Hallo, alle miteinander, and welcome back to Wright Wednesday! This is the series where we recap, analyze, and review the many assorted cases of the Ace Attorney series. Today, we start our trek into the second game of the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney-Justice For All. My name is Roy, and I'm ready to party.
I'm Sam, and I suppose if partying is what's going to happen, I can tolerate it.
How does the case start, Sam?
We begin with the ominous tune of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor as Phoenix is standing on a cliff's edge with the Judge looking over him, saying he has no right to be a lawyer and smashing the gavel down on him. Of course, this is just a dream, and Phoenix muses it must have been kicked off by a phone’s ominous ringtone.
This is one of two thematic connections this case has to the overall theme of the game.
Outside his office is a man who recognizes Phoenix, then jumps in to attack him with a fire extinguisher. He says it's nothing personal. When Phoenix wakes up, he's in the courtroom lobby, and a girl named Maggey Byrde is saying he agreed to defend her. Just one problem: Phoenix has no memory of this. Or of who this girl is. Or even who he is.
I should clarify he's not in his office, he was taking a nap on the couch in the Defendant Lobby of the courthouse.
That was certainly not made clear, but okay. Payne is back in the prosecutor's seat for this Tutorial Case, and the Judge talks over any attempt for Phoenix to come clean about his amnesia. Maggey Byrde is a police officer, who is on trial for killing her lover, Dustin Prince, who was also a police officer. Maggie denies it, as well as taking issue with the term "lover".
Maggey is also very enthusiastic, being a huge fan of Phoenix's career so far.
Gumshoe is called to the stand first, and we find out that he's been something of a mentor to Maggey. Gumshoe goes on to testify about the murder: Dustin Prince was murdered at Expose Park, near police headquarters. He was pushed off an upper path, bruising his body and snapping his neck. His watch broke and stopped at the moment of impact.
I have to say, Dustin's death is somehow more brutal for me than most others. Something about falling that small distance and breaking your neck...ugh...
A pair of broken glasses were found under his body, and supposedly, they're Maggey's, which Dustin grabbed as she pushed him. She denies that the broken glasses are hers, despite currently wearing her spare pair; she accidentally stepped on hers the same day, by coincidence.
It's not 100% confirmed they belong to her, but because she wears glasses and is on her spare pair, that's the narrative the prosecution is trying to push forward.
Oddly enough, Pressing the right statement earlier also haves him give an Objection, without any special notice of the action.
Turns out, the name is spelled wrong in the sand: "Maggie" instead of "Maggey". Seems unlikely that Maggey's lover wouldn't know how to spell her name. Gumshoe testifies that the two were indeed lovers, a well-known couple in the police force. The day of the murder was Dustin's birthday, and Maggey had gotten him a gift two months before, with Gumshoe's advice. The gift was a custom-made baseball glove.
I wonder if, with this universe being more Japan-influenced, baseball is more popular than it is in our universe?
Well, despite his questionable taste in sports, this gives us the information we need; the glove is for Dustin's right hand, indicating he's left-handed. There was sand and scratch marks on his right fingertip, indicating he wrote the name "Maggie", but he was left-handed. So this is a clear contradiction.
This is, as far as I can remember, the first time a contradiction requires outside knowledge that the game doesn't provide.
True, someone who doesn't know how baseball gloves are worn would have trouble with this one. This revelation handily squashes the prosecution's case against Maggey, but before the Judge can declare her Not Guilty, Payne reveals an unexpected witness to the moment of the murder. A recess is called while this new witness is prepared.
I do appreciate that the game recognizes how weak Payne's case is. It seems during the recess Phoenix told Maggey all about his amnesia. She immediately jumps to trying to solve it, but a Maggey Kick isn't quite the recommended cure. Instead, Phoenix asks her to help him fill some stuff in. She gives him the business card he gave her when they first met, which even has his phone number written on the back. He's only borrowing it though, because it's apparently her prized possession now. Total a Phoenix fangirl.
THEN MAYA.
Not quite yet, Sam. First, Phoenix asks if there's anything else important related to the case, and Maggey informs him that earlier that day, before the murder, she and Dustin found a cell phone in the park. Not long afterwards, whoever owned it called them and they arranged to meet up so he could get it back, Maggey even telling the man her name. They waited for the guy to show up, but he never did. Phoenix had seemed interested in it, taking the cell phone from her for further investigation. Just as he's wondering what was so interesting about it, some young woman in a weird outfit arrives and starts yelling at Phoenix.
IT'S
MAYA
This strange woman has arrived with some very important evidence that Phoenix asked her to collect, namely a list of names and phone numbers. They were pulled from the cell phone Maggey found, which Phoenix also gets back, and this mystery lady's investigating found that all the people are members of a con artist group. Phoenix doesn't have a chance to tell this weird person that he has amnesia and no clue who she is, when the recess ends and they need to get back into court.
