[I][CE] Sidelined Futures ●

[casewriter]

So, I liked the art. Had a very cute vibe to everything. The case was a bit too difficult for me not to use a walkthrough, though. I think that's less about the case being over-complex, and more about me being kinda bad at AA. Anyways, all the characters do feel distinctive.

Spoiler : :

Manfriede's my favorite character, to be honest. I know he dies pretty quick, but the perfection speech he gives at the beginning is the most memorable part to me. I've seen some other cases where the creator hasn't made the victim very memorable, but this is definitely not one of those cases.

[CodingAnt]

So, I liked the art. Had a very cute vibe to everything. The case was a bit too difficult for me not to use a walkthrough, though. I think that's less about the case being over-complex, and more about me being kinda bad at AA. Anyways, all the characters do feel distinctive.

Spoiler : :

Manfriede's my favorite character, to be honest. I know he dies pretty quick, but the perfection speech he gives at the beginning is the most memorable part to me. I've seen some other cases where the creator hasn't made the victim very memorable, but this is definitely not one of those cases.

Page 2! Woot!

Spoiler : :

Wow, a lot more people liked Manfriede than I was expecting. Glad he resonated with people! I tend to like it when the victim is actually a character that exists rather than a vehicle for the plot, though admittedly that can't always be the case. Turner Grey my beloved

[Dylan Dog]

GOOD CASE (and so promising)

Spoiler : :

I really liked how the entire story was kinda framed around graph theory, especially how the intro establishes the vibe. I was already spoiled that Painter was the culprit, and it kinda made the experience worse. In particular I couldn't help but feel like the story was forced to use the most uninteresting character as the culprit, especially when the cast is so colorful and so brimming with potential for an actually interesting killer. It just feels like a waste to miss the idea of a character's real identity and personality being at stake; Painter is indifferently uninteresting whether he is the culprit or not, which makes Edgeworth doubting himself about accusing him feel somewhat weak even in spite of his arc reason. What was cool though was how Francesca said the culprit often returns to the scene of the crime just a little after he attempted to enter the basketball court, which I immediately noticed. Logic Lines were really difficult to use (I'm glad wrong-contradiction damage was minimized but kept) but a fun idea, I've no clue how hard they might've been to implement, cementing CodingAnt as a certified AAO Wizard -- we're not just talking about an ingenious method, but it looks like a lot of frames had to be given extra actions to make the system work as it should, not to mention all the necromancy with the Places. There were sadly a lot of moments where I knew what to express but not HOW I was supposed to do it... I had to rely on the walkthrough pretty damn often. Game over screen really goes whee. The music choices from AAI and their usage were stellar. I think Francesca and Reckor were my favorite characters; their dialogue just hit different, and the latter really made the post-credits scene peak. The usage of star icons to mark the talk convo dialogue progression was also really inventive! I'm really looking forwards to more cases in this style, or even in this universe. Logic lines make gameplay feel really "three-dimensional" and out-of-the-box compared to the usual AA -- I loved when I had to go back to the scene to continue a CE, like a combination between regular CEs and Psyche-Locks. Just one question, though: wouldn't it have been easier for using a logic line in an empty place to just do nothing instead of kicking you out of the examine screen outright? Overall, a super innovative case with a good grasp of pacing I wish I had (the only time it ever felt rocky was the ending before the credits, which felt a little too quick). Not to mention the mystery was really well-made.

P.S.: The laptop examine with the case comp stuff was really funny, it's like badge presenting 2.0. And random thing, Francesca being nicknamed "France" threw me for a loop because it would only ever work spelled the English way, assuming it's supposed to be Italian (where it would be roughly "Francè" with the "c" being pronounced like the "ch" in "chair"), and in that case it would be strange as a general nickname for everyone (too affectionate-sounding?). But in this anglophone context it works, obviously, I just had to reboot my Italian brain for a sec haha

[CodingAnt]

said i was gonna respond to this when i got back from australia and had access to my computer. i soon forgot. whoops! at least i got to it eventually. Responses in red.

