dual destinies
So I finally finished Dual Destinies last night.
SPOILERS
- Aura/Metis 4EVR, right?? Like, that wasn't even subtext, that was text. I know this game is big on close friendships (which I love, I think it so refreshing to see friendships between men and women with no real sexual overtones, and men who are comfortable being vocal in their affection for other men), and I know they were drawing parallels between Aura and Apollo's losses (and I didn't get the sense that Apollo and Clay were together), but that line of Aura's when she told Simon that she wanted "more" from Metis... This shit's on purpose, man. And that is awesome. So my question is, do we think they were in love, or that Aura was in love with Metis but she never acted on it/it was unrequited?
- MILES EDGEWORTH GOES TO TRUCY'S MAGIC SHOWS AND MAKES PHOENIX FLY OUT TO EUROPE FOR VISITS.
- Also, Jesus Christ, Edgeworth's glasses. Hot damn. I seriously feel like someone at Capcom must lurk around the kink meme, IT WAS TOO PERFECT.
- And god, HIS VOICE. Edgeworth, I know you are animated, but you can totally get it.
- Oh, ahahahaah, which reminds me, Klavier's voice was fucking hilarious. He is so very Californian.
- Athena is such a fucking badass. I liked her from pretty much the start, and I think they did a great job of giving her a distinct voice, but after case 5-5? And learning how fucking brave and selfless she is? She's a goddamn hero, I love her forever.
- I know some people thought three playable characters was a bit much, but I quite liked it. I thought it granted the storytelling a greater flexibility, and I loved watching our defense team interact. Also, I haaaaate the perceive mechanic, so I was grateful that it was used sparingly (and as such was unoffensive when it did pop up).
- I also thought the Klavier and Pearl cameos were kind of throw aways, but I'm actually totally fine with that. I sort of like the idea that these other characters will just pop up because they care about what's going on, not necessarily because they're particularly useful. I liked that we got a little backstory for Klavier, and I liked that Pearl came for a visit just because the Feys were worried about their friends. So maybe they didn't provide much in terms of plot, but I do think it worked as character development/world building.
- WHERE ARE YOU EMA SKYE, LIGHT OF MY LIFE? Which is to say, I would have been happy to briefly see some other familiar faces as well. I miss you too, Gumshoe. (But mostly I MISS YOU EMAAAAAA.)
- I'm going to echo some other people when I say I am glad there was no Maya cameo, though. When Maya comes back, it needs to be an Event. She needs to be at the center of the case, if not the entire game. She's too important to Phoenix and the series, and it's been too long since we've seen her, to have her on the periphery.
- I seriously gasped and then went "What the-- NOOOOOOOO, STARBUUUUUUUUCK!" when the phantom first pulled off his Fulbright mask. Kudos to you, Ace Attorney, it was the most visceral reaction I've had to a videogame since the final act of Dragon Age II.
- This game was super easy, right? Too easy? Like, even when I had no idea what was going on, the prompts were so leading, or you had no penalty from guessing randomly. Though I liked the cases overall (espeically 5-4 and 5-5), I wish they'd tightened up the mysteries instead of giving me heavy-handed dialogue clues. (Except with the Mood Meter, because there were so many options, it was helpful to have Athena narrow it down for me.)
- Okay, now things I didn't like: WHAT THE FUCK PHOENIX, YOU HAVEN'T TOLD TRUCY AND APOLLO THAT THEY'RE RELATED AND THAT THEIR MOTHER IS ALIVE? YOU DON'T EVEN INTERNAL MONOLOGUE ABOUT IT? WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK.
- Also, did everyone conveniently forget that time Phoenix actually DID fabricate evidence? 'Cause that was fucked up, right? Though it was so very wonderful to have Phoenix back in action, I wish there had been a little more overt transition between sneaky hobo!Phoenix and shiny lawyer!Phoenix. OR THAT SOMEONE WOULD HAVE CALLED HIM OUT FOR FORGING EVIDENCE, JESUS. Someone write that fic, please.
- The way they handled Robin's "secret" made everyone uncomfortable, right? That was fucking horrible. I mean, it wasn't offensive as it could have been, but that's pretty damning praise. I think the worst for me is that it was presented as such a non-issue. "My parents were forcing me to live as a boy for reasons that were never even attempted to be explained, but hey now I don't have to anymore so that's great!" Uggggggh. Can someone more eloquent than me please articulate why this was awful?