I feel like my excitement for Maya trampled over your Phoenix-perspective recap. Sorry, but MAYA.
You and your Ace Attorney waifu. Not that I have any room to talk, once we get to Apollo Justice I'll be gushing like that about my own Best Girl. Anyway, Payne prefaces summoning his witness by telling the court that the man he's about to call has a tendency to annoy everyone around him, and he hopes the Judge will be lenient. The Judge finds this warning stupid, because this is Ace Attorney and nearly half of all witnesses are annoying. Once this guy is called, it's clear Payne wasn't exaggerating. Richard Wellington is a snobby douchebag who spends his first several minutes in court complaining about being asked for a profession, or having it being described as a drifter, as he sees himself as a college student who just isn't currently attending any colleges because he's looking for one awesome enough to contain him.
Wellington is... well yeah, exactly as annoying as he sounds.
What makes it even worse is he has Oldbag's gimmick where he rants beyond the player's control, but without being very funny. His testimony is pretty simple: he was taking a walk in the park, saw the police officer fall to his death, then looked up and saw the defendant standing near where Dustin fell. Oh, and there were bananas that also fell on the ground too. Pressing leads to some funny stuff, but obviously the bananas are suspect. Namely, he didn't see bananas, he saw the bright yellow baseball glove mentioned earlier.
This case is...kind of weird.
Yeah, especially when one of the three responses Phoenix can give when asked why this matters is "Richard Wellington loves large bananas!"
Pfft.
It's pretty classic. But no, the correct response is to question Wellington's eyesight, which he is forced to admit is 20-200. I don't know anything about eyesight, not wearing glasses myself, but that sounds absolutely terrible. It's brought up that the difference in height was only 9ft, but considering his poor eyesight Wellington is asked to testify again. He says that Maggey ran away and he immediately called the police, at 6:45pm, then they showed up ten minutes later.
Anytime someone mentions the time in an Ace Attorney Tutorial Case, you know where to find the contradiction.
Yup, it's Autopsy Report time! Namely, Dustin died at 6:28, so that means Wellington didn't call the police for nearly twenty minutes after the victim died. Payne tries to claim that the witness was just dazed, but no one is buying that. Wellington says he was looking for a telephone, since he'd lost his cell phone, a claim that rings a bell for Phoenix, considering what he learned during the recess. Phoenix tries to jump on that, but Wellington smugly claims he found his phone, even holding it up for the court. There is something else wrong with that claim, however, namely that there is a phone booth three feet away from the dead body, visible in the picture.
Remember phone booths? Those were the days. I don't miss them.
I've seen like...maybe two in my life? Anyway, Phoenix is forced to explain what the witness was doing during that time, and the answer is simple: he was looking for his glasses. When Phoenix shows Wellington the glasses found under the body, he immediately identifies them as his own, wondering where they'd gone to, which makes him immediately suspicious to everyone in the courtroom. With that established, Phoenix goes on the offensive, naming Wellington as the real murderer. Payne and Wellington try to get around all that, and it's pointed out that the victim wrote the name "Maggie", except Phoenix already pointed out that the killer must have forced that to happen post-mortem. The question is then raised: if Wellington forged that evidence, how did he know her name but not know how it was spelled?
I have multiple questions, actually, but we'll get to those.
Phoenix has the answer to the questions proposed in court, at the very least: Wellington lost his phone, then called it, and when they talked she told him his name. However, since he only heard the name, he had no idea how it was spelled and just guessed wrong. Things are looking grim for the witness, but Payne asks what the motive is. Odd, because he never established a motive for Maggey, but whatever. Phoenix Presents the list of names, explaining that Wellington's missing phone contained the contact info of a group of con artists.
Definitely enough to cast suspicion on Wellington.
Especially when Phoenix explicitly claims that the only reason those numbers would be in the phone would be because Wellington is a member of the con artist group. Wellington is about to confess, but Payne saves him by bringing up that the defendant was going to give the phone back, and she told Wellington that was the case, so therefore there would be no reason to commit murder. Wellington uses this to recover, and Phoenix is forced to confront this valid question. His answer? Dustin Prince was wearing his uniform when Wellington came to collect the phone, but Maggey wasn't. Thinking she had gone to a cop about it, and that they were onto his crimes, he pushed and killed Dustin and framed Maggey out of paranoia.
Sensible enough motivation, at least.
At this point Wellington goes completely silly, laughing up a storm while making weird faces. He points out that Phoenix's entire theory is backed by the phone filled with criminal phone numbers, but as Wellington said earlier, he already found his phone, so there's no proof that the phone Phoenix has is actually his. Phoenix brings up fingerprinting the phone, but Maya reveals that there's no way that would work, since the phone was really dirty when they first got it and Phoenix cleaned the hell out of it. Wellington then makes the mistake of taunting Phoenix about his lack of memory, which makes Phoenix remember being hit over the head. This also implies that the amnesia was a thing that was done on purpose which...no? That is silly?
