Wolf 359 + AA3&4

[jaggedwolf]

shit I liked 2021 + The History of Rome podcast which I forgot to include

Wolf 359 S1

A fun episodic sci-fi listen. The most interesting characters to me were Hera and Dr Hilbert. Yet the dynamic I was most into was Eiffel in serious danger, freaking out, and Minkowski rescuing him while slightly less freaked out. I would take fanart of those two floating at the end of the season, but I suppose I shall wait till I’m done with the show to go looking.

Favourite episode: Am I Alone Now?

Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations

• Why does Mia’s absence still sadden me this far into the series
• Phoenix is so much smarter and so much stupider than I remembered
• I miss Edgeworth. It makes sense for the prosecutors to change every game, but my prosecutorial affection was highest with that unnecessary feelings man
• I do not have the patience to play these games without a walkthrough to bail me out
• Reminded of Juno Steel twice over: the Q&A with the creators talking about S1 taking inspiration from AA cases, and that Larry Butz is truly the Mick Mercury of this universe, complete with being the straightest character ​

3-1: Turnabout Memories

Getting to play as Mia! Defending college Phoenix! I love them, what a way for them to have met. Mia and Edgeworth’s lives are so accidentally intertwined that they even both separately contribute to Nick becoming a lawyer. Finally, what an excellent introduction to Dahlia, who is unnerving from the start. (At least for me.) Loved the first case being important to the endgame, and the mystery itself is fairly straightforward.

3-2: The Stolen Turnabout

Adrian Andrews <3! Happy to see her doing better. I liked all the new characters in this case, but the mechanics of solving the mystery on the second day kind of dragged on. The murder investigation was far less interesting than the theft.

3-3: Recipe For Turnabout

My least favourite case. Annoying characters (Armstrong, Kudo), the waitress outfit thing I don’t care for that gives the worst reason for a Mia summon, and it drags on for so long. In a different case I’d feel something at Viola’s realization, but at that point I just wanted the case to be over already.

A pity, because I quite like the solution to the contradictory testimonies, and it was one of those cases where I felt on pace with the mystery, despite not enjoying it. Victim was cool too.

3-4: Turnabout Beginnings

Another Mia case! Bratty Edgeworth! The two of them immediately angry that this young pretty person might get one over them, and then that fucking ending. Mystery-solving mechanics were so-so - we don’t get investigation days as Mia so this gets solved via our defendant telling us a story that makes the final answer immediately obvious, but that’s part of the frustration when it comes to Dahlia making her first great escape.

3-5: Bridge to the Turnabout

Ugh. This case. The thing is, there are so many structural things about this case that I absolutely adore:

• Getting to play as Edgeworth! So much fun getting his thoughts, and then he’s around for the rest of the investigation too. (Give me the forbidden hospital scene! The forbidden post-earthquake hug!)
• Being locked out from the other side of the bridge is a great source of tension, and you’re so distracted by the people you are looking for that you’re unlikely to question that you meet Godot there
• The burning bridge giving us the above two points
• All the cracky channelling and twin shit going on

And of course, that the final cross-examination of the trilogy is Phoenix against Maya, forcing his most steadfast ally to reveal a truth she doesn’t want to, because the truth has to be exposed. That's such a smart choice.

....unfortunately all of that is ruined for me by Godot. It’s like. Abstractly I have to recognize that Godot is better written than Franziska, who doesn’t have much of an arc in JFA. Instinctively I find his coffee shtick far less annoying than the whipping. But man, this dude pisses me off. Not in a “love to hate” way, like with Engarde or [REDACTED] in AJ.

It's the fucking self-righteousness and benevolent sexism of his anger at Phoenix for failing to magically save Mia, and his concoction of a scheme that ultimately leads to Misty Fey’s death. The game’s like wait, that’s the whole point, he’s super sorry now, don’t you feel bad? No! Because even there, even when he’s talking about he found out about the murder plot and did the wrong thing, he’s still going on about how he was so personally mad at Phoenix that he couldn’t tell Phoenix about the murder plot.

When Maya is right there. The target of said plot. Who could have been told at any point before she went up to murder mountain and watched her mom die. Maybe she deserved to know? No? Of course not. (Okay, my teensy tiniest nitpick is that as much as I love Mia, I really wanted Maya to have figured out the “channeling Dahlia to save herself” strategy on her own, like a final milestone in spirit medium shenanigans)

I found this case a weak resolution for Misty Fey too. Partly because as soon as we met nice book author lady at the temple with a ??? age, I immediately went “this is Misty Fey and she is going to die”. Also partly because bro, it doesn’t matter how cute the photo of your daughters is, why are you reappearing now and not when 1) one of your daughters was murdered 2) the other daughter was put on trial for it 3) said daughter was put on trial for a different murder 4) your sister was put in prison for causing #3.

Overall

Okay okay, salt at the last case aside, I overall liked this game. The younger versions of Mia, Phoenix and Edgeworth were awesome, and it feels like a fine point at which to end this era of lawyering.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

7 years later! New defense attorney! Something surprising: I didn’t miss Maya, Edgeworth or Mia at all.

