Board 8 > Rate the Ace Attorney case: The First Turnabout (1-1)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Rules:

1. Rate each case on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest, and 10 being the highest. Anything above 10 gets rounded down to a 10, and anything below a 1 gets rounded up to a 1.
2. Anything beyond one decimal point will be rounded accordingly: .04 and below will be rounded down, .05 and up will be rounded up.
3. You can rate cases from previous topics if you miss a topic.

We have had Ace Attorney tier lists and rankings, but I don't think we ever rated cases before. With the recent AA activity, I figured this would be a good time.

My rating: 3.5/10. It doesn't overstay its welcome at all and it does everything it needs to do: introduce and endear you to Phoenix and Mia and understand the general gameplay loop. It's very bare-bones, but some of the things it does are kinda mainstays. Wrong answer dialogue is introduced very quickly with "Cinder Block" as the victim name and Sahwit's breakdown is pretty memorable. Plus, this case is the entire reason we have Japanifornia...!

I did this topic series once, but this was over a decade ago! I don't think DD had even come out yet.

1-1 - 4.5/10

It's a fun case but it can only be so high with how short it is

5

I'm not sure if I should rank stuff with the scale being 1 is "the worst Ace Attorney case" and 10 is "the best Ace Attorney case" or the scale being 1 is "a bad thing" and 10 is "a great thing"

Since probably none of the cases in the franchise are worse than like a 5/10 enjoyment

My thinking is rating cases relative to each other because otherwise, I agree, I'd be rating 95% of the cases at least a 7/10

I'm personally doing 1/10 as worst AA case and 10/10 being best AA case, but I dunno if I want to put that in the rules.

I agree that a 1/10 worst AA case is still probably a 4/10 for general entertainment.

OK, with that explained.....

2.4/10

5

A relatively serviceable introduction to the first game and the series as a whole. Personally, any case that I like less than 1-1 is probably a bad case that wouldn't even get rated a 3/10 from me.

4/10

Has a couple of gems - "Harry Butz and Cinder Block" and the toupee toss - but is otherwise nothing more than a serviceable introductory case.

5

5

"The defendant is... me?"

(making that choice makes me laugh every time)

5

this was a little hard to rate, cuz i think it does an amazing job as a tutorial / series introduction, but i usually only replay this case for completionist sake, and also because ill take whatever little mia content i can get.

6/10

Its a 10/10 for a tutorial.

2

i seem to recall a point where it got a free pass as one of the "best" tutorial cases for a while, but let's be real, it's just a practically nothing case on revisit and really doesn't deserve to be regarded as strictly better than any of them imo

On a scale of 1 = worst in ace attorney, 5-6 = average, 10 = best in ace attorney:

3/10

It's not awful, but it's crazy short and revolves around one of the series' more annoying characters. The wig throw is absolutely iconic, though.

6/10

It's kinda nothing but also serves its purpose and doesn't overstay its welcome. Furthermore, the major plot development of 1-2's murder kickstarting the series proper would make lingering here a worse decision than when other games do it.

Night bump

3/10

I'm giving it like, two pity points here for a simple reason: I've never seen anyone play 1-1 and come away from it not wanting to immediately play more. It's a good tutorial and it introduces people to the game and people almost always enjoy it. That said, like, there's nothing here, really. It's got 'pilot episode' writing all over it. It'd be a 1/10 if not for the fact that I think it serves its purpose really well.

>Stop him from testifying.

(LIE LIKE A DOG)

Dont know how I feel about rating relative to other cases rather than just how enjoyable they are.

If its relative to other cases, 4/10.

If its on its own, 7/10.

Bitto posted...

>Stop him from testifying.

(LIE LIKE A DOG)

TELL. THE. TRUTH.

LightningStrikes posted...

Dont know how I feel about rating relative to other cases rather than just how enjoyable they are.

I mean we can have an entire topic series where the scores are basically the same but that's less fun

I dont think the scores would be the same it would just be a different range rather than 1-10. Which is probably going to happen anyway!

6/10

A perfect tutorial case. From a game design standpoint, hugely important. As other people have said, in terms of the heights the series reaches later it's quaint. Funny, and I actually like how it can be fully read and beaten in less than twenty minutes.

I'm definitely not gonna bother grading on a curve or something like that. Nothing I don't actively dislike is gonna go below 5.

LightningStrikes posted...

I dont think the scores would be the same it would just be a different range rather than 1-10. Which is probably going to happen anyway!

I mean the range would be 7-10 with a handful of exceptions

And for a series with over 50 cases at this point, the low variation is less interesting and you're more likely to get an accurate ranking if people think of it in terms of the series instead of overall

5/10 - It's a fine opening act if nothing spectacular.

3

7/10

It's a great tutorial stage and to me that's worth a little extra even if I probably enjoy some cases I'd rate in the 6-7 range a bit more.

Bitto posted...

Plus, this case is the entire reason we have Japanifornia...!

It is? I don't remember this...

I'll rate it 4/10. It's not bad but pretty short. Also, it wasn't my first AA case, so maybe I'm not that endeared to it.

Fiop posted...

It is? I don't remember this...

I'll rate it 4/10. It's not bad but pretty short. Also, it wasn't my first AA case, so maybe I'm not that endeared to it.

They had to be clear about time zones. Theoretically they could have gone the rest of this game never nailing down a particular locale.

The final contradiction involves time difference due to time zones, so they had to establish where the game takes place

10

Flawlessly hooked me with the premise. Maybe on a replay it wouldn't stand out so much but as a completely fresh experience it was a hell of an entry. Everything great about AA is here.