#i would not want that for aa7 specifically

[gumdefense]

Gumshoe and Kay post because I miss them and they’re a criminally underrated duo

The stage plays are all on YouTube ! The subtitles in the screenshots here were made by Rayne :D

[box-dwelling]

Something I really genuinely want for AA7 is this case concept:

(I don't think this happens in SOJ but I haven't finished that game yet so if it has and I haven't seen it yet then oops)

Farewell my turnabout but Engarde didn't actually do it. Something where the defendant is as much of a piece of shit as Engarde and the killer is as sympathetic as Adrian and possibly didn't even know that what they did to the victim would kill them.

And I want it to be an Athena case, as I do with all of AA7 really but specifically, I want the Empath to have to make that choice.

We've had sympathetic killers before but never to the level of them being more sympathetic than the defendant.

I want to really grapple with the flaws in Phoenix and Edgeworth's persuit of truth above all else and acknowledge that sometimes the truth is unpleasant and messy. You could even bring Apollo back to be the alternate view point and have Athena have to pick a side.

Yes I am writing a fic with a similar concept and it will probably be a while til it's ready. But I'd LOVE to see this idea explored in game.

[4ragon]

Thoughts on how sibling reveal would happen?

I mean, are we talking what I think would ACTUALLY happen, or are we talking the ideal?

[also uh AA5-6 spoilers]

See, because they wrote themselves into a bit of a corner with AA6, what with them writing Apollo out of the story altogether at the end, so it's going to be kind of hard to pull it off. Like, they're going to need a reason to bring Apollo back, or at least have him and Trucy in the same place. So I don't know, maybe Thalassa gets arrested? Or murdered? I guess it depends on who's going to write it, but it's hard not to imagine modern AA killing Thalassa for man pain and then just not addressing Trucy's deeply complicated relationship with her family at all in favor of Apollo angst that's handled incredibly poorly and doesn't really build to anything.

What I WANT to happen is for this to mean something. Of course, for an AA game, that means it would have to happen during or contingent with a case, so it would have to be central to the characters in some capacity. I think I'd want Apollo-and-Trucy as the lawyer and sidekick duo for sure, Apollo PoV.

I think the biggest thing I'd want from a reveal is for Trucy to lose her cool. I did enjoy her little breakdown in 6-2, but I want something big. I want anger, and hurt, and fear, and all this complex stuff she's been burying to burst out. Like, it goes without saying that Apollo is going to be mad at everyone involved, but I think he'd be faster to forgive Thalassa than Trucy would be. Like Apollo certainly has abandonment issues and a lot of family-related trauma and anger, but I think he also would understand that her leaving him the first time was not fully in her control. Meanwhile, Trucy would have to deal with the fact that Thalassa disappeared because of her grandfather, who then used that to blackmail his students. Like, that's a LOT to have to sort through as a teenager.

And I think the both of them being upset at Phoenix would be a decent way to keep both Phoenix and Athena out of the limelight, like they are pushing Phoenix away and Athena is trying to find a way to bridge the gap and get them to talk it out? And it takes some time, but they're able to have a heart-to-heart (maybe Apollo first?) and they're able to come to terms with everything. Honestly, I think I'd want a scene where Phoenix actually tries to make REAL amends with Apollo, or genuinely welcomes him into the family, because I want them to be family but I don't think they've earned it yet.

The specifics though...I feel like killing Thalassa off would be a copout, but it would be hard to work in this plot without her being central to the case. I guess the best bet is to have her get arrested? But what would be more interesting, her getting arrested before or after the reveal? Either way, I think having the entire case being Trucy and Apollo working through their feelings would be great.

And I know any AA7 would probably have a new prosecutor, but this would be a good time to bring back both Klavier and Nahyuta, since Klavier knows Thalassa and Nahyuta (or heck, Rayfa too) would have to be at least a little invested in Apollo's family situation. Give all of them the chance for some well-needed development.

I don't know. At the end of the day, I feel like they're going to bungle it, but who knows.

[ask-the-reaper-conspiracy]

Ooh idk if you've said before, but who are your favorite TGAA and mainline AA characters? What would you most like to see in a new game? And any hot takes?

This got long so putting it under a cut--

1

I've been asked who's my favorite of the reapers iirc (it was Stronghart of course) but not my favorite characters overall. That could be a big list dfgkdfksgks. So let's see, these are the characters who made me Happiest to see them onscreen...

Ryunosuke

Barok van Zieks

Herlock Sholmes (though it took a hot minute)

Mael Stronghart

Enoch Drebber

Susato

Maria Gorey

Auchi

Listing the AA characters is gonna be a bit harder that's a big list of people fdgkdskgfkdsg uhhh

Inga my beloved

Roger Retinz

Damon Gant

Maya

Athena Cykes

Dhurke

Dick Gumshoe

Nahyuta

Simon Blackquill

Bobby Fulbright

Winston Payne

Lotta Hart

Dahlia

Jinxie Tenma

Uendo Toneido (and alters)

Vera Misham

Guy Eldoon

Phoenix Wright

Trucy Wright

Special mention to Apollo. He may not get my brain firing the same way as someone like Inga, but I think in terms of his characterization he's got a well-done, understated progression across 4-6 that I love analyzing (yes, even with the backstory stuff.)

2

I feel like the most logical thing to do for AA7 is giving Athena more development and a chance to come into her own as a lawyer, so if there is ever an AA7, I would like for them to do that.

But in all honesty I desperately want GAA content more. I very specifically want an Investigations-esque story that follows Kazuma and Barok's relationship as prosecutors. It could be sequel where they're dealing with the blowback of the Reaper conspiracy, with a prequel case set when Kazuma is still an amnesiac and a short flashback case following Klint before the Professor Killings (T&T had two flashback cases why not dfgksfdk.)

Maybe they would finally have the London Underground as a location ;- ;

3

Judging by the Ace Attorney subreddit I'd say my putting Nahyuta as one of my favorite characters is a major hot take

Spirit of Justice is a good, if flawed, game, and a very good attempt at a sequel to Apollo Justice under the circumstances of its creation. More on that in a later ask...

Nahyuta has weak points in his writing, but he is not nearly as terrible as people keep insisting he is.

Turnabout Storyteller is overhated.

Franziska's von Karma's character arc is overrated.

The 3D modeling in Dual Destinies is fine for most of the characters (in fact, Juniper's school model looks wonderful.)

Many of the side characters of the sequel trilogy are more memorable to me than the ones in the original trilogy.

[soaptaculart]

Personally I'd love to see Athena go up against Wintson Payne's unnamed daughter. Just imagine the hilarity of Athena showing up to court and expecting one of the Payne brothers and instead there's a new lady prosecutor wanting vengeance against the attorneys of the Wright Anything Agency.

LMAO FUNNY STORY. MY SISTER, WHO CO-CREATED THIS WHOLE THING WITH ME, HAD PAYNE'S DAUGHTER AS LIKE HER FIRST AA OC EVER YEARS AND YEARS AGO. Her name was Ophelia Payne. Never got that much further with the concept but maybe it's time we bring her back

[mariathechosen1]

So, I’ve been thinking for a while and this is basically what I want for AA7:

Main protagonist: ATHENA! ATHENA! ATHENA!

FLESH OUT HER CHARACTER YOU BASTARDS!!!!

Ok, so a big part of Athena’s character is that she has a lot of trauma when it comes to being ignored in court and with self confidence in general. A lot of the time she shuts down when people aren’t listening to her or when her voice is being ignored, therefore it would be pretty cool to put her up against a force that won’t let her speak her mind at all.

Basically what I’d like them to do is give her an ‘Edgeworth: Investigations 2’-ish storyline, with going against a corrupt system and sorta breaking the rules/momentarily quitting to defeat her foes. (Just like Edgeworth rlly dramatically quit his job to help Kay)

This will 1) Let her maybe handle the whole ‘Speaking up for unheard voices’ thing, and 2) Letting Athena be completely on her own which will both raise the stakes, but also give her time to shine.

