ace attorney Best and Worst Ace Attorney Case ever made

[blah the Prussian]

So now I'm actually wanting to do a list of monarchs for Khu'rain; look at its history during the fall of the Ming, the early Imperialist age, the late Imperialist age, the World Wars, and the Cold War.

[Sasori]

I didn't mind her voice sounding older, mostly because we only hear during her prayer, and it makes sense for Rayfa to be using a more serious voice.

Did you finish Case 3? If so what did you think it?

Actually, for all of those that played SoJ, what were your opinions on Cases 2 and 3?

Personally, I think they were some of the best in the series.

I have gone through case 2 and just started the second trial in case 3 so I haven't read the spoiler part just yet.

Case 2 was fantastic after the somewhat meh case 1. It had a great killer, interesting story and the dynamic between Sahmadi and Emma/ and Apollo/Athena where amusing. Its also my first game seeing Trucy actually be relelvant since Dual destiny gave her nothing to do. Its probably one of my favourite cases in the series. Only complaint I had with the case was Apollo's inner monologue at a certain point which gave me the suspicion that he'll get some new info that I would not like very much.

Case 3 is certainly very interesting and I like how they ended the day 1 trial. I have a feeling that I have a good grasp on who the killer is now, but i'll wait and see.

[Rapier]

Case 3 is giving me heavy 3-5 vibes. I think it's because of Maya, the snow, the lamp post and the cleared snow area around it.

[Sylphid]

So I just finished case 2, and agree, first two cases were pretty good.

I wish the series would drop the the tendency to reveal the true culprit within first few seconds of a case. Though at least this time it was only in the first case so points for that.

A bit more major nitpick, but this far the game's had too much "lawyers / defense side are EEEEVIIILLLL" rhetoric. It's still tolerable but getting tiresome really fast. I hope the game takes a break from it soon...

[Thane]

Since Nintendo refuses my money and I can't use my credit card to pay for the game even though I've tried three times (and paid for the first two Fire Emblem games on my Japanese 3DS not more than two weeks ago, I believe), I decided to just watch it on YouTube.

[spoiler=My scattered thoughts on 6-1]Oh sweet Moses Ahlbi is the cutest thing ever! All of his sprites are just phenomenal.

I wish the tradition of showing the first killer of every game would've disappeared when Apollo Justice stopped doing it, but hey.

I appreciate how they flesh out Mr. Rohl, the first victim, along with Ahlbi and some of Khura'in's culture.

That being said, the first half of the case was abysmal and tainted by Yamazaki's style: nonsensical, over the top writing that just turns me off so much. He keeps coming up with reasons for why everyone in his games should hate either lawyers or prosecutors, but why? There are countless other things that can make it harder for Phoenix and his employees, why does he keep insisting on this one stupid thing? There have been no defense lawyers in that country for 23 years, and they all thing lawyers are the spawn of the devil as if being a lawyer was more than a profession; they almost treat it like they're another species! It's just so, so STUPID and adds absolutely nothing to the game - what's worse, if they tried raising the stakes with this absolutely idiotic DC pact or whatever it was called which causes lawyers to get the same punishment as the accused, then they've got no idea of how to properly pace a game, as they went out guns blazing in the very first case as opposed to making that a thing towards the end.

Also, since they only rely on Rayfa's powers to declare people guilty or innocent, I assume that's her ONLY duty as she seems to be the only one in the entire bloody country who can reveal what happened just before someone died, meaning that she has to solve every single dispute in the country. Absolutely ridiculous.

Speaking of Rayfa, it'd be less subtle if she had a glowing neon sign above her head saying "I will get character development/I'm actually not as in control as I think I am".

They went too far with Payne when he bloody advocates for the murder of a kid and Phoenix. He went from being a harmless joke to a disgusting individual - not in a good way that enrichens the case, but just leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Thankfully, the second half of the case was pretty good, and the killer was a great first villain. Not the deepest character, but not all villains have to be. He was very entertaining, and I liked the overall atmosphere of the case once the Khura'in bullshit was left behind, which I suspect will be a running theme throughout the game.

