TICKING TIME BOMB

GuardianDreamer · Post by **GuardianDreamer** » Tue Dec 20, 2022 4:37 pm

The Golden Turnabout

by AshuraMage

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Disclaimer: This case is a fan-made continuation of The Enchanted Turnabout, the disclaimer says that this case contains minor spoilers for it so I assume it's independent enough. That said, I haven't played The Enchanted Turnabout, though the key thing to note here is that it's an AU of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright.

Spoiler : Audio Review Transcription :

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Spoiler : Review :

Story: I like the initial premise here a lot and despite not playing Enchanted, I felt like I could more or less get a functional grasp of the setting, enough to get by (that said, having at least cursory knowledge of PL vs AA helps here). I think my main issue here is that the characterization for everyone currently feels very rushed, even considering the incomplete nature of this entry. In particular, it feels like Phoenix Wright's mindset is very hard to grasp since he feels very easily convinced to go along with things. I think the scene that's most urgently in need of expansion is the scene near the start where he decides to take the case in the first place. The rest of the characters are similarly alright but feel similarly like they need much more time to breathe, I think the character who makes the strongest impression so far is the defendant, and even she needs a bit more. The lack of optional dialogue in the investigation (much of it lacks placeholder text) also feels like a big detriment since that could be used to get the player more invested in the world and characters, though AshuraMage might be planning on remedying that for the full release.

I think the strongest point in terms of the story is that the setting is interesting and can be followed even without playing Enchanted, but a lot of what's here currently feels undercooked.

Presentation: The custom assets used are very fitting. I believe they're a mixture of free to use custom assets with a few original things (at the very least, a few specific graphics feel like they'd be too specific to this case otherwise). I will say that this aspect of the case is a bit hard to appreciate for me, since a list of credits wasn't included in the PM or the trial so I'm a bit unsure talking about this. Still, it does a good job of evoking the vibe it wants to go for. I think the main issue with the presentation comes from its nature as an incomplete: some odd/missing timers, dialogue that I think needs a second pass, a lack of even placeholder text when searching for optional dialogue in the investigation, that sort of thing. I think that this case would benefit from having another pair of eyes on it to point out these issues, I think many of my issues could be patched up by the time of the full release with some thorough playtesting. I also noticed a fair number of typos, though I will say that I am very English major-brained so my eyes are naturally drawn to those. One final note: There's currently a lack of a proper game over sequence if you lose all of your truth bar in the trial, so it currently just hits you with a "The End" screen if you fail enough (I like seeing what happens if you lose all of your truth bar in a trial). That said, most players won't see that, and a proper game over sequence might be implemented for the full release. Again, I do have to praise AshuraMage for getting the vibes here right, which is one of the most important parts.

Gameplay: The gameplay gets much stronger as this case goes on, particularly once the trial starts. As it currently stands, the investigation is very linear (which works) but feels like it could benefit more from optional dialogue in terms of examining stuff and especially presenting stuff. The actual trial itself is much stronger and a highlight: The multiple witnesses feel natural, and I didn't ever get stuck while playing. Unfortunately we don't get too much trial stuff due to the nature of this case as an incomplete, but there's already a decent variety in terms of cross-examination objectives and the trial gameplay serves the story pretty well.

Theme Relevance: As our first incomplete entry, this one is a bit hard to judge. From where it currently ends, I do think it'd be possible to finish in under 30 minutes, but I'm unsure how long the full case is planned to be (I get the feeling it'll put it well over the time limit). However, as for the second part of the theme, I find it tricky to judge. Due to my issues getting a grasp on Phoenix's character, he didn't ever really feel panicked or like he was in a rush to me. I think that this aspect of the case could be bolstered somewhat by focusing a bit more on the defendant and what's at stake for her. It's also possible that the feeling of urgency will increase as the trial goes on, I could easily see that happening.

Overall: I'm really really curious to see where this case goes from here and I hope that AshuraMage finishes it since I'm interested in it. While I did go into a lot of my issues, I think a lot of them are fixable if AshuraMage gets a beta-tester or two (or another pair of eyes on it in general) to help make this case the best it can be. And I did have fun and enjoyed myself still. Best of luck as you continue working on this, AshuraMage.

