New Ace Attorney 5 details have emerged from Nintendo Dream. Producer Motohide Eshiro and scenario director Takeshi Yamazaki took some time to share some general information. While there’s nothing huge in this batch – aside from some interesting talk about voice acting – the content below should be of interest to Ace Attorney fans.
Batch 1
– Talk of Ace Attorney 5 started last autumn
– Once the staff was decided upon, the four writers and the character designer lodged together for four days and three nights, for an intense brainstorming session
– They then came up with the “impactful event” for AA5, which is the courtroom explosion
– Phoenix’s return as the protagonist of the game raised some concerns
– Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth had never been the main playable character prior to the Investigations games, so his quirks were easy to work with
– Phoenix has been the main character from the start and he is someone everyone can relates to, so it took much more time to grasp his character
– The team wanted to make a Phoenix that inherited his traits from Apollo Justice, but also brought back some of his “youth” from Trials and Tribulations
– Phoenix’s new partner, Kokone Kizuki, has her name coming from a play on words for “to notice things” and “listening to the heart or soul”
– Kokone was designed to be a heroine who actively fights alongside Phoenix
– Because of this, she’s a defense attorney working under Phoenix
– Her initial design was very sci-fi-esque
– Some traces of this have been left in her final design
– The monitor (named “Monita”) hanging from her neck is what enables the special “Heart Scope” function in this game
– Heart Scope was thought of at the start of development
– Yamazaki suggested a system where one could see through the various emotions a witness goes through as he’s giving his account
– These emotions would hold the key to seeing through the various preconceptions and prejudices of people dragged into such an extreme situation (a murder) that eventually appear in their testimonies
– First time voice actors will be used in-game
– The team knows that there will be some fans who won’t be happy with the change, but it decided on after much consideration
– First reason was because the 3DS’ surround sound capabilities would have made it difficult bringing over the DS sounds due to tuning problems
– Another concern: the staff wanted the game sequences to work with the anime scenes, which are also fully voiced
– Eshiro carefully selected returning characters
– Eshiro considered characters that were not only very popular but also those who would fit into the story of Ace Attorney 5 without feeling awkward or forced
Batch 2
– They talk about the reception at TGS and the pressure of developing a proper sequel to the AA series.
– Yamazaki is a ‘scenario director’, which is a rare function actually. The scenario is written together by four people, with Yamazaki having the last call on edits and such.
– They talk about the theme of the ‘trials falling apart’. They had played with a concept of a ‘torture trial’ if you get a guilty verdict.
– They talk about how it is to have to change from writing from Edgeworth’s point of view to Nick’s (as they are different characters, naturally)
– In the animated parts, you see that Nick is still using the same cellphone he has always used.
– Because of the better sound quality of the 3DS, they couldn’t use the old sound bites Takumi Shuu had done (Objection! etc). And as they are using animation anyway, they have hired proper voice actors. But for smaller parts, they might still use company workers (in the demo, the voice of Shinobu was actually also a company worker)
– Dark Payne (little brother) was conceived because they wanted a evil prosecutor, but they couldn’t just change Payne (older brother) in someone evil suddenly. They do still think that Payne is still working. They joke about how the Paynes are now the Turnabout Brothers. Yamazaki throws in an idea for a new game: Turnabout Payne (Eshiro: What are they going to turnabout?!).
– If Kay is a genki girl, then Kotone is a determined girl, who will do everything to help her superior, according to Yamazaki.
– The pendant Kotone is wearing is called a Monita (???). Because a monitor comes out of it. One of the apps in it, is the Heart Scop