Extremely.
Wellington does say one important thing. "Don't blame yourself, you're merely a third-rate lawyer. You only made one big mistake. Who are you? What are you? That's something you haven't figured out for yourself yet." That's the second thematic tie-in to the rest of this game. Anyway, Phoenix figures out a way to prove his case: using one last chance to Present the business card with his number on it. This leads to the Judge giving his business card to Phoenix, as is traditional, though the font is so fancy that Phoenix can't read the name on it. Though for some reason I feel like that's a Sarge from Red vs. Blue situation.
Oh no don't get me thinking about comparing Sarge to the Judge, I feel like there would be more parallels than I would imagine.
They're basically the same character. Anyway, the reason for Presenting his business card was because of the phone number on it. Calling the number, Phoenix's cell number, makes Wellington's phone ring with a old-time cell phone quality version of the Steel Samurai theme. Phoenix reveals that Wellington is holding his phone, and that he has Wellington's, and it's enough to make Wellington choke himself with his own scarf so hard his face turns purple and he collapses. So...that's a thing I guess.
It's certainly one of the more self inflicted witness freakouts, I'll give it that.
Wellington is arrested and Maggey gets the Not Guilty verdict she deserves. After the trial, Maya says she feels bad for Dustin, who was killed at no fault of his own, just due to odd circumstances. Maggey blames herself, as she had a history of terrible luck. Over the course of her life, everything that can go wrong has, and despite her optimism she feels like Dustin died because of her. The way she describes it, some amount of her poor luck is clearly due to her own trusting and selfless nature, and Phoenix and Maya try to make it clear to her that she shouldn't blame herself, and she resolves to try and be more lucky from now on.
Which isn't really how luck works, but I'm not going to take issue with her trying to improve herself.
Maggey leaves, and Phoenix is forced to tell Maya that, while he's remembered a lot, he still has no clue who she is. This outrages her, and it's that response that leads him to remember everything: his friend and ally Gumshoe, the kind and easily swayed Judge, he doesn't remember Payne but whatever, and his bestie and assistant Maya Fey. The case ends just as he remembers how a few months before, she'd come back into his life. Because it turns out this case was not chronologically first in this game for some reason. Analysis time! Go, Sam!
Well, this case...it, uh...it certainly has characters. And dialogue. And...a mystery, I guess.
As you alluded to, it does sort of foreshadow some of this game's primary themes, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it sets them up, or even really introduces them. It just kind of alludes to their existence while crashing around clumsily.
...sorry, I think I'm giving away some elements of my review portion here.
Oh, don't worry, I'm with you. Let's say some nice things first though. Maggey is a great character who deserves to be the reoccurring element in the series she is, I actually like that this is the only Tutorial Case in the series with that game's detective in it, and Gumshoe adds some fun flavor. Payne still isn't his best self, but they have set up everyone forgetting he exists. I went through the effort of calling out those two thematic notes during the recap because it's my first time noticing them, and it was a pleasant surprise to see them. After all, they're the only relevant thing from this case that affects the rest of the game whatsoever.
Yep. The case introduces a fun character and barely sets up Phoenix's arc for this game. It certainly does do that.
What are your thoughts on Maggey?
Well, I really like Maggey. I also think this case does her a disservice. Its myriad inconsistencies don't leave her unscathed, unfortunately. I get no sense that someone she was close to was just murdered in front of her, and while she's an entertaining character, she's very one-dimesional. I like Maggey, but if this was the only case she appeared in I don't think she'd be very memorable long-term.
I can see that, and while I want to defend her by saying that she was just dealing with her grief internally, the fact she lost her long-term boyfriend is very much glossed over. I feel like my thoughts on Richard Wellington are at least vaguely clear thanks to my recap, what do you think of the arrogant scarf boy?
Ugh. He has the makings of a fun character, but he didn't work for me. He was annoying without being all that funny, and his whole motive and such was too simple to be interesting. In all fairness, that last bit is sort of a necessity for a Tutorial Case, but also the third game demonstrates that it's possible to be better in that regard. So just...no.
I feel like there is some fun and classic Ace Attorney charm to him, but it's marred by how unoriginal he is. He feels like a poor fusion of Frank Sahwit, Redd White, and Wendy Oldbag. He is less than the sum of his parts, and I would argue that even Frank Sahwit is a more fleshed out character. Are you ready to move into the review?
Oh yes.
Actually, wait. Before we move on, we should discuss the two gameplay changes from this game, which we saw in today's trial. In the first game, penalties were tracked in points, where you had five to get wrong and that was it. All penalties were worth the same, one of five. From this game onwards, we have the penalty bar, from which penalties can be larger or smaller chunks of the total. What are your thoughts on this gameplay change?
