Having just finished this game today, I am very keen to read your thoughts on it.
The man was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the best at both killing and not killing - Stranger
Platypus!
Chapter 1 part 2: Break down you goddamn flappy... flapper
Welcome back to my runthrough of Ace Attorney: Investigations. When we left our hero and his little entourage, he had just narrowly missed his chance to put the guilty party, prosecutor Jacques Portman in the spotlight as murderer. Now, how will justice be found under the current unfortunate circumstances? Well, Gumshoe is getting all hot-blooded and plans to go get the necesary evidence to clean Maggey's name. Edgeworth is about as hot blooded as he'll ever be, which is to say not much at all. Magget notes that her life seems to have screwed itself up again, funny how it keeps coming around to that, well, Edgeworth isn't having any of the pessimism though, it's time to investigate the hallway and see if we can poke some holes in Portsman's current theory. Begin Investigation, hutt! I check out the right part first, oh, there's Payne, let's see what he has to say about all of this. He's not directly identified past "Prosecutor," but that's Payne, as sure as I'm alive. Payne offers helping out if it would ever be neccesary. Pretty much anyone who's ever played an Ace Attorney game knows help from this guy isn't worth much, Edgeworth remains polite, though, and doesn't seem to recognize the guy entirely. Next up on our list of things that need checking, someone apparently set up a Basketball hoop in the hallway. Well, it's a well-known fact that prosecutors in this verse are an odd bunch who pretty much can do whatever they please, so this shouldn't surprise me. Turns out it's Portsman's rig. Apparently he plays both tennis and basketball. Next up, we have a low sofa/bench of some sort, under which I'm certain to find mystical wonders most mystical. And indeed, under the couchwe have a file, not just any file, but the missing 0H. I'm hoping no-one thought hiding it there would be a good idea, because I'm pretty certain anyone could have found that.
The 0H file indeed has the blood markings from the other 0-files, and Edgeworth notices a few pages are missing. Crafty guy, this thief of ours. Well, the 0 files are, we're told, miscellaneous case files left over from the prosecutor who used to have Edgeworth's office before him. Apparently, the pages removed concern a case ten years ago. They have a tendency to boil down to old cases, these games. Well, the rest of the sofa is unremarkable. Comfy, but unremarkable. And now, it's time to talk to Maggey, see if she can illuminate the situation further. Well, at first, Maggey goes star-eyed and fangirls out over the fact that she's being cross-examined by Edgeworth. Can't say she struck me as the type, but ok. Edgeworth suggests showing Maggey the master key to jog her memory vis-a-vis its sudden dis- and reappearance. This, I do. The key was stolen gone at 1 am and returned by 2.30 am. It would be in a harder to reach place, but Maggey was "sorta using it at the time." Hm, this smells development. So, what had she used the key for? Locking in a prosecutor who forgot his key. The prosecutor? Portsman. The plot thickens indeed. So, Portie had Maggey unlock the door to his office at 12 and unlock it at 1:30 . Wait, wasn't the key supposed to be missing then? Let's have a look at the door to Portsman's office first, if nothing else because my ingame avatar Edgeworth suggested it. Turns out Portsman really wanted Edgeworth's office, but was given the closest one available, the next door one instead. Well, either this is winding up to a Dilbert Arc or the plot thickens. You choose. Well, that's about it for the door, though. Let's go and see if Maggey's got something more for us.
I connect the two entries on the key, because the key, as the story goes now, was used while it was stolen, and that makes... sort of the wrong sense. Well, Maggey didn't lock up the room for Mr. Portsman again, but merely pretended to. Oh Maggey, the troubles you keep finding yourself in. Well, since she didn't lock it, she assumes it's not locked, but my previous inspection of the door proved it to be firmly locked. Hmmm. Deduction time. Locked door + should be unlocked? EUREKA. Well, Edgeworth then immediately deduces that the door Maggey unlocked wasn't to Portsman's office at all. We dust the doorknob and find a complete lack of Maggey's fingerprints, which means she didn't unlock this door. Next, we get to examine the floor in front of the door. Two potentially tasty pieces of evidence jump at me. Let's look at the paper slip under the door first. The paper is a note from the victim, talking about how he has three pieces of evidence and that he'll catch up with Portsman later. Well, of course, we add that to our organizer thingy. Now on to the second piece that'll help me explain all of this. The light patch partially under the basketball hoop. Examine time. Evidence added, signs that the hoop has been moved. Oh yes, I have you now Portsman. A quick walk over to Edgeworth's office door reveals that the doorknob was wiped clean of prints. Of course, because prints never help you, as we've stated before. The fact that they were wiped, though, indicates someone, and by someone I mean Portsman, left their fingerprints on them but didn't feel like getting caught for it.
Investigation complete, and Edgeworth presents his theory, that Portsman is the real killer. 's about right, don't you think? Edgeworth and friends bursts in and tells Portsman what's what. What does the guy have to say in his defense? Implying that Edgeworth, like his former mentor Manfred Von Karma *, is forging evidence. Well, Portie's main defense is that he couldn't enter because he didn't have the key. Well, why don't we tell him how he could have gotten in, hm? With the master key, of course. He told Maggey to unlock Miles' door. Funky Great Revival again. Oh yeah. Portsman says Maggey can back him up on the fact that she unlocked his door. This, she does, saying that the number plate was right, something Edgeworth points out could have been switched around without much work, since the number plates slide in and out easily. News to me, but I'd probably make the number plates static to avoid pranks and what have you. Oh, and of course there's another little piece of evidence to explain Portsman's little switcheroo, the basketball hoop. Portsman moved the hoop to make the illusion of the switcheroo complete. Of course, he's not done yet, persistent bastard, this guy, huh? Lets see what he has to say for himself.
Well, he basically reinterates that he was in his office the entire time and that I don't have anything on him. Let's see if we can persuade him otherwise. He says he got Maggey to open his door for him, but we know that's impossible due to the evidence. Maggey never even touched that door. Portie maintains he was in his office the entire team, but he couldn't have been, the victim left him a note, something you don't do if the person you're planning to talk to is in the room. Edgeworth wraps it all up: Portsman got access to his office, started to root around there, but was discovered by the victim. Oh, does this mean a freakout though? No. This Portsman guy isn't only good at thinking on his feet, he's pretty resilient too, as he scoffs at the theory. He claims he wipes the doorhandle obsessively * and just plain missed the note which Buddy left for him. Hm, wow, even Edgeworth's impressed. Oh, and Portsman even has an alibi, an airtight alibi even. Let's hear it, Oh jock king of hard first-case nuts. Well, basically, Portsman wasn't around to threaten Edgeworth with the gun when he returned, he has people seeing him at the Criminal Affairs dept. Gumshoe gets to work and gets this alibi confirmed. Hm, Edgeworth hasn't lost his determination yet, though, as he's determined to find what's wrong with this alibi. Time to press this bitch. Well, after copious pressing, Edgeworth comments that he can't find anything wrong with the alibi, and Portsman, as smug as only a killer can be in this 'verse, asks for Maggey to be escorted out.
Edgeworth ponders how he's going to turn the situation around as we're given the Portsman's alibi Logic. Hm, it's time to make some connections I see. The only pair that seems to make sense is Portsman's alibi + Second revolver. By your powers combined! Edgeworth reasons that since the killer had to steal the victim's gun to gank him with, the killer most likely did not have two guns, while two shots were fired at the crime scene. We then get the "Another Visitor" logic. Now lets see if things make sense. Files in disarray + another visitor= progress. Edgey states that the guy who held him up when he arrived and the killer are two different people, explaining the two rearrangements of files and the two guns. Edgeworth now explains it all, urging Portsman to go along with his thought experiment, yeah, something like that. Portsman did the door switcheroo, started to look through Edgeworth's office, but was found by the victim, whom he offed and left a fake dying message about the identity of his killer. About at the time Portsman gets out of there, an unknown thief steals the master key and searches for the prize, the 0H file, which he finds. However, Edgeworth comes around, then there's the scene we've seen and discussed a couple of times. This explains it all, but as Portsman points out, it's all circumstancial. Goddamnit Portsman, it's about time to realize you're beaten now.
He does have a point, though, as there's no evidence as to the fact that the second person wasn't the killer, or that Portsman even was the first visitor. This leads us to Portsman's alibi, part two. Portie suggest we should chase after the unknown thief instead, since he could be the killer. This'd make no sense, however, since the scapegoat-creating message was written on one of the files the thief stole, it'd make no sense for him to write it there. Close, but no cigar, apparently. Next up, some more pressing reveals that the victim had two pieces of evidence for Mr. Portsman, a gun, the murder weapon, and a pendant. Now, if he only had a third, that'd give me something to work on. I do wonder.... yup, presenting the note leads to progress. As Edgeworth puts it to Mr. Portsman "you fail," the victim was bringing three pieces of evidence, and as one might expect, it's Gumshoe's job to get this third piece of evidence off him. Hm, yes, a videotape, now lets have a look in 3D and see if we can nail this guy properly. The tape is from a case called K8, but that's not important, apparently. We rotate the thing a little and discover a red stain, blood. Dollars to Doughnuts this is Detective Faith's. Portman goes on the defensive and asking if we can prove it, but seems less enthusiastic about the prospects of fingerprinting it. Edgeworth delivers the final blow and Mr. Portsman freaks out. Chomping on his gold medal before swallowing it and fainting. Well, Manfred Von Karma it ain't, but it's satisfying enough considering how annoying this guy was.
In closing, our heroes talk about the case here and Gumshoe mentions some sort of shady organization behind the scenes. Hm, I sure do wonder if this'll come up again later in the game. Also, a police officer hands over the calling card of The Three-legged raven, the great thief Yatagarasu, apparently some Robin Hood-like character. The card also kindly informs Edgeworth where the stolen files are located. Well, that's nice of the Great Thief. Edgeworth then finishes off by being vaugely foreshadowing, well, isn't that nice. Thus far, I'm impressed over case one, it worked out well, and didn't feel as much like a rookie case, although it never was flat-out hard. I'll be content if I'll never hear the sound of Portsman's flapping jacket ever again, though. Tune in next time, when we take on Turnabout Airplane.
edited 3rd Mar '10 12:53:19 PM by slowzombie
Liveblog | Deadblog
YEAH ! I finished this game over the weekend, and it's awesome.
Edgeworth isn't impressed, calmly telling the gunman that nobody gets away with murder in his office.As Edgeworth puts it to Mr. Portsman, "you fail"this is apparently enough that the silent gunman decides to bolt rather than straight-up executing the guy. he then goes on to introduce a new gameplay element. [Logic]A quick look reveals that we also have Edgey's Prosecutor Badge, which is a good bit more flashy than the Defense Attorney Badges of the other games in the seriesAh, here comes the return of a feature I felt was grossly underused in Apollo Justice, inspecting evidence in 3-D. I'm a bit annoyed that we aren't able to present profiles to witnesses anymore in the DS-original cases, but by now I've got used to it.
Now there's a ship I do not support.yet another gameplay element, Deduction, is introduced. Edgeworth must now confront this nefarious prosecutor... in a DANCE BATTLEDepending on just when this is set timeline-wisethis could mean things are picking up for her.He's not directly identified past "Prosecutor, " but that's Payne, as sure as I'm alive. Well, the 0 files are, we're told, miscellaneous case files left over from the prosecutor who used to have Edgeworth's office before him. Apparently, the pages removed concern a case ten years ago. Turns out Portsman really wanted Edgeworth's office, but was given the closest one available, the next door one instead.I mean, if Portsman was really that interested in that unnamed (and thus unimportant) prosecutor's files, he wouldn't have waited several years to get them, would he ?
the number plates slide in and out easily. News to meThus far, I'm impressed over case one, it worked out well, and didn't feel as much like a rookie case, although it never was flat-out hard. I'll be content if I'll never hear the sound of Portsman's flapping jacket ever again, though. And it may be because I've gotten used to this series' way of thinking, but I didn't find Investigations very challenging (there are a few bizarre logic leaps in some later cases, but far less than in the previous games). It's just that the culprits are very resilient and good at adjusting their testimonies on the fly.
As for Portsman... Mwahahahah.
There was only one part of Investigations where I had to use a guide. It's in the third case, and you'll probably know it when you see it, because it is stupid.
The man was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the best at both killing and not killing - Stranger
Platypus!
Chapter 2 Part 2: At least there's no snakes.
Tune in next time, when we take on Turnabout Airplane.Well, Edgey is nervous, because turbulence is eerily familiar to earthquakes, and he's got some serious phobias going on in that regard. This segways neatly into a little flashback to the DL-6 case when Edgeworth jr * and sr. was caught in an elevator after an earthquake. Apparently this was one of those special airtight elevators, but that's a 
for another day. So, to make Edgeworth even more nervous, his way out today is an elevator. On the plus (?) side, he found a wallet on his persona that wasn't his. On the somewhat less plus side, the elevator opens to reveal a dead guy. A flight attendant walks in on the scene and she is, naturally, quite distressed and accuses Edgeworth of doing the deed. Well, whaddya know, it's his ass one the line this time.
So, we go to first class, where the same flight attendant informs people that there has been " A minor accident." Yeah, that's the word. The passengers aren't convinced, of course, since rumors about the murder has spread, and they start acting panicked and irrational, like crowds do. The flight attendant, Rhoda Teneiro, however, assures her flock that there's no reason to panic, since they have the killer: Miles Edgeworth. That's our hero folks. Well, I guess we'll have a battle of wits with Rhoda here, then. Edgeworth decides that waiting for the actual authorities to be involved is for squares... well, squarer squares, and decides to get to the bottom of this all by his lonesome, but first he has to clear his name, and thus, it's time to match wits with Rhoda. Edgeworth appeals to Rhoda's "inner flight attendant," to be allowed to dig deeper into this mystery. Class Act, Miles. Turns out flight attendants are second only to prosecutors and defense attorneys when it comes to dedication to truth & justice, so she agrees to tell him why she's convinced he did it. Cross-examination time.
Rhoda's testimony is fairly straight-forward. She claims she saw Edgeworth standing over the victim with the murder weapon in his hand, the weapon apparently also dripped blood. Hm, that sounds a bit odd, let's have a looksee at that. The item Edgeworth had in his hand was a wallet, so let's present that. OBJECTION! We then get a little lampshading of how everyone screams OBJECTION in this 'verse, before going on our merry way. A little investigation of the evidence beforehand reveals that it was soaked in grape juice, as we have demonstrated earlier apparently looks a lot like blood. So, what she saw was Edgeworth and the wallet. Rhoda, however, remarks that you technically could club someone to death with a wallet if it had something heavy enough in it. Edgeworth says it's not neccesary to inspect the content of the wallet, since one can easily feel that the wallet isn't close to heavy enough to murder someone with, but Rhoda insists to inspect the wallet anyway. Said inspection reveals a passport, a Borginian passport to be precise, the Victim, Akbey Hicks', Borginian passport. Hm, this just got interesting, little continuity nod to Apollo Justice here too.
So, needless to say, this does little to get Edgey out of this sticky situation, since Rhoda here just assumes he killed Mr. Hicks for his money. Lady, look at the man, does he look like a man who kills people for their money. Now that you mention it... nevermind. Let's move on to the next cross-examination, in which we discuss Edgeworth's motive for this foul deed. Well, I'll give this case as much: Edgey is considerably less emo than the last time he was suspected for murder, yay for character development. Hm, well, Rhoda claims that Miles was in it for the money, which doesn't seem right. Let's have another look at the crime scene again. Hoh yes, the floor is littered with money, one assumes it's the victim's money, and this of course leaves the question why a killer who killed for cash would let the cash lie on the floor of the crime scene and bring the empty wallet. At this point, Rhoda freaks out. Goodbye Ms (Mrs?) Teneiro, been fun matching wits with you. The crowd gets upset, and to be honest the sound effect, being a looped "upset courtroom" sound which frankly sounds a bit nightmarish if you let it go for too long. Well, Edgeworth, being the gentleman that he is, explains that he doesn't blame Rhoda for accusing him all things considered, and she lets him free of the restraints, goodie. A Borginian voice interrupts the scene, though, speaking in the vaguely hieroglyphic language that we first encountered in Apollo Justice. A woman clad in what I can only describe as very colorful clothes speaks in Borginian as a very egyptian/kletzmer fusion-sounding song accompanies her ramblings, or perfectly coherent exclamations, kinda hard to tell when you don't even understand the alphabet.
Edgeworth requests a translator, but it turns out this lady speaks perfectly good English. Well, that's a refreshing change of pace. Wait, Rhoda just referred to this newcomer as "sir." Hm, I guess I got confused for a second or two there. Anyway, Mr. dude guy demands that Edgeworth be restrained until they land, but refuses to explain anything further, going so far to call Edgeworth "insolvent." Does our favorite ambiguous British guy snark on this? You bet he does. Mr. Dude Guy is called Zinc Leblanc II, and apparently he ain't just an asshole, he's a rich asshole, an art dealer to be precise. Well, after some insisting on the part of Rhoda and Edgeworth, he finally explains WHY he's not convinced of Edgeworth's innocence. Turns out he saw the victim enter the elevator at exactly 6 o'clock. It strikes me as odd how precise everyone knows the time in this 'verse, but that is neither here nor there. Anyway, this pegs the time of the murder between 6 and 6.15, a very limited timeframe indeed, but how did the victim's body cross the burning bridge? Wait, wrong case. That said, Lablanc points out that Edgeworth was the only person in the lounge at that particular point in time, well fiddelsticks.
So, the other passengers has an alibi, and Lablanc mentions how the victim was playing with some electronic gadget. Rhoda claims it must have been a cellphone. A cellphone on an airplane? I'm glad he's dead, he could've killed them all. Edgeworth seems more concerned with fiddling with a cellphone seems a bit "low budget," which only demonstrates that Edgey isn't quite up to speed what cellphone trends are concerned nowadays. Well, that said, Edgeworth asks to be allowed investigating the crime scene, to get to the bottom of this. Rhoda goes to ask the captain. Lablanc doesn't approve, but screw him... on second though don't but... you know what I mean damnit. Well, the captain allows this on the condition that Rhoda follows along to make sure Edgeworth doesn't go all Von Karma on the evidence, she'll be our partner for this case. Alright, time to do some investigating. I don't really feel like talking to Mr. Dude Guy again, so I check out an empty seat, Mr. Hicks', it turns out. I'd check out stuff in more detail, but Edgeworth implies getting his ass to the crime scene is the way to go. I get sidetracked by another flight attendant though. This long-haired blonde is more asleep than awake, so she's not any use, and I swiftly move on. My first thought is to use the elevator, but since that's the crime scene, I have to take the long way down. Right, let's get to it. Ftaires, we have found ftaires! Said stairs doesn't take us to unmentionable horror and claw-y death, though, but to the first floor lounge. Here, Teneiro tells Edgeworth that she still doesn't trust him, and that the investigation stops when the captain & crew doesn't feel it progresses. Translated into Ace Attorney speak, that probably means I'll be inches from getting important evidence when I'm pulled away. Also, it would seem someone on first class had to have done it, since no-one was recorded entering the first-class areas from economy or business class. Well, that's a good, solid closed circle, I guess. Fair enough, now lets get to the investigation.