[Michelaar]

I just finished watchong Ace attorney Theater ~ Phoenix wright: Asinine attorney, and it was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. (It's dlc for SOJ btw)

[Water Mage]

Since Nintendo refuses my money and I can't use my credit card to pay for the game even though I've tried three times (and paid for the first two Fire Emblem games on my Japanese 3DS not more than two weeks ago, I believe), I decided to just watch it on YouTube.

[spoiler=My scattered thoughts on 6-1]Oh sweet Moses Ahlbi is the cutest thing ever! All of his sprites are just phenomenal.

I wish the tradition of showing the first killer of every game would've disappeared when Apollo Justice stopped doing it, but hey.

I appreciate how they flesh out Mr. Rohl, the first victim, along with Ahlbi and some of Khura'in's culture.

That being said, the first half of the case was abysmal and tainted by Yamazaki's style: nonsensical, over the top writing that just turns me off so much. He keeps coming up with reasons for why everyone in his games should hate either lawyers or prosecutors, but why? There are countless other things that can make it harder for Phoenix and his employees, why does he keep insisting on this one stupid thing? There have been no defense lawyers in that country for 23 years, and they all thing lawyers are the spawn of the devil as if being a lawyer was more than a profession; they almost treat it like they're another species! It's just so, so STUPID and adds absolutely nothing to the game - what's worse, if they tried raising the stakes with this absolutely idiotic DC pact or whatever it was called which causes lawyers to get the same punishment as the accused, then they've got no idea of how to properly pace a game, as they went out guns blazing in the very first case as opposed to making that a thing towards the end.

Also, since they only rely on Rayfa's powers to declare people guilty or innocent, I assume that's her ONLY duty as she seems to be the only one in the entire bloody country who can reveal what happened just before someone died, meaning that she has to solve every single dispute in the country. Absolutely ridiculous.

Speaking of Rayfa, it'd be less subtle if she had a glowing neon sign above her head saying "I will get character development/I'm actually not as in control as I think I am".

They went too far with Payne when he bloody advocates for the murder of a kid and Phoenix. He went from being a harmless joke to a disgusting individual - not in a good way that enrichens the case, but just leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Thankfully, the second half of the case was pretty good, and the killer was a great first villain. Not the deepest character, but not all villains have to be. He was very entertaining, and I liked the overall atmosphere of the case once the Khura'in bullshit was left behind, which I suspect will be a running theme throughout the game.

To be fair, the 6-1 isn't one of the best first cases, but 6-2 and 6-3 are amazing, especially 6-3.

[blah the Prussian]

Well, Thane is here and he's probably about to crush all of our enjoyment of the game!

I will say that the whole idea of seeing the truth via the Seances never made much sense to me. So, like, what do they do for literally any crime where no one died? What do they do when the killer used a sniper rifle, for example? Do they just show the vision in court and Rayfa says "well shit, it appears my powers are easily countered by sniper rifles"? If this is the case, why hasn't everyone who wants to commit a murder in Khu'rain gotten a sniper rifle? Also, Rayfa is fourteen. The DC Act (it stands for a ban on overly dark and brooding superhero films, of course!) was passed twenty years ago. Overall, though, I think that this plot hole is easily rationalized around, and it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the cases at large.

But yeah, I do hope Winston returns for the next game, because there's no way Edgeworth is letting Gaspen back after that.

[Thane]

To be fair, the 6-1 isn't one of the best first cases, but 6-2 and 6-3 are amazing, especially 6-3.

I wasn't expecting 4-1, especially since this is Yamazaki we're talking about, and I'm really looking forward to 6-2 and 6-3 of which I've only heard good things, but I didn't expect the first half of 6-1 to be that horrible and nonsensical. I also get the feeling that this game will suffer from the trademark Yamazaki style of trying to cram in far too many subplots and characters into the game.

