First off, with the amount of flashback content in this case, it can turn out to be a VERY long case.  The progression of this case is very different from others.

Turnabout Succession also alters the game’s judicial system a bit, with the “Jurist System.”  This doesn’t necessarily change the outcome too much but it also ties into the different progression.

After the first day of the trial is done, the flashback begins, and you go back to Phoenix’s final trial seven years ago.  Everything looks the same, old backgrounds, old courtroom, except that maybe the sprites for Klavier, Zak, and Valant are all out of place. (With new DS sprites on GBA-ish backgrounds.)  The case plays through like any other as it goes through the case that brought Wright to ruin, and when that is over, the game has another twist for you.

After this case, you’re pretty much playing as one of the jurists, who is playing through a story as Phoenix.  This is the MASON system, the system developed as part of the Jurist System, and in this case you have to go through different places in both the post-Trials and Tribulations era and the Apollo Justice era to find out what links the two cases together.  Through all of this, you’re playing as Phoenix Wright through normal investigation chapters.  That being said, this reintroduces something that’s been in previous games but not in Apollo Justice as of yet: The psyche-lock.

That being said, the second day of the trial is probably one of the shortest trial days since Case 1-1, and at the end of it provides you with a bit of a twist:  The fate of your client is in your hands.  As a jurist (who is another important character in this game) you get to choose the verdict.  I know a lot of people that saw this as a turn-off, though.  Obviously, though, picking guilty is going to give you the “bad ending” wheras choosing not guilty gives you the proper one.

And for now, that ends the story of Apollo Justice, and finally completes the series to date for the North American market.  Gyakuten Saiban 5 is currently in development but so far there’s no news on how far they’ve gotten, and even still once it’s out in Japan it will most likely be a while before it reaches other places.

This case was both cool, and confusing.  It’s also the first time full-motion video is used in an Ace Attorney game other than in the intro to a new case.  (Barring the 3-D rendered-looking video in case 1-5 and some of the small little animated things during other times.)

This case introduces us to the side that Klavier is much more known for: his rock band star side.  (Apollo is apparently the only person that didn’t know about him.  Funny enough, he’s just like Phoenix in the fact he knows none of the celebrities in this game.)  The case starts with Apollo and Trucy being offered VIP tickets to a Gavinners’ “Guilty As Charged” tour concert at 20% off, and turns out becoming the scene of a gruesome murder.

This case also introduces Lamiroir to us, which, despite us not knowing anything about her now, she plays a very big role in the lives of Apollo and Trucy.  (Though, you’ll have to play through to the end of the game to find out.)

It’s characters galore at the beginning of this case.  Turnabout Corner officially introduces us to Trucy Wright, Phoenix’s self-adopted daughter, introduces us to Klavier Gavin, this game’s rockin’ prosecutor, and re-introduces us to Ema Skye, who has returned from Europe (since moving there after case 1-5) and is now a “scientific” detective, replacing Gumshoe.

This case kind of works like case 3-2, where a smaller crime leads to a bigger one.  The only difference is here, this one involves panties.  Yes, you gotta take care of your mind on this one because the references to panties in this case can get somewhat dirty; Something I never really expected from an Ace Attorney game.  Three crimes, all related to a bigger murder, that all need to be solved in order for the murder to be understood.  (Well, four smaller crimes if you count one that happens late in this case.)  Personally I found it kind of confusing to solve all three to get to the real case.

Another interesting note is that the defendant is the son of a crime lord trying to turn things around… all because of the defendant.  Unfortunately he isn’t very co-operative and would rather do hard time than let them help him out, even though he isn’t the guilty party.  (Is he even aware that the sentence for murder in this game is death?)  Apollo pretty much gets threatened by the defendant’s father that he MUST find him not guilty if he values his life… not that anyone’s life hasn’t been at stake before, but this is the first time it’s happened here. (Although I do question the seriousness of the threat, especially when he’s trying to get out of the gang scene.)

Anyways, I’m about halfway through the third case now, so I will most likely be finished it fairly soon.

After three days of waiting (and not just me, pretty much ALL of Canada) my copy of Apollo Justice finally came in this morning.

Anyways, I had a hard time sleeping last night so my playthrough of the first-case was kinda groggy.  I’ll probably end up playing it again after I finish the game so that I understood more of what’s going on.

First off, a few technical aspects were improved in Apollo Justice from its three predecessors, mainly in the voice recognition department.  For one, the game actually recognizes “HOLD IT!”  Trying to get the previous three games to recognize it when I feel like yelling at my DS to press someone.  Also, the fact that the music goes silent when the mic is on means it’s even harder to tell when you’ve presented correctly.

But anyway, this is easily hailed as the most epic first case of the whole series.  Phoenix is once again reduced to the role of defendant although he plays a huge factor in this whole case.  The epic factor increases even more when Phoenix replaces Kristoph Gavin in the co-counsel position and the Objection 2001 music starts playing.

This is definitely the longest of the four initial cases, coming in at around an hour and 45 minutes to complete.  (Case 1-1 could be done in about 10 minutes, Case 2-1 in 45, and Case 3-1 in an hour and a half.)  Part of this introduces you to two of the new features for AJ:AA; the perceive system and crime recreation mode, the former being a new system that allows you to pick out flawed testimony by spotting witness “tells”, and the latter being a system that allows you to rearrange the crime scene to give more of a idea of what the crime scene was laid out as the crime was taking place – which would eventually lead to more contradictions.  Most of the other features in this game aren’t all that new if you’ve played case 1-5, though.

The real shocker comes at the end of the first case, after you’ve gotten Phoenix’s acquittal he reveals that the one piece of crucial evidence used to convict the “real killer” was forged.  Why he did this, though, will come to light closer to the end of the game.