AshuraMage · Post by **AshuraMage** » Tue Dec 20, 2022 4:54 pm

Hey, just woke up.
Thx for the reviews and for the criticism, this is my first case and I really need all the criticism I can get.

Spoiler : Answering some things :

TimeAxis · Post by **TimeAxis** » Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:19 pm

AshuraMage wrote: ↑Tue Dec 20, 2022 4:54 pm Hey, just woke up.
Thx for the reviews and for the criticism, this is my first case and I really need all the criticism I can get.

Spoiler : Answering some things :
1 - No, the title isn't a Umineko reference, it's a PLvsPWAA reference(get it? The Golden Court, The Golden Turnabout? Writing genius here.)
2 - All the character sprites aren't mine and I plan to credit the creators if I finish this, I only did some minor things, like painting the victim gold, the custom evidence icons, Labyrinthia and Edgeworth's office's backgrounds were resized by me(I also tried making the music loop properly, it didn't worked very well when I was testing, but since nobody said anything about it, I guess it went fine.)
3 - Yeah, I noticed Phoenix's characterization is a mess, I couldn't think of a reason to make him defend the accused, so I just went "Well, he's Penix Wrong, he defends people!"
4 - I plan on adding more optional dialogue to the investigation, I just didn't cuz I was trying to finish this case before the comp ended, then I would add these opt. dialogues after the comp was over. As you can see, that didn't work, since I still couldn't get the case finished)
5 - I plan to make it short. I have only 1 or 2 more CEs planned to go, so I think it will last around 1 hour and 30 minutes or even less.
6 - I am glad you both liked the multiple witnesses system! It was kinda hard to do, but I am really glad that it turned out well. Now I just need to implement more fun things with it in the next CEs.
7 - TimeAxis, would you mind elaborating on these "small visual glitches"? I made extra sure there were none, so if you found any, I would be happy to know about them.
8 - Okay, I will try to make Phoenix more in a hurry and make the characters more "alive".

Again, thx for all the criticism, I really need it!(Also, I am glad it served as an announcement for The Enchanted Turnabout, since it is a really good case and more people need to play it)

Spoiler : :

XavierWright · Post by **XavierWright** » Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:38 pm

Man, TimeAxis has already reviewed 4 cases. That's some speed.

Trybien · Post by **Trybien** » Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:53 pm

XavierWright wrote: ↑Tue Dec 20, 2022 11:38 pm Man, TimeAxis has already reviewed 4 cases. That's some speed.

He lied to us about not going for the case comp review world record.

GuardianDreamer · Post by **GuardianDreamer** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 4:54 am

The Turnabout Zone
by Trybien, Spongesonic, and eerew

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Spoiler : Audio Review Transcription :

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Spoiler : Review :

Story: I think the primary word that comes to mind for this case is "efficient". There isn't too much time spent on characterization, but at the same time, what's there understands how to use what it's got to still make the player invested in the world and characters (as well as the central mystery about the story). The story is currently incomplete, but there are still a lot of hooks dropped to speculate about. I think another word that fits is "understated". A lot of the story is told through gameplay and it works pretty well. While I wouldn't consider any of the characters overly memorable, they're written well for their roles and make efficient use of the time they're given.

Presentation: A major highlight here, and any nitpicks I have are largely overshadowed by how ambitious the presentation is. The Turnabout Zone uses unique examine-based gameplay to tell its tale, it kind of feels like a different version of what the idea of an "Ace Attorney Investigations" could be, if that makes sense. All the assets used work pretty well together as a cohesive whole, making this case stand as its own beast. My minor nitpicks mainly consist of a common error that popped up when I tried combining items that didn't have a unique combo, where it mistook the attempt as the first item being used on the protagonist. I'll give an example: Let's say I tried to use a piece of paper with a different piece of paper, sometimes the result would say "Combine the Piece of Paper with Myself?". That error popped up quite a bit. However it doesn't really impact anything since it only came up for nonsense combinations I tried, and it might be difficult to circumnavigate since I imagine it's a coding nightmare already (probably, I'm not a coder).

