Player Comments on Constellaris Court

I almost don’t even know where to begin with this review, but I guess I’ll start by saying for the uninformed: this is one of the best games on the site, full stop. It has been a long time since I read a description for a story game and completely unprompted with no outside motivation felt as though I had to read it. And it didn’t disappoint in the slightest. I haven’t read a storygame I’ve liked this much since years ago when I first read some of Endmaster’s works like Eternal and Necromancer. I would say this has to be in my top 5 favorite games on the site, and the only reason I can’t rate it higher is because this 90k word monster isn’t long enough. If this was replicated with the scope and length of games like Eternal or Rouges, I might even say it’s the best game on the site. And this is coming from someone who almost exclusively reads fantasy, so that’s high praise.

Going into spoilers now, I think the thing I love most about this game is the premise and execution. I love playing as a lawyer and getting to draft arguments and defend clients. All of the cases, with the exception of the last two which were more plot focused, were very unique and engaging with different types of lawyering needed to resolve them, resulting in very different kinds of gameplay. If I were to rank them on enjoyment I believe I’d rank them 3 > 4 > 1 > 2 > 5 > 6. Speaking more generally about all the cases, I like how they all cover very different areas of law, which I assume was intentional, even though in real life I assume it’d be far more typical to specialize in one area. I liked how the first case was criminal law, the second was civil injury, the third was copyright law, the fourth was divorce law, and the fifth was contract law. There were a wide breath of different laws to learn about and it kept the gameplay fresh.

I actually want to talk about each of the cases themselves individually a bit. I really liked the first case, and the only thing that held it back was since it was the first case it had more simplistic gameplay by necessity. But the narrative was great, I really liked the defendant, and uncovering his lies. His story makes you feel bad for him, maybe he could’ve been tied in somehow later in the story, kind of like Proventus, but then again maybe it’s better not to shoehorn things.

The second case is ranked quite low, but that’s only because of the length. I actually really like its inclusion, I like how it shows that most cases don’t actually go to trial, and allows you to settle it in mediation. I went the route where you resolve things, and I thought it was a nice use of the children and how their perspective could help inform our decision making. I liked how the other lawyer tried to cut a deal with us, and we obviously rejected it. It was a nice look into the alternative incentives that can be at play in a case like this.

The third case was my favorite, and it was over seemingly the most boring area of law, though it was likely the most complex of the cases. Proventus is a very likeable man, and him wearing a suit made me smile, I felt touched as a fellow earthian on Kassandria’s behalf. The choosing of which evidence to include was a nice gameplay feature, I was stuck because I wanted the panel of experts, to open the machine, and to call the inventor as a witness. I still maintain I should be able to call the inventor for free, she’s my employee after all, but I ended up going with opening the machine, the experts, and the random operator. It didn’t end up mattering because I had way more than enough points to pass, but it was nice to make those decisions.

With the second hearing of the third case, I liked the inclusion of contract law, it felt to me that both capacity and mutual ascent both weren’t met, so I was a bit stumped, but through liberal use of the back arrow I’m glad to see both were correct answers lol. I liked the gift of the mask, and because of Oakum's razor I knew I’d have to use it, and I have to say again Proventus is one of my favorite side characters, definitely best client.

Looking back at the fourth case, I don’t feel that I like it as much, but I feel like that’s mostly because I feel betrayed by the client lol, so I guess I’m just identifying with Kassandria. Objectively speaking, this case is the one of the two most complicated, also having its own interesting mechanics, that being direct examining and cross examining the witnesses. This part was hard, I didn’t always pick the best option (though the back button fixed that). The direct was easy enough though, just not asking leading questions, but the cross for both the child and father were hard. I definitely felt betrayed at the end, and that was a heartbreaking twist. I mean I genuinely did believe her, even if I didn’t like her for neglecting the child. I also like that the child is smart and not just a dumb kid.

