I really enjoyed this video by Bowl of Lentils. Learning about the behind-the-scenes goings-on really explained a lot about how I felt about the later games. So Takumi wasn’t even involved with Edgey’s games or anything after GS4 in the main timeline. So that’s why Edgey’s personality shifted somewhat.

I had a little moan about this before, but Edgey’s game was such a disappointment. As I said, I was expecting something more in the stable of the Kyle Hyde games, but instead we got what seemed like a cheap imitation — well maybe an expensive imitation (I’m glad it was only £10 in the bargain bucket, though). Courtroom game mechanics, but with no courtroom. It’s like a bootleg, right? Edgey was such an annoying sticky beak, it really bugged me. I’m not sure he really needed a game at all.

You know the saying, “Never meet your heroes”, and I think Edgey is one of those characters that’s better for having an aura of mystery around him. We got to play him a bit in Bridge to the Idiot Plot, and I think that was enough. He should have stayed an NPC. Although according to the comments, his second game was really good, so maybe I’ll have a look around for the fan-patched game. [Fake edit: it loads on my Acekard, so I’ll play it after I’ve finished replaying the OT. I’m on The Stolen Turnabout btw.]

One of the other things mentioned in this video was Takumi saying he wanted to leave Phoenix’s story, although he didn’t mention Capcom pressuring him to be included. It’s on wikipedia anyway:

Takumi had wanted the series to end with the previous game, as he felt its main character, Phoenix Wright, had been fully explored and that his story had been told; he said that it is important to know when to end a story, that he did not want the series to become a shadow of its former self, and that he did not see any reason to continue it. When it was still decided that a fourth game would be made, Takumi wanted it to have a new main character and a new story; he did not plan to have Phoenix appear in the game, but his colleagues wanted him in the game in some form, which led to him being the accused in the first case in the game…The reason for turning Phoenix into a disbarred former lawyer was because Takumi felt that it would be “boring” if he was seen as a veteran attorney, so he immediately came up with the “dark image” of Phoenix’s character in the game.

Thanks I hate it.

This is kind of on the level of Shelly de Killer being Misty Fey [link].

Having him as a cameo would have been a nice compromise. He could have been Apollo’s mentor, much like Mia (and Yasarene!), but left Apollo to get on with it after the first case, while he worked on bigger cases, or even he was so successful that he could take a sabbatical and left Apollo and the necessary annoying teenage girl assistant in charge of the office. Or maybe he could have been a former mentor, and now Apollo works for a different office. There were so many ways Phoenix could have been included without ruining his character or overshadowing the new protag. Instead, everything he achieved in the OT was for nothing and he wasn’t even the same person anymore. I swear, Kathleen Kennedy played this game and thought, “THIS! This is how you treat a well-loved hero from a beloved franchise! JJ! Come here! Cha-ching!”

And then the new team were told to revert him back to how he was, so… yakara nanyanen?

So this video says that Apollo’s game didn’t do well, which surprised me, as I’ve seen more praise for this game than criticism. Certainly, I feel like a minority in hating HoboBob (I refuse to acknowledge him as Phoenix. He’s a lookalike, like Jake Skywalker). I suppose it sold a lower volume, but those who played it did mostly like it. Ignoring HoboBob, for me, it was okay, I guess. It didn’t really add anything new, and I didn’t give a crap about the Gramaryes. Trucy was all right, but most of her lines could have been given to Maya and you couldn’t tell the difference. Ema was cool, though. She was a nice change from Gummi (although I love the Gummi Bear!).

A game with ma girl Lotta Hart doing paranormal investigations would have been so much better.

Anyway, I totally regret not buying Layton vs Phoenix when it came out. I should have known better, considering I was only able to buy one of the three games from the OT (the last one btw), and Edgey’s game was a lucky find as I remembered seeing it in Morrison’s back when I first started playing, but before I was a fangirl. I even considered buying it then, but then put it back. Luckily (or not?) it was still there months later… although the sales assistant had trouble finding the cartridge in the cabinet. I was like, oh no, I’ve just been trailing all over Oxford Street looking for this, this can’t be happening… He found it in the end. I even got asked to provide proof of age before they let me buy it. I didn’t have any.

The game is rated 12.

Matiruda! Nani shiten nen!

I did manage to buy it though. But rewinding a little, on the way back from Oxford Street, after failing to find the game, I decided to buy the official Ace Attorney artbook to cheer myself up. Even though I did remember where I’d seen the game before I got to my station, I’d already made the deal, right, so I still bought the fanbook. And aren’t you glad you now know this pointless fact about me?

Will I ever finish this case? No. Because my old banger of a netbook can’t handle the new UI.

What I was saying was that I wish I’d bought Layton vs Wright when it came out, because it seems to be a rarity now. I remember bending Kei-chan’s ear about it when the Japanese trailer was released, and saying the “watashi wa kitto korosarimasu!” line, although I couldn’t really speak Japanese then, so I thought she was saying “korosu arimasu”… Yakara nanyanen.

So, back on track, I’d heard of The Great Ace Attorney. For some reason, I never really seemed to care about it, but maybe that’s because HoboBob ruined the franchise for me, so I stayed in my little OT bubble, ignoring everything else. But after watching this video, I want to play it now! Takumi is back in charge for this spin-off series, and apparently it’s even better than the OT. I’m not sure the game needed to be 3D. I quite like 2D sprites, but shaanai naa. What I like is that the assistant, despite being another young woman, seems to break the annoying teenage girl archetype that they’ve used in every installment so far.

I still don’t have a 3DS.