#also it has better writing than dual destinies

[dreamsy990]

i think its so fucked up that theres no fandom for plvspw. like its this beautifully written story about grief and how we cope with loss and try to move on despite how hopeless it may seem. it's about love and how much you would do to help the people you love. it's a story where it feels like it's leading up to a sad ending, because there is no way for this to end happily, but in the end it's okay, because as long as you keep moving forward things will be okay. its this beautiful story and theres no fanbase for it and that is so fucked up

[trlvsn]

this is an explanation of why the later ace attorney games suck so, so badly, and it is probably common knowledge, but i will post it anyway.

so. i talked a little about the aa5+6 issue in this post and decided to look into it further, because i needed to know the reason why the later games are. well. like that. why did no one tell me it was this easy?

first four games? clearly written by shu takumi.

the last two have multiple different writers, and, also, different directors.

so at this point, it all makes sense, but now i'm curious about why this happened. here is a part of the wikipedia article that explains that:

For the fourth game, Takumi wrote the scenario and took on a supervisory role. He had wanted the series to end with the third game, as he felt Phoenix had been fully explored and that his story had been told; he said that it is important to know when to end a story, that he did not want the series to become a shadow of its former self, and that he did not see any reason to continue it. Despite this, the spin-off series Ace Attorney Investigations was created, being directed by Takeshi Yamazaki and produced by Motohide Eshiro; Takumi returned to the series to write the crossover Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. He also directed and wrote The Great Ace Attorney, which was described as being the first entry in a new Ace Attorney series. He said that he has mixed feelings about the series being developed by other Capcom staff, comparing it to a parent sending their child to their first day in school. Yamazaki and Eshiro went on to direct and produce the main series entries Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. Due to exhaustion after working on Dual Destinies, Yamazaki split direction responsibilities with Takuro Fuse for Spirit of Justice, with Yamazaki working on the scenario, and Fuse on the art and gameplay. In 2020, Yamazaki left Capcom.

aa5 and aa6 were basically never meant to exist.

i'm not saying that's a fully good thing. as someone who hasn't played anything other than that main trilogy and aai, it is wonderful to see the fandom interpret the characters from the later games (like athena cykes) in fanfiction and art. i enjoy it! i enjoy the potential and the ideas the new games have apparently given us, however, the games on their own seem to be disliked by the majority (at least the majority of my surroundings in the fandom).

there really is no point or solution to this, at least not from me. i'm just wondering what the games would be like if there were no other writers other than the original one. perhaps, there would be no other games except for the first 3 or 4 ones; perhaps, of capcom didn't push for profit, he would have written a new one eventually.

actually, scratch that, there is one point. the fandom is amazing in my eyes so far and acknowledging the wrongs in the games is important. collective outrage is a weapon in the era where companies make internet personas and interact with us. maybe, just maybe, aa7 will be better. if it will even be, of course. and if it isn't? i'm sure the fandom will pirate it out of spite make better content out of it.

[nyaagolor]

How would you rank all the Ace Attorney games you’ve played from favorite to least favorite? You seemed to enjoy all of them, to varying degrees.

So this is actually kind of hard for me to answer depending on whether you base your metric on “how much fun were they to play” “how much do I think to explore the themes / writing / think about the game in general” or “how well written do you think they are”. I’m gonna do all of them and prolly talk a lot so yeehaw. Under the cut bc. surprise surprise! I got long winded

Quick disclaimer: Not including DLC cases or spin off games because if I did we’d be here all day

“How much fun did I have playing through the actual game”

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Justice for All

Dual Destinies

Spirit of Justice

This might be kinda surprising to some people considering what I talk about on this blog, but honestly my opinions on these games changed drastically after I had time to ruminate on them. Here’s some explanations if you’re curious!

AA1 very well could be at the top because it was the first game in the series and I was going in fresh— while Turnabout Samurai was a bit of a slog, I managed to get through all of these cases in a day each and just could not put down Turnabout Goodbyes. I don’t think about it as much anymore because it was so foundational and all the things it introduced have been explored by other games, but this game really is the reason I fell into this series with such ferocity.

AA3 was much of the same, and I don’t think I had as much fun with a tutorial case as I did with Turnabout Beginnings. The characterization present in this games and the nonlinearity of the narrative is genuinely fantastic, and my opinion of it has only increased over time.

AA4 is ranked a little lower because I actually wasn’t vibing with the game when I first played it— it was only after Turnabout Succession that everything fell into place and the game skyrocketed up my favorites list. Once I’m finished with all the spinoffs and have some time to chill I actually plan on revisiting it with fresh eyes because I think a second playthrough has the potential to be soooo much better than the first. Also APOLLOOOOOOO he’s my little guy :)

I thought justice for all was fine, but boring. Big Top made me feel some emotions that were less than positive, but generally speaking all the cases were fine but didn’t leave a big impression on me. Also I don’t like Farewell My Turnabout nearly as much as other people— I still like it but it didn’t totally blow me away or anything. Game is still like an 8/10, but it didn’t leave a huge impression on me.

Dual Destinies was confusing as hell timeline wise and it made it kinda difficult to figure out what was even happening, and for that same reason I struggled to attach myself to the plot. The game had some moments that really were stellar but the sheer length and layout of the cases kinda made me wanna cry

I literally only finished this game so I could get to Investigations. Characters were great but it was so. Damn. long.

“How much do I like thinking about the games, its writing, and its themes”

Dual Destinies

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Spirit of Justice

Justice for All

This part of the list actually has very little to do with how good I think the games are or how much I like them, but sometimes a game’s themes just Captivate you.

If you’re reading this you’ve probably seen this blog, and you know how I feel about Dual Destinies. I am OBSESSED with this game. I love the characters, I love the themes, and I am fascinated by every part of the writing process and how the game ended up the way it did. I think about this game an unhealthy amount actually. Don’t let my complaining make you think I don’t love this game to pieces. Bc I do. So much.

I love expanding on things. The media I blog about? KIrby and Pokemon, stories that practically beg for you to fill in the gaps and work with their vagueness. So when Takumi handed me a game with half a dozen hanging plot threads and massive time gaps just begging to be filled? You can bet I would never shut the fuck up about it. AJAA my absolute beloved

I could probably talk about Miego for hours. This game is incredible I think about it on the regular. Ough.

This game slams but all the ideas introduced by it have been expanded on and talked about and worked with in a hundred different ways so it’s hard to me to really go back other than to say “wow Turnabout Goodbyes was so fucking good”

Literally the only context in which I think about this game is “this should have been a spinoff” but honestly it barely crosses my mind except when I purposefully try to ignore it

JFA is good and makes me feel absolutely nothing

“How well-written do I think the games are”

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Justice for All

Spirit of Justice

Dual Destinies

These are suuuuuper close so this list is a lil shakier than the others but explanations are below as usual!

Ok this is really REALLY tough because I think AA1 and AA3 are tied. They both have their moments and I think the themes are incredible, but for the purposes of this list I’m putting AA1 above AA3 because BttT is a little bit absolutely batshit insane? Turnabout Goodbyes is TIGHT. Sorry Godot you’re still my favorite prosecutor ily kitten

See above

I’ve never seen an AA game whose final cases elevates the entire game quite like AA4. I thought the game was good, but the Turnabout Succession hit and oh my GOD. I think about this game constantly it’s so, SO good. Also helps that Apollo really shakes up the series, he’s my favorite species of insect

These cases were fine, Franziska is a solid prosecutor, the whole “chooses death” thing was fresh, and Farewell was some of the best character writing this series has seen. I don’t honestly have much to even say about it bc it’s super solid

The difference between DD and SOJ is that I think DD had a really good story that it failed to tell effectively while SOJ succeeded in telling its story but that story fucking sucks. Jokes aside I don’t like SOJ but the story is cohesive at least. It had a plot. It was Fine. DD failed miserably but oh my god what you could have been. Ily. Mwah.

See above

Sorry this wasn’t a clear ranking / favorites list, hope you enjoyed regardless!!

[96percentdone]

Your ace attorney opinions are so valid and I wish they did aa5 and aa6 more justice? The characters are interesting and fun but when they play 52 pickup with each individual storyline it really shoots the collective narrative in the foot. From a gameplay standpoint, the stuff introduced in aa5 and 6 are fun and rly cool ways to expand upon the universe, and the Wright lie detection agency is fun, but it feels like. Idk. Like they didn’t trust their writers OR their fan base with their story. Idk if that makes sense? (I have similar beef with aitsf and aini though so,,,)

Yeah I honestly hold more contempt for AA5 and 6 than I do any other art I've experienced. Defenders of these games will posit the detractors are so fixated on AJ's plot they cannot see the merits of DD and SoJ, but I don't care about Kristoph's psyche locks, the untouched sibling reveal, or Apollo's 70000 backstories nearly as much as they suggest. Those things are annoying, but they are minor symptoms of the real issue: bad writing across the board. Most if not all culprits have store-bought motives that are thinly elucidated, if they're even elucidated at all, which impacts the writing of every case. If the cause of the suffering is a caricature, the victims end up similarly toothless. They are equally generic. AA has always struggled to write witnesses and culprits consistently well--there's a reason people talk about ace attorney middle cases like that for instance--but it's compounded by the frequency that it happens especially for the main characters.

The returning main cast are hollowed out versions of themselves. Trucy is just a quirky magician girl which they walk back a little in Spirit of Justice by giving her a focus case, and then she's back to being Quirky. Phoenix Wright is a generic mentor figure with goofy internal dialogue sometimes. Klavier is a rockstar prosecutor!!! That's it!!!! Miles Edgeworth is BACK, and because they worked on the investigations games you can kind of see why he's this big good figure, but Pearl and Maya are seemingly around just to be around cause they have nothing going on emotionally. Apollo is a stock dweeb except when he's stock Edgy as a result of one of his new poorly written backstories involving poorly written new characters who might not even be characters (looking at you, Clay Terran).

And the new main characters suffer just as much. Let's take Dual Destinies as a case study. Blackquill was convicted and imprisoned for a murder he did not do, something that changed him and shows in his scenes, in order to protect Athena, whose upbeat personality is only preserved because she is so traumatized by the events and her complicated relationship with her mother and hearing she cannot acknowledge it consciously. These are compelling emotional beats, it makes for well-rounded characters, but what's the payoff? Why did they suffer this way? Because some hired goon with no name and no face had a job at GYAXA to execute. In a better game, you could use Phantom's emptiness as commentary about how often the things that ruin your life don't have good explanations, but I will not be lending credit to that notion for this game, because void man is the origin point for "The Dark Age of the Law," which now also happened because it did, and it was a shallow idea from the jump.

"The Dark Age of the Law" is an simplified cartoon explanation for distrust in the legal system. Instead of people being flawed whether through selfishness (MvK, Kristoph) or trauma (Miles, Justine) lending itself to corruption, exploitation and injustice in systems meant to protect, leading to a myriad of reasons the public would be skeptical that the law serves them, they just feel that way because one lawyer got disbarred for evidence forging and one prosecutor was convicted for murder. Spirit of Justice largely takes place in a made up country with a tyrannical government that kills defense attorneys for assuring fair trials for guilty clients! Why does this happen? Idk, because Ga'ran sucks, and she has ultimate power and creates all the laws. The root of all evil in Khura'in is one woman who is a factory set trope surrounded by generic citizens, diluted returning leads, and new characters who must be dragged down by the garbage that surrounds them in order to take part in it.

