The Ace Attorney Topic (DS, 3DS, iOS) - News in OP

[Sean]

I think AA5 benefited from having multiple protagonists because in Phoenix's perspective, there wasn't a whole lot to tell. He doesn't go through a development arc like Apollo and Athena do. He plays the mentor character, the one who holds the three of them together, and I felt that that was a really fitting role considering what he got in his own trilogy. He does star in the most cases but he's mainly the one who puts together the puzzle pieces surrounding the other characters' development, so in a way I actually consider Apollo and Athena to be the primary stars of AA5 and not Phoenix.

I like both approaches, my initial post was a knee-jerk concern but I don't think AA5 left us with as many jarring loose ends as 4 did, the latter's which have been dropped entirely off the face of the earth anyway.

[Solly]

I thought Apollo's arc in 5 was really tacked on, and that they should've focused on following up the loose ends of 4 rather than wasting time explaining stupid things nobody was wondering about, like why he says "I'm fine." It reads like fanfiction sometimes. I like Athena, especially as a playable character rather than a partner, but I don't think she had anything crazy important to follow up on herself.

Honestly, the more I think about 5, the less I want 6 to be like it. Easily the 2nd worst game in the main series.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Well from my experience, if Ace Attorney Investigations 2 is anything to go by, the Yamazaki team does learn from their mistakes and thus ascend with a highly superior follow-up sequel; hopefully they'll take in to mind the legitimate complaints of Dual Destinies' faults' narrative and gameplay-wise, not that the game was anything short of awesome, but several things (i.e on-the-rails automated parts, too-easy-to-solve parts, spoon-feeding information, flanderization of characters ala AAI), certainly can't be excused and did tend to put a dent in it, thus robbing it a position amongst the three S-Class titles: PW:AA, T&T, and AAI2.

 

[Thigolf]

Meanwhile, Capcom finally opened their mouth and said that there are no plans for DGS in the West.

http://gonintendo.com/stories/241782-capcom-france-rep-says-the-great-ace-atttorney-isn-t-getting-loca

At this point, not surprising, but still massively disappointing. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I'm not buying that as a definitive answer for one second yet. 

First off that's a French Capcom rep who likely wouldn't be in the loop about a localization at the moment,  especially if Dual Destinies' range of languages is anything to go by. 

Second,  it's PR talk that doesn't even outright deny the possibility of a future localization. 

Third,  hard-headed as Capcom is,  they have plenty of potential,  twisted reasons of logic for holding off on announcing DGS' western release,  crazy as they be.  From "saving it for a surprise ", to the reasoning that the localization team was busy with Ace Attorney 6's localization as well as Janet Hsu and company being caught up in DGS' development for the English speaking parts and whatnot so DGS' localization is coming later  than that of Ace Attorney 6 (which Capcom sees as the bigger priority in America), to them just flat  out pulling a PLVSAA in outright delaying the localization,  etc. 

Not to mention that's just France  as opposed to say, Capcom of Europe or the USA,  so it can be read as just a confirmation of DGS not getting a French translation/localization. 

Capcom is that unpredictable. Insane and often dickish  to consumers,  but  also quite unpredictable. 

Still, just in case,  keep your eyes peeled for the eventual  fan translation in the case DGS localization chances are truly doomed. 

 

Edited September 2, 2015 by Jovahexeon Joranvexeon

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Speak of the devil! Turns out I may have been on to something about dodgy PR. In response to much public negative reception at the news,  Capcom France have taken back their statement and admitted  that they're unaware of DGS' actual  localization status. Spread the word,  it ain't dead yet! 

From holybikinisbatman.tumblr.com/post/128174917676/an-update-from-the-capcom-france-twitter-account

an update from the Capcom France twitter account

so a while ago a post from the court-records-net (link here) stated that a representative from the Capcom France twitter account mentioned that there would be no DGS release in the West. Here’s the original tweets:

For those of you that don’t speak French: you’re in luck! ‘cos I do

ktouktou says: @capcom_france Great! But in regards to DGS (in the past) do you have any info?

capcom_france says: @ ktouktou Unfortunately the title is not scheduled to be released in the West.

However! As of writing this, if you follow the Twitter convo there’s been a couple back-and-forth questions

The translations:

ktouktou says: @capcom_france …Good bah at least we have AA6! ^^’ I will go to cry in my corner while waiting for it [AA6]

capcom_france says: @ ktouktou #sorry

ktouktou says: Rooh don’t worry yourself! I know that this is not your fault!