I like how the fifth case reuses some contract law stuff from case 3, but doesn’t retread ground, instead looking at the contract from a different angle. I’ll talk about Metis here in a bit when I talk about the overarching story, but obviously fuck her. I don’t like that the jury has no idea that she was under duress, it just doesn’t feel realistic to me. No alien who knows other species exist would think that signs of duress are universal, they aren’t even universal among the jury. And did they not watch the video and see it’s an alien species, even if they didn’t know what a human was? Anyway, that was really my only gripe with it. I like how supervisor stonewall (forgot his name) came back, since he was another one of my favorite characters.

The sixth case was mainly just to wrap up the plot, not much to it. I don’t think that human rights law would apply considering it doesn’t even apply to other countries on earth, but with how rigid the court is I can suspend my disbelief enough to believe they’d lose their minds over the so-called contradiction.

Moving onto the overarching story, I like how we have little interludes that build on it, mainly with Emily and Miles, in between each case. It was obvious to me from almost the moment the children were introduced that they were the ones Metis kidnapped, and when Metis told her about the secret it felt kind of crazy that she didn’t connect the dots. I mean they’re both clearly under 15, but maybe I missed something that would make that not be a red flag for our main character. Anyway, I figured Metis was a tragic character who kidnapped the children, I didn’t really think she was evil until she gave her whole monologue.

After Metis was dealt with, I think the ending and 6th case plot was really standard, but I loved the scene in the bathroom with the judge. I loved the symbolism and I like that he was a wholesome character who actually wants to do justice, from his introduction I felt he might be a villain, but I’m glad he wasn’t.

Going on to more random details, I loved coming across just random latin phrases. I loved finding one and googling it to find out it’s a really poetic epic phrase. Maybe it’s common in the law sphere to use them, but hearing like Fiat justitia ruat caelum and finding out it means Let justice be done though the heavens fall is just so metal. I love Metis’s name, the meaning of her regular name and her real one and how it builds on her character. The latin is just so good.

Actually all I want from this game is more. And there’s a lot here, and it’s a complete story. But man, I just want 100 cases and to be able to exploit all kinds of strange case law loopholes and learn interesting things. Weaving it with an overarching story is hard, and it was done really well here. I loved both sides, but man I just wanted more cases. You couldn’t do that while keeping the overarching story the same, but I hope the sequel is expansive, or if not, maybe one day we can hope for a third game kind of endless mode where Kassandria just does cases as a lawyer on constalaris. I don’t know how well that’d fit her character, so it’d be hard, and maybe a solution is to have a spinoff where you’re a random lawyer in the court and have to work your way through the ranks. But then again, I love Kassandria so much and she’s so witty and charming that I just want to do cases from her point of view.

Anyway, this series has really captured my heart, and I really hope there’s more installments. I might be biased toward it, I wanted to be a lawyer as a kid and I like learning about laws and cases and all that, but clearly I’m not alone from looking at Clayfinger’s review. How the fuck you wrote this in a month is beyond me, and how you basically kept it a secret the whole time even more so. I feel like there should be a whole press release for this game honestly. I think my review may have been a bit ramblely, and I still don’t know if I said all I want to say about this game, but I’ll cut it here. Keep up the good work.

8/8

Ever wanted to be a space lawyer? Well, you've lucked out because Constellaris Court has you covered! This story truly embodies the edutainment genre by combining the incredibly compelling narrative of a lawyer finding her feet and attempting to stay true to her principles in deeply unfamiliar terrain with a veritable treasure trove of knowledge on specific laws of the UK legal system. As someone who enjoys legal dramas, I deeply enjoyed every bit of this story.

<<SPOILERS AHEAD>>

WRITING:

The story opens with a deeply emotional situation. A client had lost their house and it was because you had failed to protect them. The author expertly makes the reader feels Kassandria's shame at her loss coupled with an undercurrent of despair at how corrupt the legal system she engaged with truly was. She chooses to be hard on herself though and tells the reader a lot about the kind of person she is. The scene where she faces the client after her case was quite heartbreaking with the family largely blaming her for the outcome. It really drives home that there is more to each case than just winning or losing.

