#quarter plays ace attorney

[lerildeal]

doodles for a game I haven’t played in over 5 years 😔

[queencaramilflinda]

One of the things I love most about actual play shows is that you can’t necessarily guess what will happen next, because the collaborative, improvisational, randomness of the medium makes it so it is truly unpredictable on a micro scale, if not a macro one.

I read a LOT as a kid, and through that gained a very good understanding of tropes and narrative structures work as well as common plot threads. I can almost always guess what will happen next in games, mainstream television shows, movies, books. But actual play shows keep me guessing until the last second, when the whole thing inevitably wraps up in a beautiful bow and is delivered directly to my doorstep.

I love actual play as a medium of storytelling truly so so much

[sentimentalslut]

You could be an ace attorney character.

Relatively young age for a lawyer

Has Tumblr (you cannot convince me that most of the characters in ace attorney don't have Tumblr)

you dont have to do this to me -- i have a family, loved ones, please, i'm begging y---

[fioras-resolve]

real fuckin funny of capcom to call this the apollo justice trilogy when the guy has like a game and three quarters' presence as a character in it

at least this is kind of a confirmation that this is like, mostly the end of his arc? but i think actually playing these three games in the context of a complete trilogy will probably change a lot of how people conceptualize these games and the story. apollo has kind of grown on me since i started replaying dual destinies, and i know somebody who is into ace attorney but hasn't played this trilogy. so, cool stuff

anyway OFFICIALLY LOCALIZE GYAKUTEN KENJI 2, COWARDS

[three-dee-ess]

do you know why so many ds game osts sound so good?? and this isn't just nostalgia, ok maybe at least a half quarter of nostalgia but i played some ds games i never knew as a kid and the music is just so good along with the game (ghost trick, hotel dusk and its sequel, professor layton series, megaman star force 3, etc) and i'm wondering what goes on in the technical side of it to have this upgrade from the gba (no offense gba fans)

larger cartridge size (more room for more advanced instruments) and better speakers.

I'm not really a music expert though! Ace attorney upgraded from chiptunes to orchestral tracks as the series went on and id consider the DS -> 3DS to be a bigger upgrade in terms of sound capabilities

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨Weekly Progress #24✨

Playing Ace Attorney might be what's keeping me sane nowadays

Because if I get back into shiny hunting, I will most definitely not be sane.

sketched & colored 6 P-M end cards

Wrote 130 words for SFB

Posted devlogs

Thumbnailed P-M epilogue

Thumbnailed SFB art

Answered BWBOK comments

Sketched 3 SFB animations + 1 CG

Made SFB demo marketing plan

Made SFB Logo

Finished SFB Animation 4

Reviewed BWBOK comments

Lined SFB Animation 3

Lined + Flat colored SFB Animation 2

Almost done with SFB CG lineart

Wrote 1k+ words for BWBOK

A Sky of Falling Birds

You all have spoiled me with the attention you've given SYVNH, I've forgotten how important it is to start marketing the moment a jam starts. Luckily Arimia has instilled the basics into everyone in the server so I had some ideas to fall back to. It's pretty squished and I've still got a lot of work to do.

Since I originally penned the script for SFB, I had the bold idea to do some animation. It was intended to be cinematic and test my skills in animating. Well, that was before I made deadlines for myself and before considering commercialization of... any of my work.

So for what I planned to show off in the demo, I had to go back and reconsider some of the fight scenes, which I wanted to animate. I'll focus more on renpy based animations. Still simple, but hopefully still cinematic enough to entertain.

The demo is currently planned for 4 short animations like this and 2 CGs, with 2k words. I think the only things I'm testing right now is my speed, sanity, and stamina.

Pre-Make

Will this tiny game ever be finished? It's time to take a break again to meet deadlines on other projects.

The art is almost completely done now. I just have the most difficult one left... drawing a Victorian town square that'll only be used for one scene.

The Beauty Which Only Beast Knows

Initial editing has finished so I'm back to work making corrections and additions to the script!

Other

I mark down all my dev tasks each week, it's how I can make all these devlogs. This is probably only the second time ever where 2 weeks worth of tasks filled an entire page. Usually I only manage half a page or a three-quarters of a page.

[azuramarigold]

Day 3 for NaruMayo Week 2023

@narumayoweek2023

Day 3: Videogames/Pining

"Alright, so, here me out, Nick-"

            "Whatever it is that you are about to beg me for, the answer is 'No', Maya."

            Maya stood in front of Phoenix's desk with her cheeks puffed out and her small fists to her side. "You haven't even heard me out, yet!" she complained with a whine.

            Phoenix gave her an exasperated look. "When you start your sentence with, 'Alright, here me out, Nick' I just know it is going to cost me some sort of amount of money," he explained to her, pinching the corners of his eyes.

            The medium gave a small grimace while she gave the "so-so" hand gesture. "But I swear it's not a lot!" she promised. "The arcade by the high school has just got the new 'Steel Samurai vs. Evil Magistrate - Deluxe Battle for Neo Old Tokeyo: The Arcade Game'!"

            Phoenix's jaw dropped. "Why… is the title so long…?" he asked her, completely perplexed.

            "It just is!" she vaguely replied.

            Phoenix gave a loud sigh. "So… what, is this an arcade game based on the movie you made me go see with you a few weeks ago…?" he questioned her.