PhoenixBart says: @ktouktou @capcom_france If you think that there is a way to have the games here [literally “chez nous” = “in our homes” but I believe in this sense it’s a cute way to refer to localization] (traditional, in boxes), I encourage you. #Kickstarter? o/

spaceboyclay says: Does this apply to an American release? (my French is bad, sorry)

rifraff_NM says: @capcom_france @ktouktou Yes…Until @Capcom_Unity and @aceattorneygame announce otherwise…

capcom_france says: @spaceboyclay Hello, we don’t know if the game will be released in the West. 

 

Here’s a close-up of that tweet

 

Apparently the Capcom France twitter accounttook back their previous statement and is now saying that they do not know if DGS will be released in the West. 

Fingers crossed and lets hope we get a localization!

EDIT AND UPDATE:

Capcom France has tweeted this:

capcom_france says: #AceAttorneyFans 2/2 For the time no plan is scheduled for DGS to arrive in our countries. But we’ll get back to you [roughly that’s what the last line is translated as]

Seems like the Capcom France twitter is going back and forth! For now, there are no plans to localize, but it seems that they will keep this in mind as fans tell them that we would like to see DGS in the West!!

[Nexthehedgehog]

Capcom France has tweeted this:

capcom_france says: #AceAttorneyFans 2/2 For the time no plan is scheduled for DGS to arrive in our countries. But we’ll get back to you [roughly that’s what the last line is translated as]

Seems like the Capcom France twitter is going back and forth! For now, there are no plans to localize, but it seems that they will keep this in mind as fans tell them that we would like to see DGS in the West!!

They actually say that they will send the feedback over to Capcom Japan.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

In other news, we've got a new scan! 

They actually say that they will send the feedback over to Capcom Japan.

Heh,  imagine  if this is what finally gets Capcom's attention regarding DGS and prompts something in return of all things. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Hmm,  this scan in its top left quadrant suggests that we'll still see some action in the traditional court and the homeland. 

[sonicgirl313]

I just found out about this and squealed with joy! I'm beyond happy that they're making AA6! I really hope Maya comes back in this one and by the look of the scans I think she will.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

More news from the recent scans update,

– Once again, the game is set in a foreign country which Phoenix visits “for a certain goal”
– The old Wright luck kicks in and he finds himself wrapped up in a certain case when his tour guide is arrested
– Phoenix goes to see the trial
– When there, he sees there’s no defense attorney and the judge is relying on things like an “oracle of spirits” to hand down a guilty verdict immediately
– Phoenix objects and takes the defense’s bench
– In the game is the mysterious, strong-willed woman in the art
– This woman is neither a witness nor a prosecutor nor a judge
– She’s this game’s “key person” like Athena in AA5
– Note that it does not say she’s Phoenix’s assistant, just reuses the “key person” term
– The “water mirror” in the courtroom plays a part in a new system they’re keeping under wraps
– The magazine also seems to suggest there may be other small changes from the usual courtroom antics
– This new system will be playable at TGS 2015
– In this country, there are prosecutors, but no defense attorneys
– Defendants must use a “certain object” to defend themselves
– The game’s theme is a “courtroom revolution”
– The team felt Phoenix was in a position where he didn’t really have anyone who could match up to him in Japan, so that was part of the reason they moved him into the wider world
– They also hope that trials in a court where the usual “rules” don’t play will help give a sense of urgency to the game that they couldn’t get in just a plain Japanese trial
– Devs have heard complaints about Ace Attorney 5 being too easy due to the many hints characters gave
– With this game, they’re aiming to let the player enable/disable hints on their own, and to avoid direct clues like in AA5
– Development is still fairly early on
– The team wants to make a game to surpass the previous entries, and to “betray the player’s expectations – in a good way!”

Courtesy of http://www.forums.court-records.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31416

[goodone121]

When is TGS, this/next year?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

When is TGS, this/next year?

This year, two weeks from tomorrow, is the 17th of September 2015, when we'll get a new supply of info, stage show, special courtroom video, etc at TGS.

[goodone121]

Thanks, Jovahexeon. It's just Wikipedia didn't have the dates, and I wasn't sure this year's had passed.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

For what it's worth, here's news on Ace Attorney's latest Joypolis  exclusive case: www.forums.court-records.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31420

SEGA's official twitter just posted that from the 17th of September (Thursday) the new Joypolis exclusive Ace Attorney case will be available at the theme park. 

