Why The Ace Attorney Trilogy Is a Masterpiece

Even Capcom themselves were surprised that this series took off in the West. They had to make like four more shipments worth of copies for the first one. I think the reason why AA and Danganronpa proved popular is that, unlike most visual novels, they have actual gameplay elements to them.

I first played through the original trilogy when my dad (a lawyer) was terminally ill with cancer. Even though it's not directly related to the game itself, I'll always hold very fond memories of it just because it reminds me so much of him.

This series is what really got me into visual novels. I wouldn’t have found games like ghost trick or danganronpa back in 2012 if it wasn’t for Ace attorney. I love this series to death and it is to this day super special to me Edit: also yes I’d absolutely love more ace attorney content

They also absolutely nail every finale case in the trilogy. And even if you take AA 1 as having a pair of them, they are both great.

What I find so interesting about Rise from the Ashes as a case is that, while it is set between games, you can really tell that the writers for it were way more experienced at writing cases. You can do this just by comparing it to the other cases in the first game. It's not that those cases were bad or anything, but over the years of writing the trilogy, you can really tell that they honed their craft. Rise from the Ashes is the first 3-day trial that actually feels like it needs to be a 3-day trial. After the first game, the writers didn't make any other three-day trials. This is because the 3rd investigation day tended to be rather perfunctory. By that point, you know who the killer is and probably have a good idea of how to prove it, so the only thing you're doing is filling in a few blanks. RftA avoids this problem cleverly. Because it's not 1 3-day trial; it's three one-day trials. The first trial is the trial of what happened in the parking lot. The second day is what happened in the evidence room. And the third day is what really happened in SL-9. It's extremely clever and engaging, as you're frequently investigating new areas and crime scenes. But ultimately, the game ties them all together at the end. You can also tell that the writers of RftA struggled a bit with not having the Magatama as a mechanic. As a game design tool, Magatama interactions were used to structure your discussions and investigations. When you found someone with a lock that couldn't be broken, the game was able to prompt you as to where you might need to investigate further. This replaced some of the fetch quests in the first game, and it was a very welcome mechanic. But RftA didn't have that mechanic. So the third investigation day involves a lot of lengthy conversations and exposition dumps that are important and essential, but they don't involve much interaction. It's just people talking at you until they run out of dialog. It works, but it feels... off. And you can really tell the developers wanted that final conversation with Lana to be a Magatama thing very badly.

HE DID ITTTTTT

1 more point for the HD version is that they have the quality of life feature of having the magnifying glass have a check mark after you check the location that was added in the 5th game That's a great quality of life feature in my opinion at the other point towards the version

I know this is a lot to ask, but if Ace Attorney returns, I really hope that it sorta strays away from the entire story of the first 6 games and starts anew. Furthermore, I want it to be created with a trilogy already planned out, that way events from the first game can be more cleverly foreshadowing the events of the subsequent games. Maybe themes and symbols can carry over. I dunno. Just an idea

You mentioned that you haven't played Chronicles early in the video but I honestly think that game is just as investing and impactful as the trilogy, possibly even better. If you're ever thinking of trying that game in the future, I definitely recommend it. I'd love to see you do a video on it if you ever decide to make one

Fun fact: Phoenix's class trial backstory is based on Takumi's own experience from his childhood

Glad you decided to cover this series. It is one of my favourites and despite being one of the most popular visual novels I would say that this series STILL doesn't get enough appreciation.If you haven't then i recommend checking out the great ace attorney games and also a video on the investigation games(Investigation 2 is a fu*king masterpiece)and the appollo justice trilogy as it is coming soon would be dope.

This gets the Apollo Justisn't seal of approval Seriously though, you did an amazing job with this one. If you have played the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and plan to make a video for it, I'd love to see it

Justice For All´s finale is to this day my favorite case. It just had everything I loved in the series. For Trials and Tribulations, I can see why it is so beloved, but remember hating the ending, making Godot look like an idiot for having Misty Fey die. I just thought that was the most avoidable death ever as a kid.

7:25 just so you know, every game after apollo justice handles moving between areas exactly as you described

I love ace attorney. It’s one of the few visual novels that are genuinely enjoyable to almost anyone. I almost exclusively play platformers but I fell in love with this trilogy the moment I started the first case!

I'd love to see you review every other Ace Attorney game, it's going to be exciting.. So many good memories in these games..

Would love to see more Ace Attorney, was a really fresh change of pace and an in-depth retrospective of the second trilogy, Great Ace Attorney games, or Investigations duology would be really interesting videos, I think.

The Ace Attorney franchise is really solid, they mixed the humour and serious so well in each cases.

When I finished the video I told myself "Oh man, I can't believe I slept on J's review of the Ace Attorney trilogy, I have to see all of his videos on the franchise", then I realised this was uploaded yesterday. I need more of this, and I am curious as to what is your opinion on the second trilogy, given how polarising they are in the community.

I’d love to see more videos on the other games in the series! Investigations, the Apollo Justice Trilogy and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles would work great as videos like this and I’d be super into hearing what you thought of them!