Looking Back (Awards Ceremony is out!)

[risefromtheashes]

Hello!

Starting tomorrow, Super legenda will be unavailable to write reviews for the entries for a couple of days, so he sent in his review for Nicky Boy and SuperAj3's entry to me. I will be posting our reviews for this entry... on Christmas! (Or 10 minutes before Christmas, so I can go with the tradition of posting how "'It's almost Christmas' means it wasn't Christmas!")

Afterwards, SL will go back to being the one to post our reviews. Happy holidays!

[Nicky Boy]

I will be posting our reviews for this entry... on Christmas! (Or 10 minutes before Christmas, so I can go with the tradition of posting how "'It's almost Christmas' means it wasn't Christmas!")

That's a nice plan you have there. It would be a shame if time zones... Were to ruin it

[SuperAj3]

I will be posting our reviews for this entry... on Christmas! (Or 10 minutes before Christmas, so I can go with the tradition of posting how "'It's almost Christmas' means it wasn't Christmas!")

That's a nice plan you have there. It would be a shame if time zones... Were to ruin it

LOL I'll enjoy reading this on Boxing Day
Seriously haha was fun working on the case, so hope you had fun playing it!

[risefromtheashes]

............I am posting this at exactly 11:50pm PST on December 24. You will not stop me.



Next up is Surprise! It's a Christmas Turnabout! by Nicky Boy and SuperAj3!
Themes: No Place Like AAO for the Holidays, Short but Sweet, They Shall Not Kill, Roulette Rules (The Sound of Music)

Spoiler : risefromtheashes's Review :

"No"
- Isaac Phens

Overview: Isaac Phens defends a woman named Abby Agita for assaulting her brother.

Story: Not bad. The premise was pretty cool. I enjoyed about half of the characters, but I found the other half to be a bit bland. (Personally, I'd say that the mentor character didn't really need to be in the trial, though their interactions in Isaac's office were funny and I would keep those. The prosecutor was also fantastic, if lacking of screentime.) The name puns (that I understood) were ridiculously funny, which was a small plus, but one nonetheless. I think my biggest issue with this case stemmed from the English - not to judge, of course, but this case desperately needed more work on how things were phrased and explained. I often found myself either confused by a point that a character was making, or cringing at the delivery of a joke. Being a friend of Nicky's, I do know that English is certainly not his first language, and I also know that he took the lead on writing for this case, while SuperAj3 mostly helped with assets. So this isn't something I'll take off an exorbitant amount of (mental) points for, but it did make the case less enjoyable. The other main critique I have is the pacing - things went by quite quickly, and this made it hard to really feel connected to anyone in the story. I would highly suggest increasing the length of the case and having there be longer conversations between characters with more fluff text.
Oh, and also, my favorite part of the case was Isaac's obsessive fixation with making sure people had the Christmas spirit. It led to some ridiculous and funny interactions between him and the other characters. That was fantastic.

Presentation: The strongest part of this case. Custom Christmas sprites for the defense! Custom poses made for already-existing custom canon or OC characters from the art threads here on AAO! A Christmas background for the courtroom! A ton of Christmassy music! All of these things served to fill me with the Christmas spirit (not the victim's, because they're not dead). My only complaint is that there were one or two frames with punctuation missing, and one of the frames of the credits didn't have the text blips set to "None". Still, solid presentation! Props to SuperAj3 and Nicky Boy for all their work here.

Gameplay: This is just a normal trial-only case... except, we have a unique gameplay mechanic! During certain moments, Isaac is able to essentially focus on a certain statement during a witness's cross-examination, and "read between the lines" to pinpoint a certain word/phrase of that statement that doesn't seem quite right. While I have some issues with how things were phrased (explained above in Story), this is a very cool game mechanic! It gets something unique out of cross-examination that just pressing and presenting aren't always able to achieve. The custom graphics made for this were also very cool!