Gameplay: Let me go off on a little mini-ramble for a bit that I promise makes sense. I'm a pretty big fan of the Atelier series. Among the fandom, there are sometimes arguments between fans about whether the games are better off with a time limit or not. The older games in particular have very strict time limits that some consider extremely important, with the stress being a part of the fun (and that stress, paradoxically, being kind of relaxing in its own way). Others cry foul and say that the time limit makes the games less accessible, and gravitate towards the newer titles which have dropped the in-game time limit. Of course, many (including myself) are fans of both styles, but I know a lot of people who wish the time limit would be brought back, and also a lot of people who want it to be banished to the Shadow Realm forever.

The Turnabout Zone has a real world time limit that you have to be mindful of as part of its core gameplay conceit. Save scumming genuinely does not work, though the game is kind enough to tell you when you should save for the sake of convenience. I have no doubt in my mind that Sponge, Trybien, and eerew strongly considered how the gameplay would work, and the fact that some people probably wouldn't be able to do the time limit. It's a central part of the appeal that's meant to work well for its audience. All throughout playing it, I kept thinking "well, five minutes is super super strict, but if it was any higher or the time limit didn't exist, much of the appeal would be lost, and trying to alter it would probably be a nightmare to program for a game of this scale". Does that make sense? ... It probably doesn't. Nevermind then. For what it wants to be The Turnabout Zone works well and I'm sure it'll appeal to many people, I'm just a GD of two brains who's alternating between the positives and negatives. I will say that I did get stuck at one point close to the end and found that I had to use the walkthrough, though I feel like the solution is something other people would get fairly easily, while others wouldn't think of it at all.

Theme Relevance: Yep that's some super strong theme relevance alright, in all ways that the comp theme asked for. Multiple runs are encouraged of this game before you're able to figure out exactly how to use the five real-life minutes that the game gives you to find the path to the true ending, each run being individually short (fun fact: my very first instinct was to see what would happen if I just waited and did nothing, operation failure worked very well). Oh yeah and panic is very very strong here too, big thumbs up.

Overall: While marked as a proof of concept, I found The Turnabout Zone to be very interesting and unique. It's full of creativity, and if you're able to accept the central conceit, I think you'll have a lot of fun.

Trybien · Post by **Trybien** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:07 am

Spoiler : Review :

GuardianDreamer · Post by **GuardianDreamer** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 6:46 am

Turnabout allergies
by Spoonmaster12

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Spoiler : Audio Review Transcript :

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Spoiler : Review :

Story: Our very first complete nonsense comedy trial has arrived for the comp, and it's more concerned with telling jokes than having a proper story or characters. Humor is inherently very subjective, so I'll say that this case leans a lot more towards random nonsense happening, with our main universe's Phoenix acting as the only one finding it all strange. Unfortunately, a lot of the humor didn't quite work for me, though there were a few jokes that I found charming (like the reveal of who the prosecutor is). I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Phoenix's reaction to all the antics happening isn't actually much different from how snarky he usually is when presented with strange situations in canon, even though those strange situations are much milder than what happens in this case. I will say that I was glad to see that this case leaned more on the "random" side of humor rather than trying to go for anything dark/edgy, though I will say that there were a few uncensored F-bombs dropped in there. I'm unsure if Spoonmaster12 is aware of this or not, but those typically aren't allowed for trials that are publicly shown here (I also don't think anything is lost by censoring them or replacing them with something else). The rest of the content feels like it stays within the realm of what's allowed on AAO, so that stood out to me a lot.

In addition, due to having to meet the comp deadline, there aren't any press conversations in this which the game does lampshade, but what isn't brought up is that there are no co-counsel conversations either. I think this makes it so that AU!Maya and AU!Phoenix aren't given the spotlight that they should have, there are long periods where neither says anything despite their importance to the trial.

