Board 8 > Anagram Aces Ace Attorney: A Phoenix Wright Playthrough Topic (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Paratroopa1 posted...

Basically normal if I recall correctly, he does not do 1337 speak in Japanese, that was a pretty significant example of punching up the dialog. I remember loving it back in 2005 though, it was so unusual for a game to make references to internet culture back then, so it made me really feel like the writers "got" what they were doing. Even at the time his internetisms were outdated, so the joke always kind of made me laugh.

Catching up with this topic, and I am wondering how Sal Manella would be localized in 2020, if they would bother to do anything different for him at all.

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The 1337 speak jokes still work in 2020 but would be more ironically out of date

I have no idea though what they would do with him now. As far as I can remember he's the only AA character who's SEVERELY punched up, trying to remember if there's other examples but I don't think so

Paratroopa1 posted...

The 1337 speak jokes still work in 2020 but would be more ironically out of date

I have no idea though what they would do with him now. As far as I can remember he's the only AA character who's SEVERELY punched up, trying to remember if there's other examples but I don't think so

Oh, 2-3, lol

Probably he would use hashtags and something like 'ok boomer'.

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- Oh my god, the production value of this case is way higher than the ones before. Theres movement in the sprites.
- Two months since the Edgeworth case and no trials, huh?
- A girl named Ema shows up and says her sister is in trouble and needs a lawyer. Im just gonna say this right away: everything about this case feels different from the previous ones. The music especially, but also just how shes designed. Is this supposed to feel more anime-y than the previous cases? Because Maya was already at 100% anime levels, yet Ema somehow exceeds that.
- Youre THE Phoenix Wright from the Edgeworth murder case? Thats a relief then! Youre better than nobody!
- Man, the guard in the detention center hasnt moved an inch in two months. What a professional.
- We meet Lana, the chief prosecutor for the district and soon to be defendant in a murder trial. Phoenix is like This is similar to Mia and Maya lol. But Im just wondering why a lawyer has medals on her jacket. Also, shes like twenty, isnt she? At least when the lawyers are twenty, theyre just lawyers, not responsible for overseeing every case in the district.
- Lanas like dont take the case, but you can take the case I guess.
- Thank god I have another airheaded teenage girl following me around.
- You know what else I just realized, I was feeling like this setup was familiar the whole time, and I just recognized it: Sae and Makoto from Persona 5. Lana even has the same hair and Ema has the same scholastic and police interest.
- Man, even the parking lot feels different from the previous cases. The coloring is off and therere a million things to interact with in the background.
- I love how the wallet is hastily stuffed into pocket instead of added to court record.
- Ahhhh a 3D object
- For reasons I cannot comprehend, the ID card inside of the wallet is blurry so you cant read it, but Phoenix then reads it so you can tell what it says. And another part of the ID card isnt even blurry!
- We meet Extremely Suspicious Woman, also known as Angel Starr, and I love the rice balls in her hat.
- Oh no, two new sprites for Edgeworth, Im out of my comfort zone here.
- That flashback to Edgeworth in the courtroom is GARBAGE. He did NOT have that many frames of animation when pointing his hand.
- Its against my policy to discuss evidence with the defense. I know I said I wouldnt bring up real law in this game, but I cant resist. I mean, thats to say nothing of having the prosecutor be the guy whose car was used in the crime.
- Oh my God, theres a goofy-looking cop with a completely different animation style than the rest of the game, this is really off-putting.
- Is the goal with Ema to create a character dumber than Maya?
- Game, dont use the word comedienne. No one does.
- I like how it takes until I give the wallets ID card to Gumshoe for anyone to tell me the victims name.
- I like how the only explanation for Marshalls cowboy outfit is that hes from West LA. I am in West LA literally right this second and I can tell you the only thing its full of is Asian restaurants and one-story houses. Later Marshall says hes from Texas. Thats okay, though. I knew a kid in high school born in LA who always dressed like a ****ing cowboy and told me that he was moving to Houston the second he turned eighteen. He actually did it, too.
- People keep mentioning two years ago without giving me details, Im sure that nothing important happened then.
- I know the games not REALLY set in LA, but Ive never seen one of those robotic car loading parking lot things in my life outside of a movie.
- I refuse to believe that, even in 2001, the police would have difficulty tracking down the owner of a phone number. Especially since Phoenix reveals a second later that its Emas!
- Prosecutors get the big bucks. Average salary of a prosecutor according to Google: $65179. Big bucks indeed.
- Phoenix, shut up, you could not possibly identify that as a 6-7S. That looks like a 6-75 to me.
- Okay, so apparently Lana stabbed a detective to death shed worked with two years ago after calling him to the underground parking lot when he was supposed to be at the police station with Edgeworths knife and stuffed the body into his trunk at 5:15 on the same day he got the King of Prosecutors trophy that has a broken tip and also she injured her hand while doing it and Edgeworth entered the parking lot at 5:12, and then Lana tried to call her sister at 5:18. Im sure none of these details will be important later.

