Broken Commandments

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eerew
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by eerew »

If you want to be a legend then you should keep your case private after telling people how great it is to play it blind and not to peek at reviews.
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Trybien
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by Trybien »

Ignored warning and skipped to the final thoughts.
Spoiler : :
Oh god, another good and interesting case to throw into my backlog on release :sideglance2:
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by TimeAxis »

Just letting everyone know that I’ve resumed reviewing and will have the next one out within the next couple days, likely, and the rest will follow much more quickly than before. I won’t be recording them anymore though, since I’m still too sick for that, but I’m otherwise fine to continue reviewing.

I also had a question for everyone though, regarding the award ceremony. Obviously we won’t be spending too long on it since we don’t want to keep you guys waiting after the break for the holidays (although some work behind the scenes has gone into it already), but if you watched last comp’s award ceremony there was something I’m not too sure about. Something about “from now on all future award ceremonies will feature representative cameo characters from each entry.” It was a fun idea, but especially with how people are being pretty protective of spoilers for their cases, I’m not sure how I feel about using people’s stuff like that without their input. I thought I’d ask how everyone else felt about that. It’s possible Zekrom and DrVonkitty just meant in their own future award ceremonies, but it’s still worth discussing whether it’s worth making that the standard or not.

One way to still do the idea but with a bit more respect to the creators would be to have entrants optionally write a short little teaser segment that we can include. But I haven’t discussed that idea with Awsome or anything yet. Thoughts would be appreciated.
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by TimeAxis »

The Secret Turnabout by Trybien and Spongesonic
Spoiler : Screenshot :
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Spoiler : Synopsis :
A hotshot attorney, Aiden Gambit, defends a prosecutor in a larceny case, the outcome of which has dramatic consequences on the legal system.
Spoiler : Review :

Story:
If one were to only play the first act of this case, they might come away with a pretty mediocre impression. This case starts off a bit rough around the edges, and the writing can feel all over the place at times early on. But as the case progresses, not only does the quality of the narrative steadily improve, but context is provided that improves the quality of earlier bits as well. By the time you reach the second act, things start falling into place like dominoes, and the writing becomes a lot more compelling. Overall, I enjoyed this case's story quite a bit. Unfortunately, it's not finished, so I can't give it full marks with the assumption that it'll stick the landing in the final act. But what is there is very good, and I enjoyed it a lot. I think when this case is finished, if it continues along the same trajectory it's going, it'll be great.

Characters:
There are a number of original characters introduced in this case, but they're a little hit or miss. Some of them are a lot of fun, and I enjoyed most moments they were on screen, while others were pretty forgettable, and sometimes even a little inconsistent or hard to get a read on. Sometimes a character is put in multiple roles throughout the case, and they work better in one role over another. I particularly felt that the protagonist, Aiden Gambit, was more interesting in their later roles compared to the initial one. But on the whole, I'd say the good characters outweighed the worse ones.

There were also a number of familiar Ace Attorney characters brought back in this case, and one thing I really loved was seeing interactions between characters we might not normally get to see interact much. There are a couple of familiar prosecutor characters that have a pretty fun dynamic together which I enjoyed. There was also a great and very clever bit involving the Judge that I don't want to spoil, but it was probably my favorite moment in the whole case. It had me smiling throughout.

Presentation:
This case's presentation was fairly middle of the road. It lacked polish, with a fair few typos and some bugs here and there, and had graphics that could be a little rough around the edges, but generally it followed Ace Attorney conventions well enough. The visuals did a good job of conveying what they needed to in order to serve the gameplay and story. The music choices were usually fine, but on more than one occasion I got a sense that the music's timing was a little off, with moments where there clearly should have been music playing but it was silent, or moments where intense music was playing while the dialogue didn't particularly match the tone. However, these moments were pretty rare and not the norm. The presentation may be a weak point of this case, but it was by no means bad, especially not to a distracting degree. It just didn't stand out as being especially impressive.

Gameplay:
I enjoyed the gameplay of this case. Case logic was solid, contradictions felt on point, and every mechanic was well implemented. I did have one minor moment where I thought "the logic behind that is a little weak", and it resulted in me losing half my life bar over something I felt wasn't as clear cut as they were making it out to be, but it wasn't a major issue. The investigation segment was great and had some of my favorite moments, but the stand-out feature is really the Jurist System and how that whole mechanic was handled. I've gotta give props to Trybien and Spongesonic for their clever design which allowed them to add a whole cast of additional characters while minimizing the assets that were needed for them. I enjoyed everything about the jury, gameplay-wise, presentation-wise, and story-wise.

