Dai Gyakuten Saiban: lots of new info from Famitsu, scans

1 April 2015 Lite_Agent 3ds, Capcom, Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken, Famitsu

The latest issue of Famitsu is now out in Japan, which means new scans and lots of new details for Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken!

The new prosecutor is called Baroque/Barock Van Siegs, and is described as a legendary prosecutor who never let any defendant escape. He is, after all, known as “The Death God of the Old Bailey”. In Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken, he comes back in court after a 5 year absence.

Apparently, it took over a year for Shu Takumi to come up with the name of the new prosecutor… That’s quite the contrast with Edgeworth, as it only took a few minutes for Takumi to come up with his name. The new prosecutor was originally meant to be called Prosecutor Rivaal, but as you can imagine, nobody was really happy with that.

Shu Takumi says there’s a proper name origin for Prosecutor Baroque/Barock, but he’s apparently too embarassed to say what it is! When he shouts “Objection”, the font used is slightly different, in order to stress the fact he’s speaking with a British accent. The developers were initially flirting with the idea of having him shout “Objection” (instead of “Igiari”, which is “Objection” in Japanese), in the end, they decided against it.

Next: some details about the Jury system. Unlike the one in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, it’s one of the central elements of Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken. Each of the jury members have their own ideas about the case, and to get a guilty verdict, you’ll need to find the contradictions between all of them. It’s a mechanic quite similar to the one in Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, where you’d watch out for reactions from other witnesses during testimony.

One new feature of the game: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke (and other characters) can now walk around during the trial, while thinking. To get a not-guilty verdict, you’ll need to convince enough jury members, and the last arguments are your last chance to do so. When you go talk to the Jury for those closing arguments, you take the stand.

If all jury members chose “guilty”, you get a game over, but if the majority chose “not guilty”, your client is safe. Apparently, Shu Takumi first considered a system with multiple endings, but settled on the current one instead (with the majority vote).

In the game, the jurors are identified only by numbers (like 1, 2, 3, etc.), and they come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Since there’s around 6 million people living in London, Shu Takumi wanted every Juror to be unique…. as you can imagine, the art team wasn’t really happy about it, as it meant even more work for them.

During trials, the multi-witnesses testimonies work pretty much the same way as in Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. You can shout “Hang On!” whenever one of them is acting up. The developers also paid a lot of attention to camerawork, in order to give a good sense of space and to have players focus on the eye movements of the various characters.

The game flow during trials is the following:

– Witness testimonies and questioning;
– Jury members appeal time (where you try to convince them).

The penaly system is the same as in the very first Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game and Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, with 5 “lives”.

The very first case of the game is called “The Adventure of the Grand Travelers”, which has Taketsuchi Auchi (Winston Payne’s ancestor) as prosecutor. The murder took place in a restaurant called La Quantos, where Naruhodou Ryuunosuke and Kazuma Asougi were dining. The victim is said to be an English gentleman. Another witness is a mysterious lady, wearing some rather elaborated clothes (but who doesn’t have a name yet).

Just like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, some free DLC will be available at launch for Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken. It will be a special episode called “Randst Magazine Special Edition”, focusing on Naruhodou Ryuunosuke and Kazuma Asougi. Famitsu magazine calls it a “game”, but it’s not currently known whether it’s a full case or not.

For those who don’t know, Randst Magazine is based on Strand Magazine, which is the magazine where the Sherlock Holmes stories were originally published. This DLC for Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken will only remain free for a limited time: until July 19 (the game itself comes on July 9th in Japan.

Finally, the contents of the Limited Edition:

– the game
– an artbook (48 pages)
– a soundtrack CD (10 tracks)

Here’s the new scans for Dai Gyakuten Saiban – Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken from this week’s Famitsu: