This review contains spoilers
DISCLAIMER this review is something I wrote a couple months ago and copy-pasted it from Word. I've played more of the series now but I left most of the review intact so don't be too upset if i said something stupid. I stand by most of what I said anyways.
Trials and Tribulations felt like one big fat band-aid. The first game in the series was intended to be a standalone game when it was developed. So naturally, it was given its own story with closure in its fourth case. Once the game was deemed a commercial success and the devs were asked to make more Ace Attorney games, not one sequel was planned but rather two. So the intended stopping point for the series was no longer Turnabout Goodbyes, but instead Bridge to the Turnabout. Because the case that we thought would close the series was no longer the series finale, the game naturally had to dig up more story points to use in order to properly shape the new ending. Justice For All, however, never had that kind of pressure placed on it. It was never considered to be the last game in the series – only a continuation. This is a blessing and a curse. On one hand, this explains JFA’s extreme lack of direction and overarching story. Because the devs knew JFA won’t end off the series, there was no need to write an all-encapsuling conclusion that ties up all loose ends. On the other hand, new major characters and plot points didn’t need to be forced in order to expand the in-game universe. There was no rush to end the story, so they didn’t. Unfortunately with Trials and Tribulations, the curse came back to haunt us. The first game in the series was properly wrapped up with no loose ends and functions best as a standalone product. The second game in the series had absolutely no drive to advance the story in any way or create any new major plot points. So T&T is stuck between two unfortunate extremes. It means that Trials and Tribulations had to attempt the near-impossible feat of trying to unearth any possible plot points in the first game, attempt to make the second game relevant, all while creating an entirely new and original arc to properly send off the conclusion of its own game.
So the question is: did Trials and Tribulations succeed at all of that?
My answer: kinda, but it was pretty sloppy.
Episode 1 – Turnabout Memories
This is the first opening case that serves a purpose in the story, and I appreciate it for that. Phoenix Wright is no longer our player-controlled protagonist, but a young defendant. Mia Fey is who the player controls here, and it’s honestly a little funny that she was more likeable here than she ever was in past games when she was being channeled by Pearl or Maya. Rather than being a crutch for Phoenix, she has her own part in the story. There’s even a moment when her and Dahlia hint that they have met each other before. Her banter with Grossberg was funny too. As far as intro cases goes, this one checks most of the boxes and does a great job. If anything, I wish Mia brought up Diego Armando here. After all, Mia successfully linked Phoenix’s case with the poisoning from 8 months prior. If Mia really had a connection with Diego, he should have at least been hinted at by her.
Episode 2 – The Stolen Turnabout
As far as cases go in this series, this one is probably the most middle of the road, satisfactory, meh case there is. The whole premise of Mask Demasque is kind of dumb IMO, and Ron’s reasoning for being him doesn’t exactly do the story any favors. I have a particular problem with this case, where Phoenix reaches a dilemma, because Luke Atmey is about to be convicted for larceny and apparently due to the laws of “double jeopardy”, he can’t be tried for murder. This is an extreme butchery of the term double jeopardy, and the real application of it would mean that there would be no problem trying Atmey for both crimes. Larceny and murder are two totally separate crimes and the fact that they brought double jeopardy up as some kind of trump card was just as ridiculous as 2-2 bringing up “gunpowder burn” or 1-5 bringing up “evidence law” out of thin air. Other than that, it was whatever. Happy to see Adrian Andrews again even though she didn’t really do anything. This is the case where Godot is introduced, and he is a complete mystery. If you’re gonna randomly drop a mysterious new prosecutor, at least give us some background. This problem only gets worse over time.
Episode 3 – Recipe for Turnabout
This one sucked. I don’t even want to get into the logistics of how Tigre impersonated Phoenix and conducted a sham trial that nobody caught, so I’m just gonna tell it how it is: asinine. I refuse to elaborate or argue on that part. Just plain stupidity. The one thing I enjoyed about this case was the mystery of how there were actually two crime scenes: a fake one, and a real one. There’s still a problem with it, though. Victor Kudo, the extremely creepy old man, testified about how he saw the fake scene, which he didn’t know was fake. It makes sense that he thought Viola was Maggey, because she never turned her back in her waitress outfit. But Tigre was supposedly disguised as the victim too. Despite Kudo being to identify which ear the earpiece was in, he never noticed that the victim was a different person entirely. Elg and Tigre look nothing alike. The motive was nonsensical and I don’t know why Viola ended up on your side afterwards because you had just exposed her for being an accomplice to Tigre’s crime! She even gets her own scene in the end credits…she should be in jail! She literally looks like a malnourished anime creepypasta girl from 2008 YouTube. There was also that creepy scene where Mia seduces Kudo. We once again learn nothing about Godot. Except for the fact that he couldn’t see ketchup on Maggey’s apron. You could consider this foreshadowing, but you could also use it to prove how stupid Godot acts in 3-5 when he’s faced with the exact same dilemma. Jean Armstrong was an annoying caricature as well. Oh and there was that lady who worked at Glen Elg’s software development company and she got like a single minute of overall screen time. I don’t even remember her name. Overall very bad case. Maybe even my least favorite.
Episode 4 – Turnabout Beginnings
We once again take the stage as Mia Fey, on her and Edgeworth’s first ever case. It provides context to how Mia met Dahlia before Phoenix’s case. This is the case of Dahlia and Terry Fawles’ fake kidnapping. It’s odd how intense Terry’s suicide is when it happens right in front of you, but yet it is never referenced as a big deal at any other point. Dahlia seemed to linger on Mia and Edgeworth’s minds more than a literal public suicide. The whole situation with Valerie was hard to grasp. This is the first time we meet Godot as Diego Armando, and once again we are given literal crumbs on what his character is supposed to be. He was a sort of mentor to Mia…and that’s about it. Grossberg was conveniently not included in the picture. Solving the case itself was fun though.