Theme Relevance:
Spoiler : Broken Commandments (Warning: Spoilers and speculation) :
Keep in mind that this case is not finished yet, but the seeds of the mystery are planted well enough that I feel comfortable speculating on which of the rules were broken. These could potentially turn out to be false when the case is finished, though:

3. No more than one secret room or hidden passage may factor into the mystery.
7. The detective must not themselves commit the crime.
Spoiler : Followed Commandments (Warning: Spoilers and speculation) :
1. The criminal must be mentioned early in the story.
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.
The theme relevance for this case was spot on. It was extremely clear which rules the case was intenting to follow and break, even despite the actual mystery not being fully concluded yet, there's enough information in the case already to figure it out pretty easily. As far as the mystery goes, I enjoyed it a lot. I figured it out almost immediately, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The moment-to-moment contradictions were still compelling and the way things started to come together really helped drive the whole thing home. This case has all the pieces necessary to be a great mystery, as long as it sticks the landing in the final act. But I have to judge it without the final act, and even with only what's in this case right now, I'd still say it's a pretty good mystery already.

My one worry is that some people might try this case and be turned off by the first act, and then stop playing. My recommendation to anyone who plays this case is to give it until you get to the second act at least, as it really picks up.
Spoiler : Overall :
PROS
  • Great mystery that fits the theme well
  • Some really fun interactions with familiar characters and new characters alike
  • Jurist system mechanic was implemented really well.
CONS
  • Occasionally spotty presentation, lacking overall polish
  • Some of the characters were fairly forgettable and don't always fit well into the roles they're put in
  • Case has a rough start, but picks up in the second act.
By the way, I spoke to Awsome about the award ceremony teaser idea, and he gave it the okay, so if any entrant wants to come up with a short teaser (try to keep it under 2 minutes) for their case for us to include in the ceremony, feel free to brainstorm that up and send it to us (along with any necessary graphics/sounds/etc that should accompany it) and we'll make it happen. It's totally optional, of course, but it may give you guys something to do while I finish the rest of these reviews over the next week or so.

Also, for Trybien and Spongesonic, I did partially record the first part of this case, so if you want the link to that, let me know, but the majority of it was played off-camera. EDIT: Nevermind, the copyrighted music got the video full-on blocked, even while unlisted. That's a first for me.
Last edited by TimeAxis on Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by TimeAxis »

Turnabout of the Future by DJJ6800
Spoiler : Screenshot :
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Spoiler : Synopsis :
In a time when trials are practically unheard of, a Law Professor must defend himself in court when his close friend is murdered.
Spoiler : Review :
Story:
While it took some adjusting to get used to what this case was going for in terms of its tone and style, which is a little different from typical Ace Attorney, once it got going, the story was solid and enjoyable. It does a good job of building up its unique setting without being overbearing about it, and makes the player naturally want to learn more with each little nugget of info that gets dropped.

Characters
The part of this story that shines is probably the characters. Since this isn't set in the familiar AA universe, all the characters are original, but while some of its characterization was really enjoyable, it was a little hit or miss. It's difficult to judge the case as it stands, as it's not quite finished, and the culprit's motivations in particular left me feeling skeptical. While it's possible that the completed case may wrap things up well, I wasn't getting a good feeling about where certain things were headed. But while I was left with some doubts and questions, there were a number of interactions that I quite enjoyed, and I thought the characterization that did exist was fairly well written.

I liked the protagonist, and the witnesses were fun. Tone-wise, I got Ace Attorney Investigations vibes more than anything from the main series, and I've got no complaints there.

Presentation:
This case makes great use of a lot of custom assets that help drive home the uniqueness of the setting. Visually, it looks pretty nice. However, just as the story is unfinished, the presentation and polish also left something to be desired. There were a lot of very minor issues, bugs and things that didn't detract too much from the experience but made it unquestionably clear that this was not a finished case. Things like a fade or objection popup not auto-advancing were relatively frequent occurrences.

There was a custom map graphic that did a good job of clearly giving the player an understanding of the crime scene, but visually it was pretty messy, with some pretty heavy compression and what appeared to be leftover pieces of what I assumed to be, bizarrely, a photobucket watermark. I also wasn't the biggest fan of some of the music choices. Most of them were fine, but a couple of them stood out as just being Ace Attorney music but with weird mixing that sounded worse, in my opinion. But that's a bit more subjective so I can't hold it against the case too much.

All of this was pretty easy to look past on its own, but together it did leave an overall unpolished impression. That being said, a lot of this came across as a time issue. When the case is finished and the little things are ironed out, I think the presentation will be a lot stronger and may even be one of the case's strengths. I have to judge it as it currently is, though.

