The first ace attorney has a lot of cases that are weak by the series standards, but due to this game being the first it isn't as noticeable, especially since the bad cases are in the first half when you're still getting used to the format and the main cast. The last few cases are engaging with a lot of good comedy, Von Karma isn't exactly the most nuanced villain but he's hilarious, Edgeworth is obviously great, and I'm one of the few people who enjoyed rise from the ashes despite the investigation segments being a little drawn out.

Played the switch version, but i want to review this game separately from the rest

The writing for this game is probably Phoenix Wright at it's most core fundamentals. The series hasn't yet been overwhelmed with supernatural elements nor increasing bizarre murders to continue upping the ante. So in terms of just the murder mysteries themselves, this game has my favorite bunch. Particularly cases 4 and 5, are really creative and daunting cases which complicated murders but could still have happened within the realm of possibility in the real world. I particularly love Case 5 due to the fact that it feels like you're actually uncovering a giant conspiracy within the police department and the prosecutor's office. Von Karma and Damon Gant are the series best villains.

That being said, Case 2 while still compelling is too easy. To the point that it feel a little bit like an extension of the tutorial in case 1. And Case 3, while not the worst 3rd case in the series was just very boring to me.

Game play is usual Ace Attorney fair. Investigate murder scenes looking for evidence and talking to witnesses then in court, listen to testimony and find contradictions. This works well up until most the way through case 4. BUT some of these investigations particularly in case 5 are really long, and you perform specific sequence of events to get the next piece of dialogue in an investigation to trigger. So without a guide, you might be wandering from place to place for like 20 minutes re-investigating and talking to everyone just to figure out what you missed. Likewise in case 5, to up the challenge, a testimony might not have a contradiction readily apparent and you have to press the witness to amend their testimony! That's fine but in case 5 you might have to press the witness's statements in a specific order to trigger the change and testimony, and it's a little frustrating to be stuck because you accidentally pressed the statements in the wrong order. Things like this are just kinda immersion breaking which is really important in Visual Novel where you need to be immersed to have fun.

Just finished playing this with my girlfriend on the collection. These games definitely are better experienced with friends on a larger screen

The first four episodes are so fun, the writing is hilarious, the pacing is great throughout, and each episode has great characters that are off the wall. I love the slow building of the reoccurring characters or the one offs (Missile the Dog, we love you.) I screenshotted so many of the dialogue boxes, so many hilarious in and out of context pieces of text. It’s a very simple loop of a game, but it’s always fun seeing where it will take you and if treated like “watching” tv for an hour or two at a time, it’s an absolute blast

My biggest gripe is the “5th” episode Rise from the Ashes. I know it wasn’t part of the GBA release, but I’m including it here. It’s definitely way too long. It runs almost the entire length of the first game (a great value at the time for DS to justify getting the game “again”) but the pacing is off (Day 1 of the episode is SLOW and I almost quit.) It builds momentum and becomes really great at the end, but it’s a tale of two halves. Also, you can see the writing is very different since it was written after the first 3 games.

My final thought - the music for the first game is INCREDIBLE. Capcom GBA compositions at their finest.

I was thinking about finally playing the second game but remembered that I never actually finished Rise from the Ashes back when I played this game a couple years ago, so I thought I would go back and play it first. I'm very glad I did, it was a ton of fun! The mystery always kept me engaged and I think all the new characters are very entertaining and memorable. Granted, I think a big part of my enjoyment was just that I forgot how FUN ace attorney was, like I never wanted to put the game down, its crazy. The elephant in the room with RftA is its length and, like, yeah, it probably should've been shorter. I don't really think it drags at any point, it was pretty fun and captivating the whole way through, but there was almost certainly a more concise way to tell this story and it leads to some parts, especially in retrospect, to kinda feel like a waste of time. It's been a good couple years since I last played the game, but I also felt some parts are maybe a bit derivative of turnabout goodbyes too? Which makes the difference in length even more noticeable, especially since I'd still say I prefer turnabout goodbyes. Still, I had a great time! Very excited to finally start Justice for All soon!

