Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Jan. 15th, 2007 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sub_dividedFinished after three days of scary obsessiveness. I thought I was getting an amusing game about gay lawyers with tragic backstories and was surprised to learn that what I'd actually gotten was social commentary.
The first four cases are pretty ridiculous. Nick (from Phoenix)'s assistant is a spirit medium (in training) who calls on the ghost of her dead older sister, your mentor, for help in times of crisis. The tone varies from cases to case -- some are more ridiculous than others -- but they pretty much all feature cracks about police incompetence, difficulty with lying (either purposefully or not) witnesses, murder novel turnarounds and just plain silliness. ("Your honor, I would like to cross-examine the witness's pet parrot!") Nick's basic style as a defense attorney is to make outrageous claims that must then be backed up with "evidence," something the judge picks up on pretty quickly...and never lets you forget, especially when you mess up and present the wrong evidence. XD
In the first case Nick defends an old friend from grade school who's been framed for the murder of his girlfriend. The key to the case is that old murder mystery cliché -- but how could you have known that this statue was actually a clock, unless you'd picked it up?! The second case introduces Edgeworth, Nick's other childhood friend, now a hotshot prosecuting attorney, and Maya, the younger sister/spirit medium. There's some stuff about a vast financial empire built on blackmail but I didn't take it too seriously. For one thing the head blackmailer is a walking punchline -- a flashy, tasteless guy who continuously misspells things and makes up words like "splendoriferous". For another that stupid clock shows up again -_- re-use plot twists much? Some very funny characters in this chapter, like the "pink" lady, and the bellhop.
The third case is an investigation into a murder on the set of "The Steel Samurai," a children's sentai show Maya watches religiously (and practically drags you into investigating, XD). Notable for introducing a witness/suspect who doesn't crack under pressure and who you end up feeling sorry for, despite her obvious ev0lness and connections to organized crime. Plus, making fun of otaku, people with funny accents. It bothered me when Edgeworth switched sides -- awesome defense/prosecution teamwork and personal judgments of guilt aside, he should really have saved it for when she was on trial. I'll get back to this later.
In the forth case you defend Edgeworth from the demons of his past. This case is pretty awesome. Edgeworth lookingvulnerable molestable away and biting his lip, chibi!Nick defended by chibi!Worth and chibi!Larry, a pushy osakaben photojournalist, lake monster sightings, childhood trauma, people trapped in elevators leading to permanent phobias, more accidental deaths, the aforementioned parrot, and a villain we can all love to hate, the controlling perfectionist von Karma. (I thought I hated Edgeworth but this guy is truly despicable. Miles makes the evil grin, mocking bow, and wagging finger look good.)
Then the game ends...but wait! This isn't the end! There's one more case to solve!
***
Up to this point I'd been casually making a mental list of everything that was messed up about the justice system in this game. Here's the list:
POINTED OUT AS WRONG IN-GAME
1. All cases must be tried in three days and no more. (The game is set in 2016...for one horrible moment, due to the localization, I thought it was set in America. Ahhhh!)
2. Fabricated evidence, "disappeared" evidence, state-sanctioned lying under oath to obtain a conviction. Prosecutors like von Karma whose "perfect records" are obtained quasi-illegally.
3. Lazy detectives and prosecutors who don't bother conducting serious investigations, leaving it up to the defense attorney (you).
4. Blackmail. Manipulating innocent people. Declaring innocent people guilty -- though understandable, this situation is not ideal.
5. Ganging up without evidence. Unfounded accusations. Social pressure to confess. The idea that criminals aren't entitled to a defense -- most of this comes from chibi!Nick, but really Nick proves that Defense Attorneys Can Be Good just by existing and being Awesome.
THINGS NOT POINTED OUT AS WRONG BUT THAT I TOOK ISSUE WITH
1. Police incompetence. Wellll, it is seen as a problem, but it's more of a running gag. That said, I liked Detective Gumshoe and whatisface, Officer Meeker. Their cluelessness is endearing. And funny. XD I laughed at the police-chief-plays-solitaire-all-day jokes too.
2. Defending only those to whom you have a personal connection or whom you personally believe to be innocent.
3. The only way to have your client declared innocent is to find the "real killer," someone else who will be declared guilty in a subsequent trial.
4. Only the prosecution is given access to evidence and witnesses before the trial. The defense is free to sneak around the crime scene and gather independent evidence in his copious free time, however.
5. "A murder is a murder no matter the circumstances under which it is committed." o_O really? Though "self-defense" and "accident" and "pre-meditated" are mentioned, so surely there must be some kind of distinction.
