Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations (Gyakuten Saiban 3)

[quilava plush]

Who else is in line to pick it up next week? :D

I reserved my copy at GameStop a few weeks ago so hopefully I'll get the mini-plush bonus with it. ^^ Either way, I'm really looking forward to this; I had plenty of fun with Justice for All earlier this year, and I have confidence that this one will deliver.

[ajnrules]

Maybe. I know my sister is fan. I saw Phoenix Wright 4 in Taiwan, but I decided against getting it because it's in Japanese and everything. X_X

[Loki]

I reserved it 2 weeks back.

I already know that in this one [spoiler]you get to play as Mia for two trials in the form of flashbacks.

[Loki]

http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/manga ... sindex.pdf

According to this, Del Rey is in charge of translating the publishing the Phoenix Wright manga! Huzzah!

[quilava plush]

Dad picked up my copy for me today since I have no transportation at all, but there's no pre-order keychain! =( Disappointing, but I can live without it.

Going to start playing it tomorrow, and I can't waaaaait. (Alas, I have work to take care of.)

[Loki]

I was at work today and I pre-ordered at a Gamestop that is kinda of out of the way, so I couldn't get it today >>;;

I'll get it tomorrow and play til I can't stay awake any longer xd. Anyway, plz no spoilers, even though I read a bunch already @_@

[quilava plush]

Case 1 SPOILERS: Grossburg talking about his hemorrhoids was simply DO NOT WANT. DDDD= Phoenix was hilariously pitiful (I've seen his pink sweater sprite before, but didn't expect his personality to be like THAT), Mia is even more awesome, and Dahlia is SCARY (although the part where the butterflies suddenly combusted into ashes was rather funny). I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how Phoenix could eat the necklace, even if it was mostly glass. @_@

Nothing to say about Case 2 yet since I'm JUST now starting the trial.

[Lee-san]

I've just finished the first case as well, and I loved it. Of course it was pretty easy to solve, but still..was nice to see this part of Phoenix' and Mia's past.

[Loki]

I'm half way through case 1. I started at like midnight, realized I was tired during the half-way make, and passed out.

Anyway, this is the longest case 1 thus far it seems. It's like, "No easy trials for game three!"

[quilava plush]

I was pleasantly surprised at Case 1's length myself- an excellent way to start off!

I finished Case 2 yesterday. There's a quite humorous DO NOT WANT moment from a familiar face if you show them a certain someone's profile.

SPOILERS: Show Pearl's profile to Larry and see what I mean! I was also thinking we had a non-murder case on our hands until Godot said "HEY GUYS THE CEO IS DEAD". It was pretty obvious that Atmey was guilty (how the hell could he wear a mask with that nose?), but it was still fun.

[Loki]

I felt Case 2 was pretty short, but its transition into Case 3 was pretty cool. I still didn't get the the trial yet for Case 3 though.

[quilava plush]

I just finished Case 5 and it was nothing short of epic. <3

[Muyotwo]

Pay more attention to this thread, because this game is fantastic. I LOVE YOU, GAME.

[Doppleganger]

Phoenix Wright is technically a visual novel. If you liked those games, there are other visual novels just waiting for you folks to play 'em. D:


And Dopplegangers waiting to discuss them with you...

[Muyotwo]

Well then, any recommendations, Dopp?

[Loki]

Do they involve my penis penetrating women?

[Doppleganger]

Some of them do. For the most part you'd want to stay away from those because they often border on the awkwardly written. A common theme would be weird analogies to aquatic/marine life.

"Like a mollusk clamping down in response to an irritant, her unsuspecting crevasse reflexes around my thrusting manhood."

And I am dead serious about that.

As for Muyo's request I'm gonna have to think. There's a lot to choose from but what really counts is the first one people play, because that sets the standard.

[Muyotwo]

If they have a character anywhere near as cool as Mia, I'm up for giving it a go.

[Loki]

lol. That was a joke. I didn't expect you to quote corny H-game number 6.

[Vran]

I'm pretty far along in Case #5, "Bridge to Turnabout," the one which begins with the trip to the Hazukura Temple. I've gotta say, I'm really lovin' it but I just unearthed a new plot detail which is making me roll my eyes and be sad at the same time.

Spoiler: show

Nick just learned that Pearl has two older sisters, Iris and Dahlia. Of course, the game isn't nice enough to let Phoenix know know that Iris's twin sister is Dahlia -- even though we all know it, including, apparently, Phoenix himself ¬_¬ -- and so I'm stuck with the job of proving that Dahlia = Iris's sister such that I can get Pearls to talk such that I can get Iris to talk such that I can ...