Presentation: Spoonmaster12 mentions that this is their first trial and for that I must applaud them for there not being any major bugs. With that said, I also wrote a first trial once, and I remember exactly the types of presentational issues I made. A lot of them are very similar to the issues here: missing timers for animations/objection shouts are the most obvious ones, a lot of four-liners and the occasional five-liner, that sort of thing. I think that Spoonmaster12 was trying to get used to the editor which is perfectly fine, but it does stand out. For now I'd advise adding those timers, especially to the Objection shouts, even that alone would make the case feel more polished.

Gameplay: Standard comedy trial stuff with no penalties (choosing the wrong answer just gets a very short "no that's not it"). It works for what it is, though the lack of press conversations and co-counsel (as mentioned previously) stands out a lot. The case is fairly easy due to having infinite tries, though I will say that I occasionally got confused about which piece of evidence the game wanted from me and had to spam through a few options.

Theme Relevance: Phoenix has one hour before he's un-isekai'd so he's got to rush through and try to solve the case as fast as possible. However, while the case is well under 30 minutes real-time, I think there's a lack of a sense of urgency since our universe's Phoenix doesn't really have a connection to AU!Maya or AU!Phoenix. If he fails or succeeds he goes home either way, I was actually expecting the risk to be that he'd be stuck in the alternate universe if he failed, but that wasn't the case. Still, I do think it was a good attempt at the comp theme.

Overall: There are a couple of times throughout this case where Spoonmaster12 breaks the fourth wall and gets a bit self-deprecating about their efforts. I want to make it very clear that I am very glad that Spoonmaster12 submitted this for the competition, and I strongly encourage messing around with the editor in whatever form makes you happy and helps you learn it. I fully believe that Spoonmaster12 is capable of growing as a creator and hope that they're not discouraged from future attempts at making stuff on the editor (or just creating stuff in general). It's important to foster creativity and growth in new creatives because that's how they grow and learn, I would know a lot about that looking at my very oldest fanfic writing. For now, if Spoonmaster12 wants to make this case public, I'd recommend making the necessary additions/fixes and getting a beta-tester who's familiar with the editor. Contrary to what the self-deprecatory fourth wall breaking comments say, the author absolutely should make more stuff.

TimeAxis · Post by **TimeAxis** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 7:48 am

Turnabout Allergies
by Spoonmaster12

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Spoiler : Completion Time :

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Spoiler : Review :

STORY
To start off, this is clearly a comedy trial. Nothing about it really makes sense, and while that's usually a recipe for disaster, I found myself laughing at the sheer absurdity a number of times. On the whole, the immature writing style was not really my cup of tea, but a few moments got me nonetheless. One thing I'll note is that the case straddles very closely on the line of what's allowed in AAO's case rules, sometimes crossing it with the profanity in particular. I'm a little torn on whether this case is suitable for young audiences or not, because - and I'm not trying to be mean here - it kind of feels like it was written by a young audience. But on a personal level, I didn't mind anything in the case and I thought most of it, apart from the gratuitous F-bombs, contributed well to the overall package. And to be fair, those rules are over 10 years old, and young zoomer teens use the F-word a lot these days to the point where it's barely even a curse word anymore. But I'm not the arbiter of these things.

CHARACTERS
Some of the characters were actually... surprisingly well characterized for what you'd expect from a trial like this. I wouldn't go as far as to call the character writing stellar, or even especially good, but character motivations and arcs of some kind are at least... present. But ultimately the majority of time, it was just silly nonsense and there's not much to analyze. The Phoenix Wright we play as was intended to be the canon Wright, and while it does do an okay job of making him the "straight man" in that wacky world, I wouldn't exactly say he feels perfectly in-character, but it's clear that the attempt was made at least.

PRESENTATION
As is the trend with comedy cases, for some reason, there is essentially no polish whatsoever. Without mincing words, the presentation was awful. Music was often timed improperly, objection pop-ups didn't auto-advance, and the court record was kind of a mess. Unlike most, I'm not one to give comedy cases a pass for this, because I don't think things like text extending out of the textbox, or stretched out evidence icons with white backgrounds, or flickery or poorly implemented fades really contribute to the comedy in any way, they just make the case feel sloppy. That being said, this is Spoonmaster12's first case apparently, so I'm willing to be more lenient with that in mind. For a first case, it's actually pretty impressive, and many of these things feel like small mistakes that could be fixed pretty easily.

