#fernandolemon

Dear Anonymous,

Co-Mod: Their friendship (or friendly rivalry) is one of the best parts of the series in my opinion, mostly because of how many changes it goes through.  They start out being childhood friends turned courtroom enemies in the first game, followed by reunited friends after Edgeworth’s trial, followed by estranged friends after his sudden departure, until they’re finally close friends and trusted allies in the fight for justice (but still willing to go at each other’s throats as part of that fight).

Oh, and...

Thought I’d thrown in some variety there.

(Previous Letters: #10, #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1)

Dear FernandoLemon,

Nope.  What would surprise me is if any of ours made the list.  We’re all pretty decent at character portrayal and humor, if I may say so, but competing with the Mod is an impossible feat for us.  He’s someone who knows how to squeeze every last drop out of Ace Attorney’s hilarious cast.

(Previous Post)

Dear Inferno,

Is this the one?  That was me.  Bullets’s name lends itself to some great potential for puns, doesn’t it?

(Video in Letter)

Dear Anonymous,

Hey, if it means having a wife who calls me “especially handsome,” I’ll shave the thing right off.

Dear skibot99,

That's a hard question to answer, honestly.  As I’ve said before, I’m not prepared to give up hope for a new Ace Attorney game just yet, but I might be willing to give the series a final farewell if we don’t see anything new by the end of the year.  We’re not there yet, though, so I guess we’ll see.

Speaking of series that have been in a “drought,” I just recently started playing Paper Mario: The Origami King (the last two Paper Mario games were both a bit of a letdown, as you may know), and so far, I’m not disappointed.  Call me optimistic, but if (pardon the expression) turnabouts like that can happen for one series, why not another?  Again, we’ll just have to wait and see.

(Previous Letter)

Dear Inferno again,

The idea behind that picture was the Proto Badger trying (in a silly way) to look scarier than 2020, but you might have a point there.

Dear Guquis,

(Source)

I use the Mod’s old sprites for most of them.  For example, this monstrosity was born from this one.  I never thought I’d be recycling horrific images on the internet (especially as someone who hates horror), but sometimes life is funny.

(Video in Letter)

Dear Starry,

Congratulations on finding a wholesome Phoenix Wrong video, first of all.  Most of the ones I find are a little more on the “wrong” side, so thanks for sharing this one.  Here’s a Co-Mod Seal of Approval for it:

I’d suggest sharing that video with any of the main characters, except  Edgeworth, for obvious reasons.  Or go ahead and share it with him if you’re feeling a bit sinister.

As a side note, I can easily see that being what von Karma’s voice sounds like.

(Previous Letter)

Dear Trearoos,

I’m actually one of the few remaining gamers who haven’t played Undertale, but I watched both jacksepticeye and Markiplier’s let’s plays of it.  That letter happened to remind me of Fr the main character attempting to explain anime to Asgore.

Dear Anonymous,

I was going to say that sounds like a bit of a stretch, but then I remembered...

The “warning from Blaise” theory sounds a little far-fetched (I imagine she would’ve acted more afraid of him in that case), but the “harmless prank” idea is believable, and might even explain why she became a judge.  It’s from little misdemeanors like that that bigger crimes stem, after all, and who better to put a stop to them than an angry judge/mother?

(Previous Letter)

Dear jnv11,

That’s true, except that Miles said it was every defense attorney he talked to who turned him down.  If we assume he never talked to Raymond (which isn’t too hard to imagine), then no canonical error exists.  Raymond could’ve even been in a different country, for all we know.

Best of luck with your job and the move, by the way.  I know how big a pain both can be.

Dear Esn,

In all seriousness, there have been a few instances like that, but I prefer not to make a big deal about it.  What’s done is done.

(Previous Letter)

Dear FernandoLemon,

Heh...  How about that?  I guess he was hoping I’d become a musician like him.

It’s kind of weird how our professions ended up reflecting the other one’s name.  Maybe it was some sort of divine prank?

(Previous Letter)

Dear Mind Reader,

Huh...  Not bad.  Let me try to guess what’s going on in your mind now.

Probably a bunch of laughter and gloating?

