The First Turnabout

 

Hallo, alle miteinander, and welcome to Wright Wednesday. This'll be my new weekly series where I go over the different cases of the first Phoenix Wright game to recap, analyze, and review them. But I won't be doing it alone.

I'm here to help! I'm Sam Gronseth, otherwise known as the Game Professor on my Youtube series, Games as Lit. 101. And I love Phoenix Wright almost as much as this guy.

I started playing the series in high school, and it's my favorite series of visual novels. I'm currently caught up with all the games in the series...aside from the Japan-exclusive Dai Gyakuten Saiban entries.

I actually remember thinking, "How could that possibly be any fun" when I heard about the first Phoenix Wright game, but out of curiosity I checked it out and fell completely in love. It was one of my first experiences journeying away from more standard game experiences, so it's kind of influential for me. I'm not quite as up-to-date as Roy, but I've played everything in the main series except Spirit of Justice, which I hope to get to soon.

If you didn't know, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is the first game in the long-running Ace Attorney series. They're visual novels with light gameplay elements that let you play as a defense lawyer. Genre-wise, the games are by and large mysteries, but instead of a detective solving the crime, it's up to the wrongly convicted defendant's lawyer to find the real killer to prove their client innocent.

It's one of very few video game equivalents to court dramas, though tonally it's very different from Law & Order or John Grisham novels. Not to say it's lacking in drama, emotion, or complexity, but it's all interwoven with eccentric characters, puntastic comments, and parrot cross-examinations. It dances on both sides of the line, from silly comedy to compelling drama, and does so surprisingly well.

The first case, aptly named The First Turnabout, begins with an opening cutscene. Every case has such a cinematic, and more than a few are like this one: showing the moment of the murder. In this case, a handheld version of The Thinker is covered in blood, and a man in purple, still frazzled by what he's done, realizes to escape justice, he must pin the crime on another.

This happens more than you might expect in this series, but this first case is strange for mystery stories in that it reveals the killer right off the bat. It certainly fits for what is essentially the tutorial level though, as well as the one that establishes the "trust your client" mantra that becomes so central to the series.

Once that's done, we get a proper introduction to the protagonist, Phoenix Wright. He's fresh from the bar exam, and still working under his mentor, Mia Fey. He's very nervous, especially because his first case is a murder trial, but Mia does her best to lift his spirits. Then enters the defendant: Larry Butz. He's a childhood friend of Phoenix's, and while Phoenix maintains he's a good guy, he has a temperamental mood and a history for being around when trouble starts. The victim was Larry's ex- girlfriend, and her death has hit him hard enough that he seems suicidal. Nonetheless, Phoenix believes in his innocence, and they head into court to prove it. 

Standing opposite Phoenix, representing the prosecution, is Winston Payne. The Judge can see Phoenix is nervous, and since it's his first day ever in court he makes sure Phoenix at least knows the basics of the case, which requires the player to use the Court Record for the first time. Really the only way to fail these is for the funny answers, another staple of the series, but once that's done with Payne lays down the details: Cindy Stone was killed by bludgeoning at 4pm, and the murder weapon was a statue of The Thinker.

The series plays with the fourth wall a bit in the tutorial, like many games do, but it's all set up to feel natural in the setting. The Court Record is an in-game menu, but it's just a collection of evidence that Wright would logically be referencing throughout the trial. The mechanics represent narrative concepts rather well.

That established, Payne calls Larry himself to the stand, incites his anger by needling him about the break-up, then makes a motive clear by revealing Cindy Stone was having relationships with other men. Phoenix can't do too much to stop any of this, despite some minor efforts. I think it's worth pointing out that the language Payne uses here is really awful, basically slut-shaming the victim. It's actually a little out of character for him.

For sure; Payne is mostly characterized as a well-meaning but bumbling prosecutor, especially compared to the others in the series, but the way he talks about Cindy is definitely not cool. It could be argued he's intentionally talking this way to needle Butz into revealing his anger toward her and establish a motive, but regardless he's definitely not being particularly nice right now.

