“It’s only natural for living creatures to fight to protect their own lives. But what makes us human is that we fight for others. But who do you fight for? How hard must you fight…? That’s the true measure of what human life is worth.”

In a way, the entire Ace Attorney Trilogy revolves around this ending remark. After all, we wouldn’t even be playing as a defense attorney if not for that very thing. Many major character arcs throughout the series thus far have been about questioning and growing out of one’s own, often selfish ambition. And it’s perfect that this game is the culmination of all of that, and it’s especially perfect that the main antagonist of the game is the complete antithesis to that statement.

But to call Trials and Tribulations merely just a perfect conclusion would honestly be underselling it. It ties everything up from the first and second game so well that I was genuinely shocked to have learned that a trilogy was not originally planned. In fact I found myself liking cases from older games more because of how effortlessly some of the cases here contextualize them. In my AA1 review, I wrote about the game case by case but while I felt like it was a good way to represent that game, Trials & Tribulations is different. Every single episode flows so well into one another that I think covering it all individually would be doing it a disservice. That’s how well paced everything is.

Everything throughout the games is at its peak here. Even though no new gameplay mechanics have been added to the main investigation sequences, like the Psyche-Locks in Justice For All, they are still easily at their best here, they're much more cohesive, and much better paced, relying far less on just looking in another area after you're done with another and doing a better job of linking you along and giving you a clearer idea of exactly what you need to do, who you need to talk to, etc. The trials are still as engaging to play through as ever, with some moments that genuinely just made me giddy, on top of some actual "holy shit" twists. None of these parts feel forced or as if they're desperately trying to evoke a reaction out of you, no - they are just that well written. The filler case trials too, which I usually wouldn't be as invested in really caught me this time around. And it doesn't really ever feel like there are any significant leaps in logic when cross examining or presenting evidence, as borderline silly some of the trials can get. For all I care the killer could have been an angel that fell from the sky and I would still be following through the whole way. That is a testament at how good Trials and Tribulations is at handling it's cases.

Even in spite of the middle act being largely filler, the writing is still fantastic, this especially shines through at the fourth and fifth cases, the latter of which even managing to get me misty-eyed by the end of it. Above I briefly talked about what I think to be the most prevalent themes throughout the trilogy, that being altruism and identity. And I think that’s the true tragedy of Trials and Tribulations. Throughout the game characters often hide things in the interest of others, even when it’s extremely risky and they often hide things to protect others, even when it’s eating them from inside, the main mystery solving of the game being based around finding what they’re hiding. But how hard must they fight? Ultimately it comes down to one thing, which I’m sure you’ve heard time and time again between this game and the last two, being the truth. That sometimes the best thing to do is to let the truth come out, even if you believe that it will hurt others. Ron DeLite believes that if his wife were to find out he was Mask DeMasque, it would make her hate him, but Desiree ends up loving Ron more for it. Misty Fey conceals her identity from us because she believes that she’s tarnished the name of the Fey clan and can't face Maya, but when it comes to light that she acted and died only to protect her daughter only strengthens her resolve. Iris doesn’t reveal that she was in Dahlia’s place while dating Phoenix in fear that it would ruin his memories with her, but Phoenix reassures her that it’s exactly what he needed to hear. So on, and so forth.

And of course, you’ll notice that every culprit throughout each and every case is the subversion of this, they act out of pure self interest, going to extreme lengths to make sure the truth is as buried as possible and making sure that others suffer for their deeds. The obvious one being of course Dahlia Hawthorne. In fact, she says it straight, she has never cared about anyone except herself. Almost everything she’s done within the game has resulted in a death or a near-death. If our fight for others is how we weigh human life, then Dahlia is inhumane, which I think frankly is the point.

”For all of eternity, you’ll have to remain as Dahlia Hawthorne. A miserable, pathetic, weak creature who can never win at anything…”

A more tragic, but in my opinion also more interesting example is Godot. Of course, it would be a crime to discuss this game without bringing him up. Over the course of the game’s story he’s presented as enigmatic and vengeful towards Phoenix, and as a prosecutor, he’s a pretty entertaining character, not quite as arrogant as others but his suave personality makes him very fun to face off against and it makes what comes next hit all the more harder. There are clues dropped here and there, but it’s not until the fourth and fifth cases until we get any real insight into his origin, and damn is it a sad one. Of course he did still kill somebody, and make no mistake, the game doesn’t try to glorify that in any way but I think it’s interesting to see how he represents both sides of the coin, he’s constantly fighting himself between vengeance and a genuine desire to protect Maya, but in the end the former gets the best of him and he gets Misty killed. But again, once the truth comes out, he feels healed. I think it’s especially interesting what he says to Phoenix at the end of the final trial.