            Maya scoffed, "Uh, NO!"

            "Oh."

            "It's the arcade game based on the home videogame version that is based off of the movie!" she told him. "Duh!"

            The attorney rolled his eyes. "Of course," he slowly said, over-acting his words. "Silly me, how could I have ever mistaken that…?"

            Maya stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, why are we still sitting here!?" she demanded. "We need to make our way down there and get our gaming on!"

            Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Maya… I have paperwork to finish up…" he informed her. "And besides, the last time I played any sort of video game was back in grade school."

            Maya's mouth dropped. "WHHHHAAAAAT!?" she nearly screeched. She immediately ran around the desk and grabbed his hand, forcing him to drop his pen. "C'mon, Nick! We need to get you a dose of gaming!"

            The attorney's face fell, looking completely exasperated and beaded with sweat. With a sigh, he got up from his desk and began to follow Maya out of the office, his keys in hand to lock up behind him. The Spirit Medium smiled with victory as she waited for him to lock the door and they headed for the nearest bus stop.

**

"Wow… this place is packed…!"

            "Well, Maya, it is a little after three in the afternoon on a weekday, so the school just got out," Phoenix pointed out to her. "And you said the game is brand new to the arcade… of course these kids are going to want to play."

            The other games in the arcade were completely abandoned, but the "Steel Samurai" game was crowded with onlookers and a line. When Maya managed to push her way through the onlooker crowd, it seemed the two people who currently playing were playing as two players - the main character of the "Steel Samurai" himself and the secondary character, the "Pink Princess". It seemed that the duo's streak was long - they had been playing since they got there, feeding the machine constantly with quarters to keep their lives up.

            "Aw, Nick… they're not letting anyone else play…!" Maya complained to him when she sulked back.

            "Can’t be helped, Maya," Phoenix shrugged, not particularly caring. "They got here first."

            "There has to be some kind of law they're breaking by hogging the game!" Maya pouted, her cheeks puffed out.

            The attorney gave a small chuckle, "Unfortunately, no… there is not. Unless they assault someone over the game, or breaking one of the arcade rules, they are there to stay."

            Since they were there at the arcade, Phoenix figured he would cheer Maya up a bit by playing some games with her since they were all free. She had given him a small nod and the two went off. Maya couldn't help but laugh at how odd Phoenix looked in his suit playing a racing game with her.

            "You didn't give me time to change…" he had complained to her. "And you're one to talk with your robes!" The proper response was Maya beating him in the race.

            The next game they played was a zombie shooting game where they took plastic guns and shot at the screen. It had cheesy dialogue, and it was something that Maya knew by heart as she was reciting the lines with poor voice acting along side them. Phoenix was a little more decent at the game as it was an updated version of a similar game he played as a kid on a console.

            After an hour of them playing around, they had won a decent number of tickets, but Maya still wanted to at least try to play the new "Steel Samurai" game. The crowd had since dispersed, but it was still the same two people at the game. Upon further inspection - they weren't high school students, but college kids that seemed to not have classes that day and were just playing at the arcade all day.

            "Hey, do you mind if we can have a chance to play?" Maya asked politely, her hands clasped together.

            "Buzz off," one of the players replied, a taller lanky guy with dark blonde hair wearing a red beanie with the local community college logo on it.

            "Yeah, we've been here since the arcade opened," the other replied, him with brown hair with a few streaks of blue, wearing a red hoodie from the local community college.

            "We're trying to find every Easter Egg in the game since we already beat it a few times," the first one followed-up.

            Maya's jaw dropped. "A few times!?" she nearly shouted. "Okay, I get playing while the kids are at school, and you don't have classes or something… but let others have a chance after the fact!"

            Phoenix pinched the edges of his eyes. "Maya, we can come back another day…" he told her.

            The second player laughed, "Yeah, try to be here when we aren't, I dare ya! Listen to your Sugar Daddy here!"

            Phoenix's face fell. "I am anything but that…" he grumbled.

            Maya puffed out her cheeks in anger. "Oh, you guys are jerks!" she shouted at them. "Hogging the game from a bunch of kids and kids at heart!"

            "I have no idea why I'm being lumped into that latter category…" the attorney sighed.

            "We are paying customers, girlie!" the first player told her. "We can do what we want!" He then eyed her up and down. "I'll tell ya what, you can sit on my lap and watch me play, you're pretty cute." He then waggled his dark blonde brows at her.

            Maya's face twisted with disgust. "Um… no thanks…" she muttered, her crossing her arms.

            "Only way you're going to be able to play…" the guy told her in a sing-song voice.

            "Talk to her like that again and there will be suit filed for sexual harassment faster then you pressing one of those damn buttons on that console," Phoenix then growled, his dark blue eyes narrowed at him.

            The man gave a chuckle. "Oh, what are ya, some kind of lawyer? That why ya wearing a suit and tie?"

            "As a matter of fact, I am," Phoenix smirked. "And I personally know a couple of prosecutors who would love to make sure your asses get in jail."

            The second player paled slightly. "Hey man, we were just messin'…" he insisted, his voice cracking.

            "One has a whip," Phoenix continued, not caring. "And believe me, she just loves to use it… and get your head out of the gutter, not in that way."

