Against all of my better judgment, I’m battling my way through this shrine to Umineko. I’ve made it through Zeta’s sea of typos, GuardianDreamer’s zero pressure environment, the new meaning of “bullet hell” that Tap and Blader brought, and I’m making my way through eighthbit’s entry. It’s made me stronger; I can withstand this. I will skewer every troll, out-logic every witch, and eat every banana. Nothing will stand in my way to playing a solid mystery-based game out of this competition! (Assuming that it is a solid mystery-based game. If not, I’m suing you for wasting my time.)
5360 frames… Don’t break down at the size. You can do this.
Right, the dark, gritty case with Hobo-Nick, Apollo, and Trucy. This prologue does seem fairly similar to Downfall’s.
Apollo…? Lost? Is this an AU?
Uh oh, maniacal laughter. This can’t be good.
Him? Definitely an AU.
Your pauses are a bit too long. This is a huge problem because I can’t tell when the frame is over and when there’s another line. If I click the “next frame” button, I risk missing the next frame due to the enormous size of this case.
Frame 0178: “do”; “led”
Apollo led somebody to his death… Okay, all this is really weird.
Frame 183: “things must come”
I wasn’t too fond of that opening scene. The main thing is that I don’t like starting “in media res”. I prefer to understand everything that’s going on first.
Frame 0203: “Trucy. There”
The lack of sound effects so far is striking me as a bit off.
Phoenix’s constantly “Hmm” and “Hmph” also strikes me as a tiny bit out of character.
Frame 0262: “…killed”
Frame 0267: “…was”
Frame 0274: “was”
He won by showing she had a perfect alibi. I have the horrible feeling that she really was guilty, through some elaborate trick.
Frame 0299: “city, and”
Frame 0387: “is”
This case is really bothering me. I’m not convinced of this perfect alibi just yet.
Frame 0488: “though”, “anyway”, and “speaking of which” make the frame awkward.
Dahlia Hallows… And we don’t have a picture of her. I vaguely recall something about there being a second entry that involved Dahlia Hawthorne/Fey, so that’s one possibility. Another is that she’s an Umineko character. Or it could be something else entirely.
Naps. Of course.
Alright, so a person in disguise plans to kill somebody, and they want to get to Lure. Odds are that they want to kill Lure, but knowing DWaM, I can’t be quite certain of that.
Giving the suspected killer the alias of Entahlpy.
Alright, so “Enthalpy” is worried about being recognized by a prosecutor with a strange appearance.
So the maid is Shannon.
Ah, a locked room working against the killer.
Frame 0866: “corner, and”
Phoenix, perfect troll.
Lure spends most of her time in her bedroom? Something to keep in mind.
Thinks the Ninja is distasteful? My money is on Edgeworth.
Ah, there might not be a library, but there is a bookcase, and behind it is the Batcave.
Just as expected. Now then. The inclination is to say that Edgeworth would recognize either our killer or the person our killer is disguised as. However, we can’t guarantee that our killer recognized the strangely-clad prosecutor as Edgeworth.
Edgeworth is the Pink Princess? I’m confused.
Frame 1492: “at”
The greyscale desk slam opening animation for Edgeworth comes in front of the stand a bit. Also, my commendations for actually using greyscale.
Edgeworth changing, and not in a good way… You don’t strike me as much of an Edgeworth fan. First he was charged with murder, then he got put in an insane asylum, and now this. I do wonder who the new chief detective is, though.
Frame 1519: “Borginia, and”
Frame 1556: “but”
Frame 1565: “maybe”
Hmm… Edgeworth’s reaction is troubling.
That seems to be all with Edgeworth, so advancing to the kitchen, where all the bananas are.
Shannon’s first job… Something like that wouldn’t be mentioned without a reason.
Frame 1216: “business,” I
Frame 1232: “once, and”
An attempt to take her life years back… I do wonder if that’s what we saw earlier. That would be a bit suspicious with the maid, but not impossible.
Apparently not.
Frame 1239: “you”
Frame 1250: “is”
Frame 1387: “circumstantial”
Frame 1391: “were”
I like this maid already.
Frame 1398: “convincing”
Evidence law is barely used in Ace Attorney.
Frame 1270: “is”
Clueless Mystery. Curse you, Umineko. Curse you.
She said it in red. She said it in red. Curse you, Umineko.