“You never ran away from Mia’s death. Instead, you picked up where she left off, as a true defender of the people.”

And that’s where we come full circle. Even when facing tragedy, we have to remain strong for ourselves and those around us. I remember after beating the game and watching the credits roll, I just sat there pondering everything the game was telling me, and when it all came together it felt magical. Trials and Tribulations is a mastery. It is a story of closure, not just for the characters but for the player. Not just within itself, but for the games that came before it. I couldn’t possibly think of a better way to cap this trilogy off, so for now, all I can really say? Bravo.

Let me preface this text dump with its intent. This is not a review. Mother 3 has not been a game you discover on a mere fancy for quite some time now. Recommending this game by highlighting its appeal and features is a meaningless endeavor. It is not a product to be consumed, you cannot even purchase it. It is instead a work you seek out at the culmination of a personal journey. It being an iterative sequel, its slight inaccessibility, and its resonating message that people wish to share. These traits means that by the time you get around to seriously consider playing it, doing so has already become an inevitability.

So instead, this is merely an attempt to journal what this game means to me and my personal interpretation of it. Publicly disseminated so that I may compare my thoughts against those before me whom this game has also touched. The game has a lot to say and with the minimalist nature of trying to condense it all onto a 32-megabyte GBA cartridge there is a lot of room for its players to extrapolate its messaging from its details. I am incapable of encapsulating it all and certain topics I refrain from repeating, that which others I know have articulated far more succinctly than I. I choose instead to limit my focus on my observation on what Mother 3 says about legacy, and unavoidably, of love.

“And so the tale first begins… …as a tragedy”

We start off with the first chapter, establishing the tone of the rest of the story that is yet to come. Immediately any preconception that this tale was going to follow in the whimsical adventure template of its predecessors is stabbed through the heart. Flint, a reliable man of action loses the love of his life to an encroaching corruption. His son emulating him, goes out to seek retaliation. It does not end well. Although Flint does refrain from perpetuating the cycles of harm, this event destroys him. Unable to move on from his grief, Flint becomes stuck reminiscing in the past. Impotent to act against the coming storm.

“However, not everyone is content to sit quietly by as the enemy continues its odious attacks from every angle”

Recollection of the past can be more than just escapism from facing the present, understanding the past is paradoxically necessary to escape from itself. Duster, is strongly connected to the idea of identity to one’s legacy. Although not made apparent until the end, the idyllic communal town of Tazmily exist as the result of deliberate obfuscation of the past. However, without having the learned lessons of historic mistakes the town is vulnerable to repeating them. Wess, Duster’s father, is burdened to act as a failsafe during the inevitable time of crisis. A crisis that may not occur in his lifetime. How can one fulfil such a purpose that exists beyond their span? Through proxy. Duster is made to inherit this burden, the gravitas of which supersedes any personal desire for agency. Although the intention is noble, the game does not downplay the result of such a relationship where a parent tries to live extendedly through their child. Abuse. No matter the beatings or verbal assault or even mutual desire of both parties, Duster can never become Wess. This idea culminates in Duster’s inability to intrinsically understand his purpose, failing a test of discernment. The implication of this failure not lost upon an exasperated Wess.

“The pain and the sadness are unforgivably regrettable. Now I would like to repay all of this to you”

The abuse Wess enacts upon of Duster is born of frustration. While not to be undermined it is important to note that distinction when examining what follows. Fassad’s abuse of Salsa, and their zealous desire to destroy Tazmily, is incomparable. It is pure unadulterated malice. Calculated cruelty engineered to harm as much as possible. Fassad’s explicit motives are never elaborated upon. They are ultimately irrelevant. To provide a motive is to provide vindication that these actions are plausibly justified. Mother 3 makes no such concessions. Instead, the game gives nuance to his character through his background. That being, he was counted among the number of Magypsies, the nigh eternal beings responsible for overseeing the end of the world. Once again, the motive of his disaffiliation is left to the player to infer. The why is less important than the who. Fassad, is an individual acutely aware of history, and will ensure it is repeated. To oversee that humans cannibalise themselves to extinction once more through hubris and greed. Perhaps they seek to begrudge humanity from redemption? That when given a clean slate we can be so gently nudged towards our own annihilation. Perhaps this affirms a cynical worldview, that which appears reformed is merely a façade worth of contempt. It matters not, he is ambiguous by design for one to speculate. To showcase that vitriol can stem from anywhere.