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Just for a little background on the development of 1-5 -

The first three AA games were for the GBA in 2001, 2002, and 2004, all Japanese releases only. In 2005, they made a DS port of the first AA game, and then added this case as a bonus to the end of it, which made use of fancier visual effects and gameplay mechanics (you'll see) that the DS offered, and this game is the one that we got released worldwide. It was one of the first DS titles, so it was back at in that time when "you can do stuff on the DS's touchscreen!" was the big selling point they were trying to push in every single game they released, so they made it sound like Phoenix Wright would be a game about doing detective mystery stuff on the touchscreen, when in fact there's about five minutes of it in 1-5 and that's it. Come for touchscreen shenanigans, stay for the surprisingly engaging story

Anyway, since 1-5 was created later than the other cases in the first three games, that kind of explains why it has a different feel. It jumps ahead a bit in the development of the series' maturity.

Paratroopa1 posted...

Anyway, since 1-5 was created later than the other cases in the first three games, that kind of explains why it has a different feel. It jumps ahead a bit in the development of the series' maturity.

I could tell right away that it felt completely different from the rest of the cases, but I didn't know the background. I thought PW was available in America earlier than 2005.

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2005 was the first year of the DS

Yeah, 1-5 is definitely a bit of whiplash after the first four cases.

I don't really like Ema as a sidekick to Phoenix though. Like you said, she's just too dumb sometimes. Phoenix and Maya instantly had this chemistry together, but he and Ema just don't.

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Anagram posted...

- Oh my God, theres a goofy-looking cop with a completely different animation style than the rest of the game, this is really off-putting.

Ugh Meekins is the worst

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Paratroopa1 posted...

2005 was the first year of the DS

I meant that I thought the GBA games were available in America. But if the games were all already out before 2005 and the translators knew how things would progress, why change the setting to Los Angeles knowing how Japanese things get later?

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Leonhart4 posted...

Yeah, 1-5 is definitely a bit of whiplash after the first four cases.

I don't really like Ema as a sidekick to Phoenix though. Like you said, she's just too dumb sometimes. Phoenix and Maya instantly had this chemistry together, but he and Ema just don't.

I assume Maya returns first thing in the second game.

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Anagram posted...

I assume Maya returns first thing in the second game.

she has basically no plot relevance in it, actually

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Anagram posted...

I meant that I thought the GBA games were available in America. But if the games were all already out before 2005 and the translators knew how things would progress, why change the setting to Los Angeles knowing how Japanese things get later?

That's a good question, I really don't know

(the "traditional American kotatsu" stuff doesn't really hit full gear until after 2005 though)

NFUN posted...

she has basically no plot relevance in it, actually

lol

I kinda doubt the translators really knew much in detail about what was in the second or third game when translating the first one. Having the team read through these two other games as well just to translate the first one when it's far from a guarantee that anyone outside Japan was even going to care about this weird lawyer adventure game might not have seemed like a good use of professionals' time.

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Yeah, there was no guarantee the game would be successful enough to warrant localizing the other two games.

