Hallo, alle miteinander, and welcome back to Wright Wednesday. This weekly blog series is all about recapping, analyzing, and reviewing the cases of the Ace Attorney series. For those playing along with us at home, today we're covering the second investigation segment of Turnabout Sisters, the second case of the first game. I'm Roy, blogger and critic, and with me is my co-host, who'll be starting the recap today.
Hello, I am said co-host Sam, of Games as Lit. 101. Let's get right into it!
The second day of investigation begins as Phoenix visits April May in the detention center. She’s openly hostile at this point, but can switch personas on a whim. And of course, she refuses to tell you anything. The bellboy at the Gatewater Hotel (ha) is far more cooperative, but has nothing useful to say. But when Wright goes back to Marvin Grossberg’s office, the giant painting he loved so much is gone, and two photos labeled “DL-6 Incident” are on his desk; one of a man and one of a woman. Phoenix can take one at a time.
The photo of the woman is really only foreshadowing for later on, and can't be used for anything other than small unique Present conversations, and even those are pretty dull.
When Phoenix shows the photo of the man to April May, she gets upset, but won’t confirm Phoenix’s suspicion that it’s the man she was with until he proves it to her. Thankfully, the bellboy is much more cooperative, and very excited to write an affidavit confirming that was the man who checked in with Miss May.
Said bellboy is also creepily happy with the idea that the "murderer" April May used the hotel room, and is pushing for this to become a major gimmick of the Gatewater Hotel.
He's just happy to be part of something big and important, though perhaps not nearly as big and important as he thinks.
Showing his affidavit to April gives you the option to either ease her fears or push hard; I chose the latter, threatening to take the photo to the press if she doesn’t talk, which finally cracked her hateful, angry shell. Roy, what does the other option do?
I had literally never taken the option before, and I thought it would basically lead to the same stuff. I was wrong. That way, Phoenix threatens to give it to the police, but she's completely unphased, basically just saying if he was going to do that, he already would have. She completely clams up and there's no way to fix it, you just have to move on to the next part of the story without those character insights.
Oh? Interesting. Because the next thing she does is reveal that the man is her boss, Redd White, president of an information gathering conglomerate called Bluecorp. Isn't that important information? How do you continue on without that revelation?
I had to go back to Grossberg's office, find him there, and present the affidavit to him, and he gave me that info.
That's actually pretty cool. I'm not used to choices in these games having that kind of effect.
In any case, I found out about Redd White from April May, but that’s all she says before saying she’s scared to talk, because she doesn’t want to end up like Mia. So Phoenix asks for Bluecorp’s address so he can just ask Mr. White himself. White isn’t in at his office, so the only choice is to check in on Grossberg again. He’s there this time, and congratulates you on the trial. If you ask about the missing painting, he says he sold it, which seems a little suspicious considering how proud he was of the thing.
Not to mention the fact that he literally said yesterday he'd never sell it to anyone.
Then if you show him the picture of Redd White, he demands it back and asks Phoenix to leave. He seems rather troubled and sad when Phoenix says White seems to have been on the scene of the murder.
It's interesting, because in my original playthroughs I never showed him the picture, and the route I took this time didn't lead to any Phoenix hinting White could have done it.
This investigation sequence seems to have a lot more paths to the answers than I had realized!
Can I just say that I love Redd White so much? He's such a terrible person, but he's equally entertaining!
He is a great villain, which of course means I hate his stupid pretentious face. He comes across as haughty and kind of suspicious, calling Phoenix a “mighty” lawyer (quotes in the dialogue, not added by me) and says he must be fresh out of law school or he wouldn’t come to talk to White so directly like this.
What's interesting is that line is never textually followed up on. We can go more into that later, though.
White is extremely wishy-washy and noncommittal in all his answers until you say the bellboy clearly remembers him with Miss May; this gives White pause, and he just says he won’t talk to Phoenix. “If you want me to speak, put me on the witness stand! Although I doubt you’d be capable of doing that.”
The smug this man generates could power a city.