"However, in that darkness, a once weak boy tried to become stronger. Lucas, is trying to paint this tragic story with a bright future.“

Likewise, so can kindness. The obsession with preserving and propagating the past, ones lived experiences, is a curse imposed with age. It is not by chance that instigating change is much more readily embraced by the youth. The fresh perspective that comes from those living solely in the present is necessary to conceive a future that has never been. These were my initial preconceptions going in for my expectations of a character such as Lucas that would be a gross mischaracterisation of what they are now. Former crybaby Lucas, as he is oft described, is just as shackled to the past as those previously mentioned. While Flint chases the fleeting spectre of those lost, Lucas however opts to fill their void. Claus, his twin, his mirror, now just a memory is not gone. No, Claus can yet live still through Lucas. Equivalent since birth, Lucas steps up to emulate the headstrong person he perceived his brother to be. Already embodying a kind and empathetic personality reminiscent of his mother, Lucas will propel the legacy of those he loves through his own life. This is not a burden nor obligation, this is how a child is able to contextualise a traumatic event to allow themselves to persevere, live and move on in absentia of mother, brother, and father. Not that Flint needs to worry that he is unable to see past the past to guide his son, he has ‘already grown to be a strong young man’.

“We crafted our story in haste, so the people inside it have very little “past” or “history”.”

In contrast and in parallel to Lucas and Wess, Kumatora, the driving force against the corruption that desecrates Tazmily is notable in her complete absence of familial legacy to propagate. That initial descriptor I had of Lucas, that as the catalyst of change, is more aptly applied to Kumatora. Just as kind and capable if not more so, the rugged princess of Osohe is beholden instead to a responsibility masqueraded as a fictitious past. However, unlike Duster, whom is oblivious of his true purpose, Kumatora is much more aware of the farce that is her role. Yet she continues to serve it through her own conviction. This isn’t as saccharine as it seems, otherwise completely isolated from the lives of the villagers, she fears without her ‘story’ she has no purpose nor connection to be made with people. A psychedelically induced dream entity declares: “Princess Kumatora is no princess. She's a broken woman not loved by anyone”. These fears are not unfounded, her interaction with the general populous of Tazmily incites commentary that is othering. Regardless she presses on, the significance and belief in her task too heavy to let such concerns cause her to falter.

“A great undefiable power has prepared a festival for the end of all life…”

Together Duster, Lucas and Kumatora (and a very narratively significant dog that I would do an injustice to describe) seek to preserve the idyllic commune of Tazmily from succumbing to the corrupting tendrils of a malignant thought. One perceived to have been carefully eradicated in order to preserve what little salvageable life is left in the world. Their efforts prove to be in vain. To forget is to repeat missteps. You cannot move on from that which you do not know. Their quest doomed before it even began. The end of life, of everything becomes inevitable. Yet there is meaning to be found in the struggle. Duster whose agency had always been privy to others comes to self-realisation and through his own agency commits himself fully to the cause. An end may also conceive a new beginning.

“I'll let you in on a little secret. No matter how much you attack me, I'm not going to die. Even if you manage to knock me down, I will not die. Didn't you know that?”

Porky Minch and what they represent is absolute harrowing, they are the dregs of the experience that is life, they are very much human, and they are eternal. The final chapter of the game is almost entirely dedicated to examining Porky as a character and idea and consequently the very worst aspects of the human condition. Fassad, who represents a concentrated and precise contempt is a nihilistic ideal that can be tangibly confronted, defeated, and suppressed. Porky comparatively is instead almost ethereal. A theology that cannot be meaningfully engaged and therefore cannot be defeated. Yet the impact of this idea they represent are very tangible, having omnipresent sway over the hearts and minds of people. There is an allure to the commodified lens of the world that Porky embodies. A lens that will see you perceive the world in terms of value and outputs. Of dollars and gains. Of winners and more tellingly losers. The destruction of the world that Porky conducts, the same that had occurred once before, is not done out of hatred nor malice. It has a much more sinister motive. Apathy. The ideal that is Porky, this harbinger of humanity’s unmaking is simply committed out of boredom. An act of exhaustion ensuing from a long life that is unfulfilling. When examining the world in such a way, this capitalistic framework ironically makes everything ultimately worthless. This is because fundamentally, the reason Porky is the way they are is because they do not, they cannot, comprehend love, to perceive something you hold dear to have personal value. In love’s void a perverse imitation is born. This corrupt idea of value is what Porky covets, enshrines but is never sated by. And it is so very very contagious.