I will note that after the deadline, Spoonmaster sent in an updated version of the trial that fixed some bugs, but unfortunately I had already played the first version by then. It's possible that some of my presentation complaints may be alleviated in that version. But still, you've gotta get stuff in by the deadline.

GAMEPLAY
The actual case itself, while a bit barebones (there were no press statements at all, which by the author's own admission was out of laziness), actually flowed pretty well. The case logic was simple and made sense, despite being surrounded by a sea of nonsense. It didn't feel like it overdid it to the point of detracting from the mystery at all. To be honest, I had fun with the case. I hope the author isn't dissuaded from making more cases in the future, because I think there was some good stuff in there.

THEME RELEVANCE
The theme was executed pretty well in this case. The urgency was established right away, and obviously the case itself was quite short. Couldn't really have asked for more theme relevance than that. It also feels pretty complete, despite the lack of polish. Feels like we saw everything we needed to, and it was wrapped up nicely.

Spoiler : Overall :

XavierWright · Post by **XavierWright** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:53 am

GuardianDreamer's caught up to TimeAxis. I love the pace this going. Keep at it guys.

Spoonmaster12 · Post by **Spoonmaster12** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:58 am

Thanks for the reviews! Those are some pretty fair criticisms.

Spoiler : :

DeathByAutoscroll · Post by **DeathByAutoscroll** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 7:52 pm

Finally had a chance to properly listen and read though the reviews.

Spoiler : :

GuardianDreamer wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 5:00 pm
Trucy's Magic Catastrophe
by Sonnie Celanna and DeathByAutoscroll
Spoiler : Screenshot :

Hey Apollo what's your favorite type of powdered donut? I think that's what we're talking about, I wasn't listening. Do you like Better Call Saul? Is that what we're talking about?
Spoiler note: This entry contains spoilers for Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, though this review itself mostly doesn't.
Spoiler : Audio Review Transcription :
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/efs ... trophe.m4a

Spoiler : Synopsis :
It's December and Trucy decides to hold a magic show at the Borscht Bowl Club, and you know what? She absolutely nails it. Everything goes well and there are literally no problems, please just ignore the title. Oh also, Apollo is really panicked about something and there's been some news about something to do with prisoners that's causing law enforcement to panic? Eh, it's probably fine.

Spoiler : Review :
Story: This case immediately stood out to me for having Trucy as the viewpoint character, something I don't really see very often. The entire cast consists of familiar Apollo Justice faces, and I thought they were all on-point. I found this especially neat with the characters who only show up for smaller roles, it still felt like the characterization was solid for them. I'm deliberately not going super into detail about the story (even in the synopsis) due to the short length but I will say that it's a fun time, it feels like it would be right at home as a bonus scenario unlockable in Apollo Justice after finishing the main story if that was a thing that happened in it. While the pacing is mostly on-point, I will say that the ending felt rushed to me even considering the comp theme, and I would have liked some more falling action. Though maybe other people would feel differently, who knows, pacing is funny like that. I also found the tone kind of hard to judge at first due to a specific plot element feeling a bit out there to me, but again, that might just be me, and it evens out as the entry goes on.

Presentation: Trucy's Magic Catastrophe uses a mixture of canon assets and custom background edits courtesy of DeathByAutoscroll to tell its story, along with some free to use custom assets from the art section. It all works together really well to really bring you into an Apollo Justice mindset. There weren't really any distracting typos I noticed, and the case is very polished overall. I noticed that there were four total playtesters so I have to imagine having so many eyeballs on it really paid off. Congrats on all the eyeballs, you did the thing! (Future note from GD: I have no idea what this thing I just typed means.)

Gameplay: This is more of a story-based experience with the gameplay being intentionally kept to a minimum, some very basic investigation sequences that deliberately don’t have much in the way of Present dialogue since the characters are always in a rush (not that it stopped me from trying because I love doing futile things for no reason, it’s my favorite). Still, it works for what it’s trying to be, and I didn’t run into any bugs.

