Hallo, alle miteinander! It is time once again for Wright Wednesday, the weekly blog series where we go case by case to recap, analyze, and review the trials of the Ace Attorney franchise. My name is Roy, Chief Fanboy of this district.
And I'm Sam, Assistant Chief Fanboy of this district.
Now, last time we finished off Turnabout Goodbyes, the climactic case of the first game. But that doesn't mean we're done, as today we start Rise from the Ashes, a case that requires some explanation. You see, the original three games of the series were created for the Gameboy Advance, but didn't make it over here until to was too late to justify using a handheld console that was past its day, so they were ported to the Nintendo DS.
I hate how many series get popular in Japan years before anyone even hears of them over here. And I'm glad that more games are being localized, and faster, than back then.
Well, the good things to come out of this was that they ported the games to the DS in Japan as well, and for the first game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, they created a fifth case to test out the visual, auditory, and technical waters the Nintendo DS offered them while creating what would become a vital aspect of canon in the process.
Yeah, I have to say for as good as this case is, it surprises me that it was basically put into the DS port for the sake of utilizing the touch screen. I'd expect that to result in something more gimmicky, but Rise from the Ashes is... well we'll get into that later, I guess.
With that backstory out of the way, let's start recapping the case! It begins with the obligatory opening cutscene, which of course looks much better due to the new hardware, and is too visual to really describe and really only makes sense in retrospect. The real first scene of the story of Phoenix in his office. It's been several months since the end of Turnabout Goodbyes, since Maya ran off back to her hometown for further training in being a spirit medium. The buzz from his last case ran out a while ago, and he hasn't had a single offer of employment, which he sees as just fine because he doesn't want to take one, not without Maya.
It's just a sneak preview of all the Mayaless cases in the later games. Which I'm still salty about.
I'll have things to say about that as well, just you wait. Anyway, suddenly this young girl shows up, and looking for Mia Fey. Well, she's five months too late, or one month if a channeled Mia would have worked. Phoenix tries to explain as gently as possible that Mia's dead and this is now Wright and Co, and that he's Phoenix Wright.
Don't you just hate when your lawyer's been dead for five months? They're never around when you need them.
The good news is, this girl, Ema Skye, has heard of Phoenix for his work defending Edgeworth, which she calls the Edgeworth Murder Case despite him...not being the one who was murdered. She decides he'll do, and right when Phoenix is about to turn her down, she says that her sister is the one in trouble. It makes him think of how he first met Maya, and he caves, heading to the Detention Center with her.
As though Phoenix could actually have turned down someone in need anyway.
True. Once they head to the Detention Center, they find that her sister, arrested for murder, has the guard terrified of her. You see, she specifically asked for no guests, and the fact they brought in Ema and Wright has her upset. This woman, Lana Skye, presents herself dispassionately and with enormous authority, which makes sense because she's the Chief Prosecutor for the district, something Phoenix didn't know.
Could have been important information for Ema to tell him, but nothing compared to the bomb Lana drops next.
Yeah, Lana reveals that she and Mia went to college together and that they were attracted to each other. Or, as Ema 'corrects', they were 'intellectually attracted' to each other. Sure thing, Ema. Lana also has confessed to her murdering a detective. Despite this, Phoenix has defended a person who confessed before, and something about all of this feels fishy. Before leaving, Lana does allow Phoenix to act as her defense attorney, but makes it clear that because she's confessed, he shouldn't expect to win.
And I have to admit, as much as I miss Maya, Ema is pretty great. She adds the same kind of energy to the case that Maya usually does, but she's a bit more focused and passionate than Maya's scatterbrained charm.
From the office, Wright and Ema head to the scene of the crime, the parking lot at the Prosecutor's office. They're immediately confronted by a police officer dressed up as an Old West cowboy, who refuses to let them see the crime scene part of the lot.
It always amuses me to see Japanese games include America-themed characters. They're always either soldiers or cowboys.
Listen, he's just a normal cop...from West LA. That's literally the explanation in-game, but as far as I know, West LA is not more cowboy themed than the rest of the city.
