Ace Attorney: Edgey Investigates! is out now

[Regulus Tera]

I hope I'm not the only one buying (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/japanese-definitions-ace-attorney/61880).

NA: February 16, 2010
EU: February 19, 2010
AUS: February 18, 2010

I've heard a lot of good impressions about the Japanese release. I'm pretty sure they could spin this series off if successful, so I might as well help! The game is more of a click and point adventure than previous installments, and it features a new gameplay mechanics like "Logic" (string different pieces of data in a coherent manner to reach a conclusion) and "Investigation" (self-explanatory).

Also:

http://i50.tinypic.com/2iiwswl.gif

Ace Attorney sprites with legs are fucking weird, man.

[Mirai Gen]

...goddamn it I knew I was forgetting something.

[PCD]

Already got it--I honestly thought it would be a few days before it actually got to the local gameshop, and was just stopping in to ask them how long they thought it would be, but lo and behold, it was waiting for me, a clear contradiction to my beliefs.

Played through the first Turnabout already, getting started on the second. I had forgotten how much I missed this series.

[Kerensky287]

The timing is terrible for me. I can't reconcile its purchase with myself until I've finished my fuckton of assignments that are due this week - I KNOW that I'll be unable to tear myself away from it until I'm done, so I'm just not going to buy it for a few days.

The worst part is up until as late as last week I thought it'd be a day one purchase. Then, surprise! Homework buffet with a side order of midterm.

[Kim]

I think this is my favorite Ace Attorney game so far. It's cheesy, fun, and does a better job of balancing out the investigating and cross-examining than previous games. The logic bits are also pretty fun.

I'm on the second chapter and just loving it so damn much. During the first chapter I could not stop grinning like an idiot.

[Living Bobbeh]

Do I need to have played the first games before heading into this? I got through the majority of the first game and I've inadvertently read spoilers of most of the rest of the series, so I'm considering skipping forward to this one.

[Kim]

Do I need to have played the first games before heading into this? I got through the majority of the first game and I've inadvertently read spoilers of most of the rest of the series, so I'm considering skipping forward to this one.

NO! You must experience the greatness that is Godot!

COFFEE~

I would also like to take this moment to point out that the sprites in this game are a lot more detailed and that is wonderful and awesome.

[Mirai Gen]

I would also like to take this moment to point out that the sprites in this game are a lot more detailed and that is wonderful and awesome.
I'm probably going to hear a "I know, Mirai," once I finish this post but the original Ace Attorney trilogy was a GBA game they ported to the DS to bring stateside.

[Great Cartoonist]

So, since we get to play the prosecutor in this game, does this mean that the defendants will be the smug blowhards or will Miles intimidate the hell out of them?

[Regulus Tera]

I'm probably going to hear a "I know, Mirai," once I finish this post but the original Ace Attorney trilogy was a GBA game they ported to the DS to bring stateside.

The problem was that they didn't even bother to redo the old sprites when they appeared for a cameo in Apollo Justice. And it was lame.

[Kim]

So, since we get to play the prosecutor in this game, does this mean that the defendants will be the smug blowhards or will Miles intimidate the hell out of them?

Miles is fairly Phoenixy in this game, and Franziska even calls him out on it if you press a character at one point.

Also Kay Faraday >>>>>>>>>>>> Maya

[Kerensky287]

The problem was that they didn't even bother to redo the old sprites when they appeared for a cameo in Apollo Justice. And it was lame.

I was WONDERING why Phoenix's face changed shape so much between his hobo and lawyer versions.

[Ryong]

So.

When you were Phoenix or Apollo, your defendants were always innocent.

Now, you're on the other side, so the defendants are always guilty?

Whoever's in player focus is never wrong, it seems. I guess that'd make a shitty game.

[PCD]

Not so much. The game is more about investigating crime scenes to find out who's guilty. Doesn't take place in the courtroom.

Considering that Phoenix and Apollo would essentially become prosecutors halfway through every one of their cases, that part of it should be familiar anyway.