Theme Relevance: The theme relevance here leans more towards the idea of things being very urgent, I thought that it was pulled off pretty well. Outside of the very beginning when the plot is still being set up Trucy is basically always in Full Panic We Must Go Go Go mode. I can see this pacing being very off-putting in a longer work, but the length of this case means that it feels snappy and efficient instead. It’s very easily clearable in under 30 minutes, even if you take your time like I did.

Overall: A very short experience, Trucy's Magic Catastrophe is an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a short fanfic that has a lot of affection for the Apollo Justice cast and doesn't mind the low amount of gameplay. While I would have preferred a slightly more expanded ending, what's here works for what it's trying to do. Now go play it quickly quickly, we have to panic and stop the thing from happening! (Well, go play it when it's posted up if you like Apollo Justice, I mean.)

TimeAxis wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 5:35 pm
Trucy's Magic Catastrophe
by Sonnie Celanna and DeathByAutoscroll

Spoiler : Screenshot :

That's the worst kind of important.

Spoiler : Completion Time :
20:35

Spoiler : Synopsis :
A Trucy Christmas Magic show spirals into chaos after someone is mistakenly given a gift that's to die for.

Spoiler : Review :
STORY
The story of this case felt complete, if a little rushed. There were some minor leaps in logic, and overall it felt a little fanservicey (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but it was fun, and kept me interested the whole time. I have no real complaints about the writing. Was generally good the whole time. If you're curious what I mean by leaps of logic, this is what I'm talking about:
Spoiler : Spoilers :
hearing "someone with blue hair" and immediately assuming "must be talking about Vera. Surely nobody else in the world exists with blue hair"
Very minor, and excusable given the overall tone of the case.

CHARACTERS
All the characters felt in-character and were portrayed well. This felt like it could have been a canon short story that might show up in an Ace Attorney drama CD or something.

PRESENTATION
Presentation was great. There were some custom investigation backgrounds that were well done, and everybody's sprites and everything displayed without issue. No issues in terms of sound or music as well. Overall it felt very polished.

GAMEPLAY
There was no real gameplay aside from a couple examination scenes without much in the way of optional dialogue. I only found one present option that actually did anything. But it was clearly meant to be a more "kinetic novel" experience rather than gameplay being a focus. I still think there could have been a bit of room to have the player figure some things out rather than the characters immediately figuring them out, but the lack of gameplay didn't detract from anything.

THEME RELEVANCE
In addition to being a very short story, the story itself did a great job of making the stakes feel urgent. I don't think I could have asked for better theme relevance than this. Nailed it.

Spoiler : Overall :
PROS

Great story and presentation, felt like it could be canon.

Perfect theme relevance.

Filled with AA4 fanservice (which may be a con if you're not a big fan of Apollo Justice)

CONS

Some minor leaps in logic

P.S. May or may not be releasing a spriteset with this case on full release.

GuardianDreamer · Post by **GuardianDreamer** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 8:05 pm

Summation of a Turnabout
by Dylan Dog and skyem

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Spoiler : Audio Review Transcript :

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Spoiler : Review :

Story: The cast consists mostly of OCs, with the game basically starting in medias res and throwing a lot of information and names at you all at once. Thankfully, the cast are paired in twos, which helps with familiarizing yourself with them since you can think "okay, so I know this person is linked with this person". The initial premise has to do with this group of people trying to solve which of them is responsible for a mysterious murder as they all throw theories at each other, while knowing that law enforcement will arrive soon and the truth is likely to be lost forever if the police take over before they can come up with some kind of theory. Unfortunately for our protagonist, a lot of the guests know each other, so he faces a lot of pressure since he's one of the easier scapegoats. Panic!

The story goes some interesting places but I'm not going to get into it beyond the initial premise since that's part of the fun. All I'll say is that it does do some interesting stuff, though anyone who plays this case should know that they'll have to set aside some reading time to fully absorb what's being thrown at them. I'm a bit mixed on the characters since the theorycrafting format tends to not be my favorite for character development, though there weren't any I disliked.

