LogFAQs > #945359868

fdasfjkl;a I finished this game on Monday but took time to percolate.

Case 4-4 - Turnabout Succession

Characters Ive met:
Thalassa Gramarye - only daughter of Magnifi Gramarye, wife of Zak, and mother of both Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright

Hoo boy. I loved the MASON system of investigation. That almost single handedly saved the game for me, and certainly gave me renewed energy towards finishing it. For those of you who dont know me, I love all manner of productivity strategies, and to-do lists are one of my faves. This was so fun, investigating each chapter of both past and present, getting those satisfying glowing check marks, and continuing to break Psyche Locks left and right. It was like we had the old operations back together again.

Many stunning revelations were uncovered throughout this process, which you trace through as Phoenix Wright, both past and present. Trucy is your adopted daughter by virtue of being an orphan of that case you bungled by presenting forged evidence that you didnt know was forged at the time. With her father and mother both having disappeared, you feel a sense of responsibility towards her. You first see Thalassa Gramarye in a photo in Trucys locket. Shes stunningly beautiful.

Summary:
You talk to Officer/Bailiff Meekins who explains that Zak Gramarye truly disappeared that fateful day! It turns out the precocious Trucy was covering for her father with the help of The Amazing Mr Hat - who upon further inspection is the perfect stand-in for someone of Zaks stature.

Zak used poker to select his lawyer - Kristoph clearly didnt measure up. He also couldnt be declared guilty in court as he intended to pass the rights to his daughter Trucy - transferring to her the rights to all his secrets of performance and magic.

We visit Kristoph in a very plush-looking solitary confinement. He is doing his nails with a familiar-looking nail polish bottle, and there is a Yellow Envelope on a table in the cell. When Kristoph is called away, we sneak in and procure said Yellow Envelope.

You talk to both Drew and Vera, verifying that they made the Magnifi diary page for a client who has the Devils face near him. This client also gave Vera a gift of nail polish as a good luck charm.

We grill Valant about the magic trick gone wrong resulting in Thalassa Gramaryes death. They had accidentally killed her during practice, Magnifi covered it all up - but her being his only daughter as well as Zaks wife, they owed him. Trucy didnt know. Valant recalls that Brushel was hanging around and became friends with Zak, but Valant himself could never trust the guy.

We return to the Drew Studio in the present day, and talk to Brushel. We find out that Valant is out of luck due to the transferal of rights to his daughter, Trucy. We also find out that there was something of a love triangle between the Gramaryes - Zak, Thalassa, and Valant. Thalassa had been married before to another performer, but he died a year into their marriage, after giving birth to a child, before Trucy. Brushel shares a photo of Thalassa with you - note her bracelets.

You meet once more at the Borscht Club and talk to Zak Gramarye. It turns out that Apollo and Trucy are half-siblings. Magnifi, Thalassa, Apollo and Trucy all have the gift. The bracelets help focus it as a tool to identify tension in a person and determine if they are lying. Trucy is just super amazing and doesnt need a bracelet to do it >_> Zak is waiting for his legal death, and wont be meeting with his daughter again. Zak writes and signs a Confession for you to use later.

You show this Confession to Valant and he immediately recognizes it as a lie. Although he had not killed Magnifi, the man had killed himself and Valant was too tempted to use the circumstances to frame Zak. Valant manipulated the IV bag to this end.

Kristoph catches you with the Yellow Envelope and you return it to him - next the case. We use a combination of the Yellow Envelope and Red Envelope to pin the killing on Kristoph. It didnt matter that you returned the Yellow Envelope to Kristoph in his cell, because that derpy pin on Phoenixs slouchy PaPa hat is actually a camera. He filmed and faithfully recreated the Yellow Envelope to be used in this case.

The jurists take their turn to determine the outcome of the case. You play as jurist no. 6, who has a little trouble choosing - I chose Not Guilty. As her arm reaches out to touch the button, you see that its Lamiroir and a familiar looking bracelet. Thalassa got a pretty sweet performance deal out of it, travelling the world as Lamiroir.

Commentary:
Nice little bit of teamwork here between Klavier and Apollo, slightly reminiscent of Phoenix and Miles in the original trilogy [kinda like LaCroix flavor - it aint gonna be the fruit itself, but you can at least tell what fruit its trying to be]. Kristoph loses it in spectacular fashion and the day is saved.

After all the emphasis this franchise has historically placed on powder burns, that we claim ballistics had no idea that Magnifi killed himself? Tell me if Im missing something >_> That stood out and annoyed me. No ones arms [aside from Inspector Gadget, or possibly Mr Fantastic, both in an oddly dark timeline] are long enough to make a difference here.

A mother finding out she has two kids after recovering her memory? Wild horses couldnt, yall. That part of the end was totally unrealistic.

Honestly, this whole time I was tired of Trucy, I had dismissed Zak/Shadi as some grifter who met an untimely end in a drafty basement, and Apollo as some Gary Stu with odd taste in jewelry. Now that its all tied together, it does lend it some credibility and I have to say, I see them all in a different light now. It doesnt make the game any better, and Im not sure they could have been more hamfisted with the way those assorted plot points were thrown together - but it does improve the overall feeling I have about the game.

Ranking this games cases by themselves, best to worst [because, lets be real, theres no way this compares to the original trilogy]:
4-4 Turnabout Succession
4-2 Turnabout Corner
4-1 Turnabout Trump
4-3 Turnabout Serenade

Thanks for reading, yall. What should I play next? Investigations? Should I bother with Dual Destinies?

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How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks. -Marcus Aurelius