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Executor Akamia

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Just now, UleTheVee said:

What do you think about Manfred Von Karma now?

Hahaaaaa...

Okay, before I answer this – this being a public forum and all – I need to give everyone else some context in case they're at all familiar with Ace Attorney, otherwise it'll be a "WTF" moment. If it's a "WTF" moment regardless, I'd rather it was for the right reasons. 😛

Alright, so a while before this question was asked, Ule and I were watching an episode of the Ace Attorney anime on Crunchyroll. The episode in question was from the latest season, mostly adapted from the third game, Trials & Tribulations, but this episode in particular is unique to the anime, set during Phoenix Wright's high school years. At least, I think it was high school. Not sure. However, the protagonist of the episode was not Phoenix Wright. It was Miles Edgeworth, three years after he was adopted by Manfred von Karma, who had murdered Miles's father, Gregory Edgeworth.

The anime, for better or worse, has a habit of treating certain characters differently from how they were portrayed in the games. For one, Phoenix is far less reliant on Mia Fey from the outset and doesn't even seem to need the Magatama – hell, I don't think he ever received it in the first place – and his past with Miles and Larry is elaborated on during a prequel episode in the first season. Apparently, they were much closer friends in the anime than the games ever implied.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. There's a lot more changes, some quite overt, others more subtle.

And then there's Manfred von Karma.

In the anime adaptation of Turnabout Goodbyes, he's portrayed more or less like the card-carrying villain prosecutor he was made out to be in the games. No significant changes there that I noticed. Even the prequel episode made for the first season never implied anything deeper than that; there wasn't much time to, though, he was only there for the last 5 minutes or so if I recall.

That all changed when the other prequel episode happened and gave him a lot more screentime.

In that episode, we see a bit of what Manfred's home life is like. Still haunted by DL-6 (a given, perhaps, when you still have the bullet in your shoulder), Manfred tries to raise Miles as if he were his own child. In doing this, we see a more human side to his character.

I'm not gonna go too far into specifics here, but Manfred suddenly goes from card-carrying evil villain to something resembling an anti-villain at best. It's painted a shade of grey on his character that simply doesn't exist in the games, even in Ace Attorney Investigations or its Japan-only sequel, both of which have him appear in prequel cases as a supporting character and an antagonist, respectively. In the anime, Manfred seemed to have known that one day, Miles Edgeworth would grow up to end him, and after seeing for himself the sense of justice that Edgeworth possesses, Manfred decides to continue raising him anyway. It's as though Manfred does indeed have some sort of sense of justice himself, even if it might be warped considerably.

I have no idea what to think. It's honestly hard to think of Manfred von Karma as anything other than a heartless bastard who's only trying to get people a guilty verdict no matter the cost. That was always the point of his character in my mind; Miles Edgeworth, but like 10 times worse (Miles was morally ambiguous at best at the time). So seeing him portrayed sympathetically in any capacity... Honestly, I'm conflicted.

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2 hours ago, DylanC said:

Favourite RPG of all time?

Undertale, hands-down. I normally don't like turn-based RPGs, and bullet hells are hit or miss with me as well, but this game is both, and it actually managed to keep me engaged throughout. Had this game never been made, I'd probably be answering with Monster Hunter World instead.

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2 minutes ago, Executor Akamia said:

Undertale, hands-down. I normally don't like turn-based RPGs, and bullet hells are hit or miss with me as well, but this game is both, and it actually managed to keep me engaged throughout. Had this game never been made, I'd probably be answering with Monster Hunter World instead.

Undertale’s a very good choice indeed. Have a lot of love for that game myself. Amazing how it marries two unlikely genres together so well. And it has a great self aware narrative and soundtrack to boot.

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2 hours ago, StaceyPowers said:

What is a list of your top 10 favorite games in any genres?

This fluctuates from day to day, honestly, as I don't really have most of their placements nailed down yet. But right now...

  1. Stellaris
  2. Supreme Commander 2
  3. StarCraft II
  4. Mega Man Zero 3
  5. Sonic Mania
  6. MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
  7. Undertale
  8. Monster Hunter World
  9. Sonic the Hedgehog CD
  10. Ace Attorney Investigations 2
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On 4/17/2019 at 6:25 PM, Executor Akamia said:

This fluctuates from day to day, honestly, as I don't really have most of their placements nailed down yet. But right now...

  1. Stellaris
  2. Supreme Commander 2
  3. StarCraft II
  4. Mega Man Zero 3
  5. Sonic Mania
  6. MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
  7. Undertale
  8. Monster Hunter World
  9. Sonic the Hedgehog CD
  10. Ace Attorney Investigations 2

HOW DARE YOU PUT INVESTIGATIONS 2 AS NUMBER 10?!

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2 hours ago, DC said:

@Executor Akamia If you were given one thousand acres of land that you didn’t need to pay taxes on but couldn’t sell, what would you do with it?

Good question.

To be honest, I don't really know what I would do with that much land. Assuming unlimited resources, I suppose I could build my dream house. Maybe set aside a place for playing NERF or airsoft and the like. And some sort of superlab for all my robotics needs.

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