Episode 5 – Bridge to the Turnabout
I have already established my thoughts on spirit channeling in this series. It’s gimmicky and I think it makes me take the series’ plot less seriously. Bombshells of information were dropped on the player in this episode. Dahlia has a twin sister named Iris, both are daughters of Morgan Fey (aka they’re Pearl’s sisters), Elise is actually Misty Fey, Morgan wrote a plan to get rid of Maya and met up with Dahlia in jail, Godot set up an entire counterplan, Phoenix and Godot are missing in action for the entire first day leaving Edgeworth to defend against Franziska…there’s so much to unpack here. I’m gonna try and separate this case into individual segments to see if it’s easier to explain.
A not so Brief Summary
At its core, this is what the Ace Attorney series revolves around. The murder for this case shows Misty Fey impaled by a seven-edged blade, and Bikini witnesses Iris removing the sword from Misty’s body. In actuality, this blade wasn’t the murder weapon, and the murder didn’t occur in the courtyard of the temple, where the body is found. When Maya went across the bridge to undergo training in the inner temple, Bikini left and Dahlia, who was being channeled by Misty, came to murder Maya while pretending to be Iris. When the lightning struck and bridge burned out, Dahlia (in Misty’s body) met Maya in the garden and hit Maya in the head with the staff and knocked her out. As she pulled out the dagger to kill Maya, Godot came from behind and stabbed her with the sword hidden in the staff. Before she went still, she attacked Godot with the dagger and knocked off his visor, and used her blood to write Maya’s name on the lantern. Godot can’t see red on a white background so he shoveled all the nearby snow in hopes to hide the blood but never wiped the lantern. Godot called Iris to meet on the other side of the bridge. He tied Misty’s body (with the staff still impaling her) to a severed bridge cable and swung it across the gap like a pendulum. The cable untied at the perfect time, so Misty’s body made it to the other side 10 feet up in the air. Iris took the body to the courtyard with the snowmobile, and disguised the scene. This is when Bikini sees her and faints. Maya, alone in the inner temple writes a note and summons Mia. Mia responds on the note saying to summon Dahlia and lock herself in the sacred cavern to protect herself. Pearl somehow made it to the other side and was completely alone now that Maya locked herself away and Godot hid in the inner temple. She failed to summon Dahlia because Maya already summoned her. Phoenix fell off the bridge, Iris was arrested, and the first investigation and trial began. Edgeworth stood in for Phoenix as he was in the hospital, and Franziska stood in for Godot because he was missing (hiding in the inner temple). After their roles conclude, Phoenix gets better in time for the second day of investigation. An earthquake occurs, causing Edgeworth to faint while supervising Iris who was solving the trick lock to save Maya from being trapped in the cavern. When Iris and Dahlia (who is now in Maya’s body) are unsupervised due to Edgeworth’s seismophobia, they switch places. It is then Dahlia who testifies the next day in court, claiming that Maya killed Misty. Phoenix exposes her, Mia (in Pearl’s body) delivers some fat insults, and Dahlia leaves Maya’s body with a shriek. Maya then testifies to defend Godot, but Phoenix finds the truth and Godot spills everything.
Mia and Diego grew very close over the time they spent together as prosecutors. They were so close to arresting Dahlia during Mia’s first case and didn’t give up their pursuit of the truth. Iris was planning to assist Dahlia during the fake kidnapping plot (although her role was never specified) but she got scared and didn’t show up. Diego called Dahlia to the courthouse one day to have a talk, and that’s when she poisoned him and gave the bottle to Phoenix as a gift. Dahlia and Iris then switched spots for 8 months. Iris acted as Dahlia, Phoenix’s girlfriend and tried to get the bottle back. Dahlia switched back with Iris on the day she murdered their classmate in an attempt to kill Phoenix and retrieve the bottle. Iris told Phoenix how her feelings for him were real after her trial. Godot, due to the poisoning, fell in a coma for six years. When he woke up, his hair turned white and had to wear a visor. He became a prosecutor in order to defeat and keep tabs on Wright, as he was upset that Wright failed to protect Mia when she was murdered by Redd White. He also spied on Morgan Fey’s visitations with Pearl. He found out about the plan Morgan wrote down and opened it to see for himself. After reading it, he set his own plan into action. Using the resources at the Prosecutor’s Office, he got in touch with Misty Fey, who had been living a life as Elise Deauxnim. He also contacted Iris. He told them about the plan, where Morgan instructs Pearl to channel Dahlia so she can kill Maya. Godot takes his place in the inner temple, hiding in case Maya faces danger. Misty tries to stop Pearl from going to the inner temple, but fails. To stop Pearl from channeling Dahlia, she does it herself. Iris…stays on standby I think. And poor Bikini is never told about this plan.
The Pros
• The premise of a burned bridge separating two different crime scenes makes for a very cool murder mystery
• Bikini is a funny and sweet supporting cast member
• Edgeworth and von Karma are at their best in this chapter. The first day when they conduct the trial was rewarding and showed how much they’ve grown
• In general, the parts where you play as Edgeworth were super neat
• There’s a certain investigation theme for this case in the soundtrack that is absolutely banging
• I found the early sections of the trial to be very fun – figuring out what Iris was doing, the snowmobile tracks, just unraveling such a big mystery was something big to look forward to
The Cons
• You cannot convince me that the “pendulum” mechanism that transported Misty’s body across the gap was not just as unrealistic and ridiculous if not more unrealistic and ridiculous than the pulley system in Turnabout Big Top. I don’t know the height difference between the two sides of the mountain but there is no scenario that I can make up in my head that justifies how this works. The bridge cable (which should be decently thick if it can hold up multiple people walking on it) was somehow tied to Misty’s still-impaled body and swung across the gap. It had to have gained enough force in order to swing back upward on the other side, untie itself at the perfect moment, and have the body land safely after a 10 foot fall. All while the bridge is on fire. As soon as Phoenix set foot on the bridge, however, he fell immediately. But we’re supposed to believe that this burning bridge supports the weight of the body and doesn’t slam her against the side of the mountain before rising upward. Abysmal logic.
