Turnabout Memories

Hallo, alle miteinander, and welcome once again to Wright Wednesday! This is the weekly series where we recap, analyze, and review the cases of the Ace Attorney. This week we're starting the third game in the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney-Trials and Tribulations with its first case Turnabout Memories. My name is Roy and I enjoy flashback story-arcs, especially the ones in One Piece.

My name is Sam and...well yeah, I also do. They're cool. Haven't seen One Piece though.

The case begins with a cutscene of two college students talking, though we don’t yet know who is saying what. They seem to be discussing a girl, when we cut from that to one of the two on the ground, and the other standing above his body. The one left alive pleads that he didn’t kill the other, and as the camera pans up to see his face, we see it’s Phoenix Wright. One thing I have to say right away is that by now, the creators had mastered the audio and visual storytelling of the opening cutscenes, they’re easily the best ones of the entire trilogy.

Absolutely, they've got this down at this point.

From there, we see the date and time: April 11th of 2014, five years before the rest of this game takes place, and two years before the first game’s first trial. (The exact year isn't specified in text, but I put it there for reference to the series official timeline.) This is specifically the second ever trial of Mia Fey. Who we get to play as! The series’ first time giving the player control over someone who isn’t Phoenix. Much like Phoenix’s first trial, it begins in the Defendant Lobby, with Mia nervous about what’s to come, when her mentor shows up. It’s Marvin Grossberg! Mia tries to claim she’s relaxed, but in doing so keeps grabbing people and shaking them, kind of undercutting her statement. Grossberg is surprised she took the case, having come to him yesterday and pleading for it. She says she just found out about it that day, but hasn’t actually had the time to read over all the details.

Because you gotta have some reason to go over the mechanics for new players.

Now it’s time for Mia to actually meet her client, the young Mr. Wright. He’s wearing a very silly pink sweater with a heart and the letter “P” on it, and his face is covered with a medical mask. After Mia tries to make it clear to her client she’s there to help, scaring him in the process, we get a little introduction narration from her, revealing to us that her first trial was about a year previous, but ended so traumatically that it’s been hard to get back into the courtroom.

I do love that we just get this bomb dropped on us that Phoenix was accused of murder as a college student and it had never come up before. It's a flashback three games in so it's more than excusable, but still.

I mean, I can understand that. It explains how he met and started studying under Mia, and I can't think of anything in previous games that would have made him bring up this incident.

Exactly, it's not a problem, it just surprised me. Like, when you're friends with someone for a long time, them find out they almost died once or something.

Oh, for sure, it's a weird feeling. Anyway, the trial begins, and the prosecution is once again Winston Payne. This time though, he has more hair, in the form of a large pompous pompadour. Apparently back then, he had an undefeated record and was known as the “Rookie Killer” because he was so good at taking on new attorneys. One wonders if the reason he had such a good record was because he only fought newbies. He’s very condescending to Mia, and explains the basic events of the case: the victim, Doug Swallow, was a fourth-year pharmacology student at Ivy University, which is also where he was found dead. Payne also presents of a photo of how the body was found, while revealing students found the body and reported it to the police...and said they saw Phoenix Wright standing over the corpse.

Very incriminating, I'll admit. But pretty sure the defendant this time isn't as shady as in the last case.

From the photo, it’s hard for the Judge to really tell what the cause of death is, and as a test, the question is thrown to Mia. Grossberg gives the usual Court Record spiel about how to look at evidence, and looking at the autopsy report gives the answer: Mr. Swallow was electrocuted. Oh, and it turns out Grossberg has a bad case of hemorrhoids that he is going to keep talking about, whether we like it or not.

And we do not.

The Judge is curious about how exactly the victim was killed that way, as it’s not something they see every day. Payne says that will become clear as the trial continues, but spoiler alert Payne actually doesn’t know because even when he’s smug, he’s still a loser. Another test is thrown Mia’s way, regarding the motive behind the murder. This time it’s explained how to look at profiles, and the answer is to Present the profile of someone named Dahlia Hawthorne, current girlfriend to Phoenix Wright and ex-girlfriend of Doug Swallow. There is also a really cute moment where, when explaining how to Present things, Grossberg phrases it as shoving the evidence, “into Ol' Graybeard's face!” which Mia immediately repeats, leading to the Judge calling out Grossberg for teaching Mia bad habits.

It is fun to see Mia as a less experienced lawyer.

The problem with this is, by making Mia explain all of this to the court, the Judge is already leaning towards the prosecution’s side before a single witness has been called. But don’t worry, one is on the way, namely the defendant, Phoenix Wright. He explains through sneezes and coughs that he has a cold, hence the face-mask. As someone playing through this game during the Coronavirus Pandemic of the 2020's, it galls me that Phoenix Wright, who is portrayed as a lovable goof on the level of Gumshoe in this case, was able to wear a mask while sick with a harmless cold while people in the real world won’t wear one for during a deadly outbreak.

Seriously, "be at least as considerate as a young, stupid Phoenix Wright" should frankly not be that high a frigging bar.

For his first testimony, Phoenix basically just keeps repeating that he didn’t kill anyone and barely knew the victim, but also calling him a “British wannabe”. Mia is happy with the testimony, but Grossberg makes it clear to her that, client or no, they still need to cross-examine it. It’s explicitly made clear that a key role of the defense attorney in this court system is to cross-examine every witness as well as they can, exposing any lie or inconsistency they find, regardless of whether it’s good or bad for the case, all to try and find the truth. Mia doesn’t want to believe that Phoenix would lie, but we’ve played enough cases to already know where this is going.

Young Phoenix Wright, committing perjury. Our hero, everyone!

Pressing the statement that’s most suspicious, where Phoenix calls the victim mean names, has Mia point out that if he didn’t know the guy, how would he know that he’s a “British wannabe”? Phoenix defends his assertion by adding to his testimony about how the victim wore a Union Jack on the back of his shirt. Sadly, one look at the crime scene photo shows that can’t be seen if, as Phoenix claims, he just happened to find the body. The back of the victim is blank. Phoenix counters that the Union Jack was on the t-shirt he was wearing under the jacket, not immediately understanding that by saying that if he just found the victim, he’d have no clue what was under his jacket. This makes Phoenix cry, and Mia asserts the “P” on his shirt doesn’t stand for “Phoenix”. I will let you assume what you will about what she means by that.

...oh my God how did I miss that.

