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Phoenix Wright, take two
Having replaced my DS and my games, I'm working on a replay of Phoenix Wright. I'm midway through Turnabout Samurai now, and there are a few things I've found kind of interesting.
- My god, it is a LOT of fun to fuck around and choose wrong dialogue options - you can practically give Mia an aneurysm in the first case, the poor woman. XD And sometimes, the "wrong" dialogue options are actually more interesting! Telling Maya you won't help her, for instance, leads to rather a cute scene. XD
- It's nearly impossible to feel bad about Mia's death on replay. Nothing against Mia, I loev Mia, but knowing she is the hang-aroundiest ghost EVER and will continue to Obi-Wan you through the series, it's just hard to get too worked up about her dying.
- By contrast, you can still feel heartbreakingly bad for Maya. Oh, Maya, come here for hugs.
- It is fascinating, after you've gotten used to the noble and near-heroic Edgeworth of the later cases, to go back to Turnabout Sisters and face Asshole Edgeworth again. You know he's a highly principled individual and an idealist at heart, and you can SEE that underlying his actions in court; but you can also see how dangerously far he's drifted from that core philosophy. He has to be lying to himself, it's the only way I can imagine Edgeworth being able to live with himself while also being someone who instructs witnesses to omit vital information and/or lie on the stand, and was entirely willing to get an old friend condemned to death.
It's just really interesting to see all this. You don't really appreciate, on your first play, what it MEANS that Edgeworth is this horrible, ruthless prosecutor. It's just absolutely fascinating to see his early actions again, and understand them in the greater context of his character arc.
- Of course, this comes at the expense of some of his intimidation; he's just not as scary of an opponent when you know how to get through the trial and you know what kind of person Edgeworth becomes. But hey.
- It is still hilarious that you can have Phoenix think Grossberg and White are lovers.
- I still want to kill April May.
- I still want a Maya of my very own. She's so cute!
- On replay, I am... really bothered by the fact that Mia shows up to explain the receipt to Phoenix. On my first play, I think I felt a little bit ehhh about it, but that reaction was balanced by my being just so happy to see Mia again. But, a lot of the emotional reaction to Mia is gone by replay, so all that's left is ehhh. I would have liked it much better if Phoenix, despairing and desperate, had ransacked the Court Record in a last-ditch effort to find SOMETHING he could prove his innocence with, turned over the receipt, and... But no, Mia has to Obi-Wan all over it and deny Phoenix his chance to save himself with his AWESOMENESS. Again, I do really like Mia, but that made me groan.
Also, Mia? PUT YOUR DAMN BOOBS AWAY. I didn't really need to know that Maya doesn't wear a bra, thanks.
- I did still squeeeeeee at the family shot at the end, though. YAY FOR THE FEY-WRIGHT CLAN.
- Gumshoe is so cute even in these early cases where he's still settling into his character. I nearly died when Maya criticized his detective work and he RADIATED KICKED PUPPY.
- Will is so cute too. What is it with these series and the huge, scruffy men being ADORABLE SQUISHIES?
- My god, it is a LOT of fun to fuck around and choose wrong dialogue options - you can practically give Mia an aneurysm in the first case, the poor woman. XD And sometimes, the "wrong" dialogue options are actually more interesting! Telling Maya you won't help her, for instance, leads to rather a cute scene. XD
- It's nearly impossible to feel bad about Mia's death on replay. Nothing against Mia, I loev Mia, but knowing she is the hang-aroundiest ghost EVER and will continue to Obi-Wan you through the series, it's just hard to get too worked up about her dying.
- By contrast, you can still feel heartbreakingly bad for Maya. Oh, Maya, come here for hugs.
- It is fascinating, after you've gotten used to the noble and near-heroic Edgeworth of the later cases, to go back to Turnabout Sisters and face Asshole Edgeworth again. You know he's a highly principled individual and an idealist at heart, and you can SEE that underlying his actions in court; but you can also see how dangerously far he's drifted from that core philosophy. He has to be lying to himself, it's the only way I can imagine Edgeworth being able to live with himself while also being someone who instructs witnesses to omit vital information and/or lie on the stand, and was entirely willing to get an old friend condemned to death.
It's just really interesting to see all this. You don't really appreciate, on your first play, what it MEANS that Edgeworth is this horrible, ruthless prosecutor. It's just absolutely fascinating to see his early actions again, and understand them in the greater context of his character arc.
- Of course, this comes at the expense of some of his intimidation; he's just not as scary of an opponent when you know how to get through the trial and you know what kind of person Edgeworth becomes. But hey.
- It is still hilarious that you can have Phoenix think Grossberg and White are lovers.
- I still want to kill April May.
- I still want a Maya of my very own. She's so cute!
