This past week, Capcom showcased the latest Ace Attorney game at E3. And, thanks in no small part to fellow CR regular L~A I was lucky enough to attend this rare event. I was planning on posting this earlier but pressing personal obligations took precedent. (Not to mention getting stranded in New Jersey on the way back, but that's a separate matter). But better late then never, here are my Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies impressions.

Now, before I talk about my experiences in the Capcom booth, why not take a look yourselves. Here is a full 360 Degree Spherical Panorama of the booth. (Best viewed on mobile devices, or desktops with Microsoft Silverlight installed.



The booth was really amazing to visit. The desks were made from a real but light wood.



And actually, there was a door on them by the side of the players. It didn't feel locked, but I was too scared to get caught poking around so I didn't press the mystery of what was hidden inside the desks. (Perhaps Klavier's prized Air Guitar?)



There was a roughly life sized Phoenix beside the witness stand. Nothing interesting on the backside, he was just painted black there. I had to resist the urge to swing my arm around and fake a buddy-buddy pose with our resident witness badgerer.



The Cindy Stones *cough* CINDER BLOCKS were made of plastic or some other mould. Decidedly not concrete. Sadly, I did not spot any ladder remains.



The Witness Stand was a perfect place to take a photo opportunity.



Which we did…



Yeah, we're about as photogenic as Gumshoe is likely to get a raise. Anyways, L~A eventually yelled at me to stop taking photos and to actually sit down and play the game. So I humored him I sat down…

And then took a photo of the sweet headphones attached to the demo 3DSs, faking him out and delivering a home run!



A stern look later, and I was sitting down and playing the game. The demo was otherwise identical to the Japanese flash demo that was posted a while back. But in English (Woo!)

There are other places you can go to understand the Japanese demo, so I'll keep my thoughts to what was unique about the 3DS demo.

First, 3D. Wow. I generally play with the 3D off on my 3DS. But in Ace Attorney 5, the 3D felt, surreal. The effect is very impacting because I'm so familiar with the Phoenix and Apollo era rooms in this case particularly the lobby, and so used to them in 2D. But when you see a 3D room that was almost a pixel perfect recreation of a very familiar 2D image you brain can't get over how familiar and yet not the sensation is. Very very cool. Believe me, screenshots and 2D demos do not do the 3D justice.

And as was reported earlier the old GBA/DS soundbites and voice clips have been replaced. I'm not sure how much of my experience was based upon using high quality headphones in a noisy environment vs my traditional game speakers in a quiet environment, but the sound effects, like the typewriter, sounded a whole lot crisper then the bits we're used to. As for Phoenix's new non-Ben Judd voice actor, I think he did a swell job. I didn't find the new guy's voice polarizing in the slightest, and I think the hubbub people threw about the change of voice is a lot of fuss over nothing. Just take the voice at face value, trust me, you'll grow attached.

For character impressions, the demo was really all about Phoenix. And I don't see why it shouldn't be, the premiss of the game is his return to court. But that did mean there wasn't much room at all to get impressions on the other characters.

Apollo showed up briefly in the lobby in his new getup. It was a bit different seeing some of his court animations face on, but he wasn't around long enough to get a read on what may have changed between Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies.

Athena, despite hanging around for the full demo was also a bit difficult to read. I took it as less something about her character, and more because Phoenix was driving the demo along. She's the game's spunky female sidekick. She was smarter and more resourceful/practical in the courtroom then Maya in general, but was otherwise quiet but attentive. And again, I emphasize the quietness was possibly less due to her character and more because Phoenix was by far the most active in the demo.

The Judge is back. He was as scatterbrained as ever, and even broke the fourth wall once. Enough said.

Gaspen Payne had some cool animations, but I otherwise couldn't tell the difference between him and Winston Payne per dialog. Honestly, Winston might've been the better prosecutor, but that wasn't easy to judge since, like Athena and Apollo he didn't chat much when he didn't need to.

Which brings us to the case 1 witness: Ted Detonate. He was easily the most developed character in the demo after Phoenix himself. His testimony is about as flaky as case one witnesses tend to be, but his animations are flat out amazing. Capcom proves with Ted that they can serve a best of both worlds approach. The amazing creativity of 2D animation and its ability to jump about combined with the smoothness and detail of 3D. He's a very cool character to watch in action. Now, I wonder what's under that helmet and behind those goggles…

And finally, Juniper Woods. 'Sometimes' it was difficult to tell that she was in fact 3D and not a traditionally 2D animated character, which is really cool that Capcom could pull that off. She didn't spend much time on screen, but her testimony was unhelpfully short and needed a lot of prodding from Athena's Mood Matrix.