Gameplay:
This case's gameplay was pretty standard and solid. While there were a few minor awkwardly phrased questions and answers here and there, the case logic was generally good, and the moment-to-moment mystery solving gameplay was enjoyable. There weren't any points that I considered unfun. Just like the story and presentation, however, there were some bits that were clearly not finished. Aside from the case itself ending abruptly (which I was warned about), a number of side options earlier on were not implemented and led to abrupt end screens, which I was a little disappointed by. I do appreciate as much of the case being finished as it was, though, as roughly 80%-85% of it was there. One little touch I really liked was how presenting wrong evidence gave unique dialogue for each witness.

Theme Relevance:
Spoiler : Broken Commandments (Warning:Major Spoilers) :
9. The sidekick of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind.
Spoiler : Followed Commandments (Warning:Spoilers) :
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.
3. No more than one secret room or hidden passage may factor into the mystery. (possibly?)

3 might go one way or the other depending on how the case gets resolved, but currently I think it's following it.
This case does exactly what was asked of it, which is to take a rule and break it, and base the mystery around that in a way that felt very clear in intent. So in that sense, theme relevance is spot on. But unfortunately the mystery is still unfinished. How the killer did it isn't explained, which is a pretty integral part of the mystery, so I can't say it's perfect. But there's still enough there in what this case has already to fit the theme well, and the case in its current form still does consist of a nice mystery to solve, even if not all the pieces are there. So I'd still say the case is good in the theme department.
Spoiler : Overall :
PROS
  • Unique and interesting setting is implemented well
  • Some of the character interactions are really well written
  • Good theme relevance
CONS
  • Unfinished, leaving many important things unresolved
  • Presentation sometimes feels pretty lacking in polish
I took some notes as I played, so if you're interested in those, let me know. Next up for me will be Blackrune's entry.
Last edited by TimeAxis on Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by DJJ6800 »

Thanks for the feedback! (I was rushed on time which is why it was unfinished.)
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by TimeAxis »

Turnabout in the Lighthouse of Lunacy by Blackrune
Spoiler : Screenshot :
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Spoiler : Synopsis :
A woman is shot during an auction in a mysterious tower, and an impromptu trial is held to determine the responsible party.
Spoiler : Review :
Story:
This case had a very interesting set-up, and the overall story was well told. It was cut short, unfortunately, so we never got a satisfying resolution to the mystery, but when the biggest complaint about something is that there isn't more of it, then you're probably doing something right. The writing of this case, despite it being unfinished, was consistently good at making you want to keep playing and find out more.

Characters
I loved all the characters. The entire cast was original, with this case presumably not meant to be set in Ace Attorney canon. Not only was each one portrayed with very nice custom graphics, but they also all felt enjoyable and lively. There were a few that never got a chance to shine due to the case being unfinished, but those that did were very enjoyable. The main cast felt particularly compelling, and I don't know if these characters are from an established setting of Blackrune's or original for this case, but they felt like you could easily follow dozens of adventures with them, and left me wanting to see more of them. At worst, the more upbeat and adventurous cast felt a little at odds with the grounded and gritty story that was being told, but the contrast of these things helped keep things fresh, so I have no complaints in the character department.

Presentation:
Sometimes you can just tell within the first 30 seconds of a case that it's going to be something special, presentation-wise, and this was very much one of those times. This case was beautiful, both visually, and musically. There wasn't a single moment I wasn't completely enraptured by either the music or the visuals. The presentation was almost perfect. I say "almost", because, while I loved the music and graphics, the case's unfinished nature left it with a lot of typos and minor presentation quirks that likely would have been ironed out with time had the creator not been on a deadline and had the chance to do more playtesting. As it neared the ending, the case became less and less polished, but never enough to outweigh how great the presentation was all throughout the rest of it. I can't emphasize enough how great this case looked, felt, and sounded. The only weakness of the presentation was the frequency of typos being mildly distracting, but it wasn't a major issue. Overall, fantastic presentation, and a strong contender despite its unfinished nature.

Gameplay:
While this case is strong in all categories, gameplay is probably its weakest. There's not a whole lot of it, and what's there had some minor issues. Attempts to examine things or present things (with one notable exception that I enjoyed) were generally explicitly shut down while talking to characters early on. The investigation segment was fine, but a bit finnicky, requiring you to examine things in a certain order or else re-examine things after you've already examined them, without much in the way of clues to guide the player to do so. There wasn't an overwhelming number of options available to the player at the time, however, so it wasn't a huge deal to figure out. The trial segment was short but enjoyable, although the contradictions didn't feel like logical contradictions in the traditional sense we might be used to from the Ace Attorney series, and that was a little hard to wrap my head around. Some of the answers made sense in retrospect but felt a bit like reaches in the moment, and left me needing to consult the walkthrough despite how short the cross examination segment was. If there had been more time to acclimate to what this case was trying to accomplish with its trial, this may have been less of an issue, but as is, it felt a bit jarring.