Of course, we’d need a prosecutor to deal with this, and who other than (one of my all time fav characters, yes that’s literally why I’m including him) Sebastian Debeste!

Sebastian wouldn’t be the villain in the story, but I’d like to see an older version of him who more self confident in his own abilities.

Gee, it’s almost like some of Sebastian’s recognizable traits/details are Being Talked Over/Ignored, having low confidence in his abilities, being slightly clumsy and feeling like he’s messing things up, but in the end pulling through after being inspired to believe in himself. Huh.....that almost reminds me of a certain yellow clad defense attorney........

Sebastian would also work great for the ‘going against a corrupt justice system, directly’ plan, as he himself as a backstory with tons of relevance to corrupt law chiefs (aka his dad)

I also know that some people would like to see Edgeworth as his mentor, but honestly I’d like to see Franziska fill that role (Also pls give Franziska a pixie cut, she deserves it.)

Alternatively, I’m imagining that Sebastian is viewed as kind of an ass at the start of the game (which is fair enough) and then as it progresses and we learn about corrupt officials, Franziska has to take over a case or something for him while he’s out collecting evidence and he shows the side of him that’s devoted himself to finding justice

Let Franziska talk about her trauma more..............also give her a girlfriend

I also know that a lot of people want Klavier content, and that could probably fit in the whole ‘corrupt’ theme (with his brother), but right now I’m pretty unsure about how he’d be implemented

To sum things up: I’d basically like a better version of the whole ‘Dark age of the law’ thing that AA5 was attempting with the game focusing more on specific corrupt systems and officials, instead of just “Ooooohh evil spy-phantom-man was pulling the strings, the cases are solved so everyone is perfectly happy yayyyyy”

ALSO: Since I’d like some of the elements of the game to be ‘Athena going behind the system’s back to find evidence of corruption’ we could have some new investigation elements (As I know some people find the investigation part quite boring) and it would also be cool for Athena to maybe use the mood matrix outside of court to interview people?

Anyways, that’s my little rant. I’ll honestly be happy as long as they don’t give Apollo ANOTHER DAMN BACKSTORY

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Here's another AA4+ rant, because I clearly haven't posted enough of those. Note that I'm not like, upset and crying and sobbing and screaming over this, it's just a part of the games I never liked.

Why is so much of AA4, 5 and 6 spent being ridiculously mean to Apollo?

I'm aware or the tone of the series. Witnesses are often poked fun at one way or another - but they're most often a caricature, made to be funny, and the mockery goes right over their head, when it's stated out loud.

Then there's also Edgeworth, especially in AA1, who gets violently dunked on every now and then, and don't get me wrong, it's hilarious. But he is the main antagonist and sometimes an arrogant prick, and some of the funniest jokes against him are accidental: Ema would have never said that stuff to his face, and she wouldn't even have said it if she knew it was about him. Gumshoe tells on his Wright brainrot because he doesn't realise what it implies. No one knew it was HIS car! And most importantly, this is all in the midst of most characters being completely enamoured with him. Wright, Ema and Gumshoe stan him a little too hard. (Bitch me too.)

Back to Apollo, though. I feel like everyone is just constantly making fun of him, and to his face, no less. (I feel the need to mention that Apollo isn't at all my favourite character, so this is not coming from a place of feeling hurt that my fave looks like an idiot.) Besides, the jokes are always the same. Yeah, we get it, he's loud... But I thought you were his friend? (Or secret sister? Or third dad? Or other lawyer who depends entirely on him because the writers forgot about you?)

I guess it doesn't help that whatever compliments Phoenix tells to Apollo feel disingenuous to me, though that is most definitely due to AA6's specifically awkward writing. Trucy using him for her magic tricks would be a lot more refreshing to see if he weren't already being ridiculed and insulted all the time.

It gets worse in my opinion when some of the mockery is based on things he can't help. Like, look at that poor guy... He's afraid to step on a ladder and he can't even swim. AND you're making fun of him on top of that? (To be fair, I don't remember him being made fun of for not being able to swim. What I want to put across is that he's obviously struggling.) I feel like making fun of Edgeworth for having a surprisingly gaudy sports car is not on the same level.

But in actuality, I don't believe the content of the jokes to be the main issue here. I'm just pointing out that Apollo struggling to do most things is not a funny part of his characterization to me personally. What I think matters the most, is how the jokes bounce on their recipient.

Apollo kind of just... gets a little hurt. Mainly, his reactions read to me as someone who is used to being made fun of and has accepted that it won't change. Honestly, that sounds fucking awful. Talk about a toxic workplace... (inb4 AA7 comes out and reveals that Apollo's decision to move was motivated by a wish to feel actually appreciated.)

By a certain point, it's just beating a dead horse. The text and scenario make it feel like he's simply being bullied, and usually with no real reason. People are just meaner to him than they are to each other. It's funny when Edgeworth has to suck up his ego and reveal that it's his office, his car. It's funny when he gets dunked on for something he said during the trial and goes "NGOOOOH!" with that specific face. It's not that funny to me when Apollo goes "yeah okay I guess I'm as loud today as I was yesterday... I mean I like being the way that I am but you know..........". It's not that funny when Sad Monk goes "you're so putrid omg you're so stupid and bad and ugly and you'll go to hell" before he can even say anything, or, to cite something else because Sad Monk is his own issue, when Klavier points out that he has a forehead. (Yes I know, it's a beloved nickname in the fandom, sorry... I genuinely just don't get what's funny about it. Especially the repetition of it.)

To a certain extent, this applies to Athena as well. Though I'd say her being completely cast aside in AA6 gives a different context to this side of her characterization. But yeah... Her outfit sure is yellow and Apollo's sure is red!

This clearly doesn't speak to a personal vendetta the writers of these three games have against Apollo, but rather to the weakness of their writing. The jokes want to be as lighthearted as they always were, but their repetition and multiple layers of bad writing make them feel a lot less fair, and a lot more like boring filler. To me, each mean joke towards Apollo is a failure to imitate a fair and well-timed call-out from the previous games.

[penny-nichols]

OK, pushing my Penny and Simon besties agenda (with a bit of the Feychols agenda as well)

Putting this under a read more because it’s turning out to be long but also I think it’s funny so you better read more

OK so Penny is Simon’s weird little girl even though they’re the same age (one might argue it’s Athena, but Athena is a full fledged lawyer. Her weird little girl is Pearl) IDK how she’s actually. Ya know. doing that while ALSO working at global but shhh. Maybe it starts with another Global case (where Penny physically cannot be the killer) but she’s at the crime scene once the body is found helping out and she sees Simon and she’s just like WOAH is that a ~*sword*~? (probably the specific type/era of sword, too, but we don’t have enough information about his sword and I know jack shit about Japanese weaponry) and Simon is like. Vaguely impressed because he’s never met someone who knew the specifics of his sword just by looking at it and he IMMEDIATELY claims her as his weirdgirl. Penny wants the case solved so she’s just like “alright cool I get to hang out with the guy whose nickname is the TWISTED SAMURAI???? Awesome” She just like. Follows him around as he’s talking to people and he asks her to take notes and when he looks at the notes it’s steel samurai fanart with a little speech bubble that has the notes. He can’t even be mad, they’re decent notes. Penny just RANDOMLY brings up her wild ass experiences that she has (Oh, this is like the time I worked for the mafia! Oh, this is like the time my coworker hired an assassin! Oh, this is like the time Interpol accused me of murdering a president!) and Simon is just BAFFLED because like. Logically he should’ve heard about this but this girl did not come up at all????? (admittedly she wouldn’t have come up anyway for the events of 2-4 but hey) and she’s just like “yeah lol that was fun. Anyway I know John Marsh, he’s cool” and Simon’s like “Who?” because he hasn’t been to a movie in like 9 years.  And it’s the trial and this is AA7 by the way and Penny’s standing next to him like “All right I know it’s probably not this guy because I trust him but I’m going to help find the truth. I’ve seen both versions of Murder on the Orient Express, I know crime” and then Athena walks in and her assistant is Maya (because shut up that’s why. I don’t want it to be Phoenix as the lawyer, he’s done everything but I also want Maya there. Besides, they’re besties now. Feral girl swag) and All of Penny’s confidence goes out the window because she CANNOT talk to girls and oh no Maya’s gotten even prettier.  and so Penny just awkwardly waves and is like “Hi Maya” and simon’s like “You???? KNOW HER????” “yeah lmao” (obviously I’m paraphrasing what they would ACTUALLY say here) and so the assistants are gay for each other and the lawyers are Sneiceter and Bruncle and it’s just a mess because Simon is trying to lightly rib Athena meanwhile Maya and Penny are thinly veiled flirting with each other (neither catches on that the other is doing this) and the defendant is just like “what???? the fuck????” The Judge doesn’t notice ANY of it he’s so desensitized to the prosecutor hostility/gayness in his court. 

