March 2012
Gumpei
I personally select each month's Member of the Month. People are picked based on their contributions to the community, whether they are: making excellent trials, providing comic relief or just being a brilliant person. The next Member of the Month could be you!
If you have any questions about the Member of the Month system, please PM me.
Gumpei: A pleasure to be here! What timing, too, seeing how I just released something. XD It's been a fairly good month for me here.
Meph: Can you tell us about how you found AAO, and what made you want to join?
Gumpei: I haven't been an AA fan for too long, actually. A little over a year ago, there was a Valentine's Day sale on the app store, and I saw Ace Attorney on sale for a dollar. Decided to purchase it and instantly became hooked. After hunting down and playing all of the other games (Justice For All and Trials and Tribulations are fairly hard to find nowadays, the DS versions anyway), I ended up finding a little game called Turnabout Substitution (And later, Turnabout Scapegoat) through a video on YouTube. Following my playthrough of it, I began getting interested in making my own fangame, so I did research on the different engines you could use to make them. It was from there that I found AAO and joined the community. And now, well... here I am.
Meph: Which is your favourite Ace Attorney game?
Gumpei: I believe I'm going to have to turn this question into "Why isn't your favorite AA game Trials and Tribulations?" I'd like to clarify that I LOVE Bridge to the Turnabout and Turnabout and Turnabout Beginnings, but... the first three cases of T&T I'm not too fond of. XP I'm pretty much the known hater of The Stolen Turnabout around here, and while Turnabout Memories and Recipe For Turnabout are ok, they're both fairly lackluster in my eyes. I'm sure I'll have someone asking me to go into greater detail later on, but for now I'll leave it at that.
Getting back to the main question, my favorite game is Justice For All. I know it's considered to be the runt of AA, but I just loved every single second of it. I was completely hooked from beginning to end. I'll admit that The Lost Turnabout has a few dumb contradictions, but honestly Wellington was so great that it made up for it. The remaining three cases just have such brilliant stories and incredibly memorable characters. Justice For All really constantly does something that only Bridge to the Turnabout and at one point Rise From the Ashes ever does, and that's make you question whether you're doing the right thing or not. I think that feeling is one of the main reasons why I love it above all the other games. Well, that and there was absolutely no lowpoint to the game, at least in my opinion. I wouldn't say that about any of the other games.
Meph: What's your favourite fan trial on AAO?
Gumpei: The Abridged Virtual Turnabout. It's... beautiful. I can't think of a better word to describe it. It strikes so many emotional responses with me. It's truly the greatest artistic work of all time. Sheer perfection...
...In all seriousness, I'd have to say Turnabout of Courage. I'm not kidding when I say that I think it's better than any of the cases in the main games. How different it was from Burr's regular cases really surprised me, and, well... I don't wish to spoil, but the ending is absolutely incredible. I didn't see it coming.
Aside of that, the general crime as a whole is just darn interesting, it's the strongest Burr's characterization has EVER been, the alternate ending is also quite good, and it has some truly hilarious moments that manages to keep in tune with the overall lighthearted style of AA without losing any of the strong emotion. Also there's a reference to my trial series in there, but that obviously has nothing to do with my bias towards it.
Meph: Now we know that you've made a few friends while you were here on AAO, but you've made a particularly strong friendship with BBblader. Tell us how you've become such good friends.
Gumpei: We started talking around the time I released The Rowdy Turnabout, mostly on the xat. There was a period of time where he was taking a leave from the xat, so he gave me my Skype and since then, well... we've pretty much talked to each other every day. (To give an estimate of how much we talk, a few months ago I put all of our Skype conversations into a Microsoft Word document and it totaled at over 1500 pages, and this is excluding talks on xat and Steam XD) For a while we'd just talk about general stuff, trials, AAO, games, etc... but after a while he started appraoching me with more personal things that I'd do my best to help him with. Eventually I started talking to him about more personal things with me, and well... we kind of both became the therapist to the other. Since then we tell each other everything, basically. He knows more about me than any other individual on the planet.
