Finished the first case. Took me a while, because the game is prone to freezing and crashing on me. No idea what's causing it. I verified the integrity of my files and tried a part where it hiccuped last time and it just straight up closed the game. Tried again and it never even stuttered. I guess I'll just be saving every few minutes in case it comes up more.
Anyway, enough about that, here's my thoughts:
The lack of animation is throwing me off more than I expected it to. Aria having one frame of holding her cane, and the next being on the floor as a clunk plays out feels like it should be enough to convey what's happening, but I can't deny that I really miss the fluidity of Klavier slamming the wall behind him and Simon peeking back at the defense with a smirk.
The contradictions are really gratifying to point out. Even though it was just an introduction, it felt like the game didn't want to hold my hand and point out what I should be looking into. It was still really simple stuff, and I never had to think about what I needed to do, but the fact that it trusted me with, like, 20 pieces of evidence in the first case is a good sign.
I'm OK with the magic stuff. I assume the emotion stuff will come into play more in the future. I get a Wright vs Layton feel from how the magic stuff is handled in court. Everyone still has a good head on their shoulders to know what you're talking about when bringing up inconsistencies in magic. I do think it's funny that it's well documented that this light up the room spell can only work for EXACTLY 15 feet.
The character design is awesome. I love the amount of detail put into everyone. Also, god damn, it isn't just Ruby, why is everyone in this game so hot?!
I really love the tone and atmosphere the game sets. It's strictly better than the AA series in the way it handles court proceedings. They specifically point out that, yeah, we've gotten to the point that you've basically proven your client is innocent, but the people get paranoid when someone gets killed with magic, and they're going to want justice. The whole system is set up so that they can prolong the process and keep you detained for as long as they want, and that's basically as bad as being found guilty. So you still have all the motivation to find the true culprit without it seeming so stupid and ridiculous. And the main character having a vendetta on this particular process makes perfect sense and lets you relate to him easier. It's extremely smart.