Theme Relevance: Hit the nail on the head, with emphasis on No Place Like AAO for the Holidays. And this case was indeed under 4,000 frames, no one died, and music was involved. But the best part of the theme was, well, the Christmas spirit. Very well done here!

Overall: Despite some issues with the writing (many of which were hard to avoid, as English is not Nicky Boy's first language), I did enjoy this case! With some improvement in the pacing and a proofreader, this would be a strong independent sequel to Nicky Boy's series, "Isaac Phens: Ace Attorney"!

Spoiler : Super legenda's Review :

Eeerm, hmmm... no comment

Overview: You love Christmas? Me too! Though hoh boy, I'd be a shame... if something bad happened, don't you think? Huh, what do you mean something did happen in Christmas?? An Assault!?

Story: The story is nicely done, and continues the trend so far in this comp of not a single murder yet so far, the story is about family struggles, lack of communaction with others... and spread happiness and the Christmas Spirit! The twists were quite good, and the ending was nice. The prosecutor was incredible, a complete drama queen, which made for some really fun dialogue.

Presentation: One of the case's highs, all of the characters besides the judge were all Custom, the music was really well placed, and many tracks showcased the Christmas spirit! Though also, there were some basic problems, some editing errors with a few frames, some things were incorrectly placed, etc, but the case still was really good looking.

Gameplay: The gameplay is really well done, there isn't that much evidence, but instead, for some cross examinations we use a new gimmick, where we look at each single individual sentence in a statement and pick one apart to prove something wrong, and thee was also a Thought Route, which I always love.

Theme Relevance: I didn't see any problem with the way the themes were used, the case was of a good length, but also not too long, and pretty sweet, nobody died, the Christmas theme was REALLY noticeable, especially with the main character's love for it... And music was a really big part of the case.

Conclusion: This was a really sweet case, I really liked the themes (the case's themes per se, not the comp themes), it had many really good moments, and the characters are truly memorable, it was also really fun to play, and the new gimmick was cool. Merry Christmas!

And just like Isaac and his boyfriend, Astin, this case made the yuletide gay! Happy Holidays to everyone here on AAO!

[Nicky Boy]

I am glad you two liked the case! Phrasing and pacing are indeed my weak points, but I hope to improve as time goes on. One thing though, Ash, you overlooked "The sound of music" as a theme, while SL kept it in mind

That said, I publicly released the case a couple days ago! If anyone wants to play it, click on the trial name on my signature!

[risefromtheashes]

One thing though, Ash, you overlooked "The sound of music" as a theme, while SL kept it in mind

*looks away* I don't know what you're talking about. /j

[clcman]

How I imagine this case:

Spoiler : :

Isaac: "You dare not be in the Christmas spirit!?"
Prosecution: "I'm Jewish!"
Isaac: "THAT'S NO EXCUSE!!!!"
Judge: "Uh, actually, it is."

[Nicky Boy]

How I imagine this case:

Spoiler : :

Isaac: "You dare not be in the Christmas spirit!?"
Prosecution: "I'm Jewish!"
Isaac: "THAT'S NO EXCUSE!!!!"
Judge: "Uh, actually, it is."

Did... Did you actually play the case? The first two lines are *spot on*

[clcman]

What can I say? I've got mad detective skills.

[risefromtheashes]

How I imagine this case:

Spoiler : :

Isaac: "You dare not be in the Christmas spirit!?"
Prosecution: "I'm Jewish!"
Isaac: "THAT'S NO EXCUSE!!!!"
Judge: "Uh, actually, it is."