[MuMu]

There were a couple of GUILTY(One for Murder and one for Robbing) veredicts, but considering that Phoenix had the Magatama, which gave a 99% of chance of telling if the Defendant was the murderer or not, it's not a surprise that most of them were set up against.

Been waiting for this one, will get it next week or so. Hope it doesn't disappoint me like Apollo Justice.

[Kim]

At Chapter Four and loving the game still. Got stupid stuck during chapter three because even if you have an idea of what the contradiction is you won't necessarily know what to do, but I eventually figured it out.

Main problem with the plot so far is how much it jumps around.

Chapter Four is seven years before Chapter Three which is one day after Chapter Two which is two days before Chapter One and AAAAAAAAAAUGH

[Regulus Tera]

The music in this game is SOOO goood.

The DS speakers just don't do it justice.

[Kim]

Just beat the game last night. Really good. Probably my favorite Ace Attorney game yet. I had problems with a couple parts and the end "fight" lasted too long, but overall still really good. I like Kay Faraday more than Maya as Japanese Teen Assistant, I think I like Edgeworth more than Phoenix, and Franziska was a lot cooler in this game. Agent Lang was also a badass.

I did notice that I always seem to hate the recurring witnesses of the series though. Especially Oldbag. Hate her so much.

Also, I love that this game confirms Edgey as a closet Steel Samurai fan. "How dare someone like you call yourself a true Steel Samurai fan!"

[Regulus Tera]

I'm in the last portion of the last case and goddammit I have to work now but fuuuuck this has been just as good as Trials and Tribulations.

[Solid Snake]

Man I hate to disagree with the masses but I'm going to have to take the hit on this one.

I'm almost finished with Case 5 of Ace Attorney Investigations. It's just nowhere near Trials and Tribulations on my list of favorite Ace Attorney games. I'll concede that objectively speaking, it's probably the second best in the series (I have fonder subjective memories of the very first game, but I couldn't possibly recommend its simplistic charm over a polished product like AAI.) And I'll further concede that the polish in this game is impeccable.

First, to me, the heart and soul of the Ace Attorney series will always be with Phoenix Wright and the fact that this is the second straight game where his influence has been minimized just struck me as discomforting. In Apollo Justice, Hobo Phoenix showed up a lot but he felt like a completely different character and the game suffered from too few cameos, leaving gamers with the distinct impression that Capcom arbitrarily forgot about all the awesome friendships Phoenix had invested in over the course of the original trilogy. I couldn't possibly imagine a hypothetical future in which Phoenix would lose his license and subsequently isolate himself from those who once cared about him, just as I couldn't believe Miles, Gumshoe, Maya, Pearls and hordes of others wouldn't involve themselves in making sure Phoenix didn't fall into a precipice of despair.

Strangely, Ace Attorney Investigations continued this notion of screwing over Phoenix's character despite an absolute opposite position of cramming in tons of cameos from virtually every supporting character imaginable. Phoenix even had a split-second cameo. But the way Franziska and Miles referred to Phoenix simply as "him" (as if they were offended by the mere thought) seemed to utterly contradict their character development through the original trilogy. What I loved about the original trilogy was how, through Phoenix's influence, Edgeworth, Gumshoe, Godot, and (to a lesser but still notable extent) Franziska all became better people. I suppose the best compliment AAI proffers in that regard is that Edgeworth has become something of a proxy Phoenix, but as a huge Franziska fan I was disappointed with her apparent character regression -- I felt like she was making real progress to becoming a more tolerable and less antagonistic person through Justice for All's ending and Trial and Tribulations and instead she went right back to a walking cliche of whips, whips and more whips.

(As a brief aside I probably enjoyed Case Four the most in large part because, as a flashback episode, Franny and Miles' old-school perfectionist personalities better fit the characters back then, and it was awesome to learn how they met Gumshoe...it always seemed like Gumshoe had known Franny fairly well before they "met" in JFA and we never quite understood why, and this game filled in those gaps.)