Well, Thane is here and he's probably about to crush all of our enjoyment of the game!

I will say that the whole idea of seeing the truth via the Seances never made much sense to me. So, like, what do they do for literally any crime where no one died? What do they do when the killer used a sniper rifle, for example? Do they just show the vision in court and Rayfa says "well shit, it appears my powers are easily countered by sniper rifles"? If this is the case, why hasn't everyone who wants to commit a murder in Khu'rain gotten a sniper rifle? Also, Rayfa is fourteen. The DC Act (it stands for a ban on overly dark and brooding superhero films, of course!) was passed twenty years ago. Overall, though, I think that this plot hole is easily rationalized around, and it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the cases at large.

But yeah, I do hope Winston returns for the next game, because there's no way Edgeworth is letting Gaspen back after that.

Oh come on man, I love the series so it pains me to see it in the hands of Yamazaki. I'll praise anything I find good - which I already did in my scattered thoughts post - but as you yourself say, the seance things makes no sense - keep in mind Rayfa seems to be the only one who can use this, and there's only one of her in the entire country. I'm not sure if this'll be addressed later, but as it stands it's clearly not a very well-thought-out idea and reeks of Yamazaki's obsession with rule of cool.

Wait, Rayfa is 14? Christ, that dress was not made for someone her age.

Gaspen essentially advocated for the murder of Ahlbi and Phoenix in a serious fashion. That's not really a comic relief thing/joke character

thing to do.

Edit: oooh yes! Trucy's playing a central role in 6-2! Please please please let her get some character development; she and Apollo suffered so much from the inclusion of Athena in Dual Let's Ignore Apollo Justice Destinies.

Edited September 17, 2016 by Thane

[blah the Prussian]

I was absolutely not disagreeing with you about Payne. I will say that I have yet to see the actual origins of the DC act, so, you know, I can't yet comment on how much it actually makes sense. I'm also pretty sure it wasn't explicitly stated that Rayfa's the only one who can do the seances (if she is that makes even less sense if the rest of the royal family can't do it at least, so I'd assume they'd have cadet branches doing it for other parts of the country). I agree that it is a plot hole, but it remains to be seen (for me) how much of a bearing it has on the actual cases. I'll be willing to grudgingly forgive a plot hole if said plot hole doesn't have an impact on actually solving the final case. Honestly it might be that I'm happy to see the game improve on Dual Destinies to such an extent.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

i will say after finishing the game, there is a very evil, but fitting reason, why the DCA exists. (hint, its not a morally good one)

also only the royal family can do that spirit stuff (even then that's only on the female side) i believe this is stated in the game.

also on the Rayfa voice thing, she sounds older then she looks in japanese as well, i think this was intentional if its like this in the english version as well.

[Jave]

Since Nintendo refuses my money and I can't use my credit card to pay for the game even though I've tried three times (and paid for the first two Fire Emblem games on my Japanese 3DS not more than two weeks ago, I believe), I decided to just watch it on YouTube.

Why don't you buy an eShop credit code online? The US eShop won't accept my Chilean credit card, so that's what I've been doing since the beginning.

[blah the Prussian]

But what I was saying is that there's liable to be a shitton of members of the Royal Family (look at the extended British Royal family for example), enough to make it work if you discount the other problems. I will say that ignoring all non murder crimes is hardly the sole property of this game. Maya even lampshades this in the Stolen Turnabout.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

yeah i can see your point.

ofcourse i'm that guy that also found this game to be very politically influenced, but i don't think i should discuss that here for my views on that matter have gotten me in trouble.