Anyway the case gets solved (was trying to think of more antics but uh I can’t rn It’s almost 11 and this post is long enough) and Simon and Penny meet with Athena and Maya in the lobby like they do and Athena’s just like. “So. Why’d you bring Maya’s girlfriend to court? Like I know she works theyre but come on” and everyone else is like “Girlfriend?????” and Penny’s like “OH you mean Girl who is a friend. Yeah. Didn’t realize she’d be the assistant” and Athena’s like “No I mean you kiss. Right????? I could BARELY hear the witness’s emotions over the feelings between you two” (The feelings being Gay Gay Homosexual Gay) and Maya and Penny are like WAIT SHIT YOU LIKE ME and Simon’s just staring into space because did he really help a couple get together because of a fucking Murder Trial???? and then Maya and Penny kiss because they love each other, END OF POST, MOTHERFUCKERS

[graedari]

please tell us about ur creative decisions regarding aa7 Athena and Pearl's redesigns :D

I WILL I ASSURE YOU I WILL!!!

Check out more ideas in the Hashtag #Athena Cykes: Ace Attorney - Evident Destiny

long post below cut :)

Okay so with Athena's design, I really wanted to keep the core concepts. She's only been with us two games, so I didn't want to change anything too drastic! (Also just really love her design! I know a lot of fans have issues with it, but I honestly just really love it)

I replaced Athena's hair ribbon with her mother's hair piece! I thought it would be a nice homage to her mom, now that Athena is thinking about her destiny and whether or not she might have wanted to follow her mother more or is she is confident in following her own set path.

I think it's no surprise I also incorporated some flowers, specifically a sunflower, into her design. I thought a nice broach to replace her tie would be fitting! Perhaps it's a fresh one that Juniper renews for her, or one that Juniper even crafted for her to wear instead! (and her old hair ribbon is repurposed as part of the piece!)

The only other thing I did was tuck her shirt in, adding suspenders in reference to the one concept art that had them! Thought they were too cute to pass up!

Pearl's design is actually based off of an old doodle I had done redesigning her older appearance, and she didn't go through too much of a change!

Most notably, I changed her hair, making it a bit longer and added extra pieces hanging down from her loops, more emphasizing the "pretzel" shape. I also changed part of her bang shape to reference Mia's bangs as well!

I also gave her the little wrist guard pieces of the channeling outfit as I thought they could be a nice addition when I took away her cardigan to make the robes look a bit more casual!

[rivalsforlife]

One Giant AA7 Speculation Post

mostly because I like theorizing even when I’m probably going to be totally proven wrong soooo 

hi! It’s about mid-August 2020 right now, coming up close to TGS 2020 in September, which is around when I think AA7 will be announced if we’re getting it, so I wanted to make a post compiling, pretty much, a summary of where we are, where things are going, and when we can expect them to happen.

(... mostly because lots of people on twitter are so desperate for new content and I wanted to say something without a post limit.)

The questions I will be considering: If we are getting AA7, then: When? Who will be directing it? What can we expect? 

Also! I avoided spoilers for the games that don’t have official translations, but there will be spoilers for the ending of Spirit of Justice in here. So... tread carefully. Also this got way longer than I was intending so I’m sorry.

If We Are Getting AA7, Then When?

Right now I am going to assume that we ARE, at some point, getting an AA7. And if that is the case, I think we’ll hear about it soon. To be more specific, in a few weeks, in September 2020.

Right now, we are in one of if not the longest hiatus in games since the creation of the series, assuming we count spin-offs.. The longest up until now was the gap from 2004 to 2007 between Trials and Tribulations and Apollo Justice (although do consider Rise from the Ashes was added to the first game in 2005, so that’s something at least), and right now, no new ace attorney games have been released since 2017′s Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2- and for us English speaking fans, it’s been even longer, since Spirit of Justice in 2016. Assuming we’re not getting a new game in 2020 (a fairly reasonable assumption considering *gestures to the entire global pandemic* that) this makes 2021 the next possible year a game will be released.

And, considering the series was first released in Japan in 2001, 2021 will be the 20th anniversary of the series - a promising time for a new title, especially considering the past three years have been completely silent on the ace attorney front, which is uncharacteristic for the series. 

In addition, the tenth anniversary of the series saw the release of AAI2, and the fifteenth anniversary saw the release of SOJ - it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that, perhaps, Capcom may have something in store for the twentieth anniversary as well.

But why September specifically? I’m just going off of the pattern for the previous game releases, which tend to coincide around TGS (Tokyo Game Show). Now... I’ve only been in this fandom for a couple of years, so I haven’t actually been around for a real game release, but I dug through the Court Records twitter account for this information.

The most recent game, Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2, was announced during TGS 2016 for the 15th anniversary celebration - hence, in September 2016.

Spirit of Justice was announced in Famitsu magazine in early September 2015, and further details about it were explored during TGS 2015.

The first Dai Gyakuten Saiban... is the outlier here, announced in late April 2014 (and later released July 2015, so it’s a longer announcement -> release period than the other games.)

And Dual Destinies from what I can tell was announced around TGS as well.

This means that out of the four most recent games in the series, 3/4 were announced during TGS. This year TGS is still happening, although in an online format, so obviously playable game demos and the like won’t be a thing - but it’s the most reasonable place for an announcement.

And why this year? Well, like I said before, it would mean this hypothetical new game will be released for the 20th anniversary, which would be cool. In addition to that, ace attorney content has been picking up lately, such as the release of the trilogy ports on pretty much every modern console + PC, bringing in lots of new fans. In fact, there have been about 200,000 sales for the AA series in the past three months; which, as has been pointed out by the tweet I linked to, is not bad for a series like AA which hasn’t had any new content for a while.

There’s also some non-game related content that has been increasing too. Such as the Capcom Cafe, which is currently selling ace attorney stuff (right ahead of TGS, too... hm...) and the new stage play, even though it’s been postponed because of, well... *gestures to the entire global pandemic*

With interest in the series increasing, it’s probably the most reasonable time for a new game release. The Nintendo Switch has been out for a while, and the developers probably have had a lot of time to consider how to use this console to its full potential with the series. Admittedly the whole COVID-19 thing might slow down the actual release of the game - justifiably, I’m sure we’d all rather wait than force the developers to work under unsafe conditions - but announcing the game, or at least that a new game is in the works, does seem like a reasonable thing.

... Honestly I’ve convinced myself so much, that if we don’t get any announcement by the end of TGS, I’m giving up on there being a new entry for this series entirely! ... Haha.

Moving on.

If We Get AA7, Who Will Direct It, And What Does That Mean?