AAI definitely tried to restore some of the "Ace Attorney magic" by cramming cameos (many of which were, frankly, unnecessary and a least a few of which arguably detracted from the plot moreso than added to it) down our throats, but what interested me about the original trilogy wasn't the cameos in and of themselves but a certain degree of evolution for the principle characters. In this game, however, pretty much everyone fit into their stereotypes. The game felt...stagnant, in a way. And the sheer plethora of cameos really detracted from the mystery in the cases because you just knew that all the cameo characters weren't the real murderers. In four of the five cases I had deciphered the true identity of the killer and their methodologies in killing long before Miles had to present the evidence, which just stripped the game of much its tension. It's particularly bad in cases four and five when I knew Callisto and Shih-na were respectively the murderers from their earliest scenes in those cases.

Aside from all that, the story was still awesome: I liked Franny as an Interpol agent, snippets of dialogue between the characters (particularly Case Four, which rocked) were just plain awesome, Edgeworth's narration was distinct enough from Phoenix to retain a certain degree of independence as a character, the new characters (Lang, Callisto and Badd in particular) were several degrees better than anything Apollo Justice offered us (and all three those characters had amazing jazz/rock style theme songs.)

What disappointed me far more than the story (which was fine, with a few minor qualms) was the gameplay, which really felt several steps backwards. The game just felt too easy. The original Ace Attorney titles used to trip me up, man! I remember being stumped sometimes, and the turnabouts where much more brilliant because I was genuinely caught off guard and impressed with a few of the final twists. Take Case 2-4 in Justice for All and Case 3-5 in Trials and Tribulations: both were intense roller-coaster rides of cases, with fast and furious battles between the Phoenix and the case's prosecutor. Franny was shot! Edgeworth took over the prosecution! Phoenix was shot! Edgeworth took over for the defense! More importantly, the evidence just seemed to click into place in such a way that retained a far greater degree of deduction.

By comparison I practically slept-walked through some of these AAI cases. The Logic system was ludicrously easy. The Logic system could have been immensely improved if some red herring clues -- false leads that you could link inappropriately -- were thrown into the mix. There's really no moment where a wrong guess causes you to lose a substantive amount of your health bar, so you can breeze through five or six incorrect guesses per section and not worry about a thing. Furthermore, Edgeworth seemed to command far more respect than Phoenix -- which I'll concede is consistent with the character, but Edgeworth's deductive skills in terms of the narrative eliminated those tense moments of "THE JUDGE AND THE PROSECUTOR ARE BREATHING DOWN YOUR THROAT" that made me bite my nails in fear in the original Ace Attorney games. By contrast, no one really seems to doubt that Edgeworth's going to make the right deductions, so there's really not as much suspense.

So, in closing, Ace Attorney Investigations was great, but it wasn't as great as I think it should have been, which killed some of my enjoyment of the experience. Piecing together the evidence and utilizing the logic and deduction systems was too easy. The cross-examination sequences might as well have taken place in a courtroom, as they really weren't anything new or exciting. The cases were named after Turnabouts like old times, but none of the cases had a "resurrection from the brink of death" feel that propelled Phoenix through the original trilogy. Miles never really seemed to be in danger to the same extent that Phoenix was, and everyone's acknowledgment of his acumen enabled him to successfully challenge characters like Lang in such a way as to eliminate the suspense. Franziska and Gumshoe and Larry Butz and pretty much everyone but Edgeworth himself has appeared to remain stagnant, and without character growth, the narrative loses some pull. The cameos were actually excessive, and the one cameo I felt was necessary just didn't come to fruition.

The humor is better than ever, the music is phenomenal, and the artwork is pretty. And it's still the second best Ace Attorney game, which is saying a lot. I just can't...I can't feel that same level of excitement I once felt when I was playing Trials and Tribulations or case 2-4 of Justice for All. I hope Capcom reaches those heights again but honestly, unless they start taking much larger risks with the formula, they may never reach T+T's pinnacle again.

[Kim]

The logic system needs improvement, but I like it far more than the Psyche Locks. Maybe if they didn't throw bits away after you used them?