I LITERALLY THOUGHT THE PROSECUTION WOULD SAY THE EXACT SAME THING (and then they did) WE SHARE THE SAME BRAIN

[Super legenda]

Turnabout Heartache, by Awsome2464
Themes Used: No Place Like AAO for the Holidays, Roulette Rules (Love is in the Air), I Want to Believe

Spoiler : risefromtheashes's Review :

"Curse those K-Pop stans and their high Love Wish levels!"
- Me, as Cupid Valentine

Overview: Phoenix and Maya escape their dreaded cleaning duties at the Wright & Co. Law Offices in order to go on--
"A DATE!"
No, go away, Pearl, it's not a date! It's a-
"YES IT IS! THEY'RE IN WUUUUUUV!"
*sigh* It's a Valentine's Day murder case. Happy?

Story: By far the strongest aspect of this case. The dynamic between Phoenix, Maya, and Pearl is executed fantastically, and this case has my favorite ladder/stepladder joke in all of AA. The defendant is probably my favorite character of this case - lively, bubbly, adorable, often frantic, definitely very lovable. (Side note: The sprite choices for the characters were great, and really added to their personalities.) I'll go into this in Theme Relevance a bit more, but the backstory behind certain characters was BRILLIANT in tandem with the themes of the case!
Part 1 (the investigation) was FANTASTIC, and I loved every bit of it. There were also some pretty emotional moments that made me feel a lot of things! However, I will say that Part 2 (trial, part 1) was quite rushed, and while the case logic was solid, the way Phoenix came to conclusions in one or two moments was very contrived. One of the witnesses also ultimately felt useless - even though their testimony did lead to an important detail, I felt like it didn't do that much for the case. I wish there had been more thought and detail put into how the backstory applied to the evidence at hand, and that the trial didn't speed through testimonies, because that would've resolved most of my issues with the case. Great job overall, though - and I await Part 3 impatiently!

Presentation: Custom sprites galore! We have two sets of canon character edits and a very good Frankensprite set, all of which made me very happy to see! There was also a Frankensprite profile for the victim, which I liked. I'm also pretty sure that the crime scene was a custom background edit, and that some of the evidence was custom-made! There was a custom music track for each OC in this case, and I felt that the choices were very strong for these. However, the placement of certain music threw me off. Examples include an OC theme playing when the body was discovered (it was a good theme, but since it was specifically the OC's, it didn't make sense), the defendant's upbeat theme playing during a trial and immediately followed by the suspense or trial theme, and the Confess the Truth theme playing at unfitting times (though one of them was great). Big plus, though: there were no grammar mistakes that I could find, and no missing punctuation or anything of the sort! Considering the length of the case, that's very impressive!

Gameplay: Not much to note - just your typical investigation and trial. The logic behind every decision made a lot of sense, and there were no 1-pixel items to examine, so this meant that there was no getting stuck in a location or testimony because of some menial detail that would never come to mind. While the pacing came into question a lot during the investigation and trial, this is more of a story issue. Very solid!

Theme Relevance: You are literally defending Cupid on Valentine's Day ("No Place Like AAO for the Holidays"). I won't go much further into this, but your client reveals some very interesting stuff that feeds into the "I Want to Believe" theme in a BRILLIANT way, in my opinion. And of course, "Love is in the Air", or at least Pearl is trying very, very hard to make it be. The theme relevance of this case was great!

Conclusion: Some very high highs, but some pretty low lows. The quick pacing of the case, especially the trial, really meant that there wasn't time to delve deeper into the backstory (though I assume this will happen more in Part 3) and some of the characters; and the music placement really threw me off at moments. However, the overall construction of this case was great, and there was some fantastic creativity behind the concept! I also really enjoyed the custom visuals and music. Great case, just needs some polishing and length.

Super legenda's review:

Spoiler : :

But... you are a Phoenix, wright? You should LOVE Greece

Overview: Well, some might have watched things like "The dog who saved summer" and such, but what about "The bird that saved Valentine's day"? Indeed, is it now in the hands of Phoenix to take his most divine case yet and save Cupid from being declared guilty of murder! (That felt kinda weird to write)

Story: The case's biggest strength, the first part of the case (Investigation), does an amazing job at setting things up, presenting the extremely weird case and its extremely weird defendant, Cupid, who, well, IS Cupid (not a big baby by the way). We are presented to a pretty simple murder, with a lot behind it, twists keeps coming! Add onto that the extremely good character interaction, especially between the duo of Nick and Maya (and Pearl), but other characters, especially Cupid, also had really good dialogue!

