case by case: 6-1: heads rhol
Welcome back once again to Case by Case, my weekly delve into the Ace Attorneyverse. Last time, we hung out with punk rock pirates; today we are going into the third and final game of the Apollo Justice trilogy, Spirit of Justice! I know I'm excited. Spoilers after the cut.
Another game means another tutorial case! This one takes a while to get going, because it also has to teach us about the game's new gimmick, in which an unfriendly priestess slash dancer does a seance and misinterprets what she sees, so we have to correct her. You see, Phoenix is abroad in the country of Khura'in, to visit Maya, who is here training, and it turns out Khura'in has a deeply corrupt legal system, including a law which makes defense attorneys culpable for the crimes of their clients, and naturally Phoenix manages to stumble his way into this whole mess.
As is usual for intro cases, there's not a lot going on here; it is laying groundwork for the whole meta-story of this game, which I appreciate, but I did have the sense that the actual case in this one was less involved than usual. Which is fine: this one is clearly putting in a lot more work in service of the metaplot than is usual, etc. But it does make for a less exciting introduction.
Khura'in is a sort of bizarre setting. It has mystical quasi-Buddhist temples in the mountains vibes combined with corrupt junta ruling a banana republic vibes, and Phoenix bumbling his way into defending people in this system does rather exercise one's ability to maintain suspension of disbelief. But it's Ace Attorney, these games have always been goofy, and there's always something to love about these.
That's all I have for this week. Next week, there's apparently some kind of magic show? Can't wait! I'll see you then, friends.