[blah the Prussian]

And wait, this just dawned on me: it's not like the Kurain Channeling Technique is some beacon of problem-less storytelling. I mean, why has it been utilized so little? Why haven't historical figures been channeled so historians can interview them personally to get a feel for their motivations? I can see Mossad having a spirit medium channel Hitler just so they can mock and humiliate him. I mean, the technique could be used for so much more than solving crimes, and I'm surprised that spirit I mediums aren't everywhere. It also makes the idea of Edgeworth STILL not believing in them absurd, given that if I'm not mistaken he has actually faced off against Phoenix with channeled Mia before; if he hadn't, he could have heard of it from Franziska. Basically what I'm saying is that this isn't the first time Ace Attorney has had some sort of contrived magic ritual in its backstory.

[saisymbolic]

Well, I just finished watching SoJ on YT and, I have to say, it was truly a step above DD.

My favorite cases had to have been 6-3 and 6-5. Surprisingly, I was more interested in the happenings in Khura'in than in Japanifornia but, overall, the cases did have their own charms.

While I wasn't fond of Apollo during his introductory game, I am much more fond of him after the development given to him over the course of the game, particularly in the final case and epilogue. I was initially skeptical about what they had done to Apollo's past—I almost felt as if they were trying to make him more relevant than he should have been. As the game drew on, however, I found it to be a lot more acceptable and interesting. My heart hurt when we discovered what truly happened to his biological father—the Divination Seance of him made my eyes tear up somewhat—and I am slightly upset that we still don't know much about him other than his name.

My only complaint is that during the "master vs. student" showdown, Phoenix was forced to "lose" in order to protect Maya. Again. Just like in 2-4. Though this game's reason is a tad bit better, it still irks me somewhat.

The new characters were pretty entertaining. I immediately love Dhurke; it hurt me when he was discovered to be dead for much longer than initially thought. I thought Rayfa would annoy the hell out of me—initially she did—but as the game unfolded, I couldn't help but find her very adorable. I have mixed feelings about Prosecutor Nayuta; I like his overall design, voice and theme song but I was somewhat confused that he didn't really show any outward sadness over his own father's death. It may have shown up in the credits, however—I didn't actually watch them. He is like most prosecutors in the AA series—assholes during the trials but genuinely good people. My favorite witness had to be Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin; his transformation was hilarious and I absolutely loved his design.

The soundtrack was pretty good. As I've stated earlier, I have a distinct love for Confess the Truth (2016). It bears similarities to the very first Announce the Truth (2001), which is the only other one that I even liked. Confess the Truth (2016) has a more solemn sound and the bass—oh the bass—I absolutely love it. My other favorite soundtrack was The Basics of the Case, which plays when the prosecution explains his case.

But, yeah, overall, I personally give SoJ about a 8/10.

Edited September 17, 2016 by SaiSymbolic

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

And wait, this just dawned on me: it's not like the Kurain Channeling Technique is some beacon of problem-less storytelling. I mean, why has it been utilized so little? Why haven't historical figures been channeled so historians can interview them personally to get a feel for their motivations? I can see Mossad having a spirit medium channel Hitler just so they can mock and humiliate him. I mean, the technique could be used for so much more than solving crimes, and I'm surprised that spirit I mediums aren't everywhere. It also makes the idea of Edgeworth STILL not believing in them absurd, given that if I'm not mistaken he has actually faced off against Phoenix with channeled Mia before; if he hadn't, he could have heard of it from Franziska. Basically what I'm saying is that this isn't the first time Ace Attorney has had some sort of contrived magic ritual in its backstory.

oh yeah, i have no problem with the magical stuff, it just makes the games more fun.

i think my only real issue with the mainline games was the entirety of AA4, but thats off topic.

[Rapier]

holy shit, DGS2 was announced and who cares, really?

I wonder if that means we're getting both games localized, because I hope they do. I've watched the first case on Youtube and it was pretty good.

[spoiler=case 1]

The killer reminded me of Dahlia, the difficulty was adequate, Feudalworth and Feudalpayne were awesome, Ryuunosuke had a good character development and the ost is enjoyable. I really wish to see more of this but I've been waiting for the game to be translated/localized. We'll see what Capcom says.

