#i think i might play her right after i wrap up fei's save? idk i wanna finish a run before i commit to a new one

[scalpelsister]

the dark urge

[rivalsforlife]

your iris defense au is so interesting!! and i was wondering if u have any thoughts on how fey family related cases would play out if they happened at all (like turnabout sisters, reunion and turnabout, bridge, etc), and how iris's relationship with maya and pearl would be?

Ah thank you!! I have. vague ideas? but nothing super concrete. Mostly this is just how I would write them if I were to write a fic, because then I’d want them to be at least a little different than usual so that it wouldn’t be boring.

For Turnabout Sisters, I’d think Mia would have re-introduced Iris to the family before this all happened, so she already knows Maya. And also I think Iris would learn how to drive if she lived in the city, so she picks up Maya at the train station, meaning they both arrive to discover Mia’s body together - which definitely throws a wrench in White’s plans, since he was planning to frame Maya, but now Maya has an airtight alibi. So he pins the blame on April May instead, and she kind of... goes with it, because going to prison is safer than crossing White.

Iris thinks something’s fishy and ends up defending her, and it could lead to some interesting contrast between April May’s relationship with Redd White and her own relationship with Dahlia -- maybe April owed White something, idk, she’s really not given any depth in canon so I can play around with it a bit, and she feels indebted to him and so willing to take the blame. Edgeworth of course would handle the prosecution differently so that her ice-coffee alibi is discredited. At the end of the second investigation day (I don’t know if she’d go confront White directly or not, honestly, but still) White decides to shift the blame onto both Maya and Iris, to invalidate both their alibis, and say that they teamed up to kill Mia together. And the court system goes with this despite the shaky evidence because White has so much control. Mia still gets channeled to resolve this, and/or April threatens to release dirt on White as her own little character arc thing. We’re just going to give minor characters development I guess! Anyways White still goes to prison. April goes to prison too for the wiretapping and stuff, but for a shorter time.

Uhh Reunion and Turnabout. I think that Morgan and Iris’s relationship would still be a little... strained. We do know Morgan planned on killing Dahlia when she went to prison so it’s not looking great for Iris here, though I don’t think Morgan would focus on her when her priority is getting rid of Maya. I feel like the case would go similarly to canon, but with more of a focus on Morgan and Iris’s relationship - maybe Iris would be more reluctant to accept Morgan’s role in the murder, she is her mother after all, but if Dahlia could do it so could Morgan, kind of.

And Iris’s relationship with Pearl... I think Iris would have a lot of doubts re: being a good sister, considering her only sisterly relationship didn’t turn out well. And Pearl would still be influenced by Morgan, who would probably encourage her to stay away from Iris. But as the case progresses, Pearl would start to trust Iris, even if maybe not as fast as in canon. (There’s no “Mystic Maya’s special someone” thing here, obviously!) Yeah so basically similar to canon but with more focus on familial Fey relationships.

Bridge to the Turnabout... definitely needs an Iris vs Dahlia confrontation at some point, to showcase Iris’s character growth throughout the hypothetical series, so she can properly stand up to her sister. There’s also the problem of the murder itself - without Iris, Godot may not have an accomplice. I don’t think Bikini would participate in this or be good at hiding it... So when the bridge burns down, Misty’s body is stuck on the Inner Temple side. This delays the murder investigation quite a bit and would probably have a whole new host of problems - maybe Maya gets accused right from the outset? Godot’s whole Thing in canon re: not confessing right away is partially to test Phoenix, and I’m not sure if he would have the same complex regarding Iris. But I guess Iris being Dahlia’s double makes up for it, at least in part.

I’ve entertained the thought of channeled!Dahlia pushing Iris into the river. Maybe Iris hears from Bikini that she was just seen heading to the Inner Temple, puts the pieces together, and chases after Dahlia. This would probably be before the bridge burns out, so Dahlia-Misty can make it across. There’s no Larry there at the time Iris falls, so Iris does a last-minute call to whoever she last called, who for some reason is Edgeworth, which concerns him and gets him over to Japanifornia for the trial. (He sends Gumshoe to investigate the situation - maybe Iris gave him a location in her call - and he’s the one who finds her and saves her life, though she’s in direr condition than Phoenix because medical services weren’t utilized as early. She survives, though.) Then there can be some fun stuff about Dahlia-Maya “participating” in the investigation as “Iris” and using the opportunity to hunt down Maya, again not knowing she’s being channeled by Maya. There are a few problems with that though, mostly how long this could go without being caught, how to keep Pearl away (because if Dahlia saw Pearl she might figure it out), how anyone wouldn’t notice that Iris here is healthily investigating and not in the hospital like she should be... and the problem with essentially officially trying Maya in absentia. I mean it’s fic we could probably get away with an Investigations-style thing where it doesn’t go to court, but.

And of course Iris recovers in time for the last day so she can actually confront Dahlia, wrapping things up nicely. ... That’s all I really have haha.

