Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All

[John Funk]

The attack of the colon subtitles!

Anyway, if you've never heard of this quirky lawyer-themed text adventure for the DS, you're doing yourself a grave disservice. One of the best casts in videogaming ANYWHERE, some great little stories with nifty twists, and awesome music. I highly reccomend trying to find the first game before playing Justice For All, though that might be a little bit difficult.

If you played the first game, or don't care about the overarching plotlines (FOR SHAME!) then get this one anyway. The better this sells, the more likely it is we'll get the third game localized, and it's easily the best in teh series, so... yeah.

OBJECTION!

 

[mrplaid]

OVERRULED.

I feel like a traitor for saying this, but I didn't really enjoy the first Phoenix Wright game. It's been said a thousand times, but all it did for me was bring back all of the old frustrations I discovered playing old-school PC adventure games. It got really obscure towards the end and basically just turned into a guessing game where none of the answers made sense. By the time I finished the main game, I was so burned out on it I didn't even bother going back to play the DS-specific quest.
I'd buy the new one if I saw it on sale for cheap somewhere, but I'd rather Capcom just take the effort to develop a completely new one specifically for the DS and make a few tweaks to the gameplay mechanics so that it plays less like Zork or the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy game.

 

[Goofonian]

I'd rather Capcom just take the effort to develop a completely new one specifically for the DS and make a few tweaks to the gameplay mechanics so that it plays less like Zork or the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy game.

Was there ever a phoenix wright game that wasn't DS specific?

 

[Slybok [deprecated]]

I'd rather Capcom just take the effort to develop a completely new one specifically for the DS and make a few tweaks to the gameplay mechanics so that it plays less like Zork or the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy game.

Was there ever a phoenix wright game that wasn't DS specific?

The Phoenix Wright series has been around in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban for a long time now. Originally, it was only available on the GBA and 3 titles were created(I believe). The first two have come over to us in slightly refined and very well-localized versions, but the first one was the only one to really have DS-specific features. I hear that the 4th Phoenix Wright title in production which still hasn't been released in Japan was built ground-up for the DS. Hopefully, that'll manage its way hear somehow.....

 

[Dr. Wiley]

It's funny, because I agree with both CantFake and mrplaid. I bought the first Ace Attorney because I was interested in seeing what that style was all about. And I was really into it through the first three cases. But by the end of the third, I felt the game had been really drained of all it's fun and had resulted in just a bunch of nit-picking over testimonies that didn't make a whole lot of sense. When you're basically objecting to every sentence, just to see if it gets you anywhere, that's not a good thing.

That being said, I was glad to have experienced the game and I'm even tempted to pick up the new title to see if any of these kinks have been worked out. One design modification that would have changed the whole gameplay dynamic in my mind, without changing the actual game itself, would have been if the developers added more evidence. If you had a surplus, i.e. some evidence that wasn't useful but instead just a distraction, that would challenge gamers to examine things more closely and allow the game's writers to work in more logically scenarios instead of relying so heavily on liguistically missteps.

Has anyone played the new title? Is it any different or more worthwhile? Sort of unrelated, but how bout Hotel Dusk?

 

[ReedRichards]

Is Hotel Dusk the one where you hold your DS like a book?

 

[Nelsormensch]

Is Hotel Dusk the one where you hold your DS like a book?

Indeed it is: http://www.hoteldusk.com/ It's vertically oriented like Brain Age and its derivatives.

I'm really anticipating many a bus commute being made pleasurable by way of Hotel Dusk. It looks pretty firmly "hardboiled detective noir," which I admit to have a big soft spot for. Lots of people thought the writing in Max Payne was overwrought and ridiculous, but I found it absolutely delicious.

Enough hijacking, sorry.

 

[John Funk]

It's funny, because I agree with both CantFake and mrplaid. I bought the first Ace Attorney because I was interested in seeing what that style was all about. And I was really into it through the first three cases. But by the end of the third, I felt the game had been really drained of all it's fun and had resulted in just a bunch of nit-picking over testimonies that didn't make a whole lot of sense. When you're basically objecting to every sentence, just to see if it gets you anywhere, that's not a good thing.

That being said, I was glad to have experienced the game and I'm even tempted to pick up the new title to see if any of these kinks have been worked out. One design modification that would have changed the whole gameplay dynamic in my mind, without changing the actual game itself, would have been if the developers added more evidence. If you had a surplus, i.e. some evidence that wasn't useful but instead just a distraction, that would challenge gamers to examine things more closely and allow the game's writers to work in more logically scenarios instead of relying so heavily on liguistically missteps.

Has anyone played the new title? Is it any different or more worthwhile? Sort of unrelated, but how bout Hotel Dusk?

Not really different. Well, the fourth case is very STYLISTICALLY different, but the gameplay remains the same. It's to be expected, though, since the first three games in the series (or the "Phoenix Arc," if you will) were all originally released for the GBA, they're just ports.

I'll be interested in seeing what Capcom is going to do with Ace Attorney 4, which is being built from the ground up for the DS. But to answer your question, two isn't really different from one at all.

 

[Dr. Wiley]

Yeah, that's the sense I got, so I guess I'm just going to have to wait around for AA4. Hotel Dusk does look pretty interesting though, and at this point I'll try anything on the DS once, if for no other reason than to sample the various gameplay options that designers are coming up with.

MrPlaid's reference to PC adventure games actually jumpstarted a lot of reminiscing for me as well, where's my Kings Quest or Police Quest ports?

 

[ohellynot]

It was the way the game was translated so that it contained relivent cultural references. A great deal of well deserved applause to the translators and writters

 

[Mr. Fister]

Personally, I liked Trials and Tribulations (the third game) the most. The story arc with Godot (how do you pronounce his name, BTW?) was very well-done, and I liked how it was able to tie nearly everything and everyone from the past two games together. A good example of great writing (and translation.)

 

[MRMIdAS2k]

3 was the weakest in terms of stuff that made sense though.

I preferred the first game, where you used logic, as opposed to randomly trying crap in your inventory until it worked.

psi lock is ass, the fact you've no way of knowing when you've got all you need, and if you have, it's still a random crap-shoot on what to use, as there's usually 2 or 3 different items tou can use to prove something, you've just gotta pick the one the game wants you to.

Apollo justice is a step in the right direction, it just needs to get rid of the giimicky crap.

 

[Owned by 3 year olds]

The second game was the best.You got to interrogate people,had cool characters, and had the best case ever: The 4th trial of that game.

 

[Deathsong17]

Is it true to its name and have tracks from ...And Justice For All? I've already tried the game and loved but if it had Metallica I could not get it quick enough!

Nah I know it doesn't, don't bother messaging me...