The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Discussion

[Etrurian emperor]

10 hours ago, Jotari said:

Yeah I have issues with Atena's age too. Especially when her age bracket introduces us to a whole legal school and gives us a character who lies about his age meaning there's literally no way of (well easily) writing around it. Its just canon that in the Ace Attorney universe people are expected to be Lawyers before they can even vote (which makes Phoenix and Apollo kind of look like they suck in retrospect rather than the likes of Edgeworth being savants, though I guess Phoenix was going for an arts degree initially so it makes some amount of sense for him).

I wouldn't say its bothering me per se. Its more of a trend that's easy to pick up on. Athena being younger after the last fellow introduced was already younger than the ones that came before.

I guess its somewhat inevitable in anime inspired franchises. I don't think we'll ever see a lawyer older than Phoenix. Older characters are there for the prosecution. And sometimes younger characters too. I guess the procecution has the more varied age range. You've got adults like Godot and von Karma and kinda Blackquil, you've got prosecutors the exact same age as the main characters like Edgeworth and Apollo's stupid monk brother, and you've got procecutors who are a fair bit younger like the other von Karma and Sebastian. 

[Etrurian emperor]

I was intensely skeptical about Phoenix grandfather teaming up with Watson. I found it stupid. And not charmingly stupid like Japanocalifornia. That Winston was a child sidekick now wasn't helping matters. I found it stupid. And not charmingly stupid like spirit charming. That she was specifically a little girl made me suspect there was some unwholesome lolicon pandering going on. But after meeting her Watson made a good first impression. She's very friendly, entertaining, cheeky but not bratty and generally very helpful. I don't think I'll ever quite get over my skeptisism like with Sholmes but I''ll probably like miss Watson.

But the big surprise so far is Susato. I don't really get overly attached to the assistant girls. They're all perfectly fine but they never blow my socks off. But Susato's great. Its cute that she's so prim, proper and polite in public and to witnesses before quickly becoming all smiles and excitement when its just her and Naruhodo.

If Mael Stronghart isn't the main villain I'll eat my shoes. Even the phrase ''I wish you a happy stay in London'' is something he says while striking the same pose most jrpg's villains have when they declare their own godhood.

[Etrurian emperor]

(Yes I know you're not supposed to post multiple times in a row, but if no one has posted since I played case 3 then they aren't likely to post anytime soon, and I don't really have other places to talk about this game)

-Barok van Zieks is probably one of the better prosecutors in the franchise. He's especially strong on the technical aspects of being a prosecutor. Rather than withhold evidence, collude with witnesses or relying too much on the ''lol prove it'' argument he instead tends to offer strong rebuttals to the main character's claims. Van Zieks stands out from his peers in the sense that his animosity towards the main character is largely personal rather than him being a dirty prosecutor, and that unlike the likes of Godot he doesn't really let his dislike of the main character interfere with how he behaves in court. He's actually remarkably fair, mostly giving Ryunosuke evidence on his own volition and quickly turning on witnesses who try to deceive the court. The question isn't whether he's a good guy deep down which is a question the game very quickly answers. His character arc is more about whether he can overcome his personal flaws before its too late. Van Zieks being so dour and serious in what he says also very contrast behavior that's actually more outlandish than many other prosecutors. Him being so stoic makes it all the funnier that van Zieks actually does and says some very strange things the longer the game goes on.  

-On the other hand I'm not that impressed with that other prosecutor. He doesn't really do anything wrong per se but he's build around an Ace Attorney archetype that I feel has been discredited since the last game. After Nahyuta I wasn't in the mood for a prosecutor who followed after him.

Spoiler

Ace Attorney has a really bad habit of mirroring their prosecutors after Edgeworth and insisting that every main prosecutor MUST be a long lost childhood friend of the main character. Both main prosecutors that came after the original trilogy take after Edgeworth in this regard and now Kazuma returns from the dead to join them. This was fine with Blackquil because Athena's backstory had room for such a character but with Apollo and Nahyuta it became clear that the writing team was willing to twist and to break whatever they needed to get a prosecutor who had a past like Edgeworth. So when this ''mysterious'' masked man appears who Ryunosuke feels he somehow has a deep connection towards my alarm bells started going off. And while Kazuma doesn't need to vandalize anyone's backstory to make sense I still think his survival and amnesia were stupid, just as I predicted it would be. In a game that clearly tries to do several things that other Ace Attorneys haven't done yet before it feels disappointing that the game thinks it needs to rely on such a tired archetype. Kazuma is the only aspect of the game where I feel its just going through the motions. 