[saisymbolic]

holy shit, DGS2 was announced and who cares, really?

I wonder if that means we're getting both games localized, because I hope they do. I've watched the first case on Youtube and it was pretty good.

[spoiler=case 1]

The killer reminded me of Dahlia, the difficulty was adequate, Feudalworth and Feudalpayne were awesome, Ryuunosuke had a good character development and the ost is enjoyable. I really wish to see more of this but I've been waiting for the game to be translated/localized. We'll see what Capcom says.

i really care damn it

I have my doubts we're actually getting these games, however. As much as I really want them.

I'm probably just going to have to suck it up and learn Japanese to enjoy them.

...Please prove me wrong, Capcom. I have never asked you for anything. T_T

[Water Mage]

I still think that the chances of the first DGS game getting are very slim. Not because of the localization, but because of something much more delicate. I posted this in another thread, but I post here as well. It's the review from someone in Siliconera that played the game:

"The game requires an absolutely massive amount of cultural understanding. The west is not in a good place for that right now.

To be frank, most of the British characters (read: all of the British characters) talk down to Ryunosuke, and talk poorly about Japan's "reverted, backwards, ancient" ways. Jurors call Ryunosuke a Black Demon, a man with a small yellow face, accuse him of using "magic of the orient" among other things. These come off as harmless jokes in Japan just fine because when you're 99.5% homegenous, race isn't a popular topic of conversation (and they love making fun of themselves - just like at Atsugiri Jason, arguably the worst thing to happen to foreigners here in years) - but in a place like America, especially with pathetic uproars over small changes in localization with games like Fates, these issues are taken very seriously and the public response is often grave.

In addition, the game often comes off as incredibly anti-west, but in reality its just reflecting the very true conditions of the Meiji period. There's a problem - who cares about the Meiji period? No one, and no one can argue that it's common knowledge. It's a really fascinating period of history, but right now, people's glasses will probably bias them to seeing a part of the game that isn't necessarily there."

I have to agree, the west really isn't prepared for game like this.

Do you all honestly could be released in the west without creating some sort of controversy?

Edited September 17, 2016 by Water Mage

[saisymbolic]

I still think that the chances of the first DGS game getting are very slim. Not because of the localization, but because of something much more delicate. I posted this in another thread, but I post here as well. It's the review from someone in Siliconera that played the game:

"The game requires an absolutely massive amount of cultural understanding. The west is not in a good place for that right now.

To be frank, most of the British characters (read: all of the British characters) talk down to Ryunosuke, and talk poorly about Japan's "reverted, backwards, ancient" ways. Jurors call Ryunosuke a Black Demon, a man with a small yellow face, accuse him of using "magic of the orient" among other things. These come off as harmless jokes in Japan just fine because when you're 99.5% homegenous, race isn't a popular topic of conversation (and they love making fun of themselves - just like at Atsugiri Jason, arguably the worst thing to happen to foreigners here in years) - but in a place like America, especially with pathetic uproars over small changes in localization with games like Fates, these issues are taken very seriously and the public response is often grave.

In addition, the game often comes off as incredibly anti-west, but in reality its just reflecting the very true conditions of the Meiji period. There's a problem - who cares about the Meiji period? No one, and no one can argue that it's common knowledge. It's a really fascinating period of history, but right now, people's glasses will probably bias them to seeing a part of the game that isn't necessarily there."

I have to agree, the west really isn't prepared for game like this.

Do you all honestly could be released in the west without creating some sort of controversy?

Well, like I said, I guess it's time for me to learn Japanese.

sigh

[Ema Skye]

then they've got no idea of how to properly pace a game, as they went out guns blazing in the very first case as opposed to making that a thing towards the end.

Disagreeing with you here.

The guns are barely even hot in Case 1 for SoJ's standards.

With the exception of Case 4, every other case has just as, or higher, stakes than Case 1.

