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

[Barry the Nomad]

So I've played the first game on iOS and loved it, recently got a 3DS, was about to bite the bullet and get the games for DS (either via a rom cart or buying used) but now I'm going to play the HD trilogy on my iPhone.

My question is: Is the fourth game, which seems to be only on DS, worth playing? And are the Miles Edgeworth games spin-offs? I see that only the first was localized and the second never released over here.

[Carbo]

Apollo Justice is worth playing, because even the worst Ace Attorney games are still great games. Despite the characters showing promise though they're easily weighed down by the plot which this time around is kind of all over the place (ironically, the reason it suffers the most is because of Shu Takumi being forced to shoehorn Phoenix Wright in rather than doing a new story).

The actual game hasn't changed much but if you're still not bored of finding those delicious contradictions and shouting objection then you'll still find a lot to like. It's a series that everyone has favorites for different reasons and most of them come down to which plot stories and cases you enjoyed more.

As for Ace Attorney Investigations, it falls somewhere in the middle for me but I don't appreciate it as much as the others because it's the safest game in the series despite introducing new elements. It has my least favorite settings as well, mostly because it's built around one single plot point that isn't that very interesting which every case builds upon while the other game shook things up with different ones while still hinting that it's all leading to one big glorious finale. That said, it probably has the best game play elements out of all the games, and it's worth playing for that alone.

[Nix]

Ace Attorney Investigations is like my favorite Ace Attorney game I think.

Then again, I think Edgeworth is the coolest guy ever, so a game where you play as him all the time would be incredibly awesome by default.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Pinkamina

[Klinsy]

We got a tiny preview of that screen that shows two more screenshots.

That the first look of the facial expression feature, neat.

[Sean]

I honestly can't bring myself to like Apollo Justice all that much because I really didn't like any of the cases. Ironically that was exactly why I wanted a direct sequel to it, particularly to redeem the characters. But then again I'd still kind of rate it higher than AAI despite that probably being the better game; I actually do not like Edgeworth all that much (or at least find him very interesting) when he doesn't have Phoenix to bounce off.

So to me AJ has better characters, while AAI has (marginally) better cases, but both are marred with a lot of problems that only the weakest PW case (Turnabout Bigtop, which is widely despised) out-bads.

[TrueBlue]

I enjoyed Investigations quite a bit. It made the process of investigating more engaging than any of the previous AA games had managed. The Logic system and the usage of Little Thief also refreshed things a bit. The story wasn't as memorable though and the characters didn't hit the mark at times, with the "final boss" especially wearing out their welcome far before they are actually defeated. Hell, even favourites like Ema were treated badly in terms of actually making an impact on the story. Characters like Kay, Badd and Lang were pretty cool though, and bounced off well with the established cast. I would rate it above AA4 but below the main trilogy.

I do feel that the lack of a localised sequel hurts thing a little, and rather like Apollo, we haven't had the chance to see the characters and concepts grow beyond their foundation. So it's a risky move bringing Phoenix back to the forefront. I heavily doubt that characters like Apollo and Trucy will be forgotten entirely, but considering Maya, Pearl or even Edgeworth were barely mentioned in the seven-year gap between AA3 and AA4, it might not be a sure thing. Hopefully the writers will be clever and reintroduce Phoenix while also allowing Apollo and Trucy (among others) to grow, rather than just pushing in the old cast to replace the AA4 characters. I mean come on, Ema and Gumshoe working together as detectives has a fuckload of potential. AA5 should attempt to mould AA4 properly into the bigger picture, rather than blatantly ignoring it in favour of Phoenix.

[Tornado]

I don't like 4 because of the sheer banality of it. 2 and AAI had parts that dragged and dragged and dragged (directly related to the amount of time and amount of punch-ability of the characters that you had to deal with), but at least the good parts were still really good even if the bad parts were really bad (fuck you Moe). When Engarde flipped his hair back, that shit floored you. When Badd stormed the courtroom, you paid attention.

In 4... The only really interesting parts had the horrific side effect of not making any sense, so every time there was a huge reveal you stood attention when it happened but were questioning exactly what the hell was going on before the dialog tree even ended. And I don't even think the entire problem is that the game centered around Phoenix rather than Apollo so much as the story just wasn't interesting or written as well. It built itself up going into the last couple of cases as serious shit going down, and then it just kind of meandered to where things were going. Apollo is certainly a salvageable character if for no reason other than he was a blank slate throughout the entirety of 4, but I don't really blame them for leaving him.

Plus, I really didn't like how they trimmed everything down for 4. It was a minor thing, streamlining the options; but it was a minor thing that really hurt it to me. And I hated the "tell" thing. It just seemed to be there so they wouldn't have to bother writing the story as tightly.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Tornado

[Klinsy]

The verge has a translated interview from famitsu.

