Ace Attorney series...storytelling in games at it’s best?

[En-ou]

Couple years ago I finished the original trilogy and I consider it to be in the highest tier of storytelling in gaming. It's a perfect mix of awesome storytelling, characters, dialogue and music that is full of emotion.

I started the first Investigations game few days ago and I'm just amazed at the continuation of such quality writing. I'm at the start of the kidnapping case and the appearance of the great thief. And I'm just reminded of the excitement I had when I played the originals.

For you guys who have played this series...thoughts? Anyone else experience the same with these games?

And if you haven't played these games yet, shame on you!

 

[werezompire]

I really like the Ace Attorney series, but even among the same developer it's not the best, because Ghost Trick exists.

 

[GhostTrick]

I love Ace Attorney series but... no. There are far more engrossing and engaging stories out there, especially within visual novels.

I really like the Ace Attorney series, but even among the same developer it's not the best, because Ghost Trick exists.

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Ghost Trick is good, but as time passed, I feel like Ace Attorney is a better experience. Ghost Trick suffers from the lack of any continuation of that story. A story, which is good self-contained, but could've had more fledging.

 

[super-famicom]

Ace Attorney is really amazing, but I'd put Disco Elysium above it. Visual novel-wise, The House In Fata Morgana is really great. Also, OP, have you played Zero Escape: The Nonary Games series?

 

[PucePikmin]

They're good, charming games, but they're a little long-winded and repetitive.

 

[Poltergust]

While overall quality varies from game to game, there isn't a single bad game in the entire series. It's really something special.

I really can't wait for The Great Ace Attorney duology to be announced and released. I've been looking forward to playing those games for so long.

 

[Dreamboum]

Ace Attorney is great but not the greatest. Ghost Trick by the same creator is even more incredible

 

[Deleted member 10737]

i think there are better stories told in games. the first three AA games together have one of my absolute favorite stories in video games tho.

 

[Chopchop]

I think some of its best cases are up there. It sometimes does really neat things with its storytelling because it's in a game and not another medium.

 

[Deleted member 20471]

Lol no. I really like AA but it's just an entertaining "beach read", nothing more.

 

[bluexy]

Absolutely some of my favorite stories in video games. But court cases and investigations don't necessarily lend themselves to consistently great storytelling just due to pacing and all of the puzzles. Still, the big moments hit real good at the end of trials. The outstanding character work just oozes empathy, which few games manage. And the way stories connect over not just cases but multiple games is unique among the industry. There's just nothing like it.

The Ace Attorney games are absolutely something special and have a dear place in my heart.

 

[jon bones]

Ace Attorney Trilogy will go down as one of my GOATs, absolutely. Just a treat from start to finish, with really lovable characters.

Looking forward to Great Ace Attorney and hopefully a 4-6 collection on Switch someday.

 

[Verelios]

The trilogy is one of the best pieces of character writing I've seen in gaming, but the actual plotline is completely held together by the strength of its characters and it shows. I'm even assuming this is one of the reasons characters suffer from flanderization starting in 4-5-6, because it's easier to make them more zany and memorable.

 

[Rosebud]

I love AA, but not for the story. I recommend Umineko and The House in Fata Morgana.

 

[NotLiquid]

Ghost Trick is the peak imo, one of the finest examples of storytelling in games, but Ace Attorney's formula is just so conducive to a good mystery that the original trilogy is just next level.

 

[Irene]

Yes. Yes!

The Ace Attorney series is one of my all-time faves in narrative media, period. The characters, arcs, plot devices and dialogue writing is just elite tier stuff.

The way that every case is a self-contained story while also building on the central narrative arc of the Fey Clan is brilliant. I love how well everything fits into itself, and how cohesive and compelling everything is. In Trials and Tribulations, it's amazing to me how they could pull off something like (putting it in spoiler tag in case someone has yet to play it (please play it))

Spoiler

Larry seeing the bridge upside-down in Bridge to the Turnabout

and make it make sense within the roles and rules of the game itself.