So, we're given the "Where was the killer"-logic bit, and our first order of business seems to be restoring Rhonda's faith in Edgeworth. Well, let's see what we have here. A quick scan of the non-crimescene part of the room lends itself to little information of interest, except that Edgeworth doesn't like modern music. Well, that came totally out of left field. But enough faffing about, it's time to get to the juciest morsel in the room, namely the elevator. We're told the elevator goes to the first, second and cargo hold floors, but that nobody's going to the latter without a flight attendant key card. We get the Elevator logic. Hmm, I do wonder, 's logic time. Where did the killer hide + elevator = The killer was in the elevator. In the elevator with Hicks logic get! Now it's time to take a closer look at the elevator itself, and lets see if anything makes sense.
Inspection of the body tells us Hicks was given the good old BONK treatment to the back of the head, and that his glasses are broken. Two pieces of logic for us. Then, I inspect a statue-looking thing that turns out to be the company mascot, Mr Ifly, this time in piggy bank form. The blood on it implies that it probably was the murder weapon. We add that logic to our collection. I also find a picture in the corpse's pocket, Mr. Hicks in some sort of museum. This opens the Deduce option, let's have a looksee. Yes, it turns out the electronic thingy, whatever it is, isn't present on Mr. Hicks' persona at the moment, that's Eureka-worthy, since that pretty much means the killer must've taken it. That's about it for the elevator, though, let's see what else we can do. My first inclination is to check out the Logic screen, where I connect the blunt force trauma with the blunt object with blood on it. Hardly rocket science, now is it? Edgeworth explains the connection to Rhonda, who seems to get it. Edgeworth dubs her "Master of the Obvious" in deliciously snarky blue thought-text. Well, let's take a closer look on this raccoon-thing and see if it can betray its murderous master. Well, that went nowhere in particular. A closer look only revealed what we already know: that the statue has blood splatters that matches what it'd have if it was the murder weapon. Add that it was found on the crime scene... well, it's probably the murder weapon.
For a little while, I was borderline stuck, until I realized another part of the crime scene could be investigated, namely the grape juice-soaked foot of one of the statues that frame the elevator. I wouldn't normally call grape juice stains all that interesting, but the footprints leading away from the crime scene. This is relevant to my interests, indeed. The Grapejuice footprints logic is mine for the taking, let's logic it up and see if we can get deeper into this mystery. So yes, someone else in the elevator + grape juice = profit. The victim's shoes were spotless, which means the one who exited the elevator has to be our guy. That said, we get an investigation complete. Before I can enjoy my genius, though, Lablanc busts in, arguing with the sleepy flight attendant in Borginian. I guess she's the one on this flight that speaks Borginian. Mr. Dude Guy is angry that the movie is late, and asks Edgeworth if the prosecution ace have proven his own innocence yet. Edgeworth is fairly certain he can prove reasonable doubt, something that, as far as I can tell, only works for prosecutors in this 'verse. Well, Lablanc contributes with little new info, so let's hit him where we can.
So, what new have we learned since last time? Well, my most recent discovery casts the last part, namely Edgeworth being the only one in the room at the time, into quesiton, so let's hammer that one like it was hammertime *. Hm, well, presenting an objection was apparently a bit premature, so let's press this guy like he was a wrinkly, unlikable lemon. Eventually, the guy states that the only person inside the elevator was Hicks. Well, what do we know about that? Eat footprints, Lablanc. Well, he responds in Borginian to the claim that someone else had to be in the elevator with Hicks. The sleepy flight attendant translates. It also bears noticing that said flight attendant has what can only be described as "absolute cleavage." Well, Lablanc claim nobody else was in the elevator, and Rhoda seems to believe him. I guess we have one of those "It seems like the witness is lying, but in reality neither the evidence nor the witness is wrong"-things, those are always confusing, but fun. New testimony time! Lablanc was apparently annoyed at Hicks, but he's still adamant that he was alone in the elevator. What seems to be a central point, though, is that Lablanc missed a movie he very much looked forward to, despite setting his watch to destination time to not miss it. Hold on a tick, checking the organizer time. Hmm, as I thought, the flight magazine lists entries in departure time.
Let's see what Lablanc has to say about this one. Apparently, the time zone difference between Borginia and their destination is nine hours, which, depending on where the destination is * probably means Borginia is somewhere in Europe. Lablanc's profile states that Borginia is in North Europe somewhere, hmm, I am none the wiser, but back to the case at hand, let's see what this means to us. On a 12-hour watch, this would mean Lablanc's clock would appear to be three hours fast, which means the victim entered the elevator at around 3.00. Toasty. Lablanc freaks out by... being blown over by a powerful wind? Uhm, ok, that was odd, but I guess Edgeworth's awesomeness causes somewhat of a draft, or something like that.
This widens the timeframe the murder could be done in considerably, but miss sleepy flight attendant dudette has something to say. First off, she introduces herself as Cammy Meele... is that girl stoned? Well, no matter. It turns out that she saw Mr. Hicks in his seat at 5 am, which narrows the time frame somewhat again. In other words, our victim was alive during a temporary in Zheng Fa, an Asian country of some form. Nobody got on or off, though. Well, to say this gets Edgeworth off the hook would be optimistic to say the least, since he was in the lounge the entire time. Hoh boy. Well, the job now is the tie this whole brouhaha to another location than the lounge. Hmm, took a little bit of pondering on this one, but eventually I figured out that the iFly mascot piggybank belonged in the gift shop. Lablanc isn't convinced, but it would seem Rhonda has something to say. She saw the murder weapon in its place as late as 5:40. Apparently she was on the first floor at that time. Uhm Rhonda... how about you TELL US about stuff like this? Oh well, if you didn't have to force the truth out of everyone, it wouldn't be any fun, now would it? Well, we're about to go to see the gift shop, which is good, they've got a little shop and everything, but Cammy objects, claiming that we do not have clearance for that. Hm, she tells us that Rhoda doesn't have any sort of authorization, in fact. Well, this is ominous one way or another. Cammy has clearance, or at least so she claims, so to the gift shop we go.
The gift shop displays some signs of a break-in, and Edgeworth has to stop Cammy from cleaning the place up, she certainly has the presence of mind, this one. Edgeworth notices this is where the murder weapon came from, and we get the Murder weapon: Mr. Ifly logic. Awright, it's time to investigate this place like it's 1605. I immediately check out the broken display, and I get the Tiny Captain's hat Logic for my troubles. Edgey's right, I have seen one of those before, on the head of Cammy's Mr Ifly doll, to be precise. tiny hat + tiny racoon-thingy = success. This confirms that the piggybank was taken from the case. Cammy is about as cerebral as she's been thus far, which is to say not very. We then get a closer look at the display case, let's see. Hm, Edgeworth notices that the glass shattered very cleanly and the shards of glass are on the outside. Very solid points, Mr. Edgeworth, very solid indeed. I'm guessing it's time to deduce, but before that, I go to check out the suitcase, which was apparently designed by Rhonda, and also roll around freely given the smallest provocation. Suitcase logic get! Well, enough of that fun stuff, let's get back to deducing. The oddness I pointed out earlier is easily made through deducing the glass shards with the murder weapon. From this, Edgeworth deduces that the piggy bank fell out during the turbulence and broke the glass. It strikes me that iFly airlines doesn't secure anything all that well. Sure, their first-class seems nice, but you better pray it's a smooth flight. The murder weapon couldn't have been the murder weapon, as the murder happened before the "murder weapon" could be gotten, so the piggy bank can't have been the real murder weapon. Meanwhile, Cammy's dozed off again. When she wakes up, she points out that the glass could've been broken after the killer opened the case. Of course, the case was locked, so that's impossible, unless Rhoda, who's responsible for the shop and had the keys, opened it. Dum dum dum :o
Well, let's see if we can logic our way to victory again. Unstable suitcases + turbulence = Hmm. The suitcases were in their proper place, despite some heavy turbulence earlier. Cammy is yet again as useful as a structurally superfluous new behind, so let's have a closer look. One of the suitcases doesn't have a stopper, so it would probably be all over the place during turbulence. From this, Edgeworth concludes that the suitcase was put where it is after the turbulence. So, we get the chance to inspect this suitcase, well what do you know, it's unlocked. Inside, we find a piece of clothing soaked in blood. Oh my. Cammy, ever the observant partner has no idea what this implies, but Edgeworht is convinced the suitcase was used to transport something of considerable size, and I think I know what: Mr Hicks' body! We get some pieces of evidence for our trouble, the suitcase and the body cloth. Just to update: At this point, we believe Mr. Hicks was iced somewhere else, but carried to the elevator in the suitcase before the suitcase was dumped in the closed gift shop. At this point, cammy actually thinks for once, and says she finds it somewhat suspicious that Rhoda was in the vincinity "for something" around that time. Could be just me, but I don't trust this Cammy gal, but I wouldn't be lying if I said both she and Rhoda got some serious Bitch in Sheep's Clothing potential. Speaking of which, Rhoda enter stage left. She tells us the captain feels we've had just about enough time investigating, and Edgeworth says he'll have to go along with that, but that he'd like to be able to oversee the further treatment of the crime scenes to avoid contamination. Cammy suggests that the three camp there together. Oh Edgeworth, you pimp. Well, Edgey is now confident he can prove that the murder was not in the elevator and that he's not the killer, but that he has to continue investigating to get to the bottom of this. I can't wait, dude, I just can't wait.
edited 8th Mar '10 1:54:47 PM by slowzombie
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The thing I love about this series is that in all the other games, people could be arrested and put on trial solely on the basis that a suspicious-looking person says they were in the vicinity, yet when Edgeworth is the hero, you have to grind Portsman down like there's no tomorrow to get him arrested.
The man was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the best at both killing and not killing - Stranger
Hm, this just got interesting, little continuity nod to Apollo Justice here too. Goodbye Ms (Mrs?) Teneiro, been fun matching wits with you.It strikes me as odd how precise everyone knows the time in this 'verse, but that is neither here nor there.Edgeworth seems more concerned with fiddling with a cellphone seems a bit "low budget, " which only demonstrates that Edgey isn't quite up to speed what cellphone trends are concerned nowadays.My first thought is to use the elevator,First off, she introduces herself as Cammy Meele... is that girl stoned?
is a sleeping aid...
I'm not really surprised for a flight attendant to be a bit jet-lagged (especially as she has been on-duty for a while, which I don't suppose was the case for the fresh-as-a-flower Ms. Teneiro...).
Cammy has clearance, or at least so she claims, so to the gift shop we go. So, we get the chance to inspect this suitcaseCould be just me, but I don't trust this Cammy gal, but I wouldn't be lying if I said both she and Rhoda got some serious Bitch in Sheep's Clothing potential. Which is the only flaw of this case : there aren't many suspects. Economy Cast strikes again !
Platypus!
Chapter 2 Part 2: Whip it good
Alright, it's time to dig deeper into this case and see who did what. Time to face Turnabout Airlines part two. It would seem we're on the ground now, in Hope Springs airport, where Edgeworth is ambivalent about letting the local police handle the case. Maybe it's because of the local fuzz' tendency to get the wrong guy every single time * in this 'verse. Well, Edgeworth muses about how he can get the chance to investigate more when, suddenly, enter stage right a familiar face. Oh yes, it's the patron saint of Whip It Good, the prosecution prodigy, daughter of Big Bad juggernaut of law Manfred Von Karma. Indeed, it is Franziska Von Karma, Edgeworth's de-facto sibling. So, how does the two colleagues and sorta-siblings reunite? Franzy puts Edgeworth under arrest and whips him. Good old Franziska. She says that she can't believe Edgeworth, as a disciple of the Von Karma clan, ended up as a petty murderer. Uhm... Franzy, case 1-4? Your father? Well, let's not dwell on that, I'm guessing it's a bit of a tender subject. The music's nice though, the unfunky Great Revival is a good one. Anyway, Franziska decides to investigate before throwing Edgeworth in chains, which is awfully nice of her, because as a Von Karma, her goal is to be absolutely perfect in every way. Just how that resonates with her being completely and utterly schooled by Phoenix all the way through Justice For All is beyond me, but I'm guessing Franzy's psyche is rife with cognitive dissonance. Well, she calls in our favorite whipping boy * Detective Dick Gumshoe, whom she... well... whips and tells to look after Edgeworth. So, it'll be the marvelous misadventures of those two this case, I see.
So, the first order of business is, as always when he's involved, to quiz Gumshoe on the most recent development. He says Franziska's response time was almost too quick. Edgeworth reasons that her quick response time and the fact that she's supposed to be in Germany at this point means there's something going on here. Well, something else than the murder, that is. Gumshoe tells us that Franzy just showed up one day, apparently chasing evidence for a mysterious case. Dollars to doughnuts we'll be involved in this case somewhen, somehow. It's the Ace Attorney law of enigmatic cases from past, present or possibly future. Oh, and Edgeworth has a case of some kind too, as he wonders if Franzy's case has anything to do with his. I'm guessing he's not talking about the murder on the airplane, as there's been hinting at something large going down for a while now. Well, it's time to investigate again. Since Franziska will probably go full Ivy on our asses if we poke around in her crime scene, we're probably better off talking with the people involved. I have a bad feeling this means I'll have to confront Cammy again, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
First off, I think I spy a little cameo here. Hm, a corpulent man speaking in Leet and referring to the Steel Samurai? Nice to see you, Mr. Manella, glad you probably don't have anything to do with this case. Also, Edgeworth gets a brief fanboy moment when he hears that there's a Steel Samurai movie in the works. Why Edgeworth, like Phoenix, seems to be so fascinated by this show is a bit confusing to me, but I guess it's something about the whole "defender of truth and justice thing" oh, and the theme song is pretty damn sweet too * Well, that's about what we'll get from this room though. We also see a lady selling lunchboxes, which we all know is so common in the states, and one of the passengers from first class who apparently is holding on to his lifevest as a sort of proof of conquest. I'm guessing that means we're going back in on the plane. Here's hoping Franzy's been getting good news, I guess.
Inside, we meet the captain, who's not given a name past "captain" and I'm guessing not an unique sprite, so he'll probably not be all that important. Cammy, now awake, gets all jealous of the captain daring to interact with Franziska. Hm, yeah, she's got friends on the other side (of the door between the cabin and the... you know what, never mind) alright. I dunno what the song playing at the moment is called, but it's pretty catchy. Anyway, Edgeworth seems to concur on the good captain not being of much use, and leaves his sorry ass to be interrogated, and by interrogated I mean whipped, by Franziska. Instead, we return to the crime scene again, huzzah. Oh, Mr. Lablanc is being held, at the crime scene for some reason. Well, he is the asshole victim, the chances of him being the villain by that fact alone is pretty good, but not as high as it'd be if he was unnaturally sweet and/or sexy. I'm not making the rules here, Mr. Lablanc. Well, I guess we should just get this over with, let's go see what Mr. Lablanc and company has to say for himself.
He's ranting about his cargo, he's transporting some art, being an art dealer and all. At this point, Edgeworth notices that Lablanc's hat is kind of similar to the piece of clothing found in the suitcase. Gee, I wonder if this means we should confront him with it? What's the worst that could happen? * Lablanc informs us that the clothing is of Borginian make and design, and apparently it's pretty popular. The organizer and I seems to disagree about the aesthetic merits of this pink 'n yellow striped designs, but that's neither here nor there, let's hear what else Lablanc has to say. Well, he also tells us that "That Flight Attendant" is taken in for questioning, Edgeworth thinks he might be referring to Rhoda, which makes sense seeing as there seems to be all of two flight attendants on this plane, and we saw Cammy earlier.
Well, before I can get any further, though, Ms. Von Karma enters the scene, looking in quite a whipping mood. Edgeworth requests to be able to talk to Rhoda, but Franziska says that there's still "issues surrounding (his) own circumstances." Oh, I think I know what this means. Yes, it's Argument time. Von Karma student versus Von Karma. Franziska's argument is pretty much the same as before, from the victim was last seen to the discovery of his body, Edgeworth was the only one at the crime scene. This makes him the most likely suspect. Edgeworth think that it's unlike Franziska to use as vague words as "most likely suspect," but Franzy claims that she doesn't wish to completely crush him. Well, that's nice of her. On with the rebuttal. The biggest achilles heel of this argument seems to be the contested fact the killing did take place in the 1st floor lounge. Let's see if that's a viable angle to approach this from. Of old habit, I press her first, revealing that she "knows enough (about the crime scene) to arrest Edgeworth," however, she seems a mite uncertain, and takes it out by whipping Gumshoe, excusing herself with that "her hand slipped." Right. Well, it's time to evidence it up. Suitcase -> present = yay. Edgeworth argues that the body was moved from the real scene of the murder to the engineered one, in the elevator, but Franziska objects. I must add, the music playing in this moment is good, energetic objection music, and that makes me happy. Franziska counter-objects, though, claiming that just because the bloody cloth was found in the suitcase, that doesn't prove that the body was moved. It's fully possible the killer just dumped the bloody cloth there. She also claims that a Von Karma is perfect in every way again. I thought she was over that after JFA, but apparently I was wrong. However, there is evidence that the suitcase was moved. Grape Juice Footprints, I choose you! We then get to point out where the evidence is, namely the two wheel-looking tracks. Success. Franziska agrees that this is sufficient evidence to prove that the body was moved, but she won't agree that this is enough to get Edgeworth off the hook, and as such, we get yet another argument to tear apart.