Theme Relevance:
Spoiler : Broken Commandments (Warning:SPOILERS) :
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

It was unclear whether what was going on here was supernatural or just preternatural (it's complicated), but either way, it clearly intended to break this rule, and that intention was well conveyed.
Spoiler : Followed Commandments (Warning:SPOILERS) :
3. No more than one secret room or hidden passage may factor into the mystery.
As the case isn't finished, those commandments might turn out to be incorrect, but in its current state, they're the ones I feel are intended to be broken and followed. This case follows the theme well enough in that it touches on broken and followed commandments, but because it's left unresolved, the mystery itself can't be said to be satisfying. As is, this case is a lot more compelling from a legal drama standpoint, but from the perspective of a mystery, there isn't much of one to solve. At most, there are vague allusions to the possibility of there being a mystery afoot, but we unfortunately never get a chance to explore those possibilities. I really loved playing through this case, and it had all the building blocks for there to be a great mystery, so I would have liked for there to have been a satisfying resolution even moreso. But despite the case's failure to conclude its mystery, there are still questions to explore, and some of them end up having answers to them, and the formula used to arrive at those answers fits well within the theme of Knox's commandments, so I'd still say the spirit of the theme is captured well by this case.
Spoiler : Overall :
PROS
  • Fantastic presentation, great graphics and sound
  • Compelling cast of fun characters
  • Captures the spirit of the theme well, and makes you want to play more
CONS
  • Noticeably unfinished, both in its unresolved story and occasional typos or minor bugs
  • Gameplay was a little stifling or obtuse at times
If you're interested in the notes I took while I played (including some typos and bugs I noted down), let me know. Next up for me will be Bannedfrom7 and Super legenda's entry.
Last edited by TimeAxis on Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by Bannedfrom7 »

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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by Blackrune »

Thanks for the review.
I wasn't sure if the beginning would be able to hook players as intended, given the somewhat unusual route it has to take due to certain factors.
But from the feedback I got, it seems it's working okay.
I do regret not getting more gameplay in or adding some polish to what's there. Almost half of it pretty much got rushed out on the last day, which... yeah, is totally my excuse for it being rough. Alas, at least that's a simple issue to fix in the long run. Just gotta finish the case. Someday on AAO
Gotta hope that when I do, someone will still be there to appreciate some bits of theme relevance I never got to here.

Regarding those notes you got, I'll gladly take them.
I forced Fury to play it in the meanwhile, so chances are there'll be some redundancy in terms of typos. Can't ever hurt to double check though.
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by TimeAxis »

The Savory Turnabout by Bannedfrom7 and Super legenda
Spoiler : Screenshot :
Image
Spoiler : Synopsis :
A murder occurs at a cooking show for small businesses, and Eldoon's Noodles gets caught up in it.
Spoiler : Review :
Story:
This case's story had pretty drastic ups and downs. On the whole I enjoyed it, but there were a few rough patches. In general I liked the ideas that the case was going for, although the execution of the writing tended to feel a bit clunky. The moment-to-moment dialogue and banter was the weakest part, in my opinion. It wasn't bad, by any means, but I generally enjoyed the overall background story and metanarrative more than what was actually happening on screen. By the end of the case (or the end of the investigation portion at least, as the trial portion is unfinished), I felt that I was enjoying the overall plot and mystery despite the clunkiness, and in the end it did leave me curious to see how it concludes, and wanting to know more, which is a good thing.

Characters
Aside from a couple notable exceptions, I unfortunately can't really say I enjoyed the characters much. The case is made up of both original characters and familiar Ace Attorney characters. There was one original character who I liked, and that was Rei, the detective. The parts involving her were generally pretty fun, and I've got nothing but good things to say about her. As far as the returning cast goes, though, aside from Eldoon (who I think was pretty well portrayed in this case), the writing for these characters didn't really feel in-character to me, and that alone isn't necessarily a huge problem but I also didn't really enjoy them much besides that. There was a gimmick involving Widget that I was not a fan of. There were a few more characters that only showed up briefly and never had time to be fully fleshed out due to the case only including the investigation portion. It's possible that I might have enjoyed those characters in the trial, but I can't know for sure. That all being said, aside from one particular character, I didn't actively dislike any of them. The one particular original character I'm referring to (which I'm sure bannedfrom7 and super legenda can probably guess) is one that I think is designed to be disliked, but even so, they came across more as just weird and hard to get a handle on. They had a weird speech quirk that seemed to randomly appear and disappear depending on whether or not they were talking about something serious, and it didn't really land for me. All in all, I'd say that I enjoyed this case more despite its characters than because of them.