Also, Dahlia Hawthorne is such a great

Spoiler

villain

Love the series!

 

[Patitoloco]

They're great games, but they're not even close to other stories in the VN space IMO

 

[Absolute]

I really like the AA but I always felt like there was too much waffle in the dialogue.

 

[transience]

Ace Attorney is really great. dunno about best story, but I consider to be the best visual novel type of game I've played by a good distance.

 

[Nightengale]

That's not When They Cry.

 

[Symphony]

I mean they are pretty great but many other VNs totally eclipse them, and even in the VN-lite space 999 and VLR have more engrossing stories.

 

[wideface]

Disco Elysium, Umineko, The House in Fata Morgana, 999, Virtue's Last Reward, Muv-Luv Alternative or even Ghost Trick are better in my opinion.

 

[sir_crocodile]

The Rise from the Ashes finale to the DS version of AA1 is really very good. As an overall story Ghost Trick is probably better though on the DS. Grim Fandango would be overall best, though as a "game" it sucks, as the puzzles are garbage.

Best dialogue is certainly a P&C game like Monkey Island 2, Time Gentleman Please or Lair of the Clockwork God.

 

[Weiss]

That sounds like a little too much praise but it's a really good series in terms of presenting a compelling and interesting gameplay experience without heavily gamified elements.

The year is 20XX and the legal system is now so corrupt the court of law has become a series of high stake duels between lawyer boyfriends.

 

[secretanchitman]

Incredible series. I love when the villain gets exposed (cool animations) and then there's a huge break in the case which audibly makes me gasp. :D

I honestly can't wait for the next games (if TGAA1/2 really are coming stateside and AA7 actually is in production) - I still watch a YouTube playthrough from time to time because of how well every case is handled.

 

[RochHoch]

The original Ace Attorney Trilogy is the GOAT

I really wish I could experience those games for the first time all over again

 

[Poltergust]

The Rise from the Ashes finale to the DS version of AA1 is really very good. As an overall story Ghost Trick is probably better though on the DS. Grim Fandango would be overall best, though as a "game" it sucks, as the puzzles are garbage.

Best dialogue is certainly a P&C game like Monkey Island 2, Time Gentleman Please or Lair of the Clockwork God.

Click to shrink...

AA is a P&C adventure game with a VN aesthetic.

 

[super-famicom]

I still find a lot of the localization to be really weird

 

[AnonymousApple]

I really like the Ace Attorney series, but even among the same developer it's not the best, because Ghost Trick exists.

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never have I agreed with someone more on this forum

play Ghost Trick if you haven't people

 

[Shining Star]

The best no but its really good if not a bit inconsistent.

 

[Waxwing]

As someone who games at least 60% for good story, it's probably my favorite videogame series. First of all, it's really up there for GAMES with great twists and mysteries. Some games are lucky to have 1 great twist. AA often has several. And folks shouldn't sleep on AA6. Almost as good as AA3 imo. Case 5, to me, ties with Case 5 of AA3.

But the really underrated bit about AA is how well it brings the player into key deductions. Clues trickle along to the player, and then at key points, the game challenges players to put those pieces together- and frequently, doing so in the right way results in something truly surprising- and it feels remarkably rewarding because the player figured it out themselves. Yet, they were only able to do so because the game so cleverly shunted the right pieces in front of the player. It reminds me a bit of the portal games in that way.

As for the other games mentioned: I love Umineko, but that's a linear VN. 999/VLR are marred for me by ZTD...uchikoshi was not able to pay off all of the narrative promises that were made satisfactorily. Ghost Trick had a fun plot, but I didn't think the puzzles were as interesting as the courtroom sequences in AA- and I don't remember much about the game anymore- didn't stick with me.

 

[En-ou]

Ace Attorney is really amazing, but I'd put Disco Elysium above it. Visual novel-wise, The House In Fata Morgana is really great. Also, OP, have you played Zero Escape: The Nonary Games series?