Speaking of motive, Payne's remarks cause Larry to lose control of his mouth and say some very killery sounding things. Still, he claims he never went inside the victim's apartment...only for Payne to reveal that he has a witness, one who saw Larry exiting the home in question. With that, the Butz leaves the witness stand and someone new approaches.

Payne calls a familiar man to the stand; the murderer we saw at the beginning of the case, conveniently named "Frank Sahwit," because that's how people are named in the Ace Attorney universe. And we get our first real taste of Ace Attorney gameplay when he testifies. He gives his testimony, statement by statement, and it's up to the player to find which part seems fishy and use the Court Record to present evidence that proves Sahwit is lying.

And he is definitely lying. In fact, this first contradiction is so blatant that it actually causes plot holes, but we'll come back to that later.

At first he claims he discovered the body at 1pm, which is easily refuted by pointing out that that  the autopsy report marks the time of death at 4pm. It's the first of many fairly simple contradictions in this tutorial case, and it gives a good idea of how the player will be going about their crime-solving throughout the rest of the game. Sahwit then corrects himself, claiming he heard the time on the television and that must be why he was wrong. But since we have record of an electrical outage at the time of the murder, that's easily debunked as well. 

This is when he remembers that the murder weapon is actually a clock, and he saw the time on that; but the murder weapon doesn't show the time, so that's easily debunked as well. However, Payne points out that the statue is indeed a clock; but rather than display the time visually, it says it out loud when the head is tilted back. At this point, Wright goes all in, suggesting that Sahwit remembered the false time so vividly because he murdered the victim, and heard the clock go off when he activated it by striking her on the head.

These testimonies go by quickly, with easy contradictions that stand out pretty easily.

To prove how this could be the case, Wright suggests that the court sound the clock; it is, indeed, three hours slow, which would explain Sawhit's false memory of the time. This corners Sahwit pretty effectively, but he points out that unless Wright can prove it was three hours slow on the day of the murder, he has nothing and the judge will have to assume Butz is guilty. Because that's the most logical conclusion in this situation, apparently.

This is one of the many times in the series where, in order to have a working mystery plotline, logic is kind of thrown out. At this point, evidence of if the clock was slow that day or not, the State has close to no evidence against Butz but mounting testimony against Sahwit...namely his own testimony!

Otherwise, you wouldn't get the rousing moment where Mia helps you think outside the box by starting from a presumption of your client's innocence and working from there to figure out what the explanation might be. This is an important thematic element of the series as well as a helpful logical tool, so I can forgive the weird, forced conflict.

In any case, the Court Record includes the victim's passport as proof that she had been visiting Paris just before the murder; the time difference explains the discrepancy and Sahwit has the Ace Attorney Murderer Freakout™, .

I should mention that this particular, original freakout involves him foaming at the mouth and collapsing. I'm glad they make it clear he'd been arrested and was in custody, otherwise I'd actually be concerned for his health.

But despite your victory, Larry Butz is not happy. His beloved girlfriend is dead, and her faithfulness called into question. The final presentation of evidence in the case is showing the clock to Larry, noting that Cindy must have cared for him to bring this unwieldy, impractical thing he made on a trip to Paris with her. Then the case ends on some ominous foreshadowing for the next one.

With the recap done, we should move into analysis. Sam, I believe that's your specialty, so why don't you start us off

This is an interesting case to analyze, because as the introduction to the game's story and gameplay it's incredibly simple, but also critically important. It's not the strongest case on any level, but it's honestly a perfect tutorial. When I first played the game, this case gave me a strong idea of what the experience would be like, introduced me to the kinds of logical puzzles I would be facing, and introduced me to the game's characters, style, and tone in a way that sold me on its strange premise and had me excited to play more! 

It's also worth noting that it introduces some of the series most important thematic concepts, most notably the idea of implicitly trusting your client, which is played with in a variety of ways over the course of the games. Many of the main narrative elements and characters won't be introduced until the next case, but this one nevertheless plays an important role in establishing the series' main concepts, and does a great job!