• Iris played both sides of this case the entire time. She complied with Godot’s phone call and messed with Misty’s body. But she also switched spots with Dahlia (Maya) in the sacred cavern during the earthquake. The game never explained Iris’ role in the fake kidnapping plot, simply that “she never showed up” and it made Dahlia hate her. There was also that incredibly weird and creepy moment that she confessed her love to Phoenix, saying her feelings were real. And Phoenix reciprocated. Ew. Her motives were never clear.
• Speaking of unclear motives, Morgan. Her plot was for Pearl to kill Maya by channeling Dahlia. But she never seemed to be aware of or explain the consequences of if Pearl was found guilty of Maya’s murder. I suppose Dahlia would have done her best to cover it up, but the plan was so risky considering this was all done to make Pearl the master of the Fey clan. Even if you don’t consider that, I think her motives were weak. Who cares if your daughter is the master of the Fey clan if 1. You don’t care about your children and 2. You’re in jail and may never know and 3. Pearl might have gotten caught?
• Speaking of jail, I am livid that my complaint in JFA about Pearl never talking about or lamenting the arrest of her mother for conspiracy of murder came back as an even bigger plothole here. Did Maya or Phoenix know that Pearl was visiting her mother in jail? Pearl was literally at her mom’s trial…how does she not know what her mother did? And if you justify Pearl’s lack of knowledge that her mother is an evil witch with “oh she’s just a naïve little girl”, then that’s another problem! Where is her character writing?
• The fact that the Prosecutor’s Office could just contact Misty Fey when she was supposedly unable to be found for 17 years…a ridiculous band-aid on a major plot point. It’s not like she was lured out of hiding or anything, no, she was just able to be contacted this whole time.
• The spirit channeling, which I have established that I hate, presents the opportunity for so many plotholes. Maya wrote a note to Mia in the inner temple after she got knocked out and Godot killed Misty. The player never gets to read this note, nor do we know how Maya wrote it or where it was stored. If it was on Maya’s person, then Dahlia would have seen it and if it was in the temple, it would have been found in the investigation/uncovered Godot’s hiding place. Mia responds by telling Maya to channel Dahlia. How the hell does Mia know that’s what she’s supposed to do? She isn’t aware (at least to my knowledge) that Dahlia is her cousin. Maya doesn’t even know that she exists at all for all we know. From Maya’s point of view, it probably just looked like Iris was going to kill her. Did Maya tell Mia that Godot was the one who saved her? Does Mia know that Godot is Diego? Presumably, Mia doesn’t know what’s going on in the real world when her spirit isn’t being channeled. Which means she has no way of knowing about Morgan’s plan.
• In 2-4, there was an immense pressure put on the player to finish the trial, because Maya was starving to death as a hostage. You would think that there would be a similar amount of pressure for Maya and Pearl (and Godot) who were stuck across the bridge, but there wasn’t. I’m not sure it was ever a concern in this game. Not to mention, the ridiculous justification for Godot hiding in the inner temple. Supposedly Pearl wandered everywhere, yet Godot was just hiding in a cabinet. For like two days. Come on…
• Dahlia says to Phoenix at court that she’s always hated him and his nature to believe in other people…girl you only knew him for TWO DAYS. Didn’t you supposedly switch places with Iris? Why wasn’t that in the psyche lock?
• I have much to say about Godot and his motives which I will say soon
I know all of this text on the con side for this case may suggest that I hate it, but it’s more mixed for me. I definitely think this case is still better than Recipe for Turnabout and The Stolen Turnabout.
Ok now let’s talk about every major character and how T&T portrays them
Phoenix: He’s obviously very solid throughout. Except, of course, in 3-1. His portrayal in that case makes him out to be very naïve and clingy. I guess this is meant to show his growth. But it also suggests there’s a huge dissonance between the character portrayed in that case versus every other moment in the game. Whatever, it’s not a big gripe. And seeing his courtroom sprites were actually really charming.
Gumshoe: goated yet again
Edgeworth: He’s only a major presence in 3-5, but it’s a great one. It’s clear that his arc is coming to a close and it turned out very well. He calls Phoenix his friend and partner, and the contrast from 3-4 to 3-5 is a very smart way to portray his character growth, and feels way more natural than the contrast presented with Phoenix in 3-1 versus 3-2/3-3. I’m happy to report that all of the turbulence in his writing can be centralized to Rise From The Ashes.
Maya: She’s still just as likeable as before. I just wish she could stop using Mia as a crutch all the time. Her presence is always pleasant but I wish she would show some more development.
Franziska: I like her a lot more now. And she isn’t even that prevalent…she helps out a bit in 3-5 but that’s it. Even so, you can tell how much she’s mellowed out around you. I still don’t like the whip though. 2-4 showed the beginning of her development, and it’s just a shame most of it occurred off screen. But I really like what she’s become.
Mia: This was her best game by far. She still has a problem of being a crutch for other characters, but Trials and Tribulations finally gave us reasons to get invested in her character. She was a good protagonist in 3-1 and 3-4, and her final roast of Dahlia was super satisfying.