As you may already know, the director for the past few games in the series - Dual Destinies, Spirit of Justice, and the Investigations duology - Takeshi Yamazaki, left Capcom just last month. This sounds bleak for the future of the series, but remember Shu Takumi was the original director, and he left teh position as director after Apollo Justice (although he did work on the DGS duology and the Professor Layton spinoff, later.)

The obvious choice for the next director is Takuro Fuse, the art director for Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, and also AAI2. He worked as co-director on Spirit of Justice, so he already has plenty of experience. Even the producer, Motohide Eshiro, said so himself in this interview:

Fuse was also the co-director this time. To make a game of this scale, with this quality, without any big changes in time or plans is the proof you’re good as a leader. There are a lot of people working under you on the game. If a leader can’t have them work together and make the right calls, a game at this scale will always come out differently than planned. I am impressed you managed to do so good. There are few people like him, who do designs, but also have an understanding of everything in the game. Fuse is also good at communicating and getting the team to work. I think he can actually make a game on his own as a director. Maybe the day he’ll come to me and say he’ll make a game is already upon us (laugh).

And although Fuse is the art director, he did initially join Capcom to create games, so him transition from the art director to the... main director?... wouldn’t be too much of a leap, especially with his role as co-director on Spirit of Justice.

So Fuse’s probably going to be the director of the next game, if we’re getting one. Given the timing of Yamazaki’s departure, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hung around to oversee some stuff and then left the rest of the game to Fuse. Yamazaki himself was kind of tired of the series after Dual Destinies but pushed through with Spirit of Justice, so it’s no surprise that he’s working on something new... but still.

If Fuse is the director, what does that mean? Honestly... who knows. I admittedly don’t know a lot about the different roles and how they work and don’t feel like going into all the research to do it. But Fuse has commented that he would like to work on an all new game here:

Fuse: I’d like to work on a new Gyakuten that isn’t part of a new series, but one that is a completely new game. Eshiro: So the concept would be Gyakuten Saiban, but you’d be building it up from scratch again? Fuse: Yes. With a new world, or something like that.

The whole team, from the sounds of this interview, poured their all into Spirit of Justice, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted to take a completely new direction - something kind of like what Apollo Justice was, before they made Takumi bring Phoenix back into it. ... Or just not make a new game at all.

What Would A New Game Look Like?

... Let’s look at our options.

1) A straightforward AA7, continuing on from where SOJ left off

2) Another spin-off title

3) Something completely new

4) we’re not getting a new game STOP DELUDING YOURSELF --

...

Let’s put a pin in 1 for now, we’ll talk about that later.

Now, let’s assume we’re not going for another mainline game. The option is to have another spin-off title, a la Ace Attorney Investigations or Dai Gyakuten Saiban. ... Except neither of those, probably.

The Investigations duology focused on Miles Edgeworth, and - no spoilers, but - AAI2 pretty neatly wrapped up his character and story, and Dual Destinies putting him as Chief Prosecutor cemented it. I honestly don’t know if there’s anything else they can milk out of his character at this point. Plus, Investigations apparently critically had to happen after Trials and Tribulations but before Phoenix’s disbarment, resulting in Miles Edgeworth’s Month In Hell, and they really need to stop putting him through more torment in April 2019. Can they squeeze in an AAI3 in the eleven days after AAI2 ends and before disbarment begins? I’m sure they can. Should they? NO.

And yes of course an AAI3 with Phoenix set during disbarment is, like, my dream game... but you know Capcom’s not going near disbarment era with a ten foot pole, tragically, so that’s probably not going to happen. (Though if it did, it would be cool...)

Meanwhile, looking at the DGS duology... well, you may know DGS was originally supposed to be a trilogy, which they for probably some financial reasons condensed into a duology. (IMPORTANT EDIT from 2022: I was absolutely wrong about this. I didn’t want to edit the post too much so I could keep track of all the things I was wrong about; but I was so wrong I even got things I should have known wrong. DGS was supposed to be a single game that got split into two. The main point of my argument still remains though.) As such, it pretty neatly wraps up all the plot points in the game. Where they left off, they could continue it, I guess... but there’s no need to. Plus, since the duology hasn’t been and probably never will be localized (2022 update: lol), they have the financial damage of no overseas sales to worry about. Why make more games that are never going to leave Japan, when you can create another mainline game that would and thus (hopefully) bring in more cash? 

Of course, they could have other spin-off games like Investigations but focusing on different characters. Instead of Miles, we get what they teased during TGS 2008 and get the Gumshoe spin-off of our dreams. Or Ema, like she was initially supposed to be. Or some other prosecutor they totally abandoned like Klavier... or, heck, even combine it and give us Dai Gyakuten Kenji with one of the DGS prosecutors. Why not at this point? (... that would run into the same “can’t localize it” problems but whatever.)

Or they do option three: and give us something completely new! They could do a “reverse” DGS and give us ace attorney set in the distant future - the problem with this, though, is that it would quite possibly retroactively confirm/deny ships (and thus set the fandom ablaze...) and also determine the fates of the characters. Like, say, [x] character lived long enough to reproduce and have a child! [x] character died long ago! It cements the characters’ fates and I don’t know if Capcom would do that.

They could, however, do what Fuse was suggesting and just create a whole new Ace Attorney game with the same premise but completely divorced from everything that has happened up until now. Creatively, this would give the writers the most freedom to experiment with whatever they want without harming the fan’s nostalgia. Financially, it’s risky, because how many people would want to play Ace Attorney if the characters we knew and loved for the past twenty years are all out of the picture...?

They already tried that option once, sort of, with Apollo Justice, and it’s still one of the more divisive games in the series. However, we do need to consider that Apollo Justice took our beloved protagonist Phoenix and made him lose his job just months after his epic finale and then had absolutely none of his friends show up aside from Ema - I can get why that would make people upset. Creating a whole new game with absolutely none of the old characters showing up at all would get rid of that particular problem... but it’s still hard to tell if it will work or not. Considering they can’t even have a game set a hundred years in the past without tying it to Phoenix Wright somehow... would they really be willing to take that risk?

There is, also, the option of them entirely rebooting the series with updated graphics and (hopefully) getting rid of the ickier parts of some of the cases that did not age well, as if they were even all that good to begin with (looking at you, Turnabout Big Top, Recipe for Turnabout,) but considering the original trilogy is out pretty much everywhere, there’s not much sense in doing that. Maybe something to consider for the thirtieth anniversary. ... If we make it that far, that is.

Now let’s tackle option 1: the next mainline game.

If We Get Another Mainline Game, What Will It Look Like?

NOW we’re getting into the meat of things I say over two thousand words in. Thank you for bearing with me so far.

First, let’s consider the ending of Spirit of Justice. It’s probably the best place to end things for good since the ending of Trials and Tribulations - although there’s STILL that dangling thread of WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO TELL APOLLO AND TRUCY THEY’RE SIBLINGS, but honestly, some of these comments make me feel doubtful they’re ever going to do that in-game:

??? Appearing At The End Of Gyakuten Saiban 6

Yamazaki: About that. I really wanted to show who it was, but it would spoil Gyakuten Saiban 4, so I didn’t show her directly.

Fuse: Perhaps one extra cut scene would’ve done it. But that would’ve given away everything, so it’s a difficult call.

Yamazaki: I really wanted to show her.

Fuse: As you intended to bring everything together, you wanted her to appear too, right? It would’ve been strange not to have mentioned her at all. But for those who haven’t played Gyakuten Saiban 4 yet, it might be a good hook.

Yamazaki: Because they’d want to play the game, right?

so that’s one answer, I guess. 

Now, the writers ended it the way they did - with Apollo in Khura’in - so that the series can go in any direction in the future. However, this leaves us with a dilemma. Let’s consider: Who would the main protagonist of AA7 be?

