Hallo, alle miteinander, and welcome back to Wright Wednesday. We've taken up the task of recapping, analyzing, and reviewing the various cases in the Ace Attorney series. I'm Roy, master of debaters.
And I'm Sam, master of rebaters!
Last week we finished the first day of trial on the game's climactic finale case, Turnabout Goodbyes, and talked about how this mystery is the most difficult one so far. The investigation day begins with Maya still in the detention center after her outburst caused her to be charged with contempt of court. Phoenix needs to see Gumshoe to get her out of there, and Maya's still upset over her inability to channel her sister's spirit, feeling quite useless.
She also muses about whether she'll ever see her sister again, which is quite a touch of sadness.
She also also makes it clear that Phoenix needs to pay her bail...which he's almost certainly too poor to afford. If you present the article about Gourdy, she mentions wanting to catch it with a fishing pole.
Clearly, Maya has gone fishing before and knows how it works.
What, has Phoenix not caught a sea monster yet? Ugh, I personally hate catching Krakens, they just taste terrible.
Probably a defense mechanism. Abyssal monsters taste bad so the eldritch ones will leave them alone.
Heading to the beach where Lotta was camping leads to Phoenix finding Gumshoe, who's thankful for the defense given earlier that day and makes it clear that Maya will be free within the hour. Not only that, but despite Edgeworth's harsh words earlier, he posted her bail amount in its entirety, and expressed to Gumshoe how grateful he was for her sacrifice.
Edgeworth is revealed to have quite a heart in this case.
It even pumps blood.
*gasp*
Gumshoe also says that, unfortunately, he can't reveal who the second witness, technically now the only witness, actually is. He also makes it clear that, as far as he can tell, Edgeworth's hatred of crime, his prosecutor career, and his fear of earthquakes all go back to the DL-6 incident.
Which makes a lot of sense, though we have yet to find out how earthquakes factor in.
Heading back to the Detention Center allows Maya to join the party again, and at the entrance to the park Lotta Hart is waiting to talk to the defense duo. She's really sorry about lying repeatedly on the stand, almost getting Edgeworth declared guilty through her misinformation, enough to offer information she has. It's a nice moment for her...except then it turns out she isn't actually giving something away as penance, she's offering a trade: Phoenix provides evidence of Gourdy's existence (or non-existence) and she will hand over her info. This is not actually any kind of peace offering and is total bullhonkey.
Yeah, it seems at first like the game is framing this as some kind of half-assed redemption arc (complete with Phoenix saying, "Lotta..." after she admits her wrongdoing, as though she just said something profound), but...nope.
Underwhelming Character Writing: The Lotta Hart Story.
Easily the most powerful artifacts in the Phoenix Wright universe.
First is Missile, special canine dog and the cutest thing in the universe. Second is a fishing pole, which means Maya's line earlier was actually foreshadowing. The last is a metal detector, which Phoenix lampoons on the subject of usefulness when searching for an organic creature. In fact, he makes it clear that all the options suck, in his opinion.
Admittedly I am curious as to whether the fishing pole actually helps anything at all, since I can only really see the dog and the metal detector being of any real use for what comes later.
There's only one right choice here, but choosing the wrong options leads to funny dialogue and scenes. Taking Missile and going to Larry's work leads to the pooch eating all of the Samurai Dogs, while grabbing the fishing pole and stopping by Lotta's campsite leads to one of the funniest scenes in the entire series, which is fantastic because I'd never seen it before.
Oh, I assumed Missle would perform the same function as the metal detector!
Haha, nope, and there's a reason that's the case, but we'll get into that later on. For now, as Sam just said, the metal detector is the correct instrument for the job. Taking it to the boat rental shop leads to it going off, and in the bushes nearby Phoenix finds a metal air tank wrapped in a string of flags...which look pretty familiar.