Presentation: A major highlight of the case is the very strong and unique presentation, I was impressed with what Dylan and Skye were able to cook up here. Much of the presentation takes inspiration from Umineko, Dangan Ronpa, and probably some other stuff that I haven't played. It all worked together really well and cohesively. If I had any complaints, it's that the presentation could sometimes be very overwhelming. The amount of profiles and evidence to read is a lot higher than I was expecting, and it's clearly the vibe they're going for but I personally found it a bit too much. That's very subjective though, and the rest of the presentation is super strong. The custom assets, both those made for this and taken from elsewhere, are used well together.

Gameplay: Much of your enjoyment of the gameplay will depend on how much you like the specific style of theorycrafting that the game wants you to work with. Unfortunately, I'm very much not an Umineko fan and the way I interact with mystery fiction is very different from what Summation wants from me. The gameplay was very unique and I found a lot of the implementation of the systems interesting (it's very unique and I'm being vague so people can go in and be surprised), but I think I had a very different experience than what the authors expected me to have. I had to rely on the walkthrough very very often due to finding the case extremely difficult to figure out and was often frustrated, which I'm guessing is not the intent since the walkthrough specifically says that the case is "not that difficult gameplay-wise" and recommends not using it. So uh. Sorry about that, but I definitely needed the walkthrough and disagree with the comment about the difficulty.

My difficulty gripes aside, I think that this game will be very appealing to those with different sensibilities than me. Unfortunately I'm just not the target demographic for it, which made it hard to get invested, but I do want to tell Dylan and Skye that I think a lot of people will see something that I don't.

Theme Relevance: So I think that this case does very well in terms of the second definition of this comp, the idea of having a sense of urgency remains strong throughout. However, this entry took me a long while in terms of real-time to get through, and I think that having so much information to read and absorb sometimes works against that sense of urgency, since my default reaction to having a lot to read is that I should feel calmer and take my time. Still, it's clear what Dylan and Skye were going for and I can appreciate it.

Overall: There's a lot of stuff in this entry that I haven't even touched on since I think Dylan and Skye want the player to be surprised, including some stuff that did appeal to me more. I think Summation has a firm grasp on what it wants to be and the type of audience that will appreciate it, and I look forward to the public release and seeing how people react to it. I can see a lot of people being really into it.

TimeAxis · Post by **TimeAxis** » Thu Dec 22, 2022 3:38 am

Summation of a Turnabout
by Dylan Dog & Skyem

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Spoiler : Completion Time :

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Spoiler : Review :

STORY
This is as classic as classic gets when it comes to a murder mystery, and I was here for it. It felt like this case was tailor made to be injected directly into my veins. The writing was pretty good the whole time, and the setting was surprisingly meticulously fleshed out. There were some questionable parts where the story veered into weird meta "critiquing itself without really addressing those critiques in any meaningful way" territory. But overall, I really liked the story, and I think it was told well.

CHARACTERS
The characters were really well done as well. Most of the cast were original except for a few familiar Ace Attorney faces, and they all felt believable in their motivations. It was really neat exploring the different characters' relationships to each other.

PRESENTATION
This case went above and beyond with the presentation. In addition to having a custom title screen (which, admittedly, the eye-burning neon pink aesthetic of didn't really appeal to me, but it was cool nonetheless), the presentation was consistently great throughout the whole case. Not only were the character graphics very fitting, but there were a ton of special effects that were really nicely done. The sound was also fantastic, not to mention the music choices. Little touches like the "COUNTER" graphic that shows up at certain points were really cool to me. It really helped to give this case its own identity, while also paying homage to a lot of other classic mystery games that people in the Ace Attorney fandom probably have some overlap with.