6. No jury. A judge presides over the trial. (EDIT Though as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
worldserpent points out, a judge with no jury is the norm in most countries, and I am speaking from a position of US-centric cultural bias. XD Too true.)
7. Defense and prosecution working together to get a conviction. Though empowering to watch it's really not what's supposed to happen. ^^; Ideally the job of the defense attorney is to defend the client BALMN (by any legal means necessary) and to the best of his ability, barring time constraints and overwork. (Though this isn't a problem in PW-land...Phoenix not only works on only one trial at a time, he has weeks-long gaps between trials.) The job of the prosecution attorney is to present state evidence against one person at a time. One trial, one defendant. The witnesses are not on trial, though they may be put on trial at a later date.
FILE UNDER: CULTURE CLASH
1. Maya and Nick both completely shut down when confronted with assertive people like Lotta, the journalist, and Ms. Oldbags, the security guard. Also von Karma. The Count is not just assertive, but domineering, manipulative and EVIL, so that's alright. With Lotta and Oldbags it's more of a cultural difference (they're from...Osaka?) and Maya and Nick come around to them in the end. But for a while there, jeeze, it's horrible -- not just silence but an instant judgmental conspiracy kind of polite silence, though Lotta is pretty cheerful about it. ("You think all people all people from the South are uncultured barbarians, don't you? They aren't! Just me!")
2. Not showing defendants evidence that concerns them because they might be upset -_-; Phoenix does this with the photograph of Edgeworth's father, and again with the cloth with Ema's handprint on it
3. Disapproval of Hammond, the defense attorney who didn't defend his client out of a sense of duty or Justice, but only "for his own sake". In this case that means Hammond not believing his client when the later said he was innocent (in that situation, who would?!) and convincing him to plead insanity instead. This ruined the defendant's entire life (though it's implied that his life was pretty much ruined regardless) and was All the Lawyer's Fault. But honestly? The defense attorney's job is to realistically present the odds of winning a trial and the consequences if the client does not. The defendant's job is to not lie to his lawyer, though of course many do. Ultimately it's the client, not the attorney, who decides the approach. Why hate on the lawyer?
***
Okay, now the final case. Though it starts as a murder trial, this is really about uncovering the systematic lies and cover-ups that have been going on at the police department and prosecutor's office for years, and that were casually referred to in previous chapters. Though extensive, the actual "falsifying" is limited to the upper echelons and can ultimately be traced back to a single person...but those lower in the ranks are also responsible, because they're the ones who have been letting it slide by not thinking about it too deeply.
I think you can all see where I'm going with this. XD covering up the mistakes of the past is bad! By passively ignoring the problem, you are also responsible!
Some Very Obvious Symbolism:
1. Lana, the head prosecutor who is forced to cooperate with the evil mastermind, wears a military uniform.
2. Maya was a traditional spiritualist who liked samurai movies. Her replacement in the final case, Ema, is a high-schooler who wants to be a scientific investigator. Old --> new, superstition --> rationalism.
3. The defense and prosecution ultimately work together to uncover the truth...honestly I feel lame even mentioning this, since the game points it out to you, pointedly, in post-trial scenes. I laughed myself silly when Nick and Miles put the two incomplete halves of their evidence reports together to come up with the Key Clue, though. XD
4. The game repeatedly asks you to pick: "Press Further? Or Back Off?" At first I thought this was an easy way to give the player a greater sense of being in charge of the game, since it really is on tracks -- you can choose to make an objection, but you can't choose the content of the objection. This works well since whoever localized the game did a really good job with the writing. Wright's objections are smart and often funny. But as a way to enhance gameplay, this add-on fails, because the answer is always the same:
Press Further.
Backing off is never the right choice. Not once. After a while you learn that when given the opportunity to do so, you should keep asking questions. Since it's obviously not a gameplay thing, this can only be a statement by the game designers.
***
This entry is getting long...have I wasted my time here? I think the game is pretty obvious about the messages it's trying to send so maybe I shouldn't have bothered. In the end, though, it's the obviousness that made me want to write this entry. XD No one is going to tell me that this game was not designed to be social commentary. The whole structure supports it -- the standard themes at the beginning, gradually transitioning to more serious themes at the end, with the last case getting rid of the supernatural element altogether in favor of conspiratorial drama. (With a predictable ending ;_; but it tries, that's the thing.)
The game's final message:
"No one can change the past. The only thing we can do is strive to make up for our mistakes. Why must we strive to make up for our mistakes, you ask? Because in society, we can find our way back to our path. And in so doing we can move forward...toward a brighter future."
My final thought is that Phoenix Wright is my hero. XD No seriously.