This time, the story is that Edgeworth nabbed the murder weapon before the turbulence, BONKed the victim in the lounge and stuffed him in a suitcase to dispose of at a later time. However, the turbulence knocked the victim out of the suitcase, and Edgeworth panicked 'n shoved the guy in the elevator before taking the suitcase back to its proper place. Well, that sounds a bit thin, but let's take what we know is wrong first, the time at which the murder weapon was acquired. Our investigations have put the finding of the murder weapon at a different point in time, and it's time to demonstrate. Time to present Mr. iFly. Edgeworth commends Franziska for taking the murder weapon into the equation. Edgeworth argues that the piggy bank couldn't have been the murder weapon, since it was retrieved post-turbulence. So, Edgey's version of the story now also includes the murderer faking the supposed murder weapon after ganking Mr. Hicks. Hm, I'm guessing this'll all make perfect sense at the end. It usually does, more or less. Well, Franzy isn't convinced, seeing as any alternative murder weapon hasn't been found. This means, according to Edgeworth, that the real murder weapon is still with the killer or in "the real crime scene." Hm, I think I see where this is going. Franziska objects, since she has an alternative theory, namely that the piggy bank actually is the murder weapon, and that it was retrieved pre-turbulence, by someone who could open the door to the display case. Hm, the arguments in this game feels a little more evenly balanced than in the other AA games, probably because people actually like Edgeworth, his asocial snarkyness notwithstanding.
Well, the two now agree that it's possible that this was how it went down, and that this puts Rhoda in a rather bad light, so Edgeworth is allowed to speak to her, under Franziska's observation, of course. To the flight attendant's room we go. Here, we see Rhoda, and it's about time for her and us to have words about this permission she claimed to have. Apparently, Rhonda was rather convinced the captain wouldn't grant permission because... well, he's whipped, basically. Apparently Cammy has the guy wrapped around her finger, and Rhoda felt bad for accusing Edgeworth, well, that was nice of her. She's asked about her visit to the in-flight shop, and she freezes up. In JFA or TT this'd probably mean a psyche-lock, but in this game we'll have to settle with asking her about it. She doesn't go much into details past that she checked up on the shop before going to the Flight Attendant's room to freshen up. Edgeworth seems to be one step ahead of me, as he thinks he knows the reason why she went to the shop. My best suggestion? The suitcase. Turns out this gets a reaction. Rhoda says she wanted to know how well the suitcases she had designed sold. She also says there was only one left. Well this is interesting. Discussing it further, Rhoda thinks Edgeworth should buy the suitcase, whereas Edgeworth thinks it's hideous, and tells her so face to face. From her reaction, he gleans that might have been too direct. Gee, Miles, you think? Well, she insists that there was only one suitcase, despite us having witnessed two earlier. The discussion seems to get sidetracked a little as Edgey notices another suitcase of the same make, which Rhoda claims she have used for a long time. Edgeworth is not convinced, and we get to point out why. Looking closer at this suitcase, I don't think it's too ugly, I mean, the colors are a bit unappealing, but I can imagine it'd go nicely together with some retro hippie. Well, enough of that, let's see what's what. The price tag seems to be a bit of a dead giveaway vis-a-vis this suitcase's age.
Edgeworth notices that the suitcases apparently didn't sell well, and deduces that this suitcase used to be from the in-flight shop before it was bought by Rhoda. Yes, turns out the New-Age Retro Hippie-look isn't selling to well, so Rhoda's buying this one herself. Well, I'd want to have at least one example of a suitcase I designed myself, but sure Edgey, let's go with your explanation. Aww, poor Rhoda. Turns out nobody's buying the things, and the job is very important to her, so she's buying one suitcase for every flight she's on. This particular flight, she bought the suitcase at 5:40, and she conveniently enough even got a receipt. Well, we're also told that the surplus suitcases are stored in the cargo hold. Well, that narrows down the list of suspects something fierce, and nets me a "I told you so"-point, if I may say so. Franziska's not done though. She points out that Cammy, in what must've been a rare moment of lucidity, told her that the only one who could've accessed the cargo hold via the elevator was someone with Rhoda's keycard. This reflects poorly on Rhoda, of course, but didn't we say just a few minutes ago that anyone who could enter the Flight Attendant's room could enter the cargo hold without trouble? I'm sure this will come back to that. Franziska demands to see this keycard, which Rhoda keeps in her locker, at least normally. At this particular moment in time, it's stolen, something that shocks Rhoda, but fails to convince Franziska, who assumes that Rhoda has hidden the keycard to shift blame away from herself. She's taken away, and it's time to investigate the cargo hold, next time, that is. Shortish chapter this time folks, but on the plus side, I'm now fairly certain who's what. Next time: We (probably) get to the bottom of this.
edited 10th Mar '10 11:24:20 AM by slowzombie
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Platypus!
Chapter 2 Part 3: Cargo holds, whips and gravity
Alright, ladies and gents, it's time to check out the cargo hold and find out the horrible horrible secrets of flight I-390. To open this chapter, Gumshoe is rather impressed by the sheer size of the cargo hold. Edgeworth tells us that this particular flight is famous for having both a large cargo hold and a luxurious first class. Hm, ok. Anyway, Edgeworth finds it highly possible that the killing happened here, but of course, we need evidence. Investigation time! First, I have a closer look at a suitcase, which turns out to belong to the victim. Hm, turns out Mr. Hicks had a profile on our friend Franziska, and we get that fact in the form of a Logic. Hmm, let's quiz Franzy a little. The topic on Edgeworth's mind seems to be why Franzy made it to the airport so quickly. Turns out she's been investigating some really heavy stuff together with Interpol. Interpol logic get. Hmmm. Profile + interpool = Hicks was in the interpool? Hm, these games have a nasty tendency to ice Interpol-agents if so. Let's ask Franziska. Turns out, we were correct, as Hicks was supposed to work together with Franziska to deal with a large international smuggling ring. Oh my. Smuggling ring logic! Well, turns out Mr. Hicks had been undercover, and was going to contact Franziska once he landed. Too bad he couldn't since he was busy being dead. Alright, it's time to check out the rest of this place.
Next up, let's check out the suitcases. This provokes a bit of popculture reference from Gumshoe, as he says "Holy Suitcases, Mr. Edgeworth" Hm, it turns out these suitcases are also rather expensive. Well, that explains why they aren't pulled off the shelves by the hippies, I guess. Well, one suitcase is missing, and Edgeworth notices some broken glass on the floor. Hmm, I wonder. Yes, the victim was wearing broken glasses, they broke in the cargo hold. Well, I guess there's little doubt about where the murder took place now. Edgeworth thinks that the only thing we're lacking to peg it 100% is the murder weapon. Franzy & Edgeworth discusses what in the blazes Hicks was doing in the cargo hold, Franzy seems to think that he was doing some investigating of his own. The current theory is that Hicks identified himself to one of the flight attendants to gain access to the cargo hold, was ganked there and transported to the elevator in the suitcase before a bout of turbulence knocked him out of the suitcase, sending the contents of his wallet all over the place and prompting the killer to leave him there before hightailing it. Investigation Complete. Well, that was fast.
At this juncture, Franziska is convinced that this dirty deed was done by Rhoda, while Edgeworth isn't quite content with that explanation, so it's time to match wits with Franziska, yay. Her argument revolves around the keycard, and how Rhoda was the only one with clearance to access the cargo hold. Edgeworth isn't convinced it's as easy as that, and it's time for a rebuttal. It strikes me that this is the second case thus far that revolves in some degree or other around a possibly stolen key of some sort. It's not a big problem for me, but if the trend continues, it's gonna get old. Well, let's see what kinds of holes we can poke in this argument. One of Ms. Von Karma's arguments revolve around the Mr. iFly piggy bank that could only be the murder weapon if the murderer was Rhoda. Edgeworth thinks there's another murder weapon, but no such thing has been found, a thorough search notwithstanding. However, Edgeworth seems to think there's one particular object we can investigate further to rule this theory out. Hm, let's see if I'm in on the logic here. Apparently, I'm to used to more or less conclusive autopsy reports, because Edgeworth raises the point that we don't have anything like that yet, and therefore we can't be sure about the murder weapon. Franziska urges Gumshoe to get the autopsy report with all speed, and by "urges" I of course mean "whips," lest there was any doubt.
Hm, Gumshoe returns with the following news: The victim received a blow to his shoulder to mid-back. Yes, the killer apparently went No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Hicks' ass, the killer might have had beef with Akbey. The coroners haven't gotten anywhere regarding the alleged murder weapon, though. You'd think they'd look into that first, but I'm not a coroner, so what do I know. Oh, and of course Franziska expresses her displeasure by... you guessed it, whipping Gumshoe. Gotta feel sorry for the guy, but who knows, maybe he secretly likes it. Sorry, my mind slipped into insane shipper [WMG] for a while there. A nagging voice interrupts this scene, though, as Mr. Lablanc apparently have made his way into the cargo hold, demanding that his cargo be returned to him. Gee, I wonder if he's involved in all this smuggling brouhaha. Well, Lablanc's being a pain in the ass as usual, but at least his leitmotif is fairly cool. Lablanc is persuaded by a law enforcement officer to kindly back the fuck off, or rather, he would, hadn't it been for that he stepped away only to charge at the guard with reckless abandon. His charge falls comically short, though, as he hits the guard and bounces off over the railing. In the middle of this scene, it goes to a black and white freeze-frame and Edgeworth seems to realize what this whole thing has been about.
As Mr. Lablanc falls towards certain discomfort, Edgeworth flashes back to previous moments in the case, we get the Mr. iFly Logic, the Weapon Couldn't be found logic and the Cause of death logic. I can't decide if this is artsy or lazy exposition, but I think I know what he's getting on about, and that's a good thing, 'cause it's logic time. Hm, the wound: One long continuous wound + rather smallish murder weapon? That's not quite right. We get the "A Sizable weapon" logic. Let's see what we can make out of that. Large weapon + weapon not found = Hm, you'd think a weapon large enough to make that wound would be found, unless, of course, it was too large to be considered a murder weapon, and thus was overlooked. Edgeworth discusses this possibility while Gumshoe is more concerned about Mr. Lablanc's health. Dude, the guy fell like five feet, I think he'll be OK. Well, Franziska demands to see evidence, of course, but if I'm right... Yes, indeed there's no evidence, and this makes Franziska drop a Cluster F-Bomb *. Well, why is there no evidence for the murder weapon? Because the murder weapon's active at this very moment, pulling at everything. Yes, what killed Akbey Hicks was gravity, in the form of a free fall from the top of the stairs and down the side. Gumshoe is, like the kind-hearted but ultimately clueless soul he is, concerned about Mr. Lablanc, and he rushes to check if he's still alive. Oh goodie, he's unharmed, and still complaining.
Franziska is convinced that this man surviving his short fall is proof positive that Mr. Hicks couldn't have died that way. Edgeworth claims that the box that prematurely ended Mr. Lablanc's fall, and thus prevented him from becoming, as Gumshoe put it, "A Borginian pancake," wasn't there when the victim fell. Hmm, evidence time. Mayhaps the refueling/cargo transfer at Zheng Fa has something to do with this? Hoh yes, the crate next to said lifesaving cargo is marked as a piece from Zhang Fe, so it's possible, but we, of course, have to take a closer look since said huge crate isn't marked at all. Of course not, that'd be too easy. Time to investigate again folks. A quick look tells us what the crate contains, but that doesn't really help. What seems to help though, is Lablanc busting in and demanding that we keep our fingers off his cargo. Well, that's nice. Time to talk to the guy again, but since we'll actually get something helpful out of him this time, I'm sure, it's not so bad, right?
Well, it's his art, which would mean bad things for our argument, and we get Valuable art logic. Hmm, I wonder. Could it be Mr. Lablanc is a part of this smuggling ring? Hm, the logic system says "possibly." Let's quiz him. Edgeworth argues that the statue could be fake, something that causes outrage in Mr. Lablanc, like pretty much anything else. You see, the guy has a cargo receipt, stating that the crate was loaded up in Europe. Well, bummer. Edgeworth is nothing if not tenacious, and he insists on seeing the statue. Lablanc obliges, and we get to see the thing. Hm, that looks oddly familiar. The statue has orange eyes, hm, that doesn't seem right, compared to the image with Mr. Hicks from earlier, at least. Deduce-time. Edgeworth compares the image and the statue. Gumshoe, displaying levels of cloud cuckoo landery, waxes poetically about his childhood. From this, Edgeworth doesn't conclude that Akbey needs a camera with red-eye reduction, but rather that the statue in question is a fake. That's a pretty weak forgery right there. Hm, well, Lablanc is, understandably enough, not very pleased about this revelation, as he freaks out yet again. Now, to prove the most important part, that the statue was placed there after the transfer. Hm, time to check the bottom half. The cloth cover of the nearby crate is under the statue, that doesn't fit with the loading order at all.
So, from this, Edgeworth concludes that Hicks came to check the cargo room out in-flight to avoid any switcheroos, since it would seem there are someone who are forging cargo documents is making Interpool's work harder. Investigation com-ple-te. To sum it up: Hicks took a photo of the original statue and kept it to use for reference, as he was certain the statue would be a part of a con like this. He came down to the cargo room to snap a picture of the statue not being present, thus giving him a leg to stand on to counter the false cargo documents. Time to check the ground under the statue! Stop! Luminol Time. Hm, and as Edgeworth thought, of course, the floor used to be quite bloody, but it was cleaned up. By what, you might ask? Well, the Borginian fashion statement, of course. Hm, this actually explains a quite well. You see, I was thinking: Of all the places in a plane to store a body, you'd think the cargo hold would be ideal, but that'd be counterproductive in this case. Edgeworth explains that the cargo crew would react poorly to the body, and the whole gig would be up right there. Therefore, the killer had to move the body. This is all well and good, but it reflects poorly on the good lady Meele's testimony, as she claimed the victim was still fit as a fiddle when the plane departed Zhang Fe. Cammy, you've got some 'splainin to do. We'll get to that next, and probably last, part. To be continued.
edited 15th Mar '10 2:13:27 PM by slowzombie
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Oh, and Edgeworth has a case of some kind too, as he wonders if Franzy's case has anything to do with his. I'm guessing he's not talking about the murder on the airplane, as there's been hinting at something large going down for a while now.Turns out nobody's buying the thingsInvestigation Complete. Well, that was fast. . It strikes me that this is the second case thus far that revolves in some degree or other around a possibly stolen key of some sort. It's not a big problem for me, but if the trend continues, it's gonna get old.
Platypus!
Chapter 2 Part 3: Cammy's going down
It's time to settle this. Yet again, I rely on notes taken on the buss, been a lot of traveling for me lately. Now, let's see, where were we? Oh yes, it's time to extract some answers from the lethargic flight attendant. She's... sleeping as usual. When she eventually returns from the land of nod, she's confronted with her testimony vis-a-vis Mr. Hicks' status as of departure from Zheng Fa. I can't really decide if she looks smug or just kind of stoned, but one of the two, it probably is. However, she insists she merely remembered things wrong, being the collossal airhead she seems to be, this is not too bad an explanation, but it won't do, it's time to check out her alibi. So, according to Cammy, she spent the hours between 3 and 4 AM in the flight attendant's lounge before... spending the hours between 5 and 6 am in the flight attendant's lounge. She doesn't do much, now does she? Well, Edgeworth suggests pressing on this statement to see if there's anything actually useful to be found, and I for one can't disagree. So, Cammy also states that nobody entered the room while she was there, but we know that ain't so, now don't we? Showing Rhoda's suitcase receipt oughta sink the SS Flawless Alibi right quick, since Rhoda claims she didn't see Cammy, oh snap, you've got some heavy 'splainin to do miss. Still, Cammy takes this new development with the utmost calm, which is to say she's sleeping again.
Well, why so calm, you might ask? Cammy's calm because she's about to change her statement, claiming she used the toilet when Rhoda was visiting. Needless to say, we've got little evidence to debunk this particular alibi. Maybe it's just as well, a more in-depth examination of this point would be more uncomfortable than the whole stolen panty brouhaha from Apollo Justice. Well, luckily, Cammy's on the offensive, so we won't have to dwell on this all that much. Cammy seems to think that it'd make more sense to accuse Rhoda of this heinous crime, since she has the keycards neccesary for accessing the crime scene. Of course, had Cammy been the slightest bit genre savvy, she'd realize she's been acting like a Jerkass, whereas Rhoda is a borderline woobie. Then again, had people been genre savvy in this game, it'd be so much more complicated, so let's be grateful they're not, no? Anyway, Edgeworth isn't convinced that Rhoda's the one that should be under close scrutiny, and this leads to Cammy assuming that he's got a crush on Rhoda, and it appears that Rhoda at least has one for the frilly prosecutor. She denies it, of course, He Is Not My Boyfriend much? I've said it before, but it bears saying again, Edgeworth, you pimp.
Well, enough of that, it's time to poke some Cammy-sized holes in Cammy's testimony. Her statement now tells us that Cammy's the one who does all the Borginian stuff on this plane, and that includes paperwork in this bizarre Egypto-European language. Hmm, well, that clears up the mystery of what exactly she does on this flight except potentially being the pilot's claim to fame in the Mile High Club community. A little more pressing reveals that Edgeworth believes Cammy's rather slack work schedule makes her a prime suspect. Franziska will have none of that, though, as that's the kind of low blow methods you'd expect from "A certain defense attorney" Gee, I wonder who she might be referring to? Well, the fact that Cammy's doing the Borginian paperwork also gives us a nice little chunk of ammo. Let's see what she thinks about the forged cargo receipt. Indeed, Cammy's signature is on the document, which would make her, as the forger of the document, an accomplice to smuggling. Edgeworth brings this accusation paired with an, for the lack of a better word, epic finger-point somewhat reminiscent of a certain other character's most famous pose.
Cammy is less than impressed, as evident by her sleeping through it, requiring Edgeworth to wake her up, again. Confronted with the serious accusations, Cammy enters what Ace Attorney veterans might recognize as the "Oh it's ON now"-mode, or "Bitch Mode" if you prefer. In this case, she retrieves a... bubble pipe shaped like a cigarette. Ok... I don't need to ask you if this all reminds you of something, now do I? Well, Cammy now says that we don't have enough to pin anything on her. The new version of her story is that she signed the documents for the statue without inspecting the cargo properly, which will make her guilty of some sort of forgery, but not smuggling and certainly not murder. Well, that just won't do. Now let's dance, Cammy. She opens up by stating that the smuggling is entirely unrelated to the murder. This stirs Franziska into action again, as she points out that covering up the smuggling would be a very potent motive for anyone involved. Moving on, Edgeworth now claims he has proof that Rhoda has been set up from the start, thus eliminating her as a suspect. Of course, it's our job to find said evidence. Let's see.... The Suitcase! Edgeworth explains how the killer, planned to switch Rhoda's freshly bought suitcase with the identical one containing the body, thus sticking her with the bill when it came to explaining the presence of the dead guy when she's caught in customs with a stiff. Cammy, however, isn't very impressed, since this is all circumstantial evidence. Well, bummer, she's no idiot this girl, as much is certain. Well, we'll just have to make an idiot out of her in the good old fashion, with EVIDENCE. To be precise, there's one piece of evidence that haven't been found yet, oh yes, the victim's cellphone, that'll clear things up.