Wait a second, did you just strongly hint at Pearl being the perpetrator!? Are you seriously suggesting she read that channeling book and inadvertently summoned the angry spirit of Mommy who then possessed either Pearl or Maya and went on to kill her younger sister Misty?

Say it isn't so. D: I was much more comfortable with the whole "Dahlia took over Iris's body" idea that I had had at the front of my brain for the last few hours. Don't tell me that instead of Dahlia-Iris as the perpetrator it's going to prove to be Pearl-Morgan.

So we'll see. To help fill you in on where I still am,

Spoiler: show

We haven't unlocked a single one of the five locks on the Sealed Chamber's door.

We haven't definitively ruled in or ruled out Sister Bikini's motives for killing Misty Fei.

Edgeworth did his part in court ages ago with Franziska. Now it's Phoenix's and Godot's turn, but we're still out in the field.

Phoenix and Gumshoe did in fact discover that Misty Fei's staff was actually a staff-sword.

Still don't know for certain the identity of Larry's phantom leaper in his drawing. Is it Iris? Is it a possessed Pearl or Maya? Is it Misty? No clue.

Still don't know the importance of the purple orb falling out of the staff. Does it lend the sword magical powers? Who knows.

Still haven't seen Maya. (Obviously?)

I have the incinerated pages which clearly suggest that Pearls summoned a malevolent spirit without knowing what she was doing and consequently endangered Misty Fei's life. But I haven't shown them to Pearl yet.

I still have no clue how Godot "went to Hell" aside from his obvious references to loving Mia Fey. If he was being serious about his visor and his deteriorated vision, then I still have absolutely no idea how/why he lost his vision. Mafia acid to the eyes? O_o

Also, I'm really torn now romantically.

Spoiler: show

On the one hand, I'm rooting for Maya over Iris because she knew Phoenix "first" (in one sense) and has been with him through thick and thin. On the other hand, Iris seems to be a beautiful, kind woman unlike her sister Dahlia, and it's really cute to see how she reacts with Phoenix. Somehow I have this feeling that they're going to solidify Phoenix x Maya (which is fine by me) but they're going to do it by revealing that Iris is just as evil and good a liar as, if not even more evil and even better a liar than, her sister Dahlia is. But on the other hand, if the way they push for Phoenix x Iris is by killing off Maya, that'd really suck.

[Muyotwo]

Originally Posted by Vran

I'm pretty far along in Case #5, "Bridge to Turnabout," the one which begins with the trip to the Hazukura Temple. I've gotta say, I'm really lovin' it but I just unearthed a new plot detail which is making me roll my eyes and be sad at the same time.

It's a great trial, you will find yourself being surprised several times. T&T is my favorite of the series, despite the kinda lame second case, so keep at it.

[Weebos]

I need to start playing again. I believe I'm on the last case of the second game.

[Vran]

Originally Posted by Muyotwo

It's a great trial, you will find yourself being surprised several times. T&T is my favorite of the series, despite the kinda lame second case, so keep at it.

Right now I'm taking a break 'cause I'm stuck here and I never ever ever like to use walkthroughs or get tips for games like these ('cause they're both mystery games *and* games with finite permutations, so there's really no excuse to not brute force things when you get stuck ... even if brute forcing does suck ):

Spoiler: show

Maya is on the stand. We're trying to figure out why the fuck "the killer" (???) would have cleared away the snow from around the lantern in such a precise rectangular fashion. It doesn't help that I'm really torn between all three possibilities of:
(a) normal Pearl, despite the obvious physical impossibilities,
(b) Mia-Pearl, which doesn't make sense as far as a lot of the clean-up goes but makes sense as far as her ability to physically handle most of it goes, or
(c) Godot, if he really isn't just a red herring and if he seriously was, for lord only knows what reason and with what magical powers, on that peninsular "island" at the time of the murder.

Of course there are always other possibilities, but like ...
- Iris, Phoenix, and Larry were all 100% on the Main Temple side of the river
- Bikini was most likely with 'em (it all depends on just when exactly this murder went down ... 10 to 11pm has proven to be a really big thorn of ambiguity in my side this entire case, lol)
- that only leaves Maya, Dahlia-Misty, and Pearl on the island

We know it wasn't Dahlia-Misty because she was stabbed from behind.
We know it wasn't Maya because Dahlia-Misty had Maya directly in her line of vision when she was skewered.
So that leaves little Pearl.

