Frequent readers of this blog may
remember my weird attempt to talk about every case in the original
Phoenix Wright trilogy. I did one post involving that then decided
screw it,I'm going to seduce people with cookies. I decided since I
finally started playing the newest game in the series,it's a good a
time as any to start this up again. A minor revision on my part,
provided I don't flake out again we will probably discuss
Investigations and Duel Destinies. Also if I my cartridge for it
materializes then we may get into Apollo Justice as Duel Destines is
warming me up to the title character. So without further ado let's
move on to Game one,case two: Turnabout Sisters. Also this is a plot
discussion/analysis so spoilers ahoy
This is probably one of the bigger
cases of the original trilogy as plot threads from here form the plot
for this entire game and go on to infect cases in Justice for All and
Trials and Tribulations. The central mystery being the death of Mia
Fey which brings with it the main plot of this game the DL-6
incident. The finer details of the case and how it affects everybody
is better delved into during Turnabout Goodbyes,so like the game I'll
save that for then.
The main plot is the murder of
Phoenix's mentor,Mia Fey. How this death truly affects you is
probably more based on how much you've played the rest of the series
and/or how easily attached you get to characters we've spent 20
minutes with. The case gives a sense of how motivated and dedicated a
person she is. She leaves her home and starts a new career just to
avenge her mother. She also probably would have done it if she hadn't
been killed. Mind you she also left her sixteen year old sister,Maya,
in the hands of her insane aunt who's so obsessed with the rite of
succession that she enacts entire murder plots in the next two games.
Though really it's never explained where Maya is living,so she may be
avoiding all of that mess...for now.
Speaking of Maya, we really don't get a
feel for her in this case. There are little bits here in there of her
true personality,a playful yet naïve teenager. The issues with her
mother and how this has affected her life and the Fey Family in
general aren't deeply discussed outside of what is necessary to this
plot specifically. She's better for letting us look at how Phoenix
thinks and acts. He sees her as a person in need of help and jumps to
her defense without hesitation. Since he truly admires Mia this in
turn let's us know how she would do in this sort of situation They
both truly believe in their clients and the both have that strong
sense of justice. So we learn about Mia via Phoenix via Maya.
On the Villain side we have Redd
White...of Blue corp. and his secretary Miss April May. They are odd
characters that while entertaining in their own way are decidedly one
note with White's sole motivation is him being a power hungry jerk. Some
of the other villains in the series have this aspirations or
something akin to that but are much better set up. However it is
still immensely satisfying to bring him down. I'll
save talking about Edgeworth for now as like Maya there is not much
to talk about with him yet.
The plot itself is very solid and is
probably going to screw with people who look at the first case and
decide that this is how the whole game is going to play out. It
re-introduces the Thinker statue from the first case and has the
player think they are going to use the same tactics as the first one.
Then Edgeworth just jumps in and lets you know things are not going
to be that simple. This game is going to have twists and layers. Mind
you it's still pretty simple ones now but it's give it time and
they'll blow your mind.
The game sort of tries to explain why
the courtroom shenanigans are allowed to go on as they are by way of
corruption. Redd White is cited as a major source of said corruption
but after this case the antics go even further and no one really
seems to mind. This explanation may have worked better if this was
say the final case of the game but instead it's sort of a one off
mention. True the whole concept is explored a bit more thoroughly in
Apollo Justice,but here it's more of lets fight for the truth.
Since I spent the time to complain
about Ghost Banri during the Golden Time review,I'll take a second to
explain why I'm okay with the whole spirit channeling idea. First off
it's still only the second case of the first game and outside of the
court segment we have no idea the boundaries of the world just yet.
Second,it becomes well integrated into the series,something Ghost
Banri could have done. Third, the limitations of what this particular
technique can do are outlined enough. Fourth,it's quite clear it is
supernatural and doesn't pretend to be other wise. So yeah it's a
very well explained concept that is introduced early on and adds something
to the story. Another thing Ghost Banri forgot to be.
I'd like to take this short section to
recognize the sheer idiocy of a certain plot point. Mia hides some
papers early on in the Thinker Statue but the mystery of where those
papers went or what happened to them is never brought up. Phoenix
never mentions them despite having access to a phone conversation
about them. They never come up till the final part which would be
implying that they are the list of names of people that White was
blackmailing. However,White knew about them and where they were so he
probably stole them,otherwise why break in there and murder Mia and
frame Maya if you didn't steal the proof that would be your undoing.
If that's the case then how in the hell would Maya have them if he
stole them.
The other way this works out is that
Maya took them before he could get them but she herself didn't know
about the papers till the day of the murder and therefore wouldn't
have had the time to take these papers. If those papers were indeed
the papers that were inside the Thinker,it's never really established
if they are or not. Which brings us back to the question what the
hell was Maya doing with this piece of evidence. It's established
early on that she can't summon Mia at will and Mia only appears in
the end of the case. Therefore Maya would have no real reason to hold
onto papers she would know thing about and Mia couldn't have them
when she is summoned. The memo could have possibly been written by
Mia during the trial but the fact that the channeler could imitate
handwriting is one of the few things never explained. This is really
nothing more than a nitpick but it sort of irked me as this series
tends not to leave plot threads dangling.
So to wrap this one up,a very emotional
case for those who get more invested in the series despite have a
really one note killer. We get some semi-important character moments
and actually important plot points but they really won't come into
play until later in the series.
This gets a Dead Mia out of Iris