            The second player then got up from the game, the continue screen counting down. He pocketed whatever quarters he had left. "All yours, miss…" he told Maya. He then gestured to his friend to get up.

            "Dude, what the hell!" the first player shouted at him. "You pussy, he's just bluffing!"

            "Am I?" Phoenix countered, tilting his head to the side slightly and rubbing his chin.

            With a scoff, the first player relented and got up from the game as well, pocketing his leftover quarters as well. He then bumped into Phoenix's arm as he stalked off, muttering incoherently. The second player trailed off after him.

            Phoenix let out a long sigh, which was cut off by a startled grunt as Maya threw her arms around his torso. "M-Maya…!?" he squeaked out.

            "Thank you, Nick…!" she said to him. Was the sniffle he heard from her?

            Bashfully, Phoenix scratched behind his head. "Eh… it's no big deal…" he replied offhandedly.

            "You looked like you wanted to deck him though," Maya smiled up coyly at him.

            "I mean… he was…"

            Maya gave a giggle, "I would never dream of sitting in another man's lap!" She then realized what she said, and her face turned into a bright crimson, practically glowing.

            "What was that, Maya…?" Phoenix pressed lightly, trying to hide his grin.

            "N-Nothing!" Maya squealed, throwing her hands out in front of her to push her away from him. "Now let's play some of the game! I call the 'Steel Samurai'!" She sat in the one chair and put a quarter in to select the chosen character.

            "Wait… I have to be the 'Pink Princess'!?" Phoenix said to her, clearly shocked.

            "Yes!"

            "OBJECTION!"

[wowowwild]

Ok so T&T Thoughts™:

For the most part all of the cases are very cohesive. Imo Recipe for Turnabout is the outlier here. It's truly an iconic case, but it has nothing to do with any of the Feys and I didn't notice any foreshadowing. I for sure could have missed something, but this whole time I just kind of felt like it was out of place. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, I just don't know why it's here, ya know?

Godot thoughts: I like his character. The only time that really changed was when he was talking to Franziska, and I find myself to be very sensitive to how men interact with women, that is to say I don't think he was being sexist in any situation except for that. And it pissed me off, you can find the post (nvm i found it for you), I wanted her to beat his ass (which she didn't). He was getting frustrating, but it built up and resolved nicely in the end. He even admitted that he might not have been doing everything for the right reasons and it caused problems.I could honestly analyze his character for hours, and if you want me to, send me an ask, but rn it's 1 am so I'm doing this wrap up and going to bed.

We learned this game that I ship Phoenix with at least a quarter of the men he meets. Man deserves some good things every once in a while.

This game allowing you to play as both Mia and Edgeworth truly lets you have it all. I'm playing Investigations next. If I find Investigations 2 I'll play that after and if not I'll go to Apple Juice. That is to say I want my Ace Attorney: Mia Fey game. Give it here, Capcom.

uhhhhh I'm a simp? We already knew that.

Back to the first point, The overarching story in this one is fantastically done. The foreshadowing is very good, nothing comes out of left field. This is probably my favorite of the trilogy tbh.

Best thing to come out of this game def got to be my Gummy to the rescue post which eas apparently a big hit. Gummy really do got me.

[quillandink333]

Caged Bird

Kazuma Asougi × Author

SPOILERS FOR THE GREAT ACE ATTORNEY CHRONICLES ~ Read ahead at your own risk!

Rating: M

Word Count: 1.1k

WARNINGS: consensual flirting, suggestive themes, implied sex, nudity, friends with benefits

Summary: In the privacy of his apartment, Kar(u)ma’s new plaything starts to realise he may not be as flawless and out of her league as his public persona makes him out to be.

Masterlist

Key: *Bitches – the self-assigned name of Kar(u)ma’s fanbase (i.e. Karma’s Bitches)

At a quarter to nine, after another night of shameless indulgence and overwhelming pleasure at his place (the second time that week), I awoke to the vibrant sounds of an electric guitar resonating from Kar(u)ma’s studio across from his bedroom.

I rose out of bed and threw on a set of my clothes that I’d previously abandoned here, which, to my quiet chagrin, he always kept neatly folded and tucked away in his closet until the next time he’d have me over. Once I wasn’t so naked, I gingerly made my way across the small corridor and found the soundproofed door ajar. I knocked regardless; he’d probably just been too caught up in his…whatever he was doing to remember to close it properly.

“Come in.”

I stepped in and closed the door behind me. The strumming had resumed not half a second after his absentminded invitation. As he sat criss-cross on the floor, his concentration was clear as day in the way his brow furrowed and his eyes were locked squarely on the frets. For once, it seemed Kazuma Asougi, a virtual god of all trades, was faltering. His playing was all over the place. He kept jumping back and forth between chords, and the longer he kept at it the deeper the furrow in his brow became.

Careful not to disturb him, I perched myself on the edge of the love seat in front of him. Evidently I hadn’t been careful enough because it was seconds later that he was dropping the guitar in his lap with a disgruntled huff. As inoffensively as I could, I said, “May I ask what—er…what you’re playing?”

“I’m trying to play ‘Kago no Tori,’” he answered through clenched teeth, “but I can’t for the life of me remember what key it’s in.”

“Ah.”