You brought up AI. Since you're anonymous, I'm guessing you're one of the countless people who takes issue with Nirvana Initiative on the grounds it's a bad followup to AITSF, to which I first have to ask.... Are you new to my blog? This is a AINI defender account lmao. I think it's better than AITSF, fight me. I'm writing a whole essay about it; I'll win. That said, I get the comparison because it's one I've made before, even if I don't quite stand by it anymore. I'm not going to explain my AINI opinions here, wait for the essay if you're curious, but I think I can get at that difference to me just by using Ace Attorney alone.

My favorite Ace Attorney game is Investigations 2, a sequel to a spin-off that has two of the writers for the mainline games I hate. It's a game about legacy and family. Whether they were admirable and just like Gregory Edgeworth, or duplicitous abusers like Blaise Debeste, the cast of this game wrestles with who they are, how their parent (or parental figure) shaped them, and who they should be in the face that now. Maybe they have to learn what that person is actually like and separate from them, or maybe they find a new family among their friends to fill that absence, or maybe they make peace with that loss and accepting who they are now is someone worth being. Maybe they deny that memory as their own or significant until the end to preserve what they want to believe. It's also a game about systemic failure, and all the things that have to be done to make the law an institute that actually protects people. Specific bad actors may be out of the picture now, but there is still more work to be done.

And the funny thing is? I2 does all of this without actually talking all that much about the rest of the series. Most of the characters are new, even to Investigations, and the ones that return don't bring up most of the shit that happened like a week ago. Miles references the events of Turnabout Goodbyes, and "That Man", and Gregory Edgeworth is a key figure in this game, to the point where you play as him, and yet all of that is only alluded just enough to understand the magnitude of his image and his loss. The heart of AA has always been in its characters, who are zany and fun, but they face real tragedy and real abuses, at the hands of one another which are then reflected in the world of law because the justice system is created and run by people; in I2 it beats so strongly.

Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice may have the skin of Ace Attorney and the bones to prop them up, but underneath that familiar exterior, they're empty. They lack the the muscles and veins and blood to bring them to life, because the character writing and thematic conceits are shallow. The reason AA5 and 6 fail as followups is not because they don't engage with prior entries enough, but because they are poorly written on their own terms. They say nothing at all; they have removed their own heart.

[fruityastronaut]

i am going to talk about the way stakes are used in various ace attorney games because i've been doing a lot of thinking recently especially with how it correlates to who's writing it and how well they capture the franchise

ofc the elephant in the room here is farewell, my turnabout because what case in ace attorney has higher personal stakes than that besides mayyybee bridge to the turnabout, but either way the use of high personal stakes especially in the trilogy is so well done in a way that ends up so compelling which is also why i think a lot of aa5 and 6 fall flat for a lot of people. bc once you get to something like the courtroom blowing up or robots taking people hostage or international super spies you really don't have anywhere larger to go that still feels authentic to the series (not that those stakes were really authentic anyway). the sheer absurdity of a literal fucking firing squad being aimed at phoenix and apollo during the final case of soj is so intense and wild thst it just loops back around to meaning nothing because we know they won't actually kill their main guys like that. while we're on the subject of aa5 and 6 though i think it's interesting how although soj wants to drill into our heads that everyone onscreen is going to Die and be really really dead dual destinies doesn't seem to want us to think about what would happen to our defendants realistically outside of simon and athena. in both of them though the game never really lets you emotionally process the idea that someone's actually going to die like in the trilogy so even cases where characters we've cared about for many games (like maya and phoenix) don't feel real. the one exception to this is the magical turnabout (and that case still has a lot of Flaws) because it's certainly got better personal stakes and it handles the emotional response better than the rest of the game. that case is still. hmm interesting but in comparison it's closer to what the original trilogy and aj was getting at i think.

[dyelwi]

6, 12, and 25 for the hater ask game!!!

6. Hmmmm. I don’t really get annoyed by fans of specific ships……. I suppose maybe some narumitsu shippers, the ones that get pissy if you even consider shipping either character with anyone else. But I haven’t seen that as much recently as I did a few years back so either they’re disappearing or I’m just better at avoiding them lol

12. This is also hard. I like a lot of underrated characters but not exactly unpopular ones, and idk if most people think there’s a difference there but I do. I suppose the best answer I can give is nahyuta. He isn’t a blorbo-level favorite but I do love him. As an older sibling constantly trying to protect the younger sibling from bad parenting I can relate and so I have a soft spot for him and rayfa too. I also think he’s funny and pretty and more interesting than a lot of people give him credit for. aa6 has its flaws and stuff but I don’t think nahyuta is as bad as people seem to think. Or even quite as mean tbh.

25. I am, at least to an extent, a dual destinies apologist. So complaints about that game get on my nerves sometimes. You can absolutely criticize it, and don’t get me wrong it isn’t amazing or anything, but I also think it’s better than people give it credit for. Mainly I think Athena is rather well-written (yes she could be better, if she had more screentime/her own game etc etc) and so is Simon. Also I think it’s weird that people complain so much about the game “undoing” aa4 when that’s what a lot of people wanted??? Like aa4 was super divisive when it released and aa5 has things that are clearly in response to what people didn’t like about aa4. And so like. I get annoyed at things like “aa5 focuses on Phoenix too much” bc while I agree it does, one criticism of aa4 at the time was people hating Phoenix’s new role and sometimes just hating Apollo. Like. You get what you wish for. I’m not saying aa5’s weird choices were good from a writing standpoint, but they were understandable from a company trying to please the fans and continue the franchise and I just wish people would keep this stuff in mind during their complaints instead of just being like “this game sucks the new characters suck” does that make sense???

[folkdances]

this is the narumitsu thesis. aa1 doesn't work because they literally hate each other for most of the game. in aa2 neither of them is in any way at a stage where they coud pursue a relationship with the other because phoenix is busy going you FAKED your DEATH and edgeworth is busy going holy shit i can have MORALS? and aa3 is boring like just admit you did this because you wanted them to get together but also i think towards the later end of aa3 is funny because i think that's when they enter the bad hookup stage which truly genuinely does not help their relationship at all and actually has the potential to make things much worse. people that write them getting together in aa4 fascinate me too like ok you think they got together when phoenix was busy being a single father and unemployed like ok whatever I GUESS. to me it only works out in some nebulous time period in the middle of dual destinies

i also think a qpr works better for them than an actual clearly defined relationship because i don't think what either of them is looking for is a relationship in the conventional sense they both have fulfilling lives outside of one and have never shown any interest in romance but also they are so crazy obsessed with each other so there definitely is something going on. i just think they're really great friends that have a daughter and kiss sometimes. anyway i don't think they would date or get married for emotional reasons but it's there because i don't want people to misunderstand what i am trying to say

[chidoroki]

Takt Op. Destiny EP12

aka: SPEECHLESS

Oh they're playing the OP right away so we can get no interruptions during the final fight.

Orpheus has dual harps that send out a horde of missiles.. and also have actual guns stashed away in them, how grand.

Destiny has proven to become quite proficient in 1v1 fights but Takt looks like he's seriously hurting and if he goes down then so does she, right?

Orpheus displaying some Ragyō energy.

These troublesome harps have chains too, great.

Oohh even Takt went in delivering a kick to the face!

It ended up distracting her from noticing Destiny coming up close to fire off that huge shot but I have feeling that didnt quite kill her..

Yeah Orpheus isn't done yet, but Destiny wants to take her on alone? Oh I'm worried.

You can show me flashbacks of Heaven and all you want but I won't forgive either of them for what they did to Lenny and Titan.

This is just me, but after TPN, being shown a slideshow of some "important" events during a final episode has me a little annoyed.

How the hell is Sagan alive? Dude you literally have crystals sticking out all over you and you still want to chat with Takt?

We got a sword fight between destiny and orpheus now hm?

"I am going to seal all of the D2s away here. in order to end all the sacrifices around the world, we just need to father them all in one spot." I mean, Sagan’s heart is in the right place, sorta? but his methods are insane.

Also, Takt's hair is turning white now? join the club with yuliy jirov and licht todoroki.

"Rooster's death was brilliant. as was Lenny's." You can go fuck off, sir.

Oh now the girls are switching to a fist fight!!

Bro Destiny landing some powerful hits! Let's go girl!!

Aahh Takt's baton disappeared! Hopefully that means Destiny just ran outta power and not like.. dead.

"God, would you shut up already?" Yea Takt you tell him! Sagan has been chatting nonstop, reminds me too much of Makishima.

Aaah Destiny walking right up next to our boy like that. Glad she's okay.

Well holy shit, Destiny just casually handing Takt her weapon so he could shove it right through Sagan for the kill.. okay y'all, chill!

Aww takt was humming the song he was writing!

"What do you even know about music?" "Well, I was literally born from music, so.." I love their bickering so much.

So the fight is over but is Takt gonna be okay? He still has that mark all over him and his hair is still partly white.

Oh, and his arm is still missing, duh, but reasonable since Destiny is still transformed.

Did.. Destiny always have that bit of red underneath the white hair? Or am I slow in noticing it? Probably the latter.

OH MY GOD!! Now she's kissing him too!! and that was a long one!

"Takt.. I.. love you." GOOD LORD she spoke the words!!!

Y'all my heart doesnt know what to do?? K was totally on board with Anna's kiss last week but now they throw me this?? I understand if Destiny is finally realizing the feelings Cosette once had but DAMN!

Wait a fucking minute! She just disappeared??

OH NOOO!!! Is she dead?? Oh shit oh fuck! Anna is gonna be heartbroken! and Lotte! and everyone basically!

Aw she left Takt a little memento though, kinda looks like her weapon.

YO HOLD UP! Anna became a conductor?? or just joined the Symphonica? I need answers!

OH! She also cut her hair super short!!! K dunno how well I like that honestly, but she has the gift Destiny left for Takt as a necklace now!

Takt is still unconscious huh? but I assume Lotte is giving him treatment.

Wait it just ends there??? No way!

I was gonna say, there had to be a post credit scene.

Not that it.. showed us anything remarkable..? at least I don't think so? HHHMM, I'm conflicted.

Okay so, reading other stuff after the episode now and I feel a little better about it.

For one thing, Destiny didn't die due to the fight but actually sacrificed herself to save Takt's, which I can accept more than the former, but she is still dead, which sucks. She was such a powerhouse during this episode and I loved it.

Another thing, apparently Anna isn't a conductor but a musicart?? So that's far more surprising considering her appearance looks fairly normal compared to others, but supposedly she transforms into one like Destiny did with assistance of the necklace she left behind? which explains the post-credit scene a bit more with showing the transition between Anna and Destiny. SO I can only assume she's gonna be Takt's new musicart, and if so, then I want another season, like, now. I wanna see them work together SO BADLY!

