PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:05 pm

Takuya

キラッ☆

Gender: Male

Location: Singapore

Rank: Medium-in-training

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:26 am

Posts: 314

I mean, look at some of them!

Viola :uramidn:

started out as Sadako, with her wierd hair-covering-face-and-climbing-out-of-TV self. Then as she slowly developed, she became the "sweet" zombie girl that we all know and love... And we don't even get to see her cat! I mean, we could ship Shoe/(Viola's cat)!

And :keiko:

Lisa, she started off as the President's kid daughter who loves to sing karaoke and wear striped clothes, and then she got developed slowly into a almost robotic lady complete with flashing lights and robotic movements. Except for the sweating parts, she could be considered a robot.

They spent like, 3 whole pages or so (according to the fanbook) to design Viola Cadaverini and Lisa Basil's characters, and they appeared for like what, 5 mins?

You don't even get more than 3 expressions out from them, or get to examine them at all... That really sucks IMO.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:26 pm

KingMobUK

I like a man with a big ... vocabulary.

Gender: Female

Location: Made in England (More Tea, Vicar?)

Rank: Ace Attorney

Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:20 pm

Posts: 1193

Actually I think it's testament to the quality of the game that so much time is spent on even the minor characters. That level of scripting and characterisation is probably why we're here having these conversations in the first place :)

"Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good". - Thomas Paine

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:51 pm

Connor?!

?!

Gender: None specified

Rank: Decisive Witness

Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2007 5:55 am

Posts: 296

Two wasted characters in such a character heavy game is pretty good, imo

Holy Hell wrote:

Raven Darkheart wrote:

it is when you look underneath the underneath

It's not a hole in the wall. It is a wall surrounding a hole.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:09 pm

The Sandwich

The foxy ladies can't resist my sandwich

Gender: Male

Location: The land of Leprechauns and alcoholism.

Rank: Ace Attorney

Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:15 pm

Posts: 4848

Yeah, Lisa and Viola are fuckin alcoholics.

fuck

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:19 pm

Jibo

~We will become one~

Gender: Male

Location: ~I am here, I can definitely feel you, we are here in the same sunny spot~

Rank: Donor

Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:17 am

Posts: 1851

It's not exactly a bad thing! In real life a lawyer would have to get information from a lot of different people. Doesn't matter if they don't have a major role y'know?

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:03 pm

Coyotesaskia

Master of unlocking

Gender: None specified

Location: {Germany}

Rank: Desk Jockey

Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 4:46 pm

Posts: 75

Takuya wrote:

They spent like, 3 whole pages or so (according to the fanbook) to design Viola Cadaverini and Lisa Basil's characters, and they appeared for like what, 5 mins?

You don't even get more than 3 expressions out from them, or get to examine them at all... That really sucks IMO.

And I´m sure that there are more :) Even for small projects there are pretty much different Character types before they get the final look they have :) I wished they had shown more concept art, there can never be enough of it :godot:

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:19 pm

mario2000

Desert rose, why do you live alone?

Gender: Male

Location: Fife, WA

Rank: Prosecutor

Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 6:13 pm

Posts: 858

Not every character has to be incredibly developed. Only the ones who actually have something to do with the main plot should be.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:30 pm

Mikker

Struck by a blunt objection

Gender: Male

Location: Denmark

Rank: Ace Attorney

Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:12 pm

Posts: 1472

Purposely underdeveloping characters is ALSO a task in it's own right. I mean, knowing when to stop devulging in a characters past is real nice thing. I mean, sure, let's have Godot's backstory, but I'll be damned if I would have had to go throughthe backstory of Lisa Basil, for instance. Even if they made a really cool one. I mean, she could've been the one who made poor Greg a ludomaniac in the first place, mmh? Or what about Luke Atmey? Maybe he went to school with Ron, and this could be devulged into a completely diffrent way of getting the evidence.

Highly developed character and character that has undergone high ammounts of development is not the same thing.

Also, large ammount of work on character development also means the team can go back and see if it has enough marit as a stand-alone character in a later game.

Spoiler: GS4 small to medium spoiler

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:58 pm

Croik

nuuuuu, stoooooop

Gender: Female

Location: America

Rank: Admin

Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:16 am

Posts: 5255

I don't see how you can call Viola wasted--she was a vital part of that case! She only had a few different poses, but isn't that itself a part of her character? She's not the kind of person that's going to be really expressive.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:27 am

Brandon Strong

Gender: Male

Location: Wherever you least expect me to be

Rank: Prosecutor

Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:45 am

Posts: 745

No, I agree with Takuya. Alot of the cases, 3-3 and 3-5 in particular, had some fantastic characters that we really didnt get to see very much of. I think that those both should have been three day trials.

I mean, we got a fair few honest to god conversations with Armstrong but I wouldve liked to see Viola, Bikini, and Zenitora out there more. The cases were really good, but they just seemed a little—disappointing at times. I wouldve liked to have talked to viola for more then 4 talk cues.

@Croik: Agreed. Viola is crucial to the case. However, it is because of that that I wish that she couldve been featured a bit more.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:57 am

Aetheryn

Lolwut?

Gender: Female

Location: Florida

Rank: Prosecutor

Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2007 8:30 pm

Posts: 826

It's a pity to see any character "go to waste" per se... but I'd rather see two characters take one for the team than have a game full of a bunch of characters that are boring as hell. :kikzou:

Too lazy... hur hur.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:50 am

ButzPuff

Super Tuff Pink Puff

Gender: Male

Location: Total Post Count: 3,050 + 4,000 and more

Rank: Donor

Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:02 am

Posts: 4796

The issue with Viola has already dealt with and had the nail driven in the coffin by Croik.