 The preview image shows off Phoenix, Edgeworth, Maya and Desiree DeLite (From Trials and Tribulations) and a new character in the background.  Source: https://twitter.com/SEGA_OFFICIAL/statu ... 0411010048 Joypolis PDF: http://tokyo-joypolis.com/attraction/3rd/gyakuten.pdf  UPDATE: A little more info thanks to Famitsu! http://www.famitsu.com/news/201509/03087574.html  So Desiree has now landed a job in the entertainment industry, and is an actress playing a role in a fight-scene of a film along with another actress. Said other actress is the victim of the case.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Jovahexeon Joranvexeon

[Junko]

The new site is live boys and girls, so who wants hi-res, clean screenshots? I know I do.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Athena Cykes

[Salamander]

I just got back after not having Internet access for a while.  Very interesting news about AA6.  Ultra-reassuring, of course, that right from the announcement we know it's coming west, a fact which sheds a bit of light on certain other games, but I think how they're handling AA6 is very telling in itself.

The focus on Phoenix is shows that, based on past reception, they do think that he's a crucial element to the series and can't quite be replaced - which says a lot about Apollo, Edgeworth, and Ryunosuke, doesn't it?  In a way it's quite worrying as I agree that his story should really have come to an end, but... how this relates to the foreign country aspect is not just about him.  The argument is that they've placed Phoenix in a foreign court system both to give him a more international presence now that he's dominated Japan, and that allows them to keep him as something of a fish-out-of-water who doesn't really know how things work yet.  But it also suggests to me that they are afraid of the series stagnating and are having a hard time balancing the established setting with a need for new ideas.  I could see the possibility of AA continuing down a, how can I put this, more gimmicky line in future just for the sake of having to keep things fresh...

The series does have a strange kind of self-relationship.  I only placed the first three games relatively recently, and I found it kind of weird how often secondary characters made a comeback.  It reminds me a bit of Sonic, actually - we have all these individuals whose stories have been pretty much wrapped-up, but it was like the developers felt an obligation to maintain this expansive cast.  AA4 and 5 actually felt a lot more natural to me in this regard, in having a much more independent line-up, but in retrospect that in itself is discordant with the original trilogy.  It's tricky!  For instance, for me then even though Maya's story is essentially wrapped up, the fact that she was so huge a part of Phoenix's life makes her story feel increasingly unfinished the longer Phoenix goes on without ever mentioning her.  I'd be happy to see her again in AA6 - the timeskip will have helped to develop her character so she can be a fresh and interesting individual with a new storyline again, and in any case, there's a mysterious reason why Phoenix came to this foreign country in the first place, right?

I have to say, though, my ideal AA7 now would be just Apollo and Athena back in Japan having to find their feet without Phoenix around to guide them...

As to how this relates to DGS: It has to be the spin-off factor.  Capcom are holding onto Phoenix for dear life, and they aren't confident that there's a way forward for other protagonists in the west, which is potentially a bit dangerous.  With that said, I myself outright said not long ago that I think they have to hold off on DGS in the west at least until there's a sequel in sight, and I wonder if it's also possible that they want to release a new main-series entry first to reignite the fanbase?  AA5 was a few years ago now, after all.  Still, I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but games set in London have a strangely poor record of actually reaching London.  DGS, that supplementary Layton's London Life thing they cut out of Spectre's Call, the DS RPG Nostalgia... none of those came to Europe even though two of them hit the west more generally.

And speaking of all this, I actually just recently played Ace Attorney Investigations, bringing me up-to-date with all the western-released games in the series.  (...I'll try and find a Let's Play or something for the fan translation of AAI2.)  So I feel it's relevant to put down my thoughts.  ...Overall, I liked it, but I think it should've been a lot braver and better and ultimately I don't think that it's a very good spin-off.

At the start, I felt that the game was having difficulty establishing its own identity.  Some of the systems and their presentation, like the Organizer, the Present system, the way dialogue and such works, were all very much as in mainline AA but just slightly off somehow, like a fangame or a strange knock-off.  But then there were other things where it felt like they were trying too hard to make them original, like the side-on RPGesque exploration.  Courtroom-like interrogations outside of court just felt like they were trying to skirt around infringing on mainline AA gameplay again.  While the characters and plot went a long way to giving the game a sense of identity by the end, I still felt that the mechanics in general did not do enough to distinguish themselves from AA in a natural way.  I also felt really railroaded by the plot, too; I appreciate that in mainline AA it's sometimes not clear what you have to do, but I felt far too constrained in where I could go and explore in AAI, and I gather that the sequel is even worse in this regard.