Although upon further reading, this was like a prequel to the actual game? So Anna takes on the "Destiny" identity completely, hence why the hairstyle reflects the game in ep12 a little bit. No wonder I thought the game-Destiny always looked a bit different and more mature than the anime one.. game one is actually fucking Anna. I'm speechless. Also noticed that Kaede Hondo voices Anna in anime and Destiny in the game.. now I'm floored. Anna is literally best girl.

[dmsden]

A History Lesson - Looking back at D&D’s history

Hullo, Gentle Readers. Well, this is the 5th Monday in March, and that means I get to write about anything I want! It’s also my birth month, which means it’s my anniversary of getting into D&D (42 years!), and that has me feeling nostalgic. Coupled with a discussion I had recently with some friends, I thought it would be fun to look back at the various editions of D&D and give you all a bit of history. I’m not going to get into Gygax vs Arneson or any of that. I’m only talking about the published game itself, not its creators or its storied origins.

The original D&D (or OD&D as it’s sometimes called) came in a small box. It had three booklets inside - Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures - along with reference sheets and dice. Each was softcover and roughly the same dimensions as a DVD/BluRay case. The game was pretty rudimentary - for one thing, it assumed you already had a copy of Chainmail, D&D’s direct wargame predecessor. It also recommended you have a game called Outdoor Survival for purposes of traveling through the wilderness. It had only three classes - fighting man, magic-user, and cleric - and nothing about playing other races. It did have the insane charts that 1st edition would ultimately known for, and it was possible to play a pretty fun game of D&D with it, as its popularity would come to show.

The game expanded through similar chapbooks - Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, Gods Demigods & Heroes, Swords & Spells. With the exception of the last one, each brought new facets to the game - new classes like Thief and Monk, new spells, new threats. It was clear the game was going to need an overhaul, and it got one.

I consider this overhaul to yield the real “1st Edition”, as so much of the game didn’t exist in those original games. The game split into a “Basic” game, just called Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

The basic game was a boxed set that included a rulebook, a full adventure module, and dice...or, well, it was supposed to contain dice. The game was so popular and new in those days that demand for dice outstripped production. My copy of D&D came with a coupon for dice when they became available and a sheet of “chits” - laminated numbers meant to be put into cups (we used Dixie Cups with the name of the die written on it), shaken, and a random number pulled out without looking. It was meant to introduce new players to the game, so it was a trimmed down version. Races were human, elf, dwarf, and halfling, and classes were fighter, cleric, magic-user, and thief. The box only included rules for going up to 3rd level, with the intention that players would then graduate into AD&D. This is where I joined, with the old blue cover box set and In Search of the Unknown, before Keep on the Borderlands even existed.

AD&D was the game in its full glory. Along with the races I mention above, we got half-elves, half-orcs, and gnomes. The four basic classes also had sub-classes, like paladin and ranger for the fighter, druid for the cleric, illusionist for the wizard, and assassin for the thief. There were rules for multi-classing, as well as “Dual-classing”, a sort of multi-class variation for humans only, which, when done in the correct combination, could yield the infamous bard...which didn’t actually yield any bard abilities until around level 13 or so.

This edition had 5 different saving throws for things like “Death Magic”, “Petrification & Polymorph”, “Spells”, and so on. It had the infamous Armor Class system that started at 10 and went down, so that having a -3 AC was very good!  It also had specific attack matricies for each class; you would literally look on a table to determine the number you needed to roll on a D20 based on your class, your level, and your opponent’s armor class. It was fun, but it was very complicated.

It also had some, frankly, shitty rules. There was gender disparity in terms of attributes, which my group totally ignored. Because the game designers wanted humans to be a competitive the game, and because non-humans had so many abilities and could multiclass, non-humans were severely limited in the levels they could achieve in most classes. In fact, some classes, such as monk and paladin, were restricted only to humans.

As the years went on, things got a bit muddled. It probably didn’t help that the rules in Basic D&D and AD&D didn’t perfectly line up. In D&D, the worst armor class was a 9. In AD&D, the worst armor class was a 10. All of this led to an overhaul, but not one considered a separate edition. AD&D mostly got new covers and new books, like the Wilderness Survival Guide and Dungeon Survival Guide, Monster Manual 2, and the Manual of the Planes. It got a number of new settings, too. In addition to the default Greyhawk setting, we got the Forgotten Realms setting for the first time, details of which had been appearing in Dragon Magazine for years, thanks to the prolific Ed Greenwood. We also, eventually, got the whole Dragonlance saga, which yielded the setting of Krynn.

In this new version, Basic D&D broke off into its own game system to some degree. Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling started being treated like classes rather than races, with specific abilities at different levels. Higher level characters could be created using progressive boxes - Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal, each with its own boxed set and supported by Mystara, a completely different setting that got its own updates over the years. It was odd, because D&D essentially was competing for players with AD&D, and I remember arguments with friends over which version was better (I was firmly in the AD&D camp.)

In 1989, when I was in college, they finally brought forth 2nd edition D&D. This streamlined things a little. Armor Class still went down, but now attack rolls boiled into a single number called To Hit Armor Class 0, or THAC0. It made the whole process of figuring out what you needed to roll a bit less cumbersome, but it was still a bit awkward. The classes got a lot of overhaul, including making Bard its own core class. But what I remember best about 2nd edition was the boom in settings. This was the age of settings, and many beloved ones got started, including Dark Sun, Planescape, Ravenloft, and Spelljammer.

It was also the age of the “Complete Handbooks”. They brought out splatbooks about every class and race in the game, as well as books expanding several concepts for the DM, such as the Arms & Equipment Guide, the Castle Guide, and the Complete Book of Villains. There were also splatbooks about running D&D in historic periods, such as Ancient Rome, among the ancient Celts, or during the time of the Musketeers. The game got new covers for the rule books again, and a bunch of books about options started coming out. It was a boom time for books, but many people complained there was too much.

Without going too deep, TSR ended up in severe financial troubles. They declared bankruptcy, and there was real fear of the game going away. And then Wizards of the Coast (WotC) stepped in. They helped TSR get back onto its feet, and they helped produce some modules specifically engineered to help DM’s bring an end to their campaign...possibly even their whole campaign world...because something big was coming.

That something big was, of course, 3rd edition D&D. The game got majorly streamlined, and many sacred cows ended up as hamburger. AC finally started going up instead of down. Everything was refined to the “D20″ system we’ve been playing ever since. Races could be any class. There were no level or stat limits for anyone. After years of the game being forced into tight little boxes, it really felt like we could breathe. I had stopped playing D&D, but 3rd edition brought me back into the fold. I often say that 3E was made for the players who’d felt constricted and wanted more flexibility.

The trouble with 3E, and its successor 3.5, is that it was still a dense and difficult game for newcomers to get into. It’s been acknowledged that D&D essentially created many of the systems we see and know in other games - experience points, leveling up, hit points, etc. But trying to break into the experience for the first time was difficult. The look of 3E was gorgeous, but I understood that it must seem awfully daunting to someone who’d never played.

4E and its follow-up, Essentials, was an attempt to course correct that. They tried to make this edition incredibly friendly to new DMs, and, frankly, they succeeded. By creating player classes and monsters and magic-items that were all very plug and play, they did a great job of creating a game that someone who had never DMed before could dive into with no experience or mentor and start a game pretty easily. Encounter design was given a lot of ease, and there were promises of a robust online tool system that would help out with many of the more tedious aspects of playing.

There was also a lot of shake up in terms of choices. Suddenly, new classes and races were proliferating like crazy. We got the dragonborn, the tiefling, and the eladrin right in the core book, but we said good-bye to the gnome and half-orc at first. Suddenly the warlock was the new class everyone wanted to try. We got paragon paths and epic destinies that would really shape a character as time went on. The game went very tactical, as well, which some of us loved. The concept of rituals came into the game. Later books like the Player’s Handbook 2 and 3 gave us back gnomes and half-orcs, and also gave us minotaurs, wilden, shardminds, and githzerai. We got new psionic classes, brand new class concepts like the Runeknight and the Seeker...

But there was a tremendous backlash. People felt that, in making the game so very plug and play, they’d taken a ton of choice away from the players. Without the tools (which were never that robust, frankly), it was almost impossible to navigate the massive panoply of options. And, worse, it was harder and harder to develop encounters without those tools. People complained that the game had gone more tactical in order to sell miniatures and battlemats. Given that I have never played the game without miniatures and battlemats (since I started in the days when D&D was still half-wargame), I found this odd, but I also understand my style of play isn’t everyone’s.

The one argument I will never understand is that it didn’t “feel” like D&D, or it was somehow ONLY a tactical game and not a role-playing game any more. Again, given that the original game didn’t even call itself a role-playing game, this felt odd. Personally, I roleplay no matter what game I’m playing. If I’m playing Monopoly, I’m roleplaying, doing voices, and pretending to be something I’m not. I honestly enjoyed 4E, and I know a lot of folks who did, too. A lot of it may simply come down to style of play. But I also enjoyed all the games that came before, including Pathfinder. To paraphrase the YouTube content creator The Dungeon Bastard, “Does your game have dungeons? Does it have dragons? Great. I wanna play.”

As a sidenote, in the months leading up to 4E���s release, a lot of internet videos were released by WotC emphasizing the nature of change and talking about differences in the rules. They also released some preview books showing the direction they were heading. WotC must have anticipated that people were going to find this edition very different indeed. They also cleverly brought in some very funny folks - Scott Kurtz from PVPOnline and Jerry Holkins & Mike Krahulik from Penny Arcade - and got them to play D&D for podcasting purposes. Looking back, this must’ve brought in a lot of listeners who might never have played D&D and given them a reason to try it out.

After its release, WotC clearly noted that missteps had been made, as this edition of the game was losing them players. They began work on what they referred to as D&D Next, and, this time, they did massive amounts of playtesting, some of which I participated in.

I don’t feel like I have to describe 5E to any of you, Dear Readers, as you could go to virtually any store and pick it up. I am a big fan of 5E’s simplicity and elegance, and I suspect this is the edition of D&D we’re going to have for some time to come, especially given its popularity. Given the effect of podcasts like Critical Role (and I might save an article on Critical Role’s importance to D&D until my next Freestyle article), D&D is likely more popular now than it’s ever been, with a much wider and more diverse audience than ever before.

I know I’m painting with broad strokes here, but I hope this was, at least, entertaining, and maybe you learned something, Gentle Readers. Until we next meet, may all your 20s be natural.