GOOD CASE (and so promising)

Spoiler : :

I really liked how the entire story was kinda framed around graph theory, especially how the intro establishes the vibe. I was already spoiled that Painter was the culprit, and it kinda made the experience worse. In particular I couldn't help but feel like the story was forced to use the most uninteresting character as the culprit, especially when the cast is so colorful and so brimming with potential for an actually interesting killer. It just feels like a waste to miss the idea of a character's real identity and personality being at stake; Painter is indifferently uninteresting whether he is the culprit or not, which makes Edgeworth doubting himself about accusing him feel somewhat weak even in spite of his arc reason.
Sorry you were spoiled. I hope the Leon Kuwata comparison was worth it.
Trey was actually planned to be the culprit from the very beginning, so it's less like I was "forced" to use an uninteresting character and more like I just failed to write him interestingly. Aside from, perhaps, the post-credits scene, which I view as some of Trey's best characterization.
What was cool though was how Francesca said the culprit often returns to the scene of the crime just a little after he attempted to enter the basketball court, which I immediately noticed.
Haha, yeah, that was totally intentional...
Logic Lines were really difficult to use (I'm glad wrong-contradiction damage was minimized but kept) but a fun idea, I've no clue how hard they might've been to implement, cementing CodingAnt as a certified AAO Wizard -- we're not just talking about an ingenious method, but it looks like a lot of frames had to be given extra actions to make the system work as it should, not to mention all the necromancy with the Places.
Thanks for the compliment, but I really do reckon anyone could've done it with enough patience. I have very minimal programming experience (despite what my name would imply) and mostly just made use of simple variable shenanigans, just repeated a lot. Thank the Takumi-Verse theme more than anything, that's what inspired me to use this gameplay mechanic at all.
There were sadly a lot of moments where I knew what to express but not HOW I was supposed to do it... I had to rely on the walkthrough pretty damn often. Game over screen really goes whee. The music choices from AAI and their usage were stellar.
I think Francesca and Reckor were my favorite characters; their dialogue just hit different, and the latter really made the post-credits scene peak.
Based opinion. France and Reckor truly are epic.
The usage of star icons to mark the talk convo dialogue progression was also really inventive! I'm really looking forwards to more cases in this style, or even in this universe. Logic lines make gameplay feel really "three-dimensional" and out-of-the-box compared to the usual AA -- I loved when I had to go back to the scene to continue a CE, like a combination between regular CEs and Psyche-Locks.
Just one question, though: wouldn't it have been easier for using a logic line in an empty place to just do nothing instead of kicking you out of the examine screen outright?
I wouldn't say so, for the main reason that it doesn't provide a lot of feedback for you. Even still keeping the "I can't make a logic line here" frame, if you stay in the examine screen, it wouldn't be clear if it kicked you back to placing the first or second node, which could cause some confusion. It's a good idea in theory, though.
Overall, a super innovative case with a good grasp of pacing I wish I had (the only time it ever felt rocky was the ending before the credits, which felt a little too quick). Not to mention the mystery was really well-made.
Thanks! It's a minor miracle the pacing worked well for you given the open-area structure of this case, haha, it certainly wouldn't be that smooth for everyone. But I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for playing!

P.S.: The laptop examine with the case comp stuff was really funny, it's like badge presenting 2.0.
Maybe this is what QotU is about.
And random thing, Francesca being nicknamed "France" threw me for a loop because it would only ever work spelled the English way, assuming it's supposed to be Italian (where it would be roughly "Francè" with the "c" being pronounced like the "ch" in "chair"), and in that case it would be strange as a general nickname for everyone (too affectionate-sounding?). But in this anglophone context it works, obviously, I just had to reboot my Italian brain for a sec haha

[risefromtheashes]

(Sunny, they/any)
I made a couple of memes for this case. (Spoilers for Sidelined Futures and Danganronpa 1-1)

Spoiler : :