Though then, with Part 2, while most of it is fine, by the end one can feel how that part is kinda rushed, Phoenix makes pretty big leaps in logic, and I mean, really big ones, from my point of view, a Thought Route would have helped this case a lot to make smoother transitions on the logic instead of such jumps

Gameplay: The gameplay was well done, the Investigation was simple, but did have a good amount of Present conversations for funny fluff dialogue. And the trial was well done, most contradictions were easy enough to spot, though there obviously were some tough ones, though the big logic leaps did make some things a bit harder.

Presentation: The case was really good with this. Having several customs sprites which were fitting to the characters, some good custom backgrounds, a music theme for each OC, which were all fitting for them, etc.
Though the case did have some minor problems, like having a few frames without voice, but they weren't really noticeable and didn't take away on the positives.

Theme Relevance: We literally defend Cupid, which already fits two of the themes just with that, and also, in Valentine's Day obviously, and we do also get some dialogue on other holidays, so the case didn't have any problem at making the different themes fit perfectly

Conclusion: A really good case! It was really... Lovely in many parts, gameplay was decent, story is unique and engaging and the case looks very good, the bigger problems lies on the second part being really rushed and with big logic leaps. But despite the pacing problems, I'm still looking forward to part 3!

... Oh, and Awsome, we might, just maybe, already discovered the Big Twist (It was Ash)

[SuperAj3]

But... you are a Phoenix, wright? You should LOVE Greece

I see Nicky Boy's "The Greek Turnabout" has leaked early!

[Super legenda]

But... you are a Phoenix, wright? You should LOVE Greece

I see Nicky Boy's "The Greek Turnabout" has leaked early!

Hey, that's true!

[Awsome2464]

Spoiler : Review Response :

this case has my favorite ladder/stepladder joke in all of AA

Well, I'm honored!

The defendant is probably my favorite character of this case

Honestly, same. She was so fun to write for, and I'm very fortunate that I was able to find some custom sprites that perfectly matched what I had in mind for her. I honestly feel like they were made specifically for my interpretation of Cupid.

I'm also pretty sure that the crime scene was a custom background edit, and that some of the evidence was custom-made!

Yes and yes! All of the case-specific backgrounds and certain pieces of evidence were put together by yours truly in GIMP!

the Confess the Truth theme playing at unfitting times

Honestly, I've always been a bit confused as to when to use a Cornered theme and a Truth theme, even after looking at some guides on the site. I'd love to hear some more concrete explanations!

Phoenix makes pretty big leaps in logic, and I mean, really big ones

Yeah, I'm 99% sure I know what one of those leaps is lol. There are some things where I noticed it, but either didn't have enough time to edit it and/or didn't know how to make it flow better. Hopefully I can find ways to fix these issues before I make the case public.

Oh, and Awsome, we might, just maybe, already discovered the Big Twist (It was Ash)

I'm genuinely curious as to what you think it is. Not saying there is or isn't one, but I'm curious as to where your mind is at. Feel free to PM it to me.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed what I had so far! I definitely do plan to revise, complete, and release this case, and while you've given good constructive criticism in your reviews, I'd love it if I had some more in-depth criticism and explanation as to what could be improved, even if that means sending me a SOC page you may have made while playing. Feel free to PM me that, as well, if you like.

[Nicky Boy]

But... you are a Phoenix, wright? You should LOVE Greece

I see Nicky Boy's "The Greek Turnabout" has leaked early!

I'm sorry to inform you that The Greek Turnabout will not take place in Greece, either. I hope a Greek venue will suffice

That said, I'm really curious to see the context of this screenshot