Phoenix Wright 2: Justice For All (Switch)

Justice for one, justice for all
You get what you give when you've broken the law
Know what it costs before you commit
Don't start a fight, I won't let you win it

 The sequel. Begins with Phoenix getting hit in the head and having amnesia forcing him to relearn everything how it works against the starter prosecutor. Interesting enough it has a very peculiar cutscene in a dream sequence when Phoenix stands on a cliff and the judge strike him down while that horror music from Bach is playing. The rest is protecting this innocent police aspirant from the murder charge against her boyfriend. The real criminal was some paranoid scammer... which doesn't tie in to the rest of the game and is actually set between case 2 and 3. Mostly it's probably to keep Maya out of the way for reveal in the end. Which is nice since it's so fun to see them together again. 

Case 2 is their meeting each other again when a client of Phoenix requested a spiritual seance with Maya to get a dead nurse to admit to being responsible for 14 deaths at his hospital. Also have a nice cutscene with a car speeding though on the highway and crashing and exploding in flames with one survivor. This chapter is more learning about the Kurain spiritual technique that Maya uses to summon Mia. And introduce Pearl, Maya's cousin and probably the stronger medium since she actually is from the main branch of the family, but due to her mother's lack of spiritual power it was passed to Mia and Maya's mother who's been missing since the DL-6 incident from the first game. It sets up Morgan Fey as an arch-villain for this and the next game. It also gives us the psych-locks which is a mini cross-examination to learn secrets from people to get evidence or such to help in the trail. New prosecutor for the series is  Franziska von Karma that whips everyone.

Playing with hearts, is a dangerous game
So don't play with mine, I'll put you to shame
It's an eye for an eye, you're in a blind rage
And I'm standing my ground, no I'm not afraid

Case 3... pretty much seen as the worst case of the original trilogy. You have to defend a stage magician from a murder in the circus. Where you have an unfunny clown, an obnoxious ventriloquist and one episode in the trial where you can't press the witness (the clown) since he does a joke and you get penalised for it. Also, is it just me or is everyone fawning over the animal tamer a bit... gross? I mean, first off, she's 16 and the suitors range from 21 to 30... and to top it off, she appears a bit... mentally challenged? I didn't have that much trouble the first time playing and it's one of the more sadder episodes when it comes to why the murder happened. 

Then comes case 4, I would argue the best case so far. First off, it's the most callbacks to the first game, you're at the hotel where April May was observing the murder of Mia Fey. Powell, Oldbag and Lotta shows up and Edgeworth reappears with the greatest theme music in the series (for real this time). They use it like 4 times and every time it just pumps the mood. You have an assassin that kidnaps Maya to force Phoenix to defend the superstar actor so you have stakes in this. Franziska gets shot, Gumshoe gets fired and crashes his car racing to the courthouse with crucial evidence and Edgeworth returns to the prosector stand after spending a year away... I assume looking into the assassin's overall activities. This case, not a single bad thing about it. This is the high point of the game and I think my original statement included the whole trilogy. 

Sadly no extra 5th case in this version. But you got to search for electronic bugs in the final chapter which together with the blood and fingerprint in the last chapter from the first game would work for a detective series. I don't recall investigations worked like that, but that would have been fun. They introduced the ability to show people as well making it a more intuitive way to ask people about different people. Still the same thing with evidence that they aren't able to investigate them. Overall, the final case makes it wonderful, the second case you need to get the payoff in the next game, same thing with the first case since it affects another case in the third game. If you could I would maybe skip the 3rd case, but it has a point for a chapter in the newer games (I think it may have been one of the extra cases and not a main one, but it was so long ago I can't remember, probably with the murdering whale). 

A DnD Tale: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft - Return to the house on haunted hill

 

What is a man?

Well, adding another player to the main campaign stopped that thread. I can't say that I'm surprised when that sister is a bit away compared to the others... and have family of her own. But what should we who want to play a bit more frequently? Well, I got a stack of books that doesn't add into the main campaign idea so why not try something else in the meanwhile? So we started the introduction adventure of the Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, House of Lament. 

