Phoenix Wright: For Great Justice!

Welcome to Pixellated Culture. This week we'll be looking at Phoenix Wright and his pursuit for justice.

This is going to be a bit of an odd post. Since this is on my calendar as a history week, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney seems like an obvious choice- legal systems and history go together very well. However, getting into Phoenix Wright isn't very historical, just very legal. Legality and judiciary matters are still important and I'm going to discuss them anyway. I'm going to call it a "still counts" just a very loose "still counts."

I'm going to discuss a couple cases from the first game only, so beware spoilers, but not too many spoilers. I'm going to analyze Phoenix Wright's tireless pursuit for justice from a western perspective. Phoenix Wright's pursuit for Justice means a very different thing in Japan and has a completely different context. If you are interested in this, I recommend you read this article. This article is part of what got me thinking about Phoenix Wright.

In-universe, Phoenix Wright is part detective, part lawyer and has a grand total of four days to figure out an entire case. Obviously, this would never happen in real life and this allows for some interesting scenarios. In case 1-4 Turnabout Goodbyes, you have to cross examine a parrot. I am not making this us. You have to cross examine a parrot. Her name is Polly.

Image from the Ace Attorney Wiki page for Polly.

The reason for the cross examination is Phoenix is trying to prove the nameless crazy boat guy is neither crazy nor nameless. Polly is trained to repeat certain things. Those familiar with Phoenix Wright are aware case 1-4 deals with two cases- the murder of Hammond and a case from 15 years ago known as the DL-6 Incident. As the case for Hammond continues on, 1-4 and DL-6 become more and more intertwined. Eventually this leads to Phoenix proving Edgeworth is innocent in both and finding the real killer for both, right before the statute of limitations runs out on DL-6. Phoenix went out of his way to solve two cases, one of which he didn't have to solve. He is the embodiment of justice in this game. Going back to look at old cases is something relatively new in our world. We don't see Phoenix use any forensics besides basic ballistics on a bullet (and that's off-screen) in 1-4, yet he manages to solve two cases through simple logic. Phoenix basically becomes an embodiment of justice, finding the real criminals at a super-human pace.

Throughout this case we see Phoenix jump through hoops to get evidence. His tireless pursuit for the truth is what makes Phoenix special in Western eyes. Phoenix doesn't just want a not guilty verdict, he wants to find the real reason for the crime. We get a direct contrast with Hammond, who was the defense in DL-6. He encouraged his defendant to pretend to be insane as he couldn't find evidence that he was innocent. This ruined the defendant's life, as he could no longer keep his job, he had to maintain this ruse, and due to the stress of everything his fiance committed suicide. Phoenix Wright would never do that. In case 1-2, in his pursuit for the real killer Phoenix gets thrown in jail and now has to defend himself. And he does so spectacularly. Phoenix Wright is willing to put everything on the line to find the truth. Isn't that what we want our judicial system to be about? We want the verdict to reflect the truth.

Echo Bazaar: Make Your Own Story

Welcome to  Pixellated Culture. This week we'll take a look at the story mode present in the browser game Echo Bazaar.

At first I wasn't sure I would write this today, but then I hit my 40 action limit and here I am. Yes the game is that good. However this is a particular kind of game. You don't have any action sequences, but you still have to grind your stats up (explaining where half of my actions went) and you do everything by pushing a button and waiting for your result based on chance (sort of). These mechanics may sound annoying/familiar to some, as many browser games take this approach but where Echo Bazaar shines above everything else is the story.

The story is the driving force behind everything. You are in Fallen London in 1889. Who you are, why you're here, background, skill set, interests, lodgings, pets, clothes etc. are all up to you and your decisions. That's what makes this post hard. It's my old friend Choose-Your-Own-Adventure popping out of book form and onto the internet. I can't say what kind of experience you'll have because it's very flexible.

Each of the stats can be raised in a section of the city (i.e. Watchful in Lady Bone's Road, Shadowy in Spite, etc.) each with the potential for their own story. Some of the tasks are arbitrary raise the stat tasks with the potential of finding goodies. So you can choose how many stats you want to raise, how many of the storylets you want to pursue and so on (don't worry, this is all easily kept track on in your character profile). Over the course of the stories you can accomplishmets, quirks, contacts, menaces and ambitions (which as far as I can tell, ambitions are the closest thing to an story arc and are hard to change  once you pick one). All these will affect your interaction with the story and how the NPCs react to you.

The best part of this is the story is extremely flexible. I started playing the game thinking I'd build up my Shadowy and Watchful stats and be an info gathering ninja. Now these two stats are secondary to my Persuasive skill and I'm really connected to bohemians. And I honestly can't tell you when the change occur. My most recent events led me to build up my horribly neglected Dangerous stat, as it was an option for my ambition. So now I'm a balanced character again, something I thought would never happen. This game drew me in after I realized my experience would be unique from everyone else's.

Part of this is due to chance. Luck plays a role in what events occur and certain events in Fallen London. You can also get cards that depict events outside of the storylets. Today I got a giggling mandrake because I was lucky and that card popped up. I didn't even know giggling mandrakes exist, but I have one in my pocket now. That's what makes it exciting. While chance things can feel like a machine just saying whether you win or not, chance here adds whole new elements that you didn't even know existed. That's what sets this game out: the element of surprise. Joyful, wonderful surprise.

I guess the importance of this post is realizing the thing about self-created stories. Of course, there's limits for what can happen, since the creators only have room for so much, but the options feel endless. I decided to take a break from my usual and go to the carnival and that is where I first met Jack of Smiles, Fallen London's serial killer. He didn't kill me, merely wounded me, but I thought I'd meet him after I wrote that poem about him. So sometimes I make the story and other times the story surprises the heck out of me.