After trailblazing by developing the first five Dragon Quests and trademarking both the "Mystery Dungeon" and "Sound Novel" genres, Chunsoft had managed to amass a great deal of talent both in-house and within the entertainment industry. Plastered on the front cover of TRICKxLOGIC Season 1 are the names of five such authors, with Koichiro Ito (Kamaitachi no Yoru 2/3, 428: Shibuya Scramble, The Centennial Case) at its helm. But even so, here is a game that never left Japan or the grips of the Playstation Portable.
Having been inspired by viewer-participation type detective television serials of its time, both seasons of the game feature five self-contained stories that involve a 'deduction' and 'solution' segment. Deduction involves reading the provided body of text and then attempting to combine highlighted phrases and keywords to form 'curiosities' that lead to 'inspirations' that are used as argumentative proofs during the solution segment. Not only are these satisfyingly clever mystery scenarios, but the systems for deduction are surprisingly exhaustive. During one session I ended up happily spending 6 hours forming arguments for suspects that turned out to be completely innocent.
Scenarios are bound to a frame-story involving a genius prosecutor Yoshikawa Itsuki whose soul has fallen into the underworld for unknown reasons and has been tasked by Yama, the judge of human souls, with unraveling the truth from accounts of the human world. During his ordeal Yama summons a few friendly faces to aid this prosecutor. These characters are entwined with each of the scenarios and serve to provide comic relief and even suggest theories of their own to help narrow down the options. As you continue to problem solve optional hints become available, and when you submit proofs you can see how your math is lining up and are given rough estimations of correctness.
It should be also noted that the game features fully-animated cut-scenes, some voice acting, and pretty unique character designs. Additionally, nouns are occasionally highlighted throughout the text which can be combined to solve tiny riddles to unlock chapters of a bonus scenario, comedic audio dramas, and production art. Another surprising feature is that each chapter of each scenario can be listened to in audiobook form, in case you needed to approach the text from another angle.
It's truly refreshing to play a game that encourages the process of reasoning and entertaining possibilities. In games like Phoenix Wright I often find this is thrown to the wayside in favor of wacky characterizations and melodrama. Those games often gate you out of all the intel, forcing you to prod every single dialogue option or string you along through discovery sections. In TRICKxLOGIC, the truth is always simply waiting for you notice.
P. S - When you go to submit the final solution in the final chapter, the game will prompt you to download the ending from the PSN. This can be bypassed by loading your Season 1 save file on Season 2, and completing it there.
Having been inspired by viewer-participation type detective television serials of its time, both seasons of the game feature five self-contained stories that involve a 'deduction' and 'solution' segment. Deduction involves reading the provided body of text and then attempting to combine highlighted phrases and keywords to form 'curiosities' that lead to 'inspirations' that are used as argumentative proofs during the solution segment. Not only are these satisfyingly clever mystery scenarios, but the systems for deduction are surprisingly exhaustive. During one session I ended up happily spending 6 hours forming arguments for suspects that turned out to be completely innocent.
Scenarios are bound to a frame-story involving a genius prosecutor Yoshikawa Itsuki whose soul has fallen into the underworld for unknown reasons and has been tasked by Yama, the judge of human souls, with unraveling the truth from accounts of the human world. During his ordeal Yama summons a few friendly faces to aid this prosecutor. These characters are entwined with each of the scenarios and serve to provide comic relief and even suggest theories of their own to help narrow down the options. As you continue to problem solve optional hints become available, and when you submit proofs you can see how your math is lining up and are given rough estimations of correctness.
It should be also noted that the game features fully-animated cut-scenes, some voice acting, and pretty unique character designs. Additionally, nouns are occasionally highlighted throughout the text which can be combined to solve tiny riddles to unlock chapters of a bonus scenario, comedic audio dramas, and production art. Another surprising feature is that each chapter of each scenario can be listened to in audiobook form, in case you needed to approach the text from another angle.
It's truly refreshing to play a game that encourages the process of reasoning and entertaining possibilities. In games like Phoenix Wright I often find this is thrown to the wayside in favor of wacky characterizations and melodrama. Those games often gate you out of all the intel, forcing you to prod every single dialogue option or string you along through discovery sections. In TRICKxLOGIC, the truth is always simply waiting for you notice.
P. S - When you go to submit the final solution in the final chapter, the game will prompt you to download the ending from the PSN. This can be bypassed by loading your Season 1 save file on Season 2, and completing it there.