It's basically Death house from Curse of Strahd, but with enough difference to make it interesting. It has an ouija board for example and seances. One month after defeating Strahd Immeral and Hope gets a letter with directions and the hint of treasures. They set out once again got lost in the mists. They approach a crossroad where they see the figure of a man, but as they approach it turns toward them with its yellow eyes and flies away with its black wings. Two black feather remains and a planchette. A light brakes through the mist and leads them to a hill where a three-stored mansions stand with a tower. As they approach a door opens and they are greeted by van Richten who is yet again on an investigation. He invites them in and they set up shop in the parlor where there is an ouija board. Immeral and Hope walks around the bottom floor seeing visions of ghosts, Immeral nearly strangled by the vines in the conservatory, both getting an ear-bleeding scream in the ballroom and finding a muffin in an oven and having 15 minutes discussion if it was safe to eat or they would get poisoned. They get up to the second floor, but van Richten calls them down to start the seance.

They sit near the board and summons the spirit of Theodora, the last lady of the house and that was killed by the "hungry ones" (which I stole from a dialog bit later in the adventure), she told them to look for the witch stone and then she disappeared. As midnight have gone past van Richten began locking the doors, tying them with a rope and writing holy symbols on them to ward evil spirits before going to bed near the fire place. The others followed suit. In the night Hope gets a dream about a knight in a skull helmet trap someone in the wall, then she wakes up and she is trapped what appears to be a coffin. She is not strong enough to break out and screams for help. Meanwhile van Richten awakens Immeral and asks where Hope is. She is gone leaving no trace. Van Richten performs an augery and concludes that she is somewhere below earth. Immeral remembers the door to the basement they found in the kitchen. They go down and find her banging from within a wine casket that they break down. At the same time they hear the sound of meows from the back of the wine cellar. Van Richten uses the spell light too illuminate it and they see several grishkens, cat-like monster. They return up and end the session.

Fun beginning, not much prep time since we agreed on it the day before so I hadn't the greatest idea on how to make it all jell, but it worked out. We also put some restrictions like, no exp since we couldn't level up due to this being set in between the campaigns and my other sister wanting to play. They are still level 8 so they are way and beyond leveled for this campaign, but they are alone so no problem there. This will probably be something like 2-3 more sessions before being finished and will probably be enough. 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Switch)

 

Breaking the law! Breaking the law!

So I had to replay the Ace Attorney trilogy after playing the latest games in the series, and of course you start from the beginning. Which I apparently did in 2020 by playing the intro chapter and nothing more. Finished it in a couple of days and what a nice nostalgia ride it was. Last time was back in 2015... or maybe 2014, but I think I at the time still were rather close to play and release compared to now when I got something like 10 months of post already in the cue.

So, as I wrote back in 2015, the story of Phoenix Wright trying to help Miles Edgeworth leave the darkness that hangs above him, rumours of false evidence and so on. And now I watched a couple of Columbo episodes I can quite see a possible inspiration from that series. I mean, someone mentioned that Columbo was about an apparent bumbling police detective taking on the high and mighty who believed themselves to be untouchable by the law, and that premise is very much here. The defendant is someone everyone already dooms and it can't be that rich, famous or powerful person. So much so that I wonder if Gumshoe is actually an homage with the coat. The first chapter just establishing Phoenix, Mia Fey and Larry Butz in order to show off the gameplay. Second chapter is the death of Mia and the accusation against Maya Fey, Mia's sister. Third is the Steel Samurai episode that made me cheat my way through the whole game on the 3DS, which I didn't do this time (maybe due to having a save function that allows for easy retry, still got caught on some pixel hunting episodes). Fourth and final original chapter on the original GBA game is the trail of Miles Edgeworth. And I got a say, it feels rather short so I get adding another chapter for the DS version, but the ending feels right here. It's a bit like Ni No Kuni where there is a natural end, and then a tacked on chapter after for the upgrade to better console (in that case from DS to PS3). 

I'm not the only one seeing that right? He even have a dog!

Fifth chapter on the other hand is great. We have actual investigating to do. Ema Skye brings both finger prints and blood stains hunt, and to be honest I was listening to a couple of Gabriel Knight 3 playthroughs and I had some great cravings for that kinda gameplay. Of course Ace Attorney don't give the whole experience since it amounts to... what, 3 finger prints and 6 blood stains? They of course changed how it worked a bit since the 3DS had a touch screen as well as a microphone to blow away the dust, all changed to buttons now... thank god. Don't recall how often I had problems with the microphone not working correctly with the earphones plugged in. We can also investigate items in 3D which made it a lot more fun since otherwise the only thing you could do was press statements to change the meaning of evidence. The chapter also deals with corruption in the very top of the criminal law enforcement.