Yeah, I have to disagree with Shannon on this. The best example I can think of is every cross-examination on the last part of Tomorrow. For me at least, things that involve massive leaps in logic or obscure facts are mind-breaking. I’m slower and more analytical, a bit like Edgeworth. I need the facts arranged neatly. I can’t work in an environment like the ones Shannon likes.
Fame 1306: “you”
Using that definition, Platinum might actually be considered an unfair mystery. Although, I should probably note (for future reference) that the presence of a single maid is quite suspicious.
Frame 1325: “solved, and”
Frame 1327: ‘book, and”
Apollo will snap at the chance, of course.
Or not.
Okay, things seem done with the maid… On to Apollo.
Frame 1018: “each joke, I”
On to the lounge!
… What.
We know that a guest arrived shortly before Phoenix and Apollo did. The odds are that he’s the person we played as earlier, although we can’t say that quite certainly. We know that this person wanted to kill Lure and was immediately outside of her bedroom, which Lure at one point left. This begs the question of why Lure is still alive.
Frame 1636: “lie, and”
… Lure is unnerving to say the least. Timing the music to start on that comment worked very well, as does the music.
Frame 1657: I feel that the lipsync should be turned off.
Alright, she said that in orange, not red.
Frame 1701: “government, but”
Frame 1706: Comma splice.
Nice topic change there, Lure.
Nice topic change there, Lure. x2
So Phoenix leaves… This is obviously going to be a plot point.
Well, Phoenix is an idiot.
And here’s our homicidal friend.
Frame 1818/1819: Pretty sure that one of these has the wrong nametag.
Frame 1827: Comma splice.
So, Phoenix has to be going there, but Phoenix can’t go there, and Homicidal Friend will be caught if he goes there, and if he gets caught, she’ll know it’s a trap… Interesting.
Phoenix finds himself in a locked bedroom, after being knocked out.
A portrait of Beatrice. Expected/10
Alright, there are three distinct possibilities.
1: Phoenix has played/read/watched Umineko.
2: A random character to whom we have not yet been introduced is Beatrice.
3: I was creepily accurate when I joked in Tap/Blader’s thread that they gave me the image of Dahlia as an Umineko witch. Just not the same Dahlia.
The drawers are all empty? Now that is unusual.
A child’s doll… Also strange.
The dresser is also empty.
Perhaps this is the guest bedroom?
The fact that the fridge is empty is going to be vitally important. I know it.
Vase shards. Maria, anyone?
Thus ends Wright’s debacle.
Well, we can safely conclude that Wright was knocked on the head with some unknown object. It’s tempting to say the vase shards, but that doesn’t add up. That bedroom, if I recall from earlier, was on the second floor. The vase shards had to have been just outside the room, which would imply that Phoenix must have been knocked out on the second floor. However, I’m fairly sure that Phoenix was knocked out on floor one.
I’d like Apollo to qualify that statement. For what interval does his purple hold?
I think I may have gotten my rooms mixed up.
Alright, reds apply as of March 1st gametime and onwards. Culprit is defined as a person who killed another human being.
Well, that just confirmed it’s an Umineko battle. Alright then. Breaking this locked room is going to be the hard part. There are three possibilities:
* No culprit exists. That is, it was a suicide. Homicidal Friend is a red herring.
* The culprit was in the room where the murder occurred from the period of the discovery of the scene and to the first moment when the culprit could leave.
* The culprit was not in the room where the murder occurred from the period of the discovery of the scene and to the first moment when the culprit could leave.
Imma take a guess and say that possibility two is true.
He dropped the gun. There is a balcony door behind the Homicidal Friend. It’s locked, but it’s only a few feet off the ground.
Alright, three options. Can I only pick one? “What did you do?” would be most useful, I think.
Drown in the sea of illusions? Umineko.
Nice Psyche-locks.
Frame 2425/2426/2427: Meaning uncertain.
Frame 2469: Comma splice.
Prometheus, then.
Frame 2544: “but”
I’m not getting a whole lot of specifics out of Prometheus. He’s saying that Lure was corrupt, and the whole system was so corrupt that there was no chance of correction within the law, but details would be nice.
Frame 2621: “guy, and”
He didn’t say that he shot Andrea Lure, while she was alive, and that she died as a direct result of the shot. … He shot a corpse.
Frame 2705: “months, and”
Mia Fey. Rather random, so it would seem.
Or Maya. Still random.
So they’ve accused Shannon of being an accomplice?