Now that it’s clear Phoenix didn’t just stumble across the body, Payne asks a seemingly innocuous question: is Phoenix taking anything for his cold? He answers that he is, a brand called ‘Coldkiller X’ (which is easily the greatest medicine name of all time), but he doesn’t have it on him, having recently lost it. Payne presents a bottle and claims it’s actually Phoenix’s. It’s covered in his fingerprints, and was found clutched in the hand of the victim. A photo of the hand in question with the medicine in it is submitted as evidence. Payne also brings attention to the watch in the photo, which was broken by the surge of electricity that killed the victim.

I do love Payne's reasoning for why Doug had the medicine; he grabbed it in order to properly identify his killer! I feel like that's a bit of a stretch.

Oh, for sure, but I don't think anyone really took it seriously either. Also, I want to believe that Coldkiller X isn't just like Dayquil, covering up symptoms, but actually does cure the common cold. Like, the weird state of technology and science in this timeline is crazy anyway, why not just have a common, easy to get drug that cures the cold?

Truly the world of Phoenix Wright is a utopia in all ways except the legal system.

I mean, have you seen their cell phones? Don't know if that's exactly a utopia.

Oh. Oh no. Fair.

Now I'm having flashbacks to trying to text people on those number-pad only cell phones.

I'm having flashbacks to playing the few games designed for those keypads.

Snake!

Diner Dash!

Phoenix’s second testimony is a lot more detailed: the victim had called him, asking to meet up by the Pharmacology Department at 2:45pm; they met up, talked for 15 minutes, then Phoenix left; he came back later and found the victim dead; as for the Coldkiller X, Phoenix lost his bottle around lunch on the day of the accident. There’s a lot to find with Pressing, but no contradictions. The two big takeaways are Phoenix talking about the special feature of that particular department, high voltage cables that run all along the outside to power their special machines for making medicine and Phoenix revealing that basically everyone knew he took Coldkiller X, he took it with every meal.

Despite the lack of contradictions, no one in the court can really trust it. After all, Phoenix has already shown he’s willing to lie on the stand, and he’s the defendant. The fact he has no explanation for why he came back to the scene doesn’t help either. At this point, the Judge only has one lingering question: what actually killed the victim? The prosecutor finally admits he doesn’t actually know, and they don’t know what the murder weapon even was. Mia offers to figure it out, pointing to the obvious hanging high voltage cable in the original crime scene photo. The fact no one on the prosecution’s side noticed this astounds me.

It's an obvious detail, especially considering we already know the victim died of electrocution.

Payne congratulates the defense on figuring out the cause of death, but points out that Phoenix is still the most likely suspect. Not only that, he has something else to show off: the victim’s jacket was made of leather, and fingerprints were found on the chest area, namely those of the defendant, Phoenix Wright. With this clear evidence that Phoenix pushed the victim, likely towards the electrical cable, the Judge is ready to deliver his verdict. Mia stops him, and pleads with Phoenix to just tell everyone the truth, because if he doesn’t, the trial is over. Phoenix is scared to do that, but Mia asks for his trust, and Phoenix decides to give it to her, offering his genuine truth. He did push Doug Swallow, because he was speaking bad about ‘Dollie’, Phoenix’s girlfriend. He was scared to say anything out of fear of being called the murderer, but now everyone is even more sure that’s the case. Still, it’s a new testimony, which means a new cross-examination.

I do have to say, the moment when she gains Phoenix's trust is actually pretty poignant. I'll be coming back to it in analysis.

The only new information immediately available is that there was some kind of loud noise right after the shove, and that Phoenix came back to the body later because he was worried about something having happened to the victim. The Judge makes it clear before the cross-examination that without any new facts, he’ll be ready to deliver his verdict. Pressing the statements, Phoenix will mention he didn’t see any hanging power cables in the area, as those would be pretty obvious. More importantly, asking about the nature of the loud sound he heard has him clarify it sounded like a snap kind of sound. Payne obviously tries to spin this as the sound of the electrocution, which is just silly, but Phoenix suddenly realizes what the sound was. It had been raining at the time, and the victim had a cheap, plastic umbrella with him. When he was pushed, the umbrella fell under him and snapped.

I admit this seems rather strange, since he would have had to maneuver the umbrella underneath himself as he fell somehow, and the animation pretty clearly shows the umbrella being thrown upward as he falls, but alright.

As someone who once was flipped off his bike, only to land first and have their bicycle land on top of them, I can confirm falling people and objects do sometimes fall at different rates, causing them to land at different times. The animation of the scene is definitely odd, but I can also buy it. I just like the umbrella has been in the crime scene photo since we first got it, seeding the evidence in early.

Yes, for sure. Also ouch.

I still have scars from that! This is exactly what Mia needs for her case. As the crime scene photo shows, the umbrella in question was quite a ways away from the body, near the electrical pole. Which means that, after being pushed by Mr. Wright, the victim got up, he wasn’t dead at that time. At the request of the Judge, the prosecution even submits the umbrella as evidence, as they’d had it all along. Now that there’s a small piece of doubt in the Judge’s mind, he’s no longer sure about his verdict. I mean, he really shouldn’t be because even if Phoenix did push the victim into a electric wire, that would be much more likely manslaughter than murder.

So far a conviction on any kind of intentional murder would be very shaky.

But Payne isn’t done yet, he has another witness. He expects Mia to be intimidated by this, but she seems more confident now than she has all day. Payne reveals the witness is Dahlia Hawthorne, the defendant’s own girlfriend, but rather than taking that as bad news, Mia sees it as exactly what she’s been waiting for the entire trial. Neither Phoenix or Grossberg know what she means, but before we can learn, the Judge calls a 20 minute recess before seeing the new witness.

It's the first glimpse we get of a Mia who's very intentional and confident in her position, and we'll see more of it as we go.

Back in the Defendant Lobby, Phoenix apologizes for all his lies, but Mia doesn’t seem to mind, and asks for more details about his and Dahlia’s relationship. He reveals they met at the courthouse eight months ago, including a quick mention that he’s actually been studying to be a lawyer “on the side”. (Phoenix is currently majoring in Art.) They met in the courthouse’s library and quickly fell in love, but most important is that Dahlia gave Phoenix something, a necklace he takes with him everywhere and shows to everyone. It’s in the shape of a heart, with a bottle inside, and Mia immediately seems to recognize it. Oddly enough, every time she and Phoenix spend time together, she asks for Phoenix to give it back, but he never does.

Poor, naive Phoenix. My poor, innocent, stupid son.