And so, now I shall be starting on case 2-2.

I will do what I did for the first half of the Phoenix Wright story once I get my hands on the game and recap each of the four cases that are within the series’ newest instalment.

However, just because I am not continuing with the case-by-case replay does not mean I will not be writing here anymore.  From now until the release of Apollo Justice, I will post about little tidbits that I like and don’t like about Phoenix’s story, and when I get my hands on AJ I will journal my thoughts case-by-case just like I had done with Phoenix’s arc up to this point.

First off, it’s key to know that this case, as I mentioned, takes place two months before case 2-1.

For some reason, this ends up being my favourite case out of every other case in Phoenix’s story.  Because of that I found that this case was fairly easy.  There were a couple of spots I couldn’t remember but got through effortlessly.

To contradict my last statement saying this is my favourite case, as a Christian, I’m not a big fan on discussion of the occult.  Unfortunately this case discusses it quite a lot.  (The whole spirit channelling thing is considered an occult thing even in-game after all.)  This also isn’t the last case in Phoenix’s story that deals with Kurain in one way or another.

This case also introduces a new key character: Franziska von Karma.  As you could probably tell by her name she is the daughter of Manfred von Karma from case 1-4, and she is also the forefront prosecutor in this case.  Although she is not as notorious as her father, she obviously follows in his footsteps and that shows in her courtroom tactics.

One thing I thought I’d point out now is that Franziska doesn’t disappear from the series at the end of this game.  Her battles between her and a certain someone else (that I’ll keep secret for now) tend to keep her as a key character in this game well into Trials and Tribulations.

Another new character that we meet in this case that will stay with Phoenix until the end of his story would be Maya’s younger cousin, Pearl Fey.  For such a young girl though she sure seems intent that Phoenix and Maya are quite the couple, and although she’s not much of a help now she ends up being somewhat of a help on later cases, when Maya’s help isn’t available, and her channelling powers greatly surpass that of her older cousin and so it’s easier for her to channel Mia in clutch situations.

This game introduces one last investigative feature that we’ll see up until the end of TaT: the psyche-lock.  Throughout the first game, certain pieces of information that a witness would keep secret could be dug up.  In this case, Maya gives you her magatama to take back to Pearl, who charges it and gives it back to you.  From this point on, the magatama will be a common item in the court record along with the attorney’s badge.  Now, whenever you try to talk about something is trying to keep a secret, locks will appear depending on the difficulty of the psyche lock.  Breaking a psyche lock is done by presenting the magatama to the person with the lock, which will start a sequence that will have you present evidence or facts that shows what this secret is.  Presenting the wrong evidence will get you penalized, although in the end once you successfully unlock a psyche lock you regain half your life meter.  (There are usually at least two psyche locks in each investigation chapter, so if you had a bad day in court you could eventually refill your life meter completely to have a full meter for the next day of the trial.)

So, today will be a break for the halfway mark of the story, and I will tackle case 2-3 on Sunday.

Funny enough how they decided to give Phoenix Wright amnesia (via a smack on the head with a fire extinguisher) in order to make up an excuse to introduce new players to the game.  Fortunately he does recover from it, but it’s cheesy enough.

There really isn’t much about this case.  We’re introduced to Maggey Byrde, who is the defendant in this case.  Needless to say, this won’t be the last time that we see her in that spot.  Maya Fey also returns after her absence in case 1-5, having come back to Wright & Co. about two months before this case.  (However, the next case happens before this one chronologically and goes deeper into Maya’s return.)

Richard Wellington has got to be one of the most arrogant witnesses through all three games.  He has the attitude of a von Karma and has a nack for rambling off by Wendy Oldbag as well.  Fortunately, his testimony falls apart very quick, Frank Sawhit style.

No one can change the past.  The only thing we can do is strive to make up for our mistakes.  Why make up for our mistakes, you ask?  Because in so doing, we can find the way back to our own path.  And once we’ve found our past, we can move on from our past mistakes toward a brighter future.

-Phoenix Wright

This is it, the conclusion to the first game.  The last portion of the trial is probably one of the longest of any case here except for maybe 3-5, but the suspense and the intensity of the story ranks up there.  This case also concludes the story of the Skye sisters… for now at least.  (We already know Ema plays a big role in Apollo Justice, but there’s something during the credits that Lana says that maybe sparks her return in a future Ace Attorney game.)

I really don’t have much to say about the remainder of this case.  I dunno why; But I guess sometimes it ends up being so long that I just wanted to get through with it.  I started playing this case from the start of the third investigation chapter at 9:00, got through it at 10, took a shower, came back and finished it at around 12:15.

Tomorrow though, I start on Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All, starting with case 2-1.

The SL-9 case, which is case 1-5′s equivalent to DL-6 from the previous case, starts to play a big role in the story here.  We also see Edgeworth start to become unglued with the happenings of the first day of the trial and his memories of SL-9.  (Every character in case 1-5, except for Phoenix, was involved in SL-9.)

For me, the second day of the trial was probably the easiest.  All you’re really doing is pointing out oddities in a video that contradict your witnesses testimonies; every single objection off a cross-examination seems to lead back to that video in one way or another.  I’m not really complaining, though.  At this point of the game the difficulty usually gets ramped up, and honestly I take pride in the fact that I’ve only had to look at a FAQ three or four times during this playthough.  Hopefully my sleuthing skills have improved in relation to Justice for All and Trials and Tribulations, too.

This last part, the final investigation chapter and the final trial day, are long, though.  There might not be a post about this until tomorrow morning, but either way this case will be done by Tuesday night and case 2-1 on Wednesday.