Earlier, the first time Phoenix heads to Larry's area of the park, he and Maya noticed a large, inflatable Steel Samurai that hadn't been there before. Showing Larry the tank wrapped in the same flags as his stand reveals the truth: Larry's compressor broke about a week ago, and the next day he'd tried using the air tank to fill the Samurai directly. In classic Butz fashion, this lead to a loud explosion and the inflatable hero rocketing off into the lake. Larry had been searching for it ever since, only finding it the night of the murder.
Which is about as Ace Attorney as an explanation for a lake monster can get.
Yep, if that didn't make it clearer, showing the tank to Lotta has Phoenix explain it: 'Gourdy" was in fact the inflatable Steel Samurai as it fell into Gourd Lake at the same time a young couple snapped a photo. Her dreams surely dashed, Lotta gives Phoenix and Maya her info: the other witness is the owner of the Boat Rental Shop.
Indeed! Now that boat rental guy lives in the boat rental shop all alone. When you go to visit him, you come across an old man who seems rather out of his mind, living alone with a parrot named Polly. The old man seems to mistake Phoenix and Maya for his grown children, come back to run his pasta shop unwisely named the “Wet Noodle.”
When they point out that this isn't a restaurant but a boat rental shop, he expresses confusion about why young people keep renting boats from him.
Also Polly can talk, and she’s a real good birb. But you need to know her name and, apparently, the right words to make her speak up. Specifically, to aid in his failing memory, the old man tells everything important to Polly, and she remembers it for him. Maya confirms this by asking Polly the number to the safe, which she gladly gives because, like I said, she is a good good birb. Way more helpful than that dumb doggo.
Thou who hast cast out Missile, has cast out all thine goodness and light.
Birbs > doggos. Fite me.
Anyway, the lawyer's badge finally comes in handy, as it raises the old man’s suspicious that Phoenix and Maya are, in fact, not Keith and Meg. They explain, and he offers to help on the condition that Phoenix promises to run the Wet Noodle when he’s gone. I agreed to, because the guy won’t remember me tomorrow anyway so whatever; Roy, what happens if you refuse?
Phoenix tries to, old man gets mad, Maya convinces Phoenix to lie and just say yes.
Well when you show him something pertaining to the murder, he claims to know all about it. He explains that, the night of the murder, he heard two gunshots, and looked out in time to see one of the men fall off the boat. Then a young man walked by, presumably Edgeworth, muttering to himself; but the old man can’t remember what. He promises to remember by court time, which of course is not very helpful for the defense.
Maya, being Maya, asks Polly if they’re forgetting anything before they leave, to which Polly surprisingly responds, “Don’t forget DL-6!” But the old man is asleep. And when Phoenix and Maya leave, he’s locked the door.
I wish this moment had more oomph to it, because it immediately makes the player begin to question...everything.
Yeah, it's a pretty big thing to come out of the blue. Definitely a surprising moment.
Phoenix decides to talk to Gumshoe to try and learn more about the DL-6 incident. Gumshoe explains that they have no idea who the old man at the boat rental shop is. As for DL-6, Gumshoe knows little about it because Edgeworth forbade them from reading the file. But he says if we can convince him it’s related to the case, he’s consider opening it back up. Thankfully that’s pretty easy, considering the bird referenced it; Phoenix suspects the old man might be tied to it somehow.
Generally knowing a case's file number like that does imply some sort of connection.
It’s here we finally get an overview of what this case actually was, and what happened to Edgeworth. It happened on December 28th, 2001 (nearly ten years ago to the day). There was a large earthquake at 2pm on that day, and part of the courtroom collapsed. Three people, including Edgeworth and his father, were trapped on an elevator for five hours. There was limited oxygen, and by the time the three were rescued, they were unconscious; and Edgeworth’s father had been shot in the heart.
This date places the entire series, making it clear (it was fifteen years ago, not ten) that this game takes place in 2016. Which makes the whole Redd White thing...
Oh. Yeah, surprisingly relevant. Though it also means this whole thing happened RIGHT after 9/11, which makes it kind of weird outside of the original Japanese setting.
