Setting the Stage

Join in with competitions to make the best trials... with a twist!

Moderator: EN - Forum Moderators

User avatar
bigwins
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue May 08, 2018 5:27 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by bigwins »

@clc, I mostly just thought the two leads and Thoth made similar quips/witticisms, etc. for a while but the later characters were more defined.

Anyway, welcome back one and all to the absolute final review of the Setting the Stage competition! Thank you all so much for your patience and participation across these last two weeks, and I hope you've all enjoyed the comp. Without further ado, my last review for you all.
≿————- ❈ ————-≾
Spoiler : The Supreme Turnabout by Salamence :
Image
It's more likely than you think.

Salamence's first case, The Supreme Turnabout, tells the story of Apollo and Phoenix, who travel to the Supreme Court for a legal errand that quickly goes wrong, and Apollo's forced to take on a case he never expected. It's one of the more straightforward entries in the comp, and yes, like the others, isn't complete- but it's got a whole first part done, which I'll be looking at here.

STORY - Supreme's premise isn't particularly complicated. The plot's heavy on sometimes-incongruous references to the canon games, and the dialogue can often feel like it's switching between intense formality and off-the-cuff informality (Apollo refers to so many people by their full names you'd think Franziska was here), but the mystery's solid enough. Character-wise everyone has a fairly similar "serious" personality and voice, although the detective/prosecutor has some good moments. I feel that the "unofficial" nature of things makes the case feel low-stakes, and the pacing is currently too quick to allow for much investment in the characters, but with future work these issues can be improved upon.

GAMEPLAY - The case has a couple of well-made cross-examinations, though only the second requires more than pressing a set number of statements. The contradictions, present prompts and options are all fair, and give a feeling of progression; a few moments in which Apollo presents his own case, however, don't exactly feel backed up by the gameplay. The case is fairly short, so there isn't as much courtroom puzzling as I would have liked, but it isn't bad while it lasts, so long as the player is the one doing it. I must say, however, I've never been gladder to see a joke of mine stolen.

PRESENTATION - Supreme's got a fair amount of content added in, using custom sprites and music as well as new backgrounds for the Supreme Court setting. The sprites all work well enough and remain fairly consistent, and the backgrounds look routinely solid. The music- while each individual piece is a good choice- can be jarring when changing from music from a DS game to an orchestral track, for example. The case seems like it could use some proofreading, too, as there are more noticeable typos than some of the other entries (Maggie's last name is Byrde, rather than Bryde) and a fair amount of commas are missing. I'd also have preferred the text in cross-examinations to be green, like in the canon games, though that's a minor issue.

THEME RELEVANCE - I was a bit iffy on this one going in, since a courthouse- Supreme as it may be- is still familiar territory for Ace Attorney, especially considering that the case is set in canon. Still, the custom backgrounds and art distinguish it well enough from the typical courtrooms of the series, so Supreme gets a pass.

OVERALL - While I did enjoy Supreme, there are a fair few issues that hold it back. The mystery keeps things interesting, but it's often difficult to feel engaged by the line-to-line writing, and the presentation issues can detract from the experience. The pace is fast, but at the expense of spending time with or learning much about the characters. The Supreme Court is an interesting setting, but other than the courtroom, you don't get to see much of it. The case has ambition, and I'm impressed by the plot threads that are started, the variation in music, and cross-examination contradictions, but without more attention placed on the fundamentals of casemaking it's tough to get into. As this is Salamence's first case, though, I think that attention will come with experience, and I look forward to seeing more.
And that's it for the final review! Thank you for reading! Everybody get your hype hats on, because the awards ceremony will be coming soon, and the winner will be announced. Finally, this long goshdang comp is coming to a close!
User avatar
Salamence
Posts: 133
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:44 am
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by Salamence »

Yaaaaay a full review of my case

It's beautiful

time to fix stuff
Image

Part 1 complete

Image
User avatar
Southern Corn
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat May 19, 2018 6:05 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English, Bad Jokes

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by Southern Corn »

Whoo whoo! Looking forward to them awards!