I'd like to give advice on what I think makes a bond strong, however... honesty. If you're completely honest with someone and they're completely honest with you, you'll have formed a bond to last a lifetime. Be open. Don't hold back. Because if they truly are your friend, they'll accept you for who you are, as Blader and I have. Honesty is absolutely key to forming true bonds. If you're afraid of what you have to say around someone, if you don't open up, you'll never honestly know each other. You've got to open up if you want to change that. It took me a long time to realize that, as for most of my life I've been a generally reserved and secretive person... one who has told a lot of lies. But now that I've changed that, things have been so much better for me. I think there's a lot to be learned from that.
Meph: Last January, you were going through a hard time. How are you feeling since then?
Gumpei: I've been doing great. Things were pretty rough, but as far as I can see in the end everything turned out fine. I must admit that I never got around to doing those PMs I said I would do, though... ^_^'
Buuuuut I suppose there isn't that much point to them, since nobody's really approached me with anything even though I gave an open invitation to do so. I'd say I was surprised that I was welcomed back with such open arms, but I already know how hospitable the community is.
Meph: As you said at the beginning, you've only just published your newest trial called "The Queen's Turnabout" that you entered into a competition, but -- disappointingly -- it doesn't have anything to do with HM The Queen. Tell us about it. And tell us why have you completely ruined it by not having her in it?
Gumpei: The Queen's Turnabout is based on the anime series Queen's Blade, which Blader and I were both big fans of. I actually had the idea to make a trial set in the universe a while ago, but didn't go anywhere with it. When the Turnabout of the Century competition popped up, the idea immediately came back to me and it just fit perfectly, seeing how Queen's Blade takes place faaaar in the past.
It's actually an AU of the series, however. It takes place before the beginning of it, and a certain event changes everything from there. The event would be The Queen's Turnabout itself, of course. And -- this is stated in the prologue of the case -- but I feel I should mention that it's also loosely based on Romeo and Juliet. How it is is a question that will be answered in future parts.
(Fun fact: the first case I planned to make originally when I came to AAO was going to be based on Romeo and Juliet. Nothing from that case has carried over into TQT other than the connections to the original story, but I didn't even realize this until late in development so it was interesting to me. )
But yes, if a case with elves, magic, castles, swords, and an almost entirely female cast happens to interest you, you should go check it out.
Meph: Do you think you've got a good chance of winning the competition?
Gumpei: Well when you're up against a 9000 frame monster it's hard to say exactly how one's chances are, but we've gotten quite a lot of early praise thus far, and Blader and I gave it all we had for this part to make it as best as we could in the time we had (We did, after all, lose a month of development time due to what I was going through. ), so if nothing else I think we'll give Zeta a good run.
Meph: Maybe the judge's will get bored, with Zeta's being so long.
Gumpei: I guess it could happen, but from the glowing praise it's been getting I somewhat doubt it. Zeta's most definitely earned it if he does win, regardless. 9000 frames is something most people couldn't achieve in a year.
Meph: Let's move on to Real Life™ stuff. What was your childhood like as you grew up?
Gumpei: I was pretty much your average fat awkward kid trying to fit in with people. Not much has changed, except I've given up on the latter.
To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how people dealt with me. I was annoying. Like... really annoying. And a crybaby. Seriously, I'd cry at absolutely anything. I also lied a lot, normally to come off as cool to other people. I remember one time in particular... my circle of friends were all HUGE Sonic fans. Sonic was a huge part of my childhood. During recess we'd all roleplay as Sonic characters and act out stories. XD It was pretty fun. I was Knuckles, oddly enough. Other than being the person with the most appropriate size for him I didn't share any qualities with him. (Though I DID have a crush on our Rouge back then) He was just my favorite character. Anyway, point is we were all really into Sonic, so I came up with this brilliant idea to lie about a new Sonic game that had came out. I'd come to school and describe it to them, talking about how amazing it was, and coming up for excuses as to why you couldn't get it in stores, like that every copy had been stolen... XD And they bought it. We're much dumber than we think we are when we're kids.