(Previous Letter)

Dear Infinity Sparks,

It’s been fixed, and you can feel free to tell either of us about any errors you spot.  Whichever one of us sees it first can fix them.

That might become a possibility somewhere down the road (and I’d sure love for it to work out that way), but for now, we’re taking turns answering letters individually.

And as far as I know, the only real purpose for the tags is to clarify if a letter is meant for a moderator rather than a character, so it really doesn’t matter which one(s) you choose.  You can just use the “to mod” tag for letters to all three of us, if you prefer.

Dear supercykes,

Yes, but only for sprites in the courtroom and in her waitress outfit.  If others exist, we haven’t found them, so we’ll have to stick to the Mod’s gifs for when she’s speaking directly to the player.

(Previous Letter)

Dear Annoying Anon,

Technically, Phoenix already saw her in the outfit, so it’s not entirely private.  Besides, who ever heard of privacy on the internet?

(Previous Letter)

Dear Roadhog360,

I put the translation in a tag for that letter -- that’s what it was, not a comment I was making.  Sorry if that was confusing.

Dear C Ranked Gouken,

Thanks for your concern, but I’m not too worried.  We have some good lawyers here if we ever need them.

Dear John,

I glanced through the inbox, but I didn’t run into any of your letters.  It could be that the Mod removed them, that we just haven’t reached them yet, or that Tumblr botched them up (the latter being the most likely).  You can try resending them if you still want them to be answered.

Also, while I’m at it, I apologize for Mod letters taking so long to be answered.  We’ll try to answer them at least once a week if it’s possible, in keeping with the Mod’s methods.

Dear naitomeruu,

I haven’t read any Ace Attorney fanfics, so you’ll have to fill me in there.  In any case, we’ll most likely keep our identities a secret for the time being, but I will say this much -- one of us is from the U.S. and the other is from Canada.  How cool is that?

The Modthorne has gone by that nickname since I’ve known her (referring to her favorite Ace Attorney character), and I sort of came up with my nickname on the spot.  Sorry if they weren’t what you expected, but that’s life.

(Previous Letter)

Dear Inferno,

Thanks!  I can’t take all the credit for it, though.  The submitter practically asked for Dhurke’s catchphrase in the way they wrote the letter.  In fact, I don’t think I would’ve seen the joke there if I hadn’t recently read a similar letter while scrolling through the inbox.  Thank goodness great minds think alike.

Dear FernandoLemon,

Heh heh!  Thanks!  I’m a big fan of double meanings, and I thought that was a pretty cool movie too.  I’m super glad that our writing styles are working to make the characters “sound” the way they should, and I’m also glad they’re hard to tell apart.  Here’s one thing you can know for sure – I won’t be answering my own letters.  I mean, that would just be weird.

And yeah, we have our disagreements about some of the characters (Dahlia especially), but we’re both big fans of the series, which is all that matters to me.

As of right now, there are 17 letters in the queue (and I’m about to add some more), but the inbox has a total of 2,421 unanswered letters.  It’s both daunting and exciting to see such a high number in the inbox.

Dear SC,

(Yay, I’m doing good!)

Thank you for the feedback.  I actually hadn’t ranked the games before, so it was mostly off the top of my head.  I graded each one mainly by how much it affected or impressed me.  While they all contain meaningful stories and fun gameplay, there are only a few that really immersed me in the plot and made me feel like it was really happening.  (Dual Destinies even made me drop my jaw at one point!)  Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Apollo Justice were enjoyable, but they didn’t quite “grab” me in the same way.  Not to mention, the first game contained a lot more foul language and innuendo, which just aren’t my thing.

The most underrated characters in my opinion would be Maggey Byrde, Adrian Andrews, Iris, Rhoda Teneiro, Lauren Paups, and Apollo Justice.  Sure, they’re not always the best people, but you can’t fault them for not caring, can you?

And I’m going to guess you were joking about Iris, but in case you weren’t, I was referring to her sister.  Iris is awesome.

Dear Infinity Sparks,

Co-Mod:

Thank you very much!  I’ll take any Ace Attorney questions you have, but I’d probably prefer not to be on an actual game show.  I’m not very comfortable with cameras...