I guess this is the part where we give our winner predictions? Enchanted is the only one I've actually played so far though, so that I guess.
Image
Image
User avatar
Salamence
Posts: 133
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:44 am
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by Salamence »

Oh come on, it's obvious I'm gonna win.
Image

Part 1 complete

Image
User avatar
Tiagofvarela
Posts: 357
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2014 7:16 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English, Portuguese
Location: Portugal

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by Tiagofvarela »

Pffft. As if you ever had any chance. My case has, like, six whole frames in it.
A Laggy Turnabout ★
A Batty Turnabout ★
A Tricky Turnabout ★
Upcoming: A Worldly Turnabout, A Courtly Turnabout, A Clumsy Turnabout, A Needy Turnabout
User avatar
DJJ6800
Posts: 402
Joined: Wed May 02, 2018 3:40 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English
Location: Somewhere on the Planet Earth

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by DJJ6800 »

NOBODY CAN DEFEAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH!!!
User avatar
trialdude
Posts: 96
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 6:45 am
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English
Location: What's that?

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by trialdude »

Good luck to Kakkid and Dwam all of the competitors!
I have the stupidest username in all of AAO. Nowhere else will you find one more stupid.
User avatar
bigwins
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue May 08, 2018 5:27 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by bigwins »

Some good and bad news. Firstly, the awards ceremony, while a little rushed, is around 90% done. Unfortunately, I'll be out of town today (lol) so I'm likely not going to be able to finish it until tomorrow. More, uh, hype time, I suppose. Thank you all for your patience...
User avatar
Southern Corn
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat May 19, 2018 6:05 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English, Bad Jokes

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by Southern Corn »

*gets more hyped*
Image
Image
User avatar
Vagrant
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2018 10:21 am
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English, Italian, some French.

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by Vagrant »

Southern Corn wrote:*gets more hyped*
Not as hyped as I would be if it contained MBP
coming soon

turnabout in the mist
User avatar
bigwins
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue May 08, 2018 5:27 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by bigwins »

And that's my mic drop for the night. It's a silly, rushed little thing, and I honestly didn't award half the cool and awesome stuff I saw in this comp, but at least it's done, eh?

If there's one thing I can say for sure, it's that I'm never hosting one of these things again. Woof.
User avatar
clcman
Posts: 1361
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 3:40 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English
Location: Classified

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by clcman »

Well, it's done, and now I have someone new to sympathize with me the next time an awards ceremony goes horribly over schedule and budget.

[spoiler="The Winner":]Good job, SuperAj3 and Ann-nna! You guys seemed like you had a lot of fun working on this. And now you can say, now and forever, that you defeated DWaM in an AAO comp. Almost no one can say that. Like, literally no one.[/spoiler][spoiler="To bigwins specifically":]Image[/spoiler]
What do REAL, NON-BRIBED people have to say about HTB!?
"This really changed the way I thought about Phoenix as a character. ...Wow." - Reecer6
"HTB! contains truths that might be hard to stomach, but had to be unveiled nonetheless." - Blackrune
"This deserves a best plot twist award." - Evo
"It changed my life, and it can change yours too. For the better, I mean." - Calvinball
"I will never look at Phoenix Wright the same way again" - PhoenixRises123
"omg best thing on aao" - AceAttorneyMaster111
DISCOVER THE TRUTH YOU NEVER KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW IN HTB! PROLOGUE AND PART 1, AVAILABLE NOW!!


"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
"For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." -H. L. Mencken
User avatar
DannyPlaysSomeGames
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:39 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English, Spanish
Location: Somewhere

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by DannyPlaysSomeGames »

Spoiler : The Awards Ceremony :
I like how I got an award for being bad (even if intentionally). Hopefully, now that classes are over, I could probably work on a complete case submission for the next comp.

Anyways, major congrats to SuperAJ and Ann-nna.
Hey there
User avatar
DJJ6800
Posts: 402
Joined: Wed May 02, 2018 3:40 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English
Location: Somewhere on the Planet Earth

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by DJJ6800 »

Spoiler : :
Well, I didn't expect to win this thing but I still appreciate the recognition. Also, good to know I got you started into Undertale. Congrats to Superaj and Ann-nna! As for me, I shall return! Whenever I get the time and motivation to do this again, that is.
User avatar
Southern Corn
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat May 19, 2018 6:05 pm
Gender: Male
Spoken languages: English, Bad Jokes

Re: Setting the Stage

Post by Southern Corn »

Congrats to the winner(s), and to bigwins for hosting this! Though really, this was a great comp in general. Genuinely happy by all the activity we got here, it's great. Good job to everyone for participating!
Image
Image
Locked