-MASON SYSTEM BOOTUP. COPY OFFERED TO THE SIXTH JUROR FOR THE TRIAL OF VERA MISHAM. PROVIDED BY PHOENIX WRIGHT-
Get ready for some measure of time-travel. Somehow. |
Allow me to also point out that, after the investigation in the MASON system and the last trial section have taken place, you will
be told to decide whether Vera is guilty or not. The case you’ve defended
through Apollo Justice, and now you’ll be part of its jury. How’s that for a conflict of interest? Oh wait, there’s more. But I’ll explain that
later.
Phoenix Wright recorded every moment with a camera
hidden behind the smiley face on his tuque. And much of
his mission during the third case of the game was him speaking to the actors of
the two cases. There will be a lot of going
back and forth between the past (seven years prior) and the present.
Well, duh. Whenever you play as Phoenix, expect to unlock some Psyche-Locks. Well, except in the first game... |
The MASON system makes the 4 locations of the past available from the start. Each one has its secrets. Most actors you’ll talk to will have their Magatama
section. You’ll eventually unlock scenes from the present, and at some point
evidence gathered in either time period could be used in the other, leading to
some… bizarre leaps of logic.
(Menu opens) Do I have a choice? A) Nope B) Nada C) Niet D) You wish you had a choice! E) Don't be heartless, just take her in already! |
In the past, we can talk to Valant Gramarye, to an
agent of the Justice Court, to Trucy, and to Drew Misham. We see what happened
after Zak’s disappearance: Trucy didn’t have other living relatives (aside from
Valant), and Zak said she could trust Phoenix, so Phoenix takes her in as an
adoptive daughter. No way would he let an 8yo kid alone! Zak pulled off his great escape by counting on a body double – Trucy’s Mr.
Hat, which she already had at age 8! I am still baffled how she could conceal
that adult-sized thing on her small child body. It didn't even make sense when she was 15!
"Trucy told me that she had a wonderful singing voice." |
Also about the MASON System: when one of its eight sections is completed, it gets a check next to its name,
and you don’t need to go again, thus reducing the scope of your search. If a section seems complete but isn't checked, you can be sure you'll be going back to that place soon.
I am sorry Vera, but I am contractually obligated to break the locks of 75% of the people I meet. |
This is either sign of great chuldhood trauma, or pettiness of the likes that we've never seen before. (For the record, it's option #2) |
I should mention one of the plot holes caused by the
MASON system: You can gather evidence from the present… to present to people in the past. In
other words, some pieces of evidence travel back in time, in Phoenix's possession when he isn't supposed to have them.
Well, now he really is dead... but that's not exactly the kind of news that should make you happy. |
After Valant makes his last revelations in the
present, he turns himself in to face the music for tampering with a crime scene. As a last
revelation, Valant says that Thalassa may still be somewhere out there… And she
is. She’s Lamiroir. So when Apollo and Trucy were talking with her on the third
case, they were unknowingly talking to their own mom. And neither caught on. Kinda hard to believe, especially for Trucy, no?
And Kristoph, that magnificent bastard, who carelessly left that envelope there, to be viewed by anyone who may or may not have a camera on them. |
Phew! That covers it.
Anyway, the next trial segment begins, with all the
elements to incriminate Kristoph Gavin for the murder of Drew Misham – by
poisoned stamp, which is something I bet has never been, and will never again be written in the “weapon
of the crime” section of any case file. Phoenix investigated this case to and through, now all Apollo has to do is piece the elements together.
Hey, can anybody have a thought for Klavier? The whole game was a rollercoaster of pain for the guy – his brother goes to jail for murder, his show was ruined, his detective friend turned out to be another murderous asshole, then Kristoph is on trial again. To top it off, unlike most prosecutors in the series, Klavier is a decent guy who deserves none of this crap.
Hey, can anybody have a thought for Klavier? The whole game was a rollercoaster of pain for the guy – his brother goes to jail for murder, his show was ruined, his detective friend turned out to be another murderous asshole, then Kristoph is on trial again. To top it off, unlike most prosecutors in the series, Klavier is a decent guy who deserves none of this crap.
Okay, so Vera could die at any moment now from the poison she ingested
when biting her nails. To explain that Vera was actually a victim, we present
the bottle of nail polish, we present Kristoph Gavin, and he is brought to the
stand.
His testimony is solid, but Apollo perceives Kristoph
as he mentions Drew Misham’s poisoning and it reveals a skull on Gavin’s hand.
It’s probably the most obvious perception test of the entire game. Of course,
Kristoph denies the accusation, until he’s shown the stamp… and hears that it
was found on the yellow envelope in his confinement room, the one he received
from Misham. Found by Phoenix Wright, no less. When Kristoph asks what motive
he’d have to kill Drew or Vera Misham, we point to the forged diary page. His reaction confirms that he was the one to introduce the forgery in Phoenix's trial, back then. Why did Kristoph do this? Only to get Phoeenix Wright
disbarred, solely because Zak Gramarye chose Phoenix instead of Kristoph as
his defense attorney. If there were olympics for pettiness, this guy earns Gold, Silver and Bronze.