Presentation:
Like the writing, the presentation in this case was also a bit of a mixed bag. There were good parts and less good parts. In terms of following Ace Attorney conventions, it was pretty good at being nice and faithful to what we'd expect from a typical Ace Attorney case's investigation segment. There were a few typos here and there, but nothing too egregious. Graphically, there was a lot going on, and I think for the most part the graphics served the case well. The choices in backgrounds did a good job of helping the player internalize the crime scene. There was also a nice map provided as well, which was admittedly slightly sloppy, but was nonetheless good at clearly showing the layout of the crime scene and conveying all the information it needed to. It would have probably been helpful to have gotten that map sooner than near the end of the investigation, though.

The characters had nice expressive sprites, albeit in a variety of mixed art styles, but that's not the end of the world. I've got pretty much no complaints when it comes to the visuals of this case, but where I do have a few minor complaints is with the music. One thing that stood out to me was how Ace Attorney games often do a thing where the music will start off silent and then kick in once a character introduces themselves, and this case attempts to replicate that at numerous points, except it doesn't really pull it off. Instead, there's slightly too much banter before the music kicks in, resulting in sometimes minutes of awkward silence where you're not sure if there's going to be music or not, and it just didn't hit right. When the music did kick in, it was about 50/50 hit or miss whether it was a nice remix (or existing AA track) or original track that I enjoyed, or whether it was a track that was just slightly too loud and obnoxious that ended up distracting me while I was trying to internalize story details. While I don't mind wacky music here and there, in this case I felt like it sometimes hampered my ability to pay attention to what was happening.

Gameplay:
The investigation gameplay of this case was pretty solid. There wasn't much in the way of contradictions to discover or reasoning to put together, as that's more of a trial thing, but I liked the way the investigation gave you the freedom to do certain things in the order you wanted. The only mild stumbling block I ran into was one particular item at the crime scene not really standing out, and examining irrelevant things would give a fairly long dialogue with an unskippable pause in it, which discouraged wanting to experiment and examine everything. That led to me missing a critical piece of evidence, so I eventually had to consult the walkthrough on that, but it wasn't a big deal in the end. In terms of walking around to different areas, talking to people, presenting things, and trying to figure out the mystery, though, that was all pretty fun and I had a good time.

Theme Relevance:
Spoiler : Broken Commandments (Warning:SPOILERS/Speculation) :
Unknown at this point, but my theories are either:
4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.
or
7. The detective must not themselves commit the crime.
or
10. Twins and doubles generally must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.
Spoiler : Followed Commandments (Warning:SPOILERS) :
3. No more than one secret room or hidden passage may factor into the mystery.
As this case is unfinished, the theme relevance isn't entirely established. It was unclear at this point which rule the case would end up breaking (although I did make some guesses). But despite that, I actually really liked the trajectory that the overall Mystery was headed on. I think this case has a lot of potential to go interesting places. There are a lot of moving pieces and while it didn't explicitly break any Commandments in a clear manner, there were nods to the commandments being followed, and the Mystery left me with the desire to speculate, so I think this case did ultimately succeed in the Theme Relevance department. I think when this case is done, it will have a solid and compelling mystery, and I'm very curious to find out how it gets resolved.
Spoiler : Overall :
PROS
  • Mystery has a lot of potential
  • Solid investigation gameplay
  • I enjoyed the detective character
CONS
  • Characters and presentation could be hit or miss
  • Dialogue didn't always feel well written
  • Theme relevance isn't fully fleshed out yet
If you want my in-depth notes/speculations I wrote as I was playing, let me know. Next review from me will be enigma and DLA's entry. This one's a complete one and I don't know how long it'll be, but I'll try to pick up the pace a bit. Sometimes these cases just need some time to properly digest. Only two entries left though.
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by Bannedfrom7 »

TimeAxis wrote: Fri Feb 04, 2022 4:57 am
The Savory Turnabout by Bannedfrom7 and Super legenda
Spoiler : Screenshot :
Image
Spoiler : Synopsis :
A murder occurs at a cooking show for small businesses, and Eldoon's Noodles gets caught up in it.
Spoiler : Review :
Story:
This case's story had pretty drastic ups and downs. On the whole I enjoyed it, but there were a few rough patches. In general I liked the ideas that the case was going for, although the execution of the writing tended to feel a bit clunky. The moment-to-moment dialogue and banter was the weakest part, in my opinion. It wasn't bad, by any means, but I generally enjoyed the overall background story and metanarrative more than what was actually happening on screen. By the end of the case (or the end of the investigation portion at least, as the trial portion is unfinished), I felt that I was enjoying the overall plot and mystery despite the clunkiness, and in the end it did leave me curious to see how it concludes, and wanting to know more, which is a good thing.