Oh yeah, he's a real piece of work. He continues to boast that the law and the courts are toys to him: “Playthings for my amusement!” When you mention the painting, however, saying you’ve seen it before just yesterday, White’s tone changes. Intentionally and very much not-cleverly calling Wright “Mr. Wrong,” White informs him of his place here. That is to say, that he is a mere lawyer, worth nothing and capable of nothing, just like Grossberg. Then he punches Phoenix in the face.
This event is cut out of every adaptation I've seen, and that sucks. This is such a clear characterization moment for White: challenge his authority, and he will wipe the smile off your face and let you know that there is no justice to be found. Try to call the police, he'll ensure you're arrested instead.
Exactly. It's a powerful moment for the series' first major villain; a single action that vividly shows you that this will be way harder than just finding the right evidence. It's a great moment, and this show of control sets the tone for White’s part in this story; an untouchable crime lord that Phoenix cannot hope to move against.
From there, Phoenix heads to Grossberg's office again. The old man's in a funk, clearly feeling the guilt over everything he's done. He cared about Mia a lot, but she's dead and her sister is on trial for a murder he knows she didn't commit, and he can't do anything to help her.
Grossberg isn't exactly innocent in all this, but you can't help but feel sorry for the guy. This whole situation sucks.
Phoenix tries asking about White again, and there are three routes to take: asking about the painting, asking about the photo on his desk, and asking why he didn't defend Maya. To my surprise, the dialogue tree here is fairly robust. Every option leads to Grossberg trying to dodge the subject, asking what kind of connection he could possible have to White, which leads to three more dialogue choices. All three initial options lead to the right answer, but there are different joke answers depending on the tactic chosen.
Obviously the correct choice is to claim that Grossberg and White are lovers, because it makes Grossberg bluster around awkwardly and still leads to him telling you the truth.
It's one of the funniest scenes in the game, 11/10 always ready to see again. The other really silly option is to say they're drinking buddies, which isn't as funny. You can also say that he works for White, or that he hired White, both of which are ridiculous. It's also odd what will or won't get him to admit the truth: choosing the painting route, the Lovers option will make him admit everything, but another path also leads to the Lovers option, and there it leads to nothing, and you have to start over. The correct answer is that White is blackmailing him, clearly.
I'm actually really impressed with the dialogue options here; they're not the kind of thing gamers usually go for, insofar as they don't lead to drastically different results or endings or anything, but they allow the player to come at things from a variety of angles and have a different experience getting to the truth, and that's a pretty cool way to give players different experiences while still maintaining a linear story.
I completely agree. But back on track: Wright tells Grossberg he and White are clearly banging, Grossberg instead admits the truth. Years ago, during the DL-6 Incident, a police case from more than a decade ago, the cops got desperate enough to use a spirit medium, Misty Fey. That's the woman whose photo was on the desk earlier. She is also Mia and Maya's mother. Her involvement with the case was kept hush hush, but Grossberg sold the information to White for a lot of money. White leaked it to the press, who sunk the reputation of the LAPD and Fey clan, and many people were interested in who sold them out. White began blackmailing Grossberg, both for money and control.
Because what else could an "Information Gathering Conglomerate" actually be?
Bluecorp runs on blackmail, and they control politicians, defense attorneys, police officials, judges, and prosecutors. He wasn't bragging earlier: this black-hearted man has an iron-grip on the legal system, and trying to fight him is an uphill battle. Mia had been tracking his activities for some time, but before she could take what she had to court, she died. Grossberg makes it clear that taking on White is a nigh-impossible task, but if Phoenix is adamant, he should check Mia's office for files, there might be something of use there.
The series' quirky comedy and these supernatural elements are the main things that separate it from the kinds of crime or courtroom drama stories you would normally think of.
I consider at least half of those a major strength. Anyway, clearly the place to look is T-Z, right? That's where 'White' would be, right? Well, Phoenix thought the same thing, but the entire W section is missing. Almost as if it had been hidden, in some sort of Thinker clock. Anyway, that just leaves J-S. Nothing sticks out to Phoenix, but at the player's prompting he can skim through it.
Which is one of those scenarios where there's clearly only one right answer. "Do you want to look for important clues" is kind of a stupid question to ask in a mystery game.
It's like, "Do you want to press further?" in the court sections. Yes, of course I do. Which is, of course, why later on certain testimonies will actually penalize you for pressing hard on the wrong thing, but that's for another day.
