When anyone thinks of the Ace Attorney series, most consider the titular Phoenix Wright which has starred in many from the games over the years. The mainline series happens to be set in present day, but the series had a duo of prequel spinoffs back in 2022 and 2022 respectively referred to as Great Ace Attorney. As a result of quantity of reasons, these games were never localized to the West back on the 3DS though, which fans of the series have been asking for since. The wait is finally over though as both games have finally arrived all over the world because the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.
Interestingly enough, The truly amazing Ace Attorney Chronicles would be the first two Western releases within the series to be set in Japan proper for parts of the games. While the mainline series is set in Japan in the Japanese versions, they took some major liberties to help make the Western versions occur another Japanese-inspired version of La. The truth that the truly amazing Ace Attorney games were so distinctly Japanese in their story is the reason why many thought they would never release beyond Japan, but Capcom chose to have them occur Japan at the beginning a minimum of while keeping the cultural elements throughout even if they leave the country.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles are set near the end of the 1800s and beginning of the Twentieth century starting in Japan, where the concept of a defense lawyer is really a relatively new concept during what was known as the Meiji Era. You play as lead protagonist Ryunosuke Naruhodo, a second-year student at a local university who starts the sport on trial himself for murder. As much as this time, Ryunosuke had no desire whatsoever to be a lawyer, but after a little events that occur in the initial few chapters, he ends up in London to study and be an attorney himself. This will be no surprise though, as Ryunosuke is actually an ancestor of Phoenix Wright himself.
Unlike a lot of the Phoenix Wright games which have some very self-contained cases, despite the fact that there's still an overarching plot from the games, the storyline based in the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is extremely connected throughout as players are brought to Ryunosuke and obtain to watch him grow like a character. This really is in some ways similar to how the first Ace Attorney game showed Phoenix Wright as a rookie attorney, but Ryunosuke is even more green than Wright has ever been. After multiple entries in to the mainline franchise though, this is a refreshing take with someone who is very new whom you get to experience from the beginning of the career.
Ryunosuke is far from the only important character in the game though, because there are multiple others that have reoccurring roles too. This includes his best friend Kazuma Asogi, judicial assistant Susato Mikotoba, and the absolutely absurd detective Herlock Sholmes among many other characters. Going into too much more detail would potentially spoil some major events, but there's no doubt that the characters found within the two games are very much what you would expect in the Ace Attorney series.
Both games thrust you directly into the courtroom in the beginning, using the second game having a unique twist with that even. These are pretty straightforward introduction chapters that get you accustomed to the courtroom and the classic style setup in which you go back and forth with the prosecution while trying to avoid having the judge call for a guilty verdict. This is really just like the past games, which means you should know what to expect here. The followings chapters though are in which the game really opens up with increased exploration and detective work being brought in to the mix.
In the very first game, for instance, the 2nd case does not even occur in a courtroom, but instead aboard a ship as Ryunosuke and company are going to London included in research abroad type program. Without giving away too much, this is when Herlock Sholmes is first introduced like a master detective take on A virtual detective, though that one is a little off in the deductions. They know ways to get there broadly, but doesn’t also have all the facts right. This is when Ryunosuke is necessary in what is known as the Dance of Deduction. While the remaining chapter has you doing typical Ace Attorney tasks like checking crime scenes and nearby locations for clues and presenting evidence in a few areas beyond a courtroom settings, the Dance of Deduction is completely new.
The Dance of Deduction will start with Herlock Sholmes giving a rundown of a case, often even seeming like he's making total sense. However, someone will invariably explain some major flaws in his deductive reasoning, which is where Ryunosuke needs to step in. Sholmes will redo his Dance of Deduction, however stop at certain points and allow you to replace certain phrases or words with the correct ones, whether or not they come from something can choose at the scene or something like that you've already as evidence. The multiple Dances of Deduction are actually entertaining to perform not just because Sholmes is a hilarious character in of himself, but since they're a unique new twist for the gameplay from the series.
Once you get to London though, things begin to change quite a bit with regards to the courtroom setting. It is because The uk handles things differently in their courtroom than Japan or perhaps the Japan-influenced Los Angeles setting from the mainline games. Instead of simply having a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a judge, these westernized courtrooms feature not only a judge, but additionally six jurors that you have to sway to your benefit. In typical Ace Attorney fashion, the prosecutor always gets off to a warm start and will turn the jurors completely against you and your client, which means you have to take part in what is known as Summation Examination to show it back in your favor.
Summation Examination is comparable to the cross-examination that you do of witnesses, because the point here is to locate contradictions in their statements concerning the case. Carrying this out successfully will get jurors onto your side, using the goal of getting the majority of them in your corner so the trial proper can continue according to usual. This is not that far off from that which you curently have to do in the trials, whilst managing to include something new as well.
Just like was seen using the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD remaster which was released on consoles two years ago, The Great Ace Attorney Trilogy received a much needed visual upgrade in the 3DS version. The 3DS itself was very limited with its screen size and resolution, so it’s great to see the two games in the collection within their full glory. Everything just looks cleaner now all around, by using it not even appearing like the sport was originally created for a handheld. The only real downside this is actually the loss of the 2nd screen which has always been very useful in the Ace Attorney games, but it’s still handled very well here regardless, even when it’s not quite as convenient.
While the two games within the collection look better than ever with polished HD visuals, this new collection didn't add anything in the form of additional voice acting. The original Japanese release on 3DS was limited with the amount of voice acting, also is the situation here. The start of both cases includes a short scene with voice acting, but that quickly turns into only written dialogue pretty much after that on out. You can’t come with an Ace Attorney game with no loud “Objection” and so on sound effects throughout the courtroom scenes, which are very present, but that's about this otherwise. The likely reason behind the lack of extra voiced lines though is that the game includes dual-audio with Japanese voices and that will be a tall task to record more dialogue in both languages.
Capcom did choose to include another extra content too for you to enjoy, including its very own in-games accolades, a gallery, as well as a place to hear the game’s music. The Great Ace Attorney 2 specifically has alternate costumes you are able to switch between if you want for 3 characters too. Most importantly though would be the eight slice of life Escapades episodes that you could play through. They are little side stories that occur around the existing narrative, that are best enjoyed after completing the game.
Once thought unlikely to produce outside of Japan, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles has finally been brought West for the first time. Set a lot more than A century in front of the original games, the 2 games have the distinct Ace Attorney believe that fans know and love, whilst introducing some new mechanics that set itself apart. Without popular characters from the main series, there is no objection that the new characters introduced here are very likable and work well within the most interconnected stories within the franchise’s history.
The Verdict
Like you would arrived at expect in the franchise, The truly amazing Ace Attorney Chronicles features both classic detective and Ace Attorney series tropes and gameplay that come together around some very intriguing mysteries which will keep you busy for a lot of hours across the interconnected story of these two games included in the collection.