Out of nowhere, Mia asks if the specific date of their meeting was August 27th, which Phoenix confirms. When he asks how she knew that, Mia pulls out an article, showing that a ‘murder’ occurred at the courthouse on that very day. Suddenly, Grossberg understands what Mia has been up to, and why she took this case to begin with. Mia just says she needs to finish this herself, but Grossberg doesn’t think what she has will be enough evidence, and goes to look for something else she can use. The recess ends, and we get a save point before we return to the trial.

I will say, it's really nice to see Grossberg in a caring mentor position. When we saw him in the first game he was more...pathetic. Kinda jokey, and his main contribution to Turnabout Sisters was caving to pressure when Redd White extorted him. It's good to see the person who trained Mia, before all that.

For sure. But I'll talk about that more during the analysis portion.

Dahlia takes the stand, and immediately all the men in the room are transfixed. She’s a singular beauty, radiating such innocence and sincerity that the Judge pretty much straight-up says he trusts her before she’s said a word. She speaks meekly, inspiring both Payne and the Judge to pledge their protection to give her courage.

I...will want to talk about that particular thing later on, during our analysis.

As will I, Roy. As will I. She starts off saying there must be some kind of mistake, as "Feenie" couldn’t kill anyone. Her first testimony even covers for him, saying Doug just collapsed. Mia tears this down easily, but not before Dahlia says sweetly that Mia hasn’t changed. Of course this first testimony is easy to disprove, since Phoenix’s handprint on Doug’s jacket clearly indicates some kind of physical contact. She amends her testimony to reflect this, but claims that she didn’t see or hear anything when Doug well, which is also easy to disprove since we established he fell on the umbrella with a loud cracking noise.

Funnily enough, the prosecution was so entranced by her that Mia had to ask for her name and occupation, the first time the defense has had to do that.

Dahlia amends to claim she was wearing headphones, and thus didn’t hear the snapping sound. Apparently she’s afraid of the sound of thunder, because that way the Judge and prosecutor feel even more compelled to protect her. But this inadvertently complicates things, because if there was thunder, there was lightning, which introduces another potential method of the victim’s death. Mia puts forth that Doug Swallow was killed by a stray lightning bolt.

This part is really weird.

It's a real stretch. But of course, Payne isn’t quite that incompetent. He already confirmed that there were no lightning strikes in that area, and what’s more, he has a statement from the students of the Pharmacology department testifying that the building lost power around 3pm, indicating the electrical cable broke right around then. He also explains that the cables were old and brittle, due for replacement, and any bump could have caused one to snap.

So...how did he not know the cable was the cause of death, when he had this info? Or did he find all this out during the recess?

Did he not? We proved that in the last segment. I took this as him covering his bases, making sure the victim couldn't have died by a lightning strike so the defense couldn't discount the established murder method.

...is what I typed, before realizing that yeah, he hadn't established that was the murder method before the trial, so... huh. Yeah.

 Winston may be more smug, but he's still a Payne.

In any case, the fragility of the wire brings up the question of what caused it to break, and Mia explains that Doug must have crashed into the pole when Phoenix pushed him, providing the impact that broke the cable. Payne tries to spin this to his advantage, but the photo of the crime scene clearly shows the umbrella, where Doug originally fell, by the far pole in the image, well away from the broken cable. He could not have been electrocuted from the same push that broke the power cable, meaning he must have been killed later on.

The perspective on that photo with the back pole and the umbrella is a bit wonky.

It certainly is. Of course it’s time for Dahlia to sweetly and tearfully interject with her own memory of events. This time she says Feenie pushed Doug twice; once into the electrical pole, then Doug tried to run away. But Phoenix caught up to him and crashed into him from behind, pushing him into the cable. She claims this all happened within the span of under a minute. She asks if she’s doing the right thing, betraying Phoenix like this, and the Judge assures her she is.

Listen, no matter what else you can say about the guy, the Judge is a sweetheart.

Yes, but also perhaps a little too gullible and easily-manipulated considering his job. Thankfully, Dahlia has fallen right into one of the classic Phoenix Wright contradictions. Power went out at 2:55pm, indicating that this is when the cable snapped, but Doug’s watch, which stopped due to the immense electrical current, is stopped at exactly 3:05pm. If all this happened in under a minute, as Dahlia claims, that time disparity wouldn’t be possible; there are ten full minutes between the cable snapping and Doug’s murder. This fits far more neatly into Mia’s theory that someone else killed Doug after Phoenix left. Of course, this means the likely murderer is Dahlia herself.

This one can be hard to spot, since there are no numbers on the wristwatch in the picture and it's rotated ninety degrees.

Oh, I didn't have that problem but I suppose I can see how others could. But before this accusation can be expanded on, a surprising witness bursts in to defend her: Phoenix Wright. He says to strike all this from the record, saying Dollie could never do something like that. As the bailiff drags Phoenix away, Grossberg returns with the police report from the incident Mia referenced before. And he drops a new piece of information; apparently that case from eight months ago involves the loss of Mia’s boyfriend.

I like that they actually use Phoenix's objection sound effect when he bursts in.

Dahlia, of course, plays the victim and says she couldn’t have killed Dougie, let alone pinned it on her sweet Feenie. Essentially, Mia lacks a believable motive for this crime. But Mia knows it can’t be a coincidence that, on the same day eight months ago that a crime was committed in this court, Dahlia and Phoenix met at the courtroom. So she requests Dahlia testify about the events of that day.

She testifies that her destined meeting with Phoenix Wright took place in the basement reading room of this very courthouse, and they’ve been dating ever since. Mia has to tread carefully, since the Judge is pretty firmly on Dahlia’s side, but she manages to get Dahlia to add that she was at the courthouse that day to research a paper she was writing on the relationship between modern Senryu poetry and the criminal underworld. Of course, Mia sees through this lie easily, and has the police report to prove that Dahlia was here for a murder trial, in which she was the suspect.

Quick clarification: she wasn't there for a trial, she was meeting Diego Armando, Mia's boyfriend, right when he was poisoned for an interview related to another case.

Sorry yes, that's true. Frankly the reason why Dahlia was meeting him is a little unclear. She testifies that she did in fact meet the lawyer who had been poisoned that day, to discuss something in the cafeteria. But she claims that the poison used was a very unique, potent, and rare poison, and she would have no idea how to even access such a thing. This point is apparently why she wasn’t pinned for the crime eight months ago, but frankly, it’s very easy to see how she could have; at the time, she was dating Doug Swallow, a pharmacology major who regularly worked with dangerous substances in the school chemistry lab. Slipping it into the lawyer’s coffee would have then been a cinch.