[jawsofbalmung]

my final (detailed) thoughts on the two most controversial games in the aa series, now that im done with them (contains spoilers):

dual destinies

overview: dd is one of those games that is decently fun, but not really that good. you can definitely see the difference in the writing style, and while i think all ace attorney games are good, and i did enjoy playing it, this one is by far the worst one in the whole series. i love simon though, prosecutors are always perfect.

my biases: i had to play dd on a very slow emulator which ran at 30-50% speed the ENTIRE game (slower on trials) so this game, especially monstrous turnabout, took me absolute AGES to finish. also i was... a little spoiled about fulbright, but not that much, honestly.

turnabout countdown: as far as first cases go, this one is fairly alright, but overall just kinda eh. its a bad mix of both predictable and confusing, but it's actually kinda funny in spots and not too egregiously horrible. 3.5/10

monstrous turnabout: i have a personal vendetta against this case. it took me two whole weeks to finish, when a case usually takes me two to five days on average with my pace. the actual content of the case was negligable, i liked the tenma family as characters, but the end result was very predictable (the fact that we were shown the killer in the beginning animation is inexcusable in my opinion). i could blame the length of the case on just the shitty emulator, but the fact is monstrous turnabout took me way longer than any of the other cases in this same game on the same emulator, and i can only blame its penchant for endlessly dragging out every single point, and throwing in many compounding twists when they're really unneeded and the case would be a lot better if it was simpler. they tried to make up for you knowing the killer right away by making it impossible to predict anything else, but it ended up just making the whole case frustrating and obnoxiously long. 2/10

turnabout academy: this is probably one of my favorite cases in the two games. its twists are a lot more satisfying and understandable than monstrous turnabout, and the character value of this case is very high. i love hugh robin and juniper, and i like how their friendship ties so deeply and intrinsically into the mystery of the case. a little cheesy, and as is expected with dd, not the best writing ive seen in ace attorney, but overall a pretty good case, and has probably the funniest killer breakdown. also klavier cameo is very much appreciated. 6.5/10

cosmic turnabout: i feel like there's not really much to this case, since it mostly serves as a bridge into turnabout for tomorrow, so they didn't put a lot of love into writing the episode itself, but honestly i think that's okay, cosmic turnabout does its job well, and i like how it takes the time to introduce important characters and concepts without stuffing too much into turnabout for tomorrow. as for the case itself, its honestly so hard to separate it out, and i feel like it was pretty short compared to the other episodes. 5/10

spirit of justice

turnabout for tomorrow: probably the most controversial case out of the two games in terms of fan opinions, but i frankly love this case. it's engaging, it's high stakes, it's got all the punch and intrigue that a final case should have, and on its own it's definitely one of the best. unfortunately, i wish the fulbright reveal was foreshadowed even a little bit. a mutual of mine said that since they were spoiled about fulbright being evil, they enjoyed turnabout for tomorrow a lot, but someone who went into it blind would probably find it confusing and out of left field, and i have to agree with that. it's definitely a case you want to spoil yourself just a little bit for it to be satisfying as you figure out the rest, because dual destinies seems to be allergic to Actual foreshadowing, and seems to be made up along the way. im also probably pretty biased in a weird way because ive seen a lot of fan content and meta about turnabout for tomorrow that makes it Better and Cooler and Make More Sense in a way that it certainly is not in canon, so that makes me both love it more for what fans have extrapolated out of it, and simultaneously resent that it didn't live up to its full potential. 8/10

turnabout reclaimed: this case sure was.... dual destinies. turnabout reclaimed is one of those cases that gets a lot of publicity in the fandom just for being absurd, but is actually not one of the good ones if im being honest. the twists fall flat, it drags on a bit too long, and it's honestly pretty forgettable. it wasn't awful to play, i certainly had some fun with it in spots, and it was nice to go back and play it after i finished spirit of justice mostly just to see simon again, but overall it's a very mid case, and im not too stoked about how they represented marlon rimes either tbh. 3/10

overall (averaged) score for dual destinies: 4.5/10

overview: everyone seems to hate spirit of justice and i don't know why. honestly, soj is way up there in my list of favorite ace attorney games ever. it feels more based in the feeling of the original trilogy, i love the way all the existing characters are written, and love the introductions of the new ones. nothing wrong with soj in my book, especially once i figured out that the portrayal of khura'in isnt nearly as racist as initially expected. the divination seances are a very fun mechanic that had a lot of potential beyond how they used them, and i would have liked to be able to do them every case if you ask me.

my biases: i am in love with nahyuta to a worrying degree, and dhurke is one of my favorite characters as well. the character value, which is what i automatically focus on the most, is very high in this game, so while im trying to rank these cases by how well-written they are, i can't help but adore spirit of justice for its character work. i also had a few spoilers, but nothing too strongly story-based.

foreign turnabout: once again, a first case is a first case, and foreign turnabout does its job in that respect. it establishes khura'in well, and helps lead into the complex opinion of it that you're eventually supposed to form throughout the game, but i do have to say it starts in a pretty deceptively xenophobic place in this case. kind of an underwhelming case, but ahlbi is adorable and it's certainly a fun start to throw phoenix into a new place out of the blue, and again it does its job as a first case satisfactorily. 4/10

magical turnabout: this case was fun! i like how the second case, while not connected to the overarching plotline, still had the spirit of the rest of the game imbued in it, and while i do think ace attorney shouldn't rely on the Twin Twist as much as they already do, they seem to handle it pretty well and it often makes sense when they slip it in. many funny moments, high stakes, good twists, fits in well with the game, and i love that we get to see trucy as a defendant, because it felt like a long time coming on that. 6.5/10

rite of turnabout: this case is more emotionally hard hitting than the final case of this game, if you ask me. it's juicy, it's strongly tied to the plot of the game, all the twists make so much sense and everything ties together so well, and it comes to a supremely satisfying end, which keeps hopes high for the last two cases. intrigue and immersion are high in this case, i love love love the introduction of rayfa as a weird little girl investigative assistant, and the revisualization sequence in this case is one of the only ones out of the two games where it exists that actually surprised me, and felt both satisfying and exciting at the same time. i haven't gotten a lot of those yelling "OH!!!!" as the pieces suddenly slide together moments since the original trilogy, so this case has to go down as one of the best ones in my book. 8.5/10

turnabout storyteller: y'all, i know this is a filler case, but god damn is it good!! it's enjoyable as hell, the perfect amount of challenging for me, a nice bitesize length that a filler case should be, not too predictable or too random (though i will admit i was spoiled about geiru because of the iconic tumblr posts about her whoops), and i got to see simon again, so i'm very happy with it! plus, the only realistic and respectable portrayal of DID i have ever seen, especially in murder mystery media! i could say so much about this case, and i already have on this blog before, but i do adore it. it's one of my faves tbh, especially for a very non-plot relevant case. 9/10

turnabout revolution (the name of this case still makes me laugh): learning that this was the longest case in the whole series, tied at 12 hours with rise from the ashes, came as no surprise. this is an absolute GIANT of a case. i think it's fun and fresh to split it up between two related trials in two different places the way they did, but i have to say i had a lot of expectations that went unfulfilled. the civil case and its investigation were very fun to do, especially how it seemed to bleed into more of a story-based visual novel format for a while, but i feel like they missed the opportunity to show us everything from phoenix's point of view as well. i adore dhurke, i love how he interacts with apollo and nahyuta, i love slowly parceling out the reveal of his death in a way i haven't really seen in aa yet, i think this case is very carefully and lovingly written and takes its time to stop fucking around and deliver the real meat of this game. unfortunately, i think the very end seemed kind of rushed and flat, and the characterizations of ga'ran and amara needed more work and at times were confusing or annoying. whereas dual destinies was a kinda underwhelming game with a fantastic ending (had it been foreshadowed more), spirit of justice was a fantastic game with a kinda underwhelming ending (that was properly foreshadowed, just not well excuted). but i don't think all of turnabout revolution suffers because of the very end of it, i think its a phenomenal case that brings the spirit of the old games along with the new ideas of the modern ones, and for the most part caps off the game in a way that makes sense with all the other information in all the other cases and closes it out as a very good game. 7.5/10

turnabout time traveler: compared to the other dlc case, this case is a lot more fun and engaging, though it doesn't have the gimmick that everyone talks about like turnabout reclaimed does. the killer is a little predictable right away from the first investigation, but i think the path to get there is fun anyway, and it's a pretty solid aa case with good characters and interesting twists, miles is there, and pierce nichody is hot as fuck, so i'd say it was a pretty good case! 6/10

overall (averaged) score for spirit of justice: 7/10

conclusion: i see a lot of hate and a lot of love for both these games, and while i definitely don't hate either of them, because i do love all aa games, i see where the animosity for dual destinies comes from and can somewhat agree. i think both have their merits, spirit of justice moreso than dual destinies, and their shortcomings. i love all the new characters though and always will, i adore how the waa is expanding and how phoenix interacts with new characters and old, and i think these two games do have a proper home in the aa series and in my heart <3

[rivalsforlife]

Klapollo? 👀

ooh klapollo. Admittedly this was the ship that got me into ace attorney? I saw someone reblog fanart of them (this one) and thought “oh this seems nice. I want to procrastinate AP exam studying. what’s the worst that can happen”... and then was hit by the truck that is narumitsu.

I do think they’re neat and it’s my preferred ship for both of them, but I haven’t written any klapollo content yet, though I’ve tried! I really have! For some reason Klavier’s difficult for me to write. And I enjoy klapollo when I read it, but it’s rare for me to seek it out unless it’s from authors whose works I enjoy. Their dynamic has a lot of potential, with Apollo “pulling the darkness out of him” in Turnabout Succession, and they respect and trust each other and share similar goals when it comes to pursuing the truth. It’d just... be really nice if their relationship was expanded on, in future games? Instead of Klavier ending up like he did in Dual Destinies. AA4 set up a lot for both of them for their possible relationship arc, but then Klavier’s been. well. DD Klavier. And then SOJ Apollo referring to him as “some guy who branded me Herr Forehead” is really kind of a slap in the face haha. It feels like there’s a lot of potential in there and a lot set up but then it’s never followed through on in the games, so there’s less to work with than there could have been.

I also feel like I don’t have much to say about them that hasn’t been said better by someone else, like, unlike lots of other things where I like the ship and think “oh I could talk a lot about this aspect”, I don’t have much to say about klapollo for some reason. It’s nothing against the ship since I do enjoy it, but for some reason they haven’t stuck in my brain as much as I thought they would when I looked into the series because of that fanart haha. 

[morelikesin]

Morning

A small drabble on an emotional morning with Phoenix and Miles 💕 This takes place any time after Dual Destinies. I'm writing it where they're already married. This is just a quick bit I wanted to write when I had the idea :') I also drew a quick something at the end. The fic is under the cut!

Phoenix really wished he had more days off - everytime he was, there was always a great smell in the house from Miles' cooking. Being off work more often meant more of that, even if a little less bank coming in. It would definitely be worth it.

Lifting himself up from the cushioned mattress and tossing aside the velvety soft blankets atop of him, he stretches his limbs with a low groan - reaching his arms back before pulling them into his lap as he relaxed. Taking in a deep breath, he pulls his legs over the side of the bed and hoists himself over so he could see what was on the menu this morning.

Closing the lid of the cooking pot to steam the rice, Mr. Edgeworth hummed quietly to himself a peaceful little tune; one of which he'd seem to be making up as he went along. Turning his attention elsewhere as the grains cooked, he lowered the heat for another burner to medium, where he was cooking miso soup. Adding in a good few tablespoons of yellow miso paste, he whisked the substance into the already simmered broth before adding some previously cut up blocks of tofu. Raising the spoon to catch a quick taste, he found it was light, slightly sweet, and smooth in a way he quite enjoyed. Something was missing though, of course - turning towards the fridge to grab a few stalks of watercress to chop and throw in.