The Main Protagonist is Phoenix: the safest decision financially but the weakest creatively. They’re already struggling so much to find something for Phoenix to do, that they created a whole other country just to keep upping the stakes so he’s challenged a little bit. I honestly don’t believe Phoenix grew as a character at all through SOJ - and I love Phoenix, really, but unless they want to tap into disbarment more or whatever’s up with his parents (... which I’d prefer they didn’t honestly) he’s got nowhere else to go. Nothing more to do. AA7 would be about a space war where Phoenix ends up convincing the aliens to not blow up the Earth by bluffing about something or another. Safe, but boring.

The Main Protagonist is Apollo: Technically SOJ is the end of an “Apollo trilogy” but honestly most of his potential was completely squandered as soon as they decided to completely abandon Trucy and Klavier development with DD. (If you want someone to get mad at here, get mad at Eshiro.) 

I told them “Please bring Naruhodō back” but also: “How you’re going to do that, that’s up to your creativity.” If the team want to build on what happened in earlier game and show him all grown, that’s okay. But I also told them to not let them be constrained by whatever happened in the past, and the chronology of the games, and not to let the game turn out into something too small because of that.

... anyways

Unlike Phoenix, who had three games to develop his relationships with Maya and with Edgeworth, Apollo really had the one game with Trucy and Klavier before Trucy was degraded to “cheery assistant and one-time murder suspect” and Klavier to... a cameo. I am never NOT going to be mad about this, but I’ll leave it for now -

Anyways, what they could do is build on Apollo’s experiences in Khura’in to give him his own little trilogy that actually has him as the central protagonist the whole time where he has a fully-developed nuanced relationship with his assistant and rival prosecutor, plus an overarching plot throughout the entire trilogy instead of three pretty much entirely disconnected games! ... sorry I said I’d stop but I lied. The problem with this scenario here is that... Khura’in has kind of lost a lot of its appeal. Horrible corrupt legal system that kills defense attorneys? Gone. We just have a standard horrible corrupt legal system now. All it really has to set it apart from Japanifornia is the Divination Seance, and possibly more Spirit Channeling Lore, but we have Spirit Channeling Lore at home. I mean, it could work! But that would also mean potentially abandoning all the Japanifornian characters - Phoenix, Athena, Trucy, Maya, Edgeworth... I highly doubt Capcom would take that route.

They could of course utterly retcon the ending of SOJ and bring him back, or do a timeskip of a few years and then bring him back after those. I mean, Apollo has been a protagonist for three games now, he’s due to lose his badge...

The Main Protagonist is Athena: Athena has the most room to grow as a character, sure, but there are a few problems here. Mainly, we’ve already dove deep into her past and dug around her trauma so that particular appeal is gone, and revisiting it would essentially spoil all of Dual Destinies, and spoiling previous games is something that the developers are apparently very reluctant to do. Plus, Athena’s been so completely sidelined in SOJ it feels like they’re regretting not making her the assistant character. I don’t think they developed her enough that her being able to take on a whole game as the main protagonist would be a smart move financially - lots of people probably would go “oh I don’t like Athena that much, I won’t buy this game.” Plus, like, misogyny is probably a factor affecting sales.

The Main Protagonist is A Whole New Lawyer But Wearing Green This Time: NO

Honestly... if they’re doing another mainline game, they’re probably going to take the safe route and we’ll get Phoenix as the main protagonist again and he’ll fight in an intergalactic war or something, I am fully prepared for Capcom to disappoint me as it forgets how to write games that are connected to each other in a meaningful way.

Will Anyone Else Come Back?

So, Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice seem to have been resolving the problem of “hey where did all of Phoenix’s friends go” in AJ by gradually re-introducing trilogy characters. Dual Destinies brought back Edgeworth and Pearl, Spirit of Justice brought back Maya and Larry (albeit in the DLC). 

There is an interview where this is discussed, however! The basic summary of it is:

Eshiro personally voted for Franziska to come back in a future installment. Since he has apparently enough sway to completely sideline Apollo’s story -- uh, I mean, since he’s the producer, his personal opinions have a lot of weight. Of course there’s the issue of how they’re going to bring her back... they discuss possibly having her tie in to Athena’s backstory with whatever case Phoenix helped her with in the past, because everyone in America knows each other just like how everyone in Europe knows each other, so that’s an interesting possibility at least. His suggestion seemed to be very popular, so I’d say Franziska’s a strong contender for a character they’ll drag out of the basement if they’re going to drag one out.

Yamazaki voted for Sebastian Debeste... but this is very unlikely for a number of reasons. For one, Yamazaki has already left, so who knows how much say he had in whatever ace attorney game that may or may not be in development. For another, any Investigations 2 exclusive character coming into mainline doesn’t seem likely. Investigations-exclusive characters in general, actually, but 2 in particular because there’s no official localization and there probably will never be an official localization. As a result, they have the issue of, if localizing this future game, what they’re going to do about the character - Japanese fans would know, but unless you’ve emulated the fan translation of AAI2, you wouldn’t know them, and many fans didn’t, particularly not casual ones. Plus they’re totally going to end up changing their names and who knows if we as a fandom can take it.

... as much as I would like for Sebastian and Kay to come back I highly doubt they will :( sorry Edgeworth Kids

Yoriki Daigo, who worked in planning for SOJ, voted for Gumshoe, much like I’m sure many would. They talked about Gumshoe potentially being Cool like Tyrell Badd and possibly having a subordinate who looks up to him, which would honestly be adorable. 

Fuse, our presumptive future director, said he’d like to see Bobby Fulbright come back. ... highly doubt that’s likely considering *gestures at Dual Destinies ending* but they all joked about Bobby being a triplet (a joke on the Japanese name, it’s in the full interview) and having his siblings come in. Which is one idea, I guess.

Meanwhile, Toshihiko Horiyama, who played a role in sound engineering, voted for an entirely new game. ... Seems to be a common sentiment haha.

If they continue this pattern of “bringing back two trilogy characters a game”, I think Franziska and Gumshoe are the most likely candidates. I highly doubt they’re going to touch Investigations-exclusive characters, as much as I would like them to. And of course there’s the issue of balancing old favourites vs boosting new characters... all stuff that goes down to individual taste and I won’t speculate on much further, because I don’t have many ideas.

But... let’s be honest with ourselves here. The character coming back from AA7 is going to be Oldbag.

Did You Really Just Write Nearly 4000 Words Of Speculation

I GUESS I DID! Honestly I just wanted to get something down but this took waaaaay longer than I thought it would because I apparently have lots of opinions! And at least half of that is a rant about how they handled the “second trilogy”!

... Anyways. For me, personally, I simultaneously look forward to and dread a new game. For one, I haven’t ever actually played a game blind, I binged playthroughs of the entire series in a month, so playing a whole new game not knowing what to expect seems fun. I also haven’t been in this fandom while awaiting a new game, and it seems exciting, but I am constantly worried that they’ll either dash my headcanon hopes and dreams or, like... confirm a ship I really don’t like. that new stage play had me curled up in a ball for a day, weeping about ruining perfectly good friendships... but I digress.

I really just wanted to get this out before TGS this year, so I can go “YAY I WAS RIGHT” if we do get a new game confirmation this September or just... accept my disappointment, I guess? If another game IS announced, I’ll probably make more threads like these which everyone will ignore because who wants to waste their time reading 4000 words of some uneducated nerd rambling about a game series, but then at least I have fun speculating. rubs my hands together and cackles.

If you stuck with me until the end, thank you! If you scrolled right to the end for a TL;DR: I don’t blame you. Basically: let’s all look forward to/dread September this year! I hope you aren’t too sick of me after all this <3

[dragon-pawz]

What’s your opinion on Laywright ? :o

Also what would your ideal PL and/or AA games be like ?