So, skimming through it leads to the discovery of a thick folder labeled 'Suicides'. Inside are several dozen newspaper reports of important people committing suicide...and all of them have 'White' written on them. Phoenix realizes the significance of this, and finds the most damning case, that of a politician who killed himself after his embezzling of public funds was revealed, and takes it with him.
It's probably the kind of evidence that Edgeworth would find insufficient, but it's at least enough to cast serious doubt on Bluecorp and give White an incredibly believable motivation for killing Mia.
Phoenix, revealing his more hot-headed and confrontational side, heads back to Bluecorp. White isn't happy to see him again, flat out saying that if Phoenix doesn't quit poking around, a nasty accident might befall him.
This whole exchange is one of the more interesting events of this case, I think, for better or worse.
You can try and have Phoenix Talk to him, but it doesn't lead anywhere. No, you need him to Present the article. Phoenix lays all the evidence in front of White, and when he asks Phoenix what he's being accused of, you can have Phoenix incorrectly call White a briber or spy, but the truth is what you already know: he's a blackmailer.
White tells Phoenix that, clearly, what the attorney should really be doing is finding Mia Fey's killer, not harassing an innocent CEO with these wild accusations. He then calls his secretary and tells her to send security to his office and escort Wright out. Before that can happen, Phoenix just says it: he knows White is the real killer.
Not that I'd expect White to care whether he misgenders someone like that to begin with.
Yeah, that's my fan wank solution as well. Anyway, White tells her that he's changed his mind, he is going to testify in the trial after all. The dialogue makes it clear the police knew he was involved since the beginning, but his influence kept him out of the court. Oh, and he tells them to send the police over, right away: the real killer is in his office. White makes it clear once again that Phoenix is powerless here, and that for his arrogance in challenging White, he will now be charged for Mia's murder.
White's whole role in this thing is pretty intimidating; he's not the most clever antagonist in the game, but the sheer force of will and confidence with which he does things like this effectively set him up as a challenging opponent, which is good for the series' first major case. Even if testifying is probably a really stupid decision?
I'll get into this later, but while many dislike how "stupid" White is, I love that aspect of his character, and consider him a more interesting villain because of it.
Back to the story, Gumshoe shows up and, at White's command, arrests Phoenix Wright. Later that day, Maya visits Phoenix, having just been let go now that the prosecution has switched targets. She's shocked when Phoenix tells her everything, and soon the state-appointed lawyer will come for Phoenix, which he knows is a death sentence after White bragged about ensuring his public defender would be as incompetent as possible. Maya feels bad and wants to help, leading to another three-way choice. Breaking Phoenix out of jail is just silly, and she can't defend Phoenix, but she can cheer him on in court.
Before the day ends, Phoenix gives some narration to the player explaining a little more about his world. If you didn't already know, the Ace Attorney series is set in an alternate world, and as Phoenix explains, their court system is due to a feeling that long, extensive trials were inefficient and unneeded. Instead, all criminal trials have three days to be resolved, nearly all with a verdict of Guilty. Now Phoenix is in the defendant's chair, and to survive he needs to catch White once and for all.
This investigation day kind of flips the whole premise of the trial around a bit. By the end of the day, you know everything about who killed Mia and why, and Phoenix is the defendant himself instead of Maya. There's little left to do in court but prove what you already know, and there's a lot on the line.
Not only that, but it also plays with Phoenix's total win-loss record, at least so long as you count the state dropping their case against Maya as a victory for Phoenix, which I would.
Honestly the thing that stands out most to me about this section of the case, and really the whole case itself, is Redd White. He's the perfect kind of villain for this kind of early, establishing story arc; not so smart that you can't figure him out, but powerful enough to pose a legitimate threat and be intimidating in a courtroom setting. It also introduces the theme of corruption into the series in a strong way that rather intentionally coincides with Edgeworth's perceived corruption.