Characters
Aside from a couple notable exceptions, I unfortunately can't really say I enjoyed the characters much. The case is made up of both original characters and familiar Ace Attorney characters. There was one original character who I liked, and that was Rei, the detective. The parts involving her were generally pretty fun, and I've got nothing but good things to say about her. As far as the returning cast goes, though, aside from Eldoon (who I think was pretty well portrayed in this case), the writing for these characters didn't really feel in-character to me, and that alone isn't necessarily a huge problem but I also didn't really enjoy them much besides that. There was a gimmick involving Widget that I was not a fan of. There were a few more characters that only showed up briefly and never had time to be fully fleshed out due to the case only including the investigation portion. It's possible that I might have enjoyed those characters in the trial, but I can't know for sure. That all being said, aside from one particular character, I didn't actively dislike any of them. The one particular original character I'm referring to (which I'm sure bannedfrom7 and super legenda can probably guess) is one that I think is designed to be disliked, but even so, they came across more as just weird and hard to get a handle on. They had a weird speech quirk that seemed to randomly appear and disappear depending on whether or not they were talking about something serious, and it didn't really land for me. All in all, I'd say that I enjoyed this case more despite its characters than because of them.

Presentation:
Like the writing, the presentation in this case was also a bit of a mixed bag. There were good parts and less good parts. In terms of following Ace Attorney conventions, it was pretty good at being nice and faithful to what we'd expect from a typical Ace Attorney case's investigation segment. There were a few typos here and there, but nothing too egregious. Graphically, there was a lot going on, and I think for the most part the graphics served the case well. The choices in backgrounds did a good job of helping the player internalize the crime scene. There was also a nice map provided as well, which was admittedly slightly sloppy, but was nonetheless good at clearly showing the layout of the crime scene and conveying all the information it needed to. It would have probably been helpful to have gotten that map sooner than near the end of the investigation, though.

The characters had nice expressive sprites, albeit in a variety of mixed art styles, but that's not the end of the world. I've got pretty much no complaints when it comes to the visuals of this case, but where I do have a few minor complaints is with the music. One thing that stood out to me was how Ace Attorney games often do a thing where the music will start off silent and then kick in once a character introduces themselves, and this case attempts to replicate that at numerous points, except it doesn't really pull it off. Instead, there's slightly too much banter before the music kicks in, resulting in sometimes minutes of awkward silence where you're not sure if there's going to be music or not, and it just didn't hit right. When the music did kick in, it was about 50/50 hit or miss whether it was a nice remix (or existing AA track) or original track that I enjoyed, or whether it was a track that was just slightly too loud and obnoxious that ended up distracting me while I was trying to internalize story details. While I don't mind wacky music here and there, in this case I felt like it sometimes hampered my ability to pay attention to what was happening.

Gameplay:
The investigation gameplay of this case was pretty solid. There wasn't much in the way of contradictions to discover or reasoning to put together, as that's more of a trial thing, but I liked the way the investigation gave you the freedom to do certain things in the order you wanted. The only mild stumbling block I ran into was one particular item at the crime scene not really standing out, and examining irrelevant things would give a fairly long dialogue with an unskippable pause in it, which discouraged wanting to experiment and examine everything. That led to me missing a critical piece of evidence, so I eventually had to consult the walkthrough on that, but it wasn't a big deal in the end. In terms of walking around to different areas, talking to people, presenting things, and trying to figure out the mystery, though, that was all pretty fun and I had a good time.

Theme Relevance:
Spoiler : Broken Commandments (Warning:SPOILERS/Speculation) :
Unknown at this point, but my theories are either:
4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.
or
7. The detective must not themselves commit the crime.
or
10. Twins and doubles generally must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.
Spoiler : Followed Commandments (Warning:SPOILERS) :
3. No more than one secret room or hidden passage may factor into the mystery.
As this case is unfinished, the theme relevance isn't entirely established. It was unclear at this point which rule the case would end up breaking (although I did make some guesses). But despite that, I actually really liked the trajectory that the overall Mystery was headed on. I think this case has a lot of potential to go interesting places. There are a lot of moving pieces and while it didn't explicitly break any Commandments in a clear manner, there were nods to the commandments being followed, and the Mystery left me with the desire to speculate, so I think this case did ultimately succeed in the Theme Relevance department. I think when this case is done, it will have a solid and compelling mystery, and I'm very curious to find out how it gets resolved.
Spoiler : Overall :
PROS
  • Mystery has a lot of potential
  • Solid investigation gameplay
  • I enjoyed the detective character
CONS
  • Characters and presentation could be hit or miss
  • Dialogue didn't always feel well written
  • Theme relevance isn't fully fleshed out yet
If you want my in-depth notes/speculations I wrote as I was playing, let me know. Next review from me will be enigma and DLA's entry. This one's a complete one and I don't know how long it'll be, but I'll try to pick up the pace a bit. Sometimes these cases just need some time to properly digest. Only two entries left though.
Spoiler : :
Thanks for the review, TimeAxis and yes I'd love to see your in depth notes!
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Awsome2464
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by Awsome2464 »

Review: "Turnabout: Impossible" by DannyPlaysSomeGames
Spoiler : :
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My boy, this peace is what all true guards strive for.