-The time during which the game is set can get a little bit awkward at times. Numerous reviews point out that the rampant racism might make some players uncomfortable but I think the truly questionable aspects lay somewhere else. A running theme in some cases is the idea that poor wittle Japan is being bullied by foreign powers and that they need to stand up for themselves. However this game takes place during a time in which Japan was already terrorizing and eating up Korea and China, and where the Japanese gladly colluded with these ''bullies'' to create their own empire. And what's problematic is that very strong political circles in Japan still cling to the narrative that Japan was being oppressed at the time and that they simply HAD to start a fascist regime and commit countless atrocities, a narrative this game's tone occasionally resembles a tad too much. Further muddying things are the ages of the main characters. They're all fairly young and with this game taking place in 1900 they'll all be alive and kicking during WW2. Ryunosuke  and Susato don't have a mean bone in their body of course but Kazuma's words in the very first case suggests he would not be in the resistance to put it very mildly. I'm not exactly going to rake the writers over the coals for it but I do notice that the tone of this game's setting can be pretty problematic. 

Ryunosuke drive to set the foundations of the Japanese legal system might potentially be very tragic if you know what Japan's going to become. Apparently people in the legal system too busy with doing the right thing tended to get assassinated, and the Japanese military probably wouldn't look very kindly to Ryunosuke snooping around for the truth. And that's assuming his legal system won't be colluding with Imperial Japan. So that should prove an interesting future for Ryunosuke. 

 

[Jotari]

7 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

(Yes I know you're not supposed to post multiple times in a row, but if no one has posted since I played case 3 then they aren't likely to post anytime soon, and I don't really have other places to talk about this game)

-Barok van Zieks is probably one of the better prosecutors in the franchise. He's especially strong on the technical aspects of being a prosecutor. Rather than withhold evidence, collude with witnesses or relying too much on the ''lol prove it'' argument he instead tends to offer strong rebuttals to the main character's claims. Van Zieks stands out from his peers in the sense that his animosity towards the main character is largely personal rather than him being a dirty prosecutor, and that unlike the likes of Godot he doesn't really let his dislike of the main character interfere with how he behaves in court. He's actually remarkably fair, mostly giving Ryunosuke evidence on his own volition and quickly turning on witnesses who try to deceive the court. The question isn't whether he's a good guy deep down which is a question the game very quickly answers. His character arc is more about whether he can overcome his personal flaws before its too late. Van Zieks being so dour and serious in what he says also very contrast behavior that's actually more outlandish than many other prosecutors. Him being so stoic makes it all the funnier that van Zieks actually does and says some very strange things the longer the game goes on.  

-On the other hand I'm not that impressed with that other prosecutor. He doesn't really do anything wrong per se but he's build around an Ace Attorney archetype that I feel has been discredited since the last game. After Nahyuta I wasn't in the mood for a prosecutor who followed after him.

  Hide contents

Ace Attorney has a really bad habit of mirroring their prosecutors after Edgeworth and insisting that every main prosecutor MUST be a long lost childhood friend of the main character. Both main prosecutors that came after the original trilogy take after Edgeworth in this regard and now Kazuma returns from the dead to join them. This was fine with Blackquil because Athena's backstory had room for such a character but with Apollo and Nahyuta it became clear that the writing team was willing to twist and to break whatever they needed to get a prosecutor who had a past like Edgeworth. So when this ''mysterious'' masked man appears who Ryunosuke feels he somehow has a deep connection towards my alarm bells started going off. And while Kazuma doesn't need to vandalize anyone's backstory to make sense I still think his survival and amnesia were stupid, just as I predicted it would be. In a game that clearly tries to do several things that other Ace Attorneys haven't done yet before it feels disappointing that the game thinks it needs to rely on such a tired archetype. Kazuma is the only aspect of the game where I feel its just going through the motions. 

-The time during which the game is set can get a little bit awkward at times. Numerous reviews point out that the rampant racism might make some players uncomfortable but I think the truly questionable aspects lay somewhere else. A running theme in some cases is the idea that poor wittle Japan is being bullied by foreign powers and that they need to stand up for themselves. However this game takes place during a time in which Japan was already terrorizing and eating up Korea and China, and where the Japanese gladly colluded with these ''bullies'' to create their own empire. And what's problematic is that very strong political circles in Japan still cling to the narrative that Japan was being oppressed at the time and that they simply HAD to start a fascist regime and commit countless atrocities, a narrative this game's tone occasionally resembles a tad too much. Further muddying things are the ages of the main characters. They're all fairly young and with this game taking place in 1900 they'll all be alive and kicking during WW2. Ryunosuke  and Susato don't have a mean bone in their body of course but Kazuma's words in the very first case suggests he would not be in the resistance to put it very mildly. I'm not exactly going to rake the writers over the coals for it but I do notice that the tone of this game's setting can be pretty problematic. 

Ryunosuke drive to set the foundations of the Japanese legal system might potentially be very tragic if you know what Japan's going to become. Apparently people in the legal system too busy with doing the right thing tended to get assassinated, and the Japanese military probably wouldn't look very kindly to Ryunosuke snooping around for the truth. And that's assuming his legal system won't be colluding with Imperial Japan. So that should prove an interesting future for Ryunosuke. 

 

I think the first case in the duology does kind of display how the military is in absolute control of all forms of society in Japan and how that's not exactl a bad thing. So I don't feel the "Japan being bullied" aspect was played up as much as you seem to have taken it. Amoung the Japanese cases there is the first case of the second game where a lot of the Japanese characters are quite indignant about what is going on, but I feel like that's kind of reasonable (though I also think Britain did have reasonable cause for its actions, it was a case of a British citizen being murdered by another British citizen on foreign soil, so keeping the case British isn't entirely illogical).

Spoiler

Regarding Kazuma, one thing I like about his prosecution style was that it felt more like a that of a defense attorneys with how he focused more on getting stuff out of witnesses than attacking Narohodo's argument. As far as the Edgeworth rip off goes, I felt that more heavily with Van Zieks in the last case given it was an obvious throw back to 1- in the way they made him the suspect.

Check out my spoilered comment earlier for my opinions on the game as a whole. I assume you're finished now based on what you're saying.

[Etrurian emperor]

Other prosecutor isn't quite on the level of Van Zieks but aside from his questionable archetype its good that he's there. After five cases with Van Zieks there needed to be a new prosecutor or things would have gotten really stale. And he sets himself apart in his courtroom style. Other prosecutor is far more friendly than Van Zieks and often voices his sincere admiration for a job well done. But paradoxically this nicer prosecutor is also far less fair. He's openly biased and is obviously only there to settle old grudges. Unethical is the word I'd use. 

Spoiler

Especially because he himself is intimately involved in the misdeeds connected to the case but keeps it silent in order to pin it all on Barok. Forcing the trial to go on even after the murderer is caught is especially poor conduct. As such I don't have much sympathy for him when the judge uses those shady antics to try and pin the murder on Kazuma. Van Zieks is right that he pretty much lost all legitimacy as a prosecutor in that case.

 

In the end Susato's really shaping up to be my favorite assistant girl. It helps that in contrast to the main duo or Apollo and Trucy that she and Ryunosuke are more a pair of equals. They obviously have a very tender, mutually supportive relation with each other. While Susato has some weird misconceptions about his basic competency and seems to baby him sometimes she's also very generous with her praise and is very affectionate towards her boss. Their closeness is empathized by their use of honorifics. They use a more proper ''miss Susato and mister Narrohodo'' in public but Ryonosuke mostly calls her 'Susato-san'' in his private thought and when they start fretting about each other they quickly revert back to their original Japanese honorifics. 

Some additional case thoughts. 

Case four: The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro

I find Sozaki annoying but otherwise I think its a decent case. A bit of a filler case but that's traditional for fourth cases. At least it introduces us to British Gumshoe. Its full of unlikable people but it should be given credit for writing unlikable characters well
 

Spoiler

Miss Garrideb is clearly not a decent person. She's abrasive, she's racist, abusive and she's setting up someone else to take the fall for her. On the other hand she doesn't seem to be maliciously scheming as much as really hoping she doesn't have anything to do with it and that's partially because it really bothers her a lot. And while she abuses her husband it doesn't seem to be a consistent thing but more an um...''wacky'' one time misunderstanding. Patricia Beate seems really callous towards everyone but she does really love her husband, and despite my predictions she didn't seem interested in walking all over him. Her sleepy husband did abuse his powers but its stressed he's severely overworked and that he only did it because he thought it was an open and shit case. 

Case 5: The Adventure of the Unspeakable Story

Overall its a very solid case. Decent villain, strong ties to a previous case and its a very good case for Iris. It allows her to be a child rather than constantly making it clear that she's a genius. Making it clear that she's unable to take as much distress as the grown ups helps sell her character. The villain is quite good even if he's really obviously the culprit. The only bad thing about the case is that its the final case but really doesn't feel like it. Its not a problem here because the western version includes both games, but if the game just randomly ended then I imagine I'd be quite annoyed. Its not just that it keeps plot threats hanging for the sequel. Its that the game just....ends. 

Case 6: The Adventure of the Blossoming

A really, really simple case. Its very easy. But that's a good thing. It takes place at a time where a shorter case is welcome especially if you're tempted to take a small break between Great Ace Attorney 1 and two. 

The new male lawyer is very endearing but its a shame he takes after Ryunosuke a bit too much. Even their poses and animations are roughly the same. Seems a bit lazy does't it?

 Case 7: The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro

He's baaaack! Again. Two cases in a row with Sozeki. Ugh. But its a very strong case. Very strong antagonist. And a very nice showing of Van Zieks. All in all I think its a very solid case from start to finish which due to the overlap between victim and villain sets itself apart from other cases. Shamspeare is also just nice to have on screen. Very funny, very vile and kinda pathetic. It does seem weirdly mundane after the previous case suggested there'd be a lot of hype about what went on in this case.  

Case 8: The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro

I have more mixed feelings about this one. The case itself is very good. Its a nice character insight into Van Zieks and its setting up a lot of important plot points. The Wax museum makes for an interesting set piece and mix between magic and science is quite nice. Drebber is also a very quintessential Ace Attorney character with a wacky design and very expressive antics. So its a shame how it all ends. 

Spoiler

Some random woman just walks into the case and apparently she's the murderer despite the whole case being build around Drebber, him having the stronger motive and him actually having plotted the entire case to kill off the victim. In comparison to that the plot handwaving it and saying Sithe's was blackmailed too sounds weak, just as its weak that she genuinely did just walk in on the victim surviving and then killed him. You could have written her out of the case and very little would have changed. 

 

On 1/6/2022 at 8:54 AM, Jotari said:

Check out my spoilered comment earlier for my opinions on the game as a whole. I assume you're finished now based on what you're saying.

I'm about half way past case 10 so I'm probably no longer up for any surprises. Not that the identity of the main villain was surprising to begin with.

Spoiler

 

That said British Gumshoe being the Reaper definitely was a surprise. I guess he already showed a patriotic ''just following orders'' mentality in case 5. Still they probably should have set this up a bit more. Both Gina and van Zieks speak of having had a bond with British gumshoe but I'm just not buying it. He only had a single case with Gina where he was hardly good mentor material, and he and van Zieks never indicate any affection for each other, so him calling British Gumshoe a mentor sounds weird. 

I do like the Japanese judge a lot though. Him stopping being an Ace Attorney judge and being a jovial yet ruthless goofball was really nice. I was hoping he'd use more judge puns after proclaiming himself ''guilty as charged'' of being a judge but alas. 

 

 

[Jotari]

11 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Other prosecutor isn't quite on the level of Van Zieks but aside from his questionable archetype its good that he's there. After five cases with Van Zieks there needed to be a new prosecutor or things would have gotten really stale. And he sets himself apart in his courtroom style. Other prosecutor is far more friendly than Van Zieks and often voices his sincere admiration for a job well done. But paradoxically this nicer prosecutor is also far less fair. He's openly biased and is obviously only there to settle old grudges. Unethical is the word I'd use. 

  Hide contents

Especially because he himself is intimately involved in the misdeeds connected to the case but keeps it silent in order to pin it all on Barok. Forcing the trial to go on even after the murderer is caught is especially poor conduct. As such I don't have much sympathy for him when the judge uses those shady antics to try and pin the murder on Kazuma. Van Zieks is right that he pretty much lost all legitimacy as a prosecutor in that case.

 

In the end Susato's really shaping up to be my favorite assistant girl. It helps that in contrast to the main duo or Apollo and Trucy that she and Ryunosuke are more a pair of equals. They obviously have a very tender, mutually supportive relation with each other. While Susato has some weird misconceptions about his basic competency and seems to baby him sometimes she's also very generous with her praise and is very affectionate towards her boss. Their closeness is empathized by their use of honorifics. They use a more proper ''miss Susato and mister Narrohodo'' in public but Ryonosuke mostly calls her 'Susato-san'' in his private thought and when they start fretting about each other they quickly revert back to their original Japanese honorifics. 

Some additional case thoughts. 

Case four: The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro

I find Sozaki annoying but otherwise I think its a decent case. A bit of a filler case but that's traditional for fourth cases. At least it introduces us to British Gumshoe. Its full of unlikable people but it should be given credit for writing unlikable characters well
 

  Hide contents

Miss Garrideb is clearly not a decent person. She's abrasive, she's racist, abusive and she's setting up someone else to take the fall for her. On the other hand she doesn't seem to be maliciously scheming as much as really hoping she doesn't have anything to do with it and that's partially because it really bothers her a lot. And while she abuses her husband it doesn't seem to be a consistent thing but more an um...''wacky'' one time misunderstanding. Patricia Beate seems really callous towards everyone but she does really love her husband, and despite my predictions she didn't seem interested in walking all over him. Her sleepy husband did abuse his powers but its stressed he's severely overworked and that he only did it because he thought it was an open and shit case. 

Case 5: The Adventure of the Unspeakable Story

Overall its a very solid case. Decent villain, strong ties to a previous case and its a very good case for Iris. It allows her to be a child rather than constantly making it clear that she's a genius. Making it clear that she's unable to take as much distress as the grown ups helps sell her character. The villain is quite good even if he's really obviously the culprit. The only bad thing about the case is that its the final case but really doesn't feel like it. Its not a problem here because the western version includes both games, but if the game just randomly ended then I imagine I'd be quite annoyed. Its not just that it keeps plot threats hanging for the sequel. Its that the game just....ends. 

Case 6: The Adventure of the Blossoming

A really, really simple case. Its very easy. But that's a good thing. It takes place at a time where a shorter case is welcome especially if you're tempted to take a small break between Great Ace Attorney 1 and two. 

The new male lawyer is very endearing but its a shame he takes after Ryunosuke a bit too much. Even their poses and animations are roughly the same. Seems a bit lazy does't it?

 Case 7: The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro

He's baaaack! Again. Two cases in a row with Sozeki. Ugh. But its a very strong case. Very strong antagonist. And a very nice showing of Van Zieks. All in all I think its a very solid case from start to finish which due to the overlap between victim and villain sets itself apart from other cases. Shamspeare is also just nice to have on screen. Very funny, very vile and kinda pathetic. It does seem weirdly mundane after the previous case suggested there'd be a lot of hype about what went on in this case.  

Case 8: The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro

I have more mixed feelings about this one. The case itself is very good. Its a nice character insight into Van Zieks and its setting up a lot of important plot points. The Wax museum makes for an interesting set piece and mix between magic and science is quite nice. Drebber is also a very quintessential Ace Attorney character with a wacky design and very expressive antics. So its a shame how it all ends. 

  Hide contents

Some random woman just walks into the case and apparently she's the murderer despite the whole case being build around Drebber, him having the stronger motive and him actually having plotted the entire case to kill off the victim. In comparison to that the plot handwaving it and saying Sithe's was blackmailed too sounds weak, just as its weak that she genuinely did just walk in on the victim surviving and then killed him. You could have written her out of the case and very little would have changed. 

 

I'm about half way past case 10 so I'm probably no longer up for any surprises. Not that the identity of the main villain was surprising to begin with.

  Hide contents

 

That said British Gumshoe being the Reaper definitely was a surprise. I guess he already showed a patriotic ''just following orders'' mentality in case 5. Still they probably should have set this up a bit more. Both Gina and van Zieks speak of having had a bond with British gumshoe but I'm just not buying it. He only had a single case with Gina where he was hardly good mentor material, and he and van Zieks never indicate any affection for each other, so him calling British Gumshoe a mentor sounds weird. 

I do like the Japanese judge a lot though. Him stopping being an Ace Attorney judge and being a jovial yet ruthless goofball was really nice. I was hoping he'd use more judge puns after proclaiming himself ''guilty as charged'' of being a judge but alas. 

 

 

Your assessment for the cases would be quite similar to my own, only I feel like the Soseki case isn't really filler. I've seen other people say it's filler, but in my mind it was quite an important case for Naruhodo's character arc. He really just needed a win after the way the previous case went down, something to take him out of his slump and convince him he was doing some good in the world. That's why I think it was good they made the client Japanese as it was something more tangible he could relate to  steadd of defending a random foreigner he has no reason to trust (which is a tad racist but that's the way humans are). The fact that the victim didn't in fact die and that the perpetrator wasn't trying to commit murder (though still not a great person  as you point out) also helped to just give him that positive victory by something that was purely good and helped with harming.

I also thought the Drebber case was Am very strong. I loved the Dance of Deduction in it, when usually I feel like they're quite a drag. I can see your point about the ending, but it doesn't bother me as much. Actually solving that final presentation was a pain though.

[Etrurian emperor]

12 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I loved the Dance of Deduction in it, when usually I feel like they're quite a drag

''Phase breaker'' my brother calls it and has admitted to frequently do something else while Sholmes is dancing around. 

[Etrurian emperor]

Right. So about that ending....

I really like the vibe of the final case but I can't deny its stupid. Its really, really stupid. And not the good kind of stupid like Japanocalifornia. And it didn't need to be stupid. Just some very minor tweaks could have given the same message without making it so STUPID. 

Spoiler

 

Holograms in Victorian London? Really? Right after the previous court case made it clear how silly ideas like teleportation machines or anti gravity devices would be in a Victorian setting? I don't think the mainline Ace attorney games even have holograms. Sholmes inventing a cellphone disguised as a plushy is funny and cute, but this is just stupid. The same thing could easily have been achieved by Sholes just giving queen Victory a plushy phone and have her listen in, or by building a hidden radio in the courtroom, or smuggling queen victoria into the courtroom through a gigantic wedding cake. 

I'm also not a fan of the circumstances that forced Sholmes to use the hologram. The gallery shouldn't have randomly betrayed the player like that. The gallery, previously dismissed as a bunch of Stronghart yes men turning on their boss, demanding justice be done and earning a toast from the previously dismissive van Zieks was a really sweet moment. Its counterproductive to have this same gallery then decide that after thinking it over they're actually really on board with mass murder and Stronghart setting up a shadow dictatorship.

 

I really like the dynamic of the final case. The defense, prosecution, the gallery and defendant all having to team up against the judge is an arrangement not yet seen in the series. Throughout the series the judge was always a mostly passive observer so him participating in the trial was a welcome change. Still I think the case might have benefited from some nuance in the antagonist rather than just making him akin to Satan. 

Spoiler

I always knew that Stronghart was going to be both the professor and the Reaper, but while the case started unfolding I started to realize that it would actually be far more interesting if Stronghart confessing to a lesser evil was legitimate. It would have been far more interesting if Stronghart really was just trying to protect Clint's and Barok's reputations, and that of the British legal system. If he really wasn't the professor, that Clint really was a good man gone crazy, and that Stronghart and Gregson just covered up Clint's tracks out of misguided affection and loyalty. The idea that Stronghart was the real professor after all just makes both him and Clint far less interesting. 

 

[Jotari]

 

2 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I really like the dynamic of the final case. The defense, prosecution, the gallery and defendant all having to team up against the judge is an arrangement not yet seen in the series. Throughout the series the judge was always a mostly passive observer so him participating in the trial was a welcome change. Still I think the case might have benefited from some nuance in the antagonist rather than just making him akin to Satan. 

  Hide contents

I always knew that Stronghart was going to be both the professor and the Reaper, but while the case started unfolding I started to realize that it would actually be far more interesting if Stronghart confessing to a lesser evil was legitimate. It would have been far more interesting if Stronghart really was just trying to protect Clint's and Barok's reputations, and that of the British legal system. If he really wasn't the professor, that Clint really was a good man gone crazy, and that Stronghart and Gregson just covered up Clint's tracks out of misguided affection and loyalty. The idea that Stronghart was the real professor after all just makes both him and Clint far less interesting. 

 

 

Spoiler

It feels like basically anything they did with Stronghart would have been better than what they actually did with him. I actually rather liked him as a good guy and was really hoping he wouldn't turn out to be a villain. The reveal that they managed to convict Kazuma's father as the professor when the murder weapon was a dog I found particularly stupid. Like, yeah, it was a bit of a kangaroo trial and a cover up, but that's a really bloody obvious hole in the conviction. I question why they even considered it a serial killing and not a beast attack anyway when the dog was the murder weapon. They obviously felt they just had to fit Holmes's most famous story into it somehow.

 

[Claristroik6]

It's exciting to see The Great Ace Attorney games finally making their way outside of Japan, right? I totally get your point about avoiding spoilers and letting others enjoy the game's plot twists without any hints.It's always interesting when a series releases new titles, and expectations can vary. Hopefully, they live up to the standard you've come to expect from the Ace Attorney series.By the way, if you ever find yourself needing legal advice or assistance in the future, here's a link that might be helpful: https://www.natlawreview.com/  . It's good to have resources on hand for different situations.

Edited January 31 by Claristroik6