Board 8 > Finally playing Edgeworth 2 (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yeah, there are some improvements they could make. Some of the later case names feel lazy and uninspired, but I don't feel like I've been robbed of the genuine experience when I play it and that's all I can ask for.

---

The fan translation of AAI2 is pretty much canon to me at this point as far as I care, it's good enough to deserve that

Yeah, I'd only ever want an "official" translation just so the game could be more widely available in English, but I don't think it "needs" one because there's something wrong with the fanmade one.

---

I will say, the "patrol" pun name in AAI2 was way better than the same pun done in AA6.

---

_SecretSquirrel posted...

I will say, the "patrol" pun name in AAI2 was way better than the same pun done in AA6.

Get ready, it comes back in DGS for some reason (unless they change the pun to something else in the official localization)

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feMwFuihX2o

TW: I wanna be a cowboy baby

Not-Cody finally shows himself, a milk-drinking kid with horns and a spotted hoodie. Lets call him "Cowdy." Just kidding, his actual name is John Marsh, which is a boring, normal name. Like, real actors have more interesting names than this. For example: Finn Wolfhard. How is he a real person and not a Star Wars bounty hunter or Ace Attorney witness?

John Marsh is a little shit, as expected, so Edgeworth has Kay do the heavy lifting, following the tried and true AA tradition of getting your female assistant to coax out information from little boys. Things are going well, until Kay calls him an elementary schooler, when hes actually a middle schooler. He's sensitive about that apparently, but maybe you should be more sensitive about the fact that you are a cow-person. John's got a weird grudge against the President, which he doesn't go into much detail about, except to say that Di-Jun was going to have a cameo in the film. It's kind of like when DJT was in Home Alone 2. The investigation ends with John giving us a copy of a photo with him, Penny, and somebody in a Moozilla costume.

Lang (who had left previously) returns with the Presidents inept body guards and some police officers. He also has a photo (well security footage, but same difference). Its of Judge Courtney and the President getting off an elevator together! They were lovers, obviously. After waiting the whole game, we finally get a Not so Fast from Lang one of my favorite voice clips in the series. A little birdie told him that Edgeworths no longer a prosecutor. Edgeworth tells him that just because hes not a prosecutor doesnt mean hes not still horny for the truth. Lang, also horny for the truth, agrees to some good old fashioned AAI debating.

Langs footage shows Courtney and the Pres hanging out two nights ago (so the night before the auction/Kays situation? - I'm getting a bit confused by the timeline). He asserts she pushed him off the roof then, which is a dumb argument for literally hundreds of reasons. But he didnt go through the evidence storeroom either, according to Lotta. So how did his corpse get here? I'm sure it involves some sort of insane rube goldberg device where they taped his body to a Moozilla head or something.

Meanwhile, Penny Nichols claims to have seen John Marsh the night before at the scene of the crime with Gourdy. Yes that Gourdy. I'm just going to assume it was a crane or something. We decide to question John about it, but while Lang and Edgeworth were talking he got bored and went home, apparently. We run into Gumshoe in front of the Grand Tower, and then HE runs away, presumbably ashamed that he cant help Edgeworth more.

Everyone splits up. Lang goes to look for John, Lotta goes... somewhere, I forget, and Edgeworth and Kay meet one of Langs former agents, who explains what happened to Lang he took responsibility for the Yatagarasu incident, where Shih Na was revealed to be Calisto Yew, who was revealed to be a baddie. He lost his team for this.

Next: Back to the courtroom

---

John Marsh is probably the worst name in the translation. "Marsh" is a pretty literal translation, but I think any meaning behind it was totally lost.

Yeah, that one's bad.

---

yeah, nothing cool out of that name,sadly
---

I actually don't mind a normal / non-pun name, even if the translation is poor. But "John Marsh" doesn't fit 1) a kid or 2) an actor, which is what this character ostensibly is. If you give me Tyrell Badd's picture and tell me his name is John Marsh, I'm totally cool with that.

---

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with a normal name. It just doesn't fit the character at all.

---

More of the Grand Turnabout! Note: This might be the last update for a while, as I might take a break for E3 (also this case is strangely boring).