I think it's an improvement, since it can be adjusted to match the seriousness of any given moment of the game. I still don't think the punishment of being sent back to the beginning of the segment is a good fit for the series, though, and this doesn't fix that. Just improves it a little.
I'd argue another issue is that, due to what you just mentioned, when penalties get really big most players just Save Scum, saving and reloading so they can try every possible answer. The other innovation this game added: you can Present profiles both in-court and during investigations any time you could normally Present evidence. I absolutely love this feature and will be very sad when they take it away from us later on.
Absolutely, the profile Presenting is a great addition. Just makes the logic puzzles a little more flexible, adds range to how they function. Excellent addition.
So, time for review. Like The First Turnabout, this case was a Tutorial Case, and those have several duties they'll try and perform: first and foremost it needs to sell the player on the feelings of Ace Attorney, to hook them in with a taste of the overall experience; it needs to educate them on how trial segments work, how to play the game; if it can, it should set up the narrative and thematic elements unique to its entry in the series; and it should be a good story in its own right. How do you feel The Lost Turnabout stacks up, Sam?
Well, technically I guess it succeeded in teaching us how to play the game. Unfortunately, that's about all I can really say for it. The case is full of nonsensical moments and glaring inconsistencies, it introduces some ideas and characters without utilizing them in any meaningful fashion, it uses the amnesia cliche more badly than just about any other example I can think of off the top of my head, and combined with the relatively lackluster soundtrack of the second game it really just doesn't make a good first impression. Easily the worst case of the series thus far, which is unfortunate considering it's the first taste we get of the sequel.
I agree with you on almost every point. A may have been a little down on The First Turnabout, but at least that introduced Mia and Larry, as well as foreshadowing future events important to that game. The Lost Turnabout has interesting ideas here and there, I suppose, but it is, with no exaggeration, the worst Tutorial Case in the series for me. Looking from this case to the two of its kind that follow it is frankly embarrassing on every level. I will say that a few fun moments help, it doesn't overstay its welcome with its short runtime, and I highly disagree on the subject of music. I don't know what the fandom consensus is, but I love Justice for All's soundtrack, and when it comes to the main themes, I highly prefer the new versions to the ones from the first game.
I really like the more intense music in this one, like when you're cornering a witness or getting close to the truth, but the calmer ones for just basic cross-examination and such really don't do it for me compared to the first one.
But the thing that really, really bugs me about this case is--God forgive me for bringing this in--the plot holes. There are few criticisms as overused, misattributed, and unimportant as "plot holes", but this case just makes no sense. This guy pushed killed a cop in broad daylight, in front of said cop's girlfriend and multiple other people, and somehow managed to get down to the body and use its finger to draw a name in the dirt not only without being seen by the multiple people on the scene, but having lost his glasses and having atrocious eyesight? And Maggey was right there; why is her own version of events never even mentioned? Her perspective plays absolutely no part in this entire thing, which is both weird since she would have seen the whole thing and recognized the killer, and also doesn't help with the whole "doesn't show any signs of grief for her dead long-term boyfriend" angle. And that's before getting to the weirdly contrived use of amnesia; I get that it's a device to justify teaching Phoenix (and thus, the player) the basics of the game, but I'd have much rather just had a bunch of awkward "as you know" exposition than a slapdash amnesia plot. Like, the entire case falls apart if you think about it for half a second, and that's just not good for a freaking mystery story.
My best defense is that, I'm guessing, Maggey wasn't actually around when the pushing happened, as only Wellington placed her there, but that isn't clear in the text. You are entirely correct that this case is dumb as hell.
We rate these cases on a scale from 1 to 10, and that isn't supposed to be some objective level of quality. The score is relative to cases in the series, with 1's being some of the worst, 10's the best, and 5 and 6's the most average. While The Lost Turnabout isn't entirely without merit, the few bright spots cannot cover it's shoddy plot, dull villain, and uselessness to the game as a whole. I didn't mention it earlier, but I will say I'm a little biased against it anyway, in that I hate amnesia narratives like this, it is very rare for me to like them at all. In the end, this isn't the bottom of the barrel, at least for me, but it is damn close, so I give this case a 2 out of 10.
I'm going to have to go with the same. Actually you know what, I know there's worse coming, but I'm going to dip a bit lower and go with a 1.5, because aside from being bad, this case is both the immediate follow-up to the excellent cases of the previous game, and the introduction to the forthcoming cases. That's too important a case to get wrong, and this case gets it so very, very wrong.
Those are pretty low scores, but we can go lower! Next time it's the beginning of Reunion and Turnabout and...I am sure more complicated feelings. Auf wiedersehen.
I'll take complicated over dismal! See you then.
No comments:
Post a Comment