Also, for the record, it's Gumshoe/Edgeworth. "Close working relationship," is that what they're calling it these days? Fandom is really letting me down here XD. Why the insistence on Wright/Edgeworth (or Edgeworth/Wright)?! Shipping these two together is crazy talk in the face of OVERWHELMING CANONICAL SUBTEXT I AM TELLING YOU.
The first four cases are pretty ridiculous. Nick (from Phoenix)'s assistant is a spirit medium (in training) who calls on the ghost of her dead older sister, your mentor, for help in times of crisis. The tone varies from cases to case -- some are more ridiculous than others -- but they pretty much all feature cracks about police incompetence, difficulty with lying (either purposefully or not) witnesses, murder novel turnarounds and just plain silliness. ("Your honor, I would like to cross-examine the witness's pet parrot!") Nick's basic style as a defense attorney is to make outrageous claims that must then be backed up with "evidence," something the judge picks up on pretty quickly...and never lets you forget, especially when you mess up and present the wrong evidence. XD
In the first case Nick defends an old friend from grade school who's been framed for the murder of his girlfriend. The key to the case is that old murder mystery cliché -- but how could you have known that this statue was actually a clock, unless you'd picked it up?! The second case introduces Edgeworth, Nick's other childhood friend, now a hotshot prosecuting attorney, and Maya, the younger sister/spirit medium. There's some stuff about a vast financial empire built on blackmail but I didn't take it too seriously. For one thing the head blackmailer is a walking punchline -- a flashy, tasteless guy who continuously misspells things and makes up words like "splendoriferous". For another that stupid clock shows up again -_- re-use plot twists much? Some very funny characters in this chapter, like the "pink" lady, and the bellhop.
The third case is an investigation into a murder on the set of "The Steel Samurai," a children's sentai show Maya watches religiously (and practically drags you into investigating, XD). Notable for introducing a witness/suspect who doesn't crack under pressure and who you end up feeling sorry for, despite her obvious ev0lness and connections to organized crime. Plus, making fun of otaku, people with funny accents. It bothered me when Edgeworth switched sides -- awesome defense/prosecution teamwork and personal judgments of guilt aside, he should really have saved it for when she was on trial. I'll get back to this later.
In the forth case you defend Edgeworth from the demons of his past. This case is pretty awesome. Edgeworth looking
Then the game ends...but wait! This isn't the end! There's one more case to solve!
***
Up to this point I'd been casually making a mental list of everything that was messed up about the justice system in this game. Here's the list:
POINTED OUT AS WRONG IN-GAME
1. All cases must be tried in three days and no more. (The game is set in 2016...for one horrible moment, due to the localization, I thought it was set in America. Ahhhh!)
2. Fabricated evidence, "disappeared" evidence, state-sanctioned lying under oath to obtain a conviction. Prosecutors like von Karma whose "perfect records" are obtained quasi-illegally.
3. Lazy detectives and prosecutors who don't bother conducting serious investigations, leaving it up to the defense attorney (you).
4. Blackmail. Manipulating innocent people. Declaring innocent people guilty -- though understandable, this situation is not ideal.
5. Ganging up without evidence. Unfounded accusations. Social pressure to confess. The idea that criminals aren't entitled to a defense -- most of this comes from chibi!Nick, but really Nick proves that Defense Attorneys Can Be Good just by existing and being Awesome.
THINGS NOT POINTED OUT AS WRONG BUT THAT I TOOK ISSUE WITH
1. Police incompetence. Wellll, it is seen as a problem, but it's more of a running gag. That said, I liked Detective Gumshoe and whatisface, Officer Meeker. Their cluelessness is endearing. And funny. XD I laughed at the police-chief-plays-solitaire-all-day jokes too.
2. Defending only those to whom you have a personal connection or whom you personally believe to be innocent.
3. The only way to have your client declared innocent is to find the "real killer," someone else who will be declared guilty in a subsequent trial.
4. Only the prosecution is given access to evidence and witnesses before the trial. The defense is free to sneak around the crime scene and gather independent evidence in his copious free time, however.
5. "A murder is a murder no matter the circumstances under which it is committed." o_O really? Though "self-defense" and "accident" and "pre-meditated" are mentioned, so surely there must be some kind of distinction.
6. No jury. A judge presides over the trial. (EDIT Though as
worldserpent points out, a judge with no jury is the norm in most countries, and I am speaking from a position of US-centric cultural bias. XD Too true.) 7. Defense and prosecution working together to get a conviction. Though empowering to watch it's really not what's supposed to happen. ^^; Ideally the job of the defense attorney is to defend the client BALMN (by any legal means necessary) and to the best of his ability, barring time constraints and overwork. (Though this isn't a problem in PW-land...Phoenix not only works on only one trial at a time, he has weeks-long gaps between trials.) The job of the prosecution attorney is to present state evidence against one person at a time. One trial, one defendant. The witnesses are not on trial, though they may be put on trial at a later date.