We prove the link between Misham and Gavin, thanks to
a cheap “forgery” made by Phoenix Wright. It’s a copy he made out of a
recording of the original. The evidence isn’t accepted, though. Klavier ends up
stepping in to admit Kristoph led him into the case seven years earlier, forced
to push Phoenix Wright into using the forgery in court. This is the last straw,
and Kristoph freaks out... Unfortunately, he still won’t admit to the crime.
For the final trial section of the game, it’s a letdown; it's ridiculously easy. The evidence to present in the trial is pretty obvious, the perception tell is easy... There are still some tricky parts, but it's laughable compared to many preceding trials in this game. They ramp up the difficulty by giving bigger punishments if you present the wrong evidence, but that's about it.
That’s not where it ends: Remember, there were jurors
watching. And you’re placed by Phoenix Wright in the ultimate conflict of
interest: You are juror #6. You’re shown a panel with two buttons, Not Guilty
and Guilty. Phoenix tells you that due to the lack of decisive evidence, it’s
impossible to definitely declare someone guilty in this case under the old
court system, hence the jurors. You are in the ultimate conflict of interest:
You weigh in on Vera Misham’s case, that same case you spent defending as
Apollo. Oh, it gets worse: Pick Guilty, the jurors are unable to agree on a
verdict and Vera dies from Atroquinine poisoning. Pick Not Guilty, Kristoph
freaks out some more, Vera survives and Kristoph is arrested. We come back to
see who the sixth juror is, and it’s Lamiroir. Yes, Apollo’s mom, who has regained
the memories of her past, is weighing in on a trial where her son is the
defense attorney.
You musy choose... But choose wisely. |
After this choice, we get final words, and then the
game ends. You may be wondering why this game had a case that lacked decisive
evidence, and a Juror system to still get the right person behind bars – even
though the Juror system is completely dropped from the franchise afterwards.
Well, you see, this game came out in Japan in 2007. At the time, there were
talks of reforming the justice system of Japan to include jurors. This game
makes a very good case for such an addition, as in real life, there wouldn’t
always be decisive evidence to pin the crime on someone, and thus it is quite
unfair that a judge gets the final say on a defendant’s fate. Yep, that’s
right: This game is basically propaganda for jurors to be included in the
Japanese court system. The “Jurist System” never reappears in the Ace
Attorney series – not that there would be a need to. The Japanese system
was reformed in 2009, and yes, it started including juries in trials. That’s
also why Daryan Crescend, in the third case, was so difficult to pin down – we
knew he was guilty, but we lacked the decisive evidence, which is why the trial
went on and on. Jurors would have cut through the B.S. and declared him guilty.
If you want more Apollo Justice, he comes back as a
minor character in the sequel, Dual Destinies, and takes over as main character
partway into the sixth game of the series, Spirit of Justice, which you can buy
on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. But before that, I must make my case for the game
Apollo Justice. It’s a good game, here’s my evidence.
TAKE THAT!
I never get tired of seeing this guy. |
TAKE THAT!
The higher resolution of Nintendo DS games allowed
better sprite art, making the characters look better than ever before in the
series. The same can be said for the backgrounds, many of which are simply
gorgeous. The DS’s touchscreen allowed the player to do many other things, like
using Apollo’s perception ability to detect nervous twitches on a person. Most
notably, it allows the player to use Ema Skye’s forensic tools, which are
pretty great – whether it’s the scanner that lets us see under Misham’s
paintings, or the cement that lets us make a mold out of a shoe print. I
actually quite enjoy this.
Oh yes, it’s a good game. But to those who say it’s
the best, allow me to say…
OBJECTION!
All the ones you've committed, and it's more than a few. |
OBJECTION!
The number of conflicts of interest in this game would
make any real-life attorney groan. It's even worse than in the first game!
OBJECTION!
Yeah, um... how do we get that bottle of nail polish? In Kristoph's cell... in the present. While this presentation of evidence happens in the past. |
OBJECTION!
Also, compared to everything that came before, the final trial section where Kristoph Gavin is
defeated for good is very, very simple. Too simple, it’s an
anticlimax. Kristoph in Case 1
of this game put up a better fight. There is a lot of text, indeed, but the section is shorter and you're not tasked with presenting a lot of things - nor are the things to present very difficult to figure out.
If you can live with these issues in the game, I’m
certain you’ll enjoy Apollo Jutice: Ace Attorney. Well, this covers everything
I had to say about this series. I hope you enjoyed reading these… Holy crap, 10
parts. Well then, see you next week for something new!
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