I knew this song well, just like I did all his others. This one I knew especially well as it was the single that had earned him his Eurovision win some years back and caused the Bitches’ numbers to skyrocket all across the globe.* I also knew it was in the key of b minor.

There wasn’t much to it, really. I just knew that my microwave at home beeped at the frequency of a B, and I could hear in my mind’s ear that it and ‘Kago no Tori’s base note were one and the same. The people around me have referred to this ability as “absolute pitch,” and I’ve since learned that it’s an extremely rare phenomenon that only occurs in one of every ten thousand people or some absurd ratio like that. In truth, I’ve had this gift for as long as I can remember.

If he’d been just about any other person, I’d have helped him out without hesitation by telling him the key he was looking for. However, seeing who he was and how hard he was struggling to figure this out, I couldn’t just tell him outright.

But then he picked up his pick and guitar and started up his pitiful struggle again.

It made my ears itch. He kept playing it in every other possible key he could have played it in. First in g, then e, then c sharp… I bit my lip. I couldn’t risk making myself out to be a showoff and frustrating him even further.

Then he started playing it in b flat minor.

My lungs were all but empty, but even that couldn’t stop me from impulsively pushing out the words, “You’re so close.”

“Hm?” He put his hand to the strings. “Did you say something?”

“No! No. Nothing. Keep going.” I sucked my cheeks in.

Then he kept going. Still just a half step off.

Don’t say it.

Don’t you dare say it.

“B.”

He stopped again, and my heart sank. “What? As in, b minor?”

“Y-Yeah…”

He fingered said chord, then put his pick to the strings and started playing the song in its original key. I’d have breathed a sigh of relief, if it weren’t for the lump of horror lodged in my throat.

He put the instrument down and looked me straight on. “How did you know that?” he questioned with a silent, “and not me,” tacked onto the end.

“Er… Lucky guess?”

His eyes narrowed. “Emily…are you hiding something from me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Close your eyes for a sec’.” I knew what he was doing, but he wasn’t giving me much of a choice. “Just do it.” I raised a hand over my eyes. “Okay. What note is this?” he quizzed, then delicately plucked a single tone.

“F.”

“No, hang on. Keep them closed.” I obeyed. “What’s this one?”

“C.”

“Alright, what’s this chord?”

“Uhh, G Major. So…G, B, and D.”

A chilling silence. I dared to peek through my fingers at him. His brow was furrowed more deeply than ever, but now with the addition of a bitter grin. “Okay…” he said as if to collect himself. “When were you gonna tell me you had perfect pitch?”

“I—”

“You’ve had it this whole time and, what, you just never thought to mention it?”

“No! It’s not that, I just…didn’t want to damage your ego or anything.”

My own words made me shrivel up like the poor potted fern slowly dying of thirst in his kitchen, as did his scoff. “Well, at least you were being considerate.”

“I’m sorry,” I lamented into my palms. “God…”

“No, it’s fine. I mean, it’s not like it’s your fault you were born with such a unique and impressive and useful talent and I wasn’t.”

To my surprise, I was having to suppress a laugh. Though I’d never thought about it like this until now, when I was witnessing him in his petty defeat, the fact that I had an advantage over such a virtuous and multitalented, not to mention competitive, person was hysterical.

But as soon as he’d said what he’d said, the gears in his head began to turn. “You know what this means, though,” he smirked.

I fought off my impudent smile. “What?”

Removing the strap from his shoulders and setting his guitar on its stand, he sauntered up to me, leaned down, and tipped my chin up with an extended forefinger.

“It means I’ve got a whole new use for you now, baby bird.”

[reddedredemption]

Among Ass Moment II

It was a busy day high in the Earth's atmosphere, inside the MIRA head quarters, where bad decisions had been made in the nano-fracture of an electrochemical signal sent across red's brain.

This is how it went down...

Me: sees black getting enveloped in shapeshifter's egg in the hallway

Me: dashes for the button as one good crewmate does

Brain: w a i t

Me: AM REALLY IN A HASTE HERE

Brain: yeah, yeah i know but-

Me: LITERALLY THE WORST TIME FOR OVERTHINKING

Brain: -but you really need check if they transitioned into someone or backwards into themselves!

Me: IT MAKES ZERO SENSE TO STOP FOR THAT

Brain: oh? fine. fine. accuse black, even if innocent. then everyone will accuse you for throwing a fellow crewmate under the bus, and the rest who is somewhat doubting that, will vote you out because you're always sus. go on, run for that button. no second guesses needed. not at all.

Me: sighes Listen... I've been playing this for a while now. It's in the body language... Black stood in the hallway, and then got enveloped in the egg... Definitely took their time in those settings to choose the crewmate they wanted to morph into... Easy hunch.

Brain: sureeeee, that logic didn't flaw you last time when you murdered your friend. she was guarding you near wires, kept you company on the ship the whole game, and you killed her in cold pursuit of victory.

Brain: i'm not stopping you. keep doing it your way, t r a i t o r

Me: Nice try, but I'm healed now! You won't guilt trip me into doing dumb things again.

Brain: ?! ...but... but... aren't you curious just a wee bit how they shapeshift back?..

Me: ignores stoically

Brain: um... err, how about this: if you run far away enough from them, but with them in sight, they won't be able to reach you for the kill; er, and then, when they shapeshift back, you'll have undeniable proof, save everyone, and win the game! sneaky you, huh?