Notable bits include,

On Maya and the woman in yellow

"Well, she might be back at her home village for more training," Yamazaki laughed. "This new girl is certainly a key part of the story, but designing her was a pretty rough process. She looked almost alien-like at first, which was partly due to the fact that her background was a lot different than it is today. Yellow was always her theme color, though — she really has a drive to win, so in that respect she's a fair bit different than Maya."

On other returning characters

Any other characters from previous games set to appear? "Well, the world setting is the same as the other Ace Attorney games," Eshiro noted, "so without going into detail on whether anyone appears or doesn't appear, I will say that the story is set in a world where they all exist."

On 3D

"Part of the visual appeal of Ace Attorney stems from the fact that it's in 2D, after all," he explained. "We were limited in how many animation frames we could put in the first few games, so at first there were maybe only one or two variations on the 'Objection!' word balloon. That wound up giving the game this sense of speed and sharpness that we couldn't have gotten otherwise. To recreate that feel in 3D, we're deliberately messing with the pace, inserting pauses and skipping over other things. With 2D we played around with perspectives — drawing Phoenix's hand larger than usual when he's pointing at someone — and we're taking measures to recreate that sort of thing in 3D."

On the game darker tone

Phoenix's first case in the new Ace Attorney involves defending a sweet-looking little girl against accusations she set off a bomb that destroyed the courtroom where previous games have taken place. His first opposing prosecutor, the younger brother of Winston Payne: the punching bag that players have fought (and usually beaten soundly) in the first chapter of previous titles.

"He's a little bit more villainous than his brother," Yamazaki said, "the sort of guy who isn't afraid of using dirty tactics. Sort of a 'dark Payne,' in other words. The theme of this story overall is 'dark days in law'. Phoenix was talking about this in Apollo Justice a bit, along the lines of 'Dark days are coming for law, and we have to do something to fix it.' Partly because of that, this game begins with a courtroom bombing, to sort of symbolize that."

Didn't know this game had a darker tone, interesting.

I laugh at dark Payne.

[#AR]

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/3DS/Ace+Attorney+5/news.asp?c=44720

They're not hoggin' it in Japan this time, a western release IS coming!

Capcom says they're gonna have "more news soon".

I'm BUYIN' this game!!

[Wraith]

And suddenly all the hate for Capcom mysteriously vanished.

[Solkia]

ASDFGHJLKJHG

Awesome, now I'll have 3 reasons not to sell my 3DS. I guess AAI2 localization is out of the question? Guess we'll have to rely on a fanpatch if someone is working on one.

EDIT: Apparently a fan patch for multiple languages has been in the works now.

And suddenly all the hate for Capcom mysteriously vanished.

Edited September 6, 2012 by Solkia-kun

[Wraith]

No, they're still pieces of shit.

[Carbo]

Capcom is a stupid, stupid, stupid company.

Despite this, I'm having the game pre-ordered, for launch day. If buying this brand new on launch to show my affinity for the series is the best way to prove that we care about their damn properties I'm willing to put aside whatever grudge I have. This game deserves it, it's the first true blue Ace Attorney game we've gotten in over half a decade, and if it tanks on account of company grudges chances are we'll never see these kind of titles again.

In other words, I don't mind giving you my money Capcom. It's the only way properties like these actually stand a chance.

[Solkia]

I don't know if I'd get it new or not.

On one hand, I do want this IP to survive, it's pretty much the only Capcom IP left that I like.

On the other hand, $40 just seems like way too much for an Ace Attorney game. I don't find a whole lot of replayablility in them, and they're fairly short.

[Balding Spider]

And suddenly all the hate for Capcom mysteriously vanished.

No, they've upset me one too many times with their bullshit. I'll get the game but Capcom is still on my shit list.

[Solly]

Full sized screens here.

More images here.

Looks goddamn amazing. Everything looks so clean. A considerable step-up from what I was expecting.

Source.

Edited September 6, 2012 by Solly

[Klinsy]

The official site is up.

Oh and yeah Brelston who works for the Capcom Unity website confirmed that Ace Attorney 5 is coming to the west.

So guess there no doubts about that this is coming to the west, hooray!

Edited September 6, 2012 by 16-bit Marty

[Nix]

Full sized screens here.

Source.

Oh god, those models. All that detail.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNNNGH...

This game is already the best 3DS game.

[Xenos]

So can we expect zero voice acting again?

I'd like them to try and add voices to the characters this time honestly, even if it isn't likely.

[Jetronic]

So is there any legit way of posting my excitement without it being super spammy?

Anyway, happiness! Now all I need is AAI2 and everything will be complete.

[Solkia]

A fan patch for that game is being worked on.

[Jetronic]

A fan patch for that game is being worked on.

If it never comes and that patch is one day completed, I'll import it as to not feel like a dirty pirate.

[Klinsy]

Oh hey you can see the crowd of people in the courtroom, neat.

[Vec]

For some reason, this expression looks even better with this style

[Mega]

You know, I wonder if we'll get voice acting in this game or if it'll be all text like the DS games.