One question remains, though, how do we find this thing? Oh, our friend and vaguely antagonistic sorta-sibling Franziska can help. Edgeworth observes that since the vic was supposed to contact her once he landed, it's not unreasonable to think that she has his phone number. Turns out that, indeed, she has, and it's time to play that game where you call your cell and then scramble like a madman to catch it before it goes to voicemail. This being an adventure game of the non-sadistic variety, though, I'm guessing I've got plenty of time. Some checking around in the cargo hold leaves us empty-handed, but it appears that it's ringing from the Flight Attendants room. For one, that's one loud telephone right there, and secondly, his phone is on in the plane, and not in flight-safe mode? It's a good thing he's dead, he could have killed them all, now that'd be a bummer. That said, we check out the flight attendants' room, and we find it... in Rhoda's locker. Well crap. So, now things seem to point towards Rhoda again, but Edgeworth claims the real killer could have stolen the keys and planted the mobile in the same time. Franzy's not having any of that, though, since there's no evidence that this happened, and to be fair, Occam's razor's kind of her side in this case. Bummer. Time to try looking at this from a different angle. Now, our job is to find out why the killer stole the cellphone in the first place. Hm, looks like it has a camera. Could it be that the vic had some incriminating images on his mobile? Well, luckily only the screen is busted, so we'll be able to extract the images on the mobile to Franziska's phone. Not looking so hot, now are we, Cammy?
So, the one image we find an image of the cargo hold sans huge statue. I assume the party pics of that time some of the vic's interpol buddies put vodka in his Cuba Libre are skipped over due to their lacking importance to the case. Well, let's have a looksee at what we can do with this. One of the crates are labeled in Borginian, Cammy translates that the box contains cloth of the Borginian design we saw earlier. Oh yes, that's it, innit? Edgeworth now argues that anyone not proficient in Borginian wouldn't find the cloth. Cammy argues, in her defense that the murderer could merely have searched everywhere and just stumbled across the cloth by dumb luck. Wow, that argument looks familiar, but hey, let's get cracking. Edgeworth points out there's one place he'd check first if he did not know the content of the Borginian box, namely the box marked "bedsheets." Edgey argues it's only a matter of time before they can get it confirmed from Zhang Feian authorities that the box was opened, he's even accompanied by some good action lines. You know what this means right? Oh yes, it's freakout time. Cammy blows a lot of bubbles before... they all explode, sending her head flying in several directions as if someone punched her repeatedly... ok. That was a weird one. Well, Cammy confesses that indeed, the vic was on to her, so she helped him access the cargo hold, and then shoved him over the railing, before covering up her involvement as previously described.
So, Cammy's booked, and it's time for the wrapup. In the end, Edgey muses about the smuggling ring before being contacted by a certain Mr. Ernest Amano, apparently an old acquaintance of his. His son have apparently gotten kidnapped, and it's time for Edgeworth to come to the rescue, as the frilly hero he is. Nice.
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Platypus!
Chapter 3 Part 1: Badgers... my god.
Oh yeah, it's time for Chapter 3, everyone, it's time for The Kidnapped Turnabout. So, am I understanding this correctly if I assume case 2 & 3 both happen before case 1 chronologically? Well, no matter, it's time for Edgeworth to save the day again. Apparently, he's going to be the one dropping off the ransom money, while Gumshoe apparently is surveying the scene from . Undoubtedly, there's some cunning plan at work here, but let's look at that, hm? Well, the ransom money apparently occupies Rhoda's... rather colorful suitcase. Our hero boldly continues into the park where he encounters... Oh Christ, it's the blue badger again. Hoooh yes, the police mascot who was originally conceived as a way to cover up a murder is back again, and this particular member of the species * is called the "Protobadger," and he doesn't quite seem to grasp that Edgeworth does not want his photo taken with him. Turns out the park is "Gatewater Land" Hm, I guess they expanded from merely doing the hotel shtick, I guess. Oh, but no time to dally, Edgeworth's phone is ringing, it's the kidnapper... and it's Torgo? Torgo here seems to be rather upset that it isn't Ernest who's coming to make the drop-off, I'm guessing this means the phone isn't Edgeworth's. We're also told that the kidnapper used a voice alteration device to avoid easy identification. Well, I guess that puts a hole in my Torgo theory. Oh well.
The kidnapper asks Edgeworth if he's a cop, and Edgeworth, as the tactical genius he is, tells him that he's a prosecutor. Well great, that won't raise the stakes at all. The kidnapper tells Edgeworth to proceed to the stadium, and before he goes there, Edgey muses that Gumshoe better do his job before heading over there. Hm, yes, a little Continuity Nod again, as I'm fairly certain that's a Gavinners symbol on the stage there, rockin'. Well, the Kidnapper calls again and tells Mr. Edgeworth to go to the haunted house. Well, I can't see this going horribly wrong at all.
I must admit, as far as fairground haunted houses go, this place is actually kinda creepy, but Edgeworth is not impressed, mostly due to the lack of an earthquake/elevator-theme, I wager. Well, our hero is told to enter the dining room and drop the money before leaving. Edgeworth, being fairly Genre Blind, decides to check the creepy place out before the police arrives. Meanwhile, a blue shape rises in the end of the corridor. The shape, revealed to be a man * in a blue badger costume that walks up behind Edgeworth, wielding a sword. Ok, I can't really decide if that's silly or flat-out-terrifying, it IS scarier than a large blue mascot sneaking up on a prosecutor in pink has any sort of right to be. So, ever the thinker, Edgeworth concludes that this must've been a trap. Gee, Ackbar, do you think? Before blacking out. As he comes to, or blacks out some more, I can't really tell, he overhears two voices discuss the situation, one assumes one of the voices belongs to the badger.
We rejoin our hero, tied down in some sort of storage facility. Hm, I think I should've taken left at Albuquerque, because I think I ended up in a shady , and lemony, Edgeworth fanfic. I better get out of here before Enter Stage Right: Burly Men bearing ROPES and LUBE (Pursued by bear). So, Edgeworth does a little flashback to when we last left him at the airport. Turns out Mr. Amano is a director of a powerful conglomerate. It's worth noting the term used by the game is "zaibatsu," and that kind of threw me off the loop. Have the locations team been sleeping on the job, or is there some reason for this? Let's find out. Edgeworth apparently owes Amano a favor, or a "great debt of gratitude," as it were. It also strikes me that the guy has the hugest frickin' earlobes I've ever seen. So, Mr. Armano Jr, a certain Lance, have been kidnapped, and it fell on Edgeworth to straighten this mess up. Speaking of mess, we then end flashback and find Edgeworth back in the Blue Badger Costume storeroom. Time for a crafty escape, Edgeworth concurs. Unfortunately, the life of a subtle and stylish gentleman does not by default equip you properly to break these 'cuffs, as it were, and Edgeworth's struggles ammount to little other than tickling the fancy of the fangirls (and boys) who are into that sort of thing.
Anyway, it seem that escaping before we're discovered is now pointless, as some as of yet unknown voice seems to be endlessly amused by our intrepid hero's attempts at escape. Edgeworth, in turn, finds the thought of someone laughing at "A gentleman's plight" abhorrent. Well, the newcomer is a girl with a large key struck through her hair. According to her, she's not one of the kidnappers, as she's "not into such petty crimes." Right, I think I know where they're going with this. Must say, this gal's theme is pretty sweet. It's no Fragrance of Dark Coffee or Child Of Magic, for sure, but it's pretty cool. Turns out this girl likes dramatic introductions, as she goes through a dramatic speech, labling herself as the Great Thief Yatagarasu. 'I thought you were a guy.' 'Most guys do' Edgeworth speculates if she really is THE yatagarasu, and thankfully, because I'm getting tired of typing yatagarasu, she also adds that her real name is Kay Faraday. 'Kay then. If we were in the Death Note universe, you'd be dead by now miss, but ok, we're not. *
Oh, and she even does the whole "You can call me Kay, 'kay?" thing I did just a few sentences ago. I wonder if she heard it a couple of times growing up? Probably, but it can't have been easy growing up with a name like Phoenix Wright either. On a similar note, Kay's goofy grin makes me think she'll be Genki Girl sidekick in this game, because... you know, you're obliged by law to have at least one, preferably two, in your goofy courtroom drama/crime mysteries. I'm not complaining though, some contrast with srs Edgeworth is srs would be nice. Well, Edgeworth asks Kay to untie him. She's a bit reluctant though, as she's having fun watching Edgeworth struggle against his restraints. Fun... well, that's one thing to call it. Well, she eventually caves in and helps our frilly hero out of the unfortunate situation he's found himself in, and he thanks her appropriately.
... That's with a bow and a sincere thank you, in case you've been wondering. Wow, my slash goggles is on tight today. Well, Edgeworth thinks Kay has some 'splainin to do, but that getting answers won't be easy. Wow, Edgey, you must be some sort of precognitive. So... Kay, you say you're a great thief. Edgeworth is sceptical to where Kay put her skill points, but Kay insists that she's the Great Thief, a title she inherited from her predecessor. Edgeworth asks if she'd be ok with being arrested now, but Kay will have none of that, after all, she hasn't stolen anything... yet. Also, Edgeworth would like to quiz her a little about if she is THE Yatagarasu, you know, as opposed to all the other two-bit Yatagarasus out there. Yes, turns out Kay is fairly recently Yagaratsued, so she haven't gotten around to stealing FOR JUSTICE yet. Of course, Edgeworth is not convinced about her Robin Hood-ness, but the two agree to get outta here before going into any major debates about morality.
Well, Kay's initial attempt to escape, namely the door, is, of course, locked, so Edgeworth reasons that the only way out is the same way Kay came in, a window rather high up on the wall. Oh, if we only had a step-ladder, or a regular ladder, even. Well, Kay can't jump that high, so we're left searching the room for another way out. Begin Investigation! Aight. Well, first off, we learn that there's a Blue Badger & Family Photo Rally, apparently including not only BB himself, but also his family, including the soulless abomination that clocked us earlier. Fun. Well, we also have a closer look at the steel beam Edgeworth was tied to, and Edgey thinks it could be possible to climb up there. Kay tries, but fails, since there's really not all that easy to climb a naked steel beam. We get a "The beam I was tied to" logic for her troubles. The Blue Badger head apparently belongs to the Bad Badger, either the villain or the Ensemble Dark Horse sidekick character of the Badger dynasty, no doubt. So, examining the shelf of Badger costume boxes reveals that Edgeworth knows exactly squat about the Blue Badger clan, so Kay gives him a blue badger primer of sorts. So, I get a sneaking suspicion today's mystery will revolve around the blue badger, oh joy. Costumes logic GET.
Other points of interest seem to be a key hanging from the second shelf, a key that Kay identifies as... a KEY, to SOMETHING. Real useful, thanks Kay. At least we get the Tiny Key logic. Checking out the rest of the shelf, we get a brief discussion on Tertiary Sexual Characteristics as it applies to the Pink Badger, named so because... well... yeah. Next up in possible solutions to this whole confinement problem is paint, Kay, amongst other things, suggest to light the paint on fire and use the smoke to attract attention. Of course, she realizes this might not be such a good idea, as attention from the fuzz is the last thing she needs. Well, we wouldn't want our newly acquired sidekick thrown in a Faraday Cage now do we? *. Next up on my list of things to check out, I come across a white thingy on the floor that turns out to be Edgeworth's phone, and it's not broken. Well, that's convenient, almost too convenient, really. Well, the phone's ringing, and it's Gumshoe, and he's worried, no surprises there. Not that he doesn't have good reason to, of course. Apparently, the police have set up a perimeter, and at this point a shadowy figure interrupts the phone call, identifying himself as Shi-Long Lang, Interpol agent. Well... I know the music's all "Thrill theme" and stuff now, but Shi-Long Lang? That's a silly name, I just can't get past that. Of course, it's not as silly as "Apollo Justice," but few names are. Well, Mr. Lang is honored to meet Edgey, but states that he's in "a world of trouble." Well, he's kidnapped by the Proto Badger, of course he's in trouble. Lang states that he should've contacted the police before rushing into the situation. Strictly speaking, he did bring the police, or at least one police detective, so that's better than nothing, right? Oh, and because they're kinda busy with catching the badguy, nobody will be sent to help Edgeworth out. So, I'm guessing Lang and us isn't going to be BF Fs just yet. Well, after that, Edgeworth's phone runs out of power, and the old cellphone battery-wrecking suspense cloud appears again. Oh well, if this was this easy, I guess it wouldn't be any fun.
Next up, we check out the lockers at the far end of the room. Here we discover that Kay doesn't exactly have impressive jumping skills, and that we could possibly get up to the window if there was some sort of footholds. Lockers logic! Hm, that gives me an idea. No, apparently it'd be too easy for the tiny key to unlock the lockers, swing and a miss, I guess. After a fun little round of "check everything," I realize Kay has a new dialog option: The kidnapping. Apparently, she did not see much of the kidnappers, except that they're possibly in the next room, talking. Edgeworth reveals that his mind is a bit hazy, but that he feels like he heard something of the sort. This also confirms that there's two kidnappers. Well, it's time to have a looksee through the slot in the door and see if we can see anyone or anything. Hm, the next room has some folded-up chairs, a blue mini-container, a door and an open trapdoor with a ladder in it. Let's check out the trapdoor first, as it seems to be the most relevant to our interests. Well, the floor panel that hid the escape route has been propped up in a very specific way. The panel is held open by a hook. Hmm, that gives me yet another idea, but let's check the rest of this place out first. Hm, yes, that's about it, except yet another hint as to what'll save our hides this particular time, as the door triggers the thought that the two rooms probably are very similar. Now, let's see, Beam thingy logic + door in the floor logic= Progress. Hoh yes, turns out the only thing that hid our true path to freedom from us was the tarp, once that is cast aside, we find a trap door, just like in the other room. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy, since it's locked. Locked trapdoor logic GET.
Hmm, didn't we find a key just now? Logic tiem. And indeed, the key we found was to the trapdoor, and it opens, to reveal a ladder. Nice. Kay, being about as genki as one has to be in her position, jumps in the hole first, but she apparently is better at jumping down from things than jumping up to them, a fairly common problem, mind you, so she's fine. However, she doubts there's an exit down there. Well, that's a bummer. Kay can't believe she didn't see that the ladder was removable, and thus not as steady as she thought. Well, look at that, it would seem our prayers have been answered. Ladder + high space that needs reaching? Say no more, kind sir, say no more. Investigation complete, now that was a different investigation, I'll give 'em that. Kay is, for the lack of a better word, bouncing with joy, while Edgeworth is more concerned with him being the one who's going to solve this case proper. We then move to the "Wild, Wild West Area," where Edgeworth and Kay drops in, literally. Of all things, they're discussing the weather, but that discussion comes to a halt when Gumshoe rushes to the scene. Turns out Mr. Lang brought quite a group of agents, or agent-looking types, to this particular bust. 99, to be precise. As they finish up the count, we finally get to see this mysterious interpol agent, and maybe more importantly, hear his theme. It's a damn good theme, if I may say so myself
The somewhat important-looking guy with his own sprite, however, doesn't like people counting his "cubs," as he talks about how they're all individuals. I'm not. Well, Edgeworth deduces that this must be Shi-Long Lang. One of the MIBs apparently takes offense to this, going so far to call Edgeworth "infidel." Ok... Lang... dude... your followers are kind of freaking me out. Lang'll have none of this, though, as he snarls at said MIB, also citing some philosopher-type person who apparently talked about wolves a lot. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Lang here has a sort of wolf thing going for him. Lang also asks his... secretary and/or sidekick-sorta person to hand over something. His business card, it would seem. He and Edgeworth exchange cards. Well, that's nice, why do I get the feeling the good times is about to come to an end? Well, Edgeworth wants to know why Interpol is involved in this case, as it's a textbook example of a domestic case, but Lang isn't telling. Of course he isn't. Well, Lang also tells us that he's not impressed with Edgeworth's record, citing his most recent escapade on the plane, and how long it took him. Hm, ok, I see, that's the way it's going to be, right. Well, the victim of the first case, Akbey Hicks, apparently was like a brother to our lupine friend here, and now he's out for revenge. One hopes he's more rational about it than Godot. Anyway, Edgeworth argues that since he's got a personal investment in this case, he should be allowed to participate in the investigation, but Lang counters with an all-new type of voice clip. "NOT SO FAST!" Hm, right. It would seem Lang has a real chip upon his shoulder when it comes to prosecutors. Uh-oh, I smell backstory. It must be said though, considering what sort of dangerous psychopaths can become prosecutors in this 'verse, I can't say I blame him.