Me: No. I'm a sensible human being who doesn't act on impulses of guilt, dangerous curiosity, or taking this game so seriously that I'd risk my life to gather more evidence. Nothing bad will happen to me even if I'm wrong. Besides, I trust my eyes, and I came here to have simple, unburdened fun that only the gaming industry can provide.

Brain:

Brain:

Brain:

Brain: c o w a r d

Me: stops

Me: sees someone in the corner of my screen

Me: Yes, it is white's double, and they run straight towards m—

* Kill Distance: U N I V E R S E *

Brain:

Brain: humms DUN DUN DUN soundtrack from Ace Attorney

Brain: so, it was BLACK who morphed into WHITE, then chased YOU down because you saw their transition. you got killed in front of OTHER crewmates because you wanted to REPORT the shapeshifter, but stopped to do an unnecessary double check. now, everyone will point at WHITE'S double, who was actually BLACK, and who planned to FRAME WHITE SINCE THE BEGINNING!

Brain: w i l d

Ghost Me: Ghost Me: You're off for the next round.

P. S.

Just a few words.

Not really that important...

It's just a game, after all.

White got voted out.

Like, every single soul voted for him.

We lost.

Yours,

Sus but not Ded

[quarterdollar]

unfortunate reminder

[veryveros]

wah

[leafy-m]

Tagged by @moongalleon22, thank you!

Tag game: tag people you want to know better!

Favorite time of the year: Autumn! Halloween and fall decorations bring me joy, and I love pumpkin pie and the cooler weather.

Comfort foods: Anything involving potatoes. Also brown rice with stir-fried veggies and a cream-of-chicken sauce. ❤️ Also I guess Kit-Kats because if I'm stressed I will just eat a bunch of them lol.

Do you collect anything: I guess the US state quarters, but it's more like when I come across one I don't have and I just stack them in a little box. Also I guess Daevabad information (I run the Daevapedia Wiki) and so I'm always checking for the latest international book editions or bookish merch to (eventually) add to the site.

Favorite drink: Tazo's Zen Tea. It's green tea with lemongrass, lemon verbena, and spearmint. I've tried other similar brands but I like Tazo's ratio the best. I like to make a big pot in the morning, have a hot cup with breakfast and then stick the rest in the fridge for later.

Favorite music artists: This is where I reveal that I like songs but don't know much about the people singing it. 😅 I think I've consistently enjoyed Imagine Dragons, Billie Eilish, Alt-J, Gotye, The Weeknd, and Linkin Park, but otherwise I always get my music on a song-by-song basis.

Current favorite songs: I recently got into The Hunger Games series so the movies' best songs (Atlas, Silhouettes, Who We Are, Place For Us, Kingdom Come, Safe and Sound) have been playing on loop lately. Also Harry Style's Late Night Talking has been on the radio constantly so that's been stuck in my head too.

Favorite fics: There's this really old 2002 Spider-Man fic by LAXgirl (Down Came the Rain, ffn) that has lived in my brain for years, I love it. I also really love LaadyNaty's Daevabad/Nahli fics, especially I See Sparks Fly Whenever You Smile & You and I'll Be Safe and Sound (ao3). I also enjoy reading my own Daevabad fics lmao, because I write them for myself first and foremost. 😂

Favorite video games: The Metroid Prime trilogy, definitely. I love the mix of exploring/archeology and fighting monsters, and the music and background detailing for the world/levels are beautiful. I love the Uncharted and Last of Us series for those reasons too, in addition to the characters/interactions which are so great. Stray is also an absolutely wonderful game, and I enjoy the Ace Attorney/Phoenix Wright series.

Tagging (if you want!): @thiswolflovespizza @sleepinglionhearts @pai-likes-pie @sapphicmipha @praise-the-lord-im-dead @e11evenseggos @bookgrotto @biorusted @beevean @homomrdarcy @shajarat @rumaan @supernutellastuff @the-sober-folly @burnwithtears and anyone I missed

[writemyaceattorneys]

Alrighty, hun. I am here today to request for none other than our beloved himbo, Sherlock. How about a yan scenario where he wakes up from a nightmare (probably about S/O leaving him) and S/O comforts him? Have fun!

Oh absolutely!!! This himbo needs more appreciation in this community!!!!! I will populate the internet with Sherlock Holmes (DGS) fanfiction if I have to, I crave more from this boi.

Spoilers: Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney)

TW: Implied kidnapping, implied threats, obsessive behaviour, nightmares

🔎Sherlock Holmes🔍

“N-no...Don’t go, don’t leave me. Not again. No, no...NO!”

Sherlock woke up with a start, immediately jolting forward as he gripped his hair in his hands and breathed heavily. The last few weeks had been particularly strenuous for Sherlock, the few hours of sleep that he got each night had been plagued with a multitude of nightmares, hours of torment that all followed one single theme.

S/O had left him again, and this time they had left him for good.

The dreams had probably started after S/O’s latest little attempt. It was roughly two months ago and he was so caught up in another case that he didn’t notice that his darling had picked the lock on their bedroom door and was making a break for it until they were already a good three quarters of the way down Crawford Street. That had been the closest that they had been to leaving him in some time and it absolutely terrified him to think that they would be out there without anyone to look out for them.