This theme continues throughout the various cases which really are miniature stories in their own right. I particularly enjoyed Crabblebabble v Snortgrunter for this. The parallels between them and Kassandria's own parents simultaneously fleshes out Kassandria's character while also giving her the opportunity to choose between winning a case and making things right. I chose to help them negotiate since I felt that was more true to what her character was.

I would also be remiss to not mention the excellent explanations of all the related case laws in each case. I had no experience with legal matters going into this but I'm pretty sure I ended up picking the best option every time on my first attempt. I credit that less to my being smart and more to how effective the author's instruction was. Learning about laws and rules could've absolutely been an extremely dry experience but the interesting nature of the cases always made it feel much more enjoyable. Truly brilliant.

CHARACTERS:

Naturally, the most captivating character here is Kassandria herself. She is extremely well fleshed out and the more you learn about her throughout the story, the more she just makes sense as a character. Her experience in the Constellaris Court develops her character further to respect the spirit of the law as much as the letter. Indeed, her desire to keep the promises she made being tested by Metis with her treachery forces Kassandria to rethink that same desire.

Metis, herself, was a little bit confusing. While I understand that she must have admired Kassandria's capability in court. I do wonder if introducing such a morally upright lawyer to a situation where human children are being exploited using a legal loophole was a really bright idea. Metis' motivations seem a bit hard to follow overall. Maybe I'm just being dense and I missed or forgot something obvious but I felt that she was a bit vague as a character.

I normally just drop a few lines about side characters but in this case, the colorful clientele were each memorable in their own right. The space setting really allowed the author to flex their creative muscles when coming up with some really unique alien designs from the ethereal constellarians to the multi-lingual crabs. On top of that, each of them had memorable personalities too. Whether they had stolen a treasure to save their lover's life or whether they wanted their friend to stay or whether they were an innocent child caught between two warring parents, I found myself earnestly wanting to help each and every one of them. I truly felt like they were the soul of the story and each of them were very well written.

STRUCTURE:

The story provides what seems to be an episodic structure with each case acting like a standalone miniature story. As such the choices are less about branching paths and more about success/failure points. Like I said in the writing section, the author did such a good job at explaining that I ended up mostly picking the success options. The only real branching comes from what I would presume to be the point where you can either choose to save yourself or return for the children. I chose the latter but I will probably reread at a later time to check what that ending looks like. I don't necessarily mind the lack of branching though. For an edutainment game, I think a focus of right/wrong choices versus branching paths makes total sense. You also have the option to skip cases if you want, but why would you? All of these are incredible, you'd only be missing out.

What else can I say really? This story kept me entertained throughout its runtime and I ended up finishing it in one sitting. It might be my personal bias to this particular genre of story but I think this might be my favorite storygame on the site.

Oh God, why was I silly enough to enter a writing competition that included Mystic? I think she wins just based on the trailer alone, which is beautiful and cleverly made but I will compound my agony by reading Mystic’s brilliant writing in a story that is longer than the first Harry Potter book. I like the protagonist’s name and I swear Mystic could make even the assembly manual for a piece of IKEA furniture fascinating - law is not most people’s automatic go-to when they’re thinking of non-stop thrills in their reading material but Mystic brings the emotions, the stakes, the desperation of those seeking justice to the fore and it’s written so well.

I do think grammar naziing a grief-stricken couple would be an extra level of harshness and I like the whole “oh, a pretty piece of abstract art – crap, it’s a UFO!” scene. This alien sure know how to flatter a lawyer, though it does occur to me it may be a negotiating ploy connected to my fee, about which Metis is strangely reticient. The deal seems to be I’ve kidnapped you and possession is nine tenths of the law so do what I say and you’ll go free, maybe. I’m impressed I can recognize Pluto when I see it. My agreement with Metis is a bit technical but presumably good practice for all the top lawyering I’m about to drop on these guys (edit: there’s a reason for this).