Dear Infinity Sparks,

Co-Mod:

Not a problem.  We both happen to be sticklers about spelling and grammar, so I’d actually insist that you point out errors like that.  Thanks!

Dear iamx-love,

Modthorne:

Heh, my favourite Ace Attorney character HAS to be Dahlia Hawthorne or Betty de Famme. I’ve always been an antagonist lover, and Dahlia felt like the perfect little demoness. And Betty seemed like a more violent version of me. As for my least favourite character, I would have to say... Either Manfred von Karma, or Phoenix Wright himself. Von Karma is for obvious reasons. Phoenix feels undeveloped, and he seems to only know what he’s doing when he’s working AGAINST the player. Call me crazy, but that’s how he acts to me.

Co-Mod: 

My favorite character and games are listed in a letter below, and my least favorite character...actually, I’m not even going to mention her by name.

In fact, if I could change one thing in the AA universe, it would probably be her attitude near the end of Trials and Tribulations.  That poor soul has some serious revenge issues.

Dear thereminbeholder,

Modthorne:

Thanks for the congrats! I can’t wait to see all the letters we get. Some of them are actually really funny, and some are really unique questions. It’s really exciting!

Co-Mod:

Thanks a lot!  I’m already having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, and I have a feeling the Ace Attorney crew will be a fine group of people to work with.  Although I am a little concerned about that whip-happy lady with the German accent...

Dear Chris,

Co-Mod:

That’s a fair question, and I’m glad you brought it up.  Technically speaking, we didn’t buy the game (although you can bet we would have if we could), but at the same time, we’re not actually playing it.  We’re simply viewing it and emulating the characters found in it.  While watching a video of someone else playing a game is fun, it takes away the interactive aspect of it, which is what I believe I’m paying for when I buy a game.

So, to me it’s the same as watching a friend’s video that he or she bought.  On top of that, the fans who were nice enough to translate it for us English-speakers didn’t ask for anything in return, so why look a gift horse in the mouth?  I’m sure even Judge Courtney would agree.

Dear Eveshowrtc,

Thanks! The “To Modthorne” tag has been added already, so that’s a good update now. Now you can ask to specifically me or the Co-Mod. It’s a lot more organized~!

Dear Inferno,

I can do this job while I’m in high school because my high school is unique and I don’t get a lot of homework. That will change in september most likely, but I’m sure I’ll still have enough time for this.

Dear FernandoLemon,

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the link to the typo. The Co-Mod captured this for me while I was busy, and he didn’t save the link for me. But by the way you’re wording it, I’m sure it’s not too bad. If you would like me to look at it, maybe you could send it to me on my main blog, prcttylittlcnightmarcs.

Co-Mod:

Edit: It’s been fixed!  Sorry about that.

Dear SC,

Not at all -- questions are what I’m here for!

My rankings for favorite games, from top to bottom, are as follows:

1. Dual Destinies

2. Spirit of Justice

3. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

4. Trials and Tribulations

5. AA Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

6. AA Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Path

7. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

8. Justice For All

9. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

(As an interesting side note here, this is one of those rare series where I rate sequels as being better than their predecessors.)

My favorite music from the entire series is undoubtedly the Pursuit theme from Dual Destinies, Keep Pressing On.  No other song sounds quite as epic and invigorating, and it just fits beautifully with the “Now we’re getting somewhere!” atmosphere of the game.  A close second would be the Pursuit theme from AA Investigations, Lying Coldly.  I’ve also always enjoyed the Turnabout Sisters’ Ballad from the trilogy.

My favorite protagonist (and overall character) would have to be Athena Cykes, since she and I have a lot in common, and since she’s just plain awesome.  My other favorites are:

Rival: Miles Edgeworth

Assistant: Maya Fey

Villain: The main villain of AA Investigations 2, whose name I won’t divulge

Main Character: Phoenix Wright

Victim: Mia Fey

Witness: Phineas Filch

And as the Modthorne has recently announced, letters to characters in Gyakuten Kenji 2, known in America as Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Path, will now be just ‘kay!

For those who are wondering, we’ll be using the names given to the characters in the fan translation of the game, which can be viewed here.  I would advise watching it if you haven’t in order to prepare for their letter responses.