I was also quiet. Teachers saw me as being the quiet, smart kid. And I guess I was smart. I'd get highest average each year, so either I was smart or I was a king among morons. But I was still annoying...
Nowadays I've maintained the quiet and hopefully smart qualities of my childhood self, but I've done my best to drop the annoying and lying habits.
Meph: Did you have a lot of Sonic games, back then?
Gumpei: Oh yes, I LOVED Sonic. Like I said, Sonic was a huge part of my childhood. I nabbed every Sonic game I could find. Adventure 2 Battle, Adventure DX Director's Cut, Battle, Advance 2, Advance 3, Mega Collection, Mega Collection Plus, Gems Collection, Heroes, (begrudgingly) Shadow the Hedgehog... you name it, I probably had it.
I was actually devastated when Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 came out, because it wasn't on any systems I owned. So do you know what I did? I rented it and went to my cousin's house, who owned a 360. And I sat there and played it all night long. While he watched and did nothing. XD I only almost got to the end of Silver's story by the time I had to go home, though, so I actually rented it AGAIN later on and came to his house so that I could stay up all night long AGAIN and finally managed to beat it, just as my cousin woke up that morning, actually. I was obsessed with Sonic.
For a while I dropped off on Sonic, actually. I picked up both Rush games, Sonic and the Secret Rings, and Sonic Chronicles, but I never got around to Unleashed, Black Knight, or Colors. However, after watching a Sonic 06 playthrough with Blader recently, my obsession with Sonic has picked up once again! I got Generations on Steam, and it's awesome. It's great to see a true return to form for Sonic on consoles after things like Shadow and 06. I've also ordered the DS version of Colors recently, so looking forward to finally getting to play that.
Meph: That... that really is dedication! It puts my fanship to shame. What do you think of Sonic 2006? It was considered a massive low in the series, but did you enjoy it much when you were playing it?
Gumpei: When I played it I don't think I even thought about the quality of it. It was just "ZOMG SONIC I LOVE IT" However, I HATED the parts where you played as Sonic and he couldn't stop running. Those were awful even back then for me. And Shadow's vehicles had horrible controls. Also load times. And glitches. And the terrible camera. I realized a lot of these things and yet I don't think I gave them too much heed. XD I don't even remember having a reaction to Sonic and Elise's ugggghhhh kiss, and on reflection it's really freaking disturbing.
But as I said earlier, Blader and I watched a playthrough of it recently, and there's actually a few things in the game I'm willing to defend. One thing that needs no defending would be the music, which is simply incredible. It's honestly sad that it wasn't put in a better game. Dreams of an Absolution is my absolute favorite song of all time. Second would be certain elements of the story. I genuinely believe that Sonic 06 could have had a brilliant story, and there are certain elements of it that are great, two cutscenes in particular... unfortunately it all sort of falls apart when examined as a whole, but there are a few good pieces. Incidentally, one of them is Meph! As in Mephiles. I liked him as a villain. If he had more backstory I think he would really work. He's also one of the very few people in the game that has voice acting that's bearable to listen to... Aside of that, I don't think Silver's story is too bad. It still has some of the obvious issues that are flaws with the entire game, but on the whole it's ok.
Even taking all the flaws of it into consideration, I still wouldn't call it the WORST game in the series. *glares at Shadow the Hedgehog*
Meph: I feel so embarrased that my username comes from Sonic 2006... What about the classic Sonic games?
Gumpei: As in Genesis games? I didn't grow up with them, so obviously I'm more biased towards the Adventure games, but they're pretty great. I own most of them due to owning the Mega Collections, so I've played even the obscure old ones. The only one I think I haven't played would be Knuckles Chaotix. As for my favorite among them? Hm... probably Sonic and Knuckles. I have the most fond memories with that one, though I couldn't tell you if it was because it was the best or if it was because of my Knuckles fanboyism.
I think the Rush games are better, though. SUE ME!
Meph: What other games did you play as a kid, and what games do you like to play now?