As for the Mood Matrix itself, you can sort of think of it as a simplified version of Apollo's Perceive system. But rather then search for tells during a particular testimony, you're looking at a 2x2 grid of emotions with the witnesses current emotion(s) resonating. Find the emotion that doesn't fit the testimony and Phoenix will shout "GOT IT!" (Which confused me since Athena was the one running the Mood Matrix). While in the Mood Matrix system the top screen showed layered images depicting the testimony that would be added to as the testimony became more clear. I assume it's not unlike the courtroom illustrations that were drawn in Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney, which only depicted as much as was known and couldn't spoil unknown details in consequence.

While at E3, we did try to get to attend the live Q/A session, but the Capcom attendant turned us away since in order to attend we had to be preregistered, implying before E3 began. So rather then break into the coolest thing happening at E3, L~A and I tried Pikmin 3 out at the Nintendo floor while the live Q/A was going on. So we missed out on that.

But outside of Ace Attorney, E3 was just amazing. We got to attend the Pokémon round table, The Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses concert, and had a private interview with Sakurai about Smash Bros. Not to mention try out a ton of awesome games that won't be on the market for but a while now like Pikmin 3, Sonic Lost World, Donkey Kong Country Jungle Freeze, Mario 3D World and many many more. (Personal recommendation? The Wonderful 101 for Wii U. Control a crazy angry mob (of superheroes) and fight robot aliens with cool influences from Viewtiful Joe, Pikmin, and Katamari. How is anything about that not epic?!)

But yeah, it was an amazing trip and I couldn't be more thrilled that I got to see all the amazing Ace Attorney things there. If you get a chance, stop by Capcom's Message Board and tell them how much you appreciate them bringing Dual Destinies to us. This looks like a solid game with the top notch localization we've come to love and respect from them. They deserve some hugs for that in exchange for how hard and insensitive us fans can be at times. I'm sure they'll appreciate some thank-you's.

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Sounds like you had quite a fun trip.

Also, do you think that AA5 is as good, if not better, than the previous games?

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Was there too, loved the demo, the sense of humor is still there, references to current pop culture are still there...

It really felt like good ol' Ace Attorney

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@kwando

Engine wise, it blows the previous games away, no question.

Story wise? It's hard to tell from not even half a first case, really there's more plot to be had from the current news, but my current impression is, at least based upon first cases:

GS4 > GS3 > GS5 > GS2 > GS1

But we're shooting low here. I don't see how the completed version could possibly go below GS2 in my books, and the final version could blow GS3 and GS4 away. We'd just have to wait and see what the final version is like.

@Porygon

You lucky dude. I wonder if we street passed. Mine was Waldo.

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Woost, if that's you in the right-most photo, you look unsettlingly like an old classmate of mine. And if that's not you, then L~A does.

I'm really looking forward to the Japanese version of the demo hitting the eShop tomorrow - all the impressions I've heard suggest that the game is really best experienced on an actual console, not as screens or a flash demo.

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Yeah, I'm the one on the right, but I'm not sure how I could possibly look like a familiar. The picture is blurry and there's not much defining of me to be seen.

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One thing that people have worried about is that Phoenix might not feel like his GS4/"experienced" personality.

When you were playing as Phoenix, did he feel like a progression of his character, or did he feel odd or like he reverted to GS1 Phoenix?

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I caught nothing reminiscent of GS4 Phoenix. So yeah, he felt like a rookie idiot, that reminisced about the past once in a while.

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That's a little disappointing. Hopefully they'll either explain it or it won't be noticeable enough to interrupt the story.

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Dammit Wooster, why didn't you pick me up? We both live in the same state! You could have snuck me in your luggage and taken me with you. I keed. Hope you had a good time down there.

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I guess it's mostly the clothes and stature.



I wonder if he'll feel less like this when we're not playing as him. I mean, GS4 Phoenix was still a little more mature even when you were playing as him, but it was seeing him through Apollo's eyes that really made him feel different, I think.

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I-I'm so jealous.... *drools at pictures* Your trip sounds like it was fun... I can't wait for the US release!

... I personally don't see much difference between GS4 Phoenix and Pre-GS4 Phoenix; in my opinion, his poor taste in humor just got a little worse, and he learned to take a few more things in stride. A reversion to the Pre-GS4 personality, therefore, could be easily explained by the return of the need for a more professional outlook, if ever so slightly. Then again, I'm the sort of person who would see nothing out of the ordinary if the world suddenly flipped itself on its head, so I'm probably not one to talk, haha.