Frame 2825: “is, considering”
Frame 2827: “she’s”
Frame 2863: “It’s”
And Shannon had the Master Key… Well, this poses quite the problem.
… Shannon GAVE HIM the Master Key. That poses quite the problem.
Frame 2965: Comma splice.
Frame 2970: “problems, and”
Frame 2986: “key, which”
Frame 2987: “and”
Everybody is talking to Apollo in private.
What Maya said? Way to keep us out of the loop.
Frame 3111: “legally, I”
Thus ends Phoenix’s chess battle against the unknown perpetrator.
Frame 3267: “a”
Frame 3301: Comma splice.
Frame 3302: “yourself”
You did remember that Edgeworth now has to share his office with the Chief of Police, right? The lack of music is a bit annoying.
Okay… That implies significant corruption in the election of Adele. Nothing she says can be trusted.
Frame 3482: “but”
Frame 3557: “distracted”
More unclear pronouns!
Godot, back to prosecuting? I’m shocked.
Godot’s in-court finger-on-visor sprites are also improperly cropped.
Frame 3658: “years, and”
I loved that dialogue with Godot!
Rokkenjima. … Her first job ended badly. Curse you, Umineko.
Frame 3789: “the”
Frame 3840: “outsiders and”
… Umineko. Just… Umineko.
Nice unintentional HTB reference there.
Frame 4125: “as”
Well, proof that this is tied to Rokkenjima. Somehow.
Four pieces of evidence. Five psyche-locks. LET’S DO THIS.
Frame 4189: “the”
Shannon’s POV. I wasn’t expecting that.
I’m confused by Phoenix’s proposition joke.
Fame 4382: “is”
Hmm? I do have to wonder about the rope.
Alright, case one. My logic is as follows:
Suppose the death is a suicide. A stand would be needed for the man to hang himself, but there is none available. Therefore, assuming the death to be a suicide, the stand had to have ceased existing in the interval from death to discovery. The only possibility is a block of ice, but a man too poor to afford shoes would not have access to a sufficiently large block of ice, nor choose that as a murder weapon. Knifing or pill overdoses would be more effective. As there exists no viable suicide solution, the correct answer is murder.
Frame 4466: “ice, and”
… Okay, so you don’t take my logic. Well then.
Actually, there’s a hole in Phoenix’s logic. Allow me to propose a blue: The victim swallowed the key.
This second one is tougher. Alright… First, proof that a suicide or accident is impossible. No murder weapon is visible in the room. This must mean that the murder weapon was removed from the room, the murder weapon was hidden, or there was no murder weapon. The murder weapon could not have been removed from the room without human intervention (which I assume is prohibited). As for the hidden murder weapon, the only places to hide it would be the body or a loose tile. No weapon that small could explain the hole. No murder weapon-less act could explain the hole, either. Suicide can be removed.
This forces a murder explanation, and it can be achieved as follows: The host unlocked the room, let the victim in, shot him, and then locked the room. The small hole is a bullet hole. Although a bullet would be present, you only guaranteed that there exists no apparent object. A bullet hiding in the hole could easily pass inspection. Although you also guaranteed that the hole is not sufficiently large to let a living organism pass, microscopic organisms could pass, degrading that red to, “The hole is relatively small, and no significant organism passed through it.”
I like my explanation better. It’s not reasonable to assume that the basement would be prone to flooding.
So, Shannon is following a female’s instructions, and she knew how things were supposed to turn out on Rokkenjima.
Frame 4971: “being in the”
This third puzzle is so long.
This third puzzle seems impossible. I had an idea earlier, but it involved people using the windows… Ugh.
I gave up after I spent way too much time on the third puzzle. I’m disappointed with the red about the window. The liberty you took by emphasizing the word “out” in the phrase “jumping/climbing out the window” was way too much. I had spent so much time on the puzzle that by the time the matter was clarified, I was too frustrated to even read the post properly. I'm not blaming you for my inability to read the hint, but the problem should never have been that hard to begin with. I had the poisoning idea and the climb-through-the-windows idea earlier, but the poisoning idea didn’t leave a good way to create the locked rooms without the climb-through-the-windows idea (which I mistakenly rejected_, so I discarded poisoning. That you, DWAM, told me not to second-guess everything is also annoying, since you played word games to make this puzzle. I feel cheated on this one, and “put a little more trust in us” just got a lot harder to do.
… What just happened?
Um… Maya is channeling Phoenix?