The case abruptly shifts to the courtroom, where Judge Courtney is presiding over Patricia Roland's case, with Franzy standing in for Sebastian and Ray representing the defense. Yo, Ray, why are you representing someone clearly guilty? Doesn't that go against the defense attorney code or whatever? Even more evidence that you're secretly the mastermind of the whole thing.

As the trial is getting underway, Franziska notices that the evidence has disappeared. Just when you think the writers are going to start making Franziska appear competent, they pull this B.S. That being said, it's technically Sebastians fault. Despite being present when Roland was caught, Courtney claims impartiality, and because the prosecution has no evidence, she is ready to declare Roland not guilty. Franzy and Ray mutually agree to a recess before this can happen.

Edgeworth and Kay are hanging out in the lobby and UGH. Simon and Regina are also here. I hate Simon so much. I'm just going to ignore them. This whole thing feels like a weird diversion from the murdered president/Gourdy/Moozilla situation, but I suppose this is one way to show theyre all connected. I just think the two cases could've been weaved together in a more natural way rather than cramming them together like this. For example, we could've played as Franziska and explored what happened to the evidence/Sebastian, while Edgeworth focused on the movie set murder. Oh well. Us AA fans have gotta take what we can get.

Before Edgeworth and Kay can leave to go find Sebastian and ask him about the missing evidence, Courtney appears. And now it's time for the big Courtney reveal. She won't say what she was doing with the dead prez, so we challenge her to a logic chess. Long story short: she's John's mom. John Marsh has been kidnapped and she's being pressed for a not guilty verdict for Roland. I always knew there was something "motherly" about her design (and no, I'm not talking about her... um... never mind).

I don't particularly like this reveal, as I kind of liked Courtney's character already. She seemed like a strong character: capable, intelligent, and devoted. The 180 degree turn here into weak and flustered mother is a bit disappointing. I'm not saying mothers can't be strong/intelligent etc., nor am I saying strong female characters can't also be worried about their children. I'm just saying there's a way to write this character without turning her into a helpless victim. Side note: a quick look in the character profiles reveals John is 13 and Courtney is 26. This is either a really sad story or a really gross story (probably both)! Lets just pretend Courtney is 30, okay Japan?

Courtney agrees to try and delay the trial for a while, holding off on the forced acquittal, while we search for evidence. Gee, where have we heard this plot point before? Edgeworth agrees to become Kay's assistant, as they go on a hunt for either evidence or a be-horned boy.

Next: Another cameo from a beloved Ace Attorney fan favorite!

---

Yeah, the first half of E2-5 drags big time, which is a problem considering this is the second or third longest case in the series. The trial in particular feels interminable and poorly written.

---

i didn't find it to drag - but i also played it in longer stretches, so i'd get more action on each segment
---

I played in big chunks when I was timing the cases, and if anything, that makes it more obvious how bloated it is!

---

y'all hyped for that capcom presentation today? I wonder if they're going to announce AA7 today or tomorrow in the nintendo direct

if this actually happens I'll rename two of the characters in case 5 after leon and seabass, to reward them for being loyal readers

---

well hopefully you don't rename blaise after me
---

Are we renaming everyone now? I claim Simon!

---

Leon Edgeworth please

---

Ok, we got Seablaise, Swirlmon, and Leonworth. Y'all must have some faith in that Capcom leak.

---

I don't know if they'll announce it at E3. I feel like big AA news usually drops at TGS.

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8KTplvoYs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isU3-IJ2f9o

well this is all we got

---

that ain't gonna cut it for renaming rights. your only hope is that they saved the AA7 announcement for Nintendo tomorrow.

I'll also do it if they put an AA character in Smash (mii costumes don't count).

---

What do you mean by renaming? You're going to call the characters something other than their in game names for the rest of the playthrough topic? That sounds kind of confusing.

---

MyMainAccount posted...

What do you mean by renaming? You're going to call the characters something other than their in game names for the rest of the playthrough topic? That sounds kind of confusing.

It probably would have been, but lucky for us, Capcom disappoints yet again. We can just keep our fingers crossed for an AA7 announcement at TGS.