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Probably only for the first case for nostalgia and tutorial reasons.

lol yes we did, unless there is another Waldo...

I'm Erick, green shirt, Luigi hat from Mexico.

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That looks awesome. And almost-live-seize Phoenix? Oh man. I want one of that!

Guess this means we'll probably see an eShop demo for AA5 closer to release.

Thank you Wooster so much for the write up and pics! I just want this game even more now...

Thanks for the impressions, Wooster. Sounds like it was awesome. I attended one of those Best Buy events to try some Nintendo games, but that doesn't really compare, I know. Still, I'm glad you had a good ti-




WHAAAAAAT!?


*ahem* I mean, how did that go?

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Has anyone noticed that all games seem to be replacing their voice actors? Snake, Sam Fisher, and now Phoenix Wright.

Judging from your impressions, the game is looking to be fantastic! Glad you got to go!

By the way Wooster, the sound difference when playing DS games with headphones and with speakers is pretty large. I always play my handheld games with headphones on to get the best sound experience possible.

I have noticed that, although they seem to be for different reasons. I keep hearing that GS5 replaced the voices because of "quality differences" between the DS and 3DS, but I think the main reason is actually that now that there are cutscenes with lots of spoken dialogue they want real voice actors to do the roles rather than just Capcom employess. I know Kojima wanted an actor who sounded older and more convincing for MGSV which is why they got Sutherland.

Yeah, anyone who owns a portable gaming system owes it to themselves to get some good headphones or earbuds to use while playing, because the speakers have always sucked on the devices and they seem to keep getting worse (my 3DSXL speakers are terrible compared to the already-not-great original 3DS speakers.

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I wasn't aware that GS5 was getting actual voice acting (not just sound clips). I know that there's going to be anime cutscenes, but I assumed that they'd be very short with no voice acting like Chrono Trigger.

From what I've heard there is plenty of talking in the cutscenes. They're done by the people who did PLvsAA's cutscenes, so I would imagine these will be just as involved.

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Hope it's good voice acting, though a MegaMan 8 mode for VA would be fun.

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Congrats to the lucky souls that got to go ^_^

I seriously can't wait for AA5, it's been a while sense I have been so hyped, and this hype train just keeps getting faster and faster!!!

Its unlikely though since i am quite sure that Phoenix's current VA Sam Regal is much more high profile than anyone who acted in that game. At worst this will be mediocre which is still a vast improvement.

@Bolt Storm

GS4 Phoenix did indeed dialog exactly like the first trilogy Phoenix. But I personally associate Hobohodo as a manipulative bastard on top of having the same personality quirks.

I think the line that sealed the deal for me was "I run what could be called a law office, I guess". Perhaps my favorite line in the demo, but with regards to what it meant for my view of Phoenix: Granted, in GS4 we didn't have access to his monologues, but he didn't seem to care about preconceived notions and ran with and ran over whatever came his way. GS5 Phoenix is more goofy and has a rookie timidness at times.

But you're right, it'll be much easier to get a feel once we see things through Apollo's eyes.


@Porygon

Alright, once I find my 3DS I'll try to find ya. But man were there a lot of people to street pass. I ended up filling every single puzzle starting with Fire Emblem Awakening (I had everything previous completed last E3)


@porkiewpyne

In retrospect, it may have actually been a life sized Phoenix. He looked rather short from my perspective, but then I forget that Japanese in general are short compared to their western counterparts. With that in mind, I guess he seemed smaller in life?


@TheBaronAndEma

Ha. It was fun to do. My only regret is that I didn't get a chance to get everything up sooner.


@Blademaster_Orca

It was craaaaaaaaaazy.

First, before we left for E3 L~A asked me some leading questions about Smash Bros. He later informed me after some confusion on my part that it was for an Interview but he wasn't a big Smash aficionado. He also told me I wasn't supposed to know about the interview (Whoops!). So in LA in our hotel room I'd help him brainstorm some questions for the interview. The interview was scheduled for the last day at the last hour or so of E3. My original plan was to split off from L~A during the interview and head to the Capcom booth and ask about getting in queue for acquiring a review copy of AA5 for CR, and then spend the rest of the time shooting photos and panoramas and video until I got word from L~A that the interview was over.

It… didn't exactly happen that way.

So we hung out at the Nintendo show floor shooting last minute footage until it was time to head over to Nintendo's private booth. I tagged along as long as I thought I could before saying goodbye. Except when L~A informed the Nintendo employee why he was there (For the 'secret' interview, they let us both in. No questions.

