, shepherding both girls out. Maya quickly stuffed more California rolls in her sleeve. “Bad enough Maya’s neglecting – Jesus Christ!”

“You can’t give me a hard time about that,” Maya said reproachfully. “I’m Shinto.”

Obviously, goddamn Gumshoe was at the door, one fist raised and clearly about to knock. His fist fell at the exact moment that Phoenix opened the door, and Phoenix only barely avoided a royal smack on the head by via Gumshoe’s meaty fist. He really couldn’t afford another concussion at this rate! CTE was a very serious brain disorder!

“Mr. Wright! Hey, I thought I’d find you here! Right underneath my fist too! How’s that for some detective work, huh!” Gumshoe laughed uproariously, as if his crush wasn’t about to board her kayak and start doing the death row. And as if he hadn’t told Phoenix to go here. “Well, enough playing around! It’s time to get back to it! There’s no excuse for slacking off when Maggey’s life is on the line, you know!”

“You’re the one who sent me on an errand!” Phoenix snapped. He shut the door tightly behind him. The last thing he needed was Godot adding his two cents. Or, knowing his wordiness, his two dollars. And change. “Did you forget telling me to give Godot the coroner’s report? It was five minutes ago!”

“What? Why would I do that?” Gumshoe paused a second, creaky and rusty gears churning in his brain. Maya made demonstrative kissy noises. “Oh, yeah! Did you read it out to him?”

Phoenix was going to have a fucking aneurysm. “Is there some reason why Prosecutor Godot is incapable of doing his own work? I’m already doing half the prosecutor’s job in the courtroom anyway!”

“Some reason? Uh, yeah.” Gumshoe scratched the back of his neck, quirking an eyebrow. “It’s not exactly as if he can read the thing, you know.”

“Oh my god,” Maya whispered, “he really can’t read.”

Pearl’s eyes were brimming with tears. “A lawyer who can’t read…he’s so brave!”

“Brave is one word for it,” Phoenix said flatly. How could he have ever been scared of this guy? No imouto, no literacy…the only thing impressive about him was how he’d even gotten this far. “It’s not my problem if Godot dropped out of fourth grade. He’s giving me enough problems, tell him to solve his own.”

For some reason, Gumshoe outright glared at Phoenix. Phoenix was getting used to his misplaced ire over Xirneohp, but what did Maggey have to do with this? If anything, he should be thanking Phoenix for refusing to help the competition. “That’s out of line, pal! Haven’t you heard of basic human decency?”

“In a courtroom? No.”

“He’s got you there,” Maya said wisely. “When Nick’s putting the ‘Nick’ in ‘panicked’, then he can do some pretty sketchy stuff –“

“And you call me the narc?!”

“The courtroom doesn’t matter.” Gumshoe was still scowling at Phoenix. Of course it’s only Phoenix who gets treated like this. Edgeworth insults Gumshoe all day and he’s still his biggest fan. “I told you specifically to read out the autopsy report so Prosecutor Godot could record it into his PDA. Then he always labels it with that funny little label maker of his. You gotta get your ears cleaned out, pal.”

Phoenix turned to Maya and Pearl, silently pleading for backup. Gumshoe was making Phoenix doubt his own sanity. Normally he just made Phoenix think he was losing it.

But Maya just looked tragically disappointed in him. “Nick…you didn’t even let Godot label it with his funny little label maker?”

Desperately, Phoenix rounded on Pearl. He was ready to fake tears. But Pearl just looked ready to whale on him with her little fists. “How could you, Mr. Nick? I didn’t get to see Mr. Godot’s cassette recorder! I’ve always wanted to touch one!”

“Ah, Prosecutor Godot’s things are always super fun to touch!” At least Gumshoe looked sufficiently cheered up. “His bumpy labels make no sense to me, but I think they’re super cool. Like a secret code or something. But Prosecutor Godot always dumps coffee on my head when I mess around with them…makes me put ‘em back in order, then he says I’m doing it wrong, and…I won’t say I miss the whip, but prosecutors can be so rough sometimes.”

Wait. Hold on a minute. Several different small pieces clicked into place, and Phoenix’s familiar trusty intuition began to churn its gears. Phoenix raised one finger, and Gumshoe instinctively ducked. “Detective…that label maker wouldn’t happen to be a Braille label maker, would it?”

Gumshoe brightened, nodding voraciously. Then he apparently remembered he was angry at Phoenix, and started scowling instead. “Yeah, that’s what he called it! And I’ve just caught ya in a contradiction, pal! You said I didn’t tell you about the bumpy label maker. But you obviously knew what it was, didn’t you? You really were lacking human decency on purpose, weren’t you!”

Cool. Phoenix wished he was dead.

Both girls looked at Phoenix immediately, correctly deducing the return of his consistent suicidality but uncertain of the cause. Phoenix pinched the bridge of his nose, hard. “Braille is an alphabet for the blind. You read it by feeling little bumps with your fingers. Apparently Prosecutor Godot is some level of blind. And apparently nobody saw fit to tell us this.”

“Did we gotta?” Gumshoe asked blankly. “Mr. Godot doesn’t like talking about it.”

“Yes, you gotta! Now I look like some kind of - you know!”

Sure enough, Maya was giving him the most judgmental look he’d ever seen. Her face when full-ass adult Maximillian admitted that he had asked a sixteen year old to marry him was nothing in comparison. “You were bullying the blind, Nick? I can’t believe you!”

What was it, bully Phoenix for something that was not his fault week? “It’s his fault for not saying anything -”

“Victim blaming?!”

“I thought he was just being an as - jerk again! It’s not exactly out of character!”

“Ableism,” Maya denounced. Phoenix drooped. “I can’t believe it. I expected better from you, Nick.”

“I’m literally ADHD, don’t give me this -”

“Who isn’t autistic?” Maya said frankly. “That doesn’t count.”

“Plenty of people in this world are neurotypical, Maya.”

He’d had to explain this multiple times. Sometimes she even made him doubt himself. It wasn’t as if he knew neurotypical people. The people in Phoenix’s life either knew they were neurodivergent or thought that normal people were the freak. Most fell into the later category. Unfortunately. Lana wasn’t winning sister of the year, but Ema’s diagnosis and Ritalin prescription was probably his sole link to sanity during that case. Phoenix had a conspiracy theory that Gumshoe plus Ritalin would produce a shockingly competent person. Like everybody else on the prosecutor’s side, he had no idea.

There was no way Edgeworth knew he was autistic, but Phoenix was softening him up for the revelation. He had to take it slow. Couldn’t afford for him to run off to the Philippines to find himself and then come home acting as if he invented autism. Again. Like he did with homosexuality. Shut up about the German discotheques, Edgeworth!

“Mr. Godot is blind?” Pearl gasped. Horrifically, Phoenix was relieved that she knew what blind people were. “Is that why he couldn’t read? And you made fun of him! That’s bullying, Mr. Nick!”

This was a thousand times worse coming from Pearl. “I wouldn’t say I made fun of him,” Phoenix said evasively. “If anything, I really think he’s been bullying me.” This did not impress Maya and Pearl, who somehow only looked more disappointed in him. Phoenix began to sweat. “I got nothing against the disabled, guys. They’re - like, they’re fine! Some of my best friends are -”

“Autism doesn’t count,” Maya said frostily. “You’ll never get your Disability Awareness and Inclusion Girl Scout badge at this rate, Nick.”

“I - am I a nine year old girl now? Seriously?”

Pearl straightened, eyes widening. “I’m a nine year old girl!” Phoenix gestured towards her, emphasizing the handful of differences between them. Gumshoe nodded vigorously. “Can I get a disability aware badge? I’m aware of disabled people!” Left unsaid: unlike Phoenix, apparently. Yet another difference between him and nine year old girls.

“You aren’t a Girl Scout,” Phoenix said, exhausted. “If that’s something you’re interested in, we can sign you up -”

“Girl Scouts! That’s a great idea. I was a Girl Scout way back when. It was awfully rewarding.” Gumshoe gave Pearl a big thumbs up, as if he hadn’t casually dropped the most insane bomb of all time and promptly moved on. “You’re probably overqualified for the Legal Expert and Fortune Teller badges. You could really make it!”