Synopsis: Trucy Wright must take the role of defense attorney when Apollo is running late for the trial.

Spoiler : Broken/Followed Commandments: :
Currently unknown.
Story: To put it simply, there's really not much to go on here. All this case contains is an opening cutscene that sets up the crime (a larceny/murder), the lobby, and the very beginning of the court proceedings. While it does a good job setting up what's to come, it basically ends right as it begins. So in terms of what's actually there as a story, it's not much to judge. But that all being said, the setup is definitely an intriguing one that makes me want to know what's to come. I don't believe I've ever seen Trucy take the role as attorney, and it's definitely an idea that could work well given who her father and friends are. Ema is our co-counsel, as well, so seeing those two work together could definitely lead to some clever moments. And finally, our defendant, an author, was arrested for no other reason than the fact that the killer claimed they were one of the defendant's characters. Yeah, that's literally the only reason. Very in-line for Ace Attorney police logic, if you ask me, and make me all the more curious to see how the prosecution handles the case. But like I said, the trial ends right as it begins, so there's really not much here to go further into.

Presentation: There were a few mistakes that stood out in terms of presentation, those being Ema's lips moving when Trucy was the one speaking, the crime being referred to "gran larceny" instead of "grand larceny" on multiple occasions, and there being no sound playing when we receive evidence into the Court Record. But those are just minor nitpicks, really. A few backgrounds in the opening were real images, the music that plays during one scene was very fitting, and the custom character sprites and names we get are in-line for Ace Attorney. Overall, the presentation was good. Nothing outstanding, but nothing poor, either.

Gameplay: Basically nonexistent. All that's currently present is just clicking to continue the text, and even then, there wasn't really much of it overall.

Theme Relevance: With the entry being as short as it is, there's really no way to gauge for sure what the broken and followed rules are. I'm not really sure what else to say.

Final Thoughts: So, yeah, there's really not much else to say. It's a very short entry that feels more like a teaser than an actual case. While said teaser is definitely getting me interested in what's to come, the contents themselves are just basic and more setup than substance. I do hope the creator doesn't abandon this concept, though, as there's definitely something to be had here!
Alright, after taking WAY more time than necessary, I've finished all the reviews. Once TimeAxis' reviews are finished, we'll get to work on properly finishing up the awards ceremony (which I promise won't take as long to do as our reviews). That being said, while TimeAxis is finishing up, I'll begin work on setting the ceremony up and we can go from there once both of us have finished all the cases. I do apologize for this taking as long as it did, and I very much appreciate everyone's patience.
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by Super legenda »

Don't worry, we can wait, I helped make a 2000+ frames ceremony after all the reviews, so I cannot be one to complain about waiting lol.
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by TimeAxis »

enigma and DLA's entry
Spoiler : Screenshot :
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Note: As a reminder, enigma and DLA's case is, according to them, best experienced completely blind, so while this review won't contain any explicit spoilers, you should read it at your own risk.
Spoiler : Synopsis :
Solve a string of mysterious disappearances from a variety of unique angles.
Spoiler : Review :
Story:
The most tempting, but ultimately innaccurate, way to describe this case would be to imagine someone taking about ten different buckets of paint and throwing them at a wall and seeing what sticks. But there's method to this case's madness. An overarching narrative unfolds as this case goes on, and the way it unfolds is very unique and interesting. Unfortunately there's not much more on that I can say without giving away some of the most interesting things about this case's narrative structure. As far as how well that narrative is executed, mileage varies greatly. Whoever plays this will undoubtedly find at least some part of this case that's particularly up their alley, while probably running into other parts that aren't. I can say with confidence that there were moments in this case where I felt extremely invested in what was happening, coupled with moments where I was a bit less enthused, but the sheer variety is definitely a plus in my books. At the very least, I will say that at no point did I ever feel that the writing was bad. It varied from moments of "this is fantastic" to moments where I was thinking more along the lines of "I don't even know what's happening anymore", but if nothing else, this case will most likely keep your attention from beginning to end. And it's a good thing, too, because this case is very long. I don't have a recording telling me the exact time it took me for this one, but based on the time between my save files, I'd estimate it took me somewhere between 8-10 hours total.