I re-read this topic to help me remember what happened, since it's been about a week since I played. We go to the Grand Tower, looking for clues about Sebastian and/or John Marsh. Edgeworth is now assistant to the Great Thief, and Kay tries to get him to sing the Yatagarasu theme song with her: he refuses, ever the stick in the mud. Edgeworth is a serious man who doesn't have time for childish escapades, except for the childish escapade standing right over there: Will Powers, everyone's favorite Steel Samurai actor.

Will Powers has a surprising amount of fan art; I briefly decided about including a picture of him and Edgeworth to open this post, but I think it violates the Gamefaqs terms of decency (not to mention humanity's). Powers has moved on from his Steel Samurai days and is now playing the Mighty Moozilla - dude has got some serious range. Powers doesn't know where John is, but we do find a videotape of him doing some lightsaber tricks when he thinks no one is looking.

Its a veritable "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" reunion now, as we are joined Lotta and her apprentice Nicole. Im half surprised we havent seen the Daisy or the bellboy from 1-2 show up yet. Nicole fills us in on her life since the first case: the police let Nicole go, even though she was part of some cockamamie plan to hold a laser pointer at the presidents forehead. Nicole claims to have seen John get taken away by two men in black. Presumably they saw his horns and mistook him for an alien.

We convince the taxi driver who earlier drove the men in black away to take us to their location: Blaise Debestes house! We don't actually get to explore a new area, which is kind of a bummer. But we do get to examine his garage. Blaise is into biking/motorcycles: he owns a bad ass bike and bad ass bike gloves with skulls and DEATH on the knuckles. Compared to Desiree though he just comes across as a poseur. We hear a knocking from inside the garage somewhere, and we find Sebastian bound and gagged! Honestly its for the best.

Sebastian is all messed up emotionally. As I always say, the best cure for someone whos gone through a terrible traumatic event is for someone much smarter than them to force info out of them through psychoanalytic interrogation. Logic chess time! I kind of want to say Youre a failure as a person right out the gate, but even I'm not that mean. It turns out that the kidnappers actually kidnapped Sebastian by mistake instead of John Marsh, because Sebastian claimed to know Courtney. This seems off considering Sebastian, despite his actions and words, is close to a grown adult in appearance, but whatever. Sebastian is upset, because he gave the evidence in the Roland case to Blaise, so who knows where that is now. Edgeworth gives Sebastian a long pep-talk and convinces him to be a better prosecutor than his dad. Its a solid mix of touching and clich. At the end of it, Sebastian runs away again (it is his trademarked special move, after all).

Next: Investigating the other kidnapping

---

For the record, picking "You're a failure as a person" is an instant lose.

---

Leonhart4 posted...

For the record, picking "You're a failure as a person" is an instant lose.

Honesty is not always the best policy!

---

A rare weekend update on The Grand Turnabout.

Edgeworth and Kay return from Blaise's house to the Grand Tower, where we again see Sebastian running away. This leads us to the 51st floor evidence room, where we find an open safe and evidence from Case 2: namely Knightleys picture, the chessboard, Knightleys ring (which I had definitely forgotten about) and a note from Roland to Blaise about Dogen laying something to rest in a flowerbed 12 years ago. I swear to God, if we get one more piece of evidence referring to 12 years ago without somebody just asking "what happened 12 years ago" I'm gonna flip out.

Leaving the evidence room, we run into John Doe, professional cotton candy salesman. De Killer tells us he didnt kill the president his client had actually betrayed him by "sending him after an unworthy target." In that case, let's just go home. De Killer's gonna kill this guy for betraying him, so justice will be served, in my opinion. De Killer also lets us know that Dogen escaped from prison three days ago, by the way.

I had forgotten that we had Courtney's cell phone, and so when I hear her freaky ringtone I'm genuinely disturbed for a second. The person on the phone claims to be the person in the red hood, and the person who ordered Blaise Debeste to kill Jill Crane. The mastermind in other words. He does say ysee, a lot, which was Blaise's weird vocal tic, so it could also still just be Blaise. The culprit knows an awful lot of specific details about the case, so we surmise that weve been bugged. It was hidden in the Yatagarasu badge (I thought it was fishy that we were still carrying that around). Right as our culprit leaves, theres a suspicious boom sound on the other end of the line.

Current odds on mastermind's identity:

2:1 it's Simon (ugh). They wouldn't have brought him back in this case if he wasn't important. Plus they had us find the Knightley evidence for a reason. Giving him a unique transformation would maybe explain his godawful character design.
4:1 its Di-Jung Huang and the dead guy is a body double.
6:1 it's Blaise because Blaise is guilty of everything all the time and the writer couldn't be bothered to create a new character.
8:1 it's Ray because of... reasons unrevealed.
10:1 it's a new character related to Zheng Fa somehow that we haven't seen (Gustavia's kid/Papa Lang).
12:1 it's Delicia, who learned to say "y'see" instead of "yessie" on the phone to disguise her voice.

This case has kind of gone off the rails. Too many characters and too many things happening. The bug in the badge was pretty neat, but overall I'm not having a great time. Everything is just weirdly disjointed: it will introduce new facts to the case and before we can really explore them, we are forced onto other new information. It's like five storylines crammed together. I kind of think this case has been reverse-engineered: the conclusion was written first and then the writer had to figure out how to get there.

Everyone has warned me that the first half of this case is rough, so let's hope we get through this soon.

Next: Dick Gumshoe Rises

---

You're almost to the good stuff!

---

Actual footage of Sebastian frantically trying to get to the good parts of this case.

We're in front of the Grand Tower, where Gumshoe is on his knees, looking really tired. I leave him be for a while. Theres a really cute moment where Edgeworth asks Will Powers if the Steel Samurai is coming back and Powers cant say anything due to an NDA, but rather than feel discouraged, Edgeworth at least feels hope that it may return. Hey buddy, thats how we all feel about AA7. I talk to Nicole, and I get a wireless wiretap from her. Simon and Regina are also here, but I save them for last because I hate them.
.
Gummys all in his feelings after Edgeworth gave up his badge. However, hes also been learning about himself and his ability to investigate on his own. Edgeworth bows to Gumshoe to ask for his help. Even Gumshoe knows that this is wrong, so he readily agrees. Hes got info: Kay was drugged with a sleep drug at Gourd Lake, the security footage is questionable evidence (because it does show Courtney/Pres, but not Kay), and the third thing: he really likes Mr. Edgeworth. Aww. Edgeworth scolds him for not having a real third thing.

Finally, I talk with Simon and Regina. They were investigating near Sunshine Coliseum, future site of The Gavinners concerts. And then they give the whole case away when they mention that there are fireworks out by the Colliseum. So... the mastermind's definitely Simon. Man... another case (probably) ruined by an obvious hint. Here's hoping the case has a few more twists and turns coming up.

We find Johns milk carton at the trash site. Poor John Marsh was stolen away by the garbage man, and taken to the dump near the coliseum. Kay and Gumshoe head that way, while Edgeworth goes back to the Roland trial. Edgeworth heads in and sees Blaise on the stand. Hes got his beard back, which is a big plot hole. Where's the explanation, writers?

Getting Blaise found guilty is easier said than done, since Courtney is still being blackmailed. However, as predicted, Sebastian shows up at the last second to save the day. At the same time, everyones phones start to ring, and Kay and Gumshoe report that theyve found John. Sebastian's spent the last hour or so digging through the garbage to try and find the knife and chisel, but all he found was the bell wrapped in newspaper. Thankfully for us, the newspaper has a greasy handprint with the letters for DEATH in the fingers, just like Blaises edgy biker gloves. Sebastian is lacking in resolve to go after his dad, but Edgeworth gives him some motivation, and Sebastian finally grows a backbone. Character development 101.

Just when the Blaise/Roland case seems about over, Lang shows up. Roland recognizes him from 12 years ago, and he drops a new "super secret" case for us to figure out: the SS-5 incident. That's probably not what it stands for.

Next: What SS-5 stands for

---

colliding posted...

Hes got his beard back, which is a big plot hole. Where's the explanation, writers?

it's probably a different fake beard

---

Pictured here, a leaked screenshot of the cast of Danganronpa 4. Played a lot yesterday, so enjoy this long write-up.

After the chapter break, we check in on the super friends: Will Powers, Penny, Lotta, and Nicole, hanging out at the film lot. Theyre having some sort of nonsense argument, of course, until Lang, Edgey, Gummy, Kay, Courtney, and John show up. Lang summarizes the facts of the case, and we finally get back to talking about Courtney and the President being caught on camera, which feels like an eternity ago.

Lang commands John to tell us what happened last night, while he was here practicing his lines. At first, John claims to not know anything about the murder, monster tracks, or giant falling Moozilla head. But Lang, for once, actually notices something important: the zipper on the Moozilla suit is open in Johns rehearsal video, but zipped up now. Lang argues that Courtney pushed the President off the building, and hid the body in the suit, with John letting her into the studio lot. Meanwhile, Courtney is still being mum about why she went to talk to the President in the first place. I start to get a sinking feeling in my stomach that my joke about them being lovers may have actually been right - Di-Jun is most likely John's father.

When we examine the Moozilla suit, we see a bunch of dirt inside that matches the kind of dirt found on Blaises gloves. Blaise was here digging when he was interrupted by John's rehearsal and he quickly hid in the Moozilla costume. This solves the Moozilla print mystery; EXCEPT Lotta insists that them there's Moozilla prints. Lotta is proof positive that facts dont matter, science doesnt matter, and that we will never achieve herd immunity. Lotta is basically Qanon at this point. So we have to spend a few minutes explaining to these yokels why theyre morons. Gourdy was a camera crane (called it). Well that was easy.

We get the autopsy report confirming that the President was crushed. Before long, it's Mr. Analysis time once again. Joy. This time its really quick, because we see the President, shirtless, in the top right corner of the video. Maybe he was skins in a midnight basketball game? Later on, I realize he wasn't shirtless, it's just that the President's buff physique and tight suit just make him always seem shirtless.

John admits that the Moozilla head falling was his fault, because he turned on the heater which caused the head to fall. When he came back from calling his mom, he saw the head and the body. The problem is he took the head apart and put it back on the roof, so he was covering it up. We question him about the body, and John is secretive about the yellow stain, because its his p***. He p***ed on the president. Courtney objects, explaining that it is Lion Lily pollen. She brought him flowers the other night. The flowers got crushed on his body, and John threw the bouquet away.

All this certainly backs up the claim that John accidentally killed his estranged father with a giant cow head. Edgeworth suggests that Blaise was also here, so he could be the killer. Its okay. We dont have to introduce new characters; we can just keep re-using the old ones. It took a while, but Lang finally goes into more detail about the SS-5 incident: 12 years ago, the President of Zheng Fa had been kidnapped and held for 100 million dollars (which was a lot 12 years ago I guess: chump change now!). Also a witness died Jack Cameron, director of Avatar. Zheng Fa paid the ransom, and got the President back. The main suspect, Patricia Roland, was found not guilty. Langs dad resigned.

But what really happened? Find out next time.

---

You've made it

---

I feel like they normally don't say "age:dead" in the profiles. "Dead" isn't an age. The disrespect on this mans. Anyway, I'm making pretty steady progress and I imagine this game will be done fairly soon.Then again, AAI-5 dragged on pretty long so who knows.

Ray and Franzy show up with the case files from the SS-5 incident. Using the files, Kay can simulate the incident using Mr. Little Thief. The kidnapping just so happened to take place at the Grand Tower, but in the past, when it was just an orphange called the "Happy Family Home." It turns out Edgeworth, Gumshoe, Lang and President Zheng Fa actually grew up in the same orphanage, where Judge was the headmaster, but they all forgot about it. Whoops, sorry. That's a different game.

Kay recreates the crime scene we immediately see that the orphanage had flowerbeds set up in the pattern of where the monster prints are now, so we can surmise Blaise was trying to dig up something from 12 years ago. We also see lion lilies, and Franziska explains that they signify the bond between parent and child. Theres some good bits during the Little Thief investigation. Lang gets to do a roll call with one subordinate this is a callback to something he did in AAI that I forgot about. Theres more mother-son bonding between John and Courtney. Ray is here, being a creeper as usual. I no longer like Ray; if hes not going to be a murder victim or the mastermind what are you still hanging around for?

I examine Jack Camerons body. Poor dude got killed by a brick. Cameron witnessed the kidnapping and called his girlfriend on his cell phone. His girlfriend is of course Jill Crane same initials, very cute murdered couple. He managed to take a photo before getting bricked in the head, and the photo shows the President being held at gunpoint by someone in a trenchcoat.

The Little Thief session involves figuring out Camerons shoe size, deducing the meaning of a snowmans button eye, postulating how a body was carried, surmising how a photograph was taken, explaining a fire lit by a kid, discovering where the murder brick came from, and identifying footprints. Its all very complicated so I wont bore you with the details. I didn't get stuck once, and everything made logical sense so I have no complaints. It's definitely the best part of the case so far, which is odd, because usually I dislike Little Thief with a passion.

Ultimately, Lang remembers that his father has a childs drawing of this scene, that features Dogen attacking the President of Zheng Fa, holding the Moozilla doll, introduced in Case 1 and sticking around the whole game. Lang also has the matching horn to the Moozilla doll.

We use the horn to play another recorded message. Its a new character named Amy, telling the President that his son John has been born. I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Courtney is not John's biological mother; Amy was Courtneys cousin, who passed away 5 years ago. The chapter finally FINALLY ends with the revelation that John is named in Di-Jun's will.

My guess is that the kid who drew the drawing is Simon and the kid who started the fire is Knightley, but beyond that I'm not really sure what caused Simon to turn into a criminal mastermind/animal trainer. Maybe the game will fill us in next time.

---

the ss-5 investigation is one of the coolest ways the series has handled a past case because of the way you get to investigate the crime scene. this is the ultimate culmination of little thief imo.
---

Yeah, they're normally just listed as "Deceased"

---

Leonhart4 posted...

Yeah, they're normally just listed as "Deceased"

I thought they normally gave their age when they died. I guess it varies. I just thought "age:dead" was funny. Anyway, lots of revelations this time around, as we race to the end.

We catch up to John, standing over the Moozilla track where his dead dads body was just resting, covered in p***; I mean, lion lilies. Hes a bit sad that he killed his dad, I guess. Edgeworth debates with Lang over the SS-5 incident. Its a fairly cordial debate, by AAI standards. Just two bros trying to figure out a 12 year old case. Edgeworth points out that the huge bloodstain suggests that there were two murder victims. Furthermore, the childs drawing suggests that it was, in fact, the President who was killed that night, murdered by Dogen. While the real president went to visit his illegitimate kid, there was a body double who hung back with Papa Lang. So my body double theory was (kind of) right! Together, the BD, Blaise, and Roland form what I'm calling the "three evil amigos."

Blaise wasnt here to get some ransom money: he was trying to dig up some presidential bones! In the fastest forensics check of all time, the team immediately finds the bones in Blaises house and matches them to the President. This is some straight-up murdering of my suspension of disbelief. I know, I know, gotta keep the narrative moving along but geez. After the real President was killed, Papa Lang, knowing that he messed up but not wanting to throw the country into chaos, metaphorically falls on his sword (bites his arm off? I'm trying to think of a wolf metaphor).

Then Dogen shows up out of nowhere, as assassins are known to do. He claims to be searching for the person in the red raincoat, who he refers to as his "acolyte." After Dogen killed Huang, the tres evils plotted to kill Dogen. However, he was saved by a little kid who saw the whole thing go down, and he started a fire to help Dogen escape. Turns out, this kid is paying back a favor, as six years ago, Dogen saved his life. Yes, my friends, this kid was Gustavia's son. He and Dover Jr. were about to freeze to death in the back seat of a car when Dogen came upon them and took them to an orphanage, where they developed some plot-specific amnesia. Groan. I'll save my comments about this until my post-game wrap up.

I completely forget that Dover's kid also went missing. If I had remembered that I may have made the "Simon/Knightley/Gustavia/Dover" connection earlier. Oops. Something else that would've helped break the case is if they had ever bothered to investigate Knightley's ring before this, which features the PH (Pierre Hoquet) logo on it. I've mentioned this before, but I hate how some pieces of evidence are arbitrarily "not examinable" because they'd give the whole game away.

The case builds against Simon. Someone was taking Dogens braille chess moves and typing them up into English for Knightley. Then we again use Mr. Little Analysis on Lottas picture, and Moozillas eye turns out to be Simons giant hot air balloon. Once Edgeworth reveals this, Dogen takes the chance to skedaddle, presumably to go find Simon. Everyone else follows his lead.

Finally, this brings us to "The Grand Turnabout: End" and I have never been so thankful to not see "Part 1" or "Beginning" tacked on. Probably have two hours left, I'd wager.

---

bummed you're not enjoying this part of the case - the realization that it was the president who was murdered was pretty insane to me, since almost every other past case has been super-straightforward. the fact that literally a president was assassinated was really interesting to me. the assassin himself does kind of suck, but that's life. this segment was comparable to 2-4's day 2 investigation for me.

hopefully you find some redeeming qualities in this final segment!
---

If the character died before the events of the game, they're listed as deceased.

Also AAI enjoys big trio reveals. They're like the Anti-Yatagarasu.

---

SeabassDebeste posted...

this segment was comparable to 2-4's day 2 investigation for me.

hopefully you find some redeeming qualities in this final segment!

I wouldn't say I'm "not enjoying it." I would say I'm slightly underwhelmed. But I'll reserve judgment until after the final segment, which I'm starting now! Write-up(s) tomorrow and onward.

---

Yeah, I don't think E2-5 is even the best case in the game. It has some high points, but it's a really uneven experience.

---

And so we come to the end. Time to finish "The Grand Turnabout" and wrap up Prosecutor's Path.

We head to the Berry Big Circus to see if we can corner Simon and maybe catch up to Dogen. Simon has undergone a character design: now he's dolled up like a jester, as though he were the freaky love child between beloved 2-3 characters Ron and Max. At first, Simon continues to play dumb and innocent, giving us a guilt trip for earlier when we said wed believe in him in the prison case. Thankfully, Edgeworth isn't putting up with this dude's shit anymore, which causes Simon to do his Matt Engarde impression and break bad. Now hes like K-Mart Joker. Or knock-off Kefka, take your pick.

Evil Simon's main gimmick is mimicking Edgeworth's voice and his "objection" sound clip. I think the writers could have done more with this, honestly. I would have liked to have seen Simon mimic other "objections" besides Edgeworth, and throughout the game I think he should've been using this skill to make the mysteries more complicated. He also has his animal control thing, but both of these animations (some squirrels doing acrobatics; some small animals creating an armrest) don't really play off his character very well.

While questioning him, Lang shows up, and he brings Ema along, so I assume well be doing some scientific investigation. Sure enough, we find ourselves having to do the classic fingerprint minigame.
After fiddling with desume for a few minutes, I figure out how to simulate blowing into the mic. We figure out that Simon owns the blue truck that Edgeworth was rubbing up on earlier that day. The blue truck carried Simon's balloon, and our strategy is to somehow place Simon at the scene of the crime.

Simon is pretty smart for a crazy person, and so it takes a while to figure out which evidence is the best way to link him to the murder. Edgeworth presents the "typed-up chess correspondence" but Simon has already thrown away the physical evidence. Regina, in her one useful moment, reports that Simon received a letter from Knightley today, from beyond the grave (spooky!). Nah, it's just that it takes a while for mail to reach the circus. Did you all know that the dude in charge of the USPS is purposefully tanking the business and slowing down the mail? Its true!

Thanks to the trauma of being locked in a car as a kid and losing his memory, Simon is all sorts of crazy. He thinks he's Dover's kid (he's really Gustavia's). Pseudo-cornered, Simon admits to manipulating the criminals so that they eventually kill each other, Baron Zemo-like. "An empire that crumbles from within can never rebuild." That's a Marvel reference for you folks out there. His motive for doing this is that the power trio (BD, Blaise, and Roland) mis-treated him after the Dogen incident. This raises a number of questions: Why didn't they just kill Simon? Why didn't Dogen come back and kill the trio after he learned they betrayed him?

All he did was put the pieces in place. He plotted the fake kidnapping in case 1, set up Knightley's murder in case 2, and framed Kay for Crane's murder in case 4, all to get back at BD, Blaise and Roland indirectly. Simon never actually "killed" anybody.

Or did he?

---

I like E2-5 a ton, but I think I generally like grand conspiracy ideas and I really like how AAI2 handles that. I also feel the mastermind part of the plot was handled really well and SS-5 is a really strong background case for reasons Seabass mentioned.

Hopefully you enjoy the end!

---

Even if Simon didn't kill those people, Edgeworth tries to make the case that Simon "instigated" the crimes. He tries to prove this with Nicoles recording of the bugged conversation, except it conveniently cuts out right when Simon begins to speak. Fortunately, Nicole had been recording for a while before that, so we check out the recording from two nights ago and it picks up a gunshot. And so we finally get a picture of what actually happened two nights ago. BD and Courtney go up to the roof. BD sees Simon's lion balloon (carrying a knocked out Kay, who he earlier lured to Gourd Lake to frame for the Crane murder). BD tells Courtney to leave; once she does he shoots at the balloon, which hits the basket. I would've aimed for the balloon part myself.

Simon says that BD then fled the scene down the hatch, but Lottas testimony says otherwise. So he mustve left via hot air balloon. Which coincidentally, is also the murder weapon. I guess Simon cut the gas while ten or so feet above him? Im not sure if thats how balloons work, and I'm pretty sure that would've hurt Simon too, but that's fine, I'll allow it. After Simon crunched BD with his balloon basket, he hid the body in a freezer to mask the time of death. Like father, like son!

To end the case and put Simon away for good, we have to prove this using evidence. All the side characters give some encouragement to Edgeworth, and he offers up the lion lilies as the final evidence. If we find traces of this flower's pollen on the balloon basket, we can prove that this was the murder weapon and that Simon is in fact the murderer. Which is, in fact, what we do.

I will say that I find the writing here somewhat sloppy, particularly in terms of John's rehearsal tape, which clearly shows the body double in a standing position in the shadows. The game explains this away as "this is the BD's body being lowered" - yeah, no.

As far as breakdowns go, I did enjoy Simon's. The animals turning on him is pretty satisfying, particularly the gorilla punch. Just before we feed his body to the tigers, De killer shows up and plans to kill Simon (no one would mind). Concurrently, Dogen appears. For a while it seems like we're set for the assassin battle of the century. Who will win? The scarred dandy? Or the blind dog lover? Ultimately, theres no fight. Dogen pleads for Simons life and De Killer ninja-vanishes outta there. John briefly contemplates taking revenge on Dogen, but chooses not to. Dogen and Simon head off to prison, reunited finally.

Later, Edgeworth is at the PIC to announce his "path." He tells Kay, Gumshoe, Ray, and Courtney that he will continue on as a prosecutor. He wants to do this for the sake of people like Simon, who was a victim also. He could have become like him after he lost his father and became something of an "acolyte" of Von Karma. Thankfully Phoenix (who the game stubbornly refuses to actually show) was there to put him back on the right track.

Ray and Courtney each exit with some nice parting words. Theres a part where Edgeworth talks about the greatest judge he knows and its nice to see old Udgey getting some recognition in this game. Finally, the game ends with the core trio reunited - Edgeworth, Gumshoe, and Kay - kinda sorta recognizing themselves as the new Yatagarasu (although I liked the idea of them being an all-girls power trio more).

And that's it. Thread's not quite over though: I'll post some overall reactions to Case 5, the game, and maybe a tier list or something in the future. In the meantime, what do you all think of "The Grand Turnabout?"

---

I work for the USPS

---

Leonhart4 posted...

I work for the USPS

Is it true that the person in charge is purposefully slowing down the mail to tank the business?

---

His goal isn't to tank the business. The USPS has been operating at a loss for a long time and he's trying to find a way to turn that around.

I'm pretty sure the government shut down the plan to delay the mail by a day because of mail-in ballots last year, so that never ended up happening anyway.

---

It's not a business, it's a service. It's not about turning a profit. That's the fundamental flaw at the core of his thinking.

---

MyMainAccount posted...

It's not a business, it's a service. It's not about turning a profit. That's the fundamental flaw at the core of his thinking.

It's not about turning a profit either. The USPS is the only government service that's entirely self-funded, so it's not great to continue operating at a loss.

---

Sounds to me like it shouldn't be self funded then. I know there's quite a lot of excess military budget lying around.

---