- On replay, I am... really bothered by the fact that Mia shows up to explain the receipt to Phoenix. On my first play, I think I felt a little bit ehhh about it, but that reaction was balanced by my being just so happy to see Mia again. But, a lot of the emotional reaction to Mia is gone by replay, so all that's left is ehhh. I would have liked it much better if Phoenix, despairing and desperate, had ransacked the Court Record in a last-ditch effort to find SOMETHING he could prove his innocence with, turned over the receipt, and... But no, Mia has to Obi-Wan all over it and deny Phoenix his chance to save himself with his AWESOMENESS. Again, I do really like Mia, but that made me groan.
Also, Mia? PUT YOUR DAMN BOOBS AWAY. I didn't really need to know that Maya doesn't wear a bra, thanks.
- I did still squeeeeeee at the family shot at the end, though. YAY FOR THE FEY-WRIGHT CLAN.
- Gumshoe is so cute even in these early cases where he's still settling into his character. I nearly died when Maya criticized his detective work and he RADIATED KICKED PUPPY.
- Will is so cute too. What is it with these series and the huge, scruffy men being ADORABLE SQUISHIES?
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... and also find him very hilarious but you know.
(Need more PW icons, dammit. ... is that one gankable?)
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And then of course the last case was riveting and also confusing. I spent most of it going, "...Edgeworth is throwing his case. He HAS to be throwing his case. WHY IS HE THROWING HIS CASE?" But it was fascinating to watch. I suspect that what bewilders Edgeworth the most is that Phoenix can read him like a book, and is furthermore totally oblivious to this fact and spends most of his time panicking like mad.
After that it was interesting to watch the first game unfold, and still oddly surprising to see Edgeworth actually develop a "worried" animation somewhere along the line. I figured he was really despairing when Maya said "Poor Mr. Edgeworth..." where Poor Mr. Edgeworth could hear her, and didn't get sniped at for it.
Also, the games are terribly gay. Gayer than a very very gay thing. I was surprised at how blatantly it came across in translation. As one friend put it, "The only way that the Phoenix Wright series could get any more homosexual is if they featured hot gay sex in the courtroom." XD
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I think I'm the only person in my circle who didn't catch the significance of Edgeworth THROWING THE FUCKING CASE. XD Pretty amazing, though, once it was pointed out to me. Oh Edgeworth. ... I don't think Phoenix can read him THAT well, though. He's clueless about what Edgeworth is doing a lot of the time, and there's one notable instance in 1-4 where he actually fails entirely at reading Edgeworth and ends up needing Gumshoe to translate for him.
Oh yes. *pats Poor Mr. Edgeworth*
... Dude, why do you keep telling me this like it's something I don't know?
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Support and validation! XD I'm just astounded that it came through in translation.
I always thought that Phoenix was terribly good at reading Edgeworth's reaction, he was just completely fail at figuring out the logic behind it. Almost every time Edgeworth pulls something out of nowhere, Phoenix gets all sweatdroppy-worried just before. Edgeworth, for his part, follows Phoenix right up until the point where Phoenix starts yelling random things in desperation, at which point he totally loses track of what's going on and begins grinding his teeth. ^^;;; The main change in dynamic, which I believe you pointed out when you played them the first time, is that they both come to trust in the bits they can't follow, rather than get all bent out of shape over it.
Just FYI, DS games have no country-lock on them, and the full English versions are present in all of the DS editions of Gyakuten Saiban games. You could, if you were so inclined, import game 3 a few weeks early.
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Mm, okay, I think I see what you're saying now. Yeah, that's probably about right.
Yes, I knew all that too. XD; I'm debating it, believe you me. I've already got it preordered at EB Games, though, and that store's always so good to me, so I want to support them. But, getting PW3 early, and with a Japanese version that I can check for practice and reference whenever I like... hmm.
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Poor b0rken-brained Edgeworth.
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He is. D: I still cursed his name up and down when he pulled out the damn wiretap, but overall I was just kind of "... oh, Edgeworth" through the whole trial. How far you've fallen, Miles :(
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I love this series.
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Also I felt like a terrible person when I told Penny I wouldn't trade. OMG Penny I'm sorry I didn't mean to break you.
THIS SERIES IS LOVE. (As is your icon, holy FUCK, the resemblance is terrifying. is that a cosplayer or something or just the best fucking photo base ever.)
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http://imdb.com/gallery/ss/0367959/Ss/0367959/yh2.jpg.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Ulliel,%20Gaspard
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Are there any fic recs to be had for these games? Because wow.
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The only specific thing I've read that I'd actually rec is Struggling Against Gravity by
And other than that I really haven't read much of anything. XD; Rather fic-shy these days, I am.
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