Normally, Sherlock would force himself to shake this new set of nightmares off and attempt to re-salvage his sleep. However, tonight, he just couldn’t fight that layer of fear that chilled his bones and made his throat tighten up. He found himself pulling the covers off of himself and getting out of bed. If he could just check on S/O, just to make sure that his nightmares were not some horrible vision of events that had truly occurred, then his fears could be temporarily soothed. He found himself sneaking through his flat, careful not to wake Iris up as he walked to S/O’s room. Unlocking it, he was instantly relieved with the sight of S/O who was asleep, completely oblivious to the fact that he was in their room.

Sherlock found himself walking over to their bed to watch them more closely, they looked so peaceful...so carefree to everything, a far cry from their usual nervous expression and flighty disposition. After a few minutes of just observing, Sherlock drew an arm out to gently touch their shoulder, relishing in the feel of their skin under his own, he then slid next to them, wrapping his arms around them tightly and laying his head on top of their own. After about ten minutes of him just holding S/O in his arms, he felt S/O stirring from their own sleep. They immediately seemed to tense up as they realised that something…or someone was currently restricting their movement.

“...Sherlock…? W-what are you doing?” S/O sussurated. At this point they were completely still while Sherlock slowly let go of them and sat up, S/O turned around to face him and was somewhat taken aback by his rather forlorn expression. They quickly sat up themselves and looked at him nervously as he clasped their hands into his own.

“It’s silly really, just a nightmare that I’ve been having, I just wanted to check on you. I didn’t factor in the chance that I might wake you up. I do apologise.” Sherlock rambled while continuing to play with S/O’s hands. S/O let out a short sigh before slowly pulling their hands away from his and moving them towards his shoulders before pulling him into a gentle hug. This time, it was Sherlock’s turn to tense up as he realised what was happening. A shuddered breath escaped his throat as he looked down at S/O who had gently looped their arms around his middle and laid their head against the middle of his chest.

“I-I’m sorry Sherlock..” S/O whispered while rubbing little circles into his back. Sherlock sighed and looked down at them tiredly, leaning into the affection that was being given to him so willingly. “Please don’t leave me, I was so scared….something might have happened, something could still happen.” Sherlock shuddered while raising his own arms to tightly wrap S/O into them, S/O pulled their head away to look at him, eyes wide with an unrecognisable emotion shimmering within them.

“I-I’m not...I’m not escaping, please Sherlock I promise I’m not escaping.” They begged, pulling their arms away to grip onto the front of his shirt, Sherlock took this opportunity to press them closer to his chest as he laid his head against their neck.

“Shhh…I know, I’ve just been ever so worried since that last little attempt of yours, but I know that you wouldn’t try to escape me again, it would be illogical to attempt it.” Sherlock breathed while looking down at S/O, who had let out a rather long yawn as they tiredly slumped their head against his chest and looked well on their way to falling asleep.

“Laying next to you is truly a miracle cure, my darling.” Sherlock whispered, while slowly sliding down to lay next to them. He pulled them back into his arms as he felt asleep calling him once more, he hoped that with the knowledge that S/O was wrapped tightly up in his arms that the nightmares would cease to cause him grief for the rest of the night.

[rivalsforlife]

AA7 Speculation Post: One Year Later

here we go again.

A year and a day ago, I made a speculation post about if/when we’d ever be seeing AA7. Obviously, my claim that AA7 would be announced in September 2020 did not turn out to be true, but later that year we did get a leaked calendar containing information on the new ports for Chronicles, and also plans for a new aa7, which I summarized in this post.

Now that we have Chronicles we can verify that the leaks contained legitimate information (as if a statement from Capcom saying they were hacked wasn’t legitimate enough). So that leaves us with one key question: is AA7 still happening? If so, when can we expect it? As well, what other information from the leaked calendar can we consider, especially with early sales data on Chronicles? In addition, what are the implications of this new survey on Chronicles from Capcom?

All of that will be discussed under the cut so that this doesn’t take up too much space.

Revisiting The Calendar

Once again, here is a rough translation of the calendar that was present in the leaks:

As a note, in this post, I’ll be referring to our new games as “Chronicles” to prevent this from being blocked by people avoiding spoilers.

So: this original calendar, generated before the pandemic, had Chronicles releasing in Q1 of FY2021 - and it’s also important to note that in Japan, each fiscal year starts in April 1st, so FY2021 is actually April-June 2021. This shows that Chronicles was pushed back about a quarter from their expected release date. However, Chronicles was a port of already existing games, therefore somewhat less work was needed on them - upscaling models and textures, adding in some new features like autoplay and story mode, and of course, the English translation and voicework were needed, which is still a lot of course, but less compared to development on an entirely new game. In addition to that, the pandemic hit AA7 in its early development stage, assuming this schedule was still being followed by the time the pandemic hit. That could cause more delays than expected.

So the original plan was for AA7 to be released in Q3 of 2021, which corresponds to October-December, aligning with the 20th anniversary of the series in October. While it’s a desirable goal, it’s quite likely the pandemic pushed it back at least a quarter, if not more, if not cancelled it entirely. ... haha.