Stepping out from their bedroom and making his way downstairs into their kitchen, Phoenix paused a moment to simply watch his love candid from the steps. Miles, dressed in his soft, white robe like every morning accompanied by his perfect-as-always hair. Phoenix could nay say the same, given his own styling takes ten minutes on a good day.

Watching the way he so gracefully moved even without knowing eyes were on him was incredibly cute - though Miles would never let him say that, with how against that description he was when it was of himself. For now, Phoenix knew Miles was cute. Handsome, of course. Sexy, of course. Cute, of course.

Phoenix made his presence known by making a soft yawn as he walked down the last few steps, walking into the main kitchen and making sure to gently hold his hand against the small of Miles' back as he stood next to him. The latter shook his head slightly whilst quickly chopping up the watercress aforementioned - swiftly picking them up between his hand and the knife and tossing it into the soup.

"Good morning, Wright. How did you sleep?"

Phoenix made a darling little laugh that Miles loved so much - the type with a sort of deepness to it; a sort of breathlessness. "Well, I slept just fine with you by me, hun," he spoke prior to pressing his lips against the prosecutor's cheek, "with you being as warm as a radiator and all, ha..!"

Miles scoffed. "Very funny. Is that all I'm good for in bed? To keep you warm?"

"I was about to say no, but..'keeping me warm' sure has a lot of meanings. And I think you're good for all of them." Phoenix sighed, sporting a small smile as he pressed his face into the nape of Miles' neck contently - lips gently kissing his shoulder. It earned a sweet, if calm, sigh from the prosecutor.

"..I could say the same for you. But it's much too early for this, mm? We can work out our flirtations after we eat breakfast."

Phoenix kept his dorky smile splashed on his countenance as he pulled away, raising a hand to brush back some strands of hair from his eyes - finding himself not too annoyed today with his 'naturally-spiky-but-not-spiky-enough-and-more-messy' bedhead. "That works with me; everything smells so good!"

Miles looked flattered from that. "Thank you, Wright. It is certainly better than what you normally make yourself in the morning-"

"Hey- don't knock cup coodles! I could live off of those."

Miles furrowed his brows and gave a glance to Phoenix in exasperation. "This is why I'm the one who feeds us. Anyhow.." The former smiled to himself as he pulled a plastic package of soba noodles in front of him on the counter - removing the wrapper and slowly adding the noodle block into the miso broth. "Maya called me earlier. She asked me to tell you that she'll be unavailable all day."

With Phoenix opening the fridge door to grab something to drink, he paused to speak before grabbing the carton of orange juice - much like many of their groceries, an expensive brand that Phoenix wasn't used to, and Miles' choosing. "Oh? Was she planning on taking Trucy and Pearls somewhere?"

Miles shook his head as he wiped off his hands with a damp washcloth that he'd set beside him prior, "Sort of. She wanted to make a trip to Hazakura Temple - she and Pearl are to train while Trucy is their...how did she put it, ah.. 'hype-man'." He felt silly even recalling the term, but Phoenix's expression seemed to prove that he knew what he meant.

"Hah- well, she'll get no bother from me then. I'll just check up on them when they get back. We have the whole day to ourselves, for once.." Phoenix meekly spoke - pouring himself a glass of the aforementioned juice before guzzling it down in a post-sleep thirstiness. He wiped his upper lip with his wrist as he went back in to pour some more.

"It is rare, isn't it..?" The prosecutor seemed somewhat sorrowful in stating that. "I want to make the most of it. It's not often I'm not out travelling, or you're not on duty, or there's no emergencies."

Phoenix parted his lips to speak, before sighing and looking down to his cup solemnly. He set it down. "...Yeah. But..I still love you all the same." He looked back up to the love of his life; a carefree smile pulling at his lips and a special brightness glittering in his eyes, "We're a family. Things are..always going to come up, but our time spent away or together feel all the same to me. The only difference is that I get to actually kiss you, in times like now. Being apart..just reminds me of how much I trust you."

The words hit harder than Miles expected them to. Even with the defense attorney's unorganized nature, and his less-than-articulate manner, it was somehow more meaningful to him. Phoenix was always emotional, and true to what he said - this was no different. Edgeworth's expression was strong; brows furrowed up and eyes purposefully lying low.

Phoenix paused, "..Come here."

He gestured for a hug after his gentle words; Miles all too eager for the embrace. Phoenix's arms draped over Miles' shoulders, wrapping around his neck as to pull himself closer. Vice versa was Miles wrapping his arms tightly around Phoenix's waist; both of their heads lay upon the other's shoulder, welcoming what warmth was available. They held each other for what felt like so long, and simultaneously not long enough; the only reason for their part was so they could meet at their lips, instead. Passionate, and yet soft - just a simple press without much else, yet it was all they needed. By the end of their embrace, their heads leaned forward to touch at their foreheads while holding each other's hands between their chests. Their thumbs occasionally brushed over each other's wedding rings.

"..You know how much you mean to me, Phoenix."

"I know, Miles." He huffed out a short breath before breaking into a smile, "..You could always just say 'I love you'."

And with that, the silver-haired Edgeworth broke into a laugh and slowly pulled away, "Alright, alright..I love you. You know that."

"I love you too, Miles."

Phoenix watched as his love went back to his work - Miles grabbing his wooden chopsticks as to stir the noodles. The more defensive of the two sat at the dining table, glass in hand.

"...I'm going to guess that you won't want onions in your serving of noodles."

Phoenix pretended to gag in response to Miles, "Ghk-! Absolutely-! Onions taint everything they touch..." He hesitated, "..Other than onion rings. But that's the only good thing with onions!"

Edgeworth rolled his eyes with a playful smile, chuckling to himself a bit at just how strongly Wright felt over such a thing as onions. "Of course. Though, you're missing out on their flavour, dear - I've never met someone other than you who has a distaste for them."

"You haven't met anyone with any tastebuds," Phoenix scoffed back - earning a snort from the other.

"Oh, have I? Dear, I think you're referring to yourself there."

The defense paused; his face lifting as his cocky court grin curled onto his lips. "Unfortunately, Edgeworth, I think you have some words to eat. Clearly my statement is right - anyone who's ever tasted an onion could tell you that it tastes like damn garbage."

The prosecution stifled a laugh, lolling his head to look over his shoulder at his rival. "Oh, Wright. I'm afraid you've buried your grave - onions obviously give any dish they're added to an excellent depth of flavor."

"Well obviously they do not- ow-!" Phoenix burst into a soft laugh as Miles leaned over to smack his arm with his chopsticks - ending their court imitations. "Hun-!"

Miles rolled his eyes and looked back down to his cooking. "My love. We don't need to argue over onions. Besides, I'm not about to settle a case over opinion."

"Ha-! Well then, baby doll, I'm prepared to settle a case of any kind. Maybe you just don't have that kind of determination?" Phoenix jested, taking another swig of his orange juice.

"Of course you would be, Feenie." Miles hesitated before chuckling to himself. Swirling the noodles inside the pot, he shook his head. "That's a new one. I don't know where that came from... It's sort of cute, no? Feenie. Hm."

When Miles went to look at Phoenix for his approval, he was numb; his husband's face suddenly not as lively as it once was. His eyes gazed low, gazed dryly. His hands tensed around the glass he held, knuckles bearing white. Worst of all, his countenance really held no expression at all - the fact that it was so stiff, so miserable looking was what'd caused Miles to choke back a breath.

What was it about that name that suddenly struck Miles as odd? Feenie. Feenie.

"It's.. uh.. not great, honestly, Miles. No offense or anything."

"I'm- sorry." Miles was admittedly stunned - a little ashamed, a little confused, very concerned. "..For some reason its.. ringing a bell-"

"Dahlia."

"I'm..sorry?"

"..Dahlia used to call me that. You know, before.."

The room was drenched in silence - Miles struggling to find any words to say. What could he say to that - what should he? Though, the look on Phoenix's pitiful face urged him to find something.

"...I didn't mean to hurt you, saying it. I-" Miles hummed to himself and turned his head to Phoenix, lip bitten and unsure how to word himself. He slowly looked back down to his cooking when words couldn't properly form in his throat.

"It's fine." Phoenix nodded - looking away and tapping his fingers on the table in a sort of anxiousness. "You didn't know."

"I didn't remember," Miles scolded himself, "I should have remembered such a thing like that."

Phoenix looked a little put off. "Don't feel guilty for that. It was so long ago - I.. I didn't expect you too."

The soft bubbling of the broth in the pot filled the silence between them; chopsticks occasionally hitting the sides of the pot, Pess jingling her collar as she scratched herself from the living room all the while. Phoenix tried to will Miles to turn around so he could assure him it was fine, without words - however when Miles never did he spoke up hesitantly.

"I didn't mean to ruin the mood."

Miles quickly scoffed and turned to look at Phoenix with a pained expression, "You didn't, Phoenix. You were just telling me of something that hurt you."

"It's just a nickname, though," Phoenix laughed at himself, seemingly ashamed, "It's a little stupid to hurt so much over a nickname, isn't it?"

"I don't think so," Miles replied, his tone hurt from his husband stuffing his emotions down - such a thing from Phoenix was rare, and it made this hurt just a little more than usual. Setting the chopsticks horizontally on the counter, he ushered himself away from the stove to lay a gentle, lithe hand on Phoenix's forearm, and leaning down so he could rest his chin atop his head.

Phoenix nearly melted into his touch, feeling comforted by Miles' body and his warmth. Finding solace in the safety of his arms, Phoenix allowed himself to exhale a deep breath and relax. Unsatisfied with the arrangements, however, he shook his head and gestured his head down. "Get in front of me a bit, Miles."

He wasn't about to complain, though as he moved in front of Phoenix to kneel, Miles was still a tad confused. Before he could ask why Phoenix wanted him to, the man placed his hands on the prosecutor's cheeks and leaned forward to kiss his forehead.

"I prefer looking at you, dear," Phoenix hummed. He moved his hands down to take Miles' own - raising them to place endearing kisses against flushed knuckles and fingertips, much to his husband's timidity. "..Thank you. For not minding putting up with me and all."

"Ah, yes," Miles started, smiling, "I married you because I simply 'didn't mind putting up with you'."

Phoenix laughed as he realized the hilarity of what he had said, "Hey! You know what I mean!"

"I married someone I just 'put up with'." Miles continued, chortling to himself, "Not in an act of pure love or anything."

Phoenix hushed Miles' teasing by leaning down and pressing his lips against the other's - the two humming against the warmth before falling into the quiet passion, then lingeringly pulling away. Their hands kept their doting hold still.

"..I love you, Phoenix. However, breakfast is due to overcook."

Phoenix shrugged and pressed his lips against Miles' cheek, unwilling to pull away as proven by how he spoke against his skin. "I don't mind."

"Suppose you wouldn't," Miles breathed out, amused.

Miles held himself in Phoenix's grasp before reluctantly pulling away to take charge of the stove again. Phoenix didn't seem to be happy with such an arrangement, so he took it upon himself to stand and wrap his arms around Miles' waist, head resting on his shoulder. The prosecutor pressed his palm against Phoenix's forearm in silent fondness - his other busy stirring food.

