Discover Top Posts Tagged with #flamingtunapictures

colored anya from the SpyxFamily coloring book :)

#spyxfamily #anya #anya forger #punk #guitar #irridescent #digital art #coloring book #flamingtunapictures #digital coloring

Finished a new painting this week and very happy with how it came out :) Boring domestic moments are my absolute favorite.

#digital art #illustration #waking up #morning #college #couple #oh my god they were roomates #mood #ocs #digital painting #flamingtunapictures #mmmm backs

AA Spirit of Justice - Game Review

Tl:dr - A visual and symphonic triumph, this title delivers on striking visuals, a beautiful score, and a wacky, colorful cast innate to the AA DNA. Though there is absence of robust worldbuilding, the story is engaging, ending with an epic finale episode.

Spirit of Justice is one of the longest titles in mainline Ace Attorney games, clocking in at an average of 25-30 hours of gameplay. It features a cross oceanic adventure that takes up courtroom calls in the familiar “Japanafornia,” but also in the new Asianic/Tibetan-inspired Kingdom of Khura’in.

Visually and symphonically this game is an absolute triumph. The game falls in line with the latest generation of Ace Attorney games, defined by immaculate employ of 3D graphics and animations. State-side character designs and animations are some of the brightest, wackiest, and most memorable of the entire series. I have found over the years the AA witness designs I reminisce over the most tend to come from this game. The main eastern counterparts are equally visually striking, albeit not as compelling or memorable as they could have been (more on that later).

The music, per usual, metered and complimented the world and narrative beautifully. From sentimental originals like Reminiscence: Inherited Hopes, to new cultural sounds of Defendant’s Lobby and reorchestrations of classics Allegro, Pursuit, and Troupe Gramarye, there was never a reason to turn the volume down.

Gameplay wise, the game functions virtually the same as all the previous titles with the addition of “Seance Divinations.” This new mechanic allows you to behold the final memories of the deceased…in order to point out contradictions in classic AA fashion. A neat thought, however not entirely memorable or largely contributive to the gameplay as a whole. If anything, it just provides another venue for player frustration at “obscure logic” to manifest (I’m looking at you “man’s voice”).

Most importantly however, as it comes to AA games, how is the story? As I mentioned before, this game is an average of 7 hours longer than your typical AA game. It features 5 episodes instead of the usual 4, bouncing between East and West to give all protagonists equal facetime.

The first episode acts to establish the new Kingdom of Khura’in and the Divination Seance. It is quick, orientational, and full of excellent characters. My main criticism would be the generally insufferable characterization of Nick as the worst kind of tourist.*

The second case brings you back “home” and treats fans to classic Apollo/Trucy shenanigans and more Troupe Gramarye lore.

The (infamous) third episode returns you to the land of Khura’in to solve an unfortunately drawn-out and convoluted tale of death supported by a cast of uninspiring, vanilla characters. Its purpose was to establish plot points for the final episode. However, I’m not totally convinced they were necessary for the final episode to land as well as it did. For that reason, the main purpose of episode three was actually to celebrate the return of Maya Fey in the most Maya way possible: Maya getting accused of murder…again!

The fourth episode brings you back stateside for a quick one day cross-examination of kooky rakugo school students helmed by Athena and special guest Simon Blackquill. It’s a rather inconsequential episode in terms of overall plot, but I found it delightful nonetheless.

The game finally wraps up with its piece de resistance final act —Turnabout Revolution. This episode was a diligent convergence of East and West, giving both settings equal presence and relevance to the final arc. Not only did it lean into AA legacy locations/references like Kurain Village, but, much like Luke Atmey’s larceny case from Trials and Tribulations, the courtroom battle deviates from the typical murder-trial cadence. In the first act of Turnabout Revolution, Apollo and Phoenix go head to head in a civil dispute case. Gone are the too-oft’ drawn out rebuttals, ad-hominem attacks, and tangents on incompetency from the prosecution. In its place, a steady, well paced, respectful exchange is had between attorneys. The first case concludes on an ambiguously sinister note that forces the characters to deadhead east to Khura’in. It is in this new setting the final compelling plot twists, hard-hitting sentimentality, and absolutely stunning character designs are revealed.

MAIN CRITICISM

For as compelling and inspiring the final act was, there was much left wanting in this title as a whole. I think this is largely due to the Kingdom of Khura'in’s lamentable lack of depth and cultural development. Visually and musically it is executed beautifully, but nevertheless remains skin-deep. There is little for world-building fans to sink their teeth into. Consequently, characterization and story intrigue are sacrificed.