FILE UNDER: CULTURE CLASH
1. Maya and Nick both completely shut down when confronted with assertive people like Lotta, the journalist, and Ms. Oldbags, the security guard. Also von Karma. The Count is not just assertive, but domineering, manipulative and EVIL, so that's alright. With Lotta and Oldbags it's more of a cultural difference (they're from...Osaka?) and Maya and Nick come around to them in the end. But for a while there, jeeze, it's horrible -- not just silence but an instant judgmental conspiracy kind of polite silence, though Lotta is pretty cheerful about it. ("You think all people all people from the South are uncultured barbarians, don't you? They aren't! Just me!")
2. Not showing defendants evidence that concerns them because they might be upset -_-; Phoenix does this with the photograph of Edgeworth's father, and again with the cloth with Ema's handprint on it
3. Disapproval of Hammond, the defense attorney who didn't defend his client out of a sense of duty or Justice, but only "for his own sake". In this case that means Hammond not believing his client when the later said he was innocent (in that situation, who would?!) and convincing him to plead insanity instead. This ruined the defendant's entire life (though it's implied that his life was pretty much ruined regardless) and was All the Lawyer's Fault. But honestly? The defense attorney's job is to realistically present the odds of winning a trial and the consequences if the client does not. The defendant's job is to not lie to his lawyer, though of course many do. Ultimately it's the client, not the attorney, who decides the approach. Why hate on the lawyer?
***
Okay, now the final case. Though it starts as a murder trial, this is really about uncovering the systematic lies and cover-ups that have been going on at the police department and prosecutor's office for years, and that were casually referred to in previous chapters. Though extensive, the actual "falsifying" is limited to the upper echelons and can ultimately be traced back to a single person...but those lower in the ranks are also responsible, because they're the ones who have been letting it slide by not thinking about it too deeply.
I think you can all see where I'm going with this. XD covering up the mistakes of the past is bad! By passively ignoring the problem, you are also responsible!
Some Very Obvious Symbolism:
1. Lana, the head prosecutor who is forced to cooperate with the evil mastermind, wears a military uniform.
2. Maya was a traditional spiritualist who liked samurai movies. Her replacement in the final case, Ema, is a high-schooler who wants to be a scientific investigator. Old --> new, superstition --> rationalism.
3. The defense and prosecution ultimately work together to uncover the truth...honestly I feel lame even mentioning this, since the game points it out to you, pointedly, in post-trial scenes. I laughed myself silly when Nick and Miles put the two incomplete halves of their evidence reports together to come up with the Key Clue, though. XD
4. The game repeatedly asks you to pick: "Press Further? Or Back Off?" At first I thought this was an easy way to give the player a greater sense of being in charge of the game, since it really is on tracks -- you can choose to make an objection, but you can't choose the content of the objection. This works well since whoever localized the game did a really good job with the writing. Wright's objections are smart and often funny. But as a way to enhance gameplay, this add-on fails, because the answer is always the same:
Press Further.
Backing off is never the right choice. Not once. After a while you learn that when given the opportunity to do so, you should keep asking questions. Since it's obviously not a gameplay thing, this can only be a statement by the game designers.
***
This entry is getting long...have I wasted my time here? I think the game is pretty obvious about the messages it's trying to send so maybe I shouldn't have bothered. In the end, though, it's the obviousness that made me want to write this entry. XD No one is going to tell me that this game was not designed to be social commentary. The whole structure supports it -- the standard themes at the beginning, gradually transitioning to more serious themes at the end, with the last case getting rid of the supernatural element altogether in favor of conspiratorial drama. (With a predictable ending ;_; but it tries, that's the thing.)
The game's final message:
"No one can change the past. The only thing we can do is strive to make up for our mistakes. Why must we strive to make up for our mistakes, you ask? Because in society, we can find our way back to our path. And in so doing we can move forward...toward a brighter future."
My final thought is that Phoenix Wright is my hero. XD No seriously.
Also, for the record, it's Gumshoe/Edgeworth. "Close working relationship," is that what they're calling it these days? Fandom is really letting me down here XD. Why the insistence on Wright/Edgeworth (or Edgeworth/Wright)?! Shipping these two together is crazy talk in the face of OVERWHELMING CANONICAL SUBTEXT I AM TELLING YOU.