Just announced in the Nintendo Direct, an Ace Attorney 5 demo will be available on the 3DS eShop for download today, so I'm making this thread so people can give their impressions on it.

— Joystiq

Oh my god are you serious? I need to go get my 3DS.

Well, it is definitely a Phoenix Wright game. The presentation in the courtroom is nice, with the sweeping shots of the gallery and the flashy "ALL RISE" at the start. The character models look good and the writing seems to be the same, though they are really going hard on the "ha ha Phoenix is self deprecating and an easy target." It got me excited for it, which means it did what a demo is supposed to do.

If I had any complaint it is that Wendee Lee is voicing Athena and I don't like Wendee Lee as a voice actress. Also where is Maya. I need my burger obsessed psychic medium.

Just finished playing the demo. I thought it was good, some very nice animations and a good use of the camera swinging around etc. Im looking forward to getting the full game.

My one gripe would be that it feels a bit odd having Phoenix seem more like his old self compared to how he was in Apollo Justice.

The presentation is great, love the animations, but the biggest thing for me was that you can speed through text on first playthrough. The mood matrix computer was also pretty neat. I like how they took the testimony and did the recreation with it.

Liam O'Brien, huh? Well, okay.

I wasn't into Apollo's bracelet stuff in AA4, but the Mood Matrix has potential. Not sure if they can make any of those sequences feel challenging, but the presentation is cool.

I'm baffled as to why they still have the health meter. In skill-based games, there's some logic in forcing you back to your last save, but here, it's just tedious. And it makes the moments where you find a contradiction the game doesn't recognize even more infuriating.

still not sure im gonna buy a 3ds for this...huge fan buti definetly need more convincing.

AND WHERE THE HECK IS THE ENGLISH DUBBED MOVIE ALREADY?!?!

The Mood Matrix seems pretty interesting so far...as far as future challenges with it, maybe some characters will be able to fake emotions and you'll have to find the real one? At any rate, despite spoiling the demo for myself, I still enjoyed it. And DAT INTRO MOVIE. First time seeing that, so I got a kick out of it.

Speaking of which...I like how Phoenix is calm, collected and sounds like he's got a plan in that, but somehow reverts to his old self in the actual trial. Kinda weird...

grabbing demo now.

Love it. I want it right now.

Looked good, can't wait for the game to come out.

I think they handled Phoenix's character pretty well. Seemed to be a decent mix between his original and hobo personalities. Outwardly he was much more confident, but he still does the "ohgodwhatsgoingon" inner thoughts. I'd like to think the same went on in Apollo Justice.

I'm pretty sure that's Sam Riegel, not O'Brien.

I actually wasn't too into him panicking so much (although not showing it) after his return to court after the hiatus, but apparently that was exaggerated a bit more to fit the context of the demo.

I really enjoyed the demo. The Mood Matrix is an interesting mechanic and I just love the feeling of pointing out contradictions and playing an AA game again.

Even though I've played UMvC3 it's still really really weird not hearing the old voice clips. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I can't say I don't miss it.

Other than that it's looking really good.

@happenstance said:

I think transitioning him smoothly back from his Apollo Justice persona would've just been nearly impossible, since they sorta rewrote his character such a crazy amount in Apollo Justice.

Seriously, Phoenix in AJ suddenly had Batman/Walter White levels of being 8 moves ahead of his opponent, planning out this insane series of events to achieve his goals. The actual player character in Ace Attorney games is usually a bit of goof who is just barely keeping up with the situation, which is why it's so crazy that Phoenix slingshots from "goofy guy in Ace Attorney 1-3" to "insane chessmaster who has thought of everything but is posing as a clueless hobo in Apollo Justice" back to "goofy guy in Ace Attorney 5 because he's the player character again and the player character is never that ridiculously coordinated".

I'm fine with it, but I don't think they were ever going to handle it particularly well.

@bisonhero: To be fair, the major events where he was 8 moves ahead in Apollo Justice were things he had been planning for years. That was where he invested most of his time after losing his license.

But yeah, it's still a pretty drastic transition. My only hope is that he relies less on blind chance and deus ex machina in this game. It's one thing to stumble through cases and only come through at the last minute, but I don't want to see anything like him all but losing the case before Mia comes down from on high and hands him the solution to make it all better. Stuff like that happened a bit too often in the original trilogy and I hope they don't treat like he's still a terrible lawyer.

UUUUUUUUUGH! I wish I could get this demo, but I won't have my 3DS for another 2 weeks. I can't wait another 22 days for this game to come out!

@bisonhero: Hey, I welcome the change back. Apollo Justice is my least favorite in the series (You know what? I'm good if Klavier Gavin doesn't show up again) and any attempt to trivialize the events of that game is not one I oppose. Don't worry, I'm sure the last case will still have absurd leaps of logic as is series tradition.

Impressions: It's a demo and it's like 15 minutes long. Seems like Ace Attorney, so I'm on board, but the biggest thing that surprised me is that the game is straight up rated M. What. Are there boobs? Decapitations? Swears?

I hope Klavier Gavin doesn't show up again either. That guy was more secretive than antagonistic (a trait which I think marks a good prosecutor you kinda love to hate), and beating him in court wasn't satisfying at all. He pretty much walked you through everything as far as I remember. It was a nice change, sure, less cartoonish I suppose, but I kinda want it to be a near single-minded character that just cares about winning. That or just very pushy or eccentric like Godot.

I just played through the demo right now and was a little surprised that it was so short. They know everyone wants more, and I can't wait to play it with a FAQ near me just in case.

Klavier is already confirmed to make a cameo. He's obviously not the prosecutor though.

He wasn't my favorite prosecutor, but I don't mind him as a character, so I'm glad he makes an appearance.

Been looking for new games for my 3DS and I really liked that demo

I played some of the first Phoenix Wright game at one point and enjoyed that. Would you guys recommend buying the HD rerelease on my iPhone 4S before I play the new one?

@fluxwavez: I thought it was a pretty smart way to handle it. He's obviously been affected by the events of AJ but still remains the same character underneath it. It lets him retain some character development while still acting as an avatar for the player.

Haven't read any spoilers so I'm looking forward to see if the events at the end of AJ actually did anything to the court system.

@venatio: I dont know about having to play them before the new one, that seems to be more linked into Apollo Justice than the original trilogy but I would still get them, its such a great series and would at least get you more invested in the characters.

Could be. He sounded very Akihiko to me.