Logic was super-basic but I actually thought it was really cool.  I'd like to see it expanded so that you could use Logic with inventory items and multiple pieces of evidence rather than just two.  In fact, just replace the whole inventory system with an expanded Logic system, please, that would work wonders for me.  Oh, what's that?  Gyukaten Kenji 2 doesn't use Logic very much?  ...Good job.  (Though I understand AAI2 does have a more sophisticated interrogation system as well, which is welcome and natural.)  I feel it's a bit awkward that the game very deliberately avoids having Edgeworth actually prosecute any cases in court - and I feel that's because they couldn't see a way of proceeding without it either being a rehash, or requiring them to think up an actually very complex new system.  But I for one would definitely like to play Edgeworth actually prosecuting in court in a game, with a completely reimagined court system unique to his perspective to make the game stand out from mainline AA.

...I suppose my fundamental reaction to AAI is that it should have been a lot bolder, and where it actually was bold then it wasn't necessarily in a natural way.  It doesn't feel like a very well-thought-out spin-off in gameplay terms.  As far as the narrative goes, I do actually like the idea - I understand it's not necessarily a popular one - of every case Edgeworth is involved in being part of a single connected investigation, but as it is presented in the game then it's basically a complete coincidence.  I'd like to see a more active Edgeworth chasing up different angles of a conspiracy deliberately rather than just stumbling into it; in other words, he should've been doing what Franziska and Shi-Long Lang were doing.

[Sean]

I haven't played AAI2 yet but it's a widely held view that it's better than the first. I intend on playing it sometime before AA6 releases.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I haven't played AAI2 yet but it's a widely held view that it's better than the first. I intend on playing it sometime before AA6 releases.

It certainly is. I kinda feel sorry for Yamazaki,  since going by how much of an improvement AAI2 is over the first game, he looks to be the sort to make a "good to great  but not really as amazing/groundbreaking" first entry but then make a superb sequel that pretty much hunts down and addresses issues with its predecessor to produce a more marvelous experience. 

Granted, many who haven't played AAI2 yet for obvious reasons are legitimately concerned as Dual Destinies,  while still a great game,  still had "playing it safe" aspects up the wazoo and flanderization moments akin to Investigations 1,  not to mention gameplay on-the-rails style occasionally,  lack of exploration, and cases featuring  mockingly easy gameplay sections.

From what we've heard they're working on a lot of those issues so hopefully AA6 will be the AAI2 to AA5's AAI. 

[sonicgirl313]

I find it funny how Investigations was originally suppose to star Ema Skye but then they changed it to Edgeworth because they believed Ema wasn't popular enough.

 As for Ace Attorney 6, another thing I'm excited for is the possibility of male spirit medians. As some if you know when I was discussing plans for my PW AU fic "Badge of a Fighter", I was planning to feature a genderbent Maya so I could explore and experiment with such a concept, essentially a man with a profession that is mostly done by women. So when I saw the screenshots of male characters in the setting, something that was never explored in the original triology since Maya stated that there was no men in there village, it's interesting to see Capcom possibliy tackle this subject and how they might handle it.

[Salamander]

I find it funny how Investigations was originally suppose to star Ema Skye but then they changed it to Edgeworth because they believed Ema wasn't popular enough.

Oh, I didn't know that!  That... kind of makes a lot more sense, then.  I know that prosecutors in Japan are very much not the same as prosecutors in the U.K. and America, but it still feels really weird to be playing a game called Turnabout Prosecutor starring King of Prosecutors Miles Edgeworth in which there is no prosecution.

[Edward850]

As for Ace Attorney 6, another thing I'm excited for is the possibility of male spirit medians.

Yeah, that's not going to be very likely. The trilogy already explained that detail, which you seem to have missed.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Edward850
Shrunk the post area down a tad.

[sonicgirl313]

Yeah, that's not going to be very likely. The trilogy already explained that detail, which you seem to have missed.

Hidden Content

Yeah I know that, hence why I said it would be interesting if it turned out men can too. Even if they portray it as a rare case (which is what Mikey is in Badge of the Fighter) it's still an interesting concept to tackle. But in the other hand they might stick to their guns about it being females only. Oh well at least their will be men in the setting since Maya said that not many men stuck around the spirit medium scene, at least that would be partly fulfilling my wish.

[YoshiUnity]

AND... We HAAAAAAAVE Trailer!

Man, I'll never get over how beautiful the Ace Attorney's artstyle is. It's one of my favorite things about this franchise. Along with well, almost everything else.

[Klinsy]

Wow, I didn't think the graphics in Dual Destines could be improved that much, I was proved wrong, these models are even closer to the 2D sprites!

I feel bad for the poor defendant, they look so sad and helpless, good thing Phoenix is there to turn things around.

And hello almost full 3D model of Nick, I wonder if this is a cutscene?