Bad things with it... I now get why I get the newer games to be a bit boring, they are so slow compared to this game. The statements fly by and it's easy to rush through if you press again and again. It doesn't work like that in the newer games, which is obviously blamed on the shift to 3d characters who has to show every quirk. I mean, Enoch in the Great Attorney 2 used what, like 15 seconds on every statement showing him doing the robot. You get the same problem here since they made a video tape I believe is made with 3d characters that move so slow and you can't fast forward enough. Other than that, it was a great game. The graphics are nice and the music top notch. Everything from the awaiting the trail to the piecing together to evidence to... wait, there's no Edgeworth theme here? Did they introduce it in the next game with Franziska von Karma's theme first? Well, that make me looks bad in the last post.

The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve (Switch)

 

Wen er anfällt,
Dieser Hund von Baskerville, oh yeah,
Hat verloren
In dem Kampf um Baskerville, oh, yeah

So continued with the second game, not that hard when both are in the same application. Starts of back in Japan with Susato disguising herself as a boy in order to defend her friend who are accused of the murder of... the girl that murdered Dr Watson? All right! Turns out she was killed by a journalist who was a bit miffed that she was able to escape justice. Ok, it also tells us that the reason Susato was called back was a ruse by her father since he hadn't fallen ill, but apparently a report from the author guy was the cause for some reason. With that we get the retelling of the story that followed the not murder on Baily Street. That have to been cut from the first game since the colourful person appeared again and the not-murder victim turned in again. She still didn't die, although nearly took her own life. It ends with the loot from a burglar being found containing a jewel studded dog collar.

And the third one we have a mad scientist trying to create a teleporter, but the the financier is murdered. Turns out that the scientist is also an old classmate with lord van Ziek. There's bombs, a dead man arising from the grave, a tale of the Professor, the worst mass murderer in London, wax dolls and madam Tussauds and a man seeming to be half clockwork machine. And this is only the third chapter, it ends with Kuzuma returning from the dead and revealing that the Professor is actually Kazumas father. Gave me a bit of Professor Layton flashbacks with the exploding machine.

4th chapter and it's the death of inspector Gregson... wow, a prominent character in the games is killed and Barok van Ziek is the defendant? And this isn't even the last chapter? What will they do to top this? What we have is an international conspiracy with assassins, a cover up of a prison escape, falsified evidence in a ten year old case, the reaper of Baily exposed and so much more... and then the chapter ends midway and continues in chapter 5. Well that explains it. Too big for one chapter. What don't we learn here? Watson wasn't Iris father, but Klint van Zieks, the brother of Barok. Watson wasn't even Watson, but Susato's father was Holmes assistant. Klint was also responsible for the Professor, but coerced by Lord Chief Justice Stronghart, and the murderer of both Kazuma's father and inspector Gregson was the Japanese judge. The ending was a bit contrived though since it basically ends with Holmes, using a hologram to persuade Queen Victoria of Britain to sack Stronghart when he has the whole judiciary eating from his palm. The clearest form of Deus Ex Machina I've seen.

Together these two games are great, how they constantly spin back to the case of the professor, leaving more details as everything goes on, and letting it feel like Sherlock is pulling the strings behind the scenes to solve this 10 year old mystery. Individually... maybe the second one is better since it contains the heavy hitter cases that have the pay-off, but you need the establishing game. Also, strange that they did away with the jury in the last two chapters when it was a prominent feature for the game. Also, the music is a bit lacking. Not bad and I liked it, but there's something missing. In the other games one of the best tracks is the Edgeworth theme whenever it shows up (that become the theme for van Karma in the second game as well) and in the latest games the music with the thought thread was great in pumping you up, missed that kinda sequence here, maybe because the game was a lot easier so they didn't need to try getting people on the same page (meaning it was probably better telegraphed what to do). I frankly had only 2 problems and both was related to missing an item to investigate since it was obscured by things around it that also could be investigated.

Overall I liked them. The package also had some "Escapades" that are short stories taking place around the first game. Funny little moments like the discussion on different taxes... I'm a political scientist, of course I found the discussion of the absurd taxes to be interesting. Strangely non for the second game. Also, the game sets up the possibility for a 3rd game in the series with Sherlock and friends traveling to Japan it feels, but there is non after that and it originally came out in 2017, might we get a new game soon? It haven't even been a mainline Ace Attorney game either, or yet another Ace Investigation game.

The Great Ace Attorney 1: Adventures (Switch)

 

Nebel zieht in dichten Schwaden
übers Moor von Forrest Hill,
Grün-gespenstig grinst ein Irrlicht,
Es ist Nacht in Baskerville.

