Rate the Ace Attorney case: The Golden Court (L-3)

Rules:

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

Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PiEuURt1qf19VoYzcFCU1EFa8uqs2teJiVcip7JmjDw/edit?usp=sharing

Previous Results:

Bridge to the Turnabout (3-5) - 9.8 (37 votes)
Farewell, My Turnabout (2-4) - 9.7 (30 votes)
Turnabout Goodbyes (1-4) - 9.2 (32 votes)
Turnabout Reclaimed (5-6) - 8.8 (23 votes)
The Inherited Turnabout (E2-3) - 8.5 (16 votes)
Turnabout Beginnings (3-4) - 8.4 (26 votes)
Rise from the Ashes (1-5) - 8.2 (28 votes)
The Stolen Turnabout (3-2) - 8.2 (24 votes)
Turnabout For Tomorrow (5-5) - 7.9 (27 votes)
Turnabout Memories (3-1) - 7.4 (30 votes)
Turnabout Samurai (1-3) - 7.4 (29 votes)
Turnabout Academy (5-3) - 7.4 (27 votes)
The Grand Turnabout (E2-5) - 7.3 (16 votes)
Turnabout Target (E2-1) - 7.1 (17 votes)
Turnabout Trump (4-1) - 6.9 (25 votes)
Recipe for Turnabout (3-3) - 6.6 (27 votes)
Reunion, and Turnabout (2-2) - 6.5 (25 votes)
The Monstrous Turnabout (5-2) - 6.5 (23 votes)
The Fire Witch (L-2) - 6.5 (12 votes)
The Cosmic Turnabout (5-4) - 6.0 (22 votes)
Turnabout Ablaze (E1-5) - 6.0 (19 votes)
Turnabout Sisters (1-2) - 5.7 (25 votes)
Turnabout Reminiscence (E1-4) - 5.6 (22 votes)
The Imprisoned Turnabout (E2-2) - 5.3 (16 votes)
The Forgotten Turnabout (E2-4) - 5.2 (16 votes)
Turnabout Visitor (E1-1) - 5.0 (20 votes)
The First Turnabout (1-1) - 4.9 (25 votes)
The Kidnapped Turnabout (E1-3) - 4.6 (22 votes)
Turnabout Airlines (E1-2) - 4.2 (22 votes)
Turnabout Countdown (5-1) - 4.1 (24 votes)
English Turnabout (L-1) - 4.1 (12 votes)
Turnabout Corner (4-2) - 4.0 (25 votes)
Turnabout Big Top (2-3) - 3.7 (25 votes)
Turnabout Succession (4-4) - 3.5 (24 votes)
The Lost Turnabout (2-1) - 3.3 (27 votes)
Turnabout Serenade (4-3) - 2.7 (24 votes)

The Fire Witch was liked for the introduction of the prosecutor, Barnham. There were mixed opinions on the witnesses themselves; though, "Some Guy" was quite liked. Of the 12 votes, 6 of them were 6/10.

Summary:

Maya keeps up her winning streak of at least one murder charge per game, and Phoenix takes on the impossible task of solving a case where the victim has turned to gold.

Main Characters: Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, Hershel Layton, Luke Triton, Espella Cantabella, Zacharias Barnham, The Labyrinthian Judge
Other Characters: Primstone, Birdly, Cracker, Price, Jean Greyerl, Lettie Mailer, Newton Belduke, Emeer Paunchenbaug

My rating: 9.5/10. I may have rated it a bit high just because I didn't expect such a high quality case from this game, but man, there's a ton going on. Layton being the victim causes Luke to testify against Maya, Jean stands out as a tragic character even considering the entire scope of the AA series, and then Emeer of all people comes back to bring some levity to the case. The ending is a massive gut punch, even if I didn't think they went through with killing Maya. But it's treated seriously in-universe and you don't find Maya for some time, making everyone wrestle with the ending.