While I could comment on the gimmicky religion that is too often treated with the reverence of parody, I would prefer to focus on what I perceive to be the largest under-miner to what could have been a robust Khura’in.

There was a notable lack of consideration taken towards the use of the Khur’ainese language. Sure, there is a word or two, the suggestion of a written language, and Sahdmadhi had that one VA line (that didn’t even sound like a convincing language), but nothing sociologically compelling. The names are some of the laziest puns in the entire series, opting to just drop letters and add apostrophes to existing English words. They are entertaining, but forfeit opportunities for a believable culture in lieu of a quick laugh.

Imagine the intrigue that could be infused if two Khura’inese characters (Dhurke and Datz for example) converse in <Khura’inese> in front of Nick. It would enforce the feeling of Nick being a foreigner in a foreign land and that the Kingdom of Khura’in is its own legitimate ecosystem. *Having characters converse in their native language in front of Nick would also help abate the irritating characterization of him as the “self-righteous,” boisterous, and meddling foreigner. The lack of basic tourist etiquette killed me during this game. I understand Phoenix is the main character, but sometimes taking a third person perspective to a country sorting out their own problems makes for a much stronger narrative.

Now let’s take a look at Apollo as another example of how the use of a <foreign language> could add more character depth. The man grew up in a foreign country and doesn’t talk about it — that is fascinating. Now imagine if the use of foreign language was mixed into how that story was revealed. What if, instead of just his father showing up after 10+ years in the Wright Anything Agency office saying, “Hi Son! Long time no see,” he said, “<Hi Son! Long time no see>,” and then Apollo responds in (rusty) Khura’inese, “<What are you doing here?>” We would all become Trucy Wright in that moment, and the question wouldn’t just be, “How do you know this man?” It would bloom into, “How did you understand what this man said?”, “Wait, Apollo speaks a foreign language?” Then it would become “How do you know this man?” etc. The intrigue and layers this interaction alone could add to Apollo as a character are there for the taking…if only a second longer was taken to incorporate the use of <Khura'inese>.

Finally, the choice to not employ accents in the voice acting of the Khura'inese characters (Dhurke, Rayfa, Datz, Ahlbi, Guards etc) feels nothing short of lazy. The use of accents would have added a nice touch of texture to the already visually striking characters. If a game like Dragon Quest VIII can cast a variety of generically “foreign” accents to even its minor characters, there’s no legitimate reason the citizens of Khura’in should be depicted with the flattest American accents imaginable.

In conclusion, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice is a solid title to the main series. Though it suffers from weak world-building, its story is still largely compelling and enjoyable to play!

#ace attorney #spirit of justice #review #game review #phoenix wright #video game review #opinion #khura'in #maya fey #flamingtunapictures

FF12 has been my favorite FF game for years, but I always find myself muttering "I hate this part" when I play it...what's up with that?

For the past decade or so whenever someone would ask me about Final Fantasy titles I would always say ”FFXII (12) is my favorite!” And yet, at the same time, whenever I’ve played it (which has been about 3-4 times), I’m always finding myself muttering “Oh! I hate this part!”

Recently, I’ve been playing Theatrhythm Curtain Call and Final Bar Line…a lot, and even though FF12 (for seemingly arbitrary reasons) has remained my default answer to “my favorite FF game,” I find myself largely avoiding its song selection (Except Rabanastre, my one true love). Besides Rabanastre, I can’t be bothered to actually care about the songs. I would even go as far as to say listening to them inspires a sense of tedium rather than excitement more often than naught. (This might have more to do with the song selection too though. I'll write about that another time.)

It begs the question then…do I even like FF12? Why has it been my go to answer for so long? What was it that even drew me into the title to begin with?

I think the best place to start is perhaps mentioning the first way I truly interacted with the game. (Ok, the actual first interaction was in 2009-ish, my brother was borrowing it from a friend and I would walk into the room every now and then to see him playing it. I distinctly remember thinking every time “Weren’t you just watching that cutscene?!” I had dabbled in the game myself, but, as it goes for typical middle-schoolers, I really quite sucked at it.) But I digress.