That's kind of a funny joke, actually, so I'll give it that. Though I'm curious what the original explanation was in Japanese.
Sam, we're here to analyze Ace Attorney, not Gyakuten Saiban.
Fair.
Anyway, so the first thing to examine is clearly the stepladder.
What? Obviously not. First thing to examine is the ladder. There's not a stepladder in this scene.
Yes there is! It's leaning against the wall, and Phoenix even clarifies it's a stepladder!
As though Phoenix knows the difference. Phoenix fumbles his way through everything, you can't just believe anything he says.
Putting aside the stepladder for now, the most important thing you can examine is a wallet lying on the ground, which triggers a tutorial from Ema on examining evidence with SCIENCE! Care to explain this new mechanic, Professor?
Oh boy, would I. This is basically the reason this DS-exclusive case exists. It allows the player to inspect some evidence as a 3D-rendered graphic, so you can turn it around, press buttons, and inspect it in more detail.
Of all the DS mechanics, it is definitely the most superfluous for sure, but it sometimes gives otherwise dull pieces of evidence more life, as many contain hidden funny details.
The 3D examination reveals that the wallet belongs to the victim, a detective named Goodman. But we don't get a lot of time to think about that before a woman shows up selling... lunches?
Oh...yay...this character...
She apparently hates prosecutors, and also happens to be the eyewitness who claims to have seen Lana stab the victim. Also her boyfriend works in the security room. She's... somewhat strange, but suggests we go to the High Prosecutor's Office if we want permission to examine the crime scene further.
It's important to make it clear that High Prosecutor isn't a title or anything. Some people confuse it with the Chief Prosecutor, also known as Lana, the defendant.
Wait, so is the office just on the top floor or something then? Why the word "high?"
I have no clue. I am guessing it's either because it is high up in the building, or a special office they give to top performing prosecutors.
Weird. In any case, who do we run into in the High Prosecutor's Office but Miles Edgeworth! Ema freaks out, having respected Edgeworth for a long time, but it turns out he's been assigned to prove Lana's guilt. Much to his chagrin, since he looks up to her. But he's kind of involved anyway since the victim was found in the trunk of his car. Also, I may be mixing something up, but wasn't Edgeworth supposed to be on a trip or something? How does this timeline add up?
That's after this case. And a spoiler. For now, Edgeworth is still shaken by the events of Turnabout Goodbyes, trying to find his way, and getting tons of heat from his superiors.
Huh. I thought he mentioned it at the end of that case. Oh well. We also see that Edgeworth was given the King of Prosecutors award, which he regards as frivolous and insulting, especially while being eyed with so much suspicion from the other prosecutors following the previous case. We're also given his parking stub from the night before, indicating that the murder happened mere minutes after he had arrived.
More like a sneak preview of the best character.
Yeah, Mike Meekins shows up and immediately leaves. But oh well. He drops off a report, but since it isn't related to the current case Edgeworth turns him away. He then suggests that Phoenix go to the Police Department for more information.
Edgeworth also goes off on Meekins, one of several examples in this investigation of how tightly wound our old friend is.
I can never forgive him for being so rude to the best character. But anyway, when we get to the police department, we of course run into Gumshoe. Dancing next to a weird, creepy moving mascot thing outside the front door.
Excuse me? That is our Lord and Savior, the Blue Badger.
It certainly is, but also it's weird and creepy. But Gumshoe seems to like it.
Well, he did build it.
Fair. I guess he can be proud of his... creation. In any case, Gumshoe tells us that Detective Goodman had been working on an evidence transferal; essentially, the case in question was going into storage and would basically go away. He went to the Prosecutor's Office that night because Lana had called him there, which doesn't exactly make her look less guilty.
That last tidbit is only known because Lana told everyone that, there's no evidence of it besides that.
In any case, Gumshoe gives Phoenix and Ema a letter that will allow them to investigate the crime scene, so they return. They run into Ms. Starr again (she apparently has another boyfriend in Criminal Affairs), as well as Marshall, who we find out is actually just a patrolman. Ema finds this strange, since a case like this would usually be handled by someone of higher rank.