That said, Lang orders his flunkies to move out and find him that kidnapper, leaving Edgeworth behind with orders to "stay put" as it were. Edgeworth then decides to do the digging he can, namely quizzing Gumshoe. So, in tried and true Edgeworth fashion, Edgey scolds Gumshoe for letting the kidnappers getting to him and letting the interpol agent take over the investigation, of course also implying that he'll aim for yet another salary cut for the penniless policeman. Dude, don't you think you're being a little unreasonable? I mean, I know Gumshoe is the Butt-Monkey here, but come on, be fair. Gumshoe, of course, promises to do his best, and that the case isn't lost yet. Well, apparently, Lang showed up short time after Gumshoe phoned for backup, apparently the man had an agenda. Gee, you THINK? Well Gumshoe also asks who Kay is, she introduces herself as his assistant. It could be the shipping goggles again, but I could swear Gumshoe here acts a little jealous upon hearing this. Well, Kay seems to look at the situation more like a game, but enough of that, let's hear what she has to say about things... and stuff. She's enigmatic about what exactly she plans to steal, but she also offers to help Edgeworth with his investigation. Edgeworth is hesitant for two reasons. First off, this isn't his case any more thank to Lang and his gang, and secondly, he's not quite comfortable with adventuring with an "unlawful" person, what with Kay being a thief and all. This is starting to sound awfully like a discussion around a D&D table, guys. Still, Kay insists that it's cool, since she, as the Yatagarasu, is only interested in one thing, namely the truth. Hm, not so different after all, huh, Edgeworth? Well, this provokes Edgeworth into having a little flashback, explaining the rise of a mystical vigilante called Yatagarasu seven years ago. Y-man mark I stole information regarding corruption and leaked it to the public along with his (or her) calling card. Well, enough of that, we now get to meet Mr. Armano Sr. He appologizes for dragging Edgeworth into all of this, but Edgeworth gives him a more eloquent version of " 's cool," since Ernest here apparently introduced Edgey to a law office when he was abroad, letting him learn more about other countries' legal systems. Also, Ernest and Manfred, Edgeworth's mentor and perfectionist murderous asshole par excellence, go way back.¨
Well, time to quiz the old guy and see if we can progress any further. Apparently, he received the call yesterday, where his son pleaded for help. Of various other miscellany that might help the case, Ernest says he's been unable to reach the family butler, Oliver Deacon, by any means. Hm, that sounds like a clue. Gumshoe and Kay spring into action, Gumshoe of course insisting that he's the real deal as far as helpers go. Oh boy, well, it's time for another part of investigation, or rather, first the police shows up and drags Gumshoe over to Team Lang, since the police is his jurisdiction now. Well, I guess it's Edgey and Kay then. Let's investigate. First things first, it's time to quiz the Blue Badger-guy and see if he knows anything about his demonic partner. Well, he's silent, as mascots are, but at least Kay gets a picture of him, with the words "Badger GET" Hm, I wonder if that's a reference. Edgeworth tries to interrogate the badger and find out if he saw the crooks, but he remains unresponsive, until Kay nabs the costume head, though. Oh Christ, it's Meekins, was I the only one who found that guy insufferably annoying? Well, he was from a case "two years ago" according to Edgeworth. Where this fits with the timeline, I have NO idea, but let's go with it. Well, apparently Meekins here is an undercover badger, also staking out the place to find clues about the kidnappers. Let's see if he found any. Despite having been at the site for one hour, he mainatains that he didn't see anything, well, anything except a Blue Badger that is. Well, that explains it, badgers are pure unadulterated evil, case closed... wait... no, that's not it. Edgeworth sees a contradiction, namely that it is with Badgers as it is with Highlanders, namely that there CAN BE ONLY ONE (of each kind) Well, since nobody is simply wrong in these games, this means there's two blue badgers running around. Second Blue Badger GET. When we combines the second blue badger with the costumes, we find out that the second Blue Badger most likely is the killer, and we get a logic of that fact. Of course, it wasn't the only costume that was missing, in fact, three costumes were stolen... hm, three fake Blue Badgers walking around? Christ, that's the stuff nightmares are made out of.
Some additional searching reveals a set of footprints left during the rain, which would allow us to track the kidnappers, if we knew whose prints was whose, of course. Hmmm.... a quick logic helps us connect the dots, allowing us to identify the footprints as the Blue Badger footprints. Well, I guess it's time for a badger hunt. *. Well, examining the footprints again, one set of badger prints goes west, an area we can't get to, but they're quickly faded, so it doesn't help us much anyway. The other set leads... to Meekins. Or possibly past Meekins... to the garage. What is this? Progress. We open the garage Meekins was previously opened, and to quote Edgeworth: "We seem to have stumbled across a dead body." Well, it's always murder, so I can't say I'm surprised. Ernest tells us that this is Oliver. Well, that would explain why he's so hard to get to nowadays. Edgeworth concludes that the victim might be one of the kidnappers. Logic GET. So, it's time to have a look at the body. Two wounds, one in the gut, one in the shoulder, Edgeworth seems to think the gut is the entry wound and the shoulder is the exit. Edgeworth also notices that the crime scene is unusually clean. Next, we check out a pendant, a silver platinum thingie engraved with the name "Colin Devorae." Hm, that's odd, the name is wrong. Why? I guess that's cliffhanger'd, and it's INVESTIGATION COMPLETE. Enter stage left, a girl in a maid-looking girl talking to herself. Yes, her name is Lauren Paups, and she's Lance's girlfriend... no wait, just female friend... or romantically interested but still not lovers... or something. Kay states that she looks like a cartoon character... said the girl with a giant key through her fountain-type hair. Well, Edgey also tells her that Lance is, indeed kidnapped.
Then, enter stage right, Mr. Wolf Guy. I take a closer look at Lang's sunglasses this time, and I can't help but notice his sunglasses are... kind of stupid, what with the X-shaded frames and what have you. Well, let's see what he has to say, though. Oh, he arrests Meekins. Hm, I'm a bit of a odd feeling here. On one hand, I don't like Meekins, but on the other hand, I'm keen on cutting wolfboy here down to size too, so I guess I'll fight with fever for this poor cop's freedom, huzzah. Oh, speaking of which, Lang also states that "fluffy logic" has no place in crime scenes such as these, well... of course, why just don't arrest people at random? It's not like anyone is perfect. Wait... that's what he's actually saying. Wow, nice guy, this Lang. Well, Edgeworth steps in and gives Lang a good old "how DARE you sir." Miles Edgeworth: Prosecutor, Pimp, Motahfucking Badass. Well, Lang's not going to take that kind of shit laying down, and it's Argument Time! Hell yeah. Lang's initial argument is that guns aren't easy to get a hold of around here, except if you're a police officer. Hm, the localization team didn't change this, but how could they? It's ok localization team, I forgive you. Oh, and apparently, Lang means "Wolf" In Zhang Feian, just in case this guy's theme wasn't obvious ENOUGH. Oh, and the guy he keeps quoting apparently is his ancestor, who basically invented the Zhang Feian legal system thousands of years ago. Kay states that makes the principles as reliable as fairytales. Oh no, she di'int. Well, let's not dwell on that, time to press a little. Edgeworth argues that the gun thing makes everyone cop on the premises a suspect, however, Lane apparently have checked them all. Well, I guess 99 MIBs will allow you to do that. So this guy relies on strength in numbers? I'm not going to say anything.
However, we can't check Meekins' gun, since he lost it. This amuses Lang a good bit. Well, he expands on his explanation, that Meekins ambushed the victim in the garage and ganked him with his gun. Well, if so, he cleaned up hella well. Present the crime scene note. Whaddya think of that, Mr. Wolf Guy, huh? Well, Lang comments that Edgeworth's logic is almost a match for his... wait, I thought logic was for girly-men and prosecutors? You're contradicting yourself, man. Well, it's still suspicious why Meekins was here in the first place, so he has to explain himself. And we square off against Meekins... well, that's just splendid. Basically, he went looking for the killer while driving the "blue badgermobile," a portable souvenir shop. Christ, you're giving these things wheels too? Why don't you give the blue bastards swords too? Oh wait. But wait, that car seems familiar, didn't we see that somewhere? On the crime scene perhaps? Let's see what Meekins have to say about THAT. Oh, Meekins apparently lost the Badgermobile, it was possibly stolen, so he returned to the garage to see if it rolled back there all by itself. Lang is, of course, not satisfied with this explanation. According to him, the vic was killed elsewhere and then taken to the garage in the badgermobile. Well, he tries to take Meekins away, but Edgeworth will have none of it, stating that we can't claim to know the truth before we have examined the real crime scene. Lang, being stuck in antagonistic jerkass mode, says finding the truth isn't all that important to his job, and that it's better left for court, adding, of course, a little fuck you to the general concept of logic, despite claiming he used some variation thereof just minutes ago. Right. Well, Lang tells Edgeworth to scram, lest he unleash his dogs, pun intended, on him. To be continued indeed.
edited 22nd Mar '10 4:59:01 PM by slowzombie
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So, am I understanding this correctly if I assume case 2 & 3 both happen before case 1 chronologically?a little Continuity Nod againit IS scarier than a large blue mascot sneaking up on a prosecutor in pink has any sort of right to be.Kay's goofy grin makes me think she'll be Genki Girl sidekick in this game, because... you know, you're obliged by law to have at least one, preferably two, in your goofy courtroom drama/crime mysteries.Besides, she's fun.
Oh, if we only had a step-ladder, or a regular ladder, even. As they finish up the count, we finally get to see this mysterious interpol agent, and maybe more importantly, hear his theme. It's a damn good theme, if I may say so myself Lang isn't telling. Of course he isn't.Oh Christ, it's Meekins, was I the only one who found that guy insufferably annoying?It could have been Wendy Oldbag.
But yeah, there's some schadenfreude in seeing him wrongly accused. Of course, there's no way this loser could have done the deed, so we must find the real murderer...
Well, he was from a case "two years ago" according to Edgeworth. Where this fits with the timeline, I have NO idea, but let's go with itthree fake Blue Badgers walking around?This also confirms that there's two kidnappers.I take a closer look at Lang's sunglasses this time, and I can't help but notice his sunglasses are... kind of stupid, what with the X-shaded frames and what have you.(Didn't stop them from making his "assistant" wear a half-naked Stripperific outfit, though.)
Platypus!
Yeah, you could say Kay's presence is more or less required, since a traditional Von Karma tag-team probably would... not work all that well... at all. Also, yeah, I noticed the number disparancy, I've been very paranoid about that since Apollo Justice started expecting that I remember dialog from the investigation phase in court.
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Yeah, you could say Kay's presence is more or less required, since a traditional Von Karma tag-team probably would... not work all that well... at all.You'd be surprised...
Edit: Sorry.
edited 23rd Mar '10 2:46:01 PM by Idler2.0
The man was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the best at both killing and not killing - Stranger
Shush, you ! 
Platypus!
Chapter 3 Part 2: More familiar faces
Alright, it's time to turn some turnabouts right around like a record, hell yeah. So, we rejoin Edgeworth and Kay in front of the Gatewater fountain on the main square, where Edgeworth expresses his displeasure at the two of them being thrown out "like a pair of peasants." So, Kay basically says that it's so wrong to kill not even a thief should do it. Hm, ok, fair enough, I can agree to that, Edgeworth also concurs, adding that murder is a crime that "can never be truly hidden" also adding his intentions to solve this thing all by his lonesome. Jeez, Edgey, put on a pair of sunglasses and crank up The Who already, I know you want to. Well, Gumshoe rushes in to tell us that there's been found a witness to this heinous crime at the stadium, before being taken back by the fuzz, one assumes to do his job. Ok, time to meet the witness, as Edgey and Kay heads to the stadium. As always when there's witnesses involved, I'm not what you'd call optimistic, but I'll get what I need, by hook or crook. Oooh, hey look, it's Emma, and she's got herself a cute little hat and everything. Also, the Continuity Porn fan in me can't help but notice that she still has the button she gave to Phoenix somewhere between 1-5 and Apollo Justice. I thought she gave it to him before leaving for Europe, but apparently I was wrong. Well, Edgeworth recaps their history and we're told that Ema is still studying forensic science abroad. So her dreams hasn't been crushed only to be replaced with snackoos and shipping vibes with a Rock God prosecutor yet, well, that's nice for her. She's back in the States (?) for her spring break, and we'll get the chance to talk to her, but first, let's have a looksee at the pink badgermobile. Edgeworth comments that it's eye-searingly pink. Miles, dude, I know your suit is slightly darker than this pink abomination, but you're not one to comment on something's degree of pinkness.
Well, enough faffing about, time to ask Ema if she knows what's going on here. I wonder, could she be the witness? Oh, and that reminds me, it must be kinda weird for her to be in a park crawling with Blue Badgers, I mean, weirder than it already is, considering her personal history, case 1-5 and all that. Well, once we talk to her, Kay introduces herself... as a Great Thief in training. Uhm, Kay, you might want to stop telling everyone we meet that you intend to break the law on a grand premeditated level. So, apparently, Ema wanted to greet Edgeworth welcome at the airport, but she just missed him. As she tells us how she tracked Edgeworth with the power of SCIENCE! she's using some electronic device that could very well be a Nintendo DS, weren't it for that it apparently has a keyboard of some sort * To be precise, she tells us that she tracked Edgeworth's footprints using some sort of footprint tracking liquid-thing. That's... kinda creepy, but I'll go with my standard reaciton: Oh Edgeworth, you pimp. Edgeworth seems to agree with me, anyway, as he states that "Forensic science has never seemed more ominous to me than at this very moment." So, enough of the introductionary stuff, it's time to quiz Ema about what she saw, because she's surely the witness, right? Well, no. Apparently, Ema didn't see anything, but that Gumshoe summoned her, stating that Edgeworth needed her science-y doohickery, well ain't that grand.
So, we're approached by a Pink Badger, and I'm getting ready to defend myself. Kay's doing her "Badger GET!" thing again, too, which is cute, but I'd be more at ease if she prepared to defend herself. Well, this particular badger is wearing a set of handcuffs on one hand and have a band reading "tough love" over her shoulder. So... you know what, I'll skip my speculations about just what demographic this is meant to appeal to, I'll have you know you'll probably be happier for it. It's time to unmask the badger..... and it's Oldbag. Wendy Oldbag. Edgeworth's number-one fan... why? WHY? First Meekins, now Oldbag, and that's not even taking into consideration all the creepy-ass badgers running around? This game is trying to break me, all I'm lacking is Larry Butz showing up, somehow able to be even MORE obnoxious and hopelessly unhelpful than the last time. Of course, it helps that Edgeworth shares my reaction, and then some. Of course, cant' say I blame him, considering how keen she is on him. Kay introduces herself, but Wendy, being the agreeable old woman she always is, doesn't give her the time of day. I guess that makes it time to quiz this senior citizen of Satan and see if she's got something useful and non-creepy to say. Don't want to, but if there's one thing the Ace Attorney series have taught me is that to get to the awesome, one has to sit through some rather unpleasant characters.
So, as one might guess, Oldbag is not at all content with seeing Edgeworth with two young ladies, a situation he seems to find himself in quite often for various reasons, and she goes on one of her unstoppable rants. Kay seems somewhat impressed at just how powerful a weirdness magnet Edgeworth really is, while the pink prosecutor is more concerned with damage control vis-a-vis Wendy's unstoppable rants. I, for one, can't say I blame him. Well, my worst fears are apparently true, as Wendy here is the witness to this crime, apparently she "saw it all." Well, isn't that great. Let's hear what she has to say, then. Testimony time! The story is fairly typical, really, Wendy took a rest at the stadium, saw two men facing each other, something went kablam and that was apparently a murder. Well, if you didn't guess it from my brief synopsis, her testimony sucks, and I have to get some pressing done if I am to get anything useful out of this. Getting a good description of the two men is apparently hopeless, as they were so bland and boring that Wendy did not catch any details about them. Well, I guess that rules out Meekins. I knew his cartoony design would do him good one day. Turns out that Oldbag saw the exact moment of the murder too, funny how that's always the case in these games, but what the heck, it makes it easier. Well, Wendy might be able to identify the people she saw if she saw them again, something I'm sure that's going to bite me in the ass later. Kay, however, has a little gadget she wants to show off... it's a pocket-sized device that can project three-dimensional recreations of the crime scene at the moment of the crime. ... Eh... that's... awfully high-tech, but ok, I'm game, where are you going with this? Right, apparently this is a method to investigate the crime scene and see what doesn't fit with the witness' statement. Hm, I don't see how this couldn't have been done WITHOUT newfangled techno gadgets, but ok, let's just see how this works.
So, first off, we examine the "victim," and if the murder really happened here, there should be more blood, so we point that out, with evidence, of course, I'd like to point out that the killer either had to shoot either from the ground and up on the vic or from a higher point, but whatever, I'm sure I'll get the chance to play that card later. That said, the lack of blood is a simpler clue, so I guess we should take that one first anyway. Of course, Wendy insists that she saw what she saw, so that raises the question why there's no blood, we get a logic about that. Hm, let's see if we can logic up something interesting around the topic. Hm, wait... that reminds me of a CSI episode I never saw.... hmm. Yes, turns out Edgeworth figures that the vic was wearing a blue badger costume and thus didn't bleed all over the place. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but when there's a hole straight through the suit you're wearing AND you, you'd think it'd bleed at least a little on the ground, but what do I know? Well, next upon our agenda is to prove that the victim was wearing a badger costume, one easy way to determine this would be to check for badger footprints, but there aren't any visible, so how, oh how, could we possibly find footprints? Is it Ema Time? Yes, it is Ema Time. Ema's on the job, and I must admit, I get slight urges to write a fanfic pairing her up with Doctor Insano when I hear her gabbing about science, but that's neither here nor there. That said, Ema finds some prints, rather fresh blue badger prints, to be precise, which means there was a Badger in the area. Edgeworth assumes this means the vic was wearing one at the time, but couldn't it be that it was the killer who wore these duds of the Dark One? Well, Edgeworth doesn't seem to think so. Kay updates her crime reconstruction thing and INVESTIGATION COMPLETE. Hm, ok, the footprints actually lead right up to where the victim was standing. I see, if you told me this, game, we wouldn't be having this discussion right now. Anyway, let's just move on.
Move on to another round of Edgeworth 'n Oldbag's Magical Testimony Fun Hour, of course. Well, let's see what the old hag has to say this time. Ok, it's the same old story, so it's time to see if we can get some more info out of her somehow. What new have we learned? Oh yes, the whole badger costume thing. Let's see what sort of response that gets us. Wendy reponds to the argument that she A: Could not know the gender of the person in the suit and B: forgot to bring up that whole THE VICTIM WAS WEARING A MASCOT'S COSTUME-thing by saying that she didn't see the killing from up-close, but from the second tier of seats, the VIP section, which apparently is a bit higher up. Combine this with the fact that the two were in the shadow of the stage, and the old miss didn't see them all that well. That's about what we get for now, as it is time to investigate again. Huzzah. Now, I was actually not quite certain what to do next, but after yet another round of "run around, check everything and rub everything you have in everyone's faces, I eventually discovered that the scene was packed up. Well that doesn't seem right with what we know. Logic Tiem! Ah, this means that the stage was still rigged when the murder occured, something that kind of clashes with the position of the killer, namely that if everything was correct this time, the poor murderer would've been telefragged, since he appears to be standing IN the stage. Well well well, I think a piece of the puzzle just fell into my lap. Let's have a looksee at the crime scene now. Yup, Oldbag confirms it, the killer was standing on the stage. Well, I can still see a problem with the crime scene, but there's no time for that. INVESTIGATION COMPLETE and the music tells me we're about to Dance with [[Hottip:*: a guy who talks a lot about]] Wolves. I gotta admit, Lang IS kinda cool. Sure, he's somewhat of a bastard, to say the least, but it's good to say someone's willing to take up the "talented and stylish but incredibly assholish man of the law"-mantle after Edgeworth abandoned that image. Well, Edgeworth tells Lang that he's found the real crime scene, and Lang thanks him. Well, that's... nice of him, before ordering the police to recreate the crime scene proper. Well, that won't mess up the already messed up crime scene at all, no sir. Well, despite Meekins not hanging around the crime scene, Lang is determined to keep his scapegoat. Well, you know what that means, it's Argument Time.
