Ok I have to get this off my chest. I JUST FINISHED the third case (meaning no DON'T SPOIL THE REST OF THE GAME FOR ME PEOPLE!) And wow, that had to be the BEST third case of the series. Even though it really has little competition being the only GOOD third cases are the one from Trials and Tribulations and the one from Dual Destinies. (Say what you want about DD's final trial but the third and second case were fantastic.) But this one was not only good but EMOTIONAL. I feel as if I was on the edge right there with Phoenix. And honestly Nahyuta could have come up with several counter arguments to have screwed Phoenix over had Beh'leeb (OH GOD THESE FREAKING NAMES) had not come clean. It shows not only how messed up the court system is but how much it's pushing it's own citizens to the limit. It shown how far Maya has come as a spirit medium and added to the lore without contradicting much. I say much because there is something that is contradicted in the series. And that is the final case of T&T Maya channeled Dahlia without seeing her face...Unless seeing her mother as Dahlia or Iris's face was enough and she could have easily seen Dahlia's name in the message Mia left her. So then maybe this Isn't really a contradiction and it's just me being over analytical...Anyways this is the first time Maya summoned a male spirit and good god was it both disturbing and hilarious. (That man took way too many liberties with that poor woman's body!) But personal space issues aside it was very impressive work on Maya's part. She showed a lot of wisdom, yes you heard me, WISDOM when consoling Princess Reyfa. You could tell she knew from experience what Reyfa was going through. Maya was still Maya but she's definitely grown. As for the twist, even though I saw it coming it still made me shed tears. They took the situation seriously, no exaggerated breakdown, no jokes, they simply showed the tragedy of the situation and what this country did to this couple. A simple smile of acceptance and tears shed. Despite every one of the Khura'in names being stupid as hell, (accept the Princess's and Nahyuta's) The game so far is turning out to be great! Short as hell but great! I think they're trading out drawn out court cases for cases with more emotional and dramatic flair and so far I kinda approve but I still feel as if I want some longer cases. Hopefully the last two (or three) will be just that. Anyways I would like to hear other people's thoughts on this case...this case, not the others...SPOIL= your spoilers!

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I agree, it was one of my favorite third cases too, oh, and if you're looking for longer cases, I'm pretty sure case 5 is a bit longer, I haven't finished it, but so far it's looking like it's gonna be a bit longer than this case, but the pacing so far has also been very good and never felt drawn out, so look forward to that.
Oh and when it comes to this case, I absolutely loved having Rayfa as an assistant, her reactions to everything are so funny, and I'm pretty sure she still doesn't know Phoenix's real name, she's like young Franziska from ace attorney investigations, but with funnier dialogue and black hair.

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Yeah I half expected Reyfa to suddenly start calling Phoenix the foolish fool who foolishly fools himself into foolishly doing things foolishly.

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Yeah, this case was easily the best case 3. I nearly cried at the end, and although it was technically a filler case, it didn't feel like it at all. So bravo to this case, what a masterpiece you are.

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She actually mentions that in her own post. Right at the bolded part

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Oh wow, how did I miss that >_>

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Something I disliked here was that in both trial days,

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Didn't notice that. Isn't it just the usual prosecutor bias in these games where the defense has to fight way harder than the prosecutors because defendants are assumed guilty at the start of every trial?

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I don't think they're actually assumed to be guilty. Phoenix tells Rayfa in this particular case that "in my country, people are innocent until proven guilty". Everybody just has a very loose concept of what 'proven guilty' means, and that's where the bias comes from. Even Phoenix himself tends to think that all his cases are hopeless, even if the prosecution's argument is completely circumstantial.

But yeah, if people in Japanifornia are biased against the defense, you'd expect Kura'in to take that up to eleven. And to be honest, I don't think the court proceedings themselves were much worse. In this case, only Maya and the victim were in the Inner Sanctum, and since it was basically a locked room, the burden of proof really was on the defense.

It's a localization blunder. It's a contradictory line to what was always true about the Ace Attorney court system. Ever since the first game it had been laid down that defendants were guilty until proven innocent. Phoenix probably said something like "Our courts are not as harsh in Japan" in the original script but the localizers forgot about the rules and did an americanization to whatever line it was and turned it into "Back in the US it's innocent until proven guilty", but that's an error.

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Actually, no. It was never officially stated that the original games meant for a system of "guilty until proven innocent". As these games began as parodies of the Japanese judicial system of the time, given the reports of a 99.9% conviction rate, it's only natural the games would exaggerate on it.

In reality, it is an uphill battle for defense attorneys in Japan because there is a more complicated process to sending cases to court in the first place. I don't have exact stats, but I know an overwhelming majority of criminal cases filed are settled out of court. Those that do reach court have undergone such intense scrutiny that by the time the prosecution stands in there, the cases are pretty much won. The highest acquittal rate that any defense lawyer has acquired on record is a mere 5%, and that's an outlier. Phoenix's win record, meanwhile, is beyond the realm of possibility in Japanese society. It's almost beyond the realm of possibility in American society, at that.

In any case, it's no fault of the localization. Even if there's some cognitive dissonance, it's the way things have always been.

Incidentally, the line in the Japanese version goes, "In my country, the accused has a right to a fair trial."

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Well, I think this is more accurate than the localized line.

Even if this is not what truly happens in Japan, it doesn't matter, since the Ace Attorney universe, as you said, is an exaggerated, over-the-top rappresentation of the japanese legal system.
So, the 99% conviction rate and the maximum 5% win record for defense attorneys in real life, is protrayed as if the defendants are "guilty until proved innocent" in the in-game universe.

But despite this, defendants have always the right to a fair trial in the AA universe; it's just more complicated for defense attorneys to defend them, since the whole court always sides with the prosecution.

(also, sorry for the mild necroposting )

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But that has never actually been established. People tend to assume that because everyone is biased against the defense, but the fact is that you can't get a guilty verdict until at least the first testimony. And testimonies count as proof unless there's something wrong with them, which is why we need to find contradictions.

One thing I wonder is... Why is this its own thread anyway? Why isn't this just part of the case three discussion thread?

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OP's opinion is special, leave her alone

LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE

/s

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