Pearl: It is so funny (and still very true) that I called her a plot device in my JFA review, and now she is not only a plot device to channel Mia when the player is in a bind, but was also a pawn for the entire final act. And she ends up channeling Mia during the final trial. Bye. She was never interesting. I don’t hate her personality or anything, but I have not been given one single reason to care about her at all.
Dahlia: I’m not sure if you would consider her a major character, but she appears in three cases so I’ll talk about her. I think designing villains is difficult no matter what medium you’re writing for, because they typically need some kind of background to justify and motivate their actions (unless you go the Danganronpa route, and make the villain evil for no reason other than to contextualize gameplay). She has a history of manipulating and doing horrible things, not just to Phoenix, but to Terry, Valerie, Diego, that dude she killed in 3-1…all of those instances (save the 3-1 dude) were to cover up the fake kidnapping. She stole an expensive jewel, faked her death and identity, and covered up her tracks by killing more people. Because…her parents neglected her. I’m not saying that her parents’ neglect was a bad reason to stage the fake kidnapping. But this information has been relayed to the player from strictly secondhand sources. It’s not like we saw how Dahlia’s parents treated her firsthand. We met Morgan, but Pearl turned out okay (I know it’s because she’s spiritually gifted but whatever). And we don’t even know who her dad is besides the fact that he’s a jeweler. Getting an audience to sympathize with a villain is difficult, I get that. But I can’t ignore the fact that her main motivations stem from events that we/Mia and Phoenix have never witnessed or understood. This is a problem in other cases as well, but it’s especially bad here as Dahlia is a recurring villain. I wish the flashback cases made more use of these background plot points.
Godot: I guess one could argue that Godot is a villain as well. Maybe he’s better described as a morally ambiguous character? Either way, I don’t think it pans out very well. I would first like to mention that basically all of Godot’s characterization is saved for the final case, in the final trial, on the final day. I had the same problem with Franziska in JFA, but retrospectively her problem wasn’t as bad, because her character was much more self-explanatory. She is the daughter of the man whose prosecuting record you broke and put in prison for murder. Even if you aren’t told her motivations right away, some things speak for themselves. For 3-2 and 3-3, Godot was an absolute blank slate. You literally knew nothing about him, and I am not exaggerating. At least with Franziska, you got the gist from seeing her in court. With Godot, it’s unacceptable imo. I was actually thinking about starting my review early just so I could write down how frustrated I was that the main prosecutor has given me nothing but a cornily smug personality and a dumb nickname when I had completed more than half of the game’s cases already. Then came 3-4. It wasn’t subtle at all. I guess it does a fine job at showing Mia and Godot’s relationship. But you don’t see Godot and Dahlia interact at all. By the time I had finished, I still felt like I barely knew anything about him. Then comes Bridge to the Turnabout. I already complained a little bit about how I thought Godot’s counterplan was stupid. But I omitted a lot about Godot himself. He had SO many chances to stop this plan from happening. He found the paper detailing Morgan’s plan and left it for Pearl to find, he could have subdued Dahlia in Misty’s body rather than killing her (he anticipated this, after all), and he could have admitted everything. I still don’t understand why he was mad at Phoenix of all people…Dahlia I guess I understand though. He admits to all of this when Phoenix finally pins him as the killer, turning his unexplainable actions into self-loathing so people sympathize with him. Yes Godot, you could have stopped this entire thing from happening before it started. No, I don’t feel bad for you. He really just feels pathetic to me. His entire tell-all monologue at the end of the trial did nothing for me. And I don’t understand why Maya defended him. We were being strung along for the entire game going up against a prosecutor that the game refused to tell us anything about, then he just ends up killing Misty as some kind of ego driven fit of rage. I’m glad he dispels the belief that he cared about Maya’s life because it’s clear he didn’t. He stands for nothing and his character was created to be the antithesis to a villain that I already didn’t care much about. His relationship with Mia was not elaborated on or fleshed out. Godot’s involvement in 3-5 wasn’t to make a good murder mystery. After all, his hiding place was horribly explained/justified. His involvement was an attempt to expand a story that should have already been concluded, and makes me not care about him in the slightest.
Final Thoughts
This game was very hyped up and ultimately failed to reach my expectations. Because it was intended to be the true final conclusion of the Ace Attorney series, it acted as a giant band-aid, like I mentioned before. Mia Fey was brought back in a big way in an attempt to expand her character. This was fine. What wasn’t as fine, were the new characters (Dahlia and Godot) who were there to fill space in order to flesh out Mia. Although I like what they did with Mia, I think the effort was ultimately futile. She was created to be a tutorial character, so expanding her to be more than that meant creating multiple new characters and connections that were not ever mentioned or explained in prior entries. Combine that with T&T’s desire to connect JFA’s fragmented cases to the story, namely 2-2 which I already wasn’t a fan of, and you are left with a game with good ideas but ultimately had material that was flawed to work with.
On the bright side, I think this made me appreciate 2-4 even more than I already did. Acknowledging that Justice For All was never meant to end the series is what gave 2-4 such an excellent opportunity to shine. 1-4 and 3-5 had the heavy burden of tying all of the series’ loose ends together. 1-4 obviously succeeds at this more than 3-5 does, because the entire first game was planned out as such. 2-4 had no such expectations. So all it needed to do, was make an interesting, long case with high stakes. And it did. It can be enjoyed in a bubble (similarly to 1-5 but without all of the mischaracterization that came with that case) and doesn’t present a main villain(s) like 1-4 and 3-5 did. 2-4’s critical moments lay within character relationships and an ethical dilemma of a game mechanic flipped on its head. Phoenix has to choose between Maya’s safety + freeing an admitted killer, or losing his win streak and putting the killer to justice + losing Maya. The way this was resolved required cooperation from Edgeworth post-development, and had an incredibly satisfying ending.
