Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Trials and Tribulations

It is both surprising to me and uplifting that the Ace Attorney trilogy found its way on its ending mark, a game that neatly ties all of its threads and themes set up and brings home the real deal on the nature of humanity, why we put ourselves on the line in the pursuit of truth. Not just the truth about others but also our own mindsets, biases, and understandings.

Trials and Tribulations threads the needle perfectly both in terms of characterization for all its major characters including new ones brought up, as well as general writing. The prose and charm is still at its top notch here, and it makes most sentences a delight to read, even at the game's lowest point. The casewriting is at its best, with good logical points to follow, and investigations that are well paced and make sense this time around. Breaking down testimony is still immensely satisfying as the solid music plays in the background.

There's really only one fumble to mention, that despite everything being set up so well and executed on with a perfect fashion, it still puts two mostly throw-away filler cases I can do without. 3-2 is tolerable, but 3-3 is so stupid that I go back and forth whether it was the stupidest shit to be added to this game in particular, or if it's just funny and self aware enough to be excused. Either way, there's a whole middle point that needs to be passed.

Even still, 3-1, 3-4, and 3-5 are where the bulk of the storytelling is and it's all a delight to read, managing to get me teary-eyed near the end as the case writing wrapped up. It was an amazing journey, a complete far cry from how I felt about the first two games.

I'm frankly puzzled by this game's rating on this site relative to the earlier games, as it is, in the most literal sense, more of the same. Perhaps the main story didn't quite resonate with me as much as it did for others. It's very much the same over-the-top, mostly light-hearted courtroom drama, bookended by more somber narrative bits. The flaws remain the same as well: the investigation segments can be slow, the courtroom segments can be obtuse, and some of the running gags get beaten deep into the ground. More often than not, it feels like it's not testing your cleverness or logic, but your ability to read the game designer's mind. The English localization, while a good effort, gives the sense that this is the kind of game where a lot is lost in translation. This isn't helped by the rather mysterious decision to pretend this game isn't set in Japan despite it being very obviously Japan. Enjoyable, but shy of truly great, in my view.