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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (JP) is the sixth main entry of the Ace Attorney series, released in 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS. In this entry, Phoenix goes to rescue Maya in the island of Khura'in while Apollo and Athena hold down the homefront. Many characters from earlier entries return as well.
Plot[]
Phoenix travels to Khura'in to visit Maya Fey, who is about to conclude a two-year period of ascetic training needed to perfect her spirit-channeling abilities and become master of Kurain Village. Upon arriving, Phoenix's tour guide Ahlbi Ur'gaid is accused of stealing the Founder's Orb relic and murdering security guard Paht Rohl. During Ahlbi's trial, Phoenix discovers that Khura'in is intensely prejudiced against defense attorneys. Under a law known as the Defense Culpability Act, enacted 23 years prior, if a criminal is found guilty, anyone who defends or aids them will be given the same punishment. With the addition of the Divination Séance, all trials in Khura'in since have led to guilty verdicts, with most defense attorneys having been executed. Despite the stakes of the DC Act and the supposed absolute truth of Rayfa's Divination Séance, Phoenix successfully defends Ahlbi, exposing head monk Pee's Lub'n Andhistandin as the real killer, earning Khura'in's first "not guilty" verdict since the Act's introduction. He also learns of the Defiant Dragons, a rebel group fighting against the current legal system.
In Los Angeles, Apollo and Athena defend Trucy against prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi when she is accused of murdering performer Manov Mistree during her stage show, proving the real killer to be Mistree's predecessor, TV Producer Roger Retinz. After reuniting with Maya, Phoenix must defend her when she is charged with murdering high priest Tahrust Inmee, who actually committed suicide to protect his wife Bel'eeb after she accidentally killed one of their disciples. During the case, Phoenix meets one of the Defiant Dragons, Datz Are'bal, who reveals that the group's leader, Dhurke Sahdmadhi, is Nahyuta's father and Apollo's foster father. Meanwhile, Athena is requested to defend soba shop owner Bucky Whet, who is accused of murdering rakugo performer Taifu Toneido. Athena successfully exposes Taifu's co-star Geiru as the true murderer.
Sometime later, Apollo is approached by Dhurke, who asks for help locating the stolen Founder's Orb. After coming up against Phoenix himself in a court battle over the orb's ownership, Apollo learns that Maya has been taken hostage to force Phoenix to win the orb for his client. Upon proving Dhurke's ownership, the group return to Khura'in where Justice Minister Inga Karkhuul Khura'in, husband of Queen Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in, is holding Maya hostage. When Dhurke goes in to make the exchange, he is accused of murdering Inga after he is found dead. With Queen Ga'ran acting as prosecutor, Phoenix and Apollo are tasked with proving Dhurke innocent of both Inga's murder and the assassination of the previous queen, Ga'ran's sister Amara, 23 years ago, which led to the creation of the DC Act. Along with learning that Amara survived the assassination attempt, Apollo discovers that Dhurke had already been killed by Inga a few days earlier, having been channeled by Maya to see his foster son one last time. Apollo also discovers that Nahyuta had been blackmailed by Ga'ran in order to protect Rayfa, revealed to be Nahyuta's sister and Dhurke and Amara's biological daughter.
With the ties of her father's crime threatening to destroy Rayfa's life, Apollo uses his final gift from Dhurke, a photo of his deceased biological father, Jove, to conduct a Divination Séance, proving that both Jove and Inga's murders and Amara's attempted assassination were caused by Ga'ran. As Ga'ran threatens to use her royal authority to execute Apollo and Phoenix on the spot, Apollo proves that Ga'ran has no claim to the throne, possessing no spiritual powers of her own, thus nullifying all the laws she had passed and ending her rule. As Rayfa is chosen to succeed her as the next queen, Apollo decides to stay in Khura'in to help Nahyuta rebuild the kingdom's legal system. In a post-credits sequence, Phoenix gives Jove's photo to Apollo's mother, who decides that the time has come to tell her children the truth.