Another clarification: it's mentioned that she wasn't arrested for the poisoning not because of how she would get the poison, but because they searched her and the entire courthouse, and couldn't find the container for the poison and link it to her.

True, and Dahlia points this out, saying that she would have needed some kind of container to carry the poison, and there was none on her that day. The answer to this, of course, is the bottle necklace poor Phoenix was given as a token of her affection that day The one she has regularly asked him to give back.

I'm guessing he wasn't searched because he was just some rando college student?

I assume they knew she had been meeting with him, but since Phoenix had no connection to any of the people involved there was no reason to involve him. Once again, Phoenix barges in and objects with his classic line. He’s defending her out of love, but Mia decides to get tough and tell him that Dahlia is not interested in him; she’s only dating him for the necklace. She knew Phoenix had nothing to do with the case and wouldn’t be searched, so she gave him the necklace and began dating him, planning to get it back at a later date to dispose of it.

She's pretty freaking brutal about how undatable he is, too.

Phoenix breaks down crying and tries to run away, apparently stealing the bottle necklace on the way out. When he’s brought back, it turns out he swallowed the necklace to keep it from being used as evidence. Not only swallowed, but chewed it into little bits first since it was too big. This is worrying, of course, since the bottle may have had traces of the poison still left in it, but Payne jumps on the opportunity to claim that if Phoenix is still okay, the bottle must not have contained any poison. He says that Mia’s trust in Phoenix is noble--he would also trust Dahlia with his very life, he claims--but ultimately misplaced.

The reoccurring element of trust is something I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about with.

We absolutely will. Phoenix interrupts Payne, apologizing for having let Mia down and adding one piece of information to all this; the thing Doug had to tell Phoenix about Dahlia was that poison was stolen from the Pharmacology lab the night before. Just as it had been eight months before. Dahlia had come to the lab both times. Phoenix also adds that, when he got worried and came back to make sure Doug was alright, Dahlia was right there. She made him promise not to tell anyone about it. But he still insists that Dahlia is innocent.

I like that every time we see that opening cutscene again, we get a little more dialogue and context.

Mia puts the pieces together and makes her final assertion; Dahlia Hawthorne stole poison the night before Doug’s murder, with intent to kill. More specifically, intent to kill Phoenix Wright. Since Phoenix wouldn’t give up the bottle, and even proudly showed it to everyone he met, she knew it was only a matter of time before someone might catch on. So she tried to kill him and reclaim the bottle.

Dahlia cuts in at this point, but she’s changed. Her expression is dismissive, her language is rude, and she calls Phoenix pathetic. She says it’s clear Mia is going to paint her as a criminal no matter what she says, to which Mia simply responds that she is a criminal. But in this court, evidence is everything, and since Phoenix ate the bottle Mia is lacking any definitive proof. She also manages to snap straight back to the nice, innocent Dahlia at the drop of a hat, even lampshading it for the judge. And since she is a voluntary witness, not the one on trial, she knows she can just leave. And she nearly does.

When the ante gets upped in...a really strange way.

The Judge threatens that pushing too hard here could cost Mia her lawyer's badge, and once it becomes clear that Mia’s career is on the line here, Dahlia sticks around to see how things play out. Mia decides to present decisive evidence, and since it feels like a stretch, the Judge allows only one piece to be presented. So Mia reasons it out and takes a gamble; she presents the bottle of Coldkiller X. More specifically, the poisoned bottle of Coldkiller X.

The risk of Mia losing her badge makes no sense at all. It also isn't a one piece of evidence deal, it's just a normal penalty.

Oh, well...yeah that's weird. In any case, Phoenix ate with Dahlia every day, and lost this bottle of pills at lunch. She took it, Mia claims, and poisoned it with the poison she got from the lab the night before. After Doug approached Phoenix, it became clear that she couldn’t afford to let Doug live. So she killed him. But when Phoenix unexpectedly returned she realized she could still be found out if she was connected to the poisoned pills. So, much like she had with Phoenix months ago, she put the pills into Doug’s hand so they wouldn’t be connected to her.

My question is: why does a Pharmacology Department at a university just have poison lying around to steal?

Dahlia takes this in stride, of course, saying this is just a theory, so Mia puts it to the test. If the medicine wasn’t poisoned, then surely Dahlia wouldn’t object to taking some here and now. And at this point, Dahlia finally drops all pretense. The butterflies around her burst into flame and she turns to Mia with blazing eyes. But only for a moment, before sweetly saying that victory is Mia’s. For now. But they will meet again. And she goes to be taken into custody.

Her end is both subdued and over-the-top dramatic at the same time, love it.

Payne Objects, even as Dahlia is essentially pleading guilty, but despite his earlier claim that he trusts Dahlia with his life, he too is unwilling to take the medicine. Payne, too, has a breakdown, and instantly loses his pompadour on the spot, becoming the Payne we know and love from the previous two games.

Easily the most iconic moment of this case. It's legendary.

The Judge asks how Mia knew Dahlia, but Mia claims it isn’t relevant to this case, and he accepts this explanation. Out of court, Grossberg congratulates Mia, saying it’s possible veteran lawyers like him have lost sight of what it truly means to have a relationship of trust with their clients. Phoenix, however, is heartbroken, and still a little in denial.

A little? He thinks the Dahlia in court was a fake.

Yeah, Phoenix really is a naive kid. And even more so as an actual kid. Phoenix says he’s studying to be a lawyer, despite being in the Art Department, because there’s a friend of his he wants to help. And he asks Mia whether lawyers do what they do to help people. She says she’s still new, but she thinks that’s exactly what they do. He expresses hope that he can see her in court one day.

It is cute.

Five years later, Phoenix narrates about how he managed to become a lawyer and save his friend, but Mia has since passed on. This trial brings up many memories, both painful and precious. And he foreshadows that now, things are happening that bring these events back in ways he could never have expected.

We'll have to see why Phoenix was reminiscing another day, but right now it's time for an analysis! Where would you want to start, Professor?

The thing that stood out the most to me about this case, thematically speaking, is the presence of both sincerity and cynical manipulation.

On one hand, we have Dahlia Hawthorne, who uses the naivete and gullibility of the people around her to conceal her true nature and use them to accomplish her goals, usually without anyone even realizing she's doing it.

On the other, we have Mia. Possibly my favorite thing about this case is the moment when she gains Phoenix's trust and convinced him to tell the whole truth, because it grants a lot more nuance to her advice to "trust your client." In this moment she was not believing blindly in Phoenix, but entering into an arrangement of mutual trust. By establishing this truthful relationship between client and attorney, she was able to use the facts to bring about justice. It's a far less rigid and fanatical approach than the "believe your client is innocent no matter what" approach that Justice for All dismantled, and I'd like to think she would have introduced this nuance to Phoenix had she lived long enough. But in this case, it's really refreshing to see her "trust your client" principle in its truest form, and the way it's contrasted with Dahlia's manipulative methods feels to me like a thesis statement the rest of the game will have to live up to.

That's a really interesting way of approaching it, and I definitely want to talk more about the faith in the client aspect and how the case tackles that later on. I approached the case from a slightly different angle. Ever since I started thinking about this series with a more literary lens, most of the games were clearly going for some kind of major theme. With the first game, we covered it's approach to portraying corruption, and how nearly all those in power were shown to be complicit in those broken systems. In the second game, we talked at length about how it picked apart the system of morality the series had begun with, and used it to try and show how grey things really were.

But for this game, Trials and Tribulations, I really struggled on finding anything. This game, as the first case has already made clear, is incredibly deeply plotted, more so than any game before and it heavily influenced the direction of the series going forward. But for some kind of overall thematic message, I wasn't able to put together anything, until recently. I would still argue it's a much more light theming than the second game, or even the first, but it is there.

I would argue that this game's overarching theme is concerning identity and deception. In every case of this game, someone pretends to be someone or something they're not. For this first case, Dahlia is clearly the example. She puts up the image of a sweet, kind, loving person when in truth she's far from that. There's another way this case plays with that idea, but it's a pretty big spoiler, so I'll have to hold that in my pocket for later.

That is certainly something I see in it, but yeah if that's all the game in general delivers on I agree it's pretty light. Having a thing happen a lot throughout a story isn't really much of a theme or message if it doesn't actually comment on it, so I look forward to seeing if future cases build on that idea.

Listen, it's the closest this game has for it. But going back to has this case tackles faith in a client, I enjoy how Payne also played into it. He finds Mia's faith in Phoenix as commendable, and tells her it's a good idea to do so. Payne even seems to follow his own version of that, of trusting in and believing his witnesses. Sure, he doesn't take the medicine at the end, but I don't think he was just talking out of his behind. When we look at his failures as a prosecutor, it seems to be because he never actually digs into his witnesses testimony. Perhaps his trust in them means he doesn't question anything they tell him? Regardless if that's why he's such a bad prosecutor, I feel like that was a genuinely nice humanizing element for Payne.

I think he's just not rigorous enough honestly. It's pretty clear he doesn't know all the pertinent information. I don't know if he's the kind of person who would represent an obviously guilty client, but I'm pretty sure we'll never know because he's just not a good enough investigator or attorney to figure that out.

True. Since we're on the Payne Trayne, I am actually kind of mixed on what this case did with him. I really like the idea of Payne having actually been a really successful prosecutor in the past, only to lose his title and credibility. The hair scene, as I said before, is pure magic, I love it. But I do feel that, for that to work better, it would have been nice if they also portrayed him as a bit more competent than we saw him in his first two appearances. That would have made the loss of his hair and Rookie Killer reputation more stark, made it feel like there was a big change. Instead, it feels more like all that changes was he became less smug.

That's fair. I think you were on to something when you said he only got the title "Rookie Killer" because he regularly goes up against inexperienced lawyers, and wins on account of their lack of skill more than an abundance of his own. But I can see how it would have been more interesting to see him in his prime. Though honestly, that may have just ended up distracting from the more important flashback characters.

I also really love that, during that part of the trial when everyone is being mean to Phoenix about how he could ever end up with someone like Dahlia, Payne takes the time to point out he has a wife who is so beautiful that everyone is surprised, and the Judge backs it up. It just felt weirdly sweet.

That's true. I would like to think that, whatever his professional failures, Winston Payne goes home to a beautiful, kind wife and enjoys his life.

That is the weird thing: Winston is a bit smug sometimes, but in his own way he's one of the most genuinely okay people in the prosecutor's office. He's rarely malicious or cruel, just incompetent.

Speaking of, I do want to note how much I appreciated Grossberg in this one. Hemorrhoid jokes aside, that is. I don't really have much to say that I didn't say before, but I appreciated seeing him as a more respectable figure than he was in the first game.

Same! While I really don't like the hemorrhoid jokes either, I love this characterization of him. He's a bit more cynical and cowardly than our protagonist lawyers, but he wants to also set a good example for Mia and does his best to help during the case. One does have to wonder though if Mia knew he was the one who sold her mother out to Redd White yet, or if she learned that after getting to know him better.

Oof, I'd actually forgotten that detail. That does taint things, unfortunately.

But still, this is definitely the Grossberg I like to remember when thinking about him as a character.

As for Mia herself, there aren't really any surprises here. She handles herself, for the most part, with drive and confidence. It's a wonder to behold her transformation as she goes from nervous newbie with Phoenix to ambitious and laser-targeted with Dahlia. She knows what she's here for, and once it's clear that she'll get her shot at it, she just gets this aura of confidence and intentionality about her.

I have a lot more to say than that, but I'll start with the positives. I love her character design in this case. In my opinion, it's light years beyond her original design. Super flavorful, great expressions and animations, it's freaking wonderful. Not only that, but on the whole I like Mia so much more here than anytime previous in the series. As a mentor, she's almost always shown as this all-knowing, really cool person, she's kind of two dimensional. But here, Mia is just wonderful. She's fiery, sharp witted, and messes up sometimes. She's flawed, and comes off in her internal narration as actually much more aggressive than Phoenix.

For sure. We get more of an image of who Mia is as a person than we did in the first game, even though we don't spend too much more time with her, and I think removing her from the mentor role helps a lot with that.

On the less positive side...I have very mixed feelings about her portrayal in other ways. As you alluded to, it's almost like there are two different Mia's portrayed in this case. There's the newbie in the first half who is really confused and making mistakes and doesn't know anything about the law. Then there's the badass woman out on a mission in the second half, ready and willing to face down the woman who poisoned her boyfriend.

On their own, both interpretations work just fine. After all, Newbie Mia makes sense as this is a Tutorial Case, where mechanics need to be explained, and it isn't like she's more unprepared or green than Phoenix was in his first case. Badass Mia also makes sense, since it's her motivations and drive that connects this case to the larger story of this game as a whole.

But the transition between the two is messy, at least for me. Like, there's the explanation that it's been a whole year since she was in court, and her first trial was traumatizing. But I feel like there's a limit to how far that goes. There is literally a point early on where she says she forgot she needs evidence to back up her points. How? How is that possible? The shift from how clueless she is early on to how awesome she is later really doesn't feel right with me. It isn't even like it would have been hard. She can be rusty enough to need some things reexplained to her early on, without sounding like she's forgotten everything there is to know about being a lawyer.

That's fair. I guess I chalked some of it up to tutorial memory. You can only do so much tutorializing without the protagonist needing some pretty basic things explained to them. It's a little messy, but I wrote it off as the necessary tutorial stuff rather than an intentional part of her character. I'll take it over the amnesia plot from last game.

I mean, same? But also, it felt really inconsistent in a way that I didn't care for. Again, that is a relatively minor complaint, and I did really love how they handled her character otherwise. There's also the fact that later games show that the main character in Tutorial Cases don't need to act like they're never been to law school, so I feel like they did make a point of Mia being far more ignorant than she had to be. Want to talk about Phoenix?

That's totally fair. And yeah, let's talk about our poor naive little lawyer boi.

I kind of love him in this case. He is so adorable, sweet, and idealistic to a fault. It's that last one, his idealism, that I think we see carried over to the Phoenix we've played as for two games the most. Interestingly enough, in the same way that Phoenix would later have a knack for stumbling into the truth despite having no clue he was doing so, this younger Phoenix does hit on something in his seemingly childish faith in others that turns out much later to be accurate, but I can't say what because of spoilers. I do really like the quote at the end there, for what Phoenix thinks a lawyer is. "A lawyer is someone who can help people when they’re in trouble." I think that is a good way of encapsulating Phoenix's approach to being a lawyer in general, though I do think last case's emphasis on 'saving' others rather than 'helping' them was a bit more accurate.

It's fun to see Phoenix as a kid with pretty much the same personality, but much rougher edges. Less life experience and all that.

Also, we now know he started out in the Art Department. Weird how that never comes up.

...well that's all the characters, good job everyone, case was good, 12/10 would play again, auf wiedersehen and all that!

Hahaha...Sam we're not going to ignore Dahlia. But since you seem to have so much to say about her, you go first!

...ugh.

I hate this. I hate her. I hate everything. And frankly, this might make little sense without more context added later, but Dahlia Hawthorne is pretty top-tier on the list of villains I just absolutely despise.

Not as a character, or as a villain. She's a fantastic villain. And I hate her guts.

Part of it is personal; this archetype is aimed squarely at me. If Dahlia, as she pretends to be early in the case, was a character in a Persona game, I'd probably choose to romance her. So I felt personally attacked and deceived, in a sense, and I don't like it.

But she's also just the perfect kind of villain to hate. Aside from causing pain to characters we know and love, the way she barely breaks her cutesy facade even when viciously manipulating people is brilliant, and awful, and I hate it so much.

All that to say, there is no other Ace Attorney villain that has left half as big a mark on me as Dahlia Hawthorne. She stands out above all the rest in my eyes as the most effective and hateable of the series (as far as I've played, so not counting the Investigations games and Spirit of Justice). But again, that won't really make sense until later.

So...I'm debating whether to start with what I like about her, or what I found didn't work as well. I think I'll counterbalance your weird hate-praise with some of the latter. That effect she has, where she shows up and the Judge and Payne are just eating it up, Phoenix is already in love with her, and Mia is the only one to see through it? It feels very gendered, and very heteronormative. Part of that is how hyperfeminine she acts as her deception, and part is how it's all dudes in the courtroom oogling at her.

My issue with that is kind of twofold. One, it codes her type of deception as inherently 'feminine', something that only works on men. While there's nothing wrong with villains fitting into archetypes, the fact that the 'deceiving woman who feigns innocence to get sympathy' is not only a very common trope, but one that lies into traditional gender roles. Like, a woman can't just be bad, she has to be a deceiver, a seducer, that's the kind of villains women are.

My other issue is, again, the heteronormativity of it. Like, "Oh, of course the men trust her! They are all straight men and she is a woman! So clearly, they are inherently more trusting of her, while Mia, a 'straight' woman, can see through her nonsense." It, by definition, does not take into account that, hey, maybe not all men are enchanted by women? Maybe not all women are only into men? It was an unspoken assumption that guided that introduction scene, and I didn't care for it.

Honestly, I definitely get that. I admit I hadn't seen the heteronormative angle, but I did notice (since the game's poor use of feminine stereotypes has been a running theme in our discussions) that this manipulative femme fatale archetype is somewhat overused and kind of toxic. I don't mark that too hard against the game because 1) I do think it's done very well, in this case, and 2) I'm pretty sure the only other time the trilogy uses this archetype is with April May, so whatever the game's many problems with women, portraying them all as manipulative minxes out to get men with their feminine wiles doesn't seem to be one of them in the big picture.

See, I actually feel like, from the heteronormative angle, April May was better. Sure, everybody was into her boobies...except for Phoenix and Edgeworth, both of whom treated her seriously and weren't affected by her sex appeal. That's the weird thing: that heteronormativity is kind of an oddity in this series. Look at Maximillion Galactica calling Phoenix a sweetie, or how Maya is even more enchanted by Regina's cuteness than Phoenix is. Whenever sex appeal or attractiveness/cuteness is used in the series, it's rarely gendered, there are exceptions against any heterosexual rule. But here it's entirely played in that direction, and I feel like that does hurt a bit for this specific case in ways that haven't cropped up anywhere else in the series.

That's entirely fair. I do wonder if this is meant to be a different type of appeal than April May, though. She was very blatantly playing to sex appeal, but Dahlia's act isn't sexual at all. And I don't get the impression either Payne or the Judge are seeing her sexually; for that matter, I'm not sure Phoenix is either, but since he's "in love" with her it's an element of their relationship anyway. She's not presenting herself as someone who can do something for them, but as someone who needs their protection. That plays far more specifically into traditionally masculine gender roles (however nonsensical those gender roles may be), and has little to do with sexual orientation.

I mean, you are correct, I don't think it was supposed to literally read as them being sexually or romantically attracted to Dahlia. But at the same time, the scene has that coding regardless simply from the genders of those involved and the fact that what is convincing them that she is such a trustworthy person, what allows her to completely wrap them around her finger, is her hyperfemininity. It's less about the literal orientations of the characters involved, since I'm pretty solidly in the bi/pan Mia camp, but instead about the coding of the scene and how it plays on heteronormative attitudes that underlie the worldview of the creators. This isn't some huge case-breaking flaw, but something I do feel should be properly talked about and explored, y'know?

That is definitely a factor in all this, and worth talking about. Especially since, as has been mentioned, this series has a spotty (at best) track record with women to begin with. There's no reason to assume that this character is free of those same problems and influences. I still love her, as a villain, because the game did manage to make me hate her as a character, and I enjoy doing it. But yeah, not entirely free of sexist assumptions for sure.

Oh yeah, now that I'm done with my complaints, allow me to rant about everything I absolutely love about her. First of all, her design. It's amazing. There's something unearthly and not quite right about her, just immediately. She looks beautiful, innocent, but to an extreme that also makes her look almost inhuman. Second, her theme music. It's a work of art. There's something magical about it, literally, and when combined with her design it almost gives her the general aesthetic of a creature from the Fey. Her beauty isn't a positive attribute, it's a weapon wielded expertly.

For sure, aesthetically they hit it out of the park with this character. There's a sense right off the bat that something's off about her, but juuuuust off enough that the image she's building still comes across loud and clear. And the music is definitely a big part of what sells it, too.

Speaking of that image, I feel like that intro scene for her, aside from what issues I mentioned before, is a brilliant example of Character Shilling done right. If you don't remember, I've mentioned the writing technique a few times before. It's where a character is talked up in the text by other characters to set up their personality or other characteristics, instead of those aspects being shown directly. In the past, I brought up Shilling as a negative thing, like all the characters of Turnabout Big Top crying out over how good a person Acro was, or Phoenix and Mia talking about Adrian Andrews like she was a supergenius.

But Dahlia is a perfect example of that done correctly. When she enters court, both Payne and the Judge start talking about how pure, innocent, and clearly trustworthy she is. But this isn't being done to make us, the player, or Mia, the character, think that of her. Quite the opposite. When combined with her unearthly appearance, their fawning and praising of her just makes her even more clearly come across as someone not to be trusted, to better sell that just by appearing, she had already taken control of the courtroom into her hands.

I hadn't thought of it from that angle, but yeah. Absolutely. Shilling often feels off when it doesn't line up with what we're actually seeing of the character, but this case uses that dissonance to its advantage rather well.

Overall I recognize that the character has some problems, and I may even be playing into them a bit by hating her as much as I do. But overall I think she's a very well done character, and if you don't understand my feelings on her now, I bet you will later.

One last character I wanted to talk about before we move on to other things: the Judge. At one point, while trying to comfort Dahlia's faux sadness, he reveals that he changes his mind so often, people call him Judge Fickle! Mia sees that as clearly being a bad thing, but Grossberg jumps in and notes that, as far as anyone can tell, he's never ruled incorrectly on any case, which had led to him also being called The Great Judgini. I just liked that they acknowledged in-universe how easily the guy changes his mind, but have also noticed he gets the right verdicts, regardless of how much that was actually up to him.

If I'm being honest I'm not entirely sure I'm sold on his characterization; in most trials he doesn't seem especially sound of judgment, so the whole "always rules correctly" thing is honestly the only real indication I have of his competence. He's mostly just pushed around by the evidence and arguments of the warring lawyers, which doesn't exactly imply that his verdicts are the result of sound judgment and solid reasoning on his part. It feels to me like the characters are telling me how to think of him when the game hasn't actually characterized him like that.

Also known as Character Shilling. But I feel like you're doing him a little dirty there, Sam. On the points they bring up, I think we've seen both quite a bit. On him being fickle, well of course he is, he's always agreeing with the last good point he heard! But on the "always gives the right verdict" front, I think that's a play on the fact that, virtue of being the only judge (we've seen so far) in the series, the trials he presides over do always get the right verdict. The idea that, possibly just through luck, that's always been the case is funny. I feel like the Judge is a fairly consistent character: he's affable, bad with technology, easily swayed, wrathful when poked too hard, and capable of showing genuine wisdom and discipline when needed.

Well that's the thing; I don't get the impression there's any particular quality of his that ensures the right verdict. You can say he gets the right verdict every time, but...why? What about him ensures that? He's not without his qualities (and he's an enjoyable character regardless of his skills as a judge), but you can't just be like, "He's fickle, but he's always right for some reason." Like you said, it's possibly just through luck, but that's not a praiseworthy trait.

Oh, I don't mean to imply the Judge is somehow like a genius Judge who is the reason all his trials go well. I don't think that's the case at all, and I don't think the game was either. Like I said, I feel like the game was more poking fun at the how the series's formula has impacted his record as a Judge on-screen, and in the process made canon that, for whatever reason, he does just somehow always give the right verdict. If this was a more serious franchise, I'd object to that, but considering we're in a world where spirits can be summoned from the dead, some people have eyes so good they can basically read minds, and one girl happened to be born with ears that can pick up the true emotions in people's words, I think the idea that this one Judge by sheer happenstance happened to get the right verdict every time isn't too much to swallow.

That's fair. If it was intended as sort of a lampshade, I get that. I got the impression it was meant to establish the Judge further as a character.

Oh, I didn't get that impression, but I can see how if you did, it could come off a bit weak. But no, for the most part the Judge will not get a lot of character development, to my everlasting sadness.

But you know what doesn't give me everlasting sadness? Foreshadowing. Perhaps one of the most interesting things to analyze with this case is how it foreshadows things, whether for later in the case or later in the game. For example, in the first half of the trial, there are like three different instances where someone says something nice about 'Dolly' and Mia hurts Grossberg. At first, it can come off as a weird joke, but when you know that she's the woman who poisoned Mia's boyfriend, the reason Mia took this case at all, it makes more sense.

During Phoenix's testimony, it becomes pretty clear after a while that whenever he coughs or sneezes a lot after being asked a question, that means he's about to lie. Thus, when Mia asks him if when he came back to the dead body there was anyone there, and he reacts like that, it's a hint that Dahlia was at the scene, he lies and says there wasn't anyone there to protect her.

I...somehow didn't notice that. In case it's not already clear that you're the mystery story expert here.

Those aren't the only pieces of foreshadowing. As I mentioned before, there's the stuff for thing yet to come. These include the way Mia and Dahlia recognized each other, the references to the traumatic first trial of Mia's, and Mia noticing something interesting about the bottle necklace from the moment she first saw it. In addition to that, there's something Phoenix says at one point, seemingly out of naivete and trust, that later turns out to be exactly true. So we have all that to look forward to.