Characters
This case has a lot of characters. DLA and enigma have requested that we not talk in specifics about any of them, but what I can say is that much like the rest of the narrative, the characters varied between being quite compelling and enjoyable to being rather forgettable. Overall, I think the case's more compelling and enjoyable characters were numerous enough to leave more of an impression than the ones that I didn't enjoy as much.

Presentation:
You're going to sense a bit of a running theme here, but this case's presentation was yet another factor that varied wildly in its execution. What I have to particularly admire about this case is the sheer amount of soul and effort that went into its presentation, both in terms of visuals and audio. Not only does the case make extensive use of custom graphics, but it also includes a fair bit of custom audio as well. I also loved how well the presentation complemented both the gameplay and the narrative. The whole thing was extremely well implemented. But sometimes it was hard to distinguish whether the case had a lack of cohesive polish, or whether the lack of cohesion was a form of polish. What I can promise without fail is that, regardless of whether you enjoy the specifics of how every part of this case is presented, anyone who plays this case will be blown away by the variety and creativity on display. That being said, some parts of the case are going to be hit or miss. If you shoot a thousand arrows at a target, some of them are almost certainly going to land dead center, but there's also going to be a lot of them that miss, and this case lets loose a lot of metaphorical arrows.

It's worth pointing out that, while rare, there were a few unfinished parts that led to abrupt end screens or accidentally looped to the wrong parts. These were very minor issues and didn't really impact my experience much, though.

Gameplay:
As mentioned in other categories, this case is jam-packed with variety, but in no category does this manifest more clearly than in the gameplay department. I would say gameplay is this case's strong point. It's difficult to even talk about the gameplay without ruining a lot of the magic surrounding it, but I will say that if you go into this case with the general expectation that you'll be solving a mystery, I think the case delivers that experience quite well. There were moments of this case where I was having an absolute blast poring through details and trying to put things together. However, the flip side of this case's gameplay variety is that the execution varied wildly as well. There were a fair few confusing or frustrating gimmicks that felt slightly off in their execution. Sometimes this came down to enigma and DLA possibly trying to be too ambitious and being hampered by the limitations of Ace Attorney Online, which I can't fault them for too hard, but other times there were more fundamental issues. Lapses in case logic were frequent enough that I had to consult the walkthrough a lot more often than I would normally be comfortable with. On more than one occasion, it felt like the correct way to proceed was basically just a guessing game, which wasn't always particularly fun. That being said, while it wasn't perfect, I can't overstate how much fun I had with the high points of this case.

Theme Relevance:
As per enigma and DLA's request, I won't be including which rules were broken and/or followed.

As far as the theme goes, I'm very conflicted on this case. I'll start by saying that the rule(s) they chose to center their case around were particularly challenging ones to work with, especially in the way they chose to interpret those rules. I will also say that, thematically, this case felt very much like a love letter to the mystery genre, and in that sense, I loved it on a personal level. But as I've mentioned in other reviews, I think an important part of this competition's theme was breaking Knox's rules without letting it compromise the mystery. And ultimately, I don't feel that this case succeeded in that respect. I felt they went a bit too far with their breaking of the rules to the point where it actually impacted the story and its resolution negatively. I wish I could go into more detail, because there's so much I could say about this case if full spoilers were on the table, but I think even despite its failure to resolve its mystery in a satisfactory way, I still felt that about 90% of this case was well executed in the theme department. It was the last 10% that felt a bit off to me. With only a few very small tweaks, this case's mystery could have been extremely well done. Given the sheer volume of this case and how despite being made in the timeframe of the competition, it still managed to be absolutely oozing with soul, I can't help but admire the attempt. But I do have to judge this case based on how it turned out in the end, rather than how it could have been. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing what becomes of this case when it eventually gets released, assuming enigma and DLA do release it. (And I hope they do, because it would be tragic for nobody else to get to experience it.)
Spoiler : Overall :
PROS
  • Absolutely oozing with soul in every single category
  • Insane amount of variety
CONS
  • Variety can lead to some content being hit or miss
  • Mystery starts strong but doesn't resolve satisfactorily
I took a lot of notes for this case. If either enigma or DLA want them, let me know. I just have one more case left to review, and this one should be a short one from what I understand. Hopefully I can get to it within the next couple days so we can announce the winners before spring. :calisto:
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The Curious Case of the Phantom Limousine (Coming Eventually)
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Re: Broken Commandments

Post by enigma »

Spoiler : :
Thank you for the review! Gotta admit, I was pretty nervous about these for... obvious reasons, so I was incredibly relieved. If nothing else, 'soul' is one of the highest compliments I could aim for so I was very flattered by that. Reading both of the reviews, I'm definitely excited to get back to polishing it before the full release.

It goes without saying, that I'm very interested in seeing those notes, too!
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