And finally, my personal favorite Ace Attorney moment had to be this one.

You can tell Capcom wants the moment to be special when they reserve an animation for that part alone.

Dear Inferno,

Thank you very much!  I’m looking forward to it as well.  I’ve done some roleplaying before, including doing a few fun threads with the Modthorne, but never to this degree.  Here’s hoping we can keep things running as smoothly as they have been under one Mod’s supervision.

And by the way, an equal thanks to everyone who was nice enough to include some encouraging comments on my introductory letter.  I can tell this will be a great community to join.

(Original letter)

Dear FernandoLemon,

Let’s see if I can’t get a black out.

Dear Reel Neh’mu,

I haven’t watched it yet, no.  I should do that since the chances of seeing DGS stateside are slim to none.

As for AA7′s inevitable alliterative title.  How about, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Gumshoe’s Game?

Dear Anonymous,

I don’t have any way to play patched 3DS roms, so I’ll just have to catch it on YouTube.

Dear Fax Clip,

I do, but I don’t post anything on it and it’s in no way related to this blog.  I just have it to follow a couple things and in case I need an account to vote on something or submit something sometimes.

(Links in letter)

Dear Maya,

Welcome to politics.  Prepare to have everything you’ve ever done paraded out in front of the nation.  At least you’ve never made people sick by being under-cooked like that dastardly ham sandwich.

Dear FernandoLemon,

My favorite scary letter would have to be something Proto Badger related.  Likely the first one since it got it all started.

It’s hard to say what my favorite awesome letter would be since the characters don’t have as much room to shine in just text.  Maybe this one to the phantom?  That’s a harder question than it sounds.

Dear A’nohn Ihmus (TBD),

The wordings might be a little different, but they’re still the same sentiment.

I think the theory that the phantom is Athena’s father is ridiculous, considering he was an emotionless spy that murdered Metis.  He was only there to sabotage the place, nothing else.

Dear James CyberLink,

Not every letter will make it through and I didn’t feel that a joke about spying on a girl in the bathroom was appropriate enough.

(Original letter)

I thought it was a simple enough riddle so I didn’t need to look up the answer.  That’s the sort of thing where, when presented in the form of a riddle, you always pause for a second and consider your options.  As Mia would say, think outside of the box.  Outside of that box was a plug.

Because she’s the CEO of the Wright Anything Agency.  She’s just the lady for the Anything jobs.

It would definitely be shocking, but I don’t think it would be in line with the spirit of the games.  You never actually hurt anyone in Ace Attorney and that’s a conscious decision.  Our heroes are the heroes.  AA is about being met with insurmountable odds and slowly overcoming them bit by bit.

We’ve had people collapse on the stand and rushed to medical care before and that’s likely the most we’ll see.  None of the main characters in Ace Attorney is ever responsible for death, not even in an accidental instance.  I really don’t want to see that change.

Dear Anonymous,

I didn’t read it.  This is all you need to know about IGN’s reviews:

The 6.5 they gave it comes in lower than Imagine Party Babyz too, I might add.  Never trust numbered reviews from a single person and never trust IGN.  They haven’t been a reputable site since their IGN64.com days if you ask me.

The review of SoJ you want is from other Ace Attorney fans.  They’re the people who would have an actual credible grasp of what makes a good AA game, not someone who gets paid to keep saying how great CoD is every year.

My SoJ review: Best AA games since T&T.

Dear Raye,

You’ve brought up a problem a lot of people have with AJ.  Bother Manfred and Edgeworth have presented forged evidence before and they just got a slap on the wrist, yet Phoenix gets disbarred and ruined?

But let’s talk about that bloody ace.  Evidence points to Trucy being the actual forger since Phoenix was arrested and couldn’t have had the ace on his person.  Protecting Trucy by claiming it was himself is every bit in character for Phoenix.  He’d sacrifice himself for a friend or loved one without a second thought.

Using it in court isn’t really a Phoenix thing to do, but I think the key here lies in lawyerly technicalities.  The ace was never officially accepted as evidence.  It was just used as a trap to keep Kristoph on the stand and keep pressure on him because if he declared the card as a fake, he’d be giving himself away.  Phoenix has lied about evidence before to Furio Tigre.  It wasn’t forged then, but our usually altruistic hero isn’t stupid and he isn’t above playing dirty when necessary.