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Not yet. But I will add to my list!

 

[purseowner]

I'd put Fata Morgana, Utawarerumono, the first two Zero Escapes above them, but Ace Attorney 3 is a masterpiece.

 

[En-ou]

Yes yes, Ghost Trick, I have it on DS and iOS, I think I will jump on that once I finish the first Investigations.

 

[En-ou]

I'd put Fata Morgana, Utawarerumono, the first two Zero Escapes above them, but Ace Attorney 3 is a masterpiece.

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Thanks, I will make a note of these.

 

[Sabretooth]

I would not like to compare Ace Attorney's writing to other games I've played tbh, because something about that just feels wrong. Like comparing grandma's special recipe to a five-star restaurant or something, it just feels weird and unbecoming.

So that said, I will offer that Ace Attorney games are just ridiculously, consistently entertaining on a level that few text-based games manage. I would say it's impressive enough to that the franchise has as many entries as it does, given it's a chiefly about reading text, but that just goes to show how solid its mastery over writing is. I especially admire how it's good at just about everything - tone, plotting, dialogue, characterisation, it excels at it all.

 

[unicornKnight]

Even though I find AA3 had the most interesting story and cases, AA1 is still the best. Gameplay wise 2&3 tried too hard to challenge the player.

 

[crimilde]

I think there are a lot of visual novels with more compelling stories out there. The Nonary Games (especially 999), Hotel Dusk, Steins;Gate and Higurashi are just some of my favourites which I'd rank higher than Ace Attorney.

 

[H2intensity]

Yeah..Ace Attorney series is good but not the best in story telling. Many indie games do that better like To the Moon..now that's one of the best story telling i ever encountered. It has many layers, depth, great pacing and really fantastic twist.

 

[Acquiesc3]

I mean it's a visual novel and it sounds like you should probably read more of them.

 

[hyouko]

They're good, but probably not the best. For VN-style games I rate The House in Fata Morgana solidly above them. Outside of VNs, I would give Mother 3 the nod.

Also in the non-VN space, there are specific moments that stand out as cooler than anything Ace Attorney does. One less-common mention I'd call out here is Shovel Knight (spoilers for the endgame) which manages to eloquently demonstrate the bond between Shovel Knight and Shield Knight in the final boss battle - the mechanics make it beautifully, elegantly apparent how they are two halves of a whole you didn't even know you were missing for the entire game up to that point, far more clearly than just telling you in words would ever be.. There are great moments in Braid, 9 Hours/9 Persons/9 Doors, and Shadow of the Colossus that do more interesting (if not strictly "better") things storytelling-wise than the AA games, though I might rate the totality of the AA experience as a more enjoyable yarn.

 

[jon bones]

Yes yes, Ghost Trick, I have it on DS and iOS, I think I will jump on that once I finish the first Investigations.

Click to shrink...

You'll love it, but I like playing it around Christmas time

 

[JoRu]

At its very best I can't really think of a game story that's as engrossing and well-told as Ace Attorney, so yes. At its worst it's not even close to that, so there's inconsistency there, but overall incredible series.

 

[Corgi]

I've been slowly taking my time with the first game in the trilogy. But I really enjoy the casualness.

 

[hwarang]

not at all.

 

[HiLife]

I had no idea there was a collection out. Never played these but I've always been interested. I know what I'm doing after I beat P5S.

 

[Shizuka]

Lots and lots of visual novels do it better.

 

[Hieroph]

AA1 and 3 are master level storytelling. AA2 and 4 also have lots of great stuff. Really some of the best stories in games.

 

[Unknownlight]

Consistency is not always appreciated as much as it should be. Ace Attorney has a dozen or so games, each consisting almost entirely of tens of hours of reading text boxes, and every single one of them is good. A handful of them are even phenomenal.

So, my answer is going to be "yes". I agree with everyone else that the original trilogy was AA at its best, but it's remarkable that the series has remained so good for so long.

 

[nachum00]

Hotel Dusk is the right answer.