I agree on all points...except for it perfectly tutorialing all the trial segment gameplay aspects. In point of fact, in a bid to make it simple enough to get through quickly, the Press gameplay mechanic isn't brought up at all. While the player, if they know how the Cross Examinations work already, can Press statements for funny dialogue, this essential aspect of trial gameplay is saved until the next case to deal with, something no other tutorial case in the series has done. It's a very odd choice I don't think I agree with.

I can understand that, but really I don't think the Press mechanic is the most important to include here. It's simple enough (Press if you can't find a contradiction and maybe one will come up) that I don't think adding it in later changes the experience drastically enough to make this initial impression any less accurate. So I see where you're coming from, but personally the absence of that mechanic didn't really take away from the experience for me.

We'll have to agree to disagree there. I think it should also be mentioned how this case sets up one of the three major character arcs of the game, namely Phoenix's. Not only does he start the case fresh from the bar exam, studying under a more experienced lawyer, but it also shows his kindness in working for free for Larry, and hints towards his driving motivation when he mentions that Larry is one of the reasons he became a lawyer in the first place. Without spoiling anything, Phoenix's arc throughout the game is about growing in ability, recognition, and learning why he chose this occupation when it seems at first as though he isn't particularly well suited (pun intended) for it.

Now let's move into my area of expertise, the review. In my eyes, there are basically three goals a tutorial case in this series aims to fulfill. In order of importance, they need to get across the tone and style of the game, catch players up on the trial portion's game mechanics, and tell an interesting and entertaining story.

Well I already gave my opinion of the first two; this case made me a believer in a concept I'd originally thought sounded boring and weird. All in like what, half an hour? What do you think of the third criteria though?

It's a mixed bag. In a broad sense, I enjoy so many moving parts here: Larry's great, Payne is fun (even if he hasn't reached peak Payne yet), Sahwit is a decent Starter Villain, and the case has a good handful of funny moments. However, the case falls short in two areas. First, and this does feel a little like a nitpick, but it still bothers me: Sahwit's testimonies are so weak and his story is full of so many holes that either no one in the police department noticed them...or they did and didn't think it was an issue. The more I think of it, the more it strains my disbelief, and I'm an Ace Attorney fan!

That is fair. I think there are a few instances in which believability is strained for the sake of an easy tutorial, like when you have to point out that the statue has no visible clock. Which I get, insofar as you couldn't expect the player to outwit believable policework in the tutorial, but it's still more of an explanation than an excuse. Could perhaps have been better without sacrificing believability like that.

I think, in that regard, it is fair to mention that future tutorial cases, even the one I think is far worse overall than this one, are more believable mysteries. The other failure, at least from my perspective, is how thin this case is. The skeleton is strong, built out of great set-up and fun ideas, but on the whole it feels shallow and lacking. There's cutting the fat, and then there's leaving nothing but bones. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being some of the least interesting cases in the series, 5 or 6 being the average level on captivation, and 10 being the best Ace Attorney has to offer, I give The First Turnabout a 4/10.

I definitely agree with your criticisms to some degree. It's a pretty thin case on many levels, and what you pointed out about it not using the "press" mechanic is a flaw I hadn't noticed before. But despite its problems, and the fact that it clearly doesn't stack up to most other cases in the series, I still can't get over the way it so deftly switched my mindset from, "This is a weird idea, probably can't be any fun" to blowing my mind and making me incredibly excited to continue the game. It didn't just introduce me to the characters and teach me how to play, it sold me on the entire premise when I was a stupid teenager who thought video games had to be about fighting. So I'm going to have to rate it a bit higher than the sum of its parts and go for a 7/10 on this one.

Next time we'll be covering the first day of investigation for the next case, Turnabout Sisters. If you want to follow along playing the games with us, you can find used copies of the game if you have a Nintendo DS, or get the HD remake on the 3DS, iOS, or Android. Auf wiedersehen!

And seriously, please do play it somehow, this series is too good and it needs more people to love it. See you next time!