And yeah, the series doesn't really start getting super Japanese until after the original trilogy. Apollo Justice didn't come out until 2007.

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AxemRedRanger posted...

I kinda doubt the translators really knew much in detail about what was in the second or third game when translating the first one. Having the team read through these two other games as well just to translate the first one when it's far from a guarantee that anyone outside Japan was even going to care about this weird lawyer adventure game might not have seemed like a good use of professionals' time.

Yeah, this was my instinct as well. Although, that said, I wouldn't be surprised if the localizers were at least somewhat in the loop and just decided to go with this anyway, not fully realizing the consequences until later (much of which is thanks to AA5 and AA6, the most outright "japanese" games of the series). This was a bit after the days of the 90's where Ted Woolsey was under such an absurd deadline and given so little help/feedback that he couldn't even research the names of Mario enemies properly. (This isn't a knock against Woolsey, I consider him one the godfather of good game localization)

The one thing I'm pretty sure the localization team did take advantage of the later games on is Redd White.

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Anagram posted...

- As Phoenix goes to call the cops, a woman across the street calls them on her phone. Detective Gumshoe arrives shortly thereafter. He declares that the victim wrote the killers name in her own blood, case closed! Wow, this guy is a pretty bad cop.

If this was Danganronpa he would be the world's best detective.

Well, at least in 1-1.

Also tagged.

Yes I might have the urge to post a bunch of comparisons with DR since I've been doing the reverse in my thread.

Paratroopa1 posted...

Yeah, this was my instinct as well. Although, that said, I wouldn't be surprised if the localizers were at least somewhat in the loop and just decided to go with this anyway, not fully realizing the consequences until later (much of which is thanks to AA5 and AA6, the most outright "japanese" games of the series). This was a bit after the days of the 90's where Ted Woolsey was under such an absurd deadline and given so little help/feedback that he couldn't even research the names of Mario enemies properly. (This isn't a knock against Woolsey, I consider him one the godfather of good game localization)

I especially love it when they have freakin' rakugo.

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Anagram posted...

2. I wanted to laugh at how, if this was really such a huge embarrassment and famous case, Phoenix Wright the lawyer would surely know about it, right?

PW doesn't know much about law in general. But who needs that when you can just interrogate the nearest bird and pray it works

Bump for later

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Anagram posted...

- This game needs to be better at telling you where to go. After ripping off the plank of wood, I went to literally every location before Studio 2 again. Later, with no indication, I was supposed to go into Will Powers dressing room to meet the director. Sal Manella, huh? Not, uh, not your best pun name, game.

Don't worry, 1-3 is as bad as investigation sequences will ever be in this series.

I dunno. I think 1-5 gives it a run for its money at times!

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1-3 got rough in investigation but yeah, 1-5 is by far worse

i also got stuck in investigation in AA2 and AA3 a decent amount, but never afterward, IIRC

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LeonhartFour posted...

Yeah, the time zone thing forced their hand, and at this point, I think it's too much of an inside joke with them and the fanbase to just revert to it being set in Japan.

also I don't think Robert Hammond is actually a pun per se

I think it's just supposed to "sound" like a lawyer name

"Ham" is police slang for "dead body" in Brazil. Unlikely to be that, but...

Anagram posted...

- I attempt to not present the letter from the safe to von Karma, because thats obviously insane and stupid and no one would ever do that, but the game apparently cannot progress unless I do, so he stuns us with a taser. I lose the letter, but gain the murder bullet from DL-6.

It seems to be an AA1 thing where every case must involve losing critical evidence because Phoenix decided to show it to the killer for no reason.

Leonhart4 posted...

I dunno. I think 1-5 gives it a run for its money at times!

I'm biased because I watched the 2nd half of 1-5 instead of playing.

And I did because my laptop mic wasn't working. So... yeah.

Raka_Putra posted...

I especially love it when they have freakin' rakugo.

Fun fact I rewatched Kill la Kill some time after playing AA6 and managed to spot a Rakugo reference that time around.

AA is not the only work that showcases extremely obscure Japanese culture but is certainly the only one I know that dedicates a full arc to it.