“Lucas, be happy. We found Claus”

You cannot truly defeat Porky because they are broader than the individual entity they are represented by, they are an eternal occurrence, a perpetual idea. The contemporary to love itself. But what of one who knew love once and lost it? At the very end of the game, you have one final confrontation. Before the final needle which will preside the collective worth of humanity. Lucas stands before his mirror, a young boy who lost themselves to grief. Whos love hurt them so much that it had to be buried. To be forgotten. To leave them with nothing. To see Claus like that, Lucas, whom sought to embody who Claus used to be, what he was going to become, falters completely. It unmakes Lucas, his love for the idea that was his brother was the source of his strength. Lucas doesn’t know what to do. He falters. A voice rings out. A voice that stirs the soul and resonates the heart. You cannot bury those memory deep enough. Love is insidious, its permanent scars mark the very fabric of who you are. And it hurts. It hurts so much. It is unbearable. The memory of love resurfaces indomitable. And it forces Claus to remember. To emerge from the prison of his heart and become himself once more. And then in cruel mercy, allows him the agency to destroy himself.

"You must be so exhausted. Come here Claus”

Its over. Love triumphs. It is beautiful in all its tragedy. There is just one task left. To pull the needle and be judged. What worth is this love that was fought so hard to preserve? Calamity manifests on screen. The End?

“But as you can see, everyone is just fine! We’ve regained something incredibly immense”.

On a black screen the words above appear among many others. After witnessing the spectacle that is the end of the world, the game addresses any player that is still left wanting after the end screen. By fumbling around eventually you are rewarded with text. One by one characters chime in reassuring you that they are all ok and that everything worked out in the end. You can see it right? This is something that you the player can visualise right? This beautiful ending where it all worked out alright? The game is asking you if you can believe it. Do you?

I could not see it. I am currently incapable of doing so. This is a personal failing of mine. I have let bitter cynicism wear down my ability to conceptualise such a world. If I cannot even imagine it, how can I even seek to have it realised? But even so, I believe in it. Everything worked out ok for Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and everyone else. I might not have been able to witness it but it happened. Mother 3 says it can and it did. And I believe it. For what else is there to believe in?

“It looks like things will work out here, but what about your world? Will it be alright?”

Steins;Gate, Science Adventure Series #2, is a time travel story. It focuses on fighting against time, fate, and really the universe itself through human willpower. Faced with the difficult choice of mutually exclusive outcomes of letting Mayuri or Kurisu live, Okabe tries his utmost to somehow save everyone.

I really did like the anime when I first watched it, and I like it more than the VN (I don't think Braun being a much better character for 30 minutes and Nae are worth 5x the time investment while going with the VN over the anime). But as years passed and I read more, I realised that I just don't get why this is considered to be the zenith of the medium or something similar. If you look at the top 10 on VNDB at any given point in time, Steins;Gate will always be there in the top 3, but I would argue that out of all of those, S;G is the only one that isn't all that ambitious. It's just a well-executed "good" story. It isn't very ambitious when compared to Chaos;Head, let alone compared to White Album 2's journey of an emotional love drama, Umineko's attempt at a take on anti-mystery and shinhonkaku, Muv-Luv Alternative's take on the visual novel medium, emotional moments and world building depth, Full Metal Daemon Muramasa's exploration of ideals of life and war, the climax of the entire Utawarerumono Mask duology journey, Higurashi and its impact on the medium, etc.

Steins;Gate aims to be a "good time travel story with themes of fighting against fate and fun characters and grounded sci-fi with decently-written characters" and nothing more than that. Not that there's anything wrong with going for a small scope and executing it well, but a more flawed yet ambitious work impresses me much more. If you compare this to Chaos;Head's theme of loving oneself or Chaos;Child's societal commentary, I believe where I am coming from here is understandable. Allegedly, the SciAdv writers weren't very interested in writing a time travel story, either. It just feels like less of a passion project than C;H was. The characters are often walking tropes, too, like Daru or Faris, without any sort of commentary on those tropes.

I'm fine with the pacing, contrary to what some readers have been saying, but the choice system is godawful. You are locked from the true ending if you answer wrong about cupped ramen. That's just great, I guess. Also most of the alternate routes were meh, barring Suzuha's.

The artstyle in this is really nice, and the music is great as in all of SciAdv. It is not an overall unenjoyable experience by any means, it just isn't all that compelling to me.