4-1: Turnabout Trump

Apollo is so tired and I do not blame him at all. Love the twist of this one. Even when 3-1 was plot relevant, tutorial cases were safe in a way this case completely abandons. It ends with Apollo knowing he’s been used by two different lawyers, unemployed, and punching his defendant. What a frickin day.

I wish I hadn’t been spoiled for deadbeat Phoenix so that I could’ve experienced the full surprise of him saying his name, but oh well. The Papa beanie’s a cute touch.

4-2: Turnabout Corner

Villain’s not that interesting but I like how all three random incidents at the start end up being so tightly interlinked, and the establishment of the Apollo-Trucy dynamic. Also Klavier! I have so much prosecutorial fear from the previous games that I immediately liked this friendly guy.

4-3: Turnabout Serenade

Okay, so this case is objectively whack, because the defendant is a (assumed) blind child who would’ve been hurt by shooting such a strong gun and was also accused of dragging the body of a heavy man from backstage to a raised platform. The middling whack aspect is Klavier going shruggies, I gotta just prosecute the easy target because of political pressure, hope you find out the truth though bro. And Lamiroire going, yes my friend could be declared guilty of murder but no I cannot reveal a magician’s trick to save him. Also no one getting timestamps from witnesses.

But you know what, despite all of that and the ridiculous number of times I had to watch the vid, I quite enjoyed this case. The setting of the Gavinners’ concert, the secret passages and switches, the tension of Lamiroire getting attacked, Klavier fricking air guitar-ing as his friend is declared guilty.

Also fun: The first time a third case actually matters in the endgame.

4-4: Turnabout Succession

Man, what a frickin relief it is to unwind all of the past seven years and figure out the truth of this one fucked up family Nick involved himself with, and also Kristoph. Kristoph is so fun to hate, tbh. I enjoyed the MASON system investigation a lot, but I kind of wish there had been more substance to the trial after it? I kind of wanted more out of Apollo and Klavier at the end there, though seeing Apollo focused and Klavier very stressed out was pretty good too. I’ve vaguely osmosised that they don’t appear a whole bunch in the later games?

Also what the fuck, when will Apollo and Trucy get to find out they are half-siblings and their mom is alive. Is Lamiroire gonna pull a frickin Misty Fey here.? What is with these Ace Attorney parents?

Other Thoughts

This take on disbarred timeskip Phoenix is so fascinating to me. He’s so focused, with his own agenda, and because we’re Apollo we see so little of his life. I wonder how much of it is a change in him, and how much of it is perspective. Phoenix is incredibly cagey about Dahlia in 3-5. He’s seen Edgeworth and Maya at some of their lowest moments, but still refuses to tell them about his ex who framed him until he absolutely has to.

So happy to see Ema Skye again, and I like the difference in attitude. I don’t know what evidence-forging sentences are like in Japanifornia, but I hope she and Lana are on good terms. (Isn’t it dire that the most hopeful siblings in the AA-verse are either Edgeworth-Franziska or Lana-Ema lmao).

I really like Klavier! He might be my favourite of the new characters? I wish we got to see Kristoph mess with him more, because I am very easy for that. Also I will take any fic recs for Apollo/Klavier.

My single remaining Apollo thought is that they really could have mentioned him being an orphan in any case before the last one.

I'm probably gonna try to get the rest of the games in the series done this year, we'll see.

Comments

[queenlua]

I wonder how much of it is a change in him, and how much of it is perspective. Phoenix is incredibly cagey about Dahlia in 3-5. He’s seen Edgeworth and Maya at some of their lowest moments, but still refuses to tell them about his ex who framed him until he absolutely has to.

oooh. that's such a sharp observation/connection, one i've never made before. when i first played aa4 as a kid, phoenix felt so jarring to me, because he really does feel changed, and that's obviously part of the point, but... i like the idea of digging a little more into more overlooked cagey moments in prev games. tyty

and, hope to read your thoughts on aa5 & 6 when/if you get to them! they're a little shakier in some ways, but, imho still pretty fun throughout, and aa5's got my fave prosecutor, so :P

[jaggedwolf]

Yeah, I feel like the Phoenix PoV in the game can sometimes obfuscate how much he actually shares.

Oh, would that happen to be the prosecutor in your icon? I have been dodging mentions of him and the new defense lawyer as I riskily read fic :D

[queenlua]

Oh, would that happen to be the prosecutor in your icon?

Yes indeed he is :) Good luck with your risky-fic-reading, lol, may you remain relatively-unspoiled til you get a chance to play!

[quailfence]

So, after your post about PL vs AA I decided to read through your previous Ace Attorney posts because I've gotten into it between that post and the last time you posted about AA and uh. Are you still looking for Klavier/Apollo recs? Because Turnabout Electric is freakin' amazing (so are the author's other fics but that might be my fave of theirs)

[jaggedwolf]

Oooh, I might have read that back when I first finished the games, but it's a minute so I might reread it anyway. Thanks for the link!