Reason I like it is that Edgey is leagues better than Phoenix in terms of well done protagonist, since Phoenix only had a personality to the extent of being the straight man compared to everyone else's stupid, being the stupid compared to the rest of the lawyers, and talking a whole lot about JUSTICE and the TRUTH. Edgey has actual interests, and a more likable personality, and the game really lets you see how he's grown as a character. Plus, Edgey calling out someone for not being a "true Steel Samurai fan" automatically maes him better than Feeny.

I also found many of the characters loads more likable this game. I don't think I've ever liked Franziska as much as I do this game, I wasn't nearly so irritated at having to deal with Oldbag and Larry, and the new characters specific to this game, like Detective Badd and Kay Faraday, are just pure awesome.

Cutting out the courtroom also let them balance the gameplay elements far better, meaning you don't spend too much time doing one thing before getting to do another. Additionally, they cut out the bullshit with trying to figure out what area to explore next and only being able to access certain areas from other areas and blargh. I thought mostly restricting you to a single room was a definite improvement over the previous games.

In short: Edgey Rules; Feeny Drools

[Solid Snake]

Reason I like it is that Edgey is leagues better than Phoenix in terms of well done protagonist, since Phoenix only had a personality to the extent of being the straight man compared to everyone else's stupid, being the stupid compared to the rest of the lawyers, and talking a whole lot about JUSTICE and the TRUTH. Edgey has actual interests, and a more likable personality, and the game really lets you see how he's grown as a character.

I love both characters, so I'll have to at least disagree regarding Phoenix "not having a personality." His wit and his dry sense of humor distinguished him well from Edgeworth and nearly everyone else in the original trilogy's cast, and I wouldn't call him merely a 'straight man.' Edgeworth's development may be more pronounced and his characterization may be more nuanced, but damn, I still miss myself some Wright.

I will agree that Oldbag and Larry were less annoying this time around -- I'd argue their presence was simply unnecessary. They weren't as much a nuisance, but the inundation of cameos in general in later cases took away from the suspense. In retrospect, I think the development team overcompensated after being criticized for the lack of cameos in Apollo Justice. Hopefully, in future titles they'll find a better balance between the two extremes.

Have to disagree with Franziska. As I've already written, I do feel her personality in this storyline has set her back from the ending of T+T in terms of character progression, though I do appreciate the fact that she finally showed a tad more restraint by the end of Case Five.

...And as for cutting out the courtroom: I'm an aspiring attorney. Of course I'm going to miss the courtroom. =)

[Kim]

Regardless, I think we can all agree that in the next game we need to be playing as the Judge.

[Solid Snake]

In regards to the sequel, it's interesting how at least five major possibilities are all strongly hinted at by Capcom in this game's epilogue (well, four possibilities are hinted it, but the Apollo Justice sequel is the default choice.)


1: The next game could, of course, just continue from Edgeworth's perspective. His ending did seem to mention a possible return to the courtroom, but he's investigating now as well, so who knows if it'd be a second Ace Attorney Investigations title or a new Courtroom Prosecutor title. It's noteworthy that Ema mentions wanting to help Edgey as a forensic scientist, so if the next title takes place considerably later in the timeline (like after AJ, but still starring an older Edgeworth) Ema might come back to play assistant.

2: Of course, there's the standard option of the Apollo Justice sequel.

3: Franziska mentions working with Lang on new Interpol cases and subduing the remnants of the smuggling ring. They could star in their own game and take down the baddies.

4: Kay mentions recruiting a new trio of "young beauties" for the brand-new Yatagarasu. I wonder who this would be. Given that the creators originally wanted the first Ace Attorney Investigations title to star Ema, I wouldn't be shocked if Ema was involved. Kay, Ema and...? Trucy Wright? A teenage Pearls?

5: And of course, Larry mentions missing the "man in the blue suit" (why the hell wouldn't he just call him Phoenix) and there's always the possibility, however slim, that we may eventually get a new story starring our favorite attorney. Why else include the random shoutout in Larry's farewell speech? Just to toy with me? =(

So yeah, I'm curious to see exactly what direction the developers choose to pursue next.