That was it. They had lost her. Pearl rolled her sleeves up, puffing out her chest with pride, and before Phoenix could react she had already turned around and pushed the lobby doors open. They swung open with a theatrical flair, revealing -

Godot, just on the other side of the doors. Judging by his somewhat harried look and unbalanced stance, he had also just barely managed to avoid door-to-face impact. Or, more likely, door-to-visor impact.

Pearl either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She jabbed a finger at Godot, who still seemed dazed from the unintentional assault. “I’m taking your case, Mr. Godot! I’ll be your co-counsel! I’ll find you innocent of all charges - um, not that!”

“I lost all innocence a long time ago,” Godot said darkly. He pushed past them, flagrantly brushing off everybody. “If you wish to scout for something, scout for that. It ought to distract you from standing around and wasting time with meaningless gossip.”

Phoenix winced. He didn’t seem very happy. But he never really did - cheerful and amused, frequently, but almost never actually happy. “Uh, hey, man. I’m really sorry about - in my defense, you were actively hiding it -”

“Classic defense attorney,” Maya announced. “Always defending himself!”

“Mr. Edgeworth says that the attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client,” Pearl said helpfully, blissfully unaware of that one time Phoenix had to defend himself against a murder charge. Edgeworth had known. Obviously.

“Save your pity, Trite. Save it for the courtroom. So you can pity yourself.” Godot held up one hand, not even bothering to aim it in Phoenix’s direction. “Out of all of your victims, of course you would pity yourself the most.”

“Dude,” Phoenix said, “did I, like, ghost you the morning after or something? I’m sorry about it, but becoming a lawyer because I didn’t text you back is a little weird.”

“A little weird?” Gumshoe said, baffled. “That’s a crazy accusation, Wright. Who would become a whole lawyer because of a guy?” Phoenix looked at the ceiling. Godot coughed. “I don’t like the sound of that cough, pal.”

“For whom does the bell toll, Detective?” Godot said. Maya looked actively distressed as she attempted and failed to decipher what the fuck he meant by that. “I’ll see you all in court. Prepare yourselves. I don’t intend on losing to the likes of you.”

He turned on his heel, striding down the hallway and escaping them all as quickly as possible. Pearl gasped, and she immediately let go of Maya’s hand so she could set off barrelling down the hallway. “Hold on! Wait for me, Mr. Godot!”

Godot didn’t look back. But he did slow until Pearl caught up, and when she shoved her little hand in his large one he didn’t pull away.

Gumshoe scratched his chin. Maya squinted at the departing duo, obviously wondering how Godot knew where to take a left turn at the hallway. Phoenix made a mental note of it too. For a blind guy, he was really familiar with the courthouse…which meant that Phoenix’s mistake was perfectly reasonable! Anybody would make it! “Just double checkin’. You two are actually cool with sending off a little girl with the sketchiest grown man ever? Completely unsupervised and stuff?”

What, seriously? Phoenix and Maya glanced at each other before shrugging. “If you can’t trust your coworkers,” Maya intoned seriously, “you can’t trust anybody. Nobody’s more trustworthy than a real lawyer.”

“And Edgeworth recommended him,” Phoenix pointed out. “Good enough for me. The state of California would never have certified him as a defense attorney if he wasn’t trustworthy.”

“That doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know enough about the law to dispute it,” Gumshoe said cheerfully, displaying a chain of logic that had proven extremely convenient for Phoenix over the years. Maya had once tricked Gumshoe into letting them into a crime scene by pretending that there was a legal holiday once a year where every law and police procedure was inverted. “Don’t we got a trial to hit, anyway?”

“Shit!”

Pearl’s inaugural performance as the prosecution’s co-counsel/imouto went off without a hitch. Phoenix couldn’t be prouder of her efforts. She played her part perfectly: from the well-timed timed motivational encouragements to tension-relieving funny quips, she was a natural. Her only experience co-counseling with Phoenix had been very stressful for her, so Phoenix was happy to see her shine with confidence. Pearl Fey was truly suited for villainy.

She even went above and beyond into the role of personal assistant imouto. She carefully managed the presented evidence, holding up the right photograph or blood-stained object for the purview of the court. Pearl read out any written reports, described the evidence that Phoenix presented, and reported on any notable body language. Phoenix wasn’t sure if Godot knowing that ‘the Defense looks like you ate the last onigiri he was saving for lunch…’ was remotely helpful, but it was cute. Godot better realize how lucky he was to have such a top-quality imouto at his side today. It confused the judge, but what didn’t.

“I’m sorry,” the judge said, as Pearl carefully withdrew a generic white coffee mug from a large box underneath the table. Seemingly…filled with more mugs. “Doesn’t that little girl belong to the Defense?”

“The Defense is loaning her out today,” Phoenix said seriously. Pearl began wrangling a coffee pot the size of her head. “Don’t worry, it’s not a conflict of interest.”

“I see!” Pearl carefully tipped the large pot into the white mug. It spilled everywhere, but coffee was poured. “And what is a ‘conflict of interest’?”

“Obscure old legal term. Don’t worry about it.” Pearl reached over the table and attempted to slide the mug towards Godot, as the unlucky draftee from the audience always did. He just pointed at a random pot in the crowd and told somebody that they were in charge of his coffee today. Terribly unorganized way to do things.

“Watch it, you senile old man. The Defense is distracting you with outdated legal concepts. Focus on the most important aspect of this case!” Why was only the prosecution allowed to insult the judge! Why were they the only ones allowed to get away with that! Seriously unfair! As if Phoenix didn’t want to strangle the judge with his own two hands too?!

The mug scooted forward a little, but barely moved. Pearl scowled and tried again, sliding the mug forward a few inches and sloshing coffee over the side again. Pearl huffed in frustration before carefully cupping her hand around the mug and pushing it forward as she walked down the table.

Godot cupped his hand on the table and let Pearl push the cup into his hand. Then he slammed the table, throwing his head back and chugging the entire mug of steaming hot coffee in one go. He slammed the mug back on the table. Pearl carefully retrieved it.

“The fact that the old man and this fake Frenchman saw the accused put poison in the cup!” Godot announced. “That’s one fact that can’t be denied! Not by a reliable witness!”

Pearl clapped. Godot patted her on the head. Phoenix groaned.

Phoenix got his way - as usual - by the skin of his teeth - as usual. He was going to have a heart attack before he was thirty at this rate. Phoenix and Maya waited in the courtroom lobby for almost fifteen minutes before Pearl finally came running up to them. She was beaming, cheeks flushed red with pride.

“Great job out there today, Pearl!” Maya cheered, clapping her hands. Yeah - a little too good. Godot’s performance in court was way smoother than last time. Maybe he was just getting his sea legs, but Phoenix never underestimated the power of young girls pursuing merit badges. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Nuh-uh! Mr. Godot said he’s gonna take me out for ice cream!” Pearl thrust her hand out, shining the biggest, wettest gaze directly into his eyes. “Can I have money for ice cream, Nick? Please?”

“Typically speaking, when you take people out for food, you’re the one paying,” Phoenix said flatly. “Mr. Godot’s on a prosecutor’s salary and I’m representing a waitress. He can pay.”

“Mr. Godot doesn’t get paid,” Pearl said frankly. “He said he does it for the love of the game.”

This was somehow the most surprising thing he’d heard all day and completely predictable.

Maya frowned, tilting her head. It was a gesture he’d seen in Mia a thousand times. Even after all this time, Maya still hurt him in those little ways. “Prosecutors get paid by the government. How do you legally work for the government and not get paid?”

“Maybe he’s a volunteer?” Phoenix suggested. “People volunteer at places, right? Like…in zoos?”

“That makes sense!” Maya said brightly, clapping her hands together. “Zoos, a court of law…what’s the difference, right?”

“After we’re done with it, not much.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t meet the parrot,” Pearl said, crushed by the immovable weight of the world’s injustices. “I wanted to make friends. We have so much in common.”

Maya sympathetically patted Pearl’s back. “You do! You’re both so good at imitating voices! Maybe one day Phoenix can cross-examine you too, huh?”