- I need to ask, is there some cultural thing I dont get about these boxed lunches Angel Starr constantly hands out? Its definitely being played as a joke, but I just dont get it at all.
- I was going to make a joke about how few spaces there are in the underground parking lot, but then I remembered the automatic car loader thing.
- Is the judge different? He seems less I dont know, professional?
- The yet another boyfriend position is still open for applicants.
- I just realized why this cross-examination feels weird. No one is constantly objecting to my questions for the witness. Edgeworth and von Karma did that all the time.
- Wait a second, the picture Starr took is supposed to ACTUALLY be black-and-white? I just assumed the previous black-and-white pictures had been stylistic things. Not even in 2001 were there black-and-white cameras around.
- Objection.
- I need to prove that the murder wasnt premeditated, so I use Edgeworths parking stub that proves his car (and thus the knife) only got there three minutes before the murder took place. And yet the game says that doesnt contradict anything and penalizes me. I then just guess the correct evidence to use by choosing the knife. Very disappointed in you, game.
- The prosecution could care less. Goddamn you, Edgeworth, and your weak grammatical consistency.
- Im liking this gag of Edgeworth objecting over Phoenixs objections and saying what he was going to say.
- Phoenix thinks Ultimately, we couldnt shake off the most important part of her testimony, and Ema then asks The most important part? Note to self: Ema is a secret telepath.
- Even though we blew a huge hole in Starrs testimony, everything just continues like shes a reliable witness? ****ing Los Angeles.
- Phoenix I mean, she could have seen Lana using the phone behind the partition while climbing over the fence. Its stupid and implausible, but itd be par for the course for this game And she never even explains why she lied about where she was.
- Goddammit, game, theres so much evidence here that blows holes in her testimony that Im apparently not allowed to use.
- We submit the shoe for evidence despite not actually being 100% sure the blood on it is Lana Skyes, man, these are the most incompetent people ever.
- I dont know why its not there, Im just good at finding contradictions.
- I do enjoy Phoenix always acting like he has decisive evidence and his thoughts being like oh godddd.
- You know, I just realized, how was Lana able to access Edgeworths trunk anyway?
- Woah, did that muffler joke exist in Japanese? I have to assume it didnt.
- I selected the piece of cloth in the muffler in the photo, but I realize I should have selected the shoe, since thats clearly the opposite shoe. I thought it might be, but I didnt want to lose health choosing the wrong thing.
- When the trial resumes, the Chief of Police Damon Gant arrives. He acts super casual and nice. 100% chance he did it. Calling it now, whatever the crime actually is, he did it.
- He gives us the muffler that was stuffed in the muffler and a broken switchblade. He then says the switchblade is special, but he cant say how unless its linked to this case But the evidence says it was wrapped in Lanas muffler? I have no idea whats going on here.
- He also tells us that there was a murder at the police department at the exact same time Goodman died, and everyone is like whaaat?

Stopping for the moment.

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Angel is so pretty. <3
The boxed lunches are just her gimmick, not necessarily a joke.
Also the judge becomes more of a comedic character as the series go on so that's why he seems more...lax in 1-5.

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Eh, even compared to the rest of the series, in 1-5 the Judge feels "off" to me.

Also, Lana presumably just broke the trunk open.

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Damon Gant is amazing.

Seriously, am I alone in thinking theres a ton of evidence that would discredit Angel Starr that you cant use?

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Angel's testimony is a hot mess, yes. I feel like that entire cross-examination ends up feeling like a giant waste of time. I'm not a fan of it, other than eventually getting Angel to produce the squid wheels lunch box.

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Anagram posted...

Seriously, am I alone in thinking theres a ton of evidence that would discredit Angel Starr that you cant use?

a truly bad cross examination

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Are these the same boxed lunches Nanako was so excited about in P4?

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Anagram posted...

Are these the same boxed lunches Nanako was so excited about in P4?

Well, those were homemade, but basically, yeah.