Trials and Tribulations felt like one big fat band-aid. The first game in the series was intended to be a standalone game when it was developed. So naturally, it was given its own story with closure in its fourth case. Once the game was deemed a commercial success and the devs were asked to make more Ace Attorney games, not one sequel was planned but rather two. So the intended stopping point for the series was no longer Turnabout Goodbyes, but instead Bridge to the Turnabout. Because the case that we thought would close the series was no longer the series finale, the game naturally had to dig up more story points to use in order to properly shape the new ending. Justice For All, however, never had that kind of pressure placed on it. It was never considered to be the last game in the series – only a continuation. This is a blessing and a curse. On one hand, this explains JFA’s extreme lack of direction and overarching story. Because the devs knew JFA won’t end off the series, there was no need to write an all-encapsuling conclusion that ties up all loose ends. On the other hand, new major characters and plot points didn’t need to be forced in order to expand the in-game universe. There was no rush to end the story, so they didn’t. Unfortunately with Trials and Tribulations, the curse came back to haunt us. The first game in the series was properly wrapped up with no loose ends and functions best as a standalone product. The second game in the series had absolutely no drive to advance the story in any way or create any new major plot points. So T&T is stuck between two unfortunate extremes. It means that Trials and Tribulations had to attempt the near-impossible feat of trying to unearth any possible plot points in the first game, attempt to make the second game relevant, all while creating an entirely new and original arc to properly send off the conclusion of its own game.
So the question is: did Trials and Tribulations succeed at all of that?
My answer: kinda, but it was pretty sloppy.
Episode 1 – Turnabout Memories
This is the first opening case that serves a purpose in the story, and I appreciate it for that. Phoenix Wright is no longer our player-controlled protagonist, but a young defendant. Mia Fey is who the player controls here, and it’s honestly a little funny that she was more likeable here than she ever was in past games when she was being channeled by Pearl or Maya. Rather than being a crutch for Phoenix, she has her own part in the story. There’s even a moment when her and Dahlia hint that they have met each other before. Her banter with Grossberg was funny too. As far as intro cases goes, this one checks most of the boxes and does a great job. If anything, I wish Mia brought up Diego Armando here. After all, Mia successfully linked Phoenix’s case with the poisoning from 8 months prior. If Mia really had a connection with Diego, he should have at least been hinted at by her.
Episode 2 – The Stolen Turnabout
As far as cases go in this series, this one is probably the most middle of the road, satisfactory, meh case there is. The whole premise of Mask Demasque is kind of dumb IMO, and Ron’s reasoning for being him doesn’t exactly do the story any favors. I have a particular problem with this case, where Phoenix reaches a dilemma, because Luke Atmey is about to be convicted for larceny and apparently due to the laws of “double jeopardy”, he can’t be tried for murder. This is an extreme butchery of the term double jeopardy, and the real application of it would mean that there would be no problem trying Atmey for both crimes. Larceny and murder are two totally separate crimes and the fact that they brought double jeopardy up as some kind of trump card was just as ridiculous as 2-2 bringing up “gunpowder burn” or 1-5 bringing up “evidence law” out of thin air. Other than that, it was whatever. Happy to see Adrian Andrews again even though she didn’t really do anything. This is the case where Godot is introduced, and he is a complete mystery. If you’re gonna randomly drop a mysterious new prosecutor, at least give us some background. This problem only gets worse over time.
Episode 3 – Recipe for Turnabout
This one sucked. I don’t even want to get into the logistics of how Tigre impersonated Phoenix and conducted a sham trial that nobody caught, so I’m just gonna tell it how it is: asinine. I refuse to elaborate or argue on that part. Just plain stupidity. The one thing I enjoyed about this case was the mystery of how there were actually two crime scenes: a fake one, and a real one. There’s still a problem with it, though. Victor Kudo, the extremely creepy old man, testified about how he saw the fake scene, which he didn’t know was fake. It makes sense that he thought Viola was Maggey, because she never turned her back in her waitress outfit. But Tigre was supposedly disguised as the victim too. Despite Kudo being to identify which ear the earpiece was in, he never noticed that the victim was a different person entirely. Elg and Tigre look nothing alike. The motive was nonsensical and I don’t know why Viola ended up on your side afterwards because you had just exposed her for being an accomplice to Tigre’s crime! She even gets her own scene in the end credits…she should be in jail! She literally looks like a malnourished anime creepypasta girl from 2008 YouTube. There was also that creepy scene where Mia seduces Kudo. We once again learn nothing about Godot. Except for the fact that he couldn’t see ketchup on Maggey’s apron. You could consider this foreshadowing, but you could also use it to prove how stupid Godot acts in 3-5 when he’s faced with the exact same dilemma. Jean Armstrong was an annoying caricature as well. Oh and there was that lady who worked at Glen Elg’s software development company and she got like a single minute of overall screen time. I don’t even remember her name. Overall very bad case. Maybe even my least favorite.
Episode 4 – Turnabout Beginnings
We once again take the stage as Mia Fey, on her and Edgeworth’s first ever case. It provides context to how Mia met Dahlia before Phoenix’s case. This is the case of Dahlia and Terry Fawles’ fake kidnapping. It’s odd how intense Terry’s suicide is when it happens right in front of you, but yet it is never referenced as a big deal at any other point. Dahlia seemed to linger on Mia and Edgeworth’s minds more than a literal public suicide. The whole situation with Valerie was hard to grasp. This is the first time we meet Godot as Diego Armando, and once again we are given literal crumbs on what his character is supposed to be. He was a sort of mentor to Mia…and that’s about it. Grossberg was conveniently not included in the picture. Solving the case itself was fun though.
