The theme of trust in Ace Attorney 3. (not the original post from yesterday)

The last game in the Ace Attorney trilogy wrapped up a saga of love, law, and trust. (Obviously spoilers ahead)

I'm going to be focusing on the third game.  The first covers so many different kinds of love and the law in the Ace Attorney series is pretty messed up.

Trust, however, is a major point in the game.  Phoenix relies on trust because he may not always know what he is doing, but he knows what he is going for, an aquital.

He has trust in Maya, he has trust in Mia.  He has trust in Pearl, Miles, Larry, Gumshoe, and even Franciska has worked her way into his trust.

This all comes to a head in Case 3-5 where every bond he has built up gets tested.

Miles Edgeworth is the main testee.  Miles Edgeworth starts off in the first game as the rival.  As the unbeatable opponent.  As the man who would do ANYTHING to bring his opponent down.  He turns into someone much more complicated and worthy of the trust. I've talked about this before.   

Maya on her end always feels like she is never worthy of trust, but has fought and loved for the last three years so her trust can be given.  In the second game, it looks like nothing can help her, she doesn't even know if she is innocent, and yet she places her trust in Phoenix and he continues his eternal trust in her. 

Mia, despite being dead, has a large presence on the series because her family is a family of spirit mediums.  As a result, Maya or her cousin Pearl can summon Mia when needed.  As they can only have her there for limited times, Mia MUST be trusted because they can't really cross her or double check her information. 

Franciska throughout the second and a bit of the third games rapidly proves herself to be -while out for revenge- also interested in justice and does not cross lines.  While she may hide some information, she will never manipulate facts. 

Pearl is a little girl.  She can be trusted, partly because she has a horrible poker face.

Larry is an old school friend.  While he may unintentionally cause trouble, he will never intentionally act malicious or lie (even if he forgets things).  You may not like it, but you can trust him.

Detective Gumshoe works for the police, but he's also interested in justice being done to the right person.  He helps Phoenix out when he can. Sometime's it's physical help, sometimes it's information, but he does not lie and he has been fired for helping. 


This trust proves critical in the last case of game 3.  Maya has disappeared, her mother has been found dead in two places at the same time.  Pearl has also vanished.  Phoenix fell through a burning bridge and landed in a cold and swift river known for killing people, and no one is quite sure what happened.

Edgeworth trusts Larry enough when he says Phoenix is in danger to come back to the states. (Phoenix did have a bad cold but that's it.)  Phoenix trusts Edgeworth enough to have him do the work and help out in court despite how Edgeworth is a prosecutor.  And when spirit mediums and psychelocks come up, Edgeworth trusts Phoenix enough to just go along with it and accept it.  Gumshoe trusts everyone enough that they will do the right thing; that Edgeworth will protect the innocent, and that he will punish the guilty.  Franciska is trusted to help Phoenix when everyone is missing.  After all, she won't let anyone else get hurt.  Mia and Pearl have critical information that they can not reveal right away.  They are trusted when they appear that their witholding was not malicious or deliberate, and they know the truth.

If any of this was doubted, if anyone had lied.  If anyone was not worthy of the trust they were placed with when studying the case, then Maya would have been found guilty of matricide, the manipulator would have had the last laugh, and the killer would not have found his redemption.  (And, yes, that sentence makes sense in context.) 

I need to replay this level again.  The trust is heartbreaking and I'm lacking details. Though, you all should have played this game through before! It's worth it.

Ace Attorney 5

(Please note that I will be using the reasonably assumed English names not the Japanese names for the games that have yet to come out.  This way everyone will know what I'm talking about.  Also: a few spoilers ahead)


So, out of semi nowhere, yesterday Capcom announced Ace Attorney 5.  While this is the Ace Attorney Franchise's 11th anniversary (Wow)  we haven't had a main game in about five years.  The first three games debuted on the GBA.

  Ace Attorney 1 came out in October 2001, but only in Japan.  After a surprisingly large number of imports, the game was localized and released as a DS game in 2005.  The DS version has an extra case that does some set up of AA2 and AA3.

  Ace Attoney 2 (Justice for All) was released in 2002 for the GBA and 2006 (Japan)/2007 (US/Europe) for the DS.  This version had no extra cases for the DS.

Ace Attorney 3 came out in 2004 for the GBA and 2007 for Japan/US (Europe got it in 2008) DS versions.  This one also had no special features, but did have five cases.

While it has been five years for the US, it's been around 8 years in Japan and Phoenix did not quite appear... well, not as himself.

Apollo Justice came out in 2008.  (please note some parts of Europe received Apollo Justice before Trials and Tribulations)  While Phoenix is in the game, he is the mentor character.   Originally he was not to be in the game at all, but Capcom wanted him in.

After that, Miles Edgeworth took over.  And it wasn't purely Ace Attorney.

His DS game debuted in 2009 for Japan and 2010 everywhere else.  It deviated from the normal "point and click/Visual Novel" style games in that Miles, and other characters, could actually walk around the scene to examine evidence.  As it was a more "Investigation" style game, it took the investigations subtitle.

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 was not localized outside of Japan (unfortunately)  but was released in 2011 in Japan.  (I would like to say that, this actually makes sense.  While I would like to play it, the Ace Attorney games are known for their VERY good localization that takes a lot of time.  By the time the localization came out, the DS would be mostly dead.  I hope they do eventually localize it.  It could get new life as a 3DS port or something similar.  What I've found of the story hints it was VERY good.  Plus we find out more about Gregory Edgeworth! That's always a plus.)

