Also wanted to mention the VK puzzle. You can only do it when you get the choice to in your dialogue options. The small button on the center left of the machine begins the calibration. Ray asks a simple question to get a baseline reading from the machine. Afterwards it auto-calibrates but you can adjust the meter above the small button to rig the test. Making it more or less sensitive to your subjects responses*. After the calibration is done you use the row of three buttons on the far right to ask questions of varying intensity. If you're questions don't register enough response the test will be inconclusive. If you register too great a response the subject will refuse to cooperate. Every different subject has a different intensity threshold that you need to feel out. Using more low intensity questions may work for one person but yield inconclusive results for another, for example.
* IIRC making the test more sensitive to responses (moving the needle left) will more likely produce a replicant positive outcome with the opposite producing a negative outcome. This factors in to some choices you have to potentially falsely identify certain humans as replicants or vice versa.
Rigging the test with intent is tricky. The game randomizes whether or not certain characters are replicants for each run. The clues they leave behind are also different. They hint as to whether or not a given character is human or rep.
I dig that you guys are playing Blade Runner again after all these years. Just an FYI, though. During the game there's multiple ways to get the same clues, i.e the dragonfly jewelry. So you don't have to find everything in a photo or crime scene before progressing.
Also, in regards to some ambiguous clues. Sometimes clicking on them in the K.I.A will give you some commentary that helps. Also it's worth using the other tabs that sort your clues by suspect and case. It's a lot easier to keep track of the multiple threads of the game's plot that way.
Getting photo's you don't remember collecting is because you download evidence from other Blade Runner's cases when you upload your evidence to the mainframe. It's how you got Crystal's interviews with Spencer Grogorian in the first stream.
I remember watching a gameplay preview that the developers commented on. They were talking about the struggles of designing a puzzle mechanic where there's no immediate feedback on if the player was correct or not. One of the more unique adventure games, I've seen for sure. Reviews and impressions seem to be genuinely mixed (rather than just average across the board) but I have a feeling I'll like this game.
@11111110: And she did a fantastic job with the designs. I wouldn't change a single one. It's funny to see people say that her design is out of place for a courtroom adventure. But Ace Attorney's whole schtick is being comically over-the-top. Von Karma literally whips people during testimony lmao. These aren't dead serious, by the books portrayals of court proceedings by any means. Having a sexy lawyer character is completely in-keeping with the overall vibe.
And there's a lot more to Mia than sex appeal anyways even if it is a particular aspect of her design.
Anyways, from the comments I'd figured this was a bigger deal. Abby barely mentioned her gripe in passing and she's fully entitled to her opinion even though I disagree that the design is offensive.
@steveurkel:It's 100% an adventure game. Shu Takumi the series creator has confirmed this himself. It's in the tradition of the Japanese style detective adventure games. With a long history stemming back to titles like Portopia on the NES. Which were directly inspired by early Sierra adventure games like Mystery House.
I was still pretty wet behind the ears, but as I'd originally joined Capcom with a desire to create mystery and adventure games, this was a huge chance for me to make my mark as a creator. In the end it took a team of seven 10 months to produce the first GBA Ace Attorney title.
(later in the interview)
MC: Can you remember when the idea of Ace Attorney first came to you? How did your bosses respond to the idea of a lawyer-based adventure game when you first described it to them?
ST: It was in 2000 when Mr Mikami said I could make my own game and my original idea was a fairly typical adventure with a detective as the main character. Most mystery adventures have the player choose from a number of different dialogue options for their character in order to progress the story, but I wanted a new gameplay style that enabled players to deduce for themselves what was happening,
Many adventure games do not conform to the Lucas Arts style point and clicks. There's the Myst style, old-school parser games, modern episodic adventures, etc. Visual Novels are actually a splinter genre that evolved from the original Japanese style of adventure games. Defined by the removal of exploration, investigation and problem solving mechanics of Japanese adventure games. Which are all elements Ace Attorney retains.
A GiantBomb user named LentFilms wrote a great blog about the history of Japanese adventure games and how they evolved. It's a really good read with a particularly awesome interview featuring Rika Suzuki (from CiNG) and Yuji Hori (Portopia and Dragon Quest) listed in the sources.
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