For anyone who was hoping to see this sooner, I apologize for the delay.
Here's a translation of the latest entry to the GS4 dev team blog.
Today we have head director/creator/scriptwriter/"father"-of-Ace-Attorney Shu Takumi ('Shoe' ) talking about the decision to change the main character.
I found it pretty interesting... hope you guys do too.
Apologies for any rough spots, especially near the end... it's getting late here and I'm ready to crash.

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GS4 Developers' Blog Translation
Entry #4 (Fri. 3/30)

Topic: Changing of the guard

Good afternoon, everyone.
Shu Takumi from the Gyakuten Saiban team here.

This may sound strange, but... you could say that I enjoy being tied down.
When I feel like something's missing, sometimes I'll even tie the ropes myself.

...now, some of you out there are probably thinking, "What kind of bizarre
confession is this guy coming out with?"
If you stop reading here, this could potentially cause a _very serious_ misunderstanding, so I beg of you... please keep reading to the end.
That, or if you don't have the time, just forget that you ever read those two sentences.
Promise me that.

So, this time I'd like to talk about the changing of the main character.
I'm pretty sure this is the biggest concern about GS4, for those of you who played through the first three games.

From Ryuuichi Naruhodou (Phoenix Wright), to Housuke Odoroki.

For those of you who are new to the series, let me explain. The protagonist of the first three games was a young lawyer by the name of "Ryuuichi Naruhodou."
Though each of the individual episodes stand alone, the whole trilogy comes together to form one complete story.

...that story came to its conclusion with Gyakuten Saiban 3.
I don't want to add any new episodes to it.

This was how I honestly felt when I first heard of the decision to make GS4.
On the other hand, knowing that players are calling out for a sequel is the best feeling in the world for a game designer... this was also my honest feeling.
So I thought it over, and I came to this answer:

"If we're going to make an official sequel, it should be a completely new story."

That way, newcomers to the series would be able to jump right in and enjoy themselves, and we might even be able to come up with some new surprises!
...and that's how I stated my case. Sounds reasonable, right?
In a way, though, this was selfishness on my part, though, and I was fully prepared for the possibility that I'd be denied. The response?

"Sure, go ahead."

Such compassionate people here at Capcom!
However, they gave me two conditions.

-> You have to bring back characters from the original series... or at least Phoenix Wright.
-> You have to address XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX in the story.

To be honest, both of these orders were extremely difficult for me.
With it being a new story, I didn't just want to bring back Phoenix as he always was.
At the same time, I also wouldn't want him to upstage the new protagonist. So... what to do?
Plus, I need to find a way work XXXXXXXXXXXXXX into the story!

...not a simple task.

By the way, as for what XXXXXXXXXXXXXX is... Unfortunately, I can't reveal this yet...
not before release. I may eventually explain here on this blog, but either way, I think you'll understand if you play the game to completion.

Now, finally... that brings us back to my "confession" at the beginning of this entry:

This may sound strange, but... you could say that I enjoy being tied down.
When I feel like there's something missing, sometimes I'll even tie the ropes myself.

Apparently, many mystery writers (or at least me) have a habit of setting certain "rules" by which they write their stories, in effect "tying themselves down."
For example (and this is just an example):

- No "needle and thread" tricks
- No more than five characters
- The butler didn't do it

...and so on and so forth.

When writing mysteries, you always have to seek out new surprises.
To accomplish this, I feel like my only option is to tie myself down.
Some of you might say, "You sure you don't have that backwards?"
But when I think about it... with all of the stories I've written, I'm almost always telling myself "to make this story work, I can't do ______________"... and struggling against these sort of limitations.
Maybe it's just that I _really_ like being tied down and struggling.

In that sense, these two "conditions" that Capcom gave me for GS4 made for quite a worthwhile and challenging struggle.
I wracked my brain trying to figure out how to clear those conditions, and then, unexpectedly, a new story was born... one that I even surprised myself with.
It truly was a thrilling experience, and I hope that you'll all enjoy it.

Well, let's end it here for today.
When all's said and done, the world of Gyakuten Saiban has always had its own set of "rules" that don't show up on the surface.
Now, after reading what I wrote today, those of you who have played the games might be thinking:

- You have SPIRIT MEDIUMS showing up as if it were nothing... but that's okay?
- You have a completely unbelievable judge... but that's okay?
- You come up with these completely ridiculous gimmicks... are those okay?

YES, THOSE ARE FINE.

These limitations I speak of are just mysterious like that.

Well, next time we'll have one more new face enter the fray.
Yamakawa is our big (especially in terms of actual, physical size) newcomer who just joined the company last year. Working at his own pace, he took care of various important details relating to the development of GS4. He'll share with you guys the sort of fresh perspective that us old-timers have long since lost.

Onamida, if you know who the spoiler person is, could you edit your post with a spoiler box at the bottom. I'm probably gonna spoil myself, but I can't if I don't know japanese :F

Never mind, re-reading the blog made me realise the names were blanked out by the guy himself :F So, we find out what happens to *Blank*, I wonder who he/she is. Because most people are going to think it's edgey :F

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Interesting, when I saw "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" I thought it had to be a situation or something, not a person.

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Takumi is a total nutbar. I absolutely love him. <3

Though it's kind of nice to hear that Takumi is so adamant about it being a new story. Maybe we won't be seeing too many repeat characters after all.

Thanks for the translation, Onamida~~

*edit*

Takumi's "YES, THOSE ARE FINE" totally reminded me of Odoroki, and I giggled.

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From what I've read it seems he's gonna use characters that would relate to the story itself. That would mean that we might only get 1 more person, who could be the mistery person (or be tied to the Mystery Event).

Anyway, he managed to make sense with his comments about being tied up, having tough rules to try to bend the story around must be a great challenge ^_^

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Much thanks for the translations.


So, this mystery person/event was a somewhat-forced inclusion? seems odd, though if they included Phoenix as such, it makes me think of Edgeworth, if only to include the old antagonist to the old protagonist. I hope they come up with something as interesting as Hobohodo for *blank*, though.




XD You too?

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Me too. Could be anything, person, situation, case, or even might be an object. And to "addressing" does not mean to include them into the game, as long as their status is brought up somewhere and explained in the story.

Who/What is so important to GS series that Capcom sees it as a staple and insist on keeping besides Naruhodo? Mitsurugi? The Big Edo Samurai? The Blue Badger? The card? (I mean, they already kept the Judge and Mr.Payne...)

Hmmmmmm... There was a Confession in that? I Couldnt understand a word he was on about O.o

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I wonder if it's the card! Unless the card is cleared up in GS3 (I haven't played it, don't read Japanese) :P

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No, it was never ever mentioned in GS3. Mei-chan(Franny) did came back to meet Naruhodo and Mitsurugi, but she did not say a thing. I kept wondering if Takumi just forgot about it...

And I'm wondering why you feel it is so bloddy relevant.

Some developer just drew it for fun, and then they laughted at it and sticked it into the game as a nice 'yay I completed the game!' gimmick.

Well, I don't see anything in case5 AA1 that had any lose ends, so it's probably either:



that gets focus. Or why Phoenix stopped being an attorney (although that doesn't seem like it from how he wrote it).

And damn, Minukis animations are cute!

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And I'm wondering why you feel it is so bloody irrelevant.
While I don't think it is a staple worthing bringing up again upon Capcom's request, that is the question many people were asking about it after playing the first 3 games..."what happened to the card" blah blah blah...get really tiring after a while, kinda wish Takumi just jump out and shoot down all the inquiries. At least it lowers my headache of having to answer it times after times.

Only two weeks away, soon we can all know what it is.

As for situation XXXXXXXX, lets think about it for a moment. You're higher up Capcom and you're telling the writer that they want something adressed. What would be something that the fans would be clawing and asking about that Capcom would want Takumi to address so they'll shut up?

Situations could include, what happened to X person? What happened when X occured?

Perhaps, What Edgeworth did on his quest, the penalization of Lana, is X Criminal really truely dead, Maya and Pearl and the future of Kurain Village, Franny's Card... and whatever went unattended in GS3.

Of the things I rambled off, I'd guess that the Maya and Pearl plot would be a good contender with Edgy's Trip being a second.

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I'd assume it's either Edgeworth or the current state of Kurain--those are the only two big things by the end of GS3 left to speculate on.

Except for Godot, I guess, but he was wrapped up as well as he could be, IMO. Or Ayame, but I don't think she's popular enough that Capcom bigwigs would bring her up.

The card doesn't show up in GS3, but by the time Franny makes her appearance it's already pretty clear that she's one of the "good guys" now, so it's not like it was necessary anyway.

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I'm sorry for Mr Takumi, but I'm never, EVER letting those two sentences out of my head. Ever again.

As far as the card goes... it's more of the symbolism it represents. As in, Shelly de Killer is still out there. Technically, he's the only criminal that escapes justice in the PW world.

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Noooooooooot entirely accurate....

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And Mareka probably breaks speed limits frequently. Franziska should have been incarcerated over assault and battery.

And Shoe... he's the mastermind behind it all, of course.

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Hondobou is guilty of several crimes against humanity and still is free as well.