In the mean time, two side projects with the Ace Attorney squad appeared.

Professor Layton VS Ace Attorney.  We know pretty much nothing, but the conference yesterday showed a video. The video showed Maya and Phoenix on a plane heading to London, but nothing else is known at this time.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 came out in 2011.  In a spot of hope, Phoenix Wright made the cast list due to pure fan demand.  While a character from the AA franchise (either Franziska or Phoenix) has been considered for a 'Vs' fighting game before (Namely Tatsunoko vs Capcom)  it was scrapped due to localization difficulties.  ('OBJECTION!" is longer then "IRIJI" (I hope I spelled that right)).  If Phoenix made it into Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 due to fan demand, maybe AAI 2 could make it over too.


Well, still no word on that, but now we have Ace Attorney 5 officially announced!

We also know nothing else.  Normally, the "Ace Attorney" in question is shown pointing over the title (Yes, Miles counts. He's still an Attorney) However, the title is blank.  We could be getting a new one, the Attorney could be new, or an old attorney could be getting redesigned. That still means we know nothing.  But it is interesting to see where the franchise has gone, and where it could go.

Character Analysis - Miles Edgeworth

Our job is to find truth, no matter how painful it may be.

Miles Edgeworth is a critical part of the Ace Attorney franchise.  (Because Ace Attorney Investigations 2 has not been localized for the west and the AAI series takes place after the main games, I will focus on the main games.  As always, Spoilers ahead)   

We meet Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth in case 1-2. (Turnabout Sisters) He explains that he has decisive evidence, has never lost a case, and he strives to find EVERY defendant guilty. Rumors persist of bribes to judges, doctored evidence, and back room deals so the defendants are always convicted.   Several times in the series it's revealed he asked people to keep quiet on parts of what they saw or heard so it helps his case.  You hate him with every fiber of your being.

The guilty will always lie, to avoid being found out. There's no way to tell who is guilty and who is innocent! All that I can hope to do is get every defendant declared "guilty"! So I make that my policy.

 As such, he is the polar opposite of our cheerful and snarky Main Character, Defense Attorney Phoenix Wright, who believes in his clients no matter what. This is even more striking when it's revealed that Phoenix and Miles used to be friends.

Over the course of the game, we see him loosen up slightly.  Wendy Oldbag gets him visibly flustered and he tells Will Powers that he (Edgeworth) is a fan.  And then he is arrested for murder.

He refuses Phoenix's help a few times, but then we see the first true weakness.  A minor earthquake hits while Phoenix and Miles are talking about the case.  Phoenix and Maya are fine, but Miles is curled up in a fetal position on the floor.  A little more digging into his past reveals that when he was young, he had been trapped in an elevator with his father(A defense attorney) and a baliff because an earthquake shut off the power.  His father was shot in that elevator and Miles Edgeworth has spent every night after that dreaming that he shot his father.  While it was eventually revealed that he did not commit the murder he was accused of, he then confessed to killing his father.   Phoenix pulled out all the stops and managed to mount a case that proved not only was Miles innocent, but that the person who raised Miles after his father's death was guilty!  ( I am hugely simplifying this case.  Play it, please.  I'm leaving out most of the DL-6, Yani Yogi, the reason why Miles doesn't believe Maya can summon the dead.  There's just alot here that I can't talk about right now)

After this he only showed up in the final cases of games 2 and 3.  Despite this, his presence is felt.  Phoenix believes that he committed suicidein game 2 because he was ashamed of how the last few cases ended.  This makes it even more amazing when it's revealed he's actually been living internationally and was the one who gave the key evidence in Phoenix's last trial.  When he finally enters a court room again, he reveals what he is now fighting for, the truth.  

He will find the truth, no matter what.  He will use the truth to convict the guilty.  And he will do it while remaining above the law.  There is reason why his theme is "Great Revival"

So, what does all this tell about him?

He's human.  While it may seem obvious, we can easily find these little chinks in his armor that show how human he is.  He is terrified of Earthquakes (the AAI series expands this to elevators also) When he heard Phoenix was dying, he flew half way around the world to see him one last time  and finish his case. (This turns out to be completely false.  Phoenix and Miles share a grade school friend named "Larry Butz"  and Larry has a tendency to exaggerate.).  He's launched task forces to save Maya at least twice,   and he is secretly a fan of the Steel Samurai (this was hinted at several times in the main series, but received more focus in AAI) 

He's stubborn, but not stupid.  Through out the series he's stuck to whatever he believes is true.  He's believed Maya killed her sister,  that he killed his father, and all defendants are guilty. (This last bit may be part of a guilt complex. He believes he killed his father, they already convicted his father's killer, so he prosecutes everyone else to make up for it) But when enough solid evidence comes to light that shows his ideas may be wrong, he rethinks the idea and chooses what he believes is the truth. It may be the old idea, but it can also be the new one.

He really does want to do the right thing.  Living with prosecutors made him chose the prosecutor path over the defense path, but the right thing is what he wants to do.  When he believes all defendants are guilty he pursues that path, but when he realizes he was wrong he adopts his new path and continues to follow it.  He will fight tooth and nail for what he believes is the right thing to do.  This has included randomly objecting to buy Phoenix time, having the defense call witnesses, BEING a defense attorney at least once,  and stepping in to prosecute when his adopted sister was shot (she survived).

There is quite a few reasons why Miles Edgeworth a fan favorite character, and I've barely gone into any depth (and I've left AAI out of this analysis) Play the games, see why Miles is so great.