[Rapier]

I still think that the chances of the first DGS game getting are very slim. Not because of the localization, but because of something much more delicate. I posted this in another thread, but I post here as well. It's the review from someone in Siliconera that played the game:

"The game requires an absolutely massive amount of cultural understanding. The west is not in a good place for that right now.

To be frank, most of the British characters (read: all of the British characters) talk down to Ryunosuke, and talk poorly about Japan's "reverted, backwards, ancient" ways. Jurors call Ryunosuke a Black Demon, a man with a small yellow face, accuse him of using "magic of the orient" among other things. These come off as harmless jokes in Japan just fine because when you're 99.5% homegenous, race isn't a popular topic of conversation (and they love making fun of themselves - just like at Atsugiri Jason, arguably the worst thing to happen to foreigners here in years) - but in a place like America, especially with pathetic uproars over small changes in localization with games like Fates, these issues are taken very seriously and the public response is often grave.

In addition, the game often comes off as incredibly anti-west, but in reality its just reflecting the very true conditions of the Meiji period. There's a problem - who cares about the Meiji period? No one, and no one can argue that it's common knowledge. It's a really fascinating period of history, but right now, people's glasses will probably bias them to seeing a part of the game that isn't necessarily there."

I have to agree, the west really isn't prepared for game like this.

Do you all honestly could be released in the west without creating some sort of controversy?

I don't think there is anything that can't be released without creating some sort of controversy. People will complain about things regardless of what is done, especially stupid people who take social justice too far and appeal to emotional outbursts to base their bullshit illogical opinions on. Luckily those are small, loud groups that don't even matter on statistics (thus, they shouldn't affect the game's sales much), and they might as well keep problematizating from their mothers' basements.

In my opinion, the question we should be making is if AA fans will buy this game (and not if insignificant, loud minorities will cry because they lack proper rational development/understanding about the game's context), and I don't see why not, what with the high demand/petitions/fan translation in the works and recent success of the AA main series in the west, thus the game should be released overseas.

Also, asians aren't really discriminated here for this to be a big racial issue in the west. If Ryuunosuke was a black person or part of a recognized minority, then I'd understand the backlash.

As for the cultural clash, most of the game takes place on Britain, and we've dealt with cultural clashes before. Remember 5-2? Khu'rain? Has the localization industry not dealt well with games with heavy cultural references like Persona and Danganronpa before? I know that the AA localization team strives for a "perfect" americanization/westernization, but the fact that this game takes place on Japan (on case 1 at least) could be used as an excuse for a more lax localization.

I know you haven't said this, but I've seen this being brought on some discussions and I'd like to give it a mention: Copyright issues can't be brought as an argument for non-localization because Sherlock Holmes is public domain, and the same logic applied that allowed Robert Downy Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes movies to be aired without copyright issues should apply to the game, since they're also non canon, free creative uses of Doyle's characters.

So, I don't really see why not localize this game, although I admit I lack an understanding of marketing and sales and whatever so I could be completely wrong.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Rapier

[Samias]

Also, asians aren't really discriminated here for this to be a big racial issue in the west. If Ryuunosuke was a black person or part of a recognized minority, then I'd understand the backlash.

That's blatantly untrue. Yes, they don't face the same racism as people of SE asians/Latino/black descent but the type of racism that affects asian people is EXACTLY the type that gets highlighted in this game... namely being "mysterious orientals" who always play side roles but never the main role. And as someone Chinese it's absolutely abysmal to run into people who make fun of Asian language with painfully bad accents. Ugh. So basically this game is a bunch of white people talking down to Asians like they're superior and the game reacts to that. Most historical Japanese manga doesn't sell well either because things like the Shinsengumi that grew just before that era are ostensibly anti-West ideas and lack resonance outside of a Japanese audience. Gintama for example is easily the least popular of the big Shonen Jump titles because so many historical references are just lost in translation. I don't think it's necessarily bad to talk about racism within the structure of a game but at the same time a lot of people also wouldn't understand the nuance of the setting. We're lucky 6-4 in AA6 had such a thorough translation to explain such obscure things like rakugo theatre but that was a mini sized case and the only one of its kind in the game.

