History VideoGame / ProfessorLaytonVSAceAttorney

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Sometimes during a trial it's made fully clear the accused is not really a witch early. But gameplay-wise the game still needs game overs. So no matter what happens during a trial, when you run out of shields and get a game over, the person accused for being a witch will be sentenced to death. This is REALLY egregious during the last trial where [[spoiler: even long after it's been made fully clear that there is no such thing as magic, the town is a project, and Espella is not a witch, you can still sentence Espella to death if you mess up and get a Game Over as Layton, who is on the PROSECUTIONS side!]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Sometimes during a trial it's made fully clear the accused is not really a witch early. But gameplay-wise the game still needs game overs. So no matter what happens during a trial, when you run out of shields and get a game over, the person accused for being a witch will be sentenced to death. This is REALLY egregious during the last trial where [[spoiler: even long after it's been made fully clear that there is no such thing as a magic, the town is a project, and Espella is not a witch, you can still sentence Espella to death if you mess up and get a Game Over as Layton, who is on the PROSECUTIONS side!]]

* AscendedFridgeHorror: In the third ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' game, that fact that one of the game's culprits was executed is a plot point. It's never stated whether any of the other killers you've helped convict were given the death penalty, but seeing as most of them don't appear afterwards, it's certainly likely, though it's never addressed. This game, however, doesn't sidestep the issue: it's made clear right from the start just what punishment awaits those found guilty of witchcraft, and it's [[CruelAndUnusualDeath not a pleasant one.]] [[spoiler: And you get to see it happen to the true killer of the second case.]] Though it's also worth noting that [[spoiler: the execution device is an elaborate fraud and none of its victims actually died, though most were brainwashed and lost their identities... which were fake to begin with.]] Still horrifying to watch, though.

* TheGhost: [[spoiler: The entire experiment was supported by the sleazy and immortal British Prime Minister Bill Hawks. Seeing as this takes place between [[ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage Curious Village]] and [[ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture Unwound Future]] there is no question it's him.]]

* TheGhost: [[spoiler: The entire experiment was supported by the (in-universe) British Prime Minister, seeing as this takes place between [[ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage Curious Village]] and [[ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture Unwound Future]] there is no question it's Bill Hawks who is a complete unethical immoral sleaze of a politician]]

* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Espella being lead to believe that she is Bezella causes this, several times. This also happens to Eve after she discovers that it was her who rang the bell and caused the Legendary Fire.]]

** Mary the goatkeeper is meant to evoke Mary had A Little Lamb.

** CapcomVsWhatever: Not the [[FightingGame typical setting]], but applicable nonetheless.

** When Professor Layton [[spoiler:supposedly turns traitor and becomes the inquisitor during the final case]], he becomes somewhat sterner and more harsh than you would expect. Much like Phoenix, he also takes up smacking the bench to punctuate his points.

** [[PhoenixWrightAceAttorney "ZVARRI!"]] from Trials & Tribulations is quipped by Maya.

** Maya jokes that the Professor "never drinks more than 17 cups of tea during a puzzle", a reference to the coffee-loving Godot from ''[[VideoGame/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Trials and Tribulations]]''. {{Lampshaded}} by Phoenix, when he [[BreakingTheFourthWall broke the fourth wall]] by calling her out after she explicitly used "A certain Ace Attorney Reference".

** ----> Phoenix: I'm more of a grape juice man myself (His love for grape juice has been mentioned in ApolloJusticeAceAttorney)

** Layton presents [[spoiler:a photograph of Darklaw]] at one point in the final case. When Phoenix objects to [[spoiler:the evidence's apparent anachronism]], Layton claims that "the end justifies the means". A commonly used phrase in ''VideoGame/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', and one used to depict that game's Dark (Age of the) Law.

* DarkerAndEdgier: For both Ace Attorney and Layton series.[[spoiler:...until the final episode reveal, when it becomes much LighterAndSofter, especially for the AceAttorney franchise.]]

** Phoenix when he's [[spoiler: mourning the appearent death of Maya.]]

* BusmansHoliday: Phoenix is in London for a cultural exchange program with the bar association when he gets transported to Labyrinthia.

* HuddlePower: Formed by a mob of villagers who stand as witnesses in the trial.

* KangarooCourt: Taken UpToEleven. The Judge is not biased towards the inquisition- he is ''impatiently looking forward to calling your client guilty'' as soon as you make one wrong turn, so he can gladly condemn them to [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath burn in the fire alive and watch them reduced into ashes]]. Meanwhile, the audience cheers for the inquisition even while you are destroying their arguments and the witnesses will change their testimony a hundred times and make up any lies necessary to prove that the defendant is an evil despicable witch who deserves to be burnt alive. [[WitchHunt Witch Trial, indeed.]] In particular, the first witch trial involves Phoenix arguing with a group of witnesses for over an hour over whether or not they saw an invisible stick that none of them were capable of seeing (with Phoenix arguing that they did not, as their original testimonies said). Spoiler: [[spoiler:They didn't.]] Obviously, this is all [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that the game takes place in a middle ages town [[spoiler:(at least everyone in town thinks they're from the middle ages)]], and the trials are trials involving witches and magic. These kind of trials are realistic to how witch trials would have actually been like.
* MagicAIsMagicA: Magic in the setting has a strict set of limitations. First, a witch must use a special scepter with two gemstones in it. Which stones are placed in it determine which spells they can cast. When the witch wants to cast, she must proclaim the incantation for the spell. Each spell has its own limitations as well, such as a portal spell only working on a green surface. [[spoiler: These strict limitations are to make it easier for the Shades to set up the illusion of the spell being cast. Because each witch has their own scepter, the Shades need only equip themselves to fake two spells. The incantation is a signal for the Shades to go to work]]. [[NecessaryWeasel It's a good thing, too.]] Magic being [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability falsifiable]] is pretty much the only tool Phoenix has to keep the [[WitchHunt witch trials]] from turning out like their historical counterparts.

* RealityWritingBook

* ThereAreNoTherapists: The game's epilogue [[spoiler:reveals that most of Labryninthia's ruse was created to comfort Eve and Espella after the Great Fire, and convince the former that she was not Bezella. Though probably justified, as he and Newton couldn't send them to a legal therapist, because that would leak the story of the fire to the public, which would not only push Espella further over the edge, but destroy Mr. Cantabella's career/fortune/reputation]]

* VersusTitle

* PyhrricVictory: The characters really, ''really'' hate themselves after the ending of the first witch trial because they proved Espella innocent [[spoiler:only to send Kira to the flames in her stead]]. The second witch trial would have ended the same way if [[FromBadToWorse things didn't get far worse instead]].

* PyhhricVictory: The characters really, ''really'' hate themselves after the ending of the first witch trial because they proved Espella innocent [[spoiler:only to send Kira to the flames in her stead]]. The second witch trial would have ended the same way if [[FromBadToWorse things didn't get far worse instead]].

* FaceOfAThug: Cutter, a minor character, has this problem. He's actually a kindhearted sculptor despite his appearance.

** Ridelle Mystere's name comes from "riddle" and the French word for "mystery".

** Observing Professor Layton in action, causing Phoenix to muse that they should make a movie of [[IndianaJones an Archaeology Professor who goes on epic adventures in his spare time]]