Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a game compilation for the Nintendo 3DS consisting of the first three games in the Ace Attorney series (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations). The compilation includes updated graphics, similar to the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD compilation for mobile devices, as well as stereoscopic 3D support and slight adjustments to the script, including typo fixes.
From AA Wikia
This something special I didn’t decided to do to commemorate the full year of blogging I’ve done. When I returned to blogging, after making my Amnesia post, the first series I wrote about was the Ace Attorney one. I spoke from a place of remembrance, since until this time, it’d been 5 years or so since I’d last played them. I tend to replay games, tho with this, it’s the third time I’ve replayed the AA series for DS. I’m also linking to my first posts I did, because I’m not going to be writing about the same things.
Either way, to the first game!
The game takes place in an urban city set in 2016 and later; for the Japanese versions, this city is somewhere in Japan, while the English localization places the games in Los Angeles, California.
The fictional future justice system is such that when a person is accused of a crime, they are immediately given a bench trial presided by a judge, a prosecuting attorney from the state, and a defense attorney that must completely prove the accused innocent of the crime. Trials last 3 days at most, due to the large number of cases that the courts must deal with; if the accused cannot be found innocent after this time, their case is consigned to a higher court. The majority of the work during a trial is on the shoulders of the defense attorney who must cross-examine the witnesses brought forth by the prosecution to find contradictions in testimony to clear their client.
The playable character is Phoenix Wright. He is a rookie lawyer fresh out of law school in the first game, taking a position at Fey & Co. Law Offices run by Mia Fey, a defense attorney that helped to acquit Wright of murder several years prior to the events of the first game. When Mia is murdered, Wright takes over the offices with the assistance of Maya Fey, Mia’s younger sister, and renames the office “Wright & Co. Law Offices”. The Fey family have the ability to channel spirits, which sometimes allows Maya to channel Mia’s spirit for Wright to help in court. Wright develops a rivalry with prosecuting attorney Miles Edgeworth as they oppose each other in court…
From VNDB
The first game, Phoenix Wright, is the training wheels, but it’s also the one that is really important to play. Dl-6 incident, and also what happens in Case 2, later impacts what happens in the third game, Trials and Tribulations. Tbh I’d forgotten how much of an asshole Von Karma is, and also his whole involvement on the case. In Ashes, we get to meet Lana and Ema, and also Marshall who reminds me of Godot a loooot. Which if you know about Godot, means it’s really sad 😿 If you want to read the post I did for it, you can find it here.
The setting for the game takes place roughly one year after the events of the first game.Like the first game, the first trial is a tutorial one that guides the player, Phoenix Wright, into all of the elements of the Ace Attorney courtroom. This is established by having Phoenix receive amnesia due to a head trauma. The remaining three trials are united by the mysterious disappearance of prosecutor Miles Edgeworth.
Justice For All plays similarly to the first Ace Attorney game as a visual novel/adventure game. While the game has been adapted from the GBA version to use the DS touch screen, none of the special investigation techniques introduced in the “Rise from the Ashes” case from the first game reappear.
A small but significant change is that a player can now present the profiles of people involved with the case, in addition to the evidence in the Court Record. The player can present them either during the court room or investigative phases.
Justice for All features a new gameplay concept called Psyche-Lock. Phoenix Wright has to unlock several locks that have been placed over a witness’ heart in order to reveal the truth.
From VNDB
The second game, Justice for All, brings amnesia into the fold and uses it to explain how the game works in a way I dislike for sure. The good things are we get to meet Pearly, Franciszka, and a new system. But, I’m ambivalent towards it, especially when it just makes the game more frustrating to get some witnesses to cough up the truth, especially when some have slow talking or ticks like saying the word “like” between every single word ugh. Plus when trying to break locks you have to break them all in one go, or when you try again you’ll restart from the beginning 🙀 One thing I’d forgotten is how triggered Nick gets whenever Edgey is brought up, rip. It’s not a bad game, but it the most annoying and irritating, but it’ll still grab and make you feel. I teared up in more than one occasion 😭 If you want to read the post I did for it, you can find it here.
This game is the last of the series featuring Phoenix Wright as the main character, and through its course, gives more details on the past of important characters such as Mia Fey and Phoenix Wright, while tying up the loose ends on the storyline set up in the previous games.
The gameplay in Trials and Tribulations remains the same as both previous titles, including the use of Psyche-Locks introduced in Justice for All. A minor change is that the player will take on the role of different people other than Phoenix Wright for certain cases within the game, but this does not alter the game mechanics.
From VDNB
The third game, Trials and Tribulations, is where everything climaxes. I don’t mean that in a lewd way 😹 It brings back all the loose threads from the first two games, and finally puts an end to them. In a way, it’s in an effort for all the characters to be set free of the past that we need this closure. 5 cases that this time around are all connected by one thing, Godot. We learn more about him, and also about Mia, about Maya and Pearl, but more importantly, we finally put the previous villains to rest at long last. May they RIP. While I did get teary eyed with the other games, this is the one where by the end I was crying, tears dripping, as emotions assaulted me. This is the best AA to me, and let me tell you, the training wheels are no longer here. In fact, the fifth case is the hardest you’ll ever try to win. It has 2-3 parts for each day, and it twists, bends and curls, until we finally get to the crux of who was behind it all and Godot’s hatred towards Phoenix is finally explained. If you didn’t cry, you’re stronger than me, I just dissolved into a puddle of feels 😿 If you want to read the post I did for it, you can find it here.
After some 5 years of not playing the AA franchise, this Trilogy rekindled all the love, and memories, for it again. I’m glad I decided to replay the series from the beginning in preparation to playing 5 and 6. But before those, ONWARDS TO THE SECOND (UNOFFICIAL) PART OF THE TRILOGY, STARTING WITH APOLLO WOO 🙌
I hope you enjoyed this little treat that I did to celebrate my one year anniversary of consecutive blogging and also of reaching so many milestones, like 50k words on the blog and REACHING 200 POSTS, woooo! 😀
Have you played any of the Ace Attorney games? Have you heard about it before, and did it peak your interest, or nah? If you’ve played them all, what’s your fave AA game/character? Tell me all, I’m curious!
Among the Deep 