Holding it...

Moving forward in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy collection shows incremental mechanical improvements (the psyche-locks in investigation phases), and highlights lingering mechanical shortcomings (navigating a map with more than four destinations) -- but mostly reinforces that the strength of these games isn't mechanical.

It's the quality of the writing and localization that makes Phoenix Wright's cast of wacky characters so engaging and entertaining. More than merely a vehicle for cartoony comic relief...

... Phoenix's stories build drama, in our attachments to their characters, that gives real gravitas to the dire situations they face in court.

Much of the credit has to go to the original localization staff. It would be easy for a straightforward translation to unintentionally ruin a character's personality; but the consistency with which we can "see" characters like Maya, Gumshoe, and Phoenix himself, as they deal with personal and professional crises, makes them feel real.

(And it's clear that the localizers had fun, too.)

It's the "real"-ness of their characters - and the music, of course the music, which I still regularly listen to - that makes the Ace Attorney stories resonate so strongly. Even as 10+ years of distance makes me forget the details of solving cases... I still fondly remember some of their biggest moments, and seeing them again is a real treat.

Progress: Finished episode 2 of Trials and Tribulations