Reviews VisualNovel / Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Turnabout Goodbyes: A Rousing Climax

I've saved a lot of my talking points about Edgeworth for this section because it seemed most appropriate to cover it here. While Phoenix is still the main protagonist who has to grow and become a hero, the character who undergoes the most change in this game is Edgeworth. It's similar to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in the first Star Wars, or Aang and Zuko in Avatar. We enjoy the protagonist's journey and they form the necessary backbone of the story, but the foil character is often more interesting to analyze because of how they contrast with the protag. So let's get into it.

To truly understand Edgeworth we need to know what it is that he values above all else. The core value that drives his being. The game obfuscates this at first, but as it goes on and we see more and more of him, the answer becomes clear. Edgeworth's core value is the Truth. As we discover through this case, the reason that core value was obscured in the past is because of the influence of Edgeworth's mentor and adoptive father, Manfred Von Karma. As revenge for Gregory Edgeworth getting Von Karma stuck with his first and only penalty, he decided to mold Gregory's son into a reflection of himself. Rather than the crusading defense attorney Miles had wanted to be in his youth, Von Karma's influence led him to become a cold, pitiless prosecutor obsessed with winning. But no matter how Von Karma tried, he couldn't change Edgeworth's core being. Deep down, he still believed in the search for the Truth.

This is where Phoenix comes in. He knew what Edgeworth was like underneath the years of Von Karma's influence. If anyone could show Edgeworth the way to his true self, it would be Phoenix. It would take going against him in court and ending his perfect record, but that turned out to be the shock to the system Edgeworth needed. It didn't happen all at once of course. No shift that large happens overnight. But it was enough to plant the seed of doubt into Edgeworth's mind about Von Karma's teachings. A seed that would start to grow during Will Powers' trial. And that's when I believe Von Karma began planning the events of this case.

Now let's address this case's prosecutor and ultimate culprit, Manfred Von Karma. Von Karma is a narcissistic perfectionist, and quite possibly a sociopath. He does not care what happens to anyone so long as he maintains his perfect self-image. The problem is that Gregory and Miles cut through that. They wounded him professionally and physically. Rather than accepting his losses and learning from them, Von Karma decided to lash out in revenge. First he did this by killing Gregory and molding his son in his own image. But then Miles Edgeworth began to lose. What's more, he began to wonder if there was more to being a prosecutor than what Von Karma had taught him. And that wasn't good enough for Von Karma. After all, if Edgeworth abandoned his teachings then his revenge on Gregory would be incomplete. So he came up with a plan. A plan that would ensure Edgeworth either took the fall for the murder of Robert Hammond, or would plead guilty to killing his own father. That second part in particular was a masterpiece of manipulation on Von Karma's part. No matter which death Edgeworth was found guilty for, Von Karma would win.

But there's a problem with that. Von Karma's worldview is completely self-centered. He sees other people either as obstacles to be overcome or tools to wield. Everything and everyone exists as a stepping stone for his greatness. At the end of the day, he is alone in his perfection. But that's not the way the rest of the world works. Edgeworth was never truly alone. First he had Gumshoe's loyalty, then he had the help of Phoenix, Maya, and Larry. Any single one of them Von Karma could've taken on alone, but all of them working together? That was a force that Von Karma could not beat. In other words, he was beaten by The Power of Friendship.

Now that we've exhaustively covered both the defendant and the culprit, let's talk about the case itself. It’s great! It has all that dramatic character work I just spent 2 pages writing about, but it also has a complex and engaging mystery mixed with some good moments of levity. This case is the one where you confront a man’s childhood trauma about possibly murdering his father, but it’s also the one where you cross-examine a parrot, and at no point does this feel incongruent. It’s a testament to this game’s versatility. It does share its predecessor's pacing issues, but to a lesser degree. The character aspects and the comic relief do a lot to help with that. It could have used some tightening up, but I think it does work overall. This case set a great precedent for finale cases, but it also would’ve been a great note to end on if the series had stopped at one entry. It’s a wonderful effort all-around.