Nope. No. No way! “Not happening. I’ve accused every imouto I’ve ever had of murder on the stand. Pearl’s merciless enough, we can’t take that chance. She wouldn’t make it a day in prison.”

“Sounds like a you problem,” Maya said, unimpressed. “Godot would never accuse an imouto of murder. He’s a bro like that.”

“He’s a prosecutor, it’s not his job -”

“Apparently being a prosecutor isn’t his job either.”

“You’d make an unemployed man pay for my ice cream?” Pearl demanded. “For shame, Mr. Phoenix Wright!”

Phoenix sighed and pulled out his wallet. He didn’t know why he wasted time pretending this wasn’t going to happen. Pity he wasn’t in the habit of accepting the inevitable. His life would be a lot easier.

#my writing #you read this fic and it doesn't SEEM like i had to stop because it was too good #but trust me. trust me alright.#as you can also undoubtedly tell it's 1/2 injoke lore developed over the course of the games #so if the jokes are weird uhhh they're not weird to ME #my asks

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tyramir · 2 months ago

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My Thoughts on Veilguard

I've finished the game, and as a longtime Dragon Age fan, these are my (spoiler free) thoughts.

It's good. It's not great. It wasn't worth the ten year wait.

Veilguard is a semi-climax in terms of lore building across three games. There are mysteries that have been resolved and paid off. Long asked questions have been answered. We know so many things we didn't know before, and there's satisfaction in the knowing.

This is where Veilguard succeeds the best at, in my opinion. The big picture.

Where it fails is in the execution. In the little things. While lore is paid off in the grand gestures, it almost feels spat on in the small ones. It's tiny things, little inconsistencies that feel like nitpicks, but they build up fast. The breaking point for me was one character chanting an incantation while casting a spell. Since when does Dragon Age magic require incantations? The answer? Never. Do your homework, please. I know you're trying to build drama into your scene, but the complete lore break took me out of it. It was so jarring and unneeded and kind of lazy.

And that's what a lot of the writing feels like in this game. Lazy. And all respect to Trick Weekes and their team. They've done great things in the past. But the writing in this game clearly doesn't trust its audience to draw its own conclusions about anything. It is constantly trying to feed you an opinion to have, both in what characters say to your Rook, and in the dialogue options Rook is presented. I know by and large that you're going to have limited dialogue options as a consequence of budget and technical issues, but certain issues presented are very nuanced, and the dialogue tends to feel, "You think this is good", "You think this is bad," "You think this is sad," or "I have a quippy sarcastic comment about this that does not require me to commit to an opinion one way or the other." And while it works for the first half of the game... it doesn't work for the back half.

I don't know about anyone else, but the romance storyline I pursued felt... short. As if it were added in as an afterthought. As if someone said, "Well, I guess we're known as the horny RPG franchise, so we have to include something."

A lot of people come to Bioware for the interpersonal relationships, both romantic and not, between characters. And both romantic and platonic, this felt like the weakest entry in the series in a lot of respects. I feel like there was more growth between the friendship of Lucanis and Davrin than there was between Rook and any given party member.

A lot of narrative arcs didn't do it for me. At all. I found Neve's entire plotline and character very phoned in. I was excited at the idea of a Mage Detective in Tevinter, looking to protect the little guy. She was presented, on-paper, as a clever and passionate mage who defies what it means to be one in a country that very much believes in magical supremacy. It's probably because of my expectations. I wanted Harry Dresden. Instead, I got ... Neve.

I understand there is party banter that explains why Neve wears high fashion outfits when she comes from a poor neighbourhood, working jobs for people who have little to no way of paying her. But why is her voice actor also presenting her as very posh? Why is this woman throwing around sacks of coins to overpay for her lunch, and not scrounging for loose change in cushions at the Lighthouse? Why is she presented as highly educated and well-spoken, and not a street-savvy, 'I learned from experience and have great intuition but poor grammar' gumshoes?

And then there's Taash. I am not going to be one of those dudebros who cries about woke culture. Or at least, I hope I do not come off that way. But Taash, written personally by Trick Weekes, was so clumsy and hamfisted, and I am left disappointed. I romanced Taash, and I am disappointed with their character arc. Because it is so painfully generic. It couldn't have played into cliches harder if it tried. I wanted more. Taash does have a personality beyond being non-binary. But they don't have a character arc beyond that.

Expectations, I guess. I went into Veilguard with a lot of them, and they came up short.

I like this game. I swear, I do. But Inquisition came out when I had an Xbox 360, and was just about to get an XBox One. It's been so long since Inquisition, we have an entire generation of consoles in between releases. I expected a masterpiece. And I did not get one.

#dragon age #dragon age the veilguard #review

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anim-ttrpgs · 1 year ago

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Clearing Up Some Confusion: Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is Not Powered by the Apocalypse

There has been a little confusion cropping up here and there regarding our game Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and its relationship to the Powered by the Apocalypse system, A.K.A. PbtA, which we would like to hopefully clear up in this post.

PbtA is a very popular system for indie RPGs lately, it’s safe to say most of the indie RPGs we see cross our dashboard use it, in fact, and since Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is an indie RPG that also happens to use 2D6+Modifier dice rolls, we can see where this assumption might come from. However, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is not a PbtA game, nor is it a ‘hack’ of any other game. It is an original from-the-ground-up system that uses 2D6+Modifier because 2D6+Modifier is just a very good way to roll dice. It’s very predictable, and dice results that are randomized yet still predictable are beneficial both for players playing the game and for us designing the game.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually does take inspiration from other games, even PbtA games like Monster of the Week—though in Monster of the Week’s case, that “inspiration” often took the form of doing the opposite of what Monster of the Week does, because we actually found MotW far too restrictive and limiting in its character creation and other elements for the kind of game we wanted to play—but also Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, Gumshoe, Shadowrun, AD&D2e, etc, both in the “do what they do” and “do the opposite of what they do” sense. In fact, if your TTRPG doesn’t take inspiration from a good number of other TTRPGs, that’s probably a pretty bad sign.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy also takes a great deal of inspiration from non-TTRPG sources, some of which are probably pretty obvious and some of which might surprise you, such as Blood(1997) and Warhammer 40,000(the tabletop wargame specifically, not so much the lore). Other inspirations include but are not limited to: Kolchak: The Nightstalker, The X-Files, XCOM(the reboots, not so much the originals), Columbo, Hardboiled, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Scooby-doo, too many horror movies to list, etc.

That got a little off-topic, but this is supposed to be a promotional post for Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy as well, after all—plus, I get excited.

Anyway, the point of this post is that the 2D6+Modifier dice system is where the similarities between Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and the PbtA system end.

To elaborate, here are some—but not all—of the biggest differences:

No “Classes” or “Playbooks”

All PCs in Eureka draw from the same list of Skills, and spread their skillpoints around them how they see fit; as well as a collection of 3 gameplay-altering Traits that can be mixed and matched in any way, rather than being a set collection of “moves” or “class features”. This does not mean that all PCs are the same, Traits can make them vary wildly in how they play mechanically.

There are what could be considered two or three “categories” of PC in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy(Mundane, Mage, and Monster), but these are not “classes” or “playbooks” in any way, they mostly determine what lists of Traits the PC gets to draw from, and due to the wildly gameplay-altering nature of these Traits, two Monster PCs in Eureka are likely to be far less similar to each other than two PCs both using The Monstrous playbook in Monster of the Week, and far less similar to each other than two Fighters in D&D.

Making Multiple Rolls per Scene

In PbtA games, it is fairly common for a single dice roll and a single “move” to dictate the outcome of an entire “scene”. In Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, this is not the case. PCs may make multiple rolls of different Skills or multiple subsequent rolls of the same Skill within a single “encounter” or “scene”.

NPCs Make Rolls Too

That brings us to our third big difference for this post, the fact that NPCs also make rolls. In most PbtA games, NPCs do not make rolls, only the PCs do, but in Eureka, that is not the case. NPC stat blocks are not as robust as PC stat blocks, but they do still make rolls in the same manner the PCs do, especially in combat, which brings us to the last point I’m going to make in this post because I’m running out of time.

Deep, Intricate Combat Rules

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is not a combat-focused game by any means, the party will probably only get into 1-2 skirmishes across an entire mystery, but when those skirmishes do happen, they will be played out using deep, tactical combat rules with multiple types of attacks and combat moves, including mechanical crunch for things like positioning and cover, multiple types of damage, environmental damage and effects, etc.

All of this should be telling you that Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is not only entirely different in its core systems, but also an overall crunchier and less improvisational-ruling system than PbtA, with tons of freedom in its character creation as well as plenty of rules and guidelines to help GMs make fair and realistic resolutions on the fly. That is not to say that Eureka is a complicated TTRPG, nearly everything in the game runs off the same core 2D6 system, making it very easy to learn and memorize—the rules crunch just means that if the outcome or appropriate modifier of a roll is not immediately obvious, you can rest assured that you can find a solid answer or at least a guideline with just a quick flip through the rulebook, either during or after the session, whatever is your preference.

#eureka: investigative urban fantasy #eureka #roleplaying #rpg #coc #dnd #tabletop #indie rpg #ttrpg #monster of the week #motw #motw rpg #motw ttrpg #motw character #call of cthulhu #ttrpg character

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local-hyena · 5 months ago

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...I hate this game series. It turns your brain inside out. It keeps suspense to its maximum untill the very end. And then, it's the same process all over again, untill the end, were NOTHING MAKES SENSE but at the same time, everything's a genius move. I love this game series.

It was really nice to play as Edgeworth, and even nicer to actually investigate and walk around. The new mechanics were very interesting too. Logic and deducing from the crime scenes, Little Thief...

The new characters were awesome too ! My favorites are probably Lang and Kay, but I like Detective Badd too. And of course, Gumshoe is here !! All the time !! Woohoo !!!

Also. Edgeworth. You are allowed to say "Phoenix Wright", it's okay.

What I really liked about this game is the continuity of the story : every case felt like it added to the final objective, which wasn't always the case of the other 4 games (even though they DID give clues for the final mystery, I feel like Investigation's cases were more tied together with the smuggling ring).

The story gave us much Steel Samurai lore too. Edgeworth is shown being a steel samaniac on all his splendor. Never thought he'd be the type to gatekeep, but seeing the other guy it was valid lmao.

However I absolutly HATE Yew's "objection". Like, what is that ??? There's no emotion ! The sound quality is so bad too ?? Why ? I don't understand ??

Also, ending the game with a Scooby-Doo reference was... a choice. It made me laugh. A way to relieve tension after all the events I suppose.

I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY ACE ATTORNEY INVESTIGATIONS 2, however I think I'll take a little break, for the sake of my mental health.

My brain is in shambles

#nethal chats #nethal plays #ace attorney investigations #ace attorney #miles edgeworth #dick gumshoe #detective gumshoe #detective badd #kay faraday #yatagarasu

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twistedtummies2 · 10 months ago

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Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 9

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “How do you think this all works? By being big and being bad.”

Number 9 is…Bigby Wolf, from The Wolf Among Us.

“The Wolf Among Us” is a video game made by the now-defunct developers Telltale Games. The game was based on the comic series “Fables.” I’m going to come right out and say it: I have never read the comics, and I have basically no real knowledge of them or how the characters and lore in them may differ from the established points in “The Wolf Among Us.” HOWEVER, very thankfully, the game is able to stand up on its own two feet regardless, and so are its characters, so even someone who has basically no knowledge of the source material can still enjoy it.

The game is a sort of choose-your-own-adventure sort of deal; a point-and-click adventure where the player’s choices every step of the way affect how the story plays out, the kinds of relationships you form with other characters, and so on. Some choices are more important than others, but virtually every choice of note is worth pondering. The plot is a combo of film noir crime story and dark fantasy: it takes place in a world where various characters from the world of fiction, after their universe was mysteriously destroyed, have fled to the “real” world in order to seek refuge. They’ve established their own city, called “Fabletown,” where real world problems combine with fantastical adventures, as they struggle to build new lives and survive in this different universe, and hide their identities from the “normies” who exist beyond the borders of the city.

The main character is Sheriff Bigby Wolf. Bigby, as you may have guessed from his name and the title, is the Big Bad Wolf of fairy-tale infamy himself. In the world of the game, Bigby is a werewolf, who can transform from a human to increasingly more wolf-like forms, his true and ultimate form being a GIGANTIC feral beast bigger than elephant, able to create hurricane-force winds with his breath alone, and more than capable of swallowing a person whole. Needless to say, with this kind of setup, and his reputation as one of the greatest, most archetypal villains in history, Bigby isn’t exactly a popular Sheriff. Many fear or distrust him, and those that don’t typically still keep their distance for one reason or another.

Because of the playstyle of Telltale games, Bigby’s exact personality can shift depending on the choices the player makes: he can be sort of a gentle giant, who looks rugged and tough but really isn’t that bad. In contrast, he can be much more morally and ethically dubious, an anti-hero closer to Dirty Harry, who walks a very fine line between a man and a monster. However, regardless of the choices you make, a few things remain constant: Bigby’s general demeanor is that of an almost stereotypical noir-style detective. He’s gruff, grumpy, coarse, and can’t seem to go five seconds without having a cigarette. He’s often cynical and sarcastic, very much the sardonic hard-boiled sleuth. The character is voiced by Adam Harrington, and he does a phenomenal job giving Bigby the airs of such a great archetype, while also injecting vulnerability and sympathy into his portrayal.

The most notable constant of all, however, is Bigby’s motivations: even if you make him especially nasty, it’s usually pretty clear that this Big Bad Wolf is racked with guilt over his past. He knows the stigma that hangs over him is VERY well-deserved, and he legitimately wants to try and help people and make things better. Even when he makes questionable decisions, the majority of them are still justifiable in some fashion or another. He doesn’t want to be seen as the bad guy anymore, he wants to try and start a new life. It’s up to the player to determine if Bigby is truly able to put away the vicious, cruel, beastly sides of his personality and turn over a new leaf, or if his efforts and desires are all in vain.

Even though Telltale officially closed down in 2018, the first game was so popular that it was eventually revived for an upcoming sequel, made by the remnants of the Telltale staff with help from AdHoc Studios. The new game is set to release sometime this year, though no official release date has been given. Whenever it arrives, I look forward to seeing how Bigby’s story continues, and what new paths and new cases will await him in the future.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 8!

CLUE: “Just one more thing…”

#list #countdown #best #favorites #top 31 fictional detectives #gathering of the greatest gumshoes #number 9 #bigby wolf #bigby #the wolf among us #telltale games #video games #fables #comics #big bad wolf #mystery #noir #fantasy #fairy-tales

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the-bar-sinister · 9 months ago

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Have you played the AA Investigations games? If yes, what did you think of them? Sadly I was only able to play for myself the first one (I couldn't make the translation patch for the second one work :( ), and let's just say that the novelty of playing as Edgeworth wore off quickly lol. The second one was much more ambitious with some stellar character arcs and a memorable final villain, but of course it's still stuck in "only in Japan" limbo...

Yes! We played both Investigations, and Investigations 2 (fan patch) about 10 years ago. Currently, we're in the middle of watching a letsplay/fandub of the games because uh, yeah. We're not going to play through them again. They're the worst 'games'-- NOT the worst stories– in the AA series.

I definitely can't blame you for saying the novelty wore off quickly. Investigations has some serious flaws as a game and in structure. Which is an absolute shame, because the characters and stories are some of my favorites.

I absolutely adore Detective Badd, Agent Lang, Shih-Nah, and Kay Faraday from the first game, and Sebastian Debeste and Justine Courtney from the second game are some of my favorite characters in the whole series.

It's also absolutely fantastic to get to see more of Miles and Gumshoe together. I just love them as a mystery solving pair. They have such delightful energy. It probably helps that I'm a gumworth shipper from way back of course XD

But frankly, the fantastic characters, interesting worldbuilding and good stories absolutely can't save the Investigations series from its faults.