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- Damon: There was a suspect. Just arrested him, in fact! Phoenix: That was quick. Based on this world, that was in fact very slow.
- Look, I mean, guys This is like the second time in one game youve been shocked at something being upside-down. Maybe you should just make a new rule that says to turn all evidence upside-down when you get it.
- Gant tells us the knife is from a long-since solved case stolen from the evidence room. Okay, its obviously from that case from two years ago Goodman and Lana were on. Im guessing Goodman took it to investigate it because he didnt like the result of the case.
- Judge: Try to understand, Wrighto.
- Game Youre not allowed to have me press Gants statement so he says the guy was murdered in the evidence room, then link the knife to the case with a brand new Gant piece of testimony that looks like youre supposed to press or present evidence, then expect me to press the first statement again when theres no indication to do so. Im banning you from doing that again, you hear? That was the first time I had to look up a walkthrough. I didnt even do that for 1-3!
- Phoenix asks for the victims ID number, and Gant actually gives it because we keep a tight lid on ID numbers. This time Im not laughing at legal misrepresentation in the game, I swear, the law aspect and the law enforcement aspect of criminality are separate, so Im laughing at the police misrepresentation aspect.
- I really like how the camera lingers on Gant smiling every so often, where you can just tell hes seething. When he finally gets slightly annoyed at Edgeworth and has the sprite of adjusting his tie, its great. He reminds me of the mayor from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, whos always super affable even as hes turning into a demon or whatever. I liked this personality to the point where I wasnt happy with him calling Edgeworth un-Worthy, but ah well.
- Normally, you submit a list of evidence to be used before the trial If these games have taught me anything, its that judges are okay with lawyers throwing new evidence into the case at any point, especially by surprise.
- We prove that Goodman was killed in two different locations at exactly the same time, which is apparently what Gant wanted all along. Im bringing this up because the game kind of presents Edgeworths side here as if hes in the wrong, but I mean the way that evidence is presented by the idiot cop implies Edgeworth isnt.
- I mean, I accept that this forces a delay in the trial, thats fine But is no one going to ask Gant about how the body traveled thirty minutes in three minutes?

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Gant is great, but yeah, trying to navigate your way through his testimony is kinda annoying. 1-5 has a lot of unintuitive moments like that.

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I love Gant

And yeah, 1-5 is the hardest case in the series and mostly because of random dumb stuff like that.

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- After the case, we go to the parking lot with Luminol testing fluid to test for blood after it was washed away. Phoenix is like Wouldnt the police have already tried that, and buddy, I wouldnt trust the police in these games to pull up their own pants correctly.
- We find that theres not enough blood. OooooOOoo?
- Angel Starr is like lol I was on the SL-9 Incident and got fired, also Goodman was the head detective on the case and that knife was the murder weapon and it was going to be transferred the day he was killed. I am again forced to use a walkthrough to divine through the Nintendo gods that Im supposed to present her with Goodmans ID after showing her the knife and Phoenix asking if she can tell us more about the incident.
- Eventually she tells us about the SL-9 Incident and how the prosecutors were dicks and executed a dude without decisive evidence, then demoted or fired all of the detectives involved, including wannabe cowboy.
- Actually, if Gant wanted us to connect the cases, how did he even know Phoenix had Goodmans ID?
- We learn that the perpetrator in the police station is Officer Meekins. Okay. Did we really need a flashback to Edgeworth meeting him when we already had a flashback to Edgeworth meeting him in the trial? I swear, this game misuses flashbacks like nothing else.
- After talking with Meekins, I want him to be executed just so Ill never have to deal with him again.
- Each evidence locker is designed so only one detective can open it. Yeah, that makes complete sense.
- And now Edgeworth is connected to SL-9. SL-9 is the new DL-6.
- Didnt expect the hotel bellboy to come up again.
- I love how Edgeworth complains that the police are in charge of investigation.
- I couldnt get the fingerprint minigame to work, so heres what I eventually resorted to: https://i.imgur.com/IN6S9q7.png
- Fun fact: while trying to find fingerprints on the locker, I thought Id be clever and tilt my screen so the colors would stand out more. All that did was reveal actual fingerprints on my own screen.
- The day ends with us discovering Marshalls fingerprints on a bloodstain that was wiped away. Dun dun dun!