I'm pretty sure he's the first named patrolman in the series, either chronologically at least.
We find out more details about the murder, specifically that Goodman was stabbed once in the chest (despite Starr mentioning a rhythm of stabs). We also find a note with Goodman's name and the numbers 6-25 and 12/2. There's also a cell phone by the car, which when called rings Ema's phone; turns out it's Lana's phone, and her last call before the murder was to Ema.
Phoenix tries covering for this with Marshall, to limited success.
Yeah, it's a weak excuse, but I'm not sure Marshall caught on. In any case, we now know all the information we can, and the trial begins the next morning. Which ends this first investigation day.
So, dear Professor, where do you want to start the analysis?
Well as always, the beginning of each case is relatively low on things to really dig deep into. It's mostly establishing things; who Ema is, what the case is about, who the major players are.
That said, this first day did set up something kind of interesting; a number of parallels between the Skye sisters and the Fey sisters. They're kind of like similar but opposite companions to each other; Mia and Lana are both older sisters with professionalism, a sense of duty, and a law career. But while Mia was a defense attorney, Lana is a prosecutor. Ema and Maya also share this dynamic; they're both relatively upbeat, ambitious young women, but one is a scientist and the other is pursuing spirituality. And, of course, they both come to Phoenix for help after their older sister is struck by tragedy.
Phoenix remarks on these similarities multiple times, and it seems to be setting up some kind of thematic parallel, or perhaps a device to help Phoenix come to terms with the losses of Mia and Maya during the events of the game. Honestly I don't remember the case well enough to know where it's going with this.
If I can be honest, as far as I recall, it's more a noted parallel than anything with symbolic resonance. I think talking about Ema is something we should cover. A lot of people see her as a Maya expy, but her interest in science isn't the only thing that sets her apart. Ema is several years younger than Maya, and I think that shows both in her dialogue and attitude. She's also a lot less grounded in reality, and a lot of her examine conversations with Phoenix involve a lot of her saying really weird stuff and Phoenix snarking or being befuddled.
One of my favorite Let's Play groups, Video Games Awesome, made a silly choice when playing/voice acting this part of the game, namely than in all interactions like I mentioned previously, they played Phoenix like he was absolutely furious, and it worked surprisingly well!
I feel like it'd be kind of a disappointment if it tries so hard to set up those parallels but never actually delivers on them with any kind of meaning. But I guess we'll see. In any case, I definitely agree about Ema, though I'm not sure she's any less grounded in reality than Maya. Maya was pretty unhinged sometimes. And Ema has some concrete goals and is legitimately pretty brilliant in her own way, whereas Maya in this first game mostly... wasn't.
True, but Maya seemed aware of her own weirdness, or at the very least as on some level openly selfish in a self-aware way. Ema says the weirdest crap with seemingly no understanding that it's odd. I feel like she's a couple levels more weird than Maya ever gets, at least right now. I'll be honest, she did annoy me a little at times in a way Maya never did.
Interesting. Honestly, Ema hasn't annoyed me yet at all, so I guess we'll have to see how this progresses.
Her obvious infatuation with Edgeworth is also a fun point of disambiguation. The whole thing where she kept unknowingly insulting him is pretty funny.
The other major element of this case, of course, is Lana. This isn't the first time Phoenix is defending someone who's pleaded Guilty... and actually now that I think about it, that's a pretty specific thing to do for two cases in a row.
Well, at least Edgeworth didn't confess until near the end. Here, Lana starts off implicating herself so hard that it throws Phoenix. I really love her character design, and despite her young age she has such presence that she makes you accept that she's the Chief Prosecutor. The fact she has her back to you so much, another first for the series, is really interesting as well, and we can get into more thematic implications later on.
She certainly is a forceful and commanding presence right from the get-go. We get to see glimpses of her affection for Ema, but only glimpses; she's mostly made of steel in ways I tend to associate more with enemy prosecutors in this series than defendants.
Well, she is a prosecutor herself. I really like Lana and Ema's relationship, actually. Even in what we've seen so far, it's far from the neat idealic relationship we saw from Maya and Mia, who loved and cared for each other, period. Despite all their similarities, this pair of sisters have issues to work through, and I think it's important to show that not all sibling pairs are sunshine and rainbows.