Problems with Ace Attorney Investigations

the need for the narrative to telegraph to the player how to solve problems, and forcing the player to painstakingly go through each of Miles' thought processes as a game mechanic has the opposite of the intended effect. Instead of making the player feel clever it makes Miles Edgeworth seem, very, very stupid and slow.

logic chess (from the second game) is agonizing. It's a great character bit for Egdeworth, having him conceive every logical problem as a chess problem, but its a fucking agonizing game mechanic.

circular reasoning. Every case is way too long, and it goes around in circles. I feel like this is a result of the "trial" phases being outside the court and thus having no real mediator. It's very true to life because people are going to "nu-uh" for as long as they can, but, realistic or not, t's agonizing to explain the same things to characters over and over and over.

connected to the above, all of the cases are too long, and also some of the logical leaps that the games expect you to make are some of the worst in the series. From Apollo Justice onward the games got a lot better about having a clear line of logic for where you're supposed to present evidence. Investigations and investigations 2 are just fucking guesswork.

So yeah while I definitely think these games are fantastic lore and character wise and worth experiencing, they are absolutely aggravating to play. My personal suggestion for anyone who wants to experience them is to pick a lets play/walkthrough video of their favorite variety (commentary, dub, no commentary) and enjoy them without having to worry about the terrible fucking gameplay.

#ask answers #friend mail #ace attorney #ace attorney meta #ace attorney investigations #gyakuten kenji #miles edgeworth

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angrybatart · 8 months ago

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WIP

Got an idea for my own seasonal spirit group while listening to Peggy Lee sing Ghost Riders in the Sky. Sooo, obviously cowboy themed. I only have one more guy to add to the drawing, but I'm trying to figure out where to put him and trying to make them look as good as I imagined. Also need to change the Manta Tamer's (temporary name) look because he's starting to look too much like Gumshoe.

Also need to look up outfits to go with the hats.

Quick character lore!

Manta Tamer (temporary name)

- 👪 Somewhat of an introvert, unless around his friends/siblings (adopted siblings)

- 😻 Loves animals to the point of info dumping about them (without realizing it)

- 😰 Worries that Krill Wrangler (not pictured) is too much of a daredevil

- 👊 Will fight if he has to

Bowler Hat Spirit (no official name yet)

- 💪 Acts as the big sister of the group; everyone looks up to her

- 🕯 Knows the best, and easiest, candle banks to rob

More to come as I work on this.

#wip #fanart #sketch #Sky: Children of the Light #Sky: CotL #OCs #seriously need to find another hairstyle for Manta Tamer #DX he looks like a cowboy version of Gumshoe!!!#I felt like Sky needed more cowboys

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a-hoomin-kirby · 2 months ago

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I’m so sorry but I don’t have any art of Victoria!! 😭😭 but I’ll give you some lore instead? As a exchange lol

She’s edgeworth’s bio daughter from a fling he had in college (when he was around eighteen ish to nineteen ish) don’t ask where the other parent is because edgeworth doesn’t know either! But he tries to keep her a close knitted secret since for obvious reasons it’d kinda be dangerous to be a prosecutors daughter publicly lol, the only people who know about her are Franzsika and gumshoe (and also my AA character that I ship with edgey but we aren’t talking about miskha rn)

Phoenix meets her in justice for all tho when she’s seven as he’s the one who has to take care of her after ya know and oh boy the girl is constantly glaring at him and constantly declaring she wants her aunt instead of the weirdo defense attorney, she’d also appear in the investigation games where she’s very high energy and attempting to help out her dad and Kay since she wants to be a prosecutor just like him…and miles is just gritting his teeth since he’s seen a child of an attorney wanting to be just like them before….so he’s going to stay far away from elevators and letting her in the courtrooms (which Phoenix actually already did so uh sorry miles)

Sorry I don’t have much for her rn but I’ll write more and give her a proper design some day lol

thamk you, eating this up and patting her and edgy on the head

also just love the idea of Phoenix and her like

“hey kidd—“

“AUNTIE GET HIM AWAY”

“PLEASE SHE SCARES ME ENOUGH ;-;”

#Ace attorney #speak hoomin speak!#Beautiful

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honourablejester · 1 year ago

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VTM Character Concepts

Just a pair of Vampire: The Masquerade character concepts. I think these are both mostly classic VTM, because I haven’t really kept up with developments in the lore, but I was rewatching and rereading some things recently and figured it’d do no harm to doodle some VTM characters along with all the D&D and PF and Starfinder ones. Heh.

No Nosferatu this time. They are still my first and true clan, but I wanted to expand outwards a little bit, experiment with a couple of others.

Ventrue:

Deanna Fontaine, Ventrue PI. Deanna had the misfortune in her mortal days of getting in the way of a large criminal enterprise, and stubbornly refused to politely get back out of the way. To no one’s surprise, least of all her own, this refusal promptly resulted in her death. Rather more to her surprise, however, the head of the criminal organisation she had refused to bow to was a Kindred, a Ventrue, and he was deeply impressed by her integrity, even in the face of death. She woke in her shallow grave, and there was a very well-appointed car waiting for her outside the lot. Deanna promptly ignored it and made her own way into the night, ravenous and furious and not a little terrified. It took four months of near misses and near starvation in her attempts to survive on her own and understand her new condition on her own terms before her sire, who felt he had had been extremely patient, finally ran out of said patience and kidnapped her for a ‘discussion’.

The results were … mixed. The grudge for her mortal death runs deep, and her hatred for her sire’s criminal enterprises is still equally strong. Deanna died once for her convictions, and she will do so again, without a qualm. On a personal level, she despises the vampire who made her. However. As she got more of an introduction to the broader Kindred society, and the rules of her new world, while very aware of who was showing her that world and those rules, nonetheless some of her sire’s points did land with her. The Camarilla is a sect she broadly believes in, keeping the blood and the chaos away from the wider, more innocent world. And dignitas, while a part of her despises it for a mockery, the ‘appearance’ of virtue overriding all fact, another part of her does understand reputation, and the need to maintain it, and the need to repay your debts, and stick to your word, and to not damage someone without proof and cause. She’s not going to risk mortal lives to deal with him on a criminal level, and she’s not going to sow chaos among the monstrous to try and unseat him on a vampiric level, not until she knows full well what the consequences will be. She is not, and never was, a tabloid gumshoe. Do things the right way from the start, and don’t play petty games when there’s lives (or unlives, as the case may be) on the line. Die with your head high, and leave the cheap shots to the muckrakes. All things considered, while she does everything in her power to have as little to do with him as possible these days, her sire is still very pleased.

(Note: I do enjoy the Ventrue obsession with dignitas, and there’s a lot of room to play around with it in the contexts of mortal vs vampire morality, codes of honour, criminal codes of honour, and just general themes of what do you consider a compromise to your reputation, and what do you consider a compromise to your integrity, and do those two considerations match up. So. A criminal sire, and an upright childe, and he chose her because of that, and now she has to navigate personal questions of morals and honour and integrity and reputation in a much different and more monstrous milieu).

Gangrel:

Addie Thompson, ex-dockworker Gangrel autarkis. Addie’s had a hard life. Born to blue-collar parents, while Addie was decently intelligent and decently pretty, she was also always on the burly side. She did a lot of dead-end jobs as a teenager and young woman, but in the 1980s, when dock work was opened up to women in LA, the lure of better money enticed her to try her hand down at the port. Lots of her friends used to joke that if she’d been born forty years earlier, she could have been a model for Rosie the Riveter, so why not? The port wasn’t all that welcoming, though. To the point that when she was attacked one night while working out on her own, she was not remotely surprised. Of course, this wasn’t some disgruntled fellow docker. This was a monster, and it fully killed her. But no docker, male, female or otherwise, is going down without a fight, and Addie fought. Tooth, claw and whatever else she could fucking reach, all the way down. She didn’t win, obviously, or even survive, but her ferociousness did win her another sort of reward: the unlife of a Gangrel. A fairly typical embrace, as these things go. And a fairly typical aftermath: abandonment. It was up to Addie to prove she was worth the effort of instruction. She could have gone back to the city, made her way among easier hiding spots and easier prey, but Addie’d fought for her place down the docks. She’d fought for her place by the sea, so by the sea she stayed. A longshorewoman, not a sailor, but fuck it anyway. The coast was her territory. She stayed, and she survived. And maybe the next few women to try their hands down the docks had a slightly easier time of it, when the worst of their opponents tended to have accidents, and wind up vanishing, or floating in the water. But there’s only so long you can sustain that, and soon she had to move on, or risk being found and killed. And here’s maybe where her story wasn’t so typical. It wasn’t another Gangrel who found her and showed her a little bit more of this strange, fearsome new midnight world world she found herself part of. It was a Lasombra. A gun-runner with a private boat, who stumbled across Addie’s activities when the bodies in the water started to draw attention to her own doings. A beautiful demon of the deep, who found and became enchanted by this stocky, ferocious creature on the shore. And the feeling was, eventually, entirely mutual.