I’m not much of a shipper in general but Laywright is a pretty sweet ship!! Just two dads and the many many kids they have randomly adopted :)

I don’t know if I have any specific ideas for an ideal PL game but I think one featuring Luke or Flora between UF and LMJ would be cool. Or maybe another Layton Brothers game!! As for an AA game, I definitely want more where Shu Takumi is involved. His writing is so good ahh 🥺 Tho I think he probably won’t work on the mainline games anymore since they’ve gotten so far away from his ideas/vision now. I think we’re probably getting AA7 announced within a year and I just want them to finally do the sibling reveal I mean cmon!! They hinted that it’s going to happen at the end of AA6 tho so it’ll probably happen I think

[sunshine-child-luffy]

What I wish AA7 would be

OK this is basically gonna be a collection of really cool ideas that I think AA7 could do:

- So, basically the first big point I want to bring up is something that I know a lot of the AA fandom wants. BRING BACK A BUNCH OF OLDER CHARACTERS. This includes characters from the original trilogy, investigations, and so on. Instead of focusing on making even more new characters, it would be way more interesting and smarter to actually focus on pre-existing ones that havn’t had as much screentime that we already know everyone loves. 

The biggest seeming issue that lies with this though is that if we don’t want all these characters to just be cameos, the story will have to focus less on our usual main characters, and more on the supporting ones too. This might seem really tricky and could get out of hand with having so many characters to look after, but here me out on my next point.

- CHARCTER INTERACTIONS!!! So in all honesty, some of the best parts of the AA series is just seeing this extrememly goofy cast of characters interact in different ways. That’s kinda like one of my biggest highlights of the series as im sure it is with most. Like cmon, who doesn’t want to see some weird combinations like Athena and Franziska, or Kay and Sebastian and the rest of the invesigations crew meeting some of the Wright Anything Agency characters.  This ties into my first point of needed to bring back older characters in order for more intersting interactions that we havn’t seen before. BUT of course, like I said before the biggest issue is making this actually work in AA7.

- Well, the best way to deal with a large cast of characters is actually by having the main characters change around with each case. And here’s where I present a cool potential AA7 structure in which this all plays out well and in a unique way that the AA series hasn’t really done before. 

We have a game with 5 cases presumably. Have each case from 1 to 4 all be happening at roughly the exact same time. The reason why this is possible is because it happens to turn out that each individual case is being worked by a different group of characters in the series. This is where the fun part comes into play. Now, we can group off our existing characters into fun little group scenarios. We can have the dream team of Kay and Maya working together in Case 1 for example (because for some reason or other, the plot causes them to be roped together). Then Case 2 can be the adorable combo between Miles and Trucy (because honestly I can never get enough of the interactions between these two for soem reason). You can have a third case where Sebastian ends up getting adopted by the Wright Anything Agency and must wokr alongside them in a fun, comedic twist. Essentially you get the point, the potential is limitless and this way in each case from 1 to 4, you get a different cool/funny/unique combo of people which works in both the sense that you get to see old characters returning, and also new interactions that you never realised you wanted. 

And by using this premise, it deals with the issue of having too many main characters to work with. There won’t be a specific main character in this game but rather each case leaves a specific set of characters their own time to shine! We can avoid the horrible issue of your favourite old character coming back to only get a shitty cameo (looking at you klavier...), and avoid the problem of making the story clunky with too many characters at once by spliting them off intot heir own groups per case. 

- The final 5th case shall be the combining case! It’s obviously clear that the best final cases in AA are usually the ones that use the previous 4 cases in some way or other so that it all connects in a way that feels satisfying. Well, that should also be the same for the finale of AA7. Assuming that all the first 4 cases are being held by different groups of characters at the same time, the player should slowly realise that bits and pieces of each of these four cases actually have certain things connecting them together losely. It is in the 5th and final trial however that you’re able to put everything together and see that the four initial cases were part of this final larger mystery in the very final case. This is of course the final case in which then every group of each individual case comes back together, so you’ll have the full cast all working to solve this one last case.

The only problem I can really see in this case is that now that all parties from each case are together, and all ultiamtely working on this final case, it could very easily get cluncky with the amount of characters the plot will have to deal with. The only way I can really see this being solved is if we go back to say Phoenix as the main character and all the other characters now go back to supporting characters for this last case BUT they still all hold one major piece of evidence or come up with some idea that affects the case in one way or another so that each and every character is still important to the final case in some way. Metaphorically this could also work really well for a very final AA case in the series altogether as it represents every main character Phoenix had ever met in the series all coming back to help him one last time in this absolute final huge case. I hoenstly think it would be such a wholesome ending but thats just me haha...

- So yknow how I mentioned that cases 1 to 4 will actually be happening somewhat simultaneously? I thoguht this would be a cool spin on solving the case because this way, while each case is happening you can get cameos from characters in Case 1 for example, quickly going to characters in Case 2 to grab something or get some help briefly which then can be seen in the second case, and have situations where characters influence each others cases that are currently happening in cool unique ways. This kind of storytelling is a bit of a stretch because it would definitely be harder to write, but if something like this were made, it’d defintiely keep things fresh and very much entertaining for the player. 

OK SO I think I basically got everything I wanted out which ended up being a lot more than i thought whoopss... BUT essetnially rather than being AA7 i guess this is my vision for an ideal AA game that I’d love to see in the future, probably as the last game now that I think about it, and the final picture can be one huge photoshoot of ALL the characters. Now that would be sick.... (ALSO sidenote, if this was really my ideal game i’d honestly throw in Wrightworth as a side plot the entire time, just subtly inserted in there and maybe a photo collage at the end of the game with one of the photos being a wrightworth marriage haha omg)

ANYWAY, hope you enjoy my little(big) rant.

[letapollojusticesayfuck]

Writing an Ace Attorney Casefic: The currents Planning Process

A couple people have said they’d be interested in seeing how I planned out the trial in my fic undeniable you (the currents pulling me onward), and I thought it might be fun to share all the various planning-outline-scribbles I did to prepare to write the thing now that the trial segment of the fic is all wrapped up. This is probably going to get pretty long, so I’ll put most of it under a readmore--both to save you the scrolling, and to avoid blatant spoilers if you were planning on reading the fic at some point. I’m also going to link a transcription of all the photos, because even I have difficulty reading my handwriting at times.

So, here’s the very first iteration of what would become currents: an outline of how I would write AA7 if I was spontaneously put in charge of the AA franchise. Most of this actually ended up as this one tumblr post, before I committed to writing currents.

From here, I didn’t start currents immediately--I left it for a while, wrote like three other fics, and then came back to it and started planning out the case in earnest:

Wow, that’s a lot of pictures of my handwriting. What’s interesting here is the small details that changed--while I started off with a list of all the people involved, that list actually changed as I was writing out “what actually happened”. That was the most important part, actually--I had to figure out what really happened so I could come up with the evidence that would be produced, and then I had to think about how that evidence would be concealed or covered up. I also planned out pretty early where certain pieces of evidence would be found--though I didn’t end up using all the locations I’d planned to! 

There was also supposed to be a whole section about how Daryan used his police experience to help Kristoph get Klavier’s fingerprints and plant them to incriminate him--before I realized that was way too complicated to write in and would introduce far too many potential plot holes. The Nail Polish Science is entirely based on me watching a ton of nail art videos and then Doing a ton of nail art and....I own so much nail polish, guys, what else was I supposed to do with this knowledge?

From here, I actually started outlining the fic itself--here’s the outline for the first six chapters, complete with my strikethroughs and bolding so I could keep track of what I’d written already and what I’d decided not to write. (some of it repeats what I’d written up there in the Initial Case Outline, because I wanted it easily accessible). I almost never stick strictly to an outline--usually I find myself adding scenes, or moving scenes around, and a particular problem I had with currents was that Apollo and Klavier kept getting into Really Deep Melancholy Conversations about Kristoph and how his influence has them doubting their morals. This is pretty typical of my writing, though--I like leaving myself the freedom to change stuff, rather than trying to stick strictly to the original outline.