We’ll only know the fate of AA7 for certain when it’s announced. Which it is possible it may never be. However, I have two theories for, if AA7 is getting an announcement, when it will be:

1) Sometime during September 2021, either in the leadup to or during Tokyo Game Show this year. These are for the same reasons as I outlined in my initial speculation post. It’s a popular time for Ace Attorney game announcements, after all. TGS, according to what I can find, will be held online this year from September 30th to October 3rd. If Capcom announces AA7 earlier in September through Famitsu, like they did with AA6 for example, then we can expect to get some information during TGS... 

2) Sometime during a 20th Anniversary Event, possibly in October 2021. I’m assuming AA is planning something for the 20th anniversary - Chronicles wasn’t really marketed as a 20th anniversary release, for instance. If they can’t release a new game for the 20th anniversary (which at this rate, seems unlikely, as we’re about two months out from that with no word about it) then an announcement would be just as good at generating hype for it.

Naturally, if we reach this time next year with absolutely no news on AA7, it’s probably safe to say it’s been cancelled or at least delayed so severely that anything we currently know about it isn’t worth much.

There’s one more point of interest on the calendar: reconsidering the porting of 456. I feel that this depends heavily on how well the Chronicles ports are doing; if it’s not financially viable to keep porting games, then why bother? So, let’s take a look at that.

The Success of Chronicles

As I write this, it’s about two and a half weeks since the release of Chronicles worldwide. So... how did the games do? It’s a bit hard to tell, especially as I am not a game marketer and don’t know the expectations for Chronicles. What is obvious is that, if Chronicles does much better than expected, porting 456 and possibly even the investigations games seems likely. (If Chronicles, indeed, does especially well in the West, than a porting of the investigations games and localization of investigations 2 after ten years could very well be possible.) If Chronicles does absolutely terribly, it damages the chances of porting, and possibly of continuing the series. If it does terribly especially in the West, where the games are essentially new, it could damage the chances of any new games being localized at all.

So, a lot is riding on this, and I don’t know enough to tell how well it did. Here’s what I have found, however:

Nintendo Enthusiast reports on Famitsu sales of Switch games, and overall thinks it’s not doing so great. Chronicles ranks third on the list of Switch sales in its first week, with 14,460 units sold, over 4000 less than NEO: The World Ends With You, which was released on July 27th. Keep in mind that Chronicles was released in Japan on July 29th, which is two days later, and that these are only Japanese sales (where they’ve had Chronicles for years on both mobile and 3DS) and only Switch sales, where NEO:TWEWY is currently only available on Switch and PS4 (Chronicles has the additional platform of Steam, where there could be many more sales). In the next week, Chronicles ranked 22 overall, with NEO:TWEWY at 23, though of course they’re still a little less than 4000 units behind NEO:TWEWY overall. Slightly closing the gap, I guess.  

How about overseas data, then? ... It’s hard to tell. I can find this report from gamespot which discusses the top 20 games sold in the US in July, and Chronicles is not on the list, while NEO:TWEWY is at 16. However, they don’t give any number for the units sold, and it seems that they aren’t considering digital sales for a lot of them, so it’s hard to tell how much of a hit that is.

However, let’s go back to Japanese sales for a bit, and look at the 2019 Trilogy re-release for a comparison against Chronicles. Allegedly, combined Switch and PS4 sales in the first week of the trilogy’s release only amounted to about 8000 units, a little more than half that of Chronicles’ Switch sales. It’s also important to note that the 2019 trilogy ended up being the only ace attorney game to sell over a million copies. Ace Attorney is not a big series; I’m sure Capcom takes this into account when considering sales data, especially for ports. If Chronicles does end up doing better than the trilogy overall, it’s definitely looking good for ports and especially so for Chronicles.

However, there’s more to this than just sales data.

The Survey

Capcom now has a user survey for Chronicles, which you can answer even if you’re partway through the first game. I believe it’s only open until September 30 2021, so if you think you can finish the game before then, I’d recommend filling it out once you’re done so that you can give the best feedback.

It asks you a bunch of questions like what platform you bought it on, why you bought it, your expectations, and all sorts of detailed questions on the various mechanics, difficulty and enjoyment of the trials and investigations, satisfaction of visuals, plot, characters, music, and even free response sections for what you liked and disliked about the game. It’s a very detailed survey that’s pretty long but I think is worth filling out. At the end they ask you to fill out some demographic questions (such as age, gender (male, female, other), country, what kind of things you like to spend money on, and what kind of games you like, what platforms you have to play games on). But what’s possibly the most interesting question is this:

“If a new [Chronicles] game is released in the future, do you think you would buy it?”

This means that, depending on the answers to the survey, they could very well decide to work on a third game to Chronicles.

This has huge implications for the future of the series. I’ll probably make a separate post on plot-related stuff later, but for now... let’s talk about logistics.

In my initial AA7 speculation post I said I highly doubted that they would ever make another Chronicles game. I also said that they probably never would be localized, so, guess who’s a clown now. 

Right now the AA series is in a bit of a dry period, with no new games having been released in the last four years. As well, with Yamazaki (the director of the investigations games and AA5/6) having left Capcom, the next director of the mainline games is completely unknown. As described in this video, the main reason Chronicles ever came about was because Capcom went ahead with mainline AA5 before Takumi could come back from the Layton crossover. Now, since 2017, we don’t really know what Takumi is working on. It’s possible he’s gone back to mainline to work on AA7 (though of course, there is absolutely no evidence suggesting that he has, so definitely don’t take that as any sort of confirmation).

