Court is not a place where you’ll find nice people. In the world of Ace Attorney this stands doubly so- not even being a lawyer can protect you from having hot coffee thrown your way, or invisible sword slashes or a whip. It’s absolutely bonkers.
In every Ace Attorney game, however, you tend to play as the exception to the rule. By virtue of not committing physical assault, Phoenix Wright and his proteges in the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy edge out the entire legal profession then lap the many times over. It’s kind of magical, really.
However, there comes a point in every Ace Attorney game where you suddenly have to make that call to walk back the nice guy act. It’s never nice- sometimes you’ll have to catch your own clients in a lie, in one of the series roundabout ways of getting to the truth. I mean, in the first game you have to put the girl you’re promising to defend then make her out to be a liar on the stand.
Enter The Mood Matrix
As of Dual Destinies, though,the series actually made steps to making this feel, well, less icky. With the debut of Athena Cykes came the Mood Matrix- a way that recontextualizes what exactly you do in a cross examination. Basically, rather than looking for contradiction, you were looking for ways to open it up.
The best test case for this is the very start of Dual Destinies- your client is a girl named Juniper Woods who’s being pinned for blowing up the courthouse. It’s another really great start to the game, because so many mysteries are tied into it- what was such a nice girl doing at a murder trial? What possible reason could she have for wanting to blow up a courtroom?
Of course, it doesn’t help that, like so many witnesses on your side in an Ace Attorney game, your defendant isn’t very good at defending herself. Juniper Woods isn’t a criminal mastermind- she’s a scared little girl, and the Mood Matrix makes way more sense as a way to get the truth out of her than Phoenix Wright yelling at her for lying.
By having Athena try to connect to Juniper rather than confront her about a weak testimony, you actually walk away with the most clutch piece of evidence: the reveal of a second stuffed animal, destroying the Prosecution’s claim that her prints on the tail make her the culprit.
Connecting With Other People Before Accusing Them Of Murder
It’s such a great way to explain details that may not even be directly relevant to the trial: unfortunately one of the first bits of information you dig out of this girl is getting her to admit on the stand her crush on Apollo Justice. By letting you explore how the characters feel, sure, you stray a bit from sticking to the facts of the case, but you also get to see these characters as so much more than just talking heads who lie to you all the time.
Take a look at Norma DePlume from The Turnabout Reclaimed- when it comes to her role in the case, she’s, well, a jerk. Just getting her to tell you anything requires you to break her psych lock, and after that she’s a massive obstacle to your attempts to free an Orca from being tried for murder.
Yet, once you use the Mood Matrix on her, you learn an endearing trait- she’s squeamish around blood. Of course she is! Unlike Phoenix Wright who’s had at least three life-defining murders in his time normal people would be squeamish around blood. It’s a normal reaction, and it’s at that point you realize that no one really starts their day expecting to be a murder witness.
You even genuinely use it for good in The Monstrous Turnabout- here, you’re literally taking time out of the trial to help Jinxie overcome her panic. It’s not an angle that could have been approached in previous Ace Attorney games- so having Apollo and Athena literally sit down and talk through a girl’s problems while Blackquill has a sword trained on them is one way to sell that the Wright Anything Agency is primarily made up of good people.
Successor To The Psych Lock
Considering the most important parts of every Ace Attorney game involve arguing with people and calling them liars, it’s always nice to mechanics that make you focus on the heart of the series- that is, good people in pursuit of Justice. The Mood Matrix is a much better way to address that because it assumes you’re using it on a person.
In a way it’s like a good successor to Psych Locks- both systems were about trying to emphasize with people, but Mood Matrix turns it up to 11 by having you actually have to address how they’re feeling first.
The Mood Matrix is a key gameplay mechanic in Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies and Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice, included in the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy that’s available now for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
