GIP, and then some.

[The GIP component of this post: nendil drew this for me a while back after seeing maruchan's 研究パン icon. I knew I wanted to icon it, but I didn't feel worthy of using it until I'd actually played Phoenix Wright.]

So I've been playing Phoenix Wright for a month or so now. Wow, way to have a lawyer game that was apparently never vetted by a real lawyer. It took me a while to realize that at least some of the oddness might be ascribed to the fact that it's probably based on Japan's civil law system -- it would explain why there's no jury, for example. But some of the other details are still pushing it.

( More lawyer stuff. )

In more general gameplay terms, I really like how the stories get progressively more complex, requiring you to make creative use of more and more features. At first you're just impeaching witnesses with evidence [that's what it's called, y'know, when you "find contradictions"]. Then you start having to examine a room and collect the evidence. Then you start having to present different pieces of evidence to characters to get them to tell you stuff. And in Rise From The Ashes, and on into the second game, from what I can tell, [or not] it starts becoming full-scale detective work: dusting for fingerprints, spraying for bloodstains, and all.

Throughout, though, the game is still extremely linear. I think somewhere I read them described as "visual novels", and I think that's very accurate. You're not really playing the game for the sake of playing, per se. You're there for the story -- the interactive element is just an excuse for not having FMV graphics. :P

Actually, it really reminds me of the games made by Humongous Entertainment -- Putt Putt, Freddi Fish, and Pajama Sam are the ones I've played. They were these semi-educational kids games that basically work the same way: you're clicking through screens that have interactive hot spots, but you can't unlock the next event until you've talked to people and done things in the proper order. In particular, when I had to go around trading Steel Samurai cards in Phoenix Wright, that was just like the part in Putt Putt Travels Through Time where you have to trade things from different time periods. I mean, you might find it worrisome that I'm comparing it to kids games, but seriously, some of those were hard. And I'd still play them today if we could find the discs, so.

Okay, that's all for the review. Now for fandom matters. :3

( To slash or not to slash? )

P.S. I want to make my own Phoenix Wright moodtheme. The game has such awesome sprites.