Addie Thompson is a wandering coastal Gangrel, a regular haunter of waterfronts up and down the coastline. She’s a rough, self-sufficient, no-nonsense survivor who has no patience for politics or any of the games of vampires. She goes where she wants when she wants, and kills anyone who’d try to hold her. She doesn’t generally kill willy-nilly, however, and often tries to choose certain targets, echoes of her first. There may or may not be rumours of a coastal serial killer who tends to target particular longshoremen and other port workers that may or may not be related to her. But Addie herself is a relatively personable monster. And she has one deep and true connection in this midnight world. A beautiful sea-demon, a gun-runner with a private boat. A Lasombra corsair that she truly and deeply believes loves her, and who she genuinely loves in return.

(Note: So. I love Mariner Gangrel, and I love Corsair Lasombra, and I ravenously adore nautical horror. And you would wonder if ever the twain should meet. And there’s those sort of fairytale elements, mist and shadows, seabirds and mermaids, the nightmare-life-in-death, the rime of the ancient mariner. Does this Lasombra corsair actually love this burly, rough-and-tumble docker woman? Maybe. But Addie wants a dream to hold close to her heart, a little bit of something romantic in a rough life, and, for at least a little while, some nights, I say she gets to have it).

#character concepts #vtm #ventrue #gangrel #lasombra #just doodling #when you want to play with vampires for a bit

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lea-andres · 11 months ago

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I'm doing the whole series by @montydrawsstuff , because I will take any excuse to look at Espio's stupid pop idol outfit again. I wish I could concoct an excuse to steal it for my lore, Dinah would blackmail Espio SO HARD-

But that's a couple more issues in. First, Chaos Clash on the Cliffs!

(I'm gonna do two parters together as one unit.)

I'm not gonna reveal a lot of story details because GO READ IT.

I love Monty's low detail silly expressions. Plus have Charmy being adorable.

*Archer voice* You want Eggman? That's how you get Eggman.

THE BOOOOOOOOOOI

I wouldn't expect less from the same idiot that *blew up his own fucking house* in Sonic X. (Galactic Gumshoes). Look at his stupid run from the scene of the crime, god I love him.

(Plus Charmy's "who walks?" Lmaoooooo)

A love story for the ages, lmao.

Katana and Dinah are Exhibits A and B that Espio's only rizz is his leaf swirl, in this essay I will-

RACISM. Also that seems unwise. Why hire technicolor furry animals to do your bidding if you're not gonna bother making sure your robots don't shoot them? Classic Eggman logic smh 🙄

Katana's the best boi. "Lea, you would make fun of Espio and call him six different insults if he did this" I absolutely would.

Hold lizard like ice cream cone

GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAAAAAAAAAAAAY

I'm out of pics I can put on this post lmao. Wanna know how it ends? GO READ IT!

#lea's a dumbass #team chaotix detective agency #other people's writing #other people's art

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selfdiagnosedeyemotif · 1 year ago

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So here's the lovely little freaks :]

Phoenix: Augustus Lambert

Maya: Melinoe Obsidian

Edgeworth: Delilah Brooks

Gumshoe: Salvador

Mia: Julie Lambert

Judge: Gloria

Gregory: Elias Lambert

Von Karma: Ione Brooks

Yonni Yagi: Oscar

Important info for the au (it's very different from canon OC lore so just ignore any trains and tragedy lore you may have seen)

Augustus and Delilah are siblings (I'm removing any and all romantic implications btw) and their parents are Gary and Ione. Ione hated Augustus cause he was a problem child (autistic kid in an unsupportive NT family) so she got rid of him and he was adopted by Elias Lambert.

One day in his 20s, he finds out his long lost sister Delilah is a prosecutor and becomes a defense attorney to try get into contact with her again.

After finishing law school, he meets this woman Julie and they get married. Julie has this younger cousin Melinoe and Augustus hardly knows her but Julie absolutely adores her like a sister. Melinoe has the ability to contact ghosts like Maya does but it works differently from canon because that crap where Maya looks like Mia made me deeply uncomfortable. Instead then it's still just Melinoe but it's like she's been possessed by Julie.

Gumshoe is Salvador because he would be :] he's stupid as crap in canon and has a deep respect for Delilah too

Anyway for the turnabout goodbyes case then it's mostly unchanged. At the time of the elavator incident then Augustus had already been adopted by Elias. Ione killed him because she just hates him. She didn't really have a good reason. In canon she's worse though so this is an improvement.

Oscar also consistently gets the short end of the stick in every au ever despite being a really nice and friendly guy in canon so I'm keeping up that tradition by having him be Yonni Yagi :3

I'll provide pics in the next ask :3

i think it's a really interesting twist on the usual tropes to have gregworth adopt phoenix rather than edgey!

#this is pretty cool!#also yeah some of the stuff with maya's channelling is uh. not great #this is something that Does Not Get Better #just a fair warning for justice for all #there is a child spirit medium and she does channel mia #i didnt consider beforehand that that was something that you may need to know in advance but it does happen #just a heads up #and the void screameth back #not-pie

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thryth-gaming · 2 months ago

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Playbooks build the world

Monster of the Week uses a philosophy of "playing to find out" which is common to a lot of Powered by the Apocalypse games. It is not limited to PbtA, however, as this approach to setting and lore has been a method used for longer than the system has been around, but pbta games were one of the first games to explicitly use it as a core philosophy.

Essentially, you start a game of Monster of the Week as something of a blank slate. Oftentimes the Keeper has a broad idea of what sort of vibe they want to bring to the game, but it's rarely as extensive or well-thought out as you would expect coming from something like Vampire the Masquerade or Forgotten Realms. Instead you generally have vibes. The first major bits of lore come from the hunters.

We'll start with the hunter playbooks as they are involved in every game of Monster of the Week. Every playbook comes with it some level of lore that they add to the game.

Professionals, Initiates, Envoys, Spell-slingers, and Divines all introduce an authority external to the hunters. The Monstrous introduces the existence of whatever breed of creature they are. The Visitor introduces the existence of other worlds and the Exile often introduces the concept of time-travel or stasis. The Celebrity introduces the character's body of work. The Gumshoe and the Covenant introduce extensive contacts and friend groups. Even at the most mild level, with playbooks like the Mundane, the History picks introduce a lot of information about how the hunters met each other and what sort of adventures they had before now.

Team playbooks are optional, but their primary function is create a more definitive lore for the world than you would normally start with. Team playbooks impose some heavy opinions on the world for how the series is going to go. There's a team enemy, a set of assets, moves, and allies you create. On top of that is the style question which encourages particular play styles as a way to get experience for the playbook. All of those build out the world in very specific ways.

On top of all this, each playbook, both hunter and team, introduces ways to build on to the lore of the world as the play continues. The Luck moves do a lot of this, but also so do a lot of each playbook's unique improvements. Then, of course, there's playbook moves like Oops! all of which can have some profound impact on what is and is not true about the world.

To accommodate this, I approach Monster of the Week with an attitude that "nothing is canon until it happens on screen". I'll have numerous ideas and plans for what the monsters and villains are doing, but anything that appears on the playbooks (team or hunter) or anything that happens in play immediately takes priority over ideas I have hanging about what's going on.