Glad to see I called out those age-adding monsters. The Court is very right to be skeptical of how much I know of the law but what I lack in useful knowledge I feel I make up for in overconfidence (and presumably Kassandria knows what she is doing). “May the stars match your orbit” is a lovely thing to say and a line I should try to use in daily conversation. Supervisor’s a dick but supervisors often are. The first glossary seems a bit easier to read than the laws. I do wonder if Gobblerock was suspected of rock theft solely on account of his name?

The description of the first client is fun and the conversation is well-structured. I love that the Supervisor tells Gobblerock off for abusing me when he’s been doing it the whole time (maybe he’s jealous?). I like that I’m not just a lawyer but a detective as well. The moral dilemmas are interesting. I think it’s clever that Mystic has turned this story into a sort of review practice for herself while also educating others about the law (though as I live in totalitarian China this is unlikely to help me much if I get arrested).

It’s quite fun being in the courtroom though the language is a bit flowery (rather than saying “I respectfully disagree with my learned friend” I’d much prefer to yell “screw you, big nose”). It is exciting to see if the judge sides with me or not though and it is a rush to get a good result. Bit harsh of the mum to diss my fashion sense when I’ve just saved her rocky offspring from prison. Also, someone’s a bit touchy about their grey hairs, aren’t they? I prefer to see them as a sign of maturity and wisdom and not premature ageing.

Glad to see child labor laws are quite relaxed and I finally have employees who I can pay in candy. Metis seems nice. “The Claimant’s babbling caused the Defendant’s eardrums to burst” is something anyone can relate to who has spent large amounts of time around very young children. It’s nice that the author admits the formatting of defense and counterclaim is wrong, I am confident that every reader would have thrown their ipads (or similar) from them with snorts of disgust and much tutting when they saw the differences in formatting. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a legal document in my life and wouldn’t know a fake from a real one (note to self – this may be a problem one day).

It’s great how intuitive the children are about understanding Crabble and Snorty’s problem. “He melts back into his seat with a happy gurgle” is literally how I spend every day. Top marks to me for sea-life diplomacy. “I’ll keep your secrets until the stars cease to shine” is another great line and Metis now gets to know my Netflix password (Edit: Retract this!). The childhood scenes of the feuding parents are beautifully written. The third case is a complex one but it is interesting to see different areas of the law explored in this story.

I like the question whether people on Earth are bored because we can’t travel to other planets, clearly he has no idea of the fun some children have with pogo sticks. Some of the options on preparing the case are brilliant, immediately “hire a band to sing in court” seemed the obvious call but as I actually want to win, I went with the duller but more useful options. Incidentally, I like how cleverly Mystic has made each case different from the others in how you approach and win it, I think this adds a lot to the enjoyment of the story.

It’s nice to see the judge has a quirky sense of humor but I suppose we’ll just have to bear with it (see what I did there?). I like the idea of belief points in a jury, it’s a fun way of winning them over. I love that the witnesses I selected built up the belief points rapidly, that felt good. Luceat is a pain but I guess you get what you pay for. The Techxpert are show-stealers and I’m pleased with the result (I imagine it would be a lot harder winning it for the other side!). I’m going to hold onto my integrity as I’m pretty sure bribery is illegal.

It’s unfortunate that Proventus is about as good as Hagrid at keeping secrets when there’s alcohol about. I had a bit of an uh-oh moment at the second court hearing and had to backtrack and do my homework to find the right answer. Not loving how everyone is dropping hints that something bad is coming my way. It’s a bit embarrassing to get busted for child slavery but lying about it too, bad Metis! It’s nice to know the UK divorce law is fair, in China the woman only gets any money from the man if she can prove she helped to earn it in a professional sense, housewives get nothing.

The email is pretty handy as evidence and the difference between leading and non-leading questions is easy enough to understand. Come on defense barrister, even I know written evidence isn’t hearsay! It seems a bit mean making the aptly-named Innocens testify but ho hum. I seem to remember reading in connection with the OJ Simpson trial a lawyer shouldn’t ask a question he doesn’t know the answer to so asking the child which parent he wanted to live with seemed an unnecessary risk. I do feel that I earned that judge’s rebuke when I told the defendant’s child to get in touch with me.