Episode 5 – Bridge to the Turnabout
I have already established my thoughts on spirit channeling in this series. It’s gimmicky and I think it makes me take the series’ plot less seriously. Bombshells of information were dropped on the player in this episode. Dahlia has a twin sister named Iris, both are daughters of Morgan Fey (aka they’re Pearl’s sisters), Elise is actually Misty Fey, Morgan wrote a plan to get rid of Maya and met up with Dahlia in jail, Godot set up an entire counterplan, Phoenix and Godot are missing in action for the entire first day leaving Edgeworth to defend against Franziska…there’s so much to unpack here. I’m gonna try and separate this case into individual segments to see if it’s easier to explain.
A not so Brief Summary
At its core, this is what the Ace Attorney series revolves around. The murder for this case shows Misty Fey impaled by a seven-edged blade, and Bikini witnesses Iris removing the sword from Misty’s body. In actuality, this blade wasn’t the murder weapon, and the murder didn’t occur in the courtyard of the temple, where the body is found. When Maya went across the bridge to undergo training in the inner temple, Bikini left and Dahlia, who was being channeled by Misty, came to murder Maya while pretending to be Iris. When the lightning struck and bridge burned out, Dahlia (in Misty’s body) met Maya in the garden and hit Maya in the head with the staff and knocked her out. As she pulled out the dagger to kill Maya, Godot came from behind and stabbed her with the sword hidden in the staff. Before she went still, she attacked Godot with the dagger and knocked off his visor, and used her blood to write Maya’s name on the lantern. Godot can’t see red on a white background so he shoveled all the nearby snow in hopes to hide the blood but never wiped the lantern. Godot called Iris to meet on the other side of the bridge. He tied Misty’s body (with the staff still impaling her) to a severed bridge cable and swung it across the gap like a pendulum. The cable untied at the perfect time, so Misty’s body made it to the other side 10 feet up in the air. Iris took the body to the courtyard with the snowmobile, and disguised the scene. This is when Bikini sees her and faints. Maya, alone in the inner temple writes a note and summons Mia. Mia responds on the note saying to summon Dahlia and lock herself in the sacred cavern to protect herself. Pearl somehow made it to the other side and was completely alone now that Maya locked herself away and Godot hid in the inner temple. She failed to summon Dahlia because Maya already summoned her. Phoenix fell off the bridge, Iris was arrested, and the first investigation and trial began. Edgeworth stood in for Phoenix as he was in the hospital, and Franziska stood in for Godot because he was missing (hiding in the inner temple). After their roles conclude, Phoenix gets better in time for the second day of investigation. An earthquake occurs, causing Edgeworth to faint while supervising Iris who was solving the trick lock to save Maya from being trapped in the cavern. When Iris and Dahlia (who is now in Maya’s body) are unsupervised due to Edgeworth’s seismophobia, they switch places. It is then Dahlia who testifies the next day in court, claiming that Maya killed Misty. Phoenix exposes her, Mia (in Pearl’s body) delivers some fat insults, and Dahlia leaves Maya’s body with a shriek. Maya then testifies to defend Godot, but Phoenix finds the truth and Godot spills everything.
Mia and Diego grew very close over the time they spent together as prosecutors. They were so close to arresting Dahlia during Mia’s first case and didn’t give up their pursuit of the truth. Iris was planning to assist Dahlia during the fake kidnapping plot (although her role was never specified) but she got scared and didn’t show up. Diego called Dahlia to the courthouse one day to have a talk, and that’s when she poisoned him and gave the bottle to Phoenix as a gift. Dahlia and Iris then switched spots for 8 months. Iris acted as Dahlia, Phoenix’s girlfriend and tried to get the bottle back. Dahlia switched back with Iris on the day she murdered their classmate in an attempt to kill Phoenix and retrieve the bottle. Iris told Phoenix how her feelings for him were real after her trial. Godot, due to the poisoning, fell in a coma for six years. When he woke up, his hair turned white and had to wear a visor. He became a prosecutor in order to defeat and keep tabs on Wright, as he was upset that Wright failed to protect Mia when she was murdered by Redd White. He also spied on Morgan Fey’s visitations with Pearl. He found out about the plan Morgan wrote down and opened it to see for himself. After reading it, he set his own plan into action. Using the resources at the Prosecutor’s Office, he got in touch with Misty Fey, who had been living a life as Elise Deauxnim. He also contacted Iris. He told them about the plan, where Morgan instructs Pearl to channel Dahlia so she can kill Maya. Godot takes his place in the inner temple, hiding in case Maya faces danger. Misty tries to stop Pearl from going to the inner temple, but fails. To stop Pearl from channeling Dahlia, she does it herself. Iris…stays on standby I think. And poor Bikini is never told about this plan.
The Pros
• The premise of a burned bridge separating two different crime scenes makes for a very cool murder mystery
• Bikini is a funny and sweet supporting cast member
• Edgeworth and von Karma are at their best in this chapter. The first day when they conduct the trial was rewarding and showed how much they’ve grown
• In general, the parts where you play as Edgeworth were super neat
• There’s a certain investigation theme for this case in the soundtrack that is absolutely banging
• I found the early sections of the trial to be very fun – figuring out what Iris was doing, the snowmobile tracks, just unraveling such a big mystery was something big to look forward to
The Cons
• You cannot convince me that the “pendulum” mechanism that transported Misty’s body across the gap was not just as unrealistic and ridiculous if not more unrealistic and ridiculous than the pulley system in Turnabout Big Top. I don’t know the height difference between the two sides of the mountain but there is no scenario that I can make up in my head that justifies how this works. The bridge cable (which should be decently thick if it can hold up multiple people walking on it) was somehow tied to Misty’s still-impaled body and swung across the gap. It had to have gained enough force in order to swing back upward on the other side, untie itself at the perfect moment, and have the body land safely after a 10 foot fall. All while the bridge is on fire. As soon as Phoenix set foot on the bridge, however, he fell immediately. But we’re supposed to believe that this burning bridge supports the weight of the body and doesn’t slam her against the side of the mountain before rising upward. Abysmal logic.