I mean I would love to see DGS but the ideas it revolves around are difficult to explain to a mainstream audience. They could pull an Atlus and just leave it as is, but those "easy" history lessons and culture questions in Persona 4 were pretty harsh... I had to Google things on the fly.

[Thane]

[spoiler=My scattered thoughts on 6-2]Holy crap was that an improvement! Phenomenal pacing in the beginning, great premise, the humor was on point - I even laughed at what I can only assume was a joke about Trucy having a dildo.

Amazing sprites, just like with Ahlbi; Trucy was in desperate need of some more, and her sad smile really sold her character brilliantly. Her crying animation was alright, but it looked like a grown up Pearl (and maybe that was the point; they're friends after all). Ema Skye was a welcome addition as well, and her sprites have been improved as well.

The investigation was unusually good for the series, thanks in part to the wonderful premise, and the clues were many and varied, with a lot of tension going on even outside of the courtroom thanks to Retinz.

Of course, there's where my complaints begin: the supporting cast. Bonny and Betty were predictable and plain as characters, combining the twists of Dahlia/Iris Hawthorne and Ini/Mini Mimey. Retinz - or rather, Reus - was a victim for Yamazaki's desire for hate boners to drive the plot, which seem to be omnipresent in his writing, and I don't believe there was a single person here who didn't expect him to be a (former) magician after his line about magicians all being scum.

The problem with having so few characters is that we only had three people to choose from, and it was obvious it wasn't the twins due to how early they appeared. how obviously evil Betty was and how Bonny defended her, meaning that only Reus could've done it. Believe it or not, but I also suspected him to be the real killer because it was too convenient to just have a previously unheard of Graymare suddenly appearing again.

Sadhmadhi was almost inconsequential to the case, only pointing out when Apollo didn't have any evidence. I loathe the fact that he and Apollo knew each other, which will probably mean that this case which was so blissfully shielded from the Khura'in bullshit will be tied into Apollo's character development, proving that the writers have no idea what they want to do with him.

Speaking of character development, damn if it wasn't satisfying ot see Trucy get some time to shine as a person. Wonderful, wonderful stuff and not a second too early considering her importance to the cast as a whole. I'm disappointed she didn't find out about Apollo being her brother, since this could've been a good case to do so, and I'm wondering why they don't just get it over with, but at least she finally had her time in the spotlight (zing!)

There were a lot of good twists in the case, like with the sword in the cushions which I didn't see coming at all. Lovely stuff.

However, the finish was weak and felt inconclusive with the evidence being flimsy at best. Yamazaki has always had problems actually closing his cases, but since the rest of it was so good, it was less of an issue this time. I'm also surprised by how grounded it was in spite of the circumstances, and the plot twists felt natural, unlike how they usually turn out in his works.

All in all a great, solid case with some of the best investigation in the series. I adore the new sprites, the humor, the banter and Trucy getting character development. Some of the twists were awesome, and the premise was fantastic. That being said, the support cast could've been done much better, Sadhmadhi needed more lines to shine and a few things were predictable. I'm also terrified what'll happen to Apollo now that Khura'in, which was thankfully hardly relevant in this case, has been brought into his life.

Seriously, while a little rough around the edges, this is what an Ace Attorney case should be like. No relying on awful gimmicks or a country that for some reasons hate lawyers and solve all of their legal problems by the help of a 14-year-old girl in a mini skirt's magical powers. This blows everything Yamazaki has previously written for the series out of the water, and if Khura'in hadn't been a thing, I would've been super excited for the rest of the game.

Oh, and as a final note, thank god Athena didn't just become the center of attention again, my god.