But neither little Pearl NOR Mia-Pearl seem the type who would either skewer:
(a) a girl they believed to be Iris, or
(b) a woman they believed to be Mom (Mia) / Elise Deauxnim (Pearl)

So I'm just so confused. @_@

But anyway, I tried talking to Maya about these two dialogue options:
#3 of 6, "I think the killer did it to protect me ...", or
#6 of 6, "And since the killer did all of this alone, I just assumed it was a man."

I've tried showing her these profile pics for those questions: Maya, Mia, Pearl, Godot, Bikini, Iris, Misty, Morgan.

I've tried showing her these items: the staff-sword, the dagger, the purple orb, the Kurain Master's Seal, etc.

It's just one of those times where I'm like, grr! Am I picking the right question (of 6)!? and the right medium (of 2)!? and within that medium am I picking the right person or the right item? (12+ people, 12+ items)!? It's a lot of permutations.

[Muyotwo]

Originally Posted by Vran

Right now I'm taking a break 'cause I'm stuck here and I never ever ever like to use walkthroughs or get tips for games like these

Something we agree on. Let me know when you finish and we can discuss it over Coffee.

[Vran]

I finished. Thoughts:

Spoiler: show

Pros:
* they hinted 60:40 at Phoenix picking Maya or Iris, the numbers boosted to those levels courtesy of Iris's final revelation to Feenie and her final final chat with him during the credits. I liked that nod a lot. Iris is amazing: beautiful, kind, just like the perfect woman ............................... except, yeah, she's got a little bit of the murderous streak we saw in Morgan and Dahlia. On the flipside, I've always felt sort of awkward about Phoenix x Maya simply because, especially in the first game, their relationship felt more like what you see in stories where the widower and the sister of the deceased offer support to one another. Even in Game 2, where the writers first started to heavily push towards Maya crushing on Phoenix and Phoenix slowly reciprocating, Maya still felt like that awkward, dopey child. Like ... when I picture Maya's tearful face, I think Dopey from Snow White. When I picture Iris's tearful face, I picture Dizzy from Guilty Gear. Two totally different mental images. But the thing is, Maya's a great girl. She's very different from Phoenix in a lot of ways but she's really made him a better person. It's amazing how much of her interests have rubbed off on him, the most famous injoke being the Steel Samurai, of course.

* I was glad to see that Pearl was not the murderer in any way, shape, or form. Yay.

* I was glad to see them bring it all together for Godot, (a) with regards to his color blindness, (b) with regards to his being on the island earlier than we'd thought. For A, I was sorta bummed out by the writers just bringing this one out of left field in Episode 5, but was pleased to be reminded that it had been in Episode 3 (at Très Bien) too, with Maggey Byrde's ketchup (and at the time thought to be blood)-stained apron. So that was cool. For B, it was handled much better than I had initially feared. I'd been like, "Give me a fucking break, what was Godot doing there?", but it made sense that he had a lot of disregard for his own life and the lives of others and was pretty much living to return the favor to Mia that he had failed to return to her while she was still alive, i.e. protect Maya/Mia from harm. It was neat to see him be honest, even though Maya didn't want to hear any of it, when he mentioned how he really wasn't doing it for her so much as he was doing it for Mia, and that in and of itself means he wasn't doing it for her either, and so maybe ultimately he skewered Misty-Dahlia because he saw in Dahlia the bitch that robbed him of everything -- 5 years of his life, his vision, and the woman he fell in love with.


Cons:
* I was disappointed to see minimal Edgeworth x Franziska development towards the end. While one of my least favorite PW characters, Franziska von Karma's デレ tearful farewell to Miles Edgeworth at the end of PW2 remains one of, if not the most memorable scenes in the entire canon for me. It was just so, so cute to see the Ice Queen's fortress melt down on the tarmac as she bid farewell to her knight in shining von Karma armor. I really wanted to see the two do more and they really didn't. Shame. Even Gumshoe x Maggey got more of a final nod in the credits than did Edgeworth or Franziska.

* the final moment of the game pre-credits really ticked me off. I get the cute joke. I get that the writers knew we were all expecting him to propose and then they pull the rug out from under us with one final "OBJECTION!", but seriously: that was cruel. >_< They totally suggested he was gonna propose. Even if it was in the most bizarre of places. lol I was like, "OMG." And then......... *crushed*.