Lang's argument is... well... not really an argument either, more of an idea of how the murder could have happened. It's basically the same as last time, which is to say he thinks Meekins hid on top of the stage and shot the victim when he came badgering around. There's something odd there, of course, and it is related to the bullet's path through the victim. Let's see how confronting him with that helps us. Edgeworth says that the reconstruction was sound, but that there was one mistake in it, namely that the victim & killer needed to switch places, thus freeing the killer from having to pull a Mr. Orange pose to get the guy shot properly. I'm a bit uncertain of how easy it is to determine which hole was exit and what was entry for an untrained eye without an autopsy report, but ok, let's go for that. Well, the prints now imply that the killer also was wearing a Blue Badger costume. Well, that's a relief, the soulless beasts are killing each other off. Hah, try having a revolution now, badger satan. Anyway, Edgeworth argues that this makes the killer very likely to be the second kidnapper, but, of course, Meekins was also wearing a Badger costume, and tire tracks on the scene seem to indicate that the stolen badgermobile was here at some point. Well, that's another argument to pick apart.
Let's have a look at what he's saying, basically, it's the same tale, with Meekins now using the Badgermobile to move the corpse, however, there's one thing that just doesn't fit with that. Taking a closer look, we see that the Badgermobile's tires are awfully clean for having been driven through the mud. Well, whaddya think of that, Mr. Interpol Agent? Well, he asks us to explain the tire tracks, Kay suggests the pink badgermobile, but Wendy somehow thinks that implicates her in this whole thing, and she ain't havin' any of that. Well, being a recurring character, she's more or less guaranteed not to be the killer, but let's not get too meta here. Another possibility is that the car used for transporting the body was none other than the Proto Badgermobile, since that one is currently unaccounted for. Edgeworth recommends finding the Proto Badgermobile with all haste, but before Lang can resume being patronizing and mildly antagonistic, a young man stumbles in on the scene. Judging by his plus-sized earlobes, I'm guessing he's Amano Jr, Lance. He collapses, before being identified by Lang, who also quizzes him on his previous whereabouts and his escape. Turns out he was held in the room not too far from where Edgeworth found himself, and escaped using the underground. Oh, and he also reiterates that the kidnappers wore Blue Badger costumes, and apparently, one of them was a woman. Hm, Lang and his secretary has some serious synchronized action going on as they take off their sunglasses and tell us to scram again, well, us in this case meaning Edgeworth and Kay, since Lang seems to be interested in getting a statement from Ema and Wendy. In a brief moment, it looks like Lang has managed to charm Oldbag enough to make her drop her insane and intense infatuation with Edgeworth, but no dice, of course. Well, since bitch-slapping this interpol agent apparently isn't an option, Edgeworth and Kay leaves. TO BE CONTINUED. Exciting, isn't it?
EDIT: Added a part I forgot to paste. No updates the next two weeks though, as I'll be out of the country and away from my internet. I might bump up the update frequency after that, though.
edited 26th Mar '10 3:25:54 PM by slowzombie
Liveblog | Deadblog
all I'm lacking is Larry Butz showing up, somehow able to be even MORE obnoxious and hopelessly unhelpful than the last time. it's a pocket-sized device that can project three-dimensional recreations of the crime scene at the moment of the crime.This does have the side effect of making Ema completely redundant. After her initial help with the footprints, she just stands around in the background, not contributing much at all.
I gotta admit, Lang IS kinda cool. Sure, he's somewhat of a bastard, to say the least, but it's good to say someone's willing to take up the "talented and stylish but incredibly assholish man of the law"-mantle after Edgeworth abandoned that image. Well, being a recurring character, she's more or less guaranteed not to be the killer, but let's not get too meta here.Anyway, that's basically the time when I thought I'd figured out what the case was about. Little did I know how it would really end...
By the way, advance notice I hope you see before you leave : in the next chapter, you'll finally get the possibility to fully explore the entrance of Gatewater Land. There's not much to see, but just go to the very right and look carefully at the background...
Platypus!
Alright, I'm back from vacation. I didn't get to play all that much during said vacation, and now I've got Script Frenzy, so I'm kinda busy nowadays. Still, today's bit was rather short, but I might have to cut down on the update length at least until I'm done with my monumental undertaking. That said, here's the next update.
Chapter 3 Part 2: Hey, it's that guy
And now, we resume our story back in Wild West Land, where Kay laments being thrown out . Edgeworth, being about as prone to idle chitchat as always, comments that the case now seems to be finding out who's what when it comes to kidnappers, who the killer is and what have you. We're rejoined yet again by Mr. Earlobe, I mean Ernest, and Lauren, who is, of course, relieved that Lance is found in relatively good health. Let's check out what else Ernest has to say. Well, he does let it slip that he has a letter for Lance. This being a point-n-click adventure game, such a detail is as likely to be unimportant as an enemy has to be impervious to bullets in FPSes, so let's inquire about this letter. Ernest seems to think that Lance has gotten a love letter, and he doesn't have any problems with showing this to Edgeworth. Waitaminnit, that envelope is from Tender Lender Loan Company. Hm, I guess they must have gotten new management, as the old boss is currently... ehm, enjoying his tea in the slammer. * The letter itself reads "My Dear Lance Amano. May I Come see you again? Your beloved Viola." Wait... Viola? Viola Cadaverdini? Get the fuck outta here, that's awesome. I liked Viola, good to see she's still going strong. Edgeworth isn't far behind, as he notices the envelope. Sharp one, this Miles.
Well, that's about it, time to look around a little. First things first: Time to go cameo hunting. Oh Hai Phoenix Wright and crew. Yes, the spiky-haired Ace Attorney is in a boat together with his two spirit channeling sidekicks, and... that's about it actually. Examining only yields a conversation between Kay and Edgeworth about the magical matchmaking properties of the bridge they're on. It'd be nice with a little acknowledgement, like Edgeworth saying "See that guy over there? He's my long-time rival/man-crush." I mean, come on. On the other hand, Phoenix were all over the place in Apollo Justice, and I think the story suffered for it, but a little mention would be nice. Well, that's about it, and since nowhere else seems to be available for our snooping, it's time to talk with Lauren, who I forgot I could talk to in a brief moment of point-n-click stupidity.
Well, what can Lauren tell us? First off, she and Lance are apparently stuck somewhere in the friend zone, but we knew that. Secondly, her ring, that I might have neglected to describe as such, but trust me, I noticed, is a lollipop ring. Cute. Well, apparently Lauren and Lance pretty much grew up together, a fact that she apparently is embarassed about. This girl is rapidly closing up to what I chose to call the Mikuru Line of Moeness, but she's still not there. Well, apparently Old Man Paups worked for Amano, flying around. Well, that was a helpful job description, thank you Lauren. He's MIA now, though, and Lauren says she might not recognize him if she saw him today. Gee, I'm sure this won't mean anything later. On the topic of the case, Lauren apparently got "female intuition" regarding Lance, and that's how she knew he was kidnapped. Well, that was... sure something.
Next up, Edgeworth and Kay discuss their further plans, Edgeworth states that the kidnappers hideout might be the place to check. Well, let's have a looksee and see if we can find. Oh, hey, the officer actually allows us to enter, by Gumshoe's request actually. That's nice of him, but this being Gumshoe, I can see this ending up to be little to no help when his salary review comes up. Poor guy. Well, anyway, Gumshoe also saw to it that we could get some information on our vic. Indeed, his real name seems to be Colin Devorae and he apparently is a relatively fresh escapee from prison. Hm, the plot thickens, as Edgeworth muses about if there's any connection with this crime and Colin's old one. Well, time to check out the hide-out, here's hoping Lang hasn't fucked the crime scene up all too much. Begin investigation! Squeee.
The first thing that catches my attention is a thingy in the bottom-right corner, which upon inspection turns out to be a broken, short-ish sword, we get a "Broken prop sword" logic. Next up on my list is the broken mirror, which Edgeworth reasons must come from the haunted house. Next up, the weird container-thing, which apparently contains old badger costumes in pieces. Well, that's great, as if Badgers in one piece weren't creepy enough. We get a logic regarding this for our troubles. Next up, examining the door, we learn that the lock seems to be unharmed, lacking any damage ten policemen forcing their way in should cause, which means it most likely wasn't locked when the police busted in, but yet they needed to bust it up. Hm, logic on that. I think I've got an idea here, time to Logic it up. Yes, turns out our ne'er-do-wells jammed the door with a prop sword. Hm, that sword must've been of the battle-ready variety. Anyway, we get the sword as evidence, huzzah. Checking out the door on the opposite end, Edgeworth reminisces about his capture, and Kay noticing that she got to see Edgeworths " "Awesome Nnnghhhoooh!!" face." Now there's a quote that can be misused by fanfic writers like there's no tomorrow, but let's not dwell on it.
Next up in our magical mystery tour of investigation, we check out the coffee table, where three styrofoam cups are full of what must at this point be cold coffee. Poor coffee, left to cool, Godot would weep. Anyway, we get the three cups logic, the number of females present is uncertain, and I think we can all be glad. Also, there are three chairs, one is assuming one per person who didn't drink their coffee. So, the kidnappers drank coffee with the kidnappee? That's awfully gentleman-like of them. Logicing it up tiem! So, three folding chairs, three cups of coffee, three missing costumes, two kidnappers. That ain't right. Edgeworth ponders if there can be a third kidnapper, noticing that there's now even more unanswered questions. Before we can get any further, though, a nightmare appears. To be more precise, a protobadger pops out of the trapdoor... staring at me. Eeeee-ok, I don't think I like this. Anyway, the protobadger tells us that the tunnels under the trapdoor is a service tunnel used by staff and badgers alike before climbing out. Kay does her BADGER GET! routine. Anyway, am I the only one keen on unmasking this blue hellbeast and getting that fucking creepy stare out of my world?
Well, the Protobadger seems distressed, since there's a Bad Badger costume missing. Well, big deal, right, that hellbeast is running around being all creepy in the park, the other one being stolen by the kidnappers, right? Well, not quite, you see, since Bad B only walks around during one particular event. The Bad Badger apparently goes 'round causing havoc, and the rest of the badgers team up to apprehend him, thus making getting a picture of that particular beastie extra difficult. Anyway, this means that the total number of stolen costumes is up to four, damn, it must be getting crowded in this case just about now. Well, Edgeworth is doubting that there's another kidnapper, as it wouldn't make sense to steal two Bad Badger costumes, when a Pink Badger costume was available. Unless, that is, unless the kidnappers needed a Bad Badger costume for something. Logic! Connecting the dots, we soon find out that the Bad Badger costume, sans head, is in the trash container. Hm, now why would the kidnappers want that? Well, time to examine it to find out... The first time one notices is the hole in the right glove, looks like something's missing. Deduce! Oh, yes, the Bad Badger had a gun. I guess this means the prop gun was attached to the costume itself. Ooh, I see what you did there. INVESTIGATION COMPLETE.
Edgeworth seems to think that there's one particular person that we can talk to get closer to the solution. Before we get that far, though, Gumshoe rushes to the scene, alerting us that a Blue Badger costume have been found in front of the main gate. Edgeworth and co. decides to rush to the scene before Lang and Co. can show up. Allright, Super Investigation Team Edgeworth GO! To be continued.
edited 12th Apr '10 11:50:31 AM by slowzombie
Liveblog | Deadblog
Platypus!
Chapter 3 Part 3: The Importance of being Mr. Earlobe
We're closing in on the end of the badger madness here, folks, time to start up the beginning of the end of case 3. We rejoin our heroes as we left them, madly dashing to the site where the 'fuzz have found the soulless abomination of the Weasel family. Apparently, they found the costume in the tall grass, but moved it here so they could examine it better. Well, crime scene technicians, these guys ain't, I'll say as much. That said, though, let's examine this thing and then douse it in holy water before lighting it on fire and salting the earth it lay on. The first thing that strikes me is a pendant-thingie in the neck-hole of the Badger, Apparently, it's made out of the same stuff as the other one. They seem to be a pair of wings. Hmm.
Before we can get any further, though, we're interupted by the most badass song in the game thus far, and the guy whose theme it is. Oh Hai, agent Lang. You know, a Godot he ain't, but as far as vaguely antagonistic men of the law go, this guy ain't bad at all. Well, Lang gives his whole "you're not supposed to be here" thing before telling us that this evidence is rather decisive, seeing as the name "Lauren D." is engraved on the back, which means it's probably Lauren Paups', what the deal with the D is, I'm sure we're to be told shortly. That said, I'm starting to get a notion as to what we're dealing with here, but enough about that, let's progress. Lauren's brought in, of course, and I'm guessing we're the ones who are to prevent her from being thrown to the wolves, or the one wolf anyway. Lance expresses disbelief that his "Lolli" was one of the kidnappers. Well, that's one nickname I guess you probably shouldn't take to the internet, but I digress. In a rather interesting turn, though, Lauren confesses to being part of the kidnapping. Now that is interesting.
Edgeworth doesn't think the case is closed just yet, while Lang, being Lang, is more than content with slapping irons on Lauren and calling it a day. Hm, I'm starting to notice a pattern here, in all three cases, it has essentially boiled down to Edgeworth going out of his way to defend a damsel in distress. How many beards does this guy need anyway? I don't know, but let's move on. Edgeworth points out that Lang has been flip-flopping a good bit when it came to suspects in this case. Lang responds by tying up the Meekins thread, stating that his gun was found and showed no sign of being used, leaving only one suspect. Well, this isn't all that bad, I mean, it looks bad, but both Edgeworth and I have been through worse... until Lauren tearfully confesses to the murder. Well that's just spiffy. Lang's fairly happy about it, as one could expect. It's cool, though, this is only the... what, third time in the Ace Attorney series we've had to fight our client's claim of actually doing the deed. Nothing we can't handle.
Edgeworth agrees with me, apparently, as he objects, claiming that we can't call the case closed * yet. Oh yes, Edgeworth wants to hear the details from Lauren's lips. Lauren protests, attempting to cut off a lock of her hair while she's at it. Judging by the effort she seems to put into it and the lacking result, I can only assume she uses a lot of hair-gel or that she has a fairly weak right hand. Anyway, Edgeworth is unshakable on this matter, he wants the truth, one assumes he can handle it. Lang has a bit of a change of heart, apparently, as he wants to see what sort of justice juice Edgeworth is capable of wringing out of this girl. Well, who am I to protest such a request? Let's kick it.
The fist of Lauren's testimony seems to be that the vic was the one who came up with the kidnapping plan, and that he that day turned on Lauren after they got the money, then she killed him in self-defense. Well, that's appropriately vague, let's get to work on this with a pair of pliers and a blow-torch. I start up with pressing a little, which gives Lang's secretary-person the first line I can recall seeing her say. She points out that the butler, Mr. Deacon, was killed by the very same stranger he planned to double-cross. You see, the official version now is that Lauren didn't know Mr. D at all, but that sounds a bit too fishy to me, but we'll get back to that later, I guess. Additional pressing also reveals that Lauren is working up a little crush on our dear friend and prosecutor. Oh Edgeworth, you pimp. The wing pendant was a gift from her father, apparently, and if there at this point were any doubt who her father is... well, yeah, we'll get to that.
Finally, Lauren seems to be convinced that Mr. Butler planned to kill her from the start, but Edgeworth thinks that sounds a bit off. Digging for more details never being a bad thing in a game like this, so that's the way we go. Lauren argues that there's nothing weird about Mr. D wanting to kill her, since he hardly knew her. We, genre savvy bastards that we are, of course know better. The evidence we need is the wing pendant, but not only that. We need something that fits with it. Humm... wings and a... horse mayhaps? Pegasus, I choose YOU! And yes, indeed, the two pendants fit together perfectly to form a pegasus. Edgeworth states that Lauren is "a smart lady" and should be able to figure this out. Funny, I figureds she was more of a ditz, but ok, let's see if she gets the The Empire Strikes Back realization by herself, now. Surprisingly, she seems to be able to figure it out. She doesn't want to believe it, of course, but I guess as far as denials go, I wasn't expecting a Big "NO!".
Lang, ever the pleasant company, doesn't quite get the connection yet, so let's give him the truth and nothing but the truth. Yes, the name Oliver Deacon was nothing but a simple ruse, a cover-up for Mr. Colin Devonrae, the butler's real name , and the name on the pendant the deceased had on him. Mr. D fled to find his "wife and sole daughter." This daughter being Ms. Lauren Paups. I guess she got her mother's last name or something. Anyway, I'm on a roll today. Of course, this not being the very end just yet, Lang decides to ruin my fun, and he prefaces his doing so with a hearty laugh. Merry guy, this one. Lang states that he has a new theory, and that means it's time to dance with the wolf-guy, again. Lang's argument is that the father and daughter knew who were in family with who, and that they infiltrated the Amano family with criminal intent. Well well well, that's fairly vague too, it's time to get to work. Lang seems to think that the two infiltrated the Amano family like some sort of father-daughter tag-team, which, to be frank, is one loooong undercover job, but let's continue on.
I must admit, I actually struggled a little bit with this. Turns out that the correct way to prove that the father-daughter team-up wasn't intentional on both of their parts was to point out that there was three kidnappers. Ehm. Right. That guy couldn't have joined later, after the family of crime had plotted everything out and said to themselves "we need another guy." Well, ok, it seems to be good enough for Lang, who seems a little bit stressed, which is always a good way to see your opponents in Ace Attorney games. Three Styrofoam cups, three folding chairs, etc etc. Edgeworth even thinks he knows who this third person, this diabolical mastermind is. Considering the Economy Cast at work here, I think we can safely say our best alternative is.. MR EARLOBE JR... I mean Lance. We get a nice round of reaction shots and Lang's "OH SHI-" face. Good times.