• Iris played both sides of this case the entire time. She complied with Godot’s phone call and messed with Misty’s body. But she also switched spots with Dahlia (Maya) in the sacred cavern during the earthquake. The game never explained Iris’ role in the fake kidnapping plot, simply that “she never showed up” and it made Dahlia hate her. There was also that incredibly weird and creepy moment that she confessed her love to Phoenix, saying her feelings were real. And Phoenix reciprocated. Ew. Her motives were never clear.
• Speaking of unclear motives, Morgan. Her plot was for Pearl to kill Maya by channeling Dahlia. But she never seemed to be aware of or explain the consequences of if Pearl was found guilty of Maya’s murder. I suppose Dahlia would have done her best to cover it up, but the plan was so risky considering this was all done to make Pearl the master of the Fey clan. Even if you don’t consider that, I think her motives were weak. Who cares if your daughter is the master of the Fey clan if 1. You don’t care about your children and 2. You’re in jail and may never know and 3. Pearl might have gotten caught?
• Speaking of jail, I am livid that my complaint in JFA about Pearl never talking about or lamenting the arrest of her mother for conspiracy of murder came back as an even bigger plothole here. Did Maya or Phoenix know that Pearl was visiting her mother in jail? Pearl was literally at her mom’s trial…how does she not know what her mother did? And if you justify Pearl’s lack of knowledge that her mother is an evil witch with “oh she’s just a naïve little girl”, then that’s another problem! Where is her character writing?
• The fact that the Prosecutor’s Office could just contact Misty Fey when she was supposedly unable to be found for 17 years…a ridiculous band-aid on a major plot point. It’s not like she was lured out of hiding or anything, no, she was just able to be contacted this whole time.
• The spirit channeling, which I have established that I hate, presents the opportunity for so many plotholes. Maya wrote a note to Mia in the inner temple after she got knocked out and Godot killed Misty. The player never gets to read this note, nor do we know how Maya wrote it or where it was stored. If it was on Maya’s person, then Dahlia would have seen it and if it was in the temple, it would have been found in the investigation/uncovered Godot’s hiding place. Mia responds by telling Maya to channel Dahlia. How the hell does Mia know that’s what she’s supposed to do? She isn’t aware (at least to my knowledge) that Dahlia is her cousin. Maya doesn’t even know that she exists at all for all we know. From Maya’s point of view, it probably just looked like Iris was going to kill her. Did Maya tell Mia that Godot was the one who saved her? Does Mia know that Godot is Diego? Presumably, Mia doesn’t know what’s going on in the real world when her spirit isn’t being channeled. Which means she has no way of knowing about Morgan’s plan.
• In 2-4, there was an immense pressure put on the player to finish the trial, because Maya was starving to death as a hostage. You would think that there would be a similar amount of pressure for Maya and Pearl (and Godot) who were stuck across the bridge, but there wasn’t. I’m not sure it was ever a concern in this game. Not to mention, the ridiculous justification for Godot hiding in the inner temple. Supposedly Pearl wandered everywhere, yet Godot was just hiding in a cabinet. For like two days. Come on…
• Dahlia says to Phoenix at court that she’s always hated him and his nature to believe in other people…girl you only knew him for TWO DAYS. Didn’t you supposedly switch places with Iris? Why wasn’t that in the psyche lock?
• I have much to say about Godot and his motives which I will say soon
I know all of this text on the con side for this case may suggest that I hate it, but it’s more mixed for me. I definitely think this case is still better than Recipe for Turnabout and The Stolen Turnabout.
Ok now let’s talk about every major character and how T&T portrays them
Phoenix: He’s obviously very solid throughout. Except, of course, in 3-1. His portrayal in that case makes him out to be very naïve and clingy. I guess this is meant to show his growth. But it also suggests there’s a huge dissonance between the character portrayed in that case versus every other moment in the game. Whatever, it’s not a big gripe. And seeing his courtroom sprites were actually really charming.
Gumshoe: goated yet again
Edgeworth: He’s only a major presence in 3-5, but it’s a great one. It’s clear that his arc is coming to a close and it turned out very well. He calls Phoenix his friend and partner, and the contrast from 3-4 to 3-5 is a very smart way to portray his character growth, and feels way more natural than the contrast presented with Phoenix in 3-1 versus 3-2/3-3. I’m happy to report that all of the turbulence in his writing can be centralized to Rise From The Ashes.
Maya: She’s still just as likeable as before. I just wish she could stop using Mia as a crutch all the time. Her presence is always pleasant but I wish she would show some more development.
Franziska: I like her a lot more now. And she isn’t even that prevalent…she helps out a bit in 3-5 but that’s it. Even so, you can tell how much she’s mellowed out around you. I still don’t like the whip though. 2-4 showed the beginning of her development, and it’s just a shame most of it occurred off screen. But I really like what she’s become.
Mia: This was her best game by far. She still has a problem of being a crutch for other characters, but Trials and Tribulations finally gave us reasons to get invested in her character. She was a good protagonist in 3-1 and 3-4, and her final roast of Dahlia was super satisfying.
