LogFAQs > #957204409

The Summation Examination begins, and it's off to the races. Apparently we're supposed to pit the jurors against each other, which makes sense, but also seems horribly unfair if the jurors draw the same incorrect conclusion as each other. Nonetheless, two of them have a disagreement about the fare collected (I never once heard 20 pence being mentioned up til this point), while two more disagree on how the victim was stabbed. (This latter point seemed like an obvious hole in the trial; stabbing someone on the floor, as Beppo the Driver first suggested, totally seemed at odds with the crime scene.)

It's a pretty cool gimmick, honestly, and it does happen to work - the trial is forced to resume, and our boy van Zieks crushes his chalice in disgust. (Later, he does throw his chalice to make a point. Dracula vibes continue.)

This time, we're able to press the witnesses without any sort of shenanigans from the jury, who have lost faith in the witnesses. We quickly find out that, unfortunately, the fare is a dead end - the extra money there is due to Beppo, the driver, giving himself a little late night bonus. (No sympathy is shown from Ryunosuke over this; I dislike Beppo as well for giving us shit in the trial, but he seems hypothermic and is working a very physically demanding job - why is Nina Pavlova treated iwth more sympathy than this?!)

Which doesn't mean there's no headway made at all. Turns out Fairplay has been deliberately lying (and we're able to present that he's in debt to the defendant, putting him on the defensive); Furst missed the moment of the murder and only saw the body after the fact; and Beppo didn't see anything at all (lol). We're also able to press Fairplay on a point where he claims that he (and Furst!) both saw the killer with blood on both hands. This is completely at odds with our evidence indicating that blood was only on the right hand of McGilded. This leads us to point to a blind spot in the witnesses' viewpoint of the inner carriage: the back seat, under the witnesses.

In short, we speculate that the person sitting next to the victim was not the defendant at all.

This leads to an absolute uproar, really giving us a chance at a turnabout. But van Zieks quickly points out that what doesn't make sense is how McGilded could be unaware of a person sitting right across from him. McGilded is summoned back to the stand, where he says that he was covering up for some street urchin (?!) and claims she is in the courtroom... and then smoke grenades interrupt the trial. Bleh, this is probably the worst development so far in a pretty awesome case.

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* This game continues the later-AA trend of theatricality. I actually think I like it more in GAA than in some of the others; Ryunosuke pacing around during the Summation Examination is a great example of it done right. But the whole "scales of fire" thing is just a step too stupid for me.

* Furst points out apropos of nothing that he notices hats as a hatter. When pressed on which type of hat it was, he notes... "I forget." Ryunosuke rightly bemoans and you call yourself a hatter...

* Two more double-slaps from Naruhodo this little segment. One of my favorite animations of the game.

* During the Summation Examination, Ryunosuke develops a one-handed desk-pound. He's evolving.

* That one juror with the knife fetish is skeeving me out, and I don't think I'm the only one bothered by it.

* The trolley has Phoenix Wright on it, which might be a little too obvious as an easter egg, but is still enjoyable.
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness