Board 8 > KCF plays Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice

(+) Yeah! (+)

Every title except for the original is a mouthful.

Since 2005, I've played seven games from the franchise and have enjoyed all of them to a certain point except for Dual Destinies, which outside of the DLC, I found painfully boring. As a result, I had no intention of buying this game until a friend told me that the case quality was vastly improved.

This is the first time I've done a playthrough topic for an Ace Attorney game, so hopefully this works out. I am generally quite detailed in my playthrough topics, but I focus more on thoughts and reactions to various stuff, often of the inconsequential variety. Like was the case with my Life is Strange playthrough topic, I might not even write much, if at all, about a major plot point because it didn't elicit much from me.
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aa6's cases are hilariously long, like aa5's, so i anticipate plenty of negative reaction here

and we all love negative reactions, so tag!
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As I listened to the boring, self-important voiceover at the beginning that is unfortunately common, I realized and had to laugh at the lack of budget that was given in animating what a rebellion or revolt looks like. It makes me think that Khura'in is a sad country where they have a nonexistent or pathetic security department. These "rebels" look like they would be crushed in seconds if anyone put up a fight against them.

Episode 1: The Foreign Turnabout

Wow Phoenix, way to scream "I'm a silly foreigner!" by freaking out when a bovine crosses your path. I know that this boy will be an important character, but I'd like to think, if only for a minute, that he's grinning because he's thinking the same thing as I am.

The murderer, who looks like anachronistic, just mentioned blaming this on a child, so I'm guessing it is the boy or the girl from the opening video as opposed to a new child.

In a related note, I prefer it when they let the player know who the murderer is on the opening case as opposed to later ones (a la Dual Destinies). The opening case is typically much shorter and is used as a tutorial, so making it a whodunit is wasted and you can just focus on figuring out any new mechanics and the proof of how and why they murdered the victim. Taking out the who in a full-length case sucks the fun out of it and causes the case to drag on forever.
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oh man i see your first major misconception already dis gun be good.jpg
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Recalling the audio description of this country, it sounds like Maya's kind of place.

Enough with the photos Phoenix! I don't even get the pleasure of seeing what they look like!

The boy makes his official introduction and is named Ahlbi. That sounds easy to remember, but I could call him Ahl, or Alfie, or Alf. He's a monk-in-training for a temple whose name I certainly won't remember.

Oh, Phoenix is not here as a lawyer but as a traveler. Hmm, I'm positive that's not going to change. Oh, Maya is here, which I assume means Phoenix is here to visit her. How did she even get from her place in the middle of nowhere to a completely different country where she likely knew nobody?

I have no idea what ascetic training even means. That probably means that I'm uncultured, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is just a made up word (it wasn't flagged for misspelling, so I'm screwed).
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ascetic loosely means monk-related
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I had more, but I abruptly had to leave. I will play more and post likely tomorrow.
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You'll be sure to remember his name once you notice the terrible pun...!

Anyway, I slightly prefer AA5 to AA6, but if your complaints were about stuff like AA5 holding your hand too much this one might come as an improvement.
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No, my complaints about Dual Destinies largely centered around being boring, taking no risks, and copping out when it seemed like they were going to be bold.
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I will check out his last name, but I am guessing the pun will be "I'll be..."
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I think you'll find plenty of copouts here - but also lots of bold choices. Lots on both sides. It feels like the 'most' game ever of its series.
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Tough crowd.

I will have an update within the next few hours.
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Hey, I'm an unabashed fan of the series. Love dissecting it and discussing it. I'm just trying to set realistic expectations for someone who disliked the only other 3DS game!
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Ahlbi Ur'gaid
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I meant tough crowd as in only you and LotM said anything up to that point.
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I think AA5 played it safe, and I do not think AA6 plays it safe at all. that's all I can really say about it

I wonder if Maya has the same voice actress as that from Layton vs Phoenix (not that I would even be able to recognize it).

All citizens are devout practitioners of the same religion. I think that all Middle Eastern nations are about 90-95% Muslim, so for a country to be 100%, that's some cult-level shit there. This will not go swimmingly for Mr. Wright.

"Her Benevolence" must be referring to the girl from the opening video. In this day and age are child rulers for an entire nation still a thing? Maybe I am wrong in assuming that is a title for the leader of a nation, but they sure make it sound like that's the case.

I have a questions regarding the animated cutscene at the temple:
1. How did nobody react to the front door being loudly flung open?
2. Isn't this place the most sacred building in the land while also a sacred ritual going on with the probable leader of the country performing it?
3. If so, why are the police entering with such force and negligence to nation's precious culture and customs?
4. Why do the police all have their guns drawn in a sacred place?
5. Do they not know how to avoid inciting panic?
6. What do they teach these cops in their version of the academy?
7. How did literally everyone but Ahlbi and Phoenix know that the police were moving in on Ahlbi, and how did they do it with such speed and silence?

I am more convinced that Khura'in actually one gigantic cult...or they view themselves as some sort of joke. Regardless, Ahlbi is accused of stealing some orb, an act that is considered treason.
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North Korea is "100%"... what do you call worshipping the Kims, anyway?
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Damn, the glare that "Her Benevolence" gave Ahlbi...she's got fucking ice in her veins. While it is clear that she is major character, if only because she is featured on the startup icon on the 3DS home page, I am hoping that by some miracle that she remains a background character that manages to pop up everywhere (regardless if it makes sense in context or not) and gives that look every time someone does something bad or dumb.

Bailiffs carry rifles!? After the display of their police force, I shouldn't be so surprised.

Good ol' Winston Payne-like lawyer. You can easily tell by the side based on their hair.

Yes! "Her Benevolence" shot Phoenix "The Look." Her name is Rayfa. Initial thought was that sounds more like a male's name.

Where are the choice options where one is an overtly joke option? I miss those, and I feel that Dual Destinies lacked those too.
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Her benevolence has the best faces.

Also tagged.

"Heavens to Betsy"
- Rayfa

Unless there's an actual Betsy in whatever their religion is called, I motion for her to be labeled a heretic and be brought to swift justice.

Oh, so that is one of the Paynes from games past. How did Phoenix not recognize him?

I like how Rayfa was offended about Phoenix questioning the infallibility of her seance thing but quickly changes her tune (by allowing the trial to continue) for no discernible reason. Oh the things writers will do for the sake of making things convenient for the plot. I guess that includes making Khura'in looking more like a complete joke.

Ahlbi is charged with larceny...and MURDER!? Way to bury to lead guys.

The victim's name is Mr. Paht Rohl. I spent a good minute or two trying to determine if that is a one. The closest that I came up with is pot hole, but unless the "R" is silent (there's no reason to believe that is the case), then I came up empty.

I finally have access to all the info. This reminds me that I think that Dual Destinies discontinued the tradition of being able to show everyone your badge. I hope that isn't the case once I get to walk around.
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KCF0107 posted...

Oh, so that is one of the Paynes from games past. How did Phoenix not recognize him?

He lacks presence...!

KCF0107 posted...

The victim's name is Mr. Paht Rohl. I spent a good minute or two trying to determine if that is a one. The closest that I came up with is pot hole, but unless the "R" is silent (there's no reason to believe that is the case), then I came up empty.

"Patrol"
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I finally got Ahlbi's last name. Ahlbi Ur'gaid -> I'll be your guide (you ruined it Wigs since I already had this written in my notebook when you posted it).

He is 9 years old!? He looks to be four or five years older than that! I guess that is common with Japan though. You might as well be dead if you are over 40.

"He [Ahlbi] used his position as monk-in-training to get his hands on the treasure"
- Payne

So you mean to tell me that an object that only the royal family are permitted to see is easily accessible to monks-in-training, 9 year-olds at that? I'm starting to see a trend from my short time in Khura'in.

The treasure box is the alleged murder weapon. So let me get this straight: Ahlbi is 9 years old, and he supposedly has the strength to wield what appears to be a large metal case and swing it with enough force to deal a lethal blow? Why does nobody call into question the physical capability of Ahlbi to pull this off? Maybe I should be his lawyer.
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LordoftheMorons posted...

"Patrol"

I'm an idiot.
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"How kind of you your royal Payne-ness"
- Phoenix

You had the clearest opportunity to use "Payne in the ass". The games are rated T or M right, so why make a lame joke when an obvious better one is there for the taking?

Ahlbi, like most people, dislikes lawyers, but I'm guessing I am going to have to endure some "tragic" backstory about him, lawyers, and what role they played in the death of his parents.
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I stopped right when I was starting to cross-examine Ahlbi.
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KCF0107 posted...

I finally got Ahlbi's last name. Ahlbi Ur'gaid -> I'll be your guide (you ruined it Wigs since I already had this written in my notebook when you posted it).

He is 9 years old!? He looks to be four or five years older than that! I guess that is common with Japan though. You might as well be dead if you are over 40.

"He [Ahlbi] used his position as monk-in-training to get his hands on the treasure"
- Payne

So you mean to tell me that an object that only the royal family are permitted to see is easily accessible to monks-in-training, 9 year-olds at that? I'm starting to see a trend from my short time in Khura'in.

The treasure box is the alleged murder weapon. So let me get this straight: Ahlbi is 9 years old, and he supposedly has the strength to wield what appears to be a large metal case and swing it with enough force to deal a lethal blow? Why does nobody call into question the physical capability of Ahlbi to pull this off? Maybe I should be his lawyer.

Children in this universe are all born with super strength.

KCF0107 posted...

Oh, so that is one of the Paynes from games past. How did Phoenix not recognize him?

It's a low-key running joke. He doesn't recognize Payne in 2-1, either, after he gets his memories back.
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Also: I think the game actually does a pretty good job answering your questions about the insane setting.
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Ahlbi obviously should not have known the color of the butterfly on the treasure box. Because that is only allowed by the royal family, I'm pretty sure that Phoenix is defending a serious criminal in the context of this country.

Why is Ahlbi's bag moving? I swear to god if Japan has another animal companion thinking it is hilarious the 5000th time...

Calling someone a foreign interloper, as the judge called Phoenix, sounds like something that a paranoid traveler is convinced all natives are thinking about them at any given moment.

Something that I have always been curious about is where everyone goes when one person is on the stand in place of another. There's no reason for Ahlbi to be off the stand, but here Rayfa is all of the sudden and Ahlbi has vanished.

Rayfa called Phoenix blasphemous. Pot, meet kettle.
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Was this pool of water and stone surrounding always in the middle of the court? I feel like I would have noticed it when Phoenix entered the courtroom.

Well this divination seance if funky. Not so much the dancing but the final product.

Unless the Defense Culpability Act is an integral part of the story that involve none of the protagonists (we know that Phoenix and the gang aren't going to be executed or spend the rest of their lives in a foreign prison), then it means nothing to me.

Oh god, Phoenix had an internal thought about how the people turned against lawyers. I'm not going to like where this road leads to.

As much as I like making fun of Khura'in's ridiculousness, Phoenix is full-blown intolerant and disrespectful of others customs and beliefs. Maybe he should have read up on the country before coming.
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I hope that I soon get to rewatch the seance instead of simply hearing the verbalization of it. Oh, my wish is granted. Maybe I can abuse this power.

It would help if I had a layout of the temple. At least they mention it is a great distance between the practice hall and treasure room.

I spent nearly 20 minutes and had to reload my save multiple times trying to figure out how to do the second seance part:
- I first thought it was lack of sight on what Ahlbi was holding
- I then thought it had to do with the incense because I didn't know if it was coming from what Ahlbi was holding (not a treasure box then)
- I then looked at the evidence saw nothing that sprung to mind and went with the pain not caused by Ahlbi or that he swung something.
- On my billionth attempt, it was pain proving that the victim did not lose his life or lost his sight, or whatever.
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Ah, the convenient power outage. Original. Nope Rayfa, the outage doesn't explain the speakers. Score one for the adults!

They finally show a partial layout of the temple. If the vision took place on stairs it is the set just outside of whatever "chamber" is.

Ahlbi wasn't holding anything. He just had a silly loaded gun pointed at him.

"Traitorous snake Dhurke"
- And so it begins

Judge taking control of the court and having Rayfa have it. I'm a fan.
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I should play over the weekend, but I won't be updating until Monday. I can bump this topic if needed.
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KCF0107 posted...

Judge taking control of the court and having Rayfa have it. I'm a fan.

yesss

khura'in judge is pretty cool

the divination seance is really clever but it can be frustrating too

if you play at all on the weekend you'll probably finish the case. boo to slow updates though!
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Unfortunately, I will be out of town and will only have my phone.
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tfw people don't even bring laptops with them anymore
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Travel bump
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Up
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Update soon
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"I guess that she's still a teenager after all"
- Phoenix on Rayfa

Yes, because the average teenager rambles on about people suffering an agonizing eternity in their version of hell while wearing a smirk and laughing uncontrollably.

The idea of the guard stopping Ahlbi because he knew that Ahlbi was going to steal the treasure is beyond ridiculous. Besides the obvious issues from such line of thinking, the event had to have taken place on the stairs outside of the chamber and I recall seeing a storage room adjacent to the treasure room!

"Allow me to explaaaaaaaaain!"
- Ahlbi

I was laughing so hard imagining how that would sound. I am so bummed that it wasn't voiced.
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Treasure box glows in the dark. Will remember.

I wonder what makes the set of stairs in question the "Great Stairs."

The way that they are describing the encounter that Mr. Rohl and Ahlbi had (Rohl covering a lot of his face, acting weird), I am wondering if it really was Mr. Rohl.

Mr. Rohl already knowing that the orb is a bit odd given how little we currently know.

Ahlbi has a fucking dog in his bag and his face looks like he was hit by a bag of frozen peas, not the flap of a knapsack. That dog better not become a recurring character...ugh he can "interpret" dog. Kill me.
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The wound on Mr. Rohl is as clear as day on the back of his head, so duh it was likely attacked from behind.

We have a new witness and it's the guy from the video. That means this has to be the beginning of the end for the case. He has given one line of dialog and I already hate him. Can ya dig?

His guitar strumming animation goes on loop. I should have just let him do that until he dropped dead from exhaustion.

He was the treasure's keeper? I am imagining this as an episode of your run-of-the-mill police procedural and have incompetent the investigation must have been. HE HAS THE ONLY KEY? Oh my god, I could probably make sergeant immediately if I went to this country today.

The "chamber" is the witnesses' (I'm going to call him Andis), and all the rooms have windows. Ah, the notice finally gets some use as he couldn't have seen Ahlbi from his room.
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He just moved to the country six months ago and became head monk. The jokes write themselves.

Uh, on what basis Phoenix do you say that Andis had an ulterior motive for coming to the country. I mean, you are probably right since you randomly put that thought into the heads of the players, but that just came out of the blue.

It only took three attempts to get Andis' location correct when he allegedly saw Ahlbi!

Phoenix is not pulling any punches calling Andis a liar liar, pants on fire. I like the fiery (no pun intended) side of the Phoenix!

I don't recall the last time that an about-face from the guilty party was funny or not-annoying. Andis did not reserve the trend. That being said, perhaps Andis should be worshiped for summoning speakers out of thin air.
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Metal Jesus is great...!
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"Yeah, well, lawyers are crap"
- Sick retort Andis!

This gallery is so spineless. Andis made fun of the holy music, and they are cheering him on.

In what religion do you go to hell because someone else fabricated a lie about you? That sounds terrifying!

Andis was standing next to the breaker when the power went out. I'm glad to get another easy puzzle to solve after failing to click on a correct location.

After being utterly confused for awhile with bizarre questions and reactions, I finally realized that it wasn't Andis that Phoenix was claiming to having the treasure box but Mr. Rohl. That would explain why he was acting funny with Ahlbi. I do wonder if this means he was acting alone or not.
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Are we really sure that the treasure box was forcibly opened opened? Andis has the only key and the orb was apparently gone prior to Rohl dying based on what Rohl asked Ahlbi.

I could be wrong, but I am under the impression that because Rohl's bloody handprint is on the treasure box, something else was the murder weapon. Looking at the evidence, I see that Andis was playing a different instrument during the seance than he has in court. Now I play the waiting game to present that in court.

Well that didn't take long. If Andis really did burn it, then all that you have to do is get another one of those instruments and compare it to the wound. Then again, the police has been shown to be pretty damn incompetent.

Andis called his key the Mitamah when I thought it was supposed to be a Magatama. Dun dun dun...
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And the lyrics for the Song of Ceremony are useful in court. I think that covers all of the evidence.

Man, they really want to one-up themselves each time a culprit is proven to be the guilty party. I wish him smashing his speakers caused debris to hit members of the gallery.

DC Act was implemented 23 years ago.

Man, this is the worst version of "We Won the Case!" It doesn't invoke a sense of accomplishment.

Oh god, Defiant Dragons? I am really not looking forward to the overarching storyline. Nothing topped DL-6, but I also liked Apollo Justice's to a degree, and the lack of one in Justice for All was refreshing.

There's that name Dhurke again. He leads the Defiant Dragons.

A new character appears, Inga. He is the Minister of Justice for Khura'in and sounds and carries himself like a mobster/Fortune 500 executive. How joyous.

Ominous and wholly uninteresting final cutscene.

End of Episode 1
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Pros
1. I really like the potential of this seance. Unless there's multiple victims, I guess that it will only be a one-time thing for cases, but I like how it flexes my brain (though it only has one solution despite there being 5+ on the first one).
2. Rayfa's stare
3. It is fun to laugh at Khura'in
4. Behind the series of jokes, the judge's character arc was interesting and well-done

Cons
1. No interesting, truly new characters thus far
2. Overarching storyline doesn't fill me with any confidence towards it quality
3. Disappointing logic and critical thinking were need to prop up and prolong the case
4. As was the case with the debut of 3D models in Dual Destinies, characters are less and less defined by actual character and more by gimmicks and visual gags.
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peezlub'n andistandan the greatest

agreed with the cons, and also with the khura'in judge for sure - due is awesome in 6-1
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