Since we're getting into analysis, let's dive deeper into that. While I don't want to tip my hand too much, I will say that I've heard the complaint with this case that while the steaks are high, White's ineptitude makes it too easy and I just can't agree. White is successful at gathering intelligence and holding it over people's heads, and after doing that for a decade and becoming ludicrously rich, he's had to take a risk in killing a lawyer personally to stop her from threatening him. I'll get into why that tactic makes sense for White next time, but it's clear that White thinks himself completely unassailable, so for him going into court, especially against this greenhorn attorney, poses no threat to him at all.
I agree entirely. I think it's one of those situations where people often conflate characters making mistakes with some kind of plot hole. We'll save the detailed analysis of the character for later, but I do absolutely believe this decision, however unwise it may be, is both in character for White and fitting for this case both as a story and as the first major case in the game.
Back on the subject of corruption, you're right that this is the first real example of that theme in the series, and it's a major theme of this game in particular. Not that it never shows up again afterwards, but corruption in high places is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney's distinguishing figure.
It's certainly more of a focus in this one, especially since we spend most of the game suspecting Edgeworth of that same kind of corruption. It can sometimes feel like Phoenix is a sole bastion of honesty in this system. Aside from the Judge and Gumshoe, both of whom are kind of idiots.
I would say neither are necessarily idiots. Gumshoe is a great cop, just not skilled at putting together theories or comprehensively detailing a crime scene, while the Judge is a legal genius who is very much behind the times when it comes to technology and various other subjects
That is very fair. Not that they're stupid, they just often seem a little out of it. But never ill-intentioned, is the point.
Another interesting thing to take note here is Phoenix's decision to confront White with the evidence. A lot of people have an issue with that, and I will say it isn't the last time Phoenix does this exact thing in this game. Nonetheless, both from a character motivation perspective and larger plot perspective, the decision makes a lot of sense.
On a meta level, it's such a rookie mistake for the player to make. The entire game so far has considered of finding something important and showing it to people to get more information out of them; it's understandable that we'd do the same thing here, expecting similar results, only to have the tables turned because it wasn't actually a very good idea in this instance. And considering both Phoenix and the player are theoretically newbies at this point in the game, it works for me.
Same here. It also shows Phoenix as confrontational and that he has issues planning ahead, both of which are things he learns to grow out of with time. Larger picture, provoking White is actually the best move, because the only way he'd ever go to court is if he wants to.
Exactly. Ultimately it would be silly to expect Phoenix to only make the smartest of decisions on his first solo case, and like you pointed out, it did turn out better this way since White's arrogance turns out to be his own undoing.
This part of the case, as we previously discussed, emphasizes Phoenix's inexperience as an attorney, which plays into his larger arc for the game of learning to live up to the standard that Mia set for him. Maya's past is elaborated on more, and we see the beginning of their friendship take root. That scene at the end with them in the detention center is the first time in the game we've really seen Maya in what will become her standard mood: silly yet earnest.
Part of me does wish that we got to see more of her grieving process, but Maya is a lot of fun so I ultimately don't mind that we get to see her that way as quickly as we do.
Considering everything Maya goes through in the series, I think it's fair to say that she tends to handle grief off-camera, so to speak, possibly without even getting help from those close to her. I'd also love to see how she deals with all this, but hey, that's what fan fics are for!
That would be one depressing fanfic!
I actually covered her grieving in a fanfic of mine! (Hint hint, wink wink, plug plug, here's a link 😉 )
Well now you're actively trying to make me cry, you monster.
You know it. Anyway, on a lighter note, there were a few things I thought were really funny in this segment, from a continuity perspective. At the Gatewater Hotel, Phoenix can examine a painting on the wall and find himself unsure whether it's a still-life or not, or even what exactly a still-life is. I find that funny considering the later-on reveal that Phoenix initially went to Ivy University for Art, and didn't switch to Law until several years into his higher education.
Guess there's a reason he made that switch! Is that reveal in this same game, or a later one?
The third one. Phoenix also begins a low-key running gag in the same room when examining flowers, namely that the only ones he can remember the names of are tulips and sunflowers. Some variant of this internal observation occurs in nearly every game. Damn, Phoenix, even I can do better than that!
With that we are done for this week of Wright Wednesday. Next week we'll be finishing up Turnabout Sisters and looking at the case as a whole. I hope to see you all then.
Looking forward to it! Later everyone!
Auf wiedersehen!
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