Finally, I realized I needed to write a proper timeline in order to keep track of when everything happened. The days of the week in here are actually accurate to 2029! An unnecessary detail, probably, but I wanted it to be Correct. I actually wrote this up somewhere around chapter 4 or 5? Before that, I’d gotten around writing Specific dates with the tried-and-true strategy of saying “[insert dates here]” or “several days ago” or “[FIGURE OUT DATES LATER]”. 

(there’s some very loose color-coding in there mainly because I got really excited over buying the colored versions of my favorite Writing Pens (Zebra Sarasa 0.7s, in case anyone wanted to know...?))

And after that--I don’t know, I sat down and wrote it, using a website that lets you set a word count goal and breaks it down nanowrimo style into a daily word count goal. And I changed things as I went, but I made sure that I had the entire trial section written before I started posting--because I definitely didn’t want to leave anyone hanging!

Anyway--that’s about it for the first 6 chapters. Hope this was mildly informative? I guess what I’d say about planning a casefic is to be really, really sure what the solution is before anything else--and then you can sort of go through and assign evidence to investigation days, and piece together the in-trial arguments based on the evidence that’s available to the characters. If you’ve read this Massive Wall Of Text And Pictures, thank you so much--and I’ll see you with a new chapter next Tuesday!

[sophistopheles]

3, 8, 12, and 15 for the AA ask meme!

3: Favourite recurring non-main character?

Huh, I had to think about this one for a while, but if I had to pick one I’d say probably Iris! (That is, if she counts as a recurring character…)

I love how she interacts with and acts as a foil to Edgeworth in the time we see her and I think her crush on Phoenix is pretty cute (though obviously I don’t see them ever getting together again). Plus her design is really appealing- I wish we got to see her talk to the Feys! I don’t even know if she & Pearl know they’re half-sisters, lol.

If she doesn’t count, then it’s gotta be Shelly de Killer. I desperately wish we saw his predecessors in DGS. (Does anyone else get a bit of a Mandela effect where they think his name is spelled Shelley, not Shelly?)

 8: Favourite trial?

Definitely Turnabout Goodbyes! Boring, I know, but I never get tired of the thrill of taking down von Karma. And the Narumitsu is an added bonus! All the witnesses are fun to interact with and the murder mystery is complicated, but I could actually follow what was going on (unlike SOME other cases, cough cough turnabout revolution)

12: Character you’d like to see come back?

All of them. I miss them all so much. Even just a Crumb of content would be enough.

But more specifically, I’d love to see Thalassa again- she needs to tell them! It’s been nearly 14 years! And I’d also like to see Lana again, I want to know how she’s doing; and Franziska, obviously, I miss her a lot and want to see her character development. Kay and Sebastian, too, I want to see how they grew up!

…I should stop naming characters or I’ll be here all day. I want them all back </3

15: What kind of things are you hoping for in the next AA game?

Oh, so many things. A while ago I drafted a concept for a whole hypothetical aa7, and some of my favourite ideas from that were seeing Manfred’s other daughter and granddaughter now that she’s around Athena’s age, checking out how Apollo was doing in Khura’in, a case where Klavier is a defendant, addressing Kristoph’s Black Psyche-Locks, developing Trucy’s relationship to Phoenix and how their dynamic plays out, Phoenix & Edgeworth sharing the bench (with a few gratuitous Narumitsu moments, of course), the introduction of the Jury System from DGS as a main series mechanic, allowing Athena to come into her own as a character (explaining how and why she met Phoenix), a murder set in the courthouse (letting you investigate the courtroom as a crime scene) and, of course, telling Apollo & Trucy that they’re related!

It’s very unlikely we’ll get all of these- it’s not even guaranteed we’ll get any. But I can dream!

 Thanks for the asks- sorry it took a while to get round to them!

[mikumutual]

answers aa themed questions nobody asked because i’m cool and sexy

also i havent played the 5th or 6th games so

YOUR FAVOURITE…? 1. Favourite Ace Attorney game? honestly? phoenix wright ace attorney! everything’s fresh, there aren’t many weak characters, and the plot is remarkable (especially the fifth case). the whole trilogy is really good as one unit though 2. Favourite case? 1-4, 1-5, 2-4, and 3-5 are tied lol, i can’t make a decision to save my life. 2-1 is really really funny tho 3. Favourite defendant? as a defendant, lana skye. as a person, edgeworth 4. Favourite prosecutor? as a prosecutor, franziska von karma. as a person, edgeworth 5. Favourite ship? wrightworth obviously... ive probably put more thought into them over the last 3 years than any other ship 6. Favourite victim? probably mia fey or gregory edgeworth... but for non-relevant victims, neil marshall :( 7. Favourite murderer? shelly de killer, i LOVE that guy. but dee vasquez was very cool as well 8. Favourite assistant? maya fey!!!!!!!!!! but i like kay faraday a lot too (im so sorry ema) 9. Favourite witness? adrian andrews... or maybe iris? i mean i didn’t like iris but god what a person 10. Favourite quote? “It doesn't matter how many underhanded tricks a person uses... The truth will always find a way to make itself known. The only thing we can do is to fight with the knowledge we hold and everything we have. Erasing the paradoxes one by one... It's never easy... We claw and scratch for every inch. But we will always eventually reach that one single truth. This I promise you.” - Miles Edgeworth i made this one of my senior quotes :]

YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE…? 11. Least favourite Ace Attorney game? uh fucking apollo justice. literally what the hell was that 12. Least favourite case? turnabout visitor wasn’t very strong? i guess it’s fine as an intro, but it’s also wonky with the timeline of aai 13. Least favourite defendant? max galactica. he’s better in the anime though 14. Least favourite prosecutor? manfred von karma, obviously. i like every other prosecutor (who i know of) though, even winston payne is pretty funny in hindsight 15. Least favourite ship? “miles edgeworth/female oc”. there are a lot of bad ships though, mostly involving phoenix & his assistants. dont do that please 16. Least favourite victim? zak gramarye for kickstarting that shitty, shitty game 17. Least favourite murderer? again mvk... but also fucking frank sahwit LMAO 18. Least favourite assistant? i guess trucy 19. Least favourite witness? fuck everyone from turnabout big top unless it was the anime episode 20. Least favourite memory of Ace Attorney? repeatedly trying and failing to download the emulator for aai2 hbjsjhdb i eventually got it but someone had to send me the download fully pre-patched and i felt kinda useless DO YOU PREFER…? 21. Phoenix Wright or Apollo Justice? phoenix wright. fuck that “GOTCHA!” mechanic jesus christ 22. Maya Fey or Trucy Wright? maya fey. nothing personal against trucy but i just dont like aj hbjsdjhsdb also maya is really sweet and fun and she has the best sprites. she seems like she’d be a good friend, it’s too bad that she doesn’t have the time for them as a spirit medium and all :( if maya ema and kay got to hang out together itd be wild 23. Investigations or trials? trials are easier in my opinion because investigations have several things you could be doing without such a linear style, so if you miss something, you won’t really know until you wander around forever 24. College Phoenix or Hobo Phoenix? college feenie!!!!! he’s like trilogy feenie but more emotional and less witty. i like to pretend that hobo phoenix doesnt exist 25. Klavier Gavin or Kristoph Gavin? who would say kristoph 26. Ace Attorney or Ace Attorney Investigations? ace attorney but only because phoenix is in it lmao. im actually rewatching a playthrough of aai now, and playing aai2 at the same time, so while it is on the mind, i feel like the cases characters and mechanics - while loved - don’t hold up to the OGs 27. Apollo’s perceive, Phoenix’s magatama, or Athena’s Mood Matrix? i actually kinda like the mood matrix more than anything because it has a really good UI and the magatama is kinda grating. but FUCK the gotcha mechanic it is SO FUCKING STUPID and IMPOSSIBLE TO USE.  where is logic chess 28. Ace Attorney trilogy or Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies? you already know my answer to this one 29. 3D models or sprites? i do like the 3d models a lot but i like the original sprites more! imo original pixel sprites > 3D models > HD sprites. mostly bc the hd sprites are garbage (see here, here, and here) 30. Ema Skye as she is in Rise from the Ashes or Ema Skye as she is in Apollo Justice? rfta !!!!!! shes actually really nice as an assistant, esp considering the fact that we actually see her interact with her sister, which is something maya didn’t have very often. also her random appearance in aai was well appreciated by me

MISCELLANEOUS 31. Did you like what they did to Phoenix in Apollo Justice?