A brazenly-frauding lie? How dare you sir, though nice turn of phrase. “The grace of a headless chicken” is another good one that reminds me of my sister. It’s a good revelation that I helped the wrong person win and the confrontation mid-eclipse is powerfully written. It is impressive Mystic can make even contract law interesting, though I do think someone forcing me into an agreement while holding a knife-like object would definitely count as duress. “Excreting a miniature human” is one of the best descriptions of childbirth I’ve come across. Metis turns out to be a real female dog. For “learned friend” read “dickface”.

“Believe the whole incident to be none other than a lucid dream” is an excuse I want to use to get out of trouble in the future (such as failing to do the dishes when asked by Mrs. Will). I love that when I do lose a case, I go straight to a dozen conspiracy theories as the only possible explanation. It’s nice to learn I can’t be judged by a jury of a different species, though I think the natural conclusion I’m proposing is that we kidnap a dozen humans to form a jury though, as it turns out, the Constellarians manage to come up with a panel of winners anyway. I mean, my observation skills aren’t great but I think I’d notice if I was on an alien planet rather than at Warner Brothers.

Obviously, I can’t just dump the kids and saving them is a toughie. Nice to hear a Judge trashing his own field. I like the fact that I knowingly profited from the labor of children until I decided not to but then again, the European countries knowingly oppressed and slaughtered millions with their worldwide empires before deciding not to and crafting the Declaration of Human Rights so it’s all comparative. The universal argument is a bold one, though it’s a bit like saying the laws of one country should apply across all. I would agree that some laws, such as “do not murder” or human rights do, or should, apply in all places at all times.

The ending is very satisfying and it is depressing to be reminded of the negative direction the UK seems to be heading in politically (problems with my partner’s spouse visa being one of the main reasons I still live in China, a country not exactly known for its own championship of human – or even woman - rights). On our last flight to the UK in September, we comforted a crying Pakistani student who can no longer be accompanied by her family and, consequently, wouldn’t be seeing any of them for a full year. Land of hope and glory indeed.

It is not surprising to learn that Mystic wrote this from a moral standpoint and that does indeed shine throughout the story. I was surprised to learn yelling “objection” is not a feature of British courts as I imagine one of the most fun things about being a lawyer is yelling it as many times as you can to try to throw your rival off. It is interesting to learn the meanings behind the names (I only got the North bit) – check out she punning in Latin! I would very much like a sequel (capital murder case anyone?) and was expecting a plot twist of what happened to the woman and her baby. The sister is also a very intriguing character and it’d be nice to explore her relationship with Kassandria a bit more.

Note to self: Don’t hit refresh on the final page as it sends you back to the start. Fortunately, I can dramatically fail at the first hurdle in order to leave this review.

Ok, so conclusions to this overlong review.

I don’t like sci-fi usually but the fascination of the law cases held my nonstop attention for about 4 hours so it’s now after 1am and I am very tired. I felt that the last two trials were a bit easier than the first four and would have liked to have seen more – long as it was it was so enjoyable, I wish there could have been ten cases (though it’s impressive Mystic wrote so much so quickly while also immersed in studies). Mystic’s writing is always superb and using her studies to create a genuinely enjoyable story is very clever. I do hope there is a sequel, will definitely give this 8/8 and look forward to reading her next story!

I'm going to leave a longer comment later, but suffice to say, I really loved this storygame!

I got the best ending, the protector of justice ending, and I just wanted to say, this might just be the best edutainment game on the site.

I love how Mystic tackled some really complex themes of legality vs morality, doing what's right while also adhering to the tenets of the law, and making tough decisions while operating in moral and legal grey areas.