An additional downloadable storyline set after the game's events features Phoenix defending a woman who claims she was attacked just after her wedding, but traveled back in time and is now accused of killing her attacker. Meanwhile, Phoenix childhood friend Larry Butz returns, claiming he is the woman's fiancé. Two additional, out-of-continuity episodes were released as downloadable content under the name "Asinine Attorney": in the first, Pearl pretends to be Rayfa with Phoenix's help to stall for time during a hostage situation; in the second, Apollo and Klavier Gavin help Rayfa find her ideal sightseeing destination in America before she must return to Khura'in.
Gameplay[]
The game is mostly like the previous entries in the series. As a defense attorney, the player finds evidence in the investigation scenes to use to discover contradictions in witnesses' testimonies. A few mechanics from earlier entries like the Mood Matrix and the expanded investigations return. The main additions are the seances in Khura'in which have the player examine the victim's last moments to find contradictions.
Cast[]
The story of Spirit of Justice is set roughly one year after its predecessor, Dual Destinies, and once again focuses on defense attorney Phoenix Wright and his two understudies Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes. While previous games in the series have been set in Los Angeles, California (Japan in the original Japanese releases), Spirit of Justice sees Phoenix travel to the fictional kingdom of Khura'in, a deeply religious nation where the art of spirit channeling originates. Roughly half the game's episodes detail Phoenix's activities in Khura'in, while the other half follow Apollo and Athena, who are left to watch over the Wright Anything Agency in Phoenix's absence. The game features the reintroduction of Maya Fey, a spirit medium and Phoenix's longtime friend and former assistant, who has not appeared in the main series in person since Trials and Tribulations. Other returning characters include Trucy Wright, a magician and Phoenix's adopted daughter; Ema Skye, a former detective who has recently become a forensic investigator; Simon Blackquill, a prosecutor and former prison inmate who is friends with Athena; Pearl Fey, Maya's younger cousin and fellow spirit medium; and Miles Edgeworth, the district chief prosecutor and Phoenix's friend and rival. New to the series are Rayfa Padma Khura'in, the princess and royal priestess of Khura'in, and Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, an international prosecutor and devout Khura'inese monk.
Reception[]
Spirit of Justice received generally favorable reviews, according to the review aggregator Metacritic. It was the top selling video game in Japan during its debut week, with 196,831 copies sold. It dropped to second place during its second week, with an additional 25,288 copies sold, to sixth place in its third week, with 11,803 copies sold, and to tenth place in its fourth, with 7,543 copies sold. The sales matched Capcom's expectations for the title.
Four reviewers at Famitsu—Yoshida, Ashida, Honma and Uchisawa—did a joint cross-review of the game. Ashida and Honma said that they liked how everything comes together in the game's ending; Honma also liked seeing how characters such as Maya had grown up and changed, to the point of investigating everything just to see more dialogue. Uchisawa thought that some plot developments were too "out there", and Ashida noted that the game's occult feeling might be divisive. Ashida found the divination séance system to be a fresh addition to the gameplay, but also felt that it was "stretching it"; Uchisawa disagreed, finding the game to not feel fresh, but still thought that the game was fun.
3DS eShop Description[]
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice sees Phoenix in a brand new location: a courtroom situated in the Kingdom of Khura'in, origin of the Kurain Channeling Technique, where mysterious séance trials decide the fate of all defendants. Meanwhile, defense attorney Apollo Justice faces his own challenges holding down the fort at the Wright Anything Agency, as he takes on a case that will have explosive implications. Both our heroes are joined by a host of returning friends and adversaries in their fight to bring about justice. Filled with puzzling mysteries to solve, a cast of memorable characters, and all new investigation techniques, this is one case you'll definitely want to take.
External links[]
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice at GameFAQs
| Ace Attorney series | |
|---|---|
| Main series | Phoenix Wright • Justice For All • Trials & Tribulations• Trilogy Apollo Justice • Dual Destinies• Spirit of Justice • Trilogy |
| Spin-offs | Ace Attorney Investigations • Ace Attorney Investigations 2 • Professor Layton Great Ace Attorney: Adventures • Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve (Chronicles) |
| Related | Capcom • Shu Takumi • Atsushi Inaba • Masakazu Sugimori Professor Layton • Ghost Trick • Project X Zone 2 • Murder by Numbers |