* I really didn't care for how the supernatural was brought to the super-duper forefront of the court system in the final case. That doesn't mean I don't like the Kurain Channeling stuff! No, I love it! Always have! But for me, a lot of the charm of the series was how Phoenix would know certain things thanks to Mia-Maya or Mia-Pearl but he still had to find ways to win over the judge with the available physical evidence and eye-witness testimonies. It was kind of unfortunate, in a sense, that the writers -- brilliant as they are! much applause!! -- were not able to find a way to get Phoenix and Diego to painfully interact with Dahlia's malevolent spirit in court without dragging along the judge and the audience. Shrug. I dunno. I guess they tried the best they could to justify by, towards the end, frequently reminding us of the DL-6 incident from the first game and how once-upon-a-time in the land of Phoenix Wright there was a Japanese government which did employ spirit channelers.

* If it's one thing I hate, it's evidence that you never use. What was the point of having Larry's color photograph of Elise Deauxnim? Did we ever use it? I don't think so! I'm pretty confident that any time it could have been used, her Profile picture was the better (or only!) option. I'm sure some people will complain about this, but I also missed the tradition from the previous two games of crumpling up evidence the game knew and you knew you were done with. I know a lot of people felt it took out suspense ('cause how do you know the evidence is necessarily no longer useful until the case is closed!?), but sometimes you just know. A great example from this time around was the occult magazine which Phoenix received from Maya and Pearl and which had Iris and Bikini's picture in one of the stories. That was useful for all of 20 minutes and then NEVER AGAIN. -.-

More, but I'm tired right now.

I went ahead and started the fourth game. Beat Case #1, just started Case #2. Thoughts:

Spoiler: show

I like Phoenix's mentor role in this -- very nice touch -- but I can't stand his being a deadbeat. It's just a big kick in the nuts to anyone who loved and was rooting for the guy all through the first three games. It's bad enough we're led to believe he cheated in court in such a manner as to be stripped of his license seven years ago, but even if that's not the case and he resigned willingly, it's still atrocious that he spends his days bumming around with his daughter and his nights playing poker for the underworld. It's like ... "how the mighty have fallen" to the extreme. It'd be like if Bruce Wayne became a pro poker player in the underground in the third 21st-Century Batman movie. It's that pathetic, that cringeworthy. It's like someone told you Santa doesn't exist. That's the sort of feeling I got when I saw Bum Phoenix.

Phoenix's daughter, I have mixed thoughts on. She's cute, I guess, sorta ... I can't stand her wardrobe, though. I love her use of the word "Daddy," it makes her seem very cute and it's fun to see somebody using such a daughter-father affection word on Phoenix, but at the same time ... he's 33, and she's 15!? Wtf. It's not possible. I mean, fuck, we have every reason to believe that Phoenix never even came close to 2nd base until he met Iris (who he thought was named Dahlia) back when he was in college. So unless Trucy is Iris and Phoenix's daughter ... then that forces us to fast forward 5 years into Phoenix's future when, at the age of 23 or so, he met Maya. And that's already too late. I mean ... yeah.

Similarly, wtf + CREEEEEEEEPY that some random mafia bozo had a locket with Phoenix's daughter's picture in it. It was fine back when we thought it was Phoenix's locket and he was trying to win it back, but when Phoenix confessed to Apollo that the locket was not originally his, I was like, "What ... the heck ....... O_o". Phoenix had just told us that some creep was walking around the underworld with a locket around his neck that had a picture of a 15-year old girl in it. O_o; And all I could think was, "Did Phoenix kidnap Trucy? O_o;;;;;;; Is she not really his daughter?"

I couldn't stand Gavin's character (too cookier-cutter) but I loved the plot of Episode 1. By far the best tutorial episode yet imo, even better (if less emotional) than the tutorial in PW3 where we first played as Maya, where we defended Phoenix, and where we first met Dahlia. (Lotta amazing firsts in that one!) Miss Orly was cute as a Russian waitress but lost all of her charm when she morphed into a ?????-ethnicity pirate wench. Sort of a shame, really. I thought this episode probably had the single best line yet for the whiny prosecutor dude: at the part where Phoenix definitively pegs the crime on Gavin, I loved it when the whiny guy cries out something along the lines of, "When do I get to prosecute somebody!?" Indeed, lol @ Phoenix usurping the role of Defense Attorney and Prosecutor simultaneously ... for a case in which he's the defendant accused of murder! XD Amazing.