Well, next up is, predictably, quizzing Earlobe Jr. about his is next up on our agenda. Yay, testimony time. So, basically, our friend Lance was blindfolded and handcuffed, but managed to escape after the killers left, sometime after the rain. Right, let's boogie. Lance was 'napped, drugged and wake up in a room handcuffed. Hm, I sympathize dude, I've had dates like that too. * Time to look closer at the escape. Apparently, the door was locked, and he had to use the underground passageway to escape. Hmm, that doesn't rhyme with the prop sword. Let's have a look at that. Lang seems to be locked out of the loop yet again, as he doesn't know about the prop sword door jamming. Let's school him a little, hm? I must admit, I half expected Lang to do some sort of adage about wolves with broken claws or something, but apparently he's toning that down. Anyway, what Edgeworth, and I, wonder at this point is why Lance simply did not unjam the door by removing the sword and fled that way. Lance claims he's disoriented, but Edgeworth doesn't believe it. He even adds a little finger-point pose. Sweet. Edgeworth reasons that Lance wanted to appear to be the victim, and chose to jam the door with the sword since he didn't have the key. Lang'll have none of that, of course, claiming that Edgeworth doesn't have a motive. Complete with action lines. However, we know there's a motive, now don't we, dear readers? Hoh yes, his scrape with Tender Lender, take that wolfboy.
So, Lance admits kidnapping himself. Considering it's either that or facing the very very tranquil wrath of Viola Cadaverini, I can't say I can blame him, but let's see where this goes. Well, Lance tells us that he planned to move away with Olivia, but that the plan went sour when Mr. D turned on them right after getting the ransom money. They subdued him, got into Badger Drag and made like a banana. Lauren wore the Blue Badger costume, meaning she was the one Meekins saw. Oliver, however, got loose, got himself a Blue Badger costume and got out of there, prompting Lance to contact Laura to warn her. This means it's time to quiz Lauren again. So, Mr. D, in Bad Badger costume, pulls a gun on Lauren, who has a piece herself, so she shoots him. Well, ok, pressing time. Oh, the Badger used his left hand, hm, that doesn't seem quite right. Lang seems to find no problem with this, though, as the Bad Badger already have a fake piece permanently attached to the right hand. However, he pulled a suitcase, which requires a free hand, a free, right hand. Oh yes. However, it was the bad badger, and the bad badger did have a gun in its left hand, which doesn't seem to make sense. So, what is it? Do they fit? Oh, yes it does, because despite having a Bad Badger head, there's no guaranteeing the lower half was bad badger, since the costume was in two pieces. Oh yes. To be precise, the killer must have worn a Proto Badger lower bit, since the body piece wasn't pink, and the Blue Badger costume was already taken. Who wore the Proto Badger costume? Wasn't that... Lance?
The purpose of all this? Edgeworth reasons that it's a setup, designed to make Lauren think she killed Mr. D, instead of the real killer, Lance. Hm, that's rather clever actually. Oh, and Lance is left-handed, if there was any doubt left in your minds. Lang argues that there's no Kevlar in the Badger suits, and as such it'd be a risky thing indeed to gamble on Lauren missing when shooting him. However, blanks has a tendency to not be lethal, and Edgeworth reasons that the missing bad badger gun was the one Lauren had. To prove this can be tricky, though, as Lauren threw the gun into the water. Lovely. Lang also asks if Edgeworth knows where the murder took place, which he doesn't, although he's certain it happened before the alleged shooting.
Lauren's the one to protest now, though, as she claims to have seen Mr. D while he was tied up, leaving us with precious little time for the kill to happen. Hm, it's time to take a closer look at that testimony. So, Mr. D was tied up before Lauren arrived, badgered up and split, Lauren left first... that's two timegaps that the murder could happen in, unless I'm missing something but ok, also, Mr. D got out after Lauren left, wrestled Lance's gun away from him and headed for Lauren... ok, I see we've got a lot to work with here, let's see what we can get out of this. How does Lauren know that it's Mr. D who was tied up, you might ask. Well, of course because he had a Bad Badger head on. I mean... of course. Wait, wait wait wait, I think I got it. That's actually a bit clever, unless I'm talking out of my ass again, let's test that. Hm, oh yes, that's smart isn't it? It wasn't Mr. D at all, no sir, it was none other than the Pink Prosecutor himself, Miles Edgeworth, who was tied up to the very same beam at the very same time that this Mr. D was supposed to be tied up there. WHAM. Damn, it still feels good when I figure out stuff like this. Lance abducted Edgeworth to use as a Decoy D, after having killed the real D some time before. He sent Lauren away, ran back to the kidnapping HQ, faked the locked door and escaped by tunnel.
Lang, being Lang, is not impressed. Again, it boils down to "you can't prove it." Well, it is true, however, a heroic hold-it is heard from Ernest Amano. Oh hi there, I'd almost forgotten about you. Amano wishes to make amends for his son causing trouble in the investigation, he wishes to do so by contributing evidence. On his command, a guy wheels in the Bad Badger costume and an additional pistol. Apparently, it's ok for Amano to muck about with evidence, because he got himself a Carte Blanche from the chief of police. Wut? Seriously, wut? Luckily, both Edgeworth and Lang shares my surprise and flabbergastedness, so I'm not the only one, that's good. Oh, and Mr. Earlobe here managed to get the whole thing sent to a forensics lab, discovering that the blood on the costume was Mr. D's and that the fingerprints on the other gun was Lauren's. Oh my. Oh my my my. Earlobe Sr. thinks it's about time that Edgeworth stops bothering Earlobe Jr. since the case seems to be settled, but of course, had it been that simple... well, it's not that simple. Let's investigate this thing.
First thing I notice is shards of a mirror in the Badger head, that would've been rather unpleasant to wear, I wager. Also, the hole in the suit has gunpowder burns, proving that Mr. D was shot at point-blank range. That's about it from this one, though, and it's time to square off with Earlobe Jr. Pressing on the fact that Lauren's fingerprints are on the gun, it's revealed that this is more a Earlobe Tag-Team, as senior also joins in, claiming that the forensic scientists that took those prints are the best money can buy. That said, Edgeworth of course isn't quite satisfied, stating that Lauren's prints shouldn't even be on the gun, since she was in badger drag at the time, and the badger costumes have gloves. Lauren did, however, touch the gun briefly before handing the gun over to Mr. D when he went to retrieve the ransom. Lance, not willing to admit defeat, notes that Edgeworth still haven't proven that Lauren isn't the killer. Proving a negative, dude, but ok, let's progress. Edgeworth claims that he has evidence that the alleged murder scene was a set-up, thus making it impossible for Lauren to be the killer. The evidence in question is the vic's costume, namely the gunpowder burn.
This was sorta-tricky, because all the silliness in this chapter combined with the long pause between the first part of this chapter being played and written had made me all but forget Wendy Oldbag's statement, in which she stated that the killer and the vic stood a bit apart, which doesn't match with the gunpowder burn. So, Lang now wants to know where the real murder scene was, and Edgeworth reasons that it must've been where Lance and Mr. D was before at least Lance returned to the kidnapping HQ. Now, it's been a while, as I said, but that place is one I won't forget. Yes, the real murder scene was the haunted house, and Edgeworth has evidence to prove it too. The evidence being the mirror shards, from one of the mirrors in the haunted house. Edgeworth again does the badass finger-pointing pose, while... doing a cluedo reference? Anyway, Lance killed Mr D. with the revolver in the haunted house before moving the body with the badgermobile. Earlobe Sr. isn't too happy with the way things are turning out, but that can't be helped, justice is blind and getting a little impatient.
Lang, in a rare moment of doing something I actually agree with him on, tells Earlobe Sr. to shut up and demands some evidence proving this theory from Edgeworth. Ok, the last part there is maybe a bit bothersome for us, but hey, these games would not be fun without an asshole who hates you and probably everything you stand for, right? Anyway, Lang seems to remember that there was a mirror in the kidnappers HQ too, which could place the murder there too. Edgeworth considers this improbable, as there were no glass on the floor in front of that mirror. Lang's response? Another oddly specific adage from Lang Zi. I guess it could be worse, he could be quoting the bible. Anyway, Edgeworth doesn't have any evidence to the haunted house being the crime scene, but he's certain he can prove Lance was the killer if he finds any.
So, what does Edgey do? He requests Lang's permission to figure this out. Kay isn't amused, and she calls Lang a werewolf. I guess I should hire some people to watch this guy come full moon, but I also think that about Tom Waits, sooo... Well, Lang agrees on the condition that Edgeworth doesn't touch anything *. Surprisingly, Lang seems to go along with it, and he sends his henchwoman/secretary to get the paperwork done when Earlobe Sr. protests. Oh yes, it turns out that Ernest here bought the haunted house for the now returned ransom money, and that any negotiations to enter must go through him. Dude, does "obstruction of justice" and "acting really fucking suspicious" mean anything to you? Well, as one might expect, Ernest denies the Edgeworth Crew access to the house. And, of course, by the time they have a warrant, which can take a while given Ernest's contacts in the fuzz, any and all clues are surely lost. Ernest, Ernest, Ernest, you seemed like such a nice guy . TO BE CONTINUED.
edited 14th Apr '10 12:24:49 PM by slowzombie
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Like a nice guy? He was friends with Von Karma Senior. He's either a Horrible Judge of Character, or mildly psychopathic.
Platypus!
Hm, that's true. On the other hand, Von Karma had a wife at some point, maybe he was really charming and non-threathening as long as nobody conjured up the memory of Gregory Edgeworth? Of course, I find that hard to believe, considering how he... is Satan. I mean, Damon Gant, I could understand someone becoming at least casual friends with * but Von Karma... that IS a bit tough to chew.
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Platypus!
Chapter 3 part 4: It's all coming together now
Ok troopers and tropers alike, let's continue, shall we? When we left our heroes, Ernest, and his massive earlobes, had just turned on us and thrown an earlobe-sized monkey wrench into our investigations, and it's about now I'm starting to understand why he and Von Karma got along. Well, if nothing else, Ernest's behavior is what one might call "pretty fucking suspicious," so let's see what more can be gotten out of this miserable situation. Edgeworth notes to himself that, indeed, if he can't investigate the fairly fresh crime scene, he'll be past the point of rescue. At this point, Kay steps in, and since her Leitmotif is playing, I'm guessing she's not going to stand for this poppycock. She introduces herself to the whole present crowd, including, of course, her title of professional lawbreaker. I'm guessing this girl's career will be built either upon ridiculous luck or Refuge in Audacity, but let's go on. Yes, it turns out that it'll be Kay's impossibly useful crime-scene projection gadget that'll save the day today. Just how that thing works is a bit beyond me, but ok, I've dealt with magical lie-detectors of two different flavors before, so I'm not really going to complain.
Ok, this is a little weird, I just can't get past that Kay basically summoned up an illusionary copy of the haunted house on that thing, I know I said I wasn't going to complain, but I guess that makes me a liar. Ok, let's have a looksee. Edgeworth, apparently not quite grasping the terror it caused the first time, wants to re-enact the badger him-napping, right. The first little nut we're provided with is the question about where the attacker who BONKed Edgeworth came from, this isn't really a challenge, since I think no amount of booze can make me forget that scene, and it's quite obvious that the Blue Badger "doll" really was a man in a blue badger costume. Edgeworth confronts Lance with this, but he's about as helpful as any suspect in any Ace Attorney case, as he claims to never have put his foot inside the haunted house, and that retrieving the ransom was Mr. D's job. As one might remember, Mr. D wore the Bad Badger costume, which meant the weapon he used to knock Edgeworth out with must've been held in his left hand. And it's investigation time ladies and gentlemen.
Well, let's check it out. Edgeworth was apparently hit on the right side of his head with an unknown weapon. Well, here's guessing we'll have to find out what this weapon is. This isn't very difficult either, luckily we got ourself a nice look at the weapon too, fairly similar to the prop sword, if one might say so. Well, let's check it out. Yes, indeed, turns out that the sword could possibly be the assault weapon. Only one way to find out, and that's luminol. Rock me, you sexy Forensic Phlebotinum you. With a little help from our friends, or rather from Lang, we get a luminol scan, revealing that there's a small speck of blood on the left side of the blade. Hmmm, now this is interesting. Deduction time! Hm, turns out I'm not way off, and I'm almost surprised. Well, it turns out that the blood analysis and the fact that the sword was held in the left hand doesn't quite add up, leaving only the option that the killer... was not left handed *. Kay offers to update the crime scene projection, but that won't do, now will it? Since the Bad Badger had a gun in his right hand. Edgeworth confronts Lance with him now being the most likely suspect in the Attorney-clubbing, and he confesses to this. Hm, that's the bother with Ace Attorney cases with multiple crimes committed, you have to push the suspects back through layers of crime, I'm looking at YOU, Luke Atmey.
Well, Edgeworth now reasons that Earlobe Jr. struck using his off-hand because doing so with a melee weapon is easier than doing so with firearms, and this'd help with the deception that it was Mr. D. I'm not sure who he planned to trick, unless he predicted the forensics team to do their bit, which makes Earlobe jr much smarter than I gave him credit for. Well, anyway, in good old Lang fashion, our friend wolfboy is not the least bit impressed. He points out that Kay's supergadget has one important flaw, namely that it can only show the scene according to the data it has been supplied with, and in this case, the data are insufficient, due to a trick in the freaky place. Namely, the Blue Badger doll, which apparently is of the disappearing sort, now that's scary. Anyway, this leaves our mysterious attacker with no place to hide. Edgeworth isn't one to declare defeat though, as he asks Kay to input this new information into her wonder-PDA and thanks Lang for the new information with such brain-melting smugness that only he can conjure.
That said, let's get investigating again. The ghostly crime scene now includes the Blue Badger and... two protobadgers. Ok, now that is scary. Scary and a little odd, time to check this out. Ah, turns out the first badger is where the protobadger appears in our simulation. Also, checking out the mirrors seems to hint that the mirror shards we've got are different from the mirror shards in the house. Now that is odd. Anyway, time to check out the other Badger. The game seems to be cranking up on small details, left/right insanity, because the Badger's belts are mirrored, ohoho. Anyway, Edgeworth thinks Kay screwed up on the data input, but she did add the "picture data" flawlessly, whatever that means. So, we get a "Blue Badger in reverse" logic. You could say the badger was... mirrored. Logic time! Yes, Edgeworth reasons that the hallway might not have been a straight hallway at all, but rather a L-shaped one with a mirror, oh my. But why a mirror, you might ask? Well, then I could remind you all about the disappearing act. Oh yes, the mirror can move, you see, as to allow or block line of sight with the Blue Badger. This also explains the patern on the other side of the mirror shard, since the back of the mirror had to double as wallpaper.
So, this gives us a nifty explanation for where the killer was hiding, namely behind the mirror. Nifty. Kay also highlights that the mirror must've been broken, since we found shards of it in the vic's costume. Edgeworth reasons that the sound he heard while he made the money drop must've been the sound of a mirror breaking. Re-creations happen, and we're now currently relying on the killer and the badger doll hiding in the badger doll trick alcove, or whatever you could call it. However, there's one thing missing, yes, there should be some sort of Badger there. Edgeworth reasons that the only badger that could've been was... The Bad Badger. The victim's costume. Oh yes, fingerpoint of doom, Lang and Lance both do their stressout, how satisfying.
Lang argues that Edgeworth, who was in the haunted house, should have heard the gunshot, but Edgeworth doesn't neccesarily think so, since they played a lot of creepy noise in the haunted house, and such, it's possible that he couldn't hear the gunshot. And yet, he heard the shattering glass. Well, ok, I'm getting tired of this case and the fucking badgers, so I'll buy it for now. Well, turns out that the end is near, because Edgeworth confronts Lance with it all. He had the motive, he was at the scene, and most importantly, he was not dead. Freakout time. Ok, that was a bit dissapointing. Lance's freakout consists of him tearing his handcuffs apart before starting to cry. Well, ok, it works, I guess. Well, turns out that Lance did indeed kill Mr. D in self-defense, as he went crazy and tried to gank our poor Mr. Earlobe Jr. Earlobe Sr. argues that this was justifiable self-defense, but Edgeworth doesn't really care, giving him a "take it to the judge"-sorta answer before handing it over to Lang, who gets both Father and Son Earlobe arrested. Nice, looks like Earlobe Sr. got his Obstruction of Justice after all.
It's now time for Lang to reveal why he's here. Ooh, goodie. He's here because of a case that happened ten years ago, the KG-8 Incident. Why do I get a bad feeling I'll be up to my frills in this case some time not too far into the future. Anyway, Ernest seems to recognize this case, and so does Edgeworth. Well, apparently Amano's company was involved in a smuggling ring, and Mr D, the victim in this case lest ye forgot, was arrested as the head of the ring. Lang says he's on to Earlobe Senior's case, as he's suspecting that Ernest had used Mr. D as a scapegoat. Lang and his guys is about to take Ernest away when.... HOLD IT, enter stage right, a spiky douchebag and his minion. Yes people, it's Portsman y'all. I see these cases are starting to come together right now *. Portsman's the guy responsible for reeling in the Amano case, and judging by how glad Earlobe Sr. is to see him, this probably means that we're not going to experience much fair play for justice in this case. Lang and I seem to agree on one thing, though, as we both hate Mr. Portsman. He also thanks Edgey for making his work easier by concentrating on the murder and not interrupting Ernest's rather persistent evidence buggery, thus giving Lang a good reason to take Earlobe Sr. in for questioning. Lang seems to think that Edgeworth is working with Earlobe and the smuggling ring, thus proving him rather genre blind, or at least doublecrossing douchebag-blind, but ok. Lang also states that he has intel that seems to indicate that this is the case. Edgeworth reasons that the fact that Amano is a longtime friend of his and the fact that he was brought up by Manfred Von Karma himself must have seen suspicious to Lang, and that's why he acted unpleasant toward Edgey. Well, I'd have pegged that being because he's a major douche, but ok, whatever you say Edgeworth. Oh, turns out that I was right anyway, though as Lang then goes on to give a huge "fuck you" to the entire legal system.
As Lang and his secretary/henchwoman/lover (?) leave, Edgeworth stops Shih-Na, the secretary/whatever, and quizzes her about why her boss hates prosecutors so. Basically, his family was the big cheese when it came to law in his homeland before one crooked prosecutor fucked around with some evidence so bad that a court catastrophy followed, stripping the Lang family of their authority and honor and what have you. Sad, but as far as tragic antagonist back-stories go, it's got nothing on Godot. Well, Edgeworth and Gumshoe both agree to get outta here, and Edgeworth asks our long-suffering detective drop him off at his office. So, does this mean we'll finally catch up on the first case? Possibly. Before we can go anywhere, though, Edgeworth's gotta stop Lauren from angsting too hard. I must admit, Edgeworth stopping anyone from angsting is a bit of a weird concept, but sure, let's go with that. Edgeworth reasons that Lance used the relationship between Lauren and Mr. D to coerce him into helping the abduction plot. Lauren is touched, of course, but also, like oh so many fangirls, head over heels infatuated with Mr. Edgeworth. Edgey, true to his character, is more clueless than even I in my darkest and most confused moments could ever be.