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- I like how everyone basically just admits that they have no idea whats going on with this case.
- Someone sent a VHS cassette to Meekins jail cell? Hmmmmm. Im uncertain of whether or not to joke about this. VHS cassettes in 2001 werent uncommon, but by 2005 they were. Im going to err on the side of caution and joke about it.
- The most shocking thing in the entire game is that someone animated human figures moving in this security footage.
- I like how the game treats Edgeworth telling Phoenix to point out the contradiction in the video tape as some kind of legal maneuver rather than just what literally anyone would do.
- Did did that glove fall out of the locker the first time I watched the video? Because I could swear it didnt and it was added the second time.
- I like how only now the game pretends that a trial has only the purpose of determining the murder of a single person, when every single trial up to this point has involved multiple seemingly unrelated pieces of nonsense.
- Phoenix: (Time to call a certain Texas ranger to the stand!) Ema: Mr. Wright, do you mean Stop reading my thoughts, Ema!
- I like how the game offers me the chance to call every character to the stand except Phoenix, Edgeworth, and the judge, yet all of them are obviously stupid options except Marshall. I thought it would be funny to ask for various wrong options to see Edgeworths responses, but the judge is just like shut up and thats it.
- For a smart person, Ema sure is surprised that the SL-9 Incident that she knows happened two years ago and involved her sister is the same case that happened two years ago and involved her sister.
- I like how Edgeworth questions the witness Phoenix called just so I can do the cross-examining for game mechanic purposes.
- What was Marshalls dialogue like in Japanese?
- Do you mean to tell us that you abandoned your police duties to eat some noodles?! Not all desperados eat tacos, pardner.
- Marshall: The murderer touched the place with my fingerprint while wearing gloves Judge: That sounds reasonable Shut up, judge.
- So detective, what do you have to say in eight words or less? That was actually satisfying.
- I understand now why someone bothered to animate this entire sequence, they planned to use it five times in one day.
- This game gave up the right a looooong time ago to talk about reasonable doubt. The courts in this system only accept 100% proven, dont give me that crap.
- We eventually prove that Goodman entered the locker room with someone whose ID is 7777777, and Edgeworth is like lol you cant investigate people ranked captain or higher. How do you even know from the ID number what the rank is? And in any case, doesnt that by itself narrow things down a lot, and thats giving them the benefit of not knowing that Gant is the only cop of that rank who has a sprite. Then the entire trial system breaks down and a witness starts interrogating a defendant and the judge just allows it.

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Anagram posted...

- The most shocking thing in the entire game is that someone animated human figures moving in this security footage.

This is one of those "2001 vs 2005" things I was referring to. You're playing a DS game now, whereas you were previously playing a GBA game

Anagram posted...

- Did did that glove fall out of the locker the first time I watched the video? Because I could swear it didnt and it was added the second time.

It did. They didn't pull something cheap on you like editing the footage, I promise.

The security video is probably my favorite part of 1-5, maybe one of my favorite parts of the whole series. It's just a really satisfying piece of evidence to look over.

Paratroopa1 posted...

It did. They didn't pull something cheap on you like editing the footage, I promise.

The security video is probably my favorite part of 1-5, maybe one of my favorite parts of the whole series. It's just a really satisfying piece of evidence to look over.

It certainly felt a lot different from the rest of the game.

Paratroopa1 posted...

This is one of those "2001 vs 2005" things I was referring to. You're playing a DS game now, whereas you were previously playing a GBA game

Yeah, I know, but I was still amazed. I know later games still use the same basic sprite stuff, dont they?

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What is that wriggling piece of plywood?

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Anagram posted...

Yeah, I know, but I was still amazed. I know later games still use the same basic sprite stuff, dont they?

For the most part every game has the same basic sprite style but I think every game that chronologically came after 1-5 has some kind of heavy quote-unquote "fancy" visual effect in it