Gumpei: Spyro! Loved Spyro as a kid. I also loved Donkey Kong 64 and Star Fox. Hah... I just realized all of my favorite childhood game franchises all went through or are currently going through some kind of slump... ^_^
Oh, and Gauntlet! I absolutely loved the Gauntlet games as a kid. I'll still say it today: the Gauntlet games have the best multiplayer ever. Period. And Gauntlet also happens to have gone into a slump. Apparently I carried around some sort of curse as a kid.
As for today? Well, Ace Attorney, obviously. I'm also quite the BioWare fan, Knights of the Old Republic being my favorite game of all time and Dragon Age: Origins placing somewhere in my top 10. (I happen to be playing Mass Effect 3 RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT) I'm also a fairly big fan of the Tales of games, namely Symphonia and Abyss. Other favorite games would include Metal Gear Solid 3, Red Dead Redemption, Super Paper Mario, BioShock, and The World Ends With You. I also feel inclined to mention 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors here, though I'm not sure I'd actually call it much of a game.
Meph: What other things are you interested in?
Gumpei: I'm a pretty big movie guy. Unfortunately my local theater is small and only shows four movies at a time, so I rarely get a chance to see anything outside of the top grossing stuff unless I go outside my area to see a movie, which I actually do when there's something out I really want to see. I'm not huge on music, but there are a few bands I stick to like glue: Rise Against, Alter Bridge, DragonForce, Silversun Pickups...
Going away from media, I'm heavily interested in psychology and the way the human mind works. Being a generally quiet person is a definite asset to this, as it makes it easier for me to analyze people. I... know that sounds kinda creepy, but it's just something I do. XD I like watching people and seeing the way they act. I like thinking about why they act the way they do, or what triggers responses from people. I also like helping people with problems. People tell me I would make a good therapist all the time. I'm definitely considering pursuing a career in psychology.
Meph: Are there any other things you're interested in doing in the future?
Gumpei: Oh, I'd absolutely love to become a game designer. Games have always been a huge part of me, and designing them has been my dream for a long time. Cerain universities offer the double major of Computer Science and Psychology, so that's going to be the one I jump for if I end up somewhere that offers it. In general, I just want to tell stories. Games have been my preferred form of media for my entire life, and being able to tell my stories through them would be a dream come true. It's what attracted me to AAO.
Meph: And finally, what's your average day like?
Gumpei: Depends on the day. During the week I get up at about 7:00 PM, eat breakfast, get dressed and all that jazz, and go to school. I assumingly learn a few things I'll have forgotten by the next day at school, get home, and either get on the internet or take a nap if I've been particularly drained of sleep. If I'm working that night I'll go to work and be back in a few hours, then come home and get back on my computer until about 3 AM. Then I'll go to sleep. Repeat process.
This process only really changes if I have some sort of big test the next day, in which case the process is procrastinate all day and start studying at about midnight, go to bed somewhere between 4 AM and not at all.
On the weekends I usually get most of my sleep and do most of my gaming. Summer break is pretty much the same except I still have to go to work then.
Meph: I don't know what to ask about first: where you work or the fact that you go to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning.
Gumpei: Starting with the first, I work at a local residential area for people with intellectual disabilities. I work in the computer lab there, where I assist them with things they want to do on the computer. It's honestly one of the best jobs ever. I meet a ton of cool people and for the most part I don't even have to do that much. Some people need more help than others obviously, but most of them don't need that much. I'm more there to watch them than anything else.
And as for the second... my sleep schedule isn't the healthiest around. ^^ I do my best work late at night, though!
Meph: And that's it! Before we go, is there anything you'd like to say?
Gumpei: I'd like to take the time to once again condemn Brian and Blader for not declaring Turnabout of Courage the winner of the "Canon? Screw Canon!" competition. (<3 you guys) Other than that, remember: Knights of the Old Republic is the greatest thing ever and if you don't like it you'll end up like Lord Lyndis. And you don't want to end up like him, do you? Didn't think so. (<3 him too)
Guess I'm on my way out, then. Thanks for taking the time to interview me.
Meph: Thanks for a great interview!