With Edgeworth joining us on this side of the aisle, whoever they bring to prosecute couldn’t possibly be worse, right?
Right, Wright!?
It’s easy to tell in this first game that the development team was not confident that they could get a sequel off the ground. Someone as menacing as prosecutor Manfred von Karma, and his complete command of the courtroom, including the judge, serves as a perfect antagonist for the finale. Down to his menacingly deep “Objection”, he establishes himself quickly as a credible threat that won’t budge an inch the way Edgeworth might have.
And though we don’t feel the change mechanically, writing-wise there’s a strong distinction between how Edgeworth and Karma prosecute. Edgeworth is quite content to allow Phoenix to press witnesses and then point out how he’s bumbling and stumbling to undermine the defense attorney’s credibility. On the other hand, von Karma more frequently and openly objections as often as he possibly can, refusing to concede even small questions that could create openings. Even though we don’t experience hopelessness because we know that we haven’t made any mistakes, the characters do. Maya even had to sidestep courtroom procedure and get arrested to give us the crack we needed to proceed.
As always, we’re going to perform a turnabout. But before we do, we need to let the pressure build for maximum dramatic effect.
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