The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles: a perfect entry point into the franchise

Released respectively in 2015 and 2017 on 3DS, the two episodes of The Great Ace Attorney, spin-off of Ace Attorney (or Phoenix Wright for us), had never left Japan despite the success of the main saga in our lands. An error now corrected with the release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, a brand new compilation that takes us to discover the tribulations of Naruhodo Ryunosuke, ancestor of this dear Phoenix Wright.

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Graphically very pleasing
Well-oiled mechanics...
Tasty and earthy characters
A well-crafted scenario that spans both games

Sometimes much too talkative
… but less detailed than that of Ace Attorney
No Spanish version (or dubs)

You probably didn't know it, but Phoenix Wright (Ryuichi Naruhodo in VO) is not his family's first defense lawyer. The passion for law and justice developed by the Naruhodo goes back many years, and more precisely, to Ryunosuke Naruhodo. It was during the Meiji era, the day after the signing of the Anglo-Japanese friendship treaty of 1854, that this fiery young man began his career as a lawyer, and it is his story that we can follow throughout the two episodes and the ten cases that make up The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. A story as elaborate as one could wish, gripping, interspersed with characters all more earthy than each other, but which does not however escape some pitfalls, especially in terms of rhythm.

Re-Meiji a tour

As mentioned a little above, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is the story of the adventures of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, of his student youth in Japan, and his metamorphosis into a confirmed lawyer in the lands of perfidious Albion. And the least we can say is that the story does not leave us a second of respite by swinging us immediately in the heart of the "action". Accused of the murder of an English professor (which he obviously did not commit), Ryunosuke will have to ensure his own defense within the largest court of justice in Japan.

Accompanied by his lifelong friend Kazuma Asogi, a distinguished law student, and able to count on exceptional observation and deduction skills, the young Naruhodo will bring the truth to light, revealing a true vocation, and sealing his destiny. of defense attorney. The sequence of events will send Ryunosuke to the United Kingdom in order to rub shoulders with the "best system of justice in the world" (a system where the jurors vote by sending burning balls into the pans of a giant scale, therefore ...), and to a fiddled with cases more complex than each other, which combine to form one and the same story perfectly incredible, and devilishly gripping.

Each of the ten cases that will be possible to discover in this compilation is an opportunity to appreciate what makes the charm of a good Ace Attorney. Starting with the writing and the narration which turn out to be sufficiently well done to keep us in suspense at every moment. The revelations, the different twists and reversals of the situation are extremely pleasant to follow, especially since the story is served by a gallery of characters, each more successful than the next. Witnesses, jurors, defendants and members of the bar constitute a cast of choice. The characters are by turns classy in the extreme, idiotic as possible or completely implausible. But it works perfectly.

You just have to see the prosecutor van Zieks and his false airs of vampires pouring himself a glass of wine and drinking it in front of the court, this witness who wears a real swan as a headgear or even this juror knitting while giving her verdict to understand that Ace Attorney takes us into a rich, lively universe, a bit offbeat, but ultimately extremely coherent. A real treat that often contrasts with the themes addressed in business, such as murder, the death of a loved one or the West's contempt for the East, but which ultimately helps to play it all down with a certain brilliance.

Balance ton proc

Like the main series, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles borrows heavily from Visual Novel codes. Understand that you will have a lot of text to read, and that most of the interactions will be through interfaces, objects to inspect and documents to read. So don't expect hectic action during the many hours you will spend on the game. Here, it will be more a question of observation, reflection and logic than anything else.

To allow you to discover the truth, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles has made the choice of simplicity, abandoning many mechanics from the episodes of the main series. On this basis, the title weaves a set of uncomplicated investigations without however lacking subtleties or interests, which make it an excellent entry point for neophytes.

Ryunosuke's basic tool is his diary, which includes all the clues unlocked over the course of the case. Reports, exhibits and other files relating to the characters present may be studied from every angle to detect the slightest clue likely to advance your case. It will often be necessary to come back several times to the same object to extract its essential marrow and unblock an inextricable situation at first sight. Then charge the player to use the right argument at the right time to change the situation.