I thought the arguments, and the gameplay style was so clever. I love how as we proceeded along the four cases(the rock kid case, the case between the friends, the IP law case, and the divorce case, not to mention the surprise 5th case!), our involvement and freedom steadily increased, as we got more options and the right choices became more complex. In a game like this, there's an inherent risk in the cases feeling repetitive, but Mystic managed to vary it up tremendously so we got a bird's eye view of multiple different outcomes of cases and trials. I am glad that one of the cases managed to end in a mediation, that's an interesting facet that isn't the most dramatic, but Mystic still included it because she really wanted to educate her readers on as many facets of UK law as she could.

To answer your question, Mystic, yes we want a sequel! Please! And I am excited for the financial crimes segment in particular, because I wanted to write a storygame with that premise some time ago, and perhaps, seeing the legalities of the case will be super helpful to me, and interesting! Thanks again for making such a spectacular game. I loved the moving images, the wonderful imaginative sci-fi aspects(the bungee jumping in a field of stars is something I wish was real!), and the slow change in the way Kassandra saw Constellaris, from a place of wonder and hope, because she was disillusioned and frustrated with how the laws were handled on Earth, to a frighteningly dystopian place, because no matter how strictly you adhere to the letter of the law, no court can truly be free from bad actors, manipulators, and other schemers seeking to sway the court to their favor. And on Constellaris, this issue is magnified ten fold, primarily because of an undue confidence and ill deserved faith in their systems, and a feeling of smug superiority that leads to miscarriages of justice and prejudice.

I think Mystic made several cogent and well-thought out points in this game, and I love how there are so many underlying themes that are impossible to fully understand on a 1 time read. This is a game that demands, to be read, and re-read, because there are so many fascinating ideas lurking under the surface, and yet, despite the complexity of the ideas, it still manages to be a fun and entertaining read. This work truly combines the best of both worlds: a fun adventure and some incredible legal education that manages to take dense philosophical ideas that take years to learn, and distill it into an intuitive style.

Phenomenal work! If this was an assignment, you'd get 105/100 marks!

8/8: Holy cow, this is an amazing storygame! I'm going to come back later and do an actual review, but for now, just know that you did an amazing job with this story, Mytic! I'm excited to read the sequel!

This is going to be long, *sigh*. According to the description, it seems I’m a kidnapped lawer for aliens? Ooh! Profile badge! Hope I get it! :D

The trailer was nice but I don’t think it adds to the story.

OH. MY. GOD. I open the story, and I see blocked symbols everywhere! What image or images is it?

I had to move my mouse around until I found the thing I had to click, my mouse turned into a hand, but it wasn’t that hard and this is my computer’s fault so obviously this isn’t going to affect my rating.

The text is white, so I don’t have to highlight it to be able to read it. Maybe this story deserves one rating above what I give because of the background, I’ll never know.

Onto the actual story. “Useless save for collecting [my] tears”? This is probably just because of what I don’t know, but this makes no sense to me. I’m assuming the gravel hit the block is a metaphor I’ve never heard of before.

So I’m deeply sad because I lost a case for someone who I believe wasn’t in the wrong. I’m getting some foreshadowing here, with the badge glowing. Perhaps it has something to do with her caring so much about the promises must be honored thing?

I’m seeing good characterization. I chose to enter an empty room.

Ok way too good no way ANYONE is getting me to type while reading this. I’ll be back after reading.

(still reading) faceless faces?

Two options are images?! How am I supposed to know what those are?! Oh well, text option it is. Oh wait, I can only click one. :P

On the page museum security, it says “is beginning to really you,” really what?

I’m partway through, and just wanted to stop and write down that I’m getting a lot of foreshadowing. Like, first, in the description there’s a question in italics implying that Constellaris’ justice system isn’t fair.

Second of all, a snail was raving about constellarians, tension ramped up when Matis arrived, and the kid was trying to say something about not being able to leave before stopping.

I didn’t finish the game sadly, too many images were involved and I couldn’t see the blueprints and stuff so I decided to stop here.

This was good! REALLY good! I honestly can’t think of anything to critique, not even the length, it’s so long.

OH WAIT, THE PROFILE BADGE, NO!!! :( ah well…

Tl;dr: This was super good. :D