GAMEPLAY
This is probably where the case really stands out the most. The case was structured in a way where it frontloaded all of the information about the mystery right away, so that you could theoretically solve the mystery before the case even begins, but then it let you explore things in more detail and guided you through solving the mystery in the actual narrative, which was really cool. Although I will say that the case made me feel a bit stupid, because not only did the walkthrough say "this case is really easy, you shouldn't need the walkthrough", but they also remark numerous times that you could have and maybe were expected to have already solved the mystery before things began. Suffice it to say, I did not solve the mystery that early. A part of it might be because some of the testimony and details they give you, they kind of just expect you to either remember, or write down for later, which I did not do. It would have been nice if some of that stuff was kept track of somewhere for future reference, or if it was made clear that you should be taking notes from the beginning, but it's not the biggest deal. In terms of the mystery itself, the game did a good job of guiding you through solving it step by step as the case went on, so not solving it early didn't detract from anything. The actual case logic, while technically simple in retrospect, was good, and I felt like things logically flowed. The few times I had to consult the walkthrough (yes, I had to, I'm dumb), the answer ended up being an "aha!" moment rather than a "that's BS" moment.

For me personally, I love being able to pore through details and trying to find little contradictions between them, so this whole case's structure was very much up my alley. But even beyond that, this case also introduced a number of really neat gameplay systems, and I had a great time with those as well. They were very intuitive, and I didn't run into any bugs with them.

THEME RELEVANCE
This case succeeded pretty well at making it clear that time was of the essence, even tying it into the gameplay, and the actual run time of the case was pretty reasonable as well. While there were some later parts near the end that I felt maybe dragged on a bit too much, the theme was really present throughout the rest of the case. Overall a great take on this comp's theme.

Spoiler : Overall :

GuardianDreamer · Post by **GuardianDreamer** » Thu Dec 22, 2022 6:43 am

Athena Cykes Ace Attorney: Wisdom at Law - DEMO
by CallMeBlue, MasqueradeDemure, and applekitty

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Somewhat important warning: While there aren't any in this review and I believe that the public showcase will make mention of it, this entry contains flashing images so anyone who's sensitive to those should be advised that they're there.

Spoiler : Audio Review Transcript :

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Spoiler : Review :

Story: First of all, yes that's the actual proper title for this, and it becomes very clear from the beginning that this is a meta-narrative of sorts. There's basically two stories. There's the story of the trial (deliberately amateurish with characters who are difficult to take seriously), and there's the story of two friends who are making the trial and commenting on each other's creative decisions, frequently interrupting lines from the trial to talk about what worked, or more often, what didn't work as they make snippy comments at each other. With that said, the story and characters end up oddly very compelling, especially with how the two creators are characterized. I think this case places a lot of trust in the player to believe that it's really all leading up to something, and I think that trust is well-rewarded.

To go into further detail would likely go into deeper spoiler territory than the authors want me to go in (that's Blue, Masq, and kitty, not the two in-game ones) so all I'll say is that despite the initially silly premise, I found this to be an emotionally impacting work. Anyone with nostalgia for their first creative endeavors, especially collaborating with other people, will likely find this entry very resonant.

Presentation: This trial is deliberately presented as a first-time collaboration between two friends whose styles clash with each other, so there's a lot of very deliberate mistakes. I think that Masq, kitty, and Blue are very careful in the "mistakes" that they show the authors making so that it's very obvious when something is deliberately meant to feel "off". I have to applaud them for finding the right balance, there were only a couple of points where I was like "wait I have no idea if that's meant to be an in-universe error or an actual error". I'm almost tempted to call the presentation "so bad it's good" or "stylistically bad" but that doesn't actually feel accurate to me despite being the first terms my mind jumps to. So instead I'll say that the presentation is very sincere, and ends up helping tell the story in a really interesting way.

Gameplay: The gameplay here is deliberately kept very simple and mainly exists to help tell the meta-narrative of these two people trying to figure out how to even make a case together, with the "puzzles" being fairly simple. I feel a bit weird judging the gameplay, so all I'll say is that it functions well for the story it's trying to tell.

Theme Relevance: I actually took slightly over half an hour on this case, though it was entirely because there was a moment in it that caused me to pause (in a good way) and made me have to think and absorb it a bit. The average player can definitely finish it in half an hour. The way that the sense of urgency is implemented is very creative and surprised me.

Overall: This case gets a very strong recommendation from me, and I'm deliberately holding back from talking about a lot of things. What I will say is that I'll likely be thinking about it for a long time, and I'd urge people to give it a go and go in with an open mind when the public release happens.

Ace Attorney Online

Reduced trial manager

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