As far as Lisa Basil, She had a role to fill which she did well. She basically gave Nick a couple pieces of important evidence and the background of the victim. Without that info, Nick had no chance of proving that Furio Tigre ever meet with the victim in court. Plus, She even got one of the greatest reference jokes in game.

I don't know about you, But that sounds like character put to good use to me. :keiko:

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:12 pm

LuigiHann

Do your best, Nick. Hee... hee... hee...

Gender: Male

Rank: Decisive Witness

Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:33 pm

Posts: 219

Lisa Basil would be a fun character to revisit 10 years later in GS5. ("She hasn't aged at all???")

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:42 pm

surasshu

;_;

Gender: Male

Location: Netherlands

Rank: Desk Jockey

Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:01 pm

Posts: 132

Dude... Viola breaks down and cries. I don't know how much more expressive you want her to be. Hardly a waste of character in my book.

♪♬

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:04 pm

Doom Saber

Gender: None specified

Rank: Desk Jockey

Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:20 am

Posts: 112

I am a bit confused with Viola. l probably overlooked something in episode 3, but was she ever against Tigre? I know in the ending, she said about being thankful for exterminating Tigre and that she returned the money, but in chapter 3, she seemed more like a partner to him than someone who wants to be free fom him.

I thought she was a "badguy" character like how Shelly De Killer is in AA2. A bad guy as in being the grand daughter of a mob boss.

To summarize, this is what I understand with chapter 3

She gets in a car accident by hitting Tigre's mopad
She gets in a coma with massive brain injuries
Her hospital bills are paid by Tigre, who has no choice, but to pay.
She now works in Tender Lender with Tigre, where Tigre has to treat her nicely since she has powerful connections.

With that said, what motive does she have in seeing Tigre get arrested other than the accident. I mean, Tigre has to pay for her medical bills, which is a ripoff. With that said, it seems that Viola and her family already have Tigre where they want him to be. Doesn't make sense to me on why she wants him to go to jail. It isn't like Tigre is abusing Viola and forcing her to work at Tender Lender, right? I am guessing that Capcom stripped some of her backstory from conception to finish, which makes it makes it a bit confusing to me at least.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:08 pm

Aijiru

Gender: Female

Location: Sevilla, Spain

Rank: Desk Jockey

Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:30 pm

Posts: 105

As I understand it, Tigre and Viola are actually a couple.

Spoiler: 3-3, ending

That's why Viola hates him on the epilogue. A wasted character? I don't think so...

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Wed Sep 12, 2007 11:44 pm

rtsmarty

Hi

Gender: None specified

Rank: Decisive Witness

Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:41 pm

Posts: 240

There's a "wasted" character in each game.

Penny Nichols and Dr. Hotti from the previous games play a similar role to Lisa in that the information you get from them could have come from some other source... Like Oldbag, or Lotta, or Gumshoe. They're just extra characters to make the cases feel a little more realistic (you know... not everyone is involved with the case directly).

Viola's quite an important person in the story, even if she doesn't get much of a part.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:41 am

Takuya

キラッ☆

Gender: Male

Location: Singapore

Rank: Medium-in-training

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:26 am

Posts: 314

rtsmarty wrote:

There's a "wasted" character in each game.

Penny Nichols and Dr. Hotti from the previous games play a similar role to Lisa in that the information you get from them could have come from some other source... Like Oldbag, or Lotta, or Gumshoe. They're just extra characters to make the cases feel a little more realistic (you know... not everyone is involved with the case directly).

Viola's quite an important person in the story, even if she doesn't get much of a part.

But none of them were really given that much thought...

Penny and Hotti only got one page. Plus...

Spoiler: GS4 Minor Spoilers

Oldbag was in all 3 games, Lotta was in the first 2, and Gumshoe too, plus...

Spoiler: GS4 MAJOR SPOILERS

So these people (except Penny Nichols, yeah, she should return sometime) aren't really that wasted since they've already appeared loads of times in the games.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:11 am

Doom Saber

Gender: None specified

Rank: Desk Jockey

Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:20 am

Posts: 112

Aijiru wrote:

As I understand it, Tigre and Viola are actually a couple.

Spoiler: 3-3, ending

That's why Viola hates him on the epilogue. A wasted character? I don't think so...

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. I probably overlook that dialogue unless it was an optional one. Thanks again since it all fits.

Personally, I don't think any character is wasted. I mean, Capcom probably animated and made a bunch of characters, but decided not to use them, one way or another. A wasted character to me is to have someone who isn't present in the game or screen background with dialogue,

Besides, in police dramas, it is common to have a character that appears for 5 sec, but are vital to the overall plot.. As long as the character pushs the plot foward, he/she isn't wasted.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:48 am

Whodi

Thick and Professional

Gender: Male

Location: Baltimore

Rank: Decisive Witness

Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 12:09 am

Posts: 166

Just curious - was the "no GS4 discussion outside Prosecutor's Lobby" restriction lifted?

I do thank you for keeping your GS4 tags marked properly, though.

Re: PW3 has Wasted Characters...

Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:09 pm

Croik

nuuuuu, stoooooop

Gender: Female

Location: America

Rank: Admin

Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:16 am

Posts: 5255

It's not punishable as long as it's tagged and labeled. A mention that brief is okay.