NO I AM SO FUCKING MAD WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT TO HIM ISN’T HE A LAWYER WHY COULD HE NOT JUST DEFEND HIMSELF FROM THE FACT THAT HE “FORGED EVIDENCE” IT WASN’T EVEN HIS IN THE FIRST PLACE SOMEBODY ELSE FORGED IT AND HE DIDN’T KNOW THAT, MANFRED VON KARMA GOT AWAY WITH A FUCKLOAD OF NONSENSE AND SO DOES EVERY OTHER LAWYER SO WHY IS IT THAT PHOENIX CAN SURVIVE EATING A POISONED GLASS NECKLACE AND GETTING HIT OVER THE HEAD WITH A FIRE EXTINGUISHER AND FALLING FROM A BURNING BRIDGE INTO A RUSHING RAVINE AND BEING HIT BY A CAR BUT HE CAN’T FUCKING DEFEND HIMSELF LIKE HE DOES IN EVERY OTHER CASE BECAUSE THAT’S THE POINT OF THE GAME AND ALSO HIS ENTIRE CHARACTER

32. Your opinion on Dai Gyakuten Saiban? haven’t played it! it looks pretty cool though

33. Do you think Dai Gyakuten Saiban and/or Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2 will get localised to the West? doubt it, since the creators have said that it won’t be. but the fan translations are pretty good, so i think it’s okay

34. Do you think Miles Edgeworth should get another Investigation-game or do you think another character deserves a spin-off? i mean he already has two, so i guess he doesn’t need another? like i love edgeworth but he’s not as fun without phoenix around. ngl i would play a franziska game. or a maya game, or any spinoff revolving around a side character. hell i’d play hotti game if it meant it took place in the trilogy era

35. Opinion on the soundtrack of the Ace Attorney-franchise? REALLY good. really really good. i love how each game of the trilogy has different composers but each track has the same theme and feel!!!

36. Do you like where the franchise is heading or did you prefer the atmosphere in the original trilogy? seriously absolutely completely prefer the trilogy. i’m sorry but the rush of youth and trust is way, way more enjoyable than whatever “i’m 35 and therefore middle aged” nonsense is happening in the 2020s

37. Capcom suddenly announces that Phoenix will no longer appear in the Ace Attorney franchise! Your reaction? He’s been replaced by Penny Nichols. Fuck you.

38. Capcom suddenly announces that the Ace Attorney franchise has ended for good! Your reaction? it was me i ended it

39. Would you like there to be another Ace Attorney/Professor Layton crossover game? i didnt play it but i really like the idea!!!!!! aa crossover games are really funny to me, i mean have you seen edgeworth in project x zone 2, lmao

40. Would you like an Ace Attorney anime? we have one now! honestly i don’t think it did a very good job of representing the cases, but it did do a good character remix of turnabout big top so that they’re not creepy anymore. they also did a really good job with the anime-specific cases, like the one on the train! it feels a lot better paced when it’s intended for that medium rather than just adapted.  also the childhood episodes made me cry

41. Opinion on anime cutscenes in Ace Attorney? like in 5 and 6? mm, the art style is kinda weird, and i don’t really like the voices, but i guess not everything can be pachinko and prozd

42. Would you want to play an Ace Attorney game where you take on the prosecutor’s role? YEAH ACTUALLY!!!!!! it might be kinda weird being on the right side of the screen though lmao

43. Do you like having DLC in Ace Attorney-games? uhhh i hate having to buy extra things, but i’ll admit that they are pretty funny

44. Opinion on Lamiroir’s storyline? i only played aj so if shes in other games idk but i thought she was fine

45. One thing you think the Ace Attorney games can improve on? stop having creepy characters please. also jesus christ if phoenix and edgeworth arent wearing rings in aa7 i will become the ceo of capcom myself

46. Capcom suddenly announces an Ace Attorney movie! Would you like it to be based on an already existing case or would you like an all new storyline? i mean the musical did a pretty good job of adapting existing cases, so it might as well be new. it would be kinda hard to balance the games’ timeline & character development without being repetitive or an au

47. Capcom suddenly announces an Ace Attorney movie! Would you prefer it being live-action, 3D animated or 2D animated? stylized 2D animation, probably? i would want it to feel more like into the spiderverse than an anime, though. in my dream ace attorney movie, they’d just need a high art budget, several plausible deniability wrightworth scenes, and prozd to voice edgeworth

48. If there could be an Ace Attorney crossover with whatever franchise you’d like, which one would you choose? (Does not need to be a video-game franchise) your turn to die is probably closest in characterization, although its premise is more “locked in a room” than the open-world investigation of aa

49. Opinion on recurring witnesses? (Wendy Oldbag, Lotta Hart, Larry Butz, etc.) honestly, i like them a lot! i don’t know why people hate them so much - i mean, i know lotta lied, and wendy is a horrible old flirt, and larry just kinda sucks all around. but they’re also pretty funny to have around! larry is a constant comic relief who reminds you how much better nick & edgey are in comparison, lotta is likeable as a general character (like in 2-4, although yeah, not remarkable), and wendy oldbag is really funny. she’s so fucking funny. none of you appreciate wendy oldbag’s quirks and you are SLEEPING ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

50. Do you think Dual Destinies deserved its M-rating? no idea, holy shit, it got an m-rating? i mean every game before it has had blood violence and very mild swearing, and since DD probably doesnt have anything too sexually risqué, i doubt it deserves a rating any harsher than the rest of the series

okay thanks thats all

[soaptaculart]

ok so so. reread all of karmic convinction. do you have ideas on a sequel? 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Awww it makes me so happy that people still go through and read it 😭 Let alone reread it!!

Honestly in terms of a sequel/AA8... not really! For one thing we've been so self indulgent with Karmic Conviction that I'm not sure what else I would want from future AA games lmao. But also I think what got me and my sister so into planning an AA7 concept was the fact that capcom has kind of like. Written themselves into a corner with AA6 where it's really hard to see where the series could go from there lol. So we were like, what could you do that combines the two things we really want to see next (an Athena game + Franziska coming back), in a way that feels like a natural continuation of what came before it and opens the floor for future games. For me at least, setting up a core cast who have their major arcs out the way so you could go on to have them do pretty much anything in subsequent games was a big part of the appeal, so I'm not in a hurry to define what would happen afterwards!

I've mentioned before, but the main thing we do have is that Constanze retrains as a detective, because that hits a lot of birds with one stone - firstly makes a good resolution to her arc about freeing herself of what's expected of her, secondly provides a replacement for Ema so she can finally stop doing stuff that isn't her job anymore lol, thirdly makes room for a new prosecutor because I really think each game having a different prosecutor is important for giving them all their own identity (and this way Constanze isn't written out to make that happen), and finally... Gumshoe return as her mentor :) It's a shame to deprive Athena of her homoerotic courtroom rivalry after one game, but I think it's best this way.

Other than that there's really only vague things. Like I think either AA8 or 9 (I'm imagining an Athena trilogy lol) having a main storyline about Klaus would be good, since he didn't develop as much in AA7. In general I'd want a fair few WAA-centric cases and storylines, especially with Trucy, and her relationship with Phoenix. No strong idea what I'd want those storylines to be about specifically though I just crave Exploration(tm)