9/10

Startlingly good, somehow a top 10 case in the series against all odds. The game was fine up to this point, but this was the one part of the game that really felt like classic Ace Attorney through and through. Jean Greyerl is a fantastic character (and named like an Ace Attorney character for once!). Having the case be about Layton's murder is a great hook even if it's obviously not real. Punchenbaug is an even better witness this time than he was the last time, and the fact that he gets the honor of delivering THE twist at the end (one of the greats in the series) is wonderful. Just a really good case all around, there's so much to like. Layton vs Wright wouldn't really be a game worth considering part of the canon if not for this case, imo, but the fact that it exists makes it a must-play.

8.4/10

Really, really good and the crown jewel of PL vs. AA. Doesn't reach the highest height due to the very nature of the game being a non-canon crossover and all the wackiness that being a partial PL game brings, but still excellent regardless. I enjoy the side characters too!

9/10

A legitimate top ten level case. It makes great use of all four main characters, and it's easily the best Espella case because she actually makes a decent assistant when paired with Luke.

The witnesses are all really good, headlined by True Agent of Chaos Emeer Punchenbaug. It's truly a sight to behold how many things he does that confuse the details of the case.

Jean Greyerl is a great "culprit," too. She may have supplanted Acro as the best sympathetic culprit in the series. Her backstory and the circumstances surrounding Belduke's death are heartbreaking, especially when you learn she was all wrong about him and his death was a suicide.

You knew the ending with Maya couldn't be real, but the characters still play it straight to great effect, and I love the Turnabout Sisters music box remix we get out of it. Just such an all-around great case.

7.5/10

Pretty good, from what I remember.

8.5/10

Definitely the highlight of the game. The Maya twist was legitimately affecting in a way that surprised me.

9.2

9

i'm not even reading the comments on this one 'cause i remember it was really good but i don't remember why and i don't want to spoil myself for my eventual replay. but i feel this was, like, the only case since the original trilogy (before SoJ) to have an actual twist that surprised me.

9/10

This is pretty much the main reason to play this game from an Ace Attorney standpoint.

Oh I missed this entire series of topics

L-2: 8
L-3: 9

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Bitto posted...

Maya keeps up her winning streak of at least one murder charge per game

She doesn't get charged in AA3, does she?

8

The excel sheet says I missed Cosmic Turnabout, give that one a 5

Anagram posted...

She doesn't get charged in AA3, does she?

She doesn't get arrested in T&T, but she does get accused of killing her mother by Dahlia in 3-5, so I guess the streak could be getting accused of murder instead...!

Anagram posted...

She doesn't get charged in AA3, does she?

Second half of 3-5!

https://youtu.be/pPDiOs2LOLs?si=HR4zgmX_IY_mBHmh

Such a good OST

8.5

Liked this one more than I expected, which tbh I could say about the entire game. I guess I still love Layton a lot too.

Having been through Robin Newman (and kind of I guess Adrian Andrews) I saw the Jean Greyerl gender twist pretty early on, but I ain't mad. As for her not actually killing Belduke, I admit that got me a little! She's one of the best new characters introduced, with a really strong emotional story. I never fully bought Kira as sympathetic (though of course I disagree greatly with the execution method too) but Jean? She's amazing.

I had a paragraph half typed up about how I wasn't sure about Luke's writing during this trial, but in hindsight I think he is a good representation of the Storyteller's power of suggestion and manipulation and makes him seem all the more sinister. Really wish he wouldn't slam the desk so loudly though lmao

The other witnesses are hit or miss. Fucking Emeer returns and I can't even be mad. He's such a legend. The kind of stupid/annoying witness I can get behind. Did not like Birdly though. He drags the trial down with his singing a little too much. I'm usually a completionist with pressing statements, but not today bitch. (Cracker can stay though) The rest are all fine enough!

Luke and Espella turning the Layton statue so it matches Wright's point is A++++

And holy shit they really totally murdered Maya and Layton on screen. Okay, they're actually FINE, but tell the characters that. This concerns the events between this and L-4 too but seeing Layton and Wright be surrogate mentor dads to their respective assistants is just so..... so good .... These characters play off each other well.

Jean Grey and Earl Grey

The rare double name pun

10/10 best non-finale case in the series. Might as well be PvL's finale case. I like how it did a bunch of tropes like gender reveal, malicious witness testimony from a sidekick who genuinely thought your defendant did it, and culprit not actually killing the victim before DD did (although it came out after DD internationally)