[aibafiles]

trials & tribulations thoughts

the recency of tgwdlm meant i was thinking about this song throughout the whole game. anyways

i finished the game earlier this afternoon and wow that was a ride!! i did a short post after jfa but since i took a year-long gap between cases 3 & 4 of that game my memory wasn’t as fresh and i didnt necessarily have as much to say, so this time i’ll put it under a cut and keep it a bit more... organized?

turnabout memories

basically this case fuckin slaps. easily the strongest opening case so far, having it be a flashback is a good excuse for a tutorial case without... yknow... whatever that amnesia nonsense in jfa was. mia is awesome, college phoenix is adorable, dahlia... is dahlia. i knew going in that she was Not A Good Person so i’m glad they got that out right off the bat so it wasn’t like a huge spoiler lmao

also, it’s a classic ace attorney two-in-one case! those are always fun. anyways, this one was pretty straightforward, i felt like i was usually a few steps ahead of the game in putting the case together, but not so far that it was frustrating

the stolen turnabout

right so i’m just gonna put this out there: i love ron and desiree delite. they’re valid as fuck. ok thanks

this one genuinely threw me for a loop cause i went “whoa, a non-murder case??” and then, no just kidding, it’s a murder! but the way the two cases (the theft and the murder) played off each other, the double jeopardy rule, using one crime as an alibi for the other, all that was really neat

also, someone please get larry some respect women juice

sidenote: i called godot’s identity pretty much immediately, and i think i might have been influenced by some spoilers i’d seen in the past, but it was a long time ago and i don’t remember exactly what i saw? it’s hard to say. but between the coffee thing and the “i’ve returned from the depths of hell” bit i was onto him real fast

recipe for turnabout

okay. this case felt like the one real weak spot in this game tbh? i didn’t hate it but i had some... problems. here’s some stuff i really liked, to start:

viola. everything about her, really

the whole phony phoenix wright confusion

computer virus stuff

the way the murder reenactment kinda cracks the whole case open (the way phoenix reached that conclusion maybe not so much, but w/e)

bluffing at the end

maggey good

anyways. parts of this case were kinda? exhausting? victor kudo’s testimony kinda just seemed to drag on and lead nowhere for a long time until it’s ruled inconclusive... only for phoenix to suddenly go ‘actually, he was telling the truth, and he saw a fake version of the murder!’ which is interesting in and of itself, but it felt like a weird roundabout way to get there and i wasn’t following all the leaps of logic.

i wasn’t really all that into the maggey/gumshoe subplot either, like, it was fine, but it didn’t feel entirely necessary to me? whatever i guess

also armstrong being the effeminate gay man making everyone uncomfortable and that being played for humor was... not great.

turnabout beginnings

i felt uneasy for a lot of this case, knowing it ended badly somehow... and boy it sure did.

still, cool seeing young edgeworth (and how he was... taking after von karma. hm). also i have to wonder how that diego reveal plays if you’re not expecting it

as for the case itself... tbh there were a lot of points i got kinda tripped up on, i felt like you were using certain pieces of evidence a LOT? but it was interesting. anyways on to the big one

bridge to the turnabout

holy shit yall i have emotions

i absolutely loved how this brought together basically every major character and plot thread - the fey clan, DL-6, dahlia, diego armando, franziska’s return, just. fucking. everything. it’s all connected

some things i knew going in b/c spoilers (maya channeling dahlia), some things i just guessed early on (elise = misty), some things i had no fucking clue about (basically everything w/r/t iris, her family situation, godot being the killer), but regardless it was a hell of a ride. this track being everywhere was nice too

list in no particular order because there’s so much i wanna gush about:

dumbass phoenix rushing to save maya and falling in the fucking river. what did you think would happen? seriously though, i love their friendship and i, too, would cross a burning bridge for maya fey

PLAYING AS EDGEWORTH! it was a neat change of pace, and seeing him get a taste of things from phoenix’s side was nice. also his reaction to the psyche-locks

franziska von karma babey!!!!! thats my wife

search ~ core 2002 being all over the trial because i’m not over the first time i heard that in justice for all

my narumitsu ass was living for this entire case honestly. working together!! miles’s concern for phoenix after The Bridge Incident!! phoenix being worried about him after the earthquake!! phoenix knowing he felt awful for letting iris slip away and being reluctant to bring it up in court! “i leave the rest in your capable hands... partner” IM THRIVING

godot’s ringtone

first day of trial being prosecutor v prosecutor and the second being defense attorney v defense attorney. idk how intentional that was. but it was neat

i have mixed feelings on him as, like, a person, but godot is an interesting character, and i figured he had to tie into it somehow but it completely slipped my mind that he could be the killer until maya’s testimony. so that was fun

everyone roasting larry’s sketch. the court record describing it as “horrible”

i love maya fey so much yall. i just wanna wrap her up in a blanket and give her some hot cocoa. she deserves the world. i may or may not have teared up a bit when she finally recovered and started her testimony and just looked. so drained after everything. that’s my girl

i think i’m done but long story short i loved this case and just about everyone in it. edgeworth and maya in particular just fuckin reached through the screen and latched the fuck on to my heart. good case

also... i’m still kinda sorting out my thoughts on iris? i liked her for sure, she was interesting, but there’s, like, a lot to unpack with her relationship with dahlia and phoenix and it’s. it’s a lot.

THIS GOT LONG LKDFGLDKF anyways GOOD GAME. probably my favorite of the trilogy? yeah. turnabout sisters still makes me emotional