I try to keep in my head a clear thought about events that had to happen to explain things that have already happened, and those become fixed events. This approach extends to monster and phenomenon design, where I create some established powers and traits which may or may not get used in a game, but use those as guidelines for improving new powers and behaviors on the fly to fit into events that occur in play. And then that becomes a permanent canon feature of that creature for the series.

So, yesterday I didn't have a character build, this time, I think I'll look at two different approaches to one of the basic Team Playbooks: Always On the Road. I've done this before with Hauntbusters and using the animes Jujutsu Kaisen and Ghost Hunt as points of reference. This time, I'll create two three-person teams with no overlapping hunter playbooks.

We're going to build this in two ways as well. On the first, I will build the team playbook first and then build the hunters. For the second, I will build the hunters first and then the team playbook after and see how this affects thing.

Triple A Team - Always on the Road

The team travels around investigating different weird events. Sometimes this has to do with missions Jude has from their agency however, Jude is the only official asset of the AAA on the team. As such they're often following their own initiative. Their primary interest is in tracking down the influence of the King in Yellow and its cult, trying to shut it down.

Style: Vocation - someone has to do it. "Did we save the people we went there to protect?"

Core Traits

Team Enemy: The King in Yellow, a god/force of corruption, decadence, and disease.

Team Allies: Detective Barnes, a police detective who you saved from a monster way back when. They’ll help you out with some information now and then, and possibly more when you’re on their turf.

Team Moves: Handy

Team Assets

Individual Transports: A regular car, motorbike, or bicycle for every team member.

Slush Fund: The team has access to a bank account that can pay for their day-to-day needs while monster hunting, and stretches to a big purchase every now and then. Where did it come from?

Skylar Patel - The Expert

Look: A heavy-set woman with square-framed glasses and a "Dark Academia" fashion sense. She moves quickly and with energy that doesn't particularly seem to fit her build.

Charm +0

Cool +1

Sharp +2

Tough -1

Weird +1

Haven

Traveling Wizard's RV

Mobile, Workshop, Magical Laboratory

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Use Magic

Moves: I've Read About This Sort Of Thing, Dark Past

Gear

Shotgun (3-harm close messy loud)

Blessed Knife (2-harm hand holy)

Silver Sword (2-harm hand messy silver)

History

Jude has a dossier on Skylar that has a lot of on point speculations and analyses of her past dealings on the other side of the line.

Boston came to Skylar about advice on the Yellow King cult and it helped them deal with the ghouls sent to hunt them.

Jude Pearce - The Professional

Look: Short hair, bony face and build and indeterminate age between 25 and 45. Narrow, slender build and simple but well-tailored suit with concealed armor.

Charm +0

Cool +2

Sharp -1

Tough +2

Weird -1

The Agency

Agency of Arcane Affairs (AAA)

Resources: Rigorous Training, Occult Diplomacy

Red Tape: Cryptic Missions, Secretive Hierarchy

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Tradecraft

Moves: Deal with the Agency, Tactical Genius, Battlefield Awareness, Medic

Gear

Submachine gun (3-harm close area loud reload)

Undercover Vest (1-Armour hidden) - 2 with Battlefield Awareness

9mm (2-harm close loud)

Hunting rifle (2-harm far loud)

History

Jude was sent to investigate Boston's involvement with an event where ghouls overran a small town.

Skylar has worked with the agency before and is well-regarded.

Boston McGee - The Crooked

Look: A friendly, jovial man with a broad smile. He has an easy-going manner and a casual manner of dress that fits in easily with the image of a habitual traveler.

Charm +2

Cool +0

Sharp +1

Tough -1

Weird +1

Background

Once scammed a leader of the King in Yellow cult and they are now hunting him down in hopes of revenge.

Things went south on a job leading to him having to deal with a hunger of ghouls.

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Empathy

Background: Grifter

Moves: Artifact (Skeleton Key), Notorious

Gear

.22 revolver (1-harm close reload small)

Baseball bat (1-harm hand)

Assault rifle (3-harm close/far area)

History

Skylar saved Boston when a monster had a drop on them by trapping a ghoul before it could end his life.

Jude knows about Boston's criminal past. They have an impressive list of cons that Boston has been involved with.

----------------------------------------

Abigail "Abby" Rees - The Changeling

Look: A teenager near their twenties, 17 at the youngest. She has pale skin with a touch of blue and seems to be surrounded by an aura of cold air. Her black hair has a streak of white and blue.

Charm +1

Cool +0

Sharp -1

Tough +1

Weird +2

Unknown Heritage

Attraction to Heat

Erratic Power

Strange Thoughts

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Cryokinesis

Moves: Glamour, Force of Nature, Faerie Gossip

Gear

Bicycle

Sport Club (2-harm hand innocuous messy)

Music player

Backpack

History

Abby is Aimee and Gabby's younger sister.

When Aimee first tried to explain her abduction, Abby was listening in and she's had dreams ever since that her sister would feel is disturbingly familiar.

She appreciates Gabby's attempts to give her a "normal" life, but sometimes Abby thinks she's still trying to ignore the ways in which Abby isn't normal.

Abby should have been taken ages ago but instead her sister Aimee was taken... and escaped, which is apparently unprecedented. The things that had come then left disappointed and by the time they realized their mistake, Abby's powers were already manifesting. Then Aimee came back into their lives and Gabby was suddenly taking them all out in her SUV on a cross-country trip. Technically, Abby is 18 and no longer a minor, otherwise she expects there'd be a kidnapping charge following them. As it is, they're trying to stay ahead of mystical powers that want unknown things from her.

Gabriella "Gabby" Rees - The Mundane

Look: A young woman in her early twenties with dark skin and a fashionable sense of dress. She has expensive sunglasses and bright colored pastel clothing.

Charm +2

Cool +1

Sharp +1

Tough +0

Weird -1

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Trust Your Gut

Moves: Trust Me, Oops, Always the Victim

Gear

Small handgun (2-harm close loud reload)

Pocket knife or multitool (1-harm hand useful small)

Van

History

Gabby is Aimee's twin and Abby's older sister.

Gabby has learned that their parents knew what was going on and pretended not to believe Aimee's story. She's been trying to make it up to Aimee but hasn't gotten the courage to tell her about their parents yet.

Gabby wants to make sure Abby has as many normal, youth experiences as possible in between fighting monsters.

Ever since her sister's apparent mental break when they were 12, Gabby has done everything she can to try and not think about the possibility that she could possibly have a similar episode. This went to the extent of trying to ignore her sister's ongoing problems with the less than progressive mental health options their parents had chosen. She's since realized that her parents were trying to keep Aimee quiet rather than help her and feels complicit in that effort due to her own fear. When Aimee came back with the warning about something coming for Abby, Gabby saw her chance for redemption and has taken them all out on the road in her SUV.

Aimee Rees - The Searcher

Look: A woman in her early twenties, disheveled but not excessively so, dresses in a lot of print t-shirts from various bands or podcasts. Often looks like they could use a few more hours sleep and typically walks with a cane due to a condition she doesn't like to talk about.

Charm +0

Cool +1

Sharp +2

Tough -1

Weird +1

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Use Magic

First Encounter: Abduction

Moves: Network, Ockham's Broadsword

Gear

Laptop

Camera

Binoculars

Scientific measuring tools.

Ghost hunting tools.

Walking stick (1-harm hand innocuous).

History

Aimee is Gabby's twin and Abby's older sister.

Aimee is still a bit sore that Gabby didn't support her after the initial abduction.

Aimee had figured out the family was marked by someone or something and that Abby was who they were waiting for.

When she was 12, Aimee found herself drawn into a strange world that she was too young to be initially horrified by. Creatures that she has only vague memories of interviewed (or interrogated) her wordlessly for hours, each time getting disappointed with the responses that Aimee can't remember hearing. In the midst of it all, she gleaned several words of power that eventually let her escape. Unfortunately, her family did not believe her stories of mystical abduction. She spent much of her later years in various mental health clinics, eventually breaking away when she turned 18. Investigations with other people have led her to distant relatives going missing as children and eventually to the idea that something was coming for her younger sister. She got to Abby first and now they're on the road running from whatever wants her.