“A justiça é a busca pela verdade, não a vitória a qualquer custo.” - Anônimo.
Se fosse resumir esse jogo ou o que vem pela frente diria que essa frase dita por alguém, diz muito sobre essa franquia fenomenal

Um tema muito diferente do comum que vemos atualmente, e diria que arriscado, devido ao fato se limitar a um determinado publico. E quando conheci esse jogo eu estava com receio de não gostar. Aliás, advogado não é minha praia e achava que a sensação de ser um advogado em um jogo não iria dá certo, mas por incrível que pareça eu estava enganado e que no final da contas iria ser uma das experiências mais diferenciadas e divertidas que eu tive nesse meus anos que tenho conhecimento sobre jogos.

Os primeiros casos são bem introdutórios, pouco tempo e pouca expploração na busca de provas e informações, sendo em todo a jogatina as partes de tribunais ou o clímax dos casos as minhas favoritas junto a Essa música que é a minha favorita desse jogo e quando ela toca, você já sabe que vem uma jogada de advogado de primeira, e a satifação de fazer uma objeção com provas que tem reviravoltas em um caso é muito satisfatório.

As mecânicas do jogo eram simples, coletar itens a fim de buscar provas e mais provas junto as respostas, até ai tudo bem. Mas do nada é que no FINAL DO JOGO no último caso eles implementaram mecânicas que mudariam a imersão do jogo. Inspecionar itens em 3d, usar objetos que tem que assoprar, sim, assoprar o DS para digitais e dentre outros. Parecia que era outro jogo e isso fez eu me admirar cada vez mais a essa obra

Esse jogo dispensa elogios, o que mais me deixou meio intrigado é como de uma história para a outra não evolui ou tem um desfecho interessante, temos 5 casos nesse jogo e só 2 deles que foram sensacionais (a do MIles e da Luana), não desmereço os outros mas acredito que foi mal construido todo o enrendo daqueles que não funcionaram apesar de serem legais (O caso do samurai é um exemplo disso). E outra coisa que fica muito confuso que algumas vezes queinfelizmente tive que correr a longplays ou detonados é em momentos de exploração por não saber o que fazer. Perdido e sem idéia de onde ir, não acho que isso seja uma crítica pode ser até burrice minha na hora de jogar, mas sabe quando algo não fica muito claro nos diálogos e muitas coisas são na "sorte" para descobrir esse jogo mostra bem isso, e para muitos pode ser até motivo de pessoas desisitirem de apreciar o jogo.

Sendo um jogo para mim uma porta de boas vindas a essa franquia, ela foi bem recebida. Pode ter seus erros mas não faz dele ruim, aliás seu futuro não mostoru isso a franquia faz sucesso até os dias de hoje, e é com todo mérito, para um jogo de DS e suas limitações na época faz esse jogo ter um carinho não só pela histórias em casos que realmente é bom. Mas sim como ele é desenvolvido.

Podem ir jogar tranquilo, que sem dúvidas vai ser uma das experiências mais interessantes e intrigantes que você terá!

The first Ace Attorney game does a lot right from the very beginning to get players interested and invested in its world, its characters, and its mode of puzzle-solving. There's a reason people who play this game remember it so fondly and vividly - it is funny and witty, over-the-top but still grounded enough to tell a serious story. It helps that Phoenix is a deceptively well-designed protagonist. He's not a simple self-insert, but rather a character with his own personality, history, and character relationships.

Having played some older murder mystery games, I think Ace Attorney's biggest improvement is giving the player more instances where they get to actually figure things out for themselves and show what they found. The nature of the alternating investigation and courtroom segments means that, rather than just look for clues over and over, you'll frequently be asked to press witnesses and call out problems in testimony. When combined with the campy presentation, it gives the player a very satisfying aha-moment and feeling that they are personally engaged in the process of solving the case. It doesn't always work totally perfectly, but it works very well most of the time.

I would give this game a perfect score, but there are a couple points of pacing problems in cases 3 and 5 that bring it down ever so slightly.