Karifean's Blog of Visual Novels

(Original Post on the Forums)

#10
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Series)
Developer: Capcom
Availability: Fully Localized (iOS, Nintendo DS/3DS/Wii)
Adult Content: None
Length: Moderate (~25 hours per game)

The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over.

Starting off the list with what's most likely the most well-known visual novel series outside of Japan, we have Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, or Gyakuten Saiban (Turnabout Trial) in Japanese. I shouldn't even have to introduce it, but for people who have never heard of it before, you play as a defense attorney by the name of Phoenix Wright, and over the course of the series you take on many court cases trying hard to clear your clients' names. There's actual gameplay involved as you investigate areas, find clues and present your case in court sessions.

One of the series' main strong points lies in its lovable characters. Between Mia, Maya, Detective Gumshoe, Miles Edgeworth, the Judge, Larry Butz, Wendy Oldbag, Pearl and later on Apollo Justice, Trucy Wright, Kay Faraday and Athena Cykes, Ace Attorney's characters never disappoint. Phoenix makes for a great protagonist and his interactions with Maya make the first three games so much fun. Later games feature different protagonists but the script stays consistently good. And while the pacing suffers at times especially in each of the games' second and third cases, it always picks back up.

Easily my two favorite games in the series are the original first game and Trials and Tribulations, both for having a surprisingly engaging story with a great cast of characters and very memorable antagonists. I like them pretty much equally so even if you say putting an entire series on one spot is a cop-out, those two games would still share the #10 spot regardless. Although really, all the games in the series are worth reading. I haven't read Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Path yet, but I definitely will, and I'm sure it won't disappoint either.

Finally, I have to mention the soundtrack. It's good. Like, very good. The Objection themes, the Pursuit themes, the Reminiscence themes, the "Won the Lawsuit!" themes... they're solid in just about all games. Tracks I find particularly notable are Objection 2001, Objection 2013, Pursuit Cornered, Won the Lawsuit! Another Victory, Reminiscence DL-6, Swimming Anyone? and Announce the Truth 2013.

An absolute classic series of visual novels that no fan of the genre should pass up on.