Rees Family Secrets - Always on the Road

The Rees sisters stay on the road ahead of their family and the mystic powers that apparently have an interest in them. Along the way they investigate the truth their family adults are hiding and help anybody they can who needs it.

Style: Family - “Did we talk about—or pointedly not talk about—something that was troubling a team member?”

Core Traits

Team Enemy: Their family and the mystic forces they serve.

Team Ally: Other members of the family who have been suspicious of what's going on. There's usually a distant cousin they can reach somewhere that has a perspective on what they're dealing with at the moment.

Team Moves: Geniality

Team Assets

Individual Transport: They keep Abby's bicycle in the back of Gabby's SUV. Aimee has a folding wheelchair for her bad days.

Tool Kit: One or two of your vehicles carry tool kits. You have most tools you’ll need to repair or build something.

----------------------------------------------

As you can see, even before the Keeper starts putting their spin on things, the playbooks bring in a lot of world-building. I also find that if I start with the Team Playbook first, it's going to heavily influence the sort of playbooks I take. And when I start with the hunter playbooks, I'm less likely to take the printed Team enemies and allies and instead go for the option of creating my own.

There's only about ten hours left on the backerkit at this point, but check it out before it's too late:

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akihikosanada · 5 months ago

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finished the apollo trilogy, thoughts below

first thing i have to say is the lack of women in this trilogy was to be expected considering how good the og trilogy was on this aspect. not only that but they were vital to the overarching plot (there is no plot without the feys) and there were many interesting women on the diff cases (dee vasquez, adrian and mimi come to mind) also obligated to mention oldbag because she's my favorite witness in pwaa you also had flop girl rep of women over 60. anyways this was all to say it was still really disappointing because whenever they had a woman they could develop more they'd almost forget about her in the next game because of the "no spoiler rule" or whatever. they had something going with trucy in aa4 but then they forgot about her until 6-2 and got her reduced to magic panties outside of that one case. they got athena to lead a single case in her debut game and then only a super trial only one in aa6. snarky emma was cool but forensics aside i feel like she did not have much going on? compared to gumshoe for example, even bobby turned out being plot important you know? they had lamiroir but then they forgot about her until the VERY end of aa6, only to not even say her name. when it comes to witnesses etc alita and aura were the best ones, they had juniper appear in three cases and be said to be athena's best friend but she wasn't even mentioned in aa6? at least jinxie sent trucy flowers in 6-2. rayfa was easily the best character of the khura'in storyline and even she felt not done well so what gives.

i'm soooooo mad of how dirty athena was done fr like now i get why everyone thinks she deserves her own trilogy (just make it 2d please. that's all i'm asking for). by far my favorite character from the trilogy, i cannot forgive how they treated her like a child during 6-4???? from nahyuta it was expected but it disappointed me from blackquill because i didn't read it as "banter" or something of the sorts...also her theme songs rock‼️‼️‼️

whatever they were doing with apollo's backstory is hilarious really....born to a magician who then hooked up with a musician. almost burned to dead in a fire that killed his dad and then became a rebel's foster son. then moved to the states and became friends with an astronaut and a kid who wanted to become one. became a lawyer at a guy's firm whose adopted daughter is his half sister. meets his mom ALONG said girl except she lost her memories so she doesn't know who she is and never does once she regains them. his friend became an astronaut friend but died so he becomes the og astronaut's lawyer in his murder case. also his rebel lawyer foster dad had a son who then became a prosecutor. meanwhile phoenix's lore could be summarized by saying he got accused of stealing once when he was 9 and then framed for murder when he was 21. anyways why was it all so complex. not like they ever mentioned anything said in a past game about him in the subsequent ones. they just needed something for the sake of plot i guess????

siblingisms were not hitting this time around.....i looove sibling relationships in media (succession my beloved, kny's redeeming trait) so the bad writing regarding them here made me soooo mad.....trucy and apollo was only a thing in aa4, klavier and kristoph barely ever interacted???? and we don't know anything about them on that regard, nahyuta and apollo was a thing i guess, gar'an and amara were giving morgan and misty fey without the panache or the anything, nahyuta and rayfa was only revealed at the end and they never interacted anyways, etc. aura taking hostages for the sake of blackquill was peak siblingisms though, but after all the cool siblings we had in pwaa this was lame as hell

the dlc case of aa5 was easily my fav of the trilogy like it really had it all (phoenix as protag athens as co counsel pearly cameo blackquill aka my fav aj prosecutor funny as hell defendant good side characters good culprit good ending the dissin of phoenix wright etc etc etc) second would be 5-3 but aristotle means was suchhhh a lame culprit and admittedly the idea behind the school was goofy as hell (danganronpa moment i guess)

funnily enough aa5 was my favorite because it had the 2 cases i liked most + had athena + blackquill + feenie outfit <3 still lame though

girl why was 6-5 so long. i'll admit here i couldn't play past aa4 because my game wasn't working so i watched gameplays of the subsequent two games but even in story mode it was 14 hours long??????? what?????? it dragged on for so long it wasn't funny!!!!!

edgeworth being important in all the games was sooooooooooooooo. love the glasses and i appreciate the pandering to the fans (the dlc case of aa6 was this but it still sucked. anyways) but considering the "no spoiler rule" they had going the entire trilogy i suppose showing us edgey as phoenix (and larry's) friend is okay??? as if it didn't take him a very long while to get on friendly terms with phoenix. egregious when they didn't even have klavier in aa6 and they don't ever dare mentioning kristoph, whose role is a "spoiler" from the very first case of the apollo trilogy anyways.

i feel like the games were lacking on good culprits? there's some exceptions to this (alita my love, kristoph's insane plans, i respect retinz's and nichody's hustle, marlon even if he isn't a "real" culprit) but the rest were pretty lame??? i will give it to l'belle that his plan was super batshit + i love his theme song. also note that the only final culprit i mentioned was kristoph because the other two aren't even worth mentioning which is super disappointing when in pwaa mvk engarde and dahlia were the best ones easily (and after playing the aj trilogy i still consider them so)

idk how they are for the japanese version but the puns for this trilogy felt too on the nose? i remember the name eldoon making me physically angry though that was the only really bad one in aa4. starting in aa5 and ESPECIALLY the khura'inese names the puns were making me want to die really. why were the royals + dhurke + nahyuta the only ones without punny names from what i could tell too 😭

i had read about how the games have such huge stakes (an international spy is among us! we need to dethrone this country's monarch!) that it got hard to be interested in what was happening and honestly yeah.....the most powerful person was easily redd white but it was effective because you weren't fighting "for the greater good" but rather for solving your mentor's murder and helping her sister (and later yourself). even in bridge to the turnabout the stakes are kept pretty small as the plot is about the feys (and godot), all characters we should care about by now. it was weird in aa5 because you were competing against an international spy but even then at least the final case was still mainly about athena and blackquill? it was ridiculous in aa6 though because all of a sudden your enemy was the evil queen of the country you were in and failing to defeat her meant she would continue staying in power and whatever......what happened with helping your boy best friend because he got framed by his evil mentor💔

why'd they have to mention the us so much in aa6...like at first it was implied at most they were in the usa (japanifornia slay) but i think it should have stayed as just that, something about them all canonically living in los angeles is weird as hell

music didn't feel as epic for the courtroom segments (few exceptions though) and some character songs were good but overall the music didn't really catch my attention. i'll look for the soundtrack on youtube soon though so i can resisten it on its own but it doesn't take from the fact that was my original impression)

if you got this far in and you're asking yourself "is kiara being a hater" the answer is 1. why did it take you so long to figure that out and 2. yeas❤️

verdict: give me a 2d athena trilogy or i kms. also i never want to read the word panties again

#this will have to be kept in the tags because i exceeded the character limit in the post #in 6-5 we find out gar'an has no spiritual energy and that is why she has no legitimate claim to the clone #so how can it be that she channeled dhurke when she killed inga? or are we supposed to believe she dressed as him to do the deed?#also in 6-6 for the pegacow-pegabull thing they shit on larry for supposedly not realising there were two bulls in the #reception. however all he did was read a notice made by ellen. so does that mean she wanted 2 pegabulls in the reception?#or was she the one who mixed them both up?#my post

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