As the business progresses, new principles will expand the panoply of our character. Cross-examinations allowing to bring out a new truth or an inconsistency, ability to deduce facts in duet with the (almost) brilliant detective Herlock Sholmes, questioning of the votes of the jury by highlighting their contradictions, it is in the end a complete arsenal that is at your disposal to make the truth triumph.

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The dance of deduction, or how to correct Sholmes' erroneous reasoning

In the end, it is very pleasant to juggle with the different tools at our disposal to unravel the skein – and the hair, sometimes – of each case, and end up making justice and truth triumph. And even if, by its principle, the adventure turns out to be quite dirigiste since there is only one and unique way to solve the cases or to present the evidence, the adventure lets itself be devoured with an undeniable pleasure. concealed.

The hour of the plague

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles already scores very good points thanks to its writing, its narration, its characters and its game mechanics. But these are not the only assets since the title can also count on an extremely successful realization. The Switch version that we had in our hands is extremely clean in portable mode as well as in docked mode, and we will salute the work done in relation to the base material. The character animations in particular are very pleasant, and bring the character gallery created for the occasion to life.

We will have fun with the facial expressions and attitudes of Ryunosuke, who reveals his moods enormously throughout the trial, as well as the often disproportionate reactions of the other protagonists. It's also difficult to ignore one's pleasure when listening to the game's soundtrack, which offers some very pretty compositions that perfectly accompany the different phases of the trials.

Is The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles free from flaws? Absolutely not, and this is where the shoe pinches a bit. The biggest problem, for us Spanish, lies in the total absence of localization in the language of Molière. To enjoy the adventures of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, you will need to have a good (or very good) level of English. The adaptation work in English is also particularly successful, with characters ranting with a lot of slang and other accents to cut with knives.

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The English judicial system and its famous fiery scales of justice...

The biggest grievance against this title, concerning us at least, is essentially a matter of rhythm. Even if in essence, an Ace Attorney is based on sequences of texts to be read, this Great Ace Attorney Chronicles sometimes gets lost in unnecessarily long, even redundant speech phases. As if the game took malicious pleasure in diluting its words. It is very annoying to understand where the story is leading us, often because the solution is seen like the nose in the middle of the face, while having to stick to long minutes of going back and forth between the characters. This often results in annoyance, even nervousness, or on the contrary, deadly boredom.

We also regret the impossibility of accelerating, or passing, certain dialogues, history to hasten the maneuver. Especially when, inadvertently, you click again on an element already studied and the characters unfold their speech again in its entirety. Finally, we also sometimes regret, as already mentioned a little above, the propensity of the game to want to direct us. Some clues, although under our noses from the start, for example, cannot be used before the scenario authorizes it. A minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.

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The investigation phases, very strongly inspired by point and click

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles : l’avis de JVFR

With this new compilation in our region, Capcom strikes a blow. On the one hand, it gives fans of the Ace Attorney franchise a bit of a cookie to get their teeth into. On the other hand, it allows neophytes to discover an excellent gateway into this universe. Whether one is in one or the other of the cases, it is difficult to find fault with it in this Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is pleasant.

Two new titles with us, ten cases that intersect in a global frame, dozens of hours of play on the clock, as much to say right away, there is plenty to do. Especially since the narration is masterfully conducted throughout, offering its share of improbable revelations and shocking moments. Not to spoil anything, the story houses a gallery of characters, each more successful than the other, part of a universe that is alternately serious and then wacky.

Served by an impeccable production and an equally successful soundtrack, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles still suffers from a few problems, the first being the total absence of VF. We also regret the few slownesses and lengths that punctuate the story, and unnecessarily weigh down an otherwise very pleasant experience. Slight worries therefore, but which in no way prevent you from appreciating at its fair value a title that is as damn good as it is generous. No objection from our side then!

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

A dream entry point into the Ace Attorney saga (even if you will have to master English correctly to take full advantage of it), The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles shines by its realization as much as its story. A frank success served by a gallery of extraordinary characters and an omnipresent humor, which will easily compensate for the few lengths and heavinesses that we can find there. In short, we recommend to old hands as well as newcomers to the world of Ace Attorney.