[lunawritesaa]

I read on Reddit that some people expressed their clear dislike for AA6 and their reasons were Wtf to me. I strongly disagree with them cuz I think AA6's story and cases are sooooo epic and well-written. It's the best game after the trilogy and 6-5 is just amazing as 3-5. Idk if I only look at the good sides of things. Do you agree or disagree with those people's opinions? - Suzume Anon.

*spoilers for spirit of justice

i feel.. eh about spirit of justice. it’s personally not my favorite game, as i find dual destinies and aa4 to be better than it. but i don’t think it’s terrible. it’s an ace attorney game, i’m gonna enjoy it no matter what. but i definitely think it has its strengths and weaknesses.

let’s start with what i didn’t like:

the storyline of it, in my opinion, was a bit on the weaker side. did i enjoy it? absolutely. but could it have been better? absolutely. it just didn’t hit as hard as the other games. there were parts that just felt like they dragged on or parts that i just overall didn’t enjoy.

i also greatly dislike how much athena was pushed to the back burner. i don’t think she deserved to be introduced and then immediately shoved to the side for apollo in the next game. i just wish that they made her have more of a prominent role rather than assistant. and even that she was barely in it. so that really upset me because i love her so much!!

insights + khura’in trials in general. i almost dropped soj completely because of how much i disliked 6-1... but i pushed through! i just don’t like how ANOTHER new thing was introduced (insights). i hated how trials in khura’in ran and insights were just not good (imo)

(there’s more but this is just to list a few)

now for what i did like!

i actually rather like apollo’s backstory in this game, unlike most people. it was good! i liked nahyuta and dhurke but i do wish they went about it in a different way. but i still liked the both of them! they added a nice flair to the game that i enjoyed their characters.

6-4!! it was SO good! i loved playing as athena and working with blackquill. that case was so well written and i loved practically everything about it.

the music was so good! i love listening to the soj soundtrack more than nearly any other game.

the writing was definitely very good and the twists and turns were very good! there were several points that i just loved something that happened or was totally caught off guard. just wish they had a little bit better of a storyline.

the characters!!! as always this game has some amazing characters :)

(once again, there are more i can put here but this is just a few)

i don’t think that there’s any bad aa game. i have things that i dislike about EVERY game. this is just my problems/likes with soj! i did enjoy playing it, as i think any aa game is good. but this is not my favorite game. i do still like it, but there are others i like more!

[cooltrainererika]

Alt-Baltic Pokemon teams! (+Updated concept art)

I finally finished this gsoxlaunsisd-

Another picture for @aphbalticweek2020 ! ...Over a month late. Hopefully it will still catch some attention. @_@. I want to submit a fic and was planning to draw the Hetalia Emblem versions of them too, but Augh school just began again and my PC broke and ffffff... I’m posting this from my phone and the Tumblr app sucks.

So here’s my versions of the Baltic trio as Pokémon trainers! It was probably a mistake doing all the coloring in Photoshop...

I had this idea for a while. I only had an idea for a full team for Liet, but I found that I was actually able to come up with full teams. I had this idea since looking at a Japanese video and other Japanese artists who did this concept... And in typical Japanese Hetalia fashion, focused mostly on character quirks and, if there was any reference to the actual nation’s culture, surface level things. So I started forming ideas like this sort of as a response to those. Though there’s someone on Amino who similarly goes through the effort! I’m sure you’ll find them if you search for Hetalia Pokémon teams.

Also, many aren’t to scale, but so many Pokémon are too huge to fit into a team shot at their real in-game size. Also damn you GameFreak for not having releases in smaller languages. I couldn’t make nicknames derived from their local names because there aren’t any, and certain diacritics have to be omitted.

Lithuania

I think I’m getting better at drawing Alt-Liet! But since this is in the Pokémon universe, I also tried drawing him with his canonical hair. I feel his favorite types would be grass, ghost, and bug.

Uzuhuol

Trevenant♂

Type: Ghost/Grass

Ability: Natural Cure

Possible ace Pokémon. From the old Pagan Lithuanian belief that spirits from dead ancestors resided in trees, as well as Lithuania’s connection to forests. One of Tolys’ oldest and most reliable companions. Name is a poetic word for “Oak”, the tree of the most important god in Lithuanian mythology. I feel Trevenant captures how I write Alt-Liet pretty well, and especially what separates him from canon Liet. Though I did debate what his signature Pokémon would be quite a bit.

Moveset:

Forest’s Curse

Phantom Force

Destiny Bond or Hidden Power (Electric)

Wood Hammer

Austeja

Vespiquen♀

Type: Bug/Flying

Ability: Pressure

Based on Lithuania’s long tradition of beekeeping. There is evidence that long ago, in ancient Lithuanian culture, bees were among the most respected of creatures, being referred to as if they were humans. There is probably no greater evidence of this than what she is named after, the goddess of bees. More info can be found here: https://balticmythology.tumblr.com/post/124316160169/baltic-mythology-austėja-austėja-ancient Lithuania also has a longstanding meadmaking tradition, and you can even apparently buy mead in supermarkets there. In fact, in my old concept art, you can see him holding some. Also has been with Tolys since forever, possibly being his first. While I forgot to convey this, is often next to Uzuhuol, being almost inseparable.

Moveset:

Attack Order

Defend Order

Aromatherapy

Dual Wingbeat

Egle

Servine♀

Type: Grass

Ability: Overgrow

Also one of Tolys’ oldest companions. Despite their types being polar opposites, surprisingly close with Gabija. Named after the queen of serpents in Lithuanian folklore (with no ė because the Pokémon naming system doesn’t allow Lithuanian letters), also the word for “spruce”, and readers of my previous stuff involving Baltic myth know that snakes had very important places in Baltic cultures as the animals of the sun goddess. Though Eglė was a water serpent. Because of the queen thing I did consider making her a Serperior, but there were too many big Pokémon in the picture.

Moveset:

Solar Beam

Magical Leaf

Safeguard or Sunny Day

Leaf Blade

Gabija

Rapidash♀

Type: Fire

Ability: Flash Fire

Named after the Lithuanian goddess of the hearth. Though her actual representative animals are cats and roosters, so thinking about it maybe I could have given him a Combusken or Litten, but I decided on Rapidash because I headcanon Alt-Liet has a Žemaitukas pony, plus the imagery of a white horse corresponds to the coat of arms.

Moveset:

Flame Charge

Stomp

Flame Blast

Smart Strike

Cepelinas

Drifblim ♂

Type: Ghost/Flying

Ability: Unburden

Vilnius is one of the few European capital cities where hot air balloons are allowed to fly, with them also apparently being a relatively common sight in other Lithuanian cities like Kaunas, and there are more of them per person in Lithuania than any other country. Apparently, they symbolize freedom there too. His name is Lithuanian for “zeppelin”, which is kind of fitting considering that’s kind of what Drifblim is in the first place, but more importantly that’s also the name of the national food of Lithuania.

Moveset:

Shadow Ball

Phantom Force

Tailwind

Payback

Kvapas

Spritzee♂

Type: Fairy

Ability: Healer

I couldn’t come up with a good name, so uncreative name, blah. Lithuania is the only country with an official perfume scent. Plus, fairy types fit him pretty well too. I guess Alt-Liet wouldn’t be the type to have such “feminine” looking Pokémon, but maybe it isn’t that implausible? Idk, I needed to give him a final Pokémon.

Moveset:

Fairy Wind

Sweet Scent

Charm

Echoed Voice

Augh, make a Stork Pokémon already, GameFreak... It would be perfect for the core Commonwealth trio, it would be a cute symbol of the relationship between Liet and Belarus, and a reminder of him and Poland’s connection, since they would have one too.

Latvia

Unfortunately I drew him in this weird position that didn’t let me put in a lot of bigger Pokémon, so he got a bunch of smaller Pokémon. Pretend some of them are just about to evolve or something. But happy I got to draw him in a hockey shirt like I wanted to last time but forgot. Also he seemed to end up with noodly Pokémon a lot, but that’s half coincidence and half because of the position I drew him in, not intending to draw a full team, and I was thinking I’d just draw Snivy and Ledian.

Oh, and I’ll be omitting moveset s from here due to time. Check the reblogs if you’re interested, I might add some.

Misinausis

Snivy♂

Type: Grass

Was considering making Serperior his signature Pokémon due to him owning a pet grass snake in Alt-talia, but for some reason I kept it a Snivy. I guess because I like the idea of him carrying it in his hood. I might draw him with Serperior if I have the chance to though. But his name is just the old name for “grass snake” (“Brass-ears”), I still can’t come up with a creative name for the poor thing, blah. Much like his Alt-talia counterpart, he usually stays out of his Pokéball and rides around on his head or in his hood if he’s wearing one.

Marite

Ledian♀

Type: Bug/Flying

The national animal of Latvia is the two-spotted ladybug. And that’s adorable. Apparently they have a very beloved part in Latvian pop culture. I was considering using the new Galar ladybug Pokémon, but I didn’t really think that the mad scientist/UFO motif fit. Though Blipbug’s nerdy look might have fit considering Latvia’s very good education rate, as to why one is in reserve.

Carnikava

Elektross♂

Type: Electric

Yeah, this choice might be surprising, but I wanted to include some fish Pokémon; and apparently lampreys are pretty abundant in Latvia, and are also eaten very often, with lamprey even being common in supermarkets (though that does make this kind of morbid lol).

Janis

Phantump♂

Type: Ghost/Grass

Latvia has similar mythology to Lithuania, and I did want to make him a Trevenant, but again, the floaty way I drew Latvia (though I guess he does look like he could be sitting too?). I thought that related characters having one Pokémon from the same evolutionary line was a cool idea. Much like Lithuania, the Ghost/Grass typing fits him very well.

Daugava

Whiscash♀

Type: Water/Ground

I wanted to include some kind of marshy Pokémon due to the Baltic region being abundant in bogs and other wetlands, and I wanted a real Water Pokémon. I found that apparently, the biggest catfish ever fished on record was fished in Latvia, and there is a particular part of the Daugava river in Latvia known for its abundance of catfish, and much like lamprey, catfish are a common food in Latvia.

Priede

Snover♀

Type: Grass/Ice

Forests cover as much as 42% of the country, with timber being one of the most important natural resources in Latvia, if not the most; so I wanted to include a significantly-sized tree Pokémon. I chose Snover, though if I’d had more space and it didn’t clash with the rest I’d make it an Abomasnow. Spruce trees are extremely abundant in Latvia, and big stretches can even be seen along his beautiful coastlines (wanted to included a reference to those too, but Palosand seems too artificial). Snover also grow berries, apparently, symbolizing more of Latvia’s connection to nature. Plus, Riga boasts the oldest Christmas tree in a city square (though Tallinn disputes that, as I wrote in one of my fics, Estonia’s First Christmas). Will be able to Mega Evolve upon becoming an Abomasnow.