Pearl: It is so funny (and still very true) that I called her a plot device in my JFA review, and now she is not only a plot device to channel Mia when the player is in a bind, but was also a pawn for the entire final act. And she ends up channeling Mia during the final trial. Bye. She was never interesting. I don’t hate her personality or anything, but I have not been given one single reason to care about her at all.
Dahlia: I’m not sure if you would consider her a major character, but she appears in three cases so I’ll talk about her. I think designing villains is difficult no matter what medium you’re writing for, because they typically need some kind of background to justify and motivate their actions (unless you go the Danganronpa route, and make the villain evil for no reason other than to contextualize gameplay). She has a history of manipulating and doing horrible things, not just to Phoenix, but to Terry, Valerie, Diego, that dude she killed in 3-1…all of those instances (save the 3-1 dude) were to cover up the fake kidnapping. She stole an expensive jewel, faked her death and identity, and covered up her tracks by killing more people. Because…her parents neglected her. I’m not saying that her parents’ neglect was a bad reason to stage the fake kidnapping. But this information has been relayed to the player from strictly secondhand sources. It’s not like we saw how Dahlia’s parents treated her firsthand. We met Morgan, but Pearl turned out okay (I know it’s because she’s spiritually gifted but whatever). And we don’t even know who her dad is besides the fact that he’s a jeweler. Getting an audience to sympathize with a villain is difficult, I get that. But I can’t ignore the fact that her main motivations stem from events that we/Mia and Phoenix have never witnessed or understood. This is a problem in other cases as well, but it’s especially bad here as Dahlia is a recurring villain. I wish the flashback cases made more use of these background plot points.
Godot: I guess one could argue that Godot is a villain as well. Maybe he’s better described as a morally ambiguous character? Either way, I don’t think it pans out very well. I would first like to mention that basically all of Godot’s characterization is saved for the final case, in the final trial, on the final day. I had the same problem with Franziska in JFA, but retrospectively her problem wasn’t as bad, because her character was much more self-explanatory. She is the daughter of the man whose prosecuting record you broke and put in prison for murder. Even if you aren’t told her motivations right away, some things speak for themselves. For 3-2 and 3-3, Godot was an absolute blank slate. You literally knew nothing about him, and I am not exaggerating. At least with Franziska, you got the gist from seeing her in court. With Godot, it’s unacceptable imo. I was actually thinking about starting my review early just so I could write down how frustrated I was that the main prosecutor has given me nothing but a cornily smug personality and a dumb nickname when I had completed more than half of the game’s cases already. Then came 3-4. It wasn’t subtle at all. I guess it does a fine job at showing Mia and Godot’s relationship. But you don’t see Godot and Dahlia interact at all. By the time I had finished, I still felt like I barely knew anything about him. Then comes Bridge to the Turnabout. I already complained a little bit about how I thought Godot’s counterplan was stupid. But I omitted a lot about Godot himself. He had SO many chances to stop this plan from happening. He found the paper detailing Morgan’s plan and left it for Pearl to find, he could have subdued Dahlia in Misty’s body rather than killing her (he anticipated this, after all), and he could have admitted everything. I still don’t understand why he was mad at Phoenix of all people…Dahlia I guess I understand though. He admits to all of this when Phoenix finally pins him as the killer, turning his unexplainable actions into self-loathing so people sympathize with him. Yes Godot, you could have stopped this entire thing from happening before it started. No, I don’t feel bad for you. He really just feels pathetic to me. His entire tell-all monologue at the end of the trial did nothing for me. And I don’t understand why Maya defended him. We were being strung along for the entire game going up against a prosecutor that the game refused to tell us anything about, then he just ends up killing Misty as some kind of ego driven fit of rage. I’m glad he dispels the belief that he cared about Maya’s life because it’s clear he didn’t. He stands for nothing and his character was created to be the antithesis to a villain that I already didn’t care much about. His relationship with Mia was not elaborated on or fleshed out. Godot’s involvement in 3-5 wasn’t to make a good murder mystery. After all, his hiding place was horribly explained/justified. His involvement was an attempt to expand a story that should have already been concluded, and makes me not care about him in the slightest.
Final Thoughts
This game was very hyped up and ultimately failed to reach my expectations. Because it was intended to be the true final conclusion of the Ace Attorney series, it acted as a giant band-aid, like I mentioned before. Mia Fey was brought back in a big way in an attempt to expand her character. This was fine. What wasn’t as fine, were the new characters (Dahlia and Godot) who were there to fill space in order to flesh out Mia. Although I like what they did with Mia, I think the effort was ultimately futile. She was created to be a tutorial character, so expanding her to be more than that meant creating multiple new characters and connections that were not ever mentioned or explained in prior entries. Combine that with T&T’s desire to connect JFA’s fragmented cases to the story, namely 2-2 which I already wasn’t a fan of, and you are left with a game with good ideas but ultimately had material that was flawed to work with.
On the bright side, I think this made me appreciate 2-4 even more than I already did. Acknowledging that Justice For All was never meant to end the series is what gave 2-4 such an excellent opportunity to shine. 1-4 and 3-5 had the heavy burden of tying all of the series’ loose ends together. 1-4 obviously succeeds at this more than 3-5 does, because the entire first game was planned out as such. 2-4 had no such expectations. So all it needed to do, was make an interesting, long case with high stakes. And it did. It can be enjoyed in a bubble (similarly to 1-5 but without all of the mischaracterization that came with that case) and doesn’t present a main villain(s) like 1-4 and 3-5 did. 2-4’s critical moments lay within character relationships and an ethical dilemma of a game mechanic flipped on its head. Phoenix has to choose between Maya’s safety + freeing an admitted killer, or losing his win streak and putting the killer to justice + losing Maya. The way this was resolved required cooperation from Edgeworth post-development, and had an incredibly satisfying ending.