I can’t say I like it, but thematically I think it’s supposed to show Phoenix’s desperation after those seven years.  He spent all that time investigating his disbarment, pretending to be friends with Kristoph, all the while building his master scheme.  Unfortunately, he had to become the forger they claimed he was to get his name cleared.  Ironic, right?  Well, if it wasn’t actually accepted as evidence, it wasn’t really a crime, right?

Right?

Wright?

SOJ SPOILERS UNDER HERE!

Dear Michael,

I’m honestly not sure.  I try to keep chains short if at all possible just because I don’t want to start creating stories or AUs here.

Dear dystopia-in-neon-colors,

Now this one is easy.  It’s not even a contest.

Your next click is...

Dear anon,

That’s a difficult question to answer.  At the end of AJ, one of the options he gave besides retaking the bar was taking piano lessons.  Maybe he’d actually become a pianist of some regard.  I’m glad he got his badge back instead.

Dear Inferno,

If they do, he’ll probably be murdered so she can be accused... or he’ll be accused of murder so Phoenix is forced to defend him.

I couldn’t imagine them tacking on a romance to a main character because that character would have to be “main” also.  There are already too many important people to have them all relevant to the plot all the time.  Poor Trucy’s barely hanging on as it is and had to be accused of murder just to have a role.

Dear You,

I’m already doing what I think is best and that’s just not allowing GK2 asks.  Given the situation, I don’t even know those characters as well as I do the others, so I don’t think I’d give proper replies anyway.

Dear Anonymous,

Generally, stick with it and trust your own judgment.  When all you’re doing is running the site, that’s the easy part.  When actually acting as administration, just be as fair as you know how to be.  Some people might be unhappy or even offended, but that’s always going to be the case.  Don’t let it get you down or make you think you’re doing a poor job.  In the end, it’s your page and you have to do what you’re comfortable doing or running a blog just becomes a job you don’t want to do.

Though, on that note, be open and talk to your followers and viewers.  I get a lot of mail and some of it I can’t even begin to answer... but I try to anyway.  You don’t have to answer everything, but having an open line of communication at least gives the impression that you’re a real human being and not an artificial intelligence harvesting their brainwaves through the internet.

Wait, forget that last part.

Dear Anonymous,

Why, I do, of course.  I also transpose Pearl’s replies to help her with the words.

(Original letter)

Dear Alita Tiala,

Since always.  Why, does something seem amiss?

Dear FernandoLemon,

Thanks for the heads up.  Everyone else, take heed.

Dear Bagadew,

During gameplay, the text is all on the top screen as normal.  As for cutscenes, I don’t remember there being any subtitles at all.  If there was an option for them, I’m not sure where they appear.  If anyone else out there has an answer, please leave it as a note.

(Link in letter)

Dear 589,

It’s happening!

The parrot is named Bud, though, not Polly.  He sure did jump the gun, though.  Still, a parrot testifying in court in the year 2016 is good enough for me.  Don’t forget DL-6.

(Link in letter)

Dear Anonymous,

We can’t say we’ll never get it, but we also aren’t told what those “circumstances” are.  It could be something as simple as not having a team available to localize the game or something as damning as Capcom not believing they’ll get a significant return on the title and just not wanting to do it.  She’d obviously love to do it.  Janet Hsu has made it clear she loves the series and I believe her.  Unfortunately, she doesn’t get to make the decision on whether or not she gets to localize DGS (or AAI2 for that matter).

Dear grapejuice,

It’s a hard fought battle between Phoenix, Maya, and Godot.  They’re all big favorites of mine.

Dear Danielle,

Simon not having a quote from meeting Godot in “the clink” is one of my DD regrets.

Although I’d like to see Godot meet Lana Skye, preferably with Mia involved too.  I want to learn about the old guard before Phoenix and the gang.

Dear crazyarielxd,

Gameplay wise, my favorite is probably the Mood Matrix.  I’m not a huge fan of it narratively, but they kept doing interesting things with it to keep it fresh and I quite enjoyed it in the game.  My least favorite is probably Perception just because it’s more of a pixel hunt than anything interesting or logical.