Never realized that timing...huh. Since this is an alternate universe, I wonder if the event even happened? A question for Janet Hsu.
In any case, when Edgeworth's father was found dead, the angle of the wound ruled out suicide. The murder weapon, a pistol which had been fired two times, was found in the elevator. Phoenix and Maya note the uncanny similarities to the current case.
Man, I hope those connections aren't used for a contrived explanation later in the case!
The third man in the elevator was Yanni Yogi, a clerk in the court. He was the one proven innocent by the victim in this current case, Hammond; he had been so oxygen deprived he had brain damage, and lost all memory of the incident. After being declared innocent, he disappeared. I get the feeling the game wants this to be more mysterious than it is, but then even Phoenix seems to let on that he has his suspicions.
I have no idea what you mean. A mysterious witness with no name, a mention of a man with a clear motive? What suspicions?
Yeah, not exactly the best kept secret of the game thus far, but apparently enough to end the investigation day on.
With our recap done, it's time for analysis. What's on your mind, Sam?
Well usually the second investigation day is the point where the thematic elements of the case gain more clarity, but honestly I feel like this case is a weird one in that regard. The first day set up a lot of stuff, both new ideas and setting up for the conclusions of established ones. The second day, rather than clarifying and developing them, did more setup for the conclusions on the final day. It's mostly laying groundwork; getting the Gourdy stuff out of the way and introducing the old man who will be vital to uncovering the truth in later segments.
There are only three 3-day cases in the entire series, and it's clear already why they discontinued the format to move to a maximum of 2-days. Turnabout Samurai, as we noted extensively, was stretched thin across the days, and this case uses a technique similar to Classic Doctor Who: insert a subplot in the middle that gets resolved quickly, eating up that time. As you said, this entire Gourdy thing ate up a day of investigation and served...very little purpose.
Yeah, I think it worked fine as a reason to have someone with a camera pointed at the lake--that's harder to explain away otherwise than you might think--but I feel like it got a bit more time and attention than it needed. The whole "Lotta will give you information when you do this random thing unrelated to the case" bit reads a whole lot like the all-too-common video game pacing trope where most of the story is random sidetracks to pad out time from the actual story.
It does come back later, but I think this whole area of the case leaves the player wishing it was more tightly nit together. As we mentioned earlier, the whole side-quest also makes Lotta seem even worse: she claims to be sorry, only to come off as though she just didn't want to appear to be a complete bag of phalluses before extorting us.
Yeah, I honestly didn't remember why everyone hates her so much, but replaying the case I definitely understand. It would be one thing if she were at least remorseful, but she really doesn't seem to be. Or at least, not enough to actually change the way she acts about the whole thing.
I think "hate" is a strong word, at least from my perspective. The issue is how often she reoccurs while being unentertaining, unlikable, and more of an obstacle than an ally. I forgot to mention during the recap, but if you present the enhanced picture to Lotta, she actually takes credit for saving Edgeworth so far. Like...seriously?
Yeah, she is certainly all of those things.
In other side things you can do, the chief of detectives is currently busy losing at online chess...at work. Presenting Larry the Gourdy article makes it clear he is well aware the monster is fake, but that he won't go out of his way to dispel the myth thanks to all the money it makes him. Another example of how first game Larry is actually pretty smart.
That is true. I'll have to wait until replaying the other games to confirm, but I can definitely see what you mean when you say Larry becomes more one-dimensional over the course of the series.
I think it's worth pointing out that I really like the contrast between Edgeworth's harsh words that closed out the last segment compared to the kind actions he takes at the beginning of this one.
Yeah, even if he has trouble expressing it directly, we're still seeing some of his softer side.
Any other analysis thoughts?
Not really, honestly. This was sort of a middle-of-the-road investigation day that was more setup than payoff or development.
Next week it'll be time for our second day of trial, and I'm sure it'll go just fine with no issues. Auf wiedersehen.
I'm sure. See you then!
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