March 2016 - Page 5 of 5 - Samantha Lienhard

Ace Attorney 6 Cover Art, Returning Characters, and More

Video games 82 Responses » Tagged with: ace attorney, spirit of justice

Mar 072016

This weekend gave us a huge amount of Ace Attorney 6 news.

The biggest announcement was probably the return of Maya Fey, but we also have cover art, a new trailer, the Japanese release date, pre-order bonus information, a demo, and more characters.

The box art, pictured to the right, features Phoenix, Maya, Apollo, and Nayuta. When Nayuta was first revealed, his gender was in doubt, but he’s been confirmed as male.

It’s still unclear if a second main prosecutor will be featured, but Nayuta’s place on the cover suggests he’s the most prominent. It seems as though he will appear at least once in Kurain, while Leifa will appear at least once in Japan/California.

We don’t know who the detective will be yet, either. Fans went a little crazy over “detective Jesus,” but the character in question is just a witness (possibly the culprit). Let’s cross our fingers for the return of Gumshoe, Ema, or both.

Maya will be Phoenix’s assistant in Kurain, as she went there to further her spiritual training. She looks a lot like she did in the trilogy, though not identical, since she’s older.

Check out adult Maya in the new trailer, subtitled by Bolt2nd.

Apollo’s assistant will be Athena. So far, they’ve only referenced Phoenix and Apollo as playable characters, which means Athena probably won’t lead a case this time.

We don’t know how many cases there will be (I’m hoping for 6), but two bonus “non-canon episodes” are available as pre-order bonuses. One is set in Kurain and features Phoenix versus Edgeworth, while the other is set in Japan/California and features Apollo versus Klavier.

The Kurain episode also includes Pearl, while the Japan/California episode has Jinxie.

I like Jinxie, but I didn’t know she was popular enough to warrant a return, even in a bonus case. And is that Pearl and Bokuto on the stand together? Will Ace Attorney 6 have cross-examinations of multiple witnesses?

The wording suggests these bonus episodes won’t be full-length cases, but they’ll still have investigations and trial sections. With any luck, they’ll be pre-order bonuses in the West as well… and perhaps made available as DLC later on.

Like in Dual Destinies, each attorney has an alternate DLC costume, also available as pre-order bonuses: Phoenix gets Furio Tigre’s suit, Apollo gets a boarding school uniform, and Athena gets a Trés Bien waitress outfit.

Ace Attorney 6 is set for June 9 in Japan, with no word yet on its localized release date. Japan also has a limited edition, which includes a CD, tote bag, art book, and keychains.

An Ace Attorney 6 demo is available and can be played in your browser. It’s entirely in Japanese, but it’s worth a look to get a feeling for the game.

What do you think of the latest Ace Attorney 6 news? Share your thoughts on Maya, the bonus episodes, and everything else in the comments below.

Please Say Color Splash Isn’t Sticker Star 2.0

Video games 16 Responses » Tagged with: color splash, paper mario, rpg, sticker star

Mar 042016

When a new Nintendo Direct was announced for yesterday, I was excited. (If you missed the Nintendo Direct, you can watch the entire thing here.) More than anything else, I hoped the rumored Paper Mario Wii U game would be announced.

And it was.

And it was heart-breaking.

My first worry was when he referenced Paper Mario as being in the “action adventure genre.” Did they forget these are RPGs?

Then he mentioned colors and paint. I wanted to think “cool,” but all I could think was, “Why another gimmick?”

Then he mentioned Prism Island, and I felt a ray of hope. A new region! Surely this will mean new characters and an intriguing plot!

… *sees no one but Mario, Peach, and Toad*

Make it stop!

Paint Hammer… restoring color… restoring color to Toads… Toad House… no no nononono! I swear, if this is as annoying as rescuing Toads in Paper Jam…

Painting cards to start battles? What the heck? I want to believe this is like Paper Jam’s battle cards, but I can’t help but see Sticker Star’s stickers.

Special cards… GIANT FAN…

It’s Sticker Star 2.0, isn’t it?!

GameXplain looked at Color Splash in the European and Japanese Nintendo Directs as well to find more footage, but it doesn’t get any better. It shows more “characters,” but by that I mean Toads and a Shy Guy. It also shows the conclusion of a battle and Mario’s reward: coins. They just cut it off before showing his exp gain, right??

Why, why, why is this happening?

How did we go from this^* to…

*sigh*

Aside from Prism Island, the one bit of hope I see in this trailer is that the paint can appears to be a new character. While he could be another Kersti (please no), maybe he’s just the only partner or original character revealed so far.

At least the Nintendo Direct also revealed the English title for Genei Ibun Roku #FE, one of my most-anticipated turn-based RPGs. It’s called Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, a title weird enough to put Kingdom Hearts to shame… although TMS is SMT backwards! That will be out on June 24…

I don’t know when Color Splash will come out, and unless they release a new trailer showing a story and characters, I don’t really care.

What about you? Do you see any reason to be excited for Color Splash, or have you joined me in singing Paper Mario’s funeral dirge?

^{*Yes, I like Super Paper Mario. I loved its story and characters. And while it didn’t have turn-based combat, at least it was fun, something I can’t say for Sticker Star’s battle system.}

Sword of Destiny Bridges the Gap

Books, Reviews No Responses » Tagged with: the witcher

Mar 022016

For years, reading the Witcher novels in English was a tricky matter because the translators skipped Sword of Destiny. At last, that is not the case. While I read the Sword of Destiny fan translation to understand the story, I was excited to finally get an official copy.

Sword of Destiny bridges the gap between the short stories of The Last Wish and the novel Blood of Elves. While it’s another collection of short stories, it contains important details for the overall saga, particularly in the stories “The Sword of Destiny” and “Something More.”

The overt fairy tale nature of The Last Wish is gone. Sword of Destiny still contains ties to fairy tales and legends, such as the role of mermaids in the heartbreaking story “A Little Sacrifice,” but also shows more of the dark fantasy elements found in the later novels.

While only a couple of its stories directly contribute to the saga’s plot, the others are enjoyable on their own and provide additional character development for important figures like Yennefer and Dandelion.

All the elements work together well. In particular, one discussion in “A Shard of Ice” about the elven legend of the Winter Queen references a myth, contributes to characterization, sets up the short story’s theme, and foreshadows something which in retrospect is quite important to the series:

“It’s not a legend at all, Yen. It’s a pretty description of the hideous phenomenon that is the Wild Hunt, the curse of several regions. An inexplicable, collective madness, compelling people to join a spectral cavalcade rushing across the sky. I’ve seen it. Indeed, it often occurs during the winter. I was offered rather good money to put an end to that blight, but I didn’t take it. There’s no way of dealing with the Wild Hunt…” (91)

Like the rest of the series, despite portraying a bleak world, Sword of Destiny also contains some humor, through both quirkiness [at one point Dandelion mentions four princes, “exasperating brats called Putzi, Gritzi, Mitzi and Juan Pablo Vassermiller” (242)] and irony, such as Geralt denying the existence of destiny while destiny all but hunts him down.

Finally, Sword of Destiny has some emotional moments, with the conclusion of “Something More” being particularly heartwarming.

If you’ve read The Last Wish, this is the book you should read next. If you jumped straight to Blood of Elves, this should clear up any confusion. In any case, I highly recommend Sword of Destiny for any fan of The Witcher or dark fantasy.

It’s great to see this book finally available, and the last two are finally receiving official translations, as well. The Tower of Swallows will be available this May, and Lady of the Lake will follow in 2017.

And guess what? I’ve finally begun playing The Witcher!

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