I don't remember the details, so I look forward to finding out all over again!

Regarding the gameplay of the segment, something interesting I noted was that, in regards to choices, there are no penalties for the first half of the case. It's not until the Judge gives "one opportunity" to Present the right evidence that the game offers that as a punishment. I think that's a really brilliant idea for a tutorial case, as it makes the experience much more forgiving than it otherwise could be.

For sure, it's an excellent way to introduce the game and mechanics. Establish that there can be consequences, but don't be too tough on enforcing them right off the bat. Dark Souls this ain't.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in a previous Wright Wednesday, but this seems like a good time to bring up something that cropped up a few times in this game. One interesting thing about this series is how it approaches continuity. Unlike some other franchises I know, Ace Attorney never assumes you've played any of the other games. Of course, this shows up with the tutorial segments teaching gameplay elements, but it's true of the story as well. Whenever it can avoid it, Ace Attorney games do not spoil twists from previous games. In this case, for example, in the ending summation Phoenix just says Mia is gone, but doesn't say how she died or why. He mentions wanting to become a lawyer to save a friend, but doesn't exposit on Edgeworth being that friend and do an overview of his adventures.

Now, that is how a lot of series handle continuity, it's not exactly rare. But it goes past that. Last game, Manfred von Karma was mentioned multiple times as someone who wasn't around anymore, someone Phoenix defeated, and someone who wasn't a good person. But they never mentioned he was a murderer, or that he killed Edgeworth's dad. Anytime he shows up from here on out, they will never bring that up again. After all, it would completely spoil Turnabout Goodbyes.

I feel like there are positives and negatives to this approach. On the positive side, it means the series is very easy to jump into anywhere, since there's never a large barrier to entry due to continuity. On the negative side, it means that the ways continuity can interact with character writing and storytelling is hamstrung. We never really know what Franziska von Karma thinks of her father's crimes, at any point in her development, because they can't address them due to spoilers. They hint and suggest, and eventually we will get some kind of answer, but it always has to be said at a remove, never plainly stated.

I am very much against spoilers--I think a story's execution and tension deserves to be preserved for the best experience--so I appreciate what the series is trying to do here, but I don't think it's necessary. No one goes into a sequel expecting to learn nothing about what came before, and building off previous stories is an important part of a continuing series. For that matter, I feel like the final case of this game in particular will be completely incapable of maintaining that policy, but perhaps not.

I do like the idea that you could start anywhere, then go back to play the others and still be surprised, so I respect its intent. But I also agree that it's not really necessary and kind of limits what these stories can do.

Regarding this game's Finale Case, I will say they bend the rule by saying Morgan Fey is in prison and what motive caused her to go there, but don't go into the specifics of her case whatsoever.

They also won't be able to get away with "Mia is gone" for very long, I imagine.

Well, I mean I'm pretty sure they flat-out say she died? *checks game script* The exact wording was "passed on to a better place". Not "murdered", not "killed by the man who ruined her mother's reputation", just "passed on".

Oh, okay, that's fair. I misunderstood your reference to Phoenix's narration earlier. That makes sense then, I don't think the specifics of Redd White's nonsense will matter much.

One last thing before we get to the review: if anyone reading found themselves wanting to see more of younger Mia and Phoenix's adventure before Phoenix got his badge, someone took care of that for you! There's a great fic out there called Mia Fey: Ace Attorney by Twiddlesticks, and you can read that right here.

Nothing like a good fanfic to fill in some interesting details!

Now, let's get to that review! This, as the first case of the game, is the Tutorial Case. That means the case needs to introduce the player to what Ace Attorney feels like, give them a sample of what's to come. Of course, it also needs to function as a tutorial as to how to play Trial segments, set up any thematic elements for the game as a whole and/or the overarching story, as well as be a fun case in its own right. How does the case stack up for you in those respects, Sam?

Well, I think I can say without hesitation that it's the best of the Tutorial Cases thus far. It teaches all the important mechanics (aside from the Magatama, since that's only in investigation segments, but it basically works like a trial anyway so that's fine), it sets up some very important backstory and thematic ideas that the rest of the game could build on (here's hoping it does), and I found it fun and compelling from beginning to end. I think it accomplished the goals of a Tutorial Case very well.

I am in agreement! I'm completely of the mind that it's the best Tutorial Case thus far, and it solidly handles a lot of its material. It does a great job setting up what Ace Attorney, and especially this game, is going to be like, it teaches the mechanics really well, and while the thematic elements mostly don't relate to the overall game, the way it ties into the game's story is pretty perfect. My issues with it are mostly just it as a story, rather than its role as a case. Mia and Payne are handled a little sloppily in their characterization, at least in my opinion, and Grossberg's hemorrhoid comments are more than a little off-putting. The latter is a more minor complaint, the former less so.

It has its shortcomings, but I feel like it's one of those cases where they're minor enough (especially compared to the case's general excellence) that they don't actually bring it down all that much. It's really great, overall.

We rate these cases on a scale from 1 to 10. These scores are not an attempt to describe some "objective level of quality", but instead how it ranks alongside other cases in the series. Thus, 1's are among our least favorites, 5's and 6's are the average, and 10's are among the best experiences the series has to offer.

In an attempt (likely futile) to push back against the response my score will get, I want to reiterate that there is nothing bad about a middling score with our system. By my metrics, the average games of this series, which get a 5 or 6, would get a 7 or 8 most of the time if I was trying to score it on a usual rating scale. In school grade terms, I see anything 8 and above as an A, 6 to 8 as a B, 4 to 6 as a C, and et cetera. That's why, as good as I find this case, I give it a 6. It is good, for sure. But so are a lot of cases in this franchise. It's close to being a 7, but the room at the top of the scale is tight, and this case just doesn't quite wow me enough to score higher. It's still a very good case, but it's a 6 out of 10 for me.

Huh. Yeah I mean no pushback or anything, but I definitely think this case was further above average than that. I gave The First Turnabout a 7 because I thought it did an excellent job setting the tone and establishing the mechanics in an interesting way that was easy for newcomers without sacrificing the feeling of satisfaction that's so central to the franchise's emotional core. This does the same thing, but significantly better, so I'm going to give this one an 8.

Next time we get back to playing as good old Phoenix Wright, as he takes a case unlike any other they far! Auf wiedersehen!

See you all then!