Well then, the other major thing to talk about is the situation Edgeworth finds himself in, which is... kind of unfortunate. Honestly, I would have figured the events of Turnabout Goodbyes would have exonerated him of most things, but rumors seem to be plaguing him now.
I think it makes sense: he was already called the Demon Attorney by his critics, then after being arrested for murder, one that he looked very guilty for, it was his mentor that went to prison, the one that got hit with the claims of forged evidence. It's easy to look at this from an angle that casts more suspicion on him instead of less.
That's fair. It seems more exonerating to those of us who played through it than it would to an outside eye. In any case, he's in a tough position on this one. Tasked with prosecuting someone he looks up to so much, and his superior to boot. Hopefully at least this time he's more cooperative with Phoenix when it comes to discerning the truth.
That's the other interesting thing with Edgeworth here: Edgeworth has spent the last half a year having his core ideals challenged, and quite recently learned that the man who instilled them in him was a murderer himself. At the end of the last case he was struggling with how to proceed with his career, and it's clear here that he's still struggling.
I do love how clear that struggle is here. His blind conviction is noticeably absent, and we see him actually hesitating about whether he's on the right side. It's nice to see a tangible difference after such an important event in his life.
The defendant is also someone he has a personal connection to, someone he thought cared about him. I wouldn't be surprised if part of his struggle is whether this is another figure in his life that has betrayed him or an innocent person that his job is telling him to indict.
Yes. His black-and-white way of looking at these situations has shattered, and it's clear he isn't sure how to process this new case. And I love seeing that character growth.
It's a wonderful stepping stone for who he will one day become. I also love seeing his office for the first time, which has so much detail to it, including the second hint, and the first solid one, that eventually revealed that Edgeworth is a huge fanboy for the Steel Samurai.
Oh, I didn't notice that! Where is it?
He has a Steel Samurai...figurine...action figure...something? Whatever it is, it's by the window and combined with him telling Will Powers he was a "big fan" at the end of Turnabout Samurai, the clues begin to lead to the truth.
This is truly the most important mystery in the Ace Attorney series. We'll keep you posted as it develops.
No no no, clearly the real mystery is how the regular examinables in the Wright and Co Law Offices are doing! Unfortunately, the window and bookshelf give the same description as last time, the most disappointing thing ever. Of all time. Phoenix has taken up watering Charley, and the day Maya left she finally snuck up the Steel Samurai poster where Mia's movie poster once was. Phoenix hasn't the heart to take it down.
That's a very nice little touch. Environmental storytelling and all that.
It's also fun to note that outside the Police Department there are two police officers standing out front, with one looking like he's saluting the other. They have different examine dialogue every day of investigation, and in this case the detective told a joke so funny that police officer is wiping tears from his eyes, not actually saluting.
I'll have to keep an eye out for them in future exploration sequences!
Before we wrap everything for today, I do think we'll want to talk about how long this case was. It might not have seemed like it with our recap, but this was the longest day of investigation we've had so far.
For sure. I was surprised as it just kept on going; the segments tended to be pretty short in the game proper, but this bonus case seems to be significantly longer.
This single case takes up more than a third of the total length of the game. The reason why? Well, in order to better replicate this being a part of the original game, they made it a three day case, something that only existed in this game. But they kept the pacing they'd been using for two day cases since after this game, which allowed for a two day case to be about as long as a three day case. This melding of methods makes this case insanely long, something we'll talk about more I'm sure as time goes on.
Honestly, I doubt it can feel as long as Turnabout Samurai, so we'll see how it pans out.
Neither can truly feel as long as Turnabout Big Top or Turnabout Ablaze.
Big Top, for sure. I'm having trouble remembering Turnabout Ablaze, though. Is that from one of the ones I haven't played yet?
Yup, Investigations. Man, will that be fun to get to. /s
...oh boy.
With that, I think we're done for the day. Next time, it's court with Edgeworth once more. Auf wiedersehen.
Until next time!
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