Gaming Justice for none.

[scubersteve]

Okay, can someone please tell me all the Phoenix Wright games with their full name and in order cuz I started on Justice For All and never followed any of the others. No Japan versions please. Would make things a lot simpler for me, thx.

Oh and I think Justice For All is great! I'm surprised at the negative feel you guys are giving it but then again it's the first one I've played! If this is the weaker of the series then I'm quite inclined to see how much better the others are!

Btw just finished episode 2 with Fransziska where Dr. Grey is murdered and I thought it was intense! Whoever thinks up these cases sure has imagination.

Japanese versions are almost exactly the same compared to english versions...
GS 1-3 had the English translations in them...

 

[Truliche]

I gotta say I loved Trials & Tribulations way too much... I don't get why this kind of game doesn't get more attention from the media. I guess your average joe doesn't want to read hundreds thousands lines of text and think while doing it.

I just loved how they used that remix of Cornered at the end, that track was so beautifully placed and really gave a lot of emotion to the trial's conclusion. Plus the whole Godot twist was brilliant, Godot itself was an incredible character and so was the ending. Another nice thing about T&T was variety, being able to play as 3 different defense lawyers (Mia, Phoenix, Edgeworth) against 4 distinct prosecutors (Payne, Godot, Edgeworth, Fransizka) and with two different judges was a nice change of pace.

I'm gonna start playing Apollo Justice tomorrow. Now that I think about it, you don't miss much in terms of references and story comprehension by not playing Justice For All, the only significant case is Case 2... some might argue you miss out by not playing Case 4 but honestly... I didn't think it was really that good, there are plenty better cases to be had with the first and third game.

 

[Joey Ravn]

I'll put this between spoiler tags, just to be on the safe side:

IMO, this sums up my thoughts about this game rather well. I don't get why JfA get so much bad rep... I liked it quite a lot, though my favourite is Trials and Tribulations by FAR. There was a completely filler case, 4-2, but no one seems to complain about it... on the other hand, everyone hates JfA for the "filler cases"...
IMO, this game is heavily built upon the premise of "let's try to use the DS features as much as possible", but that doesn't work. The story overall is... lackluster. The characters seem forced into the story (I'm looking at you, cocky flashback-case Phoenix Wright) and plain dumb sometimes... like how Trucy's relation with Apollo was unbelivably forced during the first case together, or Phoenix's new personality. Let's assume that his last case came shortly after the end of T&T, which I think it's true, if what I read is correct. Then... why so cocky? "You lack experience, mwahahaha". Yes. He lacks experience. Two-year experience in law, with just a handful of cases, like yours, Nick.
As far as cases go, they were missing... epicness. AA had two epic cases (1-4, 1-5). JfA had that last case where Maya was kidnapped. We could see Edgeworth and Phoenix working hand by hand, face to face to get her out safely... tell me there's no character development there and I'll slap you in the face. And, of course, T&T had that huge, unforgetable Case 5 that tied the whole game together.
I could rant about this game all night. Truth be told, I didn't like it. The stakes were set to high for me after T&T -- and AJ just didn't make it. Don't get me wrong... it has its good sides. The MASON system could be a great addition to the series if it were to be correctly implemented. "Controlling" two characters at the same time, say AJ and Trucy, to investigate two scenarios at the same time. They could share their discoveries via mobile phone or... email, dunno. But the idea has potential. The new effects and graphics are cool, but rather superflual... they are just graphics. I much rather have a good story, a good plot and a good cast than CGI movies.

Bah... my two cents on the matter. This will probably be another Zelda: PH or EBA: games everybody loves, but I just can't understand how to like them =/

 

[Psyfira]

I've been playing this one for about a week and it's starting to drive me nuts; I'm only on Case 2 and I've already gotten stuck 4 times presenting evidence. I think what annoys me the most is that if you get stuck there is no way to get out of the loop and work it out yourself. Or when you spot an obvious contradiciton but the game penalises you because it's not the one in the script, that's a pain too.
And for a game based on logic, the bit in Gumshoe's testimony where you have to press his third point which you know will get you nowhere, just for the judge to say "this is getting us nowhere" and move the plot on is just daft.

I don't know if it's just me, but it feels like an add-on to PW1 rather than a sequel. If this was a PC game it'd just be an expansion pack, or a story file to plug into the first game.

 

[scubersteve]

I'll put this between spoiler tags, just to be on the safe side:

IMO, this sums up my thoughts about this game rather well. I don't get why JfA get so much bad rep... I liked it quite a lot, though my favourite is Trials and Tribulations by FAR. There was a completely filler case, 4-2, but no one seems to complain about it... on the other hand, everyone hates JfA for the "filler cases"...
IMO, this game is heavily built upon the premise of "let's try to use the DS features as much as possible", but that doesn't work. The story overall is... lackluster. The characters seem forced into the story (I'm looking at you, cocky flashback-case Phoenix Wright) and plain dumb sometimes... like how Trucy's relation with Apollo was unbelivably forced during the first case together, or Phoenix's new personality. Let's assume that his last case came shortly after the end of T&T, which I think it's true, if what I read is correct. Then... why so cocky? "You lack experience, mwahahaha". Yes. He lacks experience. Two-year experience in law, with just a handful of cases, like yours, Nick.
As far as cases go, they were missing... epicness. AA had two epic cases (1-4, 1-5). JfA had that last case where Maya was kidnapped. We could see Edgeworth and Phoenix working hand by hand, face to face to get her out safely... tell me there's no character development there and I'll slap you in the face. And, of course, T&T had that huge, unforgetable Case 5 that tied the whole game together.
I could rant about this game all night. Truth be told, I didn't like it. The stakes were set to high for me after T&T -- and AJ just didn't make it. Don't get me wrong... it has its good sides. The MASON system could be a great addition to the series if it were to be correctly implemented. "Controlling" two characters at the same time, say AJ and Trucy, to investigate two scenarios at the same time. They could share their discoveries via mobile phone or... email, dunno. But the idea has potential. The new effects and graphics are cool, but rather superflual... they are just graphics. I much rather have a good story, a good plot and a good cast than CGI movies.

Bah... my two cents on the matter. This will probably be another Zelda: PH or EBA: games everybody loves, but I just can't understand how to like them =/

I thought that the 3d renders in AJ were pretty bad, especially if you compare it to many other RPGs.

 

[Twiffles]

The game wasn't made to be graphically superior to other games. The 3D aspect is just used to let the player go more in depth with cases. Nice touch if you ask me.

 

[Deleted User]

I thought that the 3d renders in AJ were pretty bad, especially if you compare it to many other RPGs.

Phoenix Wright is a text-based game, not an RPG. And last I checked there isn't really much need to have beautiful graphics in a text-based game. But I thought AJ was pretty neatly done.
For me in order of goodness:

PWAA > AJ = TAT > JFA

The reason I didn't like JFA is all the cases were rubbish (Apart from the last one). I mean the script was FUNNY but not well-written. I mean the
murder in case 3 of JFA was just stupid. The cape clasped onto the bust...

 

[geunt]

AJ Is great (i love forensics interraction and Prosecutor air guitar solo !!!) But it s too easy

TAT was Hard and Last case of JFA too (others was stupid that s right)

So PWAA and TAT are the best in my opinion due to a very good scenario but AJ is really really fun to play