Well, another murder mystery visual novel played and what better than Ace Attorney, set sometime around the beginning of the 20th century as the young... well, Naruhodo. Bit more problematic to remember for me than Phoenix. First case is Naruhodo representing himself in court for acusation of killing a foreign professor in medicine, a John H. Wilson... it's supposed to be Watson, but due to draconic copyright protectors in the Doyle estate they decided to change it to get it released at all since I think I actually hear the real name of Sherlock Holmes in the trailers for the japanese original releases. Yes, Sherlock Holmes have a prominent presence in the game. Back to the trial, Naruhodo have only his friend the law student Asogi beside him (who feels a bit like Simon Blackquil from the last games), but after interference from another professor Naruhodo have to defend himself so that a failure to protect Naruhodo would lead to Asogi to not cancel the planned trip to Great Britain for an exchange student program between the empires of Great Britain and Japan. 

It turns out that Watson was poisoned by some new poison from South America that paralysed him by a student from Great Britain, but she had some diplomatic immunity that forced the Japanese to give her to the British consul in Shanghai. But Naruhodo is proclaimed free. So Asogi invites him as a stowaway on the trip to England, which starts with the death of Asogi and Naruhodo is once again blamed for the crime, until the detective Herlock Sholmes.... I'm gonna say Sherlock Holmes onward, even though the running gag of the german Herr Lock Sholmes is kinda funny and his judicial assistant Susato. So Naruhodo takes Asogi's place and the first trial they have to endure in London is protecting this rich Irishmen that been charged with murder and to top it all off is being prosecuted by the Repear of the Baily, the Lord of Darkness, Barok van Zieks.

Wer verbreitet Angst und Schrecken,
Wer vernichtet was er will,
Jeder sucht sich zu verstecken
Vor dem Hund von Baskerville.

Every defendant that faces the Grim Reaper ends up dead, even if they are cleared of all charges. Which is silly superstitious. Well, you get your client McGuilder off the hooks after some evidence have been made light... which of course is strange since it's a bit convenient, especially when the witness Gina Lestrade shows up with her pickpocket skills. Well, case closed and everyones happy. 10 minutes later the scene of the crime (an omnibus) is set a flame with McGuilder inside, too late to save. Damn.

Another case is clearing another japanese fellow who is apparently one of the most famous Japanese writer to have ever lived that lived in England for three years before returning home to Japan somewhere around 1907 or so, which gets strange since the game clearly puts him to be there only a year. Here Sherlock comes back and you are introduced to his assistant Iris Watson that writes the stories that are published in the magazines. Iris being the daughter of John Watson, the same Watson killed in the first case? Well, the author is cleared of charges after it turns out it was a domestic dispute that got out of hand and a knife accidentally fell into the back of an innocent victim. Which turns out to be the first victim to survive an Ace Attorney case I believe. 

The last case concerns defending Gina after being accused of killing a pawnbroker. Turns out it's a tale of governmental secrets, cold blooded revenge when it turns out the reason is that a perpetrator wanted a couple of discs for a music box encoded with logs of secret information in morse code. Information the perpetrator was supposed to sell to McGuilder through his father, but McGuilder killed him which was the first case and then faced revenge by being burned. After the trail Susato leaves back to Japan since her father have fallen ill, the same professor that interfered in the beginning of the game. Meanwhile they solve the morse code and the names Asogi and Watson turns up and here the game ends.

It was a fun game. They changed it up a bit with trying to solve Sherlock's flawed leaps of logic to make less courtroom cases. They also references a lot of Holmes adventure so I checked them up in a compilation of the greatest Holmes Adventure I have in my book shelf. The Speckled Band being the most fun since they poke fun of inconsistencies of the story, such as that the snake listened to whistling and was trained with milk or was incapable of climbing the wall. One problem though, as is it's clearly not a complete game. The murderer in the first game gets away, the message at the end of the last case is unsolved. A character appears in episode 3, but isn't referenced again (if I didn't miss something). Loved van Ziek, but his enigma in being gone for 5 years and suddenly appearing and taking these paltry cases Naruhodo is involved makes no sense. 

There's a sequel and luckily it's on the game. One problem though it's a bit often the game case is a locked room mystery and I find it a bit repeating. The several witnesses are fun and was used in the Layton and Phoenix crossover game earlier, which I played 7 years ago. Must be easier since I didn't look up any hints (or maybe save scumming helped with that). Also, the jury feels like a counter argument from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney where we needed to use a jury to convict the main bad guy, but here the jury is more of an hindrance since they interrupt all the time and is swayed by every little bit of change in the story. Interesting how the story also shows racism, arrogance of the great powers and how they bend the will of weaker nations around them.