However, if we do get a Chronicles 3, it’s quite likely Takumi would return to work on that, as he directed the previous two games. In addition, if Chronicles ends up being such a success to completely eclipse mainline (from what I’ve heard, though I have no serious proof, Resolve is considered as highly rated as T&T by many Japanese fans) then the series could permanently go down the road of writing more Chronicles games, leaving mainline stagnant (which, let’s be real, it’s already stagnating). The success of that is uncertain considering how neatly our current Chronicles duology wraps up, but... we’ll have to see how things unfold in the future.

For now, I highly recommend filling out the survey to give your input to the series’ future directions. Maybe mention that you want localized investigations 2 somewhere in the free response section because uhh I forgot to do it in mine. do that for me.

TL;DR

Main takeaways from this post are:

- I personally expect an AA7 announcement either during TGS or a 20th anniversary event

- If Chronicles does extremely well, then 456 ports are likely to happen, and I personally speculate investigations ports (along with localized investigations 2) will as well.

- Fill out this Chronicles survey before September 30th to give your input on the games and possibly the future direction of the series. I recommend completing the games before you do, but if you think you won’t before September 30th, you can fill it out at any time.

- We Very Well May Get Another Chronicles Game. Who saw that coming. Not me.

Thanks if you read through all of this, let’s hope September/October doesn’t leave me looking like a fool again.

[dudski]

Tagged by @succdale who did not think I would do this based on twenty years of observed behavior BUT CURVEBALL I'M DOING IT ANYWAY

Three ships:

1. Buck/Eddie 911, THE FIC FIXATION DU JOUR. Sometimes I find a son and I say "my boy needs a LOVING FAMILY" and then he meets a single dad who becomes the person who knows and trusts him best in the entire world, and whose kid he loves like his own, but the showrunners are COWARDS and CRIMINALS and it's just not going to happen, hence: the fic.

2. Buck/Taylor 911. Sometimes cowards and criminals make some points? BUCK/TAYLOR...IT FUCKING RULES ACTUALLY. I am extremely high on them this week because @succdale just watched S5 and Finally I Am Understood. It's fandom and we all know this but HAVING A FRIEND TO SHARE THESE FEELINGS WITH IS A BEAUTIFUL THING!!!!! Listen. I watch 911 with a heart full of love but also rage, constantly keeping a mental tally of a) Who Is Supporting My Perfect Son Buck Who Has Literally Only Done One Wrong Thing Ever And It Wasn't Even That Big A Deal, and b) Who Is Inexplicably Not Supporting Him And Needs To Answer For This At The Hague. AND TAYLOR SHOWS UP! SHE'S DOING THE WORK, FOLKS! IT'S GOOD! IT'S EXTREMELY GOOD!

3. Rich Joe/Poor Joe from 2 Joe 2 Millionaire. (It's not called 2 Joe 2 Millionaire but it should be.) I don't need more people to watch this show for the sake of having there be conversation around this show, because the show is whatever. I need more people to watch this show so that THE WORD CAN GET OUT THAT 2 JOE 2 MILLIONAIRE AUs NEED TO BE A STAPLE OF EVERY FANDOM WE'VE GOT. THESE NEED TO BE THE NEW COFFEE SHOP AU. The Joes can't be 100% honest with anyone but each other? They keep going on group dates with all these women where the Joes have to step away for some alone time so that Rich Joe can talk Poor Joe through an absolute meltdown brought on by this one woman that Rich Joe wishes Poor Joe would see isn't any good for him? They start and end every episode in quiet domestic bliss at THE GENTLEMEN'S QUARTERS? I don't care if anyone else ever learns these men's names but I need that one breakout hit AU to exist so that other people can be like "okay, this is exquisite" and it can become a common premise.

First ever ship: I'm going to say this was Rachel/Tobias from Animorphs. Nine year old dudski lived for that shit.

Last song: Last song I listened to was Liz Phair - Why Can't I, last song added to the rotation was Travis Tritt - Bible Belt aka the end credits song from My Cousin Vinny.

Last film: 12 Angry Men! I said it in tags already but THAT MOVIE FUCKS? Like I knew it was a classic but I was WILDLY invested the entire time.

Currently reading: I'm reading a book a week this year! I'm about to start Blood Sweat and Pixels by Jason Schreier bc the ebook was (and still is) on sale for 1.99. I read Of Mice and Men the other day because it was the end of the week and I hadn't read anything and needed a quick gimme.

Currently watching: Weekly: The Righteous Gemstones, The Gilded Age, The Amazing Race, Abbott Elementary, Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer. Just finished Yellowjackets yesterday, starting My Country: The New Age this week.

Currently playing: Adding this in! I'm in the middle of three games right now which is usually a no-no for me but eh, with these three it works. I take a break between cases in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles so I don't burn out, Slay the Spire has no story so it's easy enough to balance with other games, and I'm like two thirds of the way through A Night in the Woods.

Currently consuming: Cinnamon raisin English muffin and iced coffee...the breakfast of champions.

Currently craving: I don't really do food cravings BUT I NEED A NEW PHONE

I'm not tagging anyone this is where those years of observed behavior come back in