SPOILERS
- Aura/Metis 4EVR, right?? Like, that wasn't even subtext, that was text. I know this game is big on close friendships (which I love, I think it so refreshing to see friendships between men and women with no real sexual overtones, and men who are comfortable being vocal in their affection for other men), and I know they were drawing parallels between Aura and Apollo's losses (and I didn't get the sense that Apollo and Clay were together), but that line of Aura's when she told Simon that she wanted "more" from Metis... This shit's on purpose, man. And that is awesome. So my question is, do we think they were in love, or that Aura was in love with Metis but she never acted on it/it was unrequited?
- MILES EDGEWORTH GOES TO TRUCY'S MAGIC SHOWS AND MAKES PHOENIX FLY OUT TO EUROPE FOR VISITS.
- Also, Jesus Christ, Edgeworth's glasses. Hot damn. I seriously feel like someone at Capcom must lurk around the kink meme, IT WAS TOO PERFECT.
- And god, HIS VOICE. Edgeworth, I know you are animated, but you can totally get it.
- Oh, ahahahaah, which reminds me, Klavier's voice was fucking hilarious. He is so very Californian.
- Athena is such a fucking badass. I liked her from pretty much the start, and I think they did a great job of giving her a distinct voice, but after case 5-5? And learning how fucking brave and selfless she is? She's a goddamn hero, I love her forever.
- I know some people thought three playable characters was a bit much, but I quite liked it. I thought it granted the storytelling a greater flexibility, and I loved watching our defense team interact. Also, I haaaaate the perceive mechanic, so I was grateful that it was used sparingly (and as such was unoffensive when it did pop up).
- I also thought the Klavier and Pearl cameos were kind of throw aways, but I'm actually totally fine with that. I sort of like the idea that these other characters will just pop up because they care about what's going on, not necessarily because they're particularly useful. I liked that we got a little backstory for Klavier, and I liked that Pearl came for a visit just because the Feys were worried about their friends. So maybe they didn't provide much in terms of plot, but I do think it worked as character development/world building.
- WHERE ARE YOU EMA SKYE, LIGHT OF MY LIFE? Which is to say, I would have been happy to briefly see some other familiar faces as well. I miss you too, Gumshoe. (But mostly I MISS YOU EMAAAAAA.)
- I'm going to echo some other people when I say I am glad there was no Maya cameo, though. When Maya comes back, it needs to be an Event. She needs to be at the center of the case, if not the entire game. She's too important to Phoenix and the series, and it's been too long since we've seen her, to have her on the periphery.
- I seriously gasped and then went "What the-- NOOOOOOOO, STARBUUUUUUUUCK!" when the phantom first pulled off his Fulbright mask. Kudos to you, Ace Attorney, it was the most visceral reaction I've had to a videogame since the final act of Dragon Age II.
- This game was super easy, right? Too easy? Like, even when I had no idea what was going on, the prompts were so leading, or you had no penalty from guessing randomly. Though I liked the cases overall (espeically 5-4 and 5-5), I wish they'd tightened up the mysteries instead of giving me heavy-handed dialogue clues. (Except with the Mood Meter, because there were so many options, it was helpful to have Athena narrow it down for me.)
- Okay, now things I didn't like: WHAT THE FUCK PHOENIX, YOU HAVEN'T TOLD TRUCY AND APOLLO THAT THEY'RE RELATED AND THAT THEIR MOTHER IS ALIVE? YOU DON'T EVEN INTERNAL MONOLOGUE ABOUT IT? WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK.
- Also, did everyone conveniently forget that time Phoenix actually DID fabricate evidence? 'Cause that was fucked up, right? Though it was so very wonderful to have Phoenix back in action, I wish there had been a little more overt transition between sneaky hobo!Phoenix and shiny lawyer!Phoenix. OR THAT SOMEONE WOULD HAVE CALLED HIM OUT FOR FORGING EVIDENCE, JESUS. Someone write that fic, please.
- The way they handled Robin's "secret" made everyone uncomfortable, right? That was fucking horrible. I mean, it wasn't offensive as it could have been, but that's pretty damning praise. I think the worst for me is that it was presented as such a non-issue. "My parents were forcing me to live as a boy for reasons that were never even attempted to be explained, but hey now I don't have to anymore so that's great!" Uggggggh. Can someone more eloquent than me please articulate why this was awful?