Also considered Flapple, as according to one source apples have a significant place in Latvian culture, and according to another, apple trees as a whole do. ...Unfortunately, those were the only pages I could find with this info, so I had no way of verifying it.

Estonia

His Pokémon lineup came easily once I put my mind to it. ...Unfortunately, for some reason, I’m completely blank on names. So deciding to cut my losses, they’re unnamed, sorry. ^^; While Hetalia tends to put more focus on the techy side of Estonia, I based most of these on the abundant wildlife of Estonia’s vast forests, as he actually has the most forest cover out of the Baltics; as in, literally half his land area is forests, having some of the best forest protection policies in the EU. So he’d have caught most of these just taking a walk through his many, many forests and national parks. I’d presume his part of the world and Latvia’s would be Safari Zone central.

Slowking

Type: Water/Psychic

I knew instantly that Estonia would get Slowking. It was the one Pokémon I was planning to draw for him, with maybe the other being Porygon-2. It fits him perfectly; seemingly slow, but highly intelligent. Also, Slowpoke fish for food, and it’s a Water Type; the sea has a major presence in Estonia, from its many islands to coastline, and fish of course are part of the national diet, much like in Latvia. I was considering using the Galar version because Europe, but not only is its design not fully revealed yet, I realized that it might not even have the Water typing, so even if it’s design was revealed I’d probably stick with the original.

Luxray

Type: Electric

I thought that Slowking would be Estonia’s signature Pokémon, but looking more into it, Luxray is a strong, strong contender, if not even more of a perfect fit. In fact, it fits perfectly in like three ways. Estonia is said to have the highest density of Lynx in Europe. But on top of that, Luxray looks an awful lot like a lion, and I was pretty sure it was one when I was a kid.... Estonia’s coat of arms has three, blue, heraldic lions emblazoned very prominently on it... on a gold background to boot. And on top of that, Estonia has a law where all people have to wear a reflective accessory when out at night (I drew him with one when I last drew him, if you recall), and I’m pretty sure that’s what the yellow patches on Luxray act as... Seriously, this Pokémon was made for him.

Porygon-2

Type: Normal

We all know about Estonia and Skype and it’s internet infrastructure. In fact, I almost named it “Skype” (you’ll see an artifact of that here). A representative of the technical side of him, since I put more weight on his natural side here. I made it Porygon-2 instead of Z because those poor things are apparently as glitchy as Bethesda games. I kind of want this line to get a new evolution, the internet and CGI has obviously come a long way since then. But the Porygon line was the only option I had for “internet/modern tech Pokémon”, so I had to go with it.

Emolga

Type: Electric/Flying

Estonia has some of the few pockets of Siberian Flying Squirrel population in the EU, having gone extinct in Latvia, though they tend to be more widespread in Finland; this may be the Pokémon he shares with him. Also the two electric types could be the bridge between nature and tech that he has.

Swellow

Type: Flying/Normal

I almost chose Taillow, because I realized that Estonia had a way higher proportion of fully evolved Pokémon, especially compared to Latvia, who he shouldn’t actually have such a big gap with. But since a friend of mine said that Swellow looked better in the group shot, Swellow it was. Barn Swallows are the national bird of Estonia, and were even apparently one of the national symbols used in the Singing Revolution by Estonians alongside the cornflower. According to one of my sources, in Estonian folklore, anyone who kills a swallow will go blind.

Leafeon

Type: Grass

Because of the forest cover thing, I wanted a grass type. A tree Pokémon preferably... But I ran out of space. Also I thought that there weren’t any good candidates, as I used the Phantump line twice and most tree Pokémon are either too heavily associated with Japanese culture or tropical, but I could have given him a Snover or Abamosnow like I did with Latvia, especially since Latvia got the coniferous tree despite Estonia being further north, and the Christmas tree debate thing. Oops. Still, I guess it slipped my mind since Latvia’s Snover was a pretty late addition. Maybe some other time. In anyway, I chose Leafeon, since you need to go deep into a forest to evolve it. It really has that magical forest creature vibe to it.

In reserve: Probably a Snover or Abamosnow, for reasons I already mentioned.

Hopefully, I’ll actually be able to get a fic out soon!

Bonus: Updated my concept art again!

[razeluxe]

Razeluxe’s Top Ten Male Characters

So I’ve been thinking about doing a particular list for my favorite characters across anime and games for quite a while and with some advice I decided to break it into my favorite male and favorite female characters. Most people that know me can probably guess at my top three favorites but if you don’t know me... well you ‘bout to learn lol. This was harder than I thought to compile...enjoy my fanboying of the boys lol.

By the by, I’ll do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum.

10) Apollo Justice (Phoenix Wright Series)

I’ve played only two games that this character was in (Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies, slowly working through Spirit of Justice) and this character particularly in Dual Destinies struck me even more than Edgeworth who is another amazing character. Apollo has an amazing spirit and it was only through playing Dual Destinies that I really got to understand Mr. ‘I’m Fine’ and his stupid ‘Here comes Justice’ puns. I feel his original game didn’t allow him to shine (still a great entry in the Ace Attorney series I don’t care what anyone says) and Dual Destinies allows him the development he deserves. He gets hurt during a trial and it allows a deep dive of his character even if his personality shifts for a while. Damn he’s savage. He’s considered the underdog in the Wright Anything Agency but he’s to me the hardest working person there who is also the most factual in court.

9) Gokudera (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Or as I like to call him, Scowludera since he’s scowling like 90% of the time. This Ichigo ripoff’s character development is insane. And I think that trend follows most if not all the characters in this list. His relationship with his sister is interesting and he’s pretty explosive in terms of personality and intelligence. His fights are all really interesting too, he has some of my favorite interactions in the series thus far (haven’t read the post anime manga chapters yet sadly, but he’s more than earned this spot on this list). He butts heads with people a lot and he can be ignorant but he grows from his experience and you get to see it bit by bit. This dude is loyal to the bone. RIP if you aren’t Tsuna or Reborn. Also, I’d like to shout out this anime as one of the few to do the shounen genre proper justice. Go watch it. Also his sister Bianchi is <3. Oh wait. Male list. Oops. Can we also talk about his weapon? Not gonna say spoilers but that thing is dope and probably one of the best ever designed weapons. And his kitty Uri <3

8) Joshua Bright (Trails in the Sky)

This will be short as I don’t want to spoil anything, but Joshua is a very easy character for me to connect to personally. His feelings, actions, development probably relates more to me than a lot of characters on this list. He’s got good people around him...I’m very happy for his ship and support it 120%. Also the Trails Series, both Sky and Cold Steel are probably my favorite series of anything period. Go play it. There is more to this character that meets the eye and has broken my heart more than once ;_;

7) Neku Sakuraba (The World Ends With You)

Neku Neku Neku. Another very relatable character for me (see the theme here? lol) He initially shuts out people and over time, through his experience in the Reapers Game, he starts to open up and bring people into his circle. He goes through some crap, like a lot of trauma. When you learn of him it’s no wonder he wound up disliking people and society. He’s extremely creative and that creativity manifests itself in different ways. Kinda like me. It’s worth mentioning I used to roleplay this character back in the day, the very first canon character I used to write for. 

6) Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)

One of the only blonde’s on this list. Shulk is a character that is driven by revenge but eventually changes. He goes through some pretty traumatic stuff that I absolutely will not spoil. His personality when he encounters a certain characters shifts big time and it’s kind of scary considering how early you see this. Also he gets points for being a notably intelligent character. I mean, the dude has his own lab...and is able to fix and adjust stuff. He’s really a great and well balanced character despite all the crap he goes through. Also I used to make fun of this character and dislike him a little bit, but then I grew up. 

         The list gets real starting...now. Not that it was fake before. :o

5) Jaden Yuki (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)

Anyone who has actually watched the entirety of GX might know why he’s here. His character development in the latter seasons so unreal and interesting. I’m not spoiling crap but there is a lot more to the character than meets the eye. Like a lot lot. Over the course of the series he loses his innocent eyes and his personality changes a lot...His character is probably one I can relate to in terms of the reasons for his actions, the way he gets down about himself, the way he acts in the final season...it hits me hard...he’s too dang relatable...just like..

4) Rean Schwarzer (Trails of Cold Steel)

Surprise surprise. Rean is here. -hears crickets- Guess you’re not surprised. I wonder why. I think I relate to this character more than anyone else on this list. Except number one. Number one is in his own league. Rean is a character who generally carries a happy disposition...he has a unique power but you can see he is actively scared of it. It’s something I actively deal with...he’s so scared of himself that he puts distance between family and friends. He never feels he’s good enough. He’s made headway through this, but...

One thing that’s extremely interesting about this character is his selflessness. You may think this is driven to the ground in character stereotypes but for Rean it’s different...his selfless has been described as abnormal by characters in game, and it’s not for positive reasons...Rean deals with some real unhealthy stuff. This is getting long.

As of this post Cold Steel 4 comes out in one month and I’m extremely worried for his character. If you’ve played 3 then you’ll know why. Also if you haven’t played the Trails series, go play it. No buts. Heck I’ll even buy the game(s) for you if I can.

--

Oh look we’re at the top three. I want to say that while numbers two and three here are pretty interchangeable, these characters have been in my top three for over a decade and a half and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Rean I love you but you have your work cut out if you ever want to breach the top 3. I wanna post a few honorable mentions here. They didn’t get into Smash but they do get Mii Costumes at least! -shot-

Davis Motomiya (Digimon Adventure 02) 

This character was everything I was when I was a kid. The way he tries everything to woo Kari is too cute. Also his unwavering faith in Ken. Also Davis Cries Veemon.

9S (Nier Automata)

Not mentioning any spoilers. Just watch this character and see how his vision of the world changes over time.

Okabe Rintaro (Steins; Gate) 

Okabe’s shift from his ‘persona’ as things get real and his efforts to fix everything is too relatable for me ;_;

Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4) 

No, I do not ship him with Yu. They’re great buddies for sure, and he’s pretty cool. Really likable character for me personally save for a few moments in the game...he’s also the main in the Arena games. “Let’s do this, Jiraiya!” He’s so cool lol.

                    Top 3 time. Fiercely dedicated to these guys.

3) Robin (Teen Titans Go! 2003)

Robin is such a raw character that carries his past and tries so hard to move from it yet it embodies him to his core. He has since gained a softer side from forming a team, and has been doing normal teenager stuff...which is good for him. However at times that Batman side impacts him so hard that he can only concentrate on his mission, and starts shutting out everyone and everything to do things himself. It actively gets in the way of his interactions. He deals a lot with moving on from failure and acknowledging his friends more, which he does get better at over time. He is also represented by the color red. My favorite color. He’s badass and yet carries so much crap. I connect to this character a lot even now. Third canon character I ever wrote for.

2 Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia)

I love Lloyd. I love his voice, I love his attacks, I love his stupid double sword logic. He says wielding two swords makes him twice as powerful lol. I love his development. I love his idealism and how it matures over time. I love everything about Lloyd. It was legit love at first sight. I remember being 15-16 and seeing him on that Gamecube boxart and saying “I wanna play that guy” Most people I feel (guys in particular) probably looked up to certain characters growing up as a child/teen. Lloyd was mine.

1. Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX)

While it was love at first sight for Lloyd, that was not the case for number one on this list. I was 13 when I first played FFIX. Zidane upon encountering him, I always thought he was a cool character, but he was nothing special.  Even at Zidane’s lowest point I thought he was an okay character at best. I had not finished the game.

Fast forward a few years and I decide to play FFIX again, this time determined to finish it. I had went through some things, grew up a bit before turning this game on. This damn bandit...I remember writing this bit years ago: “His infamous mantra labeled above describes him well, but under his ability to console others with a smile, to cheer people up and meet them at their point of need with his abundant optimism lies a blonde who masks his pain and keeps his issues to himself. Despite his many friends and buddies he harbors a deep loneliness that, like his problems, he keeps to himself. One would have to look carefully to notice his character flaws for Zidane does an impressive job of hiding these problems. Whether it be through his energy, his theatrics, or focusing on other people, Zidane can cover things up quite well.”

Zidane has an absurd amount of depth to his character that I was never able to comprehend as a kid, beneath his flirting, his playful attitude, he hides a lot of feelings, a lot of anger, a lot of sadness. It used to boggle me how he’s able to uphold his sense of virtue despite what goes on in his life and the end of disc 3 answers this for me. It goes without mentioning that this was the second canon character I’ve ever written for, and I still love writing him. I could and write walls of text about how Zidane is so amazing, a chivalrous thief, a lover and a flirt but I think I can let you go lol. Hit me up if you really want to hear me ramble about any these characters, also play FF9.

...So I wrote all of that and forgot to write about Zidane’s ship...have to give it its own paragraph because I love these two together and she does wonders for Zidane as a whole as does he to her. She’s a princess and he’s a thief, they take their time to show them together through different things, different ordeals...particularly the ordeals. Its interesting seeing them both at their worst moments and the many funny moments..Man, that boat scene gets me every time...If I ever write a top ten couples list this couple would no doubt be in the top two if not number one. And I’d probably write way more than this about them because they’re great. Also they’re canon. A healthy canon. Also Dagger’s hot. Oh wait wrong list.

Okay finally done. Not editing this anymore :P

[dillydedalus]

january reading

why does january always feel like it’s 3 months long. anyway here’s what i read in january, feat. poison experts with ocd, ants in your brain, old bolsheviks getting purged, and mountweazels. 

city of lies, sam hawke (poison wars #1) this is a perfectly nice fantasy novel about jovan, who serves as essentially a secret guard against poisoning for his city state’s heir and is forced to step up when his uncle (also a secret poison guard) and the ruler are both killed by an unknown poison AND also the city is suddenly under a very creepy siege (are these events related? who knows!) this is all very fine & entertaining & there are some fun ideas, but also... the main character has ocd and SAME HAT SAME HAT. also like the idea of having a very important, secret and potentially fatal job that requires you to painstakingly test everything the ruler/heir is consuming WHILE HAVING OCD is like... such a deliciously sadistic concept. amazing. 3/5

my heart hemmed in, marie ndiaye (translated from french by jordan stump) a strange horror-ish tale in which two married teachers, bastions of upper-middle-class respectability and taste, suddenly find themselves utterly despised by everyone around them, escalating until the husband is seriously injured. through several very unexpected twists, it becomes clear that the couple’s own contempt for anyone not fitting into their world and especially nadia’s hostility and shame about her (implied to be northern african) ancestry is the reason for their pariah status. disturbing, surprising, FUCKED UP IF TRUE (looking back, i no longer really know what i mean by that). 4/5

xenogenesis trilogy (dawn/adulthood rites/imago), octavia e. butler octavia butler is incapable of writing anything uninteresting and while i don’t always completely vibe with her stuff, it’s always fascinating & thought-provoking. this series combines some of her favourite topics (genetic manipulation, alien/human reproduction, what is humanity) into a tale of an alien species, the oankali, saving some human survivors from the apocalypse and beginning a gene-trading project with them, integrating them into their reproductive system and creating mixed/’construct’ generations with traits from both species. and like, to me, this was uncomfortably into the biology = destiny thing & didn’t really question the oankali assertion that humans were genetically doomed to hierarchical behaviour & aggression (& also weirdly straight for a book about an alien species with 3 genders that engages in 5-partner-reproduction with humans), so that angle fell flat for me for the most part, altho i suppose i do agree that embracing change, even change that comes at a cost, is better than clinging to an unsustainable (& potentially destructive) purity. where i think the series is most interesting is in its exploration of consent and in how far consent is possible in extremely one-sided power dynamics (curiously, while the oankali condemn and seem to lack the human drive for hierarchy, they find it very easy to abuse their position of power & violate boundaries & never question the morality of this. in this, the first book, focusing on a human survivor first encountering the oankali and learning of their project, is the most interesting, as lilith as a human most explicitly struggles with her position - would her consent be meaningful? can she even consent when there is a kind of biochemical dependence between humans and their alien mates? the other two books, told from the perspectives of lilith’s constructed/mixed children, continue discussing themes of consent, autonomy and power dynamics, but i found them less interesting the further they moved from human perspectives. on the whole: 2.5/5

love & other thought experiments, sophie ward man, we love a pierre menard reference. anyway. this is a novel in stories, each based (loosely) on a thought experiment, about (loosely) a lesbian couple and their son arthur, illness and grief, parenthood, love, consciousness and perception, alternative universes, and having an ant in your brain. it is thoroughly delightful & clever, but goes for warmth and humanity (or ant-ity) over intellectual games (surprising given that it is all about thought experiments - but while they are a nice structuring device i don’t think they add all that much). i haven’t entirely worked out my feelings about the ending and it’s hard to discuss anyway given the twists and turns this takes, but it's a whole lot of fun. 4/5

a general theory of oblivion, josé eduardo agualusa (tr. from portuguese by daniel hahn) interesting little novel(la) set in angola during and after the struggle for independence, in which a portuguese woman, ludo, with extreme agoraphobia walls herself into her apartment to avoid the violence and chaos (but also just... bc she has agoraphobia) with a involving a bunch of much more active characters and how they are connected to her to various degrees. i didn’t like the sideplot quite as much as ludo’s isolation in her walled-in flat with her dog, catching pigeons on the balcony and writing on the walls. 3/5

cassandra at the wedding, dorothy baker phd student cassandra returns home attend (sabotage) her twin sister judith’s wedding to a young doctor whose name she refuses to remember, believing that her sister secretly wants out. cass is a mess, and as a shift to judith’s perspective reveals, definitely wrong about what judith wants and maybe a little delusional, but also a ridiculously compelling narrator, the brilliant but troubled contrast to judith’s safer conventionality. on the whole, cassandra’s narrative voice is the strongest feature of a book i otherwise found a bit slow & a bit heavy on the quirky family. fav line is when cass, post-character-development, plans to “take a quick look at [her] dumb thesis and see if it might lead to something less smooth and more revolting, or at least satisfying more than the requirements of the University”. 3/5

the office of historical corrections, danielle evans a very solid collection of realist short stories (+ the titular novella), mainly dealing with racism, (black) womanhood, relationships between women, and anticolonial/antiracist historiography. while i thought all the stories were well-done and none stood out as weak or an unnecessary inclusion, there also weren’t any that really stood out to me. 3/5

sonnenfinsternis, arthur koestler (english title: darkness at noon) (audio) you know what’s cool about this book? when i added it to my goodreads tbr in 2012, i would have had to read it in translation as the german original was lost during koestler’s escape from the nazis, but since then, the original has been rediscovered and republished. yet another proof that leaving books on your tbr for ages is a good thing actually. anyway. this is a story about the stalinist purges, told thru old bolshevik rubashov, who, after serving the Party loyally for years & doing his fair share of selling people out for the Party, is arrested for ~oppositional activities. in jail and during his interrogations, rubashov reflects on the course the Party has taken and his own part (and guilt) in that, and the way totalitarianism has eaten up and poisoned even the most commendable ideals the Party once held (and still holds?), the course of history and at what point the end no longer justifies the means. it’s brilliant, rubashov is brilliant and despicable, i’m very happy it was rediscovered. 5/5

heads of the colored people, nafissa thompson-spires another really solid short story collection, also focused on the experiences of black people in america (particularly the black upper-middle class), black womanhood and black relationships, altho with a somewhat more satirical tone than danielle evans’s collection. standouts for me were the story in letters between the mothers of the only black girls at a private school, a story about a family of fruitarians, and a story about a girl who fetishises her disabled boyfriend(s). 3.5/5

pedro páramo, juan rulfo (gernan transl. by dagmar ploetz) mexican classic about a rich and abusive landowner (the titular pedro paramo) and the ghost town he leaves behind - quite literally, as, when his son tries to find his father, the town is full of people, quite ready to talk shit about pedro, but they are all dead. it’s an interesting setting with occasionally vivid writing, but the skips in time and character were kind of confusing and i lost my place a lot. i’d be interested in reading rulfo’s other major work, el llano en llamas. 2.5/5

verse für zeitgenossen, mascha kaléko short collection of the poems kaléko, a jewish german poet, wrote while in exile in the united states in the 30-40s, as well as some poems written after the end of ww2. kaléko’s voice is witty, but at turns also melancholy or satirical. as expected i preferred the pieces that directly addressed the experience of exile (”sozusagen ein mailied” is one of my favourite exillyrik pieces). 3/5

the harpy, megan hunter yeah this was boooooooring. the cover is really cool & the premise sounded intriguing (women gets cheated on, makes deal with husband that she is allowed to hurt him three times in revenge, women is also obsessed with harpies: female revenge & female monsters is my jam) but it’s literally so dull & trying so hard to be deep. 1.5/5

the liar’s dictionary, eley williams this is such a delightful book, from the design (those marbled endpapers? yes) to the preface (all about what a dictionary is/could be), to the chapter headings (A-Z words, mostly relating to lies, dishonesty, etc in some way or another, containing at least one fictitious entry), to the dual plots (intern at new edition of a dictionary in contemporary england checking the incomplete old dictionary for mountweazels vs 1899 london with the guy putting the mountweazels in), to williams’s clear joy about words and playing with them. there were so many lines that made me think about how to translate them, which is always a fun exercise. 3.5/5

catherine the great & the small, olja knežević (tr. from montenegrin by ellen elias-bursać, paula gordon) coming-of-age-ish novel about katarina from montenegro, who grows up in  titograd/podgorica and belgrad in the 70s/80s, eventually moving to london as an adult. to be honest while there are some interesting aspects in how this portrays yugoslavia and conflicts between the different parts of yugoslavia, i mostly found this a pretty sloggy slog of misery without much to emotionally connect to, which is sad bc i was p excited for it :(. 2/5

the decameron project: 29 new stories from the pandemic, anthology a collection of short stories written during covid lockdown (and mostly about covid/lockdown in some way). they got a bunch of cool authors, including margaret atwood, edwidge danticat, rachel kushner ... it’s an interesting project and the stories are mostly pretty good, but there wasn’t one that really stood out to me as amazing. i also kinda wish more of the stories had diverged more from covid/lockdown thematically bc it got a lil repetitive tbh. 2/5