My favorite filler case is probably Recipe for a Turnabout because I really like Furio Tigre and it was still a pretty solid case just by itself.

(Original post)

Dear Aurora-002,

Phoenix would be #1 for sure.  Mia would be a lot higher too.

(Original post)

Dear Anonymous,

I wouldn’t be surprised if Capcom took these polls into account, but I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock in them.  They were conducted by Famitsu and are not official Capcom research or anything.

When Wendy Oldbag and the Blue Badger make the top 10, you can’t trust things completely.

Dear Anonymous,

Just his job.  Edgeworth has made it pretty clear he has no romantic intentions for anyone and is not even the least bit upset by that.

(Link in letter)

Dear Anonymous,

Mystery solved.

(It’s not a spoiler or even from SoJ.)

(Original letter)

Dear Anonymous,

That was a story I heard a long time ago but I don’t remember where exactly.  Probably a class or something.  I probably got a few of the details wrong.  The point is, I felt Edgeworth would dispense something like this instead of giving actual relationship advice because, well, he’s not the best person to ask.

The gist of the story is basically “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” or, to be more accurate, “one man might have treasure he never knew he had”.  Yet with that comes the inherent risk of losing everything.  It’s basically really flowery non-advice.

Dear Anonymous,

I sort of view him as the mandatory sidekick character.  I haven’t seen him have any real plot relevance outside of being a witness in PLvsAA, so to me he’s just kind of there.

I’m sure he’s more important in the actual Layton games but I’ve only played the first one and he wasn’t important in that one either.  At least I don’t think he was.  I don’t really remember.

Dear Inferno,

Absolutely.  I think that would be a terrific way to bring back Franziska without having her just be a shoehorned cameo.  Franzy’s niece can be the new prosecutor and then her sister can be the final boss.

E3 this year was a little lackluster over all, but Breath of the Wild was easily game of the show for me.  It looks incredible.  It’s still Zelda, but it’s taking just enough from other games (Skyrim, Dark Souls, Dragon’s Dogma, etc.) to give it a new feeling instead of being the same old (admittedly still fun) OoT formula.  I hate weapon durability in all forms, but when that’s the biggest gripe about what I saw, you can bet your pants I’m excited for this game.  It’s Nintendo’s take on systems in other titles and that’s usually a good thing.  I mean, their take on “third person shooter” was Splatoon.  I want Zelda right now.

Resident Evil 7′s P.T. demo definitely has my interest too.  I love seeing the internet come together to try and crack something.  Although people are running out of ideas and we still don’t know what’s up with the axe and dummy finger.  I just hope it’s a good solution and not something Capcom has to patch in.  If the demo can’t be solved in its current state, my interest goes right out the window and my thumbs up turns into a middle finger.

Also on the Capcom side of things is Dead Rising 4.  After 3, it looks like they’re decided to just go as goofy and hokey as possible and I’m fine with that.  It’s Dead Rising.  The purpose of that game is to dress a pudgy man in a lady’s sun dress then push a zombie around in a wheelchair to run over other zombies then drink orange juice until you puke.  We don’t need a serious story here.

I’m interested in Death Stranding solely because it’s Hideo Kojima’s first title from his new company.  Otherwise, Norman Reedus’s Naked Butt Simulator 2017 doesn’t hold any appeal for me.  Kojima is a bizarre man.

I’m a big fan of Microsoft releasing everything on Window’s 10, so no one has to buy an Xbone for any reason.  You don’t even have to buy the two new Xbones they announced this year either.  Xbox, go home.  You’re drunk.

Finally, the VR craze has got to stop.  I get that this technology might become something amazing, but right now it isn’t.  It’s a bunch of tech demos with all the depth of a mobile game attempting to support your decision to buy a doofy looking headset.  I get that all technology has an infant stage, but a lot of it just dies.  Remember the year Sony was pushing 3D TV super hard?  Yeah, that went nowhere.  Virtual reality is everyone’s dream.  We all want video games on the Star Trek holodeck.  However, right now, all we have is this... and this.