I was like, oooookay. I don't 'think' I'm supposed to be here, but went along. Took some panoramas of the upstairs lobby and chatted with the attendants for a bit. Or rather L~A did most of the chatting. I'm a bit shy when I'm behind Nintendo's lines when I'm arguably not supposed to be there. Turns out one of the Nintendo employees we were chatting with was the same guy we met last year (Who then was in a French dialog with L~A and didn't realize I didn't speak French. Asked me a few questions in French, and I embarrassingly confessed "I'm sorry, but I don't speak French." And, wow, was he embarrassed, as was I.) He recognized me from last year, which I'm not sure was a good thing or a bad thing considering. But eventually it was time for the interview to start and they ended up shooing both of us into the private room.

Now. Here I am. In the same room as Sakurai, The mastermind behind Kirby, Kid Icarus Uprising, and Smash Bros. I am here attending a private 1 on 1 interview (which looked more like a 3 on 1 plus me) I thought I

A) Shouldn't know about
B) Shouldn't be attending
C) Holy Cow how did I get here?

So L~A and I were in this small room with Sakurai, the Translator (Who Bolt says was Bill Trine), and a woman who seemed to be the secretary and time keeper.

So I did the what I would've done anyways were I invited, and I opened my laptop and started to transcribe L~A's interview with Sakurai.

Honestly it was a lot of fun. Sakurai has this sort of casual/professional tone. I felt less intimidated as the interview continued. We made sure, or rather L~A did since all I did was brainstorm, that the questions were all questions we could actually expect answers to. But there were some interesting things to be gleamed… I know L~A has posted the interview, but I don't think the contents have traveled English yet. I'll say the unprovoked comment about Play Station All Stars was perhaps the most interesting moment to be present for, even if what was actually said wasn't. But I'll let L~A decide how he wants to deal with the actual contents of the interview.

Anyways, time eventually ran out and we left the interview in good spirits. Unfortunately there wasn't near enough time to hit the Capcom booth since it was on the other end of the Expo center and E3 was nearly over. So I personally spent the rest of the time playing multiplayer Pikmin 3 with one of the female Nintendo employees. After winning the first round rather easily, despite not really ever playing that mode before, I learned that she had never won a multiplayer game at E3 yet.

I felt bad for her, so I decided I was going to let her win the second and final round. But I wasn't just going to throw the match. No. I was going to have some fun loosing.

The rule of the game was there's a 4x4 grid of fruit, connect four in a row and you win. I actively played the game, but I made sure that whatever fruit I collected would not be one to make a 4 in a row. To further obscure my tactics, I'd also throw Pikmin at the fruit that would win me the match, but only say 8/10 needed. And sometimes I'd stop collecting fruit to throw Pikmin at my opponent just to prove I was still an element in the game. Eventually my tactic worked. She started collecting the fruit that would prevent me from winning. It got to the point where I literally couldn't win if I wanted to. There was at least one nice fat X on each column and row, and I'd make no hesitation to point that out to her and cheerfully 'complain' that she's planned all along to actively trying to block me.

Well, the game being a Nintendo title, they'll never let you actually get stuck, so the game activated a bonus round where gold Olimar heads would fall from the sky and would randomly qualify as any fruit. I tried actively collecting them, sometimes throwing a bit less pikmin then required, other times throwing all the pikmin, but coincidentally recalling said pikmin to start grabbing something else.

The look on her face when she won the game 'fair and square' was worth so much more then if I just beat her flat out. I think she was still beaming when we finally filed out of the private Nintendo lobby as E3 had ended.


@ADA McCoy

Well, yes and no. That may have been the case in Japan, but in the West, Ben Judd, Phoenix's old voice actor isn't a Capcom employee anymore. He'd need replacing anyways.


@TopHatProfessor1014

Perhaps a poor choice of words on my part. The only voice acting I witnessed in the demo were whatever occurred in the Objection bubbles. I didn't see any voiced cutscenes but we already know they exist.

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How many panoramas did you end up taking anyway? You've given us some early ones on IRC, but that wasn't all?

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I'll do the same

BTW please tell us when that interview goes online, I really would like to see what did he answer about Battle Royale, since no one asked him about that game!

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I am so jealous of Wooster and L~A right now...

I knew of most of this stuff Woost posted because I... I follow... I follow... I follow him... Everywhere... o v o

On Twitter. Yeah.

In any case GUYS THE BOMB IN CASE ONE IS CALLED HH-3000. Like, remember when Holy Hell left for the second time and then came back a couple of years ago, and she called herself Holy Hell 3000? Holy Hell 3000. HH 3000. HH-3000.

Capcom > CR > Capcom

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Now they're just deliberately f*cking with us.

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So you're implying HH was da bomb? Sure, why not?

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