Also, Kay reveals that she and Edgeworth have met earlier, she and Gumshoe too, for that matter. Hm, I do say, this smells like the lead-in to a flashback, which, of course, means that my prediction of actually moving past the first case in the timeline is once again made to shame. And yes, turns out that I'm right, since Kay has a piece of cloth, one assumes a discarded frill that she promised to return to Edgeworth. This means flashback. Yay. Case end! Next time, we'll be covering the Turnabout Reminiscence.
edited 19th Apr '10 7:14:54 AM by slowzombie
Liveblog | Deadblog
Ok, this is a little weird, I just can't get past that Kay basically summoned up an illusionary copy of the haunted house on that thingHm, that's the bother with Ace Attorney cases with multiple crimes committed, you have to push the suspects back through layers of crimeWhy do I get a bad feeling I'll be up to my frills in this case some time not too far into the future. judging by how glad Earlobe Sr. is to see him, this probably means that we're not going to experience much fair play for justice in this case. As Lang and his secretary/henchwoman/lover (?) leaveSad, but as far as tragic antagonist back-stories go, it's got nothing on Godot.
Alright, y'all, you've seen me torture myself to snark about stuff I don't like, but have you ever seen me liveblog something I DO actually like? Didn't think so. Well, my #1 most fanboyed-over game series ever released a new entry recently, so I decided it might be a good idea to drag y'all along with me on this strange and hopefully magical journey through Ace Attorney-land.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please let me know if I write too much, too little or too boring (I doubt too funny is an option,) so I can adjust the way I cover this thing. Spoilers will be overabundant, both for the game itself, which should be obvious, and the other games in the series as apropriate. Also, I'm guessing updates won't be daily, due to the large chunks at a time I take the game in. For now, I'm doing one part per go, and I'll update on Mondays & Wedensdays unless something eldritch and/or otherwise unfortunate turns up.
Case 1, Part 1: A not quite normal day at the office
So, in the mail today, much to my utter and complete joy, I found a little package from my
bloodsucking exploiters of my frankly embarrasing materialismfriends over at amazon, containing my copy of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. Yes, those of you who squeed while getting the chance to play as this fine frilly gentleman in Trials and Tribulations now get a whole game to squee your breath out. Me, I was never a big fan of the investigations part of the other Ace Attorney games, so a whole game dedicated more to that than courtroom antics didn't tickle me at first, but what the hell, I thought, I'm a huge fanboy of the series, and I'd be lying to myself if I said I wouldn't be willing to give a new delicious slice of AA pie a try. So, let's boot this thing up and see if it can compare.The first thing that strikes me is that the Ace Attorney logo is rather... pinkish. Matches with Edgeworth's color scheme I guess, I think I won't take that particular line of reasoning further, so let's just move on. Episode one is called Turnabout Visitor, that kind of sounds like a guest who turns at the door and leaves, but maybe that's just me. Well, let's see how this probably tutorial-esque first case turns out. Probably won't be any Payne to Pwn, for obvious reasons... right? We move on to an undisclosed location at night, where a two guys discuss what needs to be done to get a guilty verdict. One of the two insist on doing what has to be done, the other one is less convinced. The more scrupelous one ends up shooting the other guy, and we tilt up to reveal a guy with... uhm, what do I call this hairstyle? Fairly normal on the top but anime-style spiky below his headband... right. Well, Mr. Spiky Hair reveals that he is a prosecutor before we pan over to a piece of the location that'll probably tell any fan of the series where we are, namely Edgeworth's old Suit of Shame, which he for some reason keeps on the wall of his office. Oh my, have our intrepid tea-drinker met his end before even being subtly patronizing, in his own game, even? Now that'd make a rather depressing game, so let's hope not.
My fears are assuaged shortly thereafter, as the next thing we see is good old Edgey walk towards his office, commenting that he's been away from it a month now, and apparently he put Detective Gumshoe, long time chew toy of the world and Mr. Edgeworth in particular, to keep it clean. Why am I not surprised. Another old friend greets us as he enters his office, as the smell of blood triggers the good old suspense theme. Edgeworth investigates, and discovers a corpse. Before further prying into the matter of the dead guy and the mess and what have you, our intrepid hero is held up by a person covered in shadow, carrying a gun. At this point, I feel I must mention that it feels a little odd to actually see Edgeworth as a more traditional point'n'click sprite, but change isn't bad, so let's just move on. Anyway, Mr. Shadowy Suspicious Guy fires a warning shot, but Edgeworth isn't impressed, calmly telling the gunman that nobody gets away with murder in his office. Now, Edgeworth isn't a Von Karma *, but this is apparently enough that the silent gunman decides to bolt rather than straight-up executing the guy. Then, we get the introductions, Miles Edgeworth is a prosecutor, and we're told he's got a lot of cases and busy days ahead of him. Well, that's nice, if people stopped murdering each other (and it's ALWAYS murder,) the Ace Attorney games would get boring right quick.
Now begins our investigation, or rather, before we can get to it, Gumshoe busts in, displaying worry for his superior to such a degree that I get some not-so-slight Ho Yay vibes from. Anyway, Miles also introduces this hapless detective. I must say his waist-up sprite looks a bit... I'm not sure, a bit more buff than his AA 1-4 representation, possibly? Maybe it's a new coat * Well, our hero seems a little more bothered that the killer made a mess of his office than the actual killing part, but enough about that, because he then goes on to introduce a new gameplay element. The central question Edgeworth poses is why the killing happened in his office, and this causes an entry called "my office" to be added to a tab called "logic" where the "press" button used to be in 1-4. Hm, using logic instead of pseudomagical thingies? Well, I enjoy those too, but it'd be a bit too much to ask Mr. Flat-Earth Atheist here to use one of MacGuffins, don't you think? Edgeworth also explains that it's particularily odd because of the keys to his office, which is also added to the logic button thingie. Gumshoe, clueless as always, acts as the Audience Surrogate, as Edgey explains the point of the "logic"-command, making connections between pieces of information to learn new info. A-ok, I try the logic system to point out that indeed, it'd be absurd to kill someone in a place so hard to get to without a good reason to do so. The Logic System is kinda trippy, with a sort of crystal-sounding theme and the two pieces of information merging together and what have you. Edgeworth speculates as to the killer's intentions, and thus, we're granted another piece for our Logic-collection. Goodie.
Well, the investigation begins for real, and Gumshoe joins you as your "partner," make shipping jokes at your own risk. I immediately decide to check out the body of the deceased, and the pile of files by the dead guy seems to indicate a struggle, this is added to the logic menu, yay. The next thing that draws my attention is a black square thingy that I quickly learn is a police badge. So the dead guy was in the fuzz, interesting. Detective Buddy Faith... well, I guess he didn't feel like becoming a TV-Preacher. Victim was a detective logic GET! Seems like our friend Buddy got a gut shot, not a way I'd like to go, and I'm certain that applies to most people who've seen Reservoir Dogs too. Well, we get some crime scene notes to put in our "organizer," the Investigations version of the Court Records. A quick look reveals that we also have Edgey's Prosecutor Badge, which is a good bit more flashy than the Defense Attorney Badges of the other games in the series, the theories about the world conspiring against defense attorneys in this 'verse only grows stronger. Well, that's all for the victim, now to look at the murder weapon. A quick conversation reveals that the gun is of the same make as the ones police officers use, hmm, well, Edgey seems to think it's time to Logic It Up, so let's give it a try, hm? Detective victim + police revolver? A quick inspection of the body reveals that, indeed, the weapon found at the scene was the victim's, and we get the victim's gun in our organizer for our troubles.
Ah, here comes the return of a feature I felt was grossly underused in Apollo Justice, inspecting evidence in 3-D. A quick look at the chambers tell us that just one shot was fired from the pistol. Miles is about ready to call it a day for the investigations when a guy in a pink shirt with weird hair comes busting in, apparently freaking out over the victim's, who he keeps calling Jim, too early demise. Our hero implores this spiky-haired fellow to not tamper with the crimescene, but spiky is less than compliant before getting a grip on himself again. We see his waist-up sprite, and indeed, it's the guy from the intro. There's first cases in AA games for ya. Well, on the bright side, I've got a better view of his hair now, it kinda looks like a crown of some sort. Spiky introduces himself as Jacques Portsman, Prosecutor. Upon learning whose office his crime-busting partner was killed in, Portsman immediately accuses Edgeworth of the murder. Oh it's ON now. Portsman points out that only the prosecutors have keys to their own offices, and therefore only Edgeworth could have done it. Oh, I see what you did there. Well, Gumshoe steps in to defend Edgey, by pointing out that Edgeworth was out of the country and the only one with spare keys was him. Oh Gumshoe, you dolt. Well, Edgeworth, following Portsman changing scapegoat, implores everyone to calm down and not draw conclusions yet. of course, I SAW the thing, so I'm allowed to draw conclusions... I think.
Well, Portsman decides to work with Edgeworth on this, but wants to take a final farwell with his "buddy," and for some reason he wants the forensics expert to capture it on camera. Right. Well, time to check out the rest of the office, starting at the top this time. By Edgeworth's window, we have the King of Prosecutors trophy, those familiar with Case 1-5 probably recognize that one, and next to it we have a Steel Samurai doll which Edgeworth is glad escaped the chaos unharmed. Hm, well, at least he's not calling it an Action Figure, he IS denying his fanboyness though. Hm, maybe Edgeworth/Steel Samurai Doll will be my new favorite ship? Nah, that'd be silly, and I digress, so let's move on. Oh, and Wendy Oldbag, Milesexual motormouth par excellence, is still sending the boy flowers it would seem. Now there's a ship I do not support. Well, now it's time to examine the framed jacket. Gumshoe freaks out over how the exhibit could've been damaged, as a bullet hole is left in the canvas from where the gunman shot it. Miles is more concerned about a contradiction, and he tells himself that "he must be rubbing off on me." He in this case most likely referring to his longtime rival and friend Phoenix. Must... not... make... old... married... couple... joke. Wait, I'm confused, is that the jacket, or is it a picture of it? It looks kinda 2d, but who'd have a picture of a jacket? I dunno, but yet another gameplay element, Deduction, is introduced. Here, we're presented with a part of the crime scene which doesn't quite match up with the evidence, and we're told to find it. Of course, there's something about that bullet hole being there that doesn't quite ring true to what we know so far. All the while, Edgeworth does his whole inner monolouge thing. If he does that all the time, it's a wonder he has time to walk around and be smug, but I digress. With an EUREKA, I reveal that indeed, the gun fired only once, whereas at least two bullets have to be fired. One for the victim, one for the unusual wall-ornament, triumph! From this, Edgeworth gathers that there had to be a second gun in the picture. You got "Second gun" logic
Anyway, gumshoe notices there's something behind the picture. A secret safe. Oh my. Edgeworth reveals that it's a secret to most people, and that all prosecutors have one. Wow, 1-4 would be over so much quicker if Phoenix had invested in one of those. Then again... Well, Edgeworth ain't done inspecting, so I get the chance to take a quick look at the safe. From old habit, I click the part that seems most interesting, namely the keypad. Edgeworth notices that the keypad is free from dust, unlike the rest of the safe, which is about as lethal to an asthmatic as you expect something that's hidden all the time to be. Edgeworth immediately requests the keypad to be dusted for prints, but they have been wiped, since it's pretty much a law of nature in the Ace Attorney-verse that fingerprints only appear on anything when it's either unimportant or flat out damaging to your case. I wouldn't go so far as to say the universe hates you, but it sure does like to see you work to win your cases. Anyway, it's logic-time, and I connect the killer's motive with the wiped keypad to conclude that the killer was after whatever was in the safe. Afterwards, Edgeworth muses about if this new information puts any of the other things we know into a new light. This would be the mess left by the struggle, which Edgeworth now thinks might be from the killers attempt at finding one particular file. Well, only one way to find out if he found what he was looking for, and that's cleaning up to see what's missing. Gumshoe volunteers, of course. Before any cleaning is to be done, Portsman feels it's important to wax philosophically about how the good ones die young, but decides to help with the cleaning searching thing.
So, we get a nice close view of the bookshelf, now returned to its former glory, but something isn't quite right. Let's see if we can deduct what it might be. A small hole in one of the lower files immediately catch my attention, as it clashes with the report of the bullet piercing the victim's gut. So, either Mr Faith here was given the Mr. Orange-treatment at a very odd angle or the files aren't in their proper place. I go for the latter. As it turns out, the files, despite being marked with zero and a letter, actually does belong in the lower right half of the shelf after the ones marked with 1 and 2. Why? Because that's how Edgeworth rolls apparently. However, this means the files weren't in that order when the shot was fired. When arranged numerically rather than by some insane Edgeworth logic, the bullet hole is in the proper place, and he then concludes that the files were gone through and rearranged by the killer prior to the killing. Only leaving the question of why they ended up in a mess afterwards. Files in disarray logic GET
* In the process of uncovering this, our intrepid crew of CS Is moved the body, and behind him, some sort of scribble in blood is revealed on some files, let's check that one out next.
Turns out the scribble says "Gumshoe" in blood. Or rather, it would, except one file, file 0H is removed. The latter is what concerns Edgeworth more, although Gumshoe himself, understandably, is more worried about his name being dragged into this. So many early Ace Attorney (and at least one lategame) cases have the supposed names of their perpetrators written in blood or sand or what have you. It has kind of lost the impact it's supposed to have. Well, that's it for the investigation, as it gives us a nice "investigation complete" title. Gumshoe denies his involvement in the case, Portsman is not convinced, gee, I wonder why? Well, he accuses Gumshoe, and Edgeworth must now confront this nefarious prosecutor... in a DANCE BATTLE.... no, that was a lie. Basically, he's going to tear Portsman's logic to shreds, Ace Attorney-style, basically a cross-examination gig from the earlier games. Lessee what Portie has to say for himself. So, the argument goes that Gumshoe stole Buddy's gun, shot him, messed up the place to make it look like robbery and that the message in blood proves it. This whole writing in blood business doesn't quite add up, so I present the stolen file, 0H, and I'm rewarded with a funky version of The Great Revival, oh yeah. The killer simply couldn't miss the scribbling in blood, since the file that was stolen was the middle one of the ones that were written on. As Edgeworth puts it "not even Gumshoe could miss that." Portsman admits that Edgeworth is right, but that he has a second point: Only Gumshoe had the spare keys. This is true. As a victory dance, Portie does a little spin, puts on his jacket, flaps it open and closes it again... right. Turns out Gumshoe wasn't the only one with spare keys to the room, Portsman expounds as he flaps his jacket like it'd help him attract a mate *
Anyway, the other one with a set of keys is none other than Maggey Byrde, the ridiculously unlucky police officer/waitress, now turned security chief. Depending on just when this is set timeline-wise, this could mean things are picking up for her. I must admit, I'm rather fond of Maggey. Could be because of the glasses. Well, true to tradition, whenever Maggey's involved, she gets accused of murder, since she could have used the master key and killed the guy. Gumshoe's not having any of that, though, he confesses-but-not-really-confesses doing the deed to get Maggey off the hook. If you think there's some chemistry between those two, you are utterly and completely wrong. Good day sir, I said GOOD DAY. Well, Edgeworth would rather make things make sense, so we get another rebuttal to deal with. Oh, and we get the Master Key in our organizer. A view on it in the 3D Evidence Looking Thingy (tm) ends up being frightfully disappointing, but one guesses it'll come in handy anyway. It's not explicitly stated as far as I can remember, but Portsman here seems to be an athlete of some sort, tennis player probably. Saddly, I think the chances for him and Edgeworth playing mindfuck-tennis is rather low. Oh well, time to serve him a fastball. That's probably not even a tennis term, but I assume my readers doesn't read my liveblogs for my keen knowledge of sports, so I don't feel too bad about it.
Well, it's time to put Portsman in the juice press of knowledge and see what we can get out of him. Along the way, Maggey claims she couldn't have used the keys at the time of the murder and I'm asked if Edgeworth should ask for more info or move on. Not once in the Ace Attorney series have refusing a similar demand been a good idea. Wait, once that I can remember, but exceptions are rare, so let's hear her out. The master key was, according to Maggey, stolen that night. This can't possibly reflect in a fortunate way towards her job security, but let's see if it gets her clear of murder at the very least. Portsman points out that Maggey has the keys now, and she rebuts this by saying they reappeared. Well, that's not very good as far as conclusive evidence goes. I can't find any direct contradictions at the minute, so I press onwards. I also learn that Gumshoe's tendency to screw up regularily have made him quite infamous amongst the prosecutors. Poor guy. For a little moment, I'm pretty stuck, until I realized one big problem with all of this. Only the prosecutors knew of the secret safes, so the chances of Maggey even knowing there was a safe to try to break into are slim to none. This fact sends Portsman into a whiplash-like freakout. Not a full freakout, I'd think, but one of those "Say WHAT?" things that brighten up my day, and the funky Great Revival soars again. I must admit, Portsman's sweatband must be some serious absorption material, 'cause he's sweating buckets and not a drop reaches his face.
Portsman points out that she could find it by accident, but Edgeworth replies that only two places were targeted, so the killer had to know what he was looking for. Oh look, the sweatband isn't holding up so well any more. Portsman asks if Edgeworth thinks a prosecutor did it, which he does. Why, I'd say the guy looks a little bit too nervous at the moment, probably just my imagination, right? Well, Portsman isn't one to be caught with his trousers down, so he divulges that the victim knew about the secret safes due to their unbreakable bromance. His current theory is that Maggey killed Buddy here while trying to prevent him from robbing the place. Wow. I have to give it to this guy, he's good. Not Von Karma-good, but for a case one murderer, he's held his own pretty damn good, especially without time to prepare and lay out a definite strategy. Edgeworth and crew is then told to buzz off, since Portsman's the prosecutor attached to this case. Edgeworth is pretty determined this isn't the end though. Aaaaand to be continued.
edited 1st Mar '10 1:46:38 PM by slowzombie
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