So, back in 2012-ish, I didn’t have access to a PS3 (I know it’s a PS2 title, bear with me). I had never had the opportunity to play FF13 but I wanted to know the story, so for the next week I binged a full “cut-scene” movie (in its 43+ gloriously separate parts) on Youtube. After “finishing” that title, I saw that a similar video had been spliced together for FF12, except it was only 6.5 hours long! Clicky Clicky.

I. Was. Intrigued. The first thing that stood out to me was how the narrative pacing of the cutscenes felt incredibly cinematic in comparison to the FF13 “movie” I had just watched. Maybe it was an impression at the impressive opening video that colored the rest of my consumption, or maybe it was the uploader’s particular editing and splicing choices, but I found the narrative extremely engaging. It’s admittedly been a hot minute since I refreshed myself on the nuances of the story, so my statements will be reflecting more on my lingering impression than specifics (give me some grace please) but…

This leads me to the first reason I believe I “fell in love” with FF12. It was the first story that made me consider “maybe I like political intrigue as a plot genre?” At the time, most of the stories and RPG titles I remember engaging with were the typical fate-of-the-world high fantasy plots rife with foretold heroes, oracles of saviors, OP protagonists that held their worlds by the throat, and (ugh) god-killers. In FF12, though it does arguably fall into a lot of these tropes, there remained at its core a sense of “insignificance” to the characters when considering the entire world of Ivalice. Perhaps it was the absence of “inevitable-destinies” or that our protagonists were not “famous” due to some well-known prophecy, or that Vaan and Penelo were literally insignificant to the plot, but it all made the characters feel more relatable. Or maybe it was the sense that no one character felt unreasonably powerful in the face of their larger political foes. The geopolitical consequences of warring nations would have manifested regardless of the specific cast’s coming together. Something about the plot also felt grounded in how selfish and narrow it really was. Ashe wanted to recover her kingdom not for the fate of the world, but because it was unjustly stripped from her and she wanted revenge. It was also at this same time I started to discover a fondness for the “slice-of-life” genre where plots existed comfortably within a small, largely insignificant to the broader world, personal scope. By no means am I out to say FF12 was a cheeky little “slice-of-life,” but the first act at least did make it feel that way for a while.

Which brings me to the second reason I default to FF12 as my favorite: Rabanastre. To me, this city’s presentation felt incredibly alive. Part of this I attribute to the sheer amount of NPC’s visually present in the streets and shops. It really felt like there were people believably living their own lives in the city. On top of that the mentions of the mixed architecture (i.e Galtean versus Dalmascan) and the distinct vibe and socio-economic divide evident with Rabanastre’s Lowtown alluded to a rich history and socio-political fabric that made the world feel lived in. It enforced a sense that the world came first and the characters followed, rather than a world being created to justify the characters’ existence. I know there are a lot of good examples across media that also get this right, but there was just something about FF12’s execution that particularly resonated with me. Maybe it was the timing (I was in those impressionable middle and highschool years after all), or maybe it was the grittier approach to the colors and graphics. Maybe it was how absolutely enthralled I was with the silhouette of the Garifs (I don’t cosplay, but I want to cosplay…), but something about the world of Ivalice as presented in FF12 continues to inspire me to this day.

I think it is here that lies the real reason I’m so drawn to the spirit of FF12 even in the face of the tedium I somehow equally attribute to it. It’s much less the specifics of the story or even the cast of characters that compels my declaration of “favorite.” Rather, it is the robust world of Ivalice that inspires me. It feels so real, so tangible, like a place I could actually visit. I remember for years I would say “If I could visit any place, real or fantasy, I would want to visit Rabanastre.” I wouldn’t mind experiencing and learning that city’s history first-hand.

So is FF12 still my favorite? Realistically, probably not. I can recall a lot more things I liked about other titles. Nevertheless I don’t think I will ever entirely relinquish my fondness for FF12, or more accurately, Rabanastre. The fact that the innovative auto-gambit-based gameplay was surprisingly fun was just a bonus.

#ff12 #final fantasy #ffxii #rabanastre #ivalice #vaan #balthier #fran #video games #ps2 #dalmasca #ah mems #flamingtunapictures

Refresh to an Original character design. His name is Cache and he comes from an old 2019 project called "Cyber Skull" about cyber/computer cops. Cache is Cyber Skull's police partner and is formidable in gathering all the information.

#flamingtunapictures #character #characterdesign #originalcharacter #digitalart #cyberskull #cyberpunk #aesthetic