Board 8 > Rate the Ace Attorney case: Turnabout Goodbyes (1-4)

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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.

Previous Results:

Turnabout Samurai (1-3) - 7.6 (25 votes)
Turnabout Sisters (1-2) - 5.7 (21 votes)
The First Turnabout (1-1) - 4.8 (23 votes)

Lots of praise for 1-3 being the first true case of the series, while also providing some big characterization moments. The relative simplicity compared to other cases and the meandering investigations keep it from the 8/10 tier, though. People generally liked Vasquez, too.

Summary:

Phoenix takes on the most unlikely of clients--his own rival, Miles Edgeworth. Can rookie lawyer Phoenix Wright take down Manfred von Karma, the genius prosecutor with a 40 year perfect record?

Main Characters: Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, Mia Fey, Dick Gumshoe, Miles Edgeworth, Manfred von Karma, The Judge
Other Characters: Robert Hammond, Marvin Grossberg, Lotta Hart, Larry Butz, Yanni Yogi, Polly, Gregory Edgeworth, Misty Fey

My rating: 10/10. Easily a top 5 case. This case does feel like it makes the most use of the 3-day system while not feeling too long. DL-6 is still probably my favorite cold case in the series. I also really love the classroom trial flashback.

10, probably the case with the best trial segments.

10/10

Still one of my three favorite cases. Don't know what I can say about it that hasn't already been said, but von Karma is still the standard for a "final boss" for the series. Plus, Phoenix and Edgeworth are both great.

7.3/10

I just don't hold Von Karma in as high regards as most other players. His motivations just don't make sense to me fundamentally. He jumps through extreme hoops through 80% of the trial, but as soon as the third day comes around, he just kinda gives up? He's super willing to fall back on convicting Edgeworth of DL-6 and that's it. Why? He got so upset that he won a case with an asterisk that he murdered a man.

I know the AA universe's views of legal cases is totally fucked up, but surely even if Edgeworth was charged with murdering his dad, having Yogi admit to the Christmas killing wouldn't be considered a full win, especially in his warped view of perfection. And he just.... lets it happen. For once, I share Phoenix's shock at something his opponent does to let him win.

I also have a major issue with the reveal of the mastermind behind the plot. It's just a throwaway line and then "wait yeah that IS him!" Same reason I don't like how he's revealed as the perpetrator of DL-6, too. Maya basically spells it out for you without letting you think about it yourself, and then when Mia gets involved, Phoenix just kinda rambles on his own to figure it out. I don't know how you change any of these three plot points to get the player more involved, but I just don't like how any of them are handled, and it's three of the most important moments in the game.

I have a lot of other minor quibbles I won't get into, since they're not all that important, but it just kinda irks me to the point that this finale case that has just so much going for it could be even better.

You've got the parrot in the shack talking about DL-6, the parrot being cross-examined in court, the guilty verdict being rescinded, and the Maya outburst at Lotta. Then the final evidence presentation is easily my favorite in the entire series. There's a ton to like here, but it still annoys me.

9/10

I mean, where else can it go?

7/10

Good, but with some not-as-good as well. Von Karma is frequently ridiculous and incredulous, and there's plenty of background stuff that's over the top or silly enough to simply not work for me.

von Karma being ridiculous and incredulous is what makes him such a great villain

The man is insane, intimidating, and hilarious, all at the same time

8.5/10. Really great but there are better cases.

9.5/10

7

8.5

Not a huge fan of von Karma, but the case was good.

9.7

I remember being shocked about the true DL-6 killer, haha... I had very little experience with mysteries at the time!

Also, the Edgeworth "Objection!" in this case is the best objection in the series.

10/10

10/10

yep that's a 10

9/10 Great final case and really strong central characters, but the supporting cast are just kinda meh.

9.5

9/10

There's only two cases I'm gonna give a 10/10 to and this ain't it

It is good though, like 1-3 it's just got so much iconic AA stuff in it and while some aspects of the mystery don't make a ton of sense (von Karma's motivations are weird, the thing about Misty Fey being disgraced makes NO sense) but the character beats are flawless and that's what really counts here.

9

Yeah, 9. Great case but not one I'd put in the 10 tier

10

MrSmartGuy posted...

I have a lot of other minor quibbles I won't get into, since they're not all that important, but it just kinda irks me to the point that this finale case that has just so much going for it could be even better.

every finale case has at least as many flaws as this one

10/10

the thing about Misty Fey being disgraced makes NO sense

I'm curious if anyone has ever come up with an explanation for how this plot point makes sense, because I want to force my head-canon of it to make sense so that I can stop being annoyed by how dumb it is every time I replay the game

We are told that she became a laughingstock and got the police accused of fraud because she "got the killer wrong", even though the courts did agree they were the killer and only got off due to insanity plea or whatever. My best attempt at this is to say, well, since the trial was top secret, maybe the public never knew about the insanity thing, they only knew the Not Guilty verdict...? But that doesn't make much sense.

Nevermind that Grossberg tells us in 1-2 that "the case is still unsolved to this day". ??????????? I don't see how there can be any excuse for that one.

It's fucking wild, like, in a normal story the spirit medium would be disgraced because she couldn't spirit channel (for some reason) and everyone thought she was a fraud and that spirit channeling was fake, but no, the spirit channeling WORKED, they DID talk to the victim, but the victim's information wasn't able to solve the murder, and NOT EVEN because he didn't know, because everyone believed him about Yanni Yogi being the killer anyway, but because they were able to get Yanni Yogi off on an insanity plea? THAT'S why she's disgraced? it makes NO FUCKING SENSE

My favorite part of DL-6 is that Gregory Edgeworth's ghost lied and said Yanni Yogi shot him because he believed his son did it.

(Another wild thing about 1-4 is the whole "accidental murder is still murder" angle on that one)

I set my ATM card's number to "0001" because I'm number one!

For what it's worth, Edgeworth (the one most closely connected to DL-6) firmly believes Misty Fey was a fraud, so I guess it's still somehow the common perception of her.

Also people who believe in spirit channeling seem to think it's flawless, as we also see in SoJ, so I guess finding out it's not as flawless as they thought was the problem...? I dunno.

Phoenix calmly reading the DL-6 case file during the recess right after Edgeworth has confessed to the crime might be low key one of his baddest moments.

10

Leonhart4 posted...

My favorite part of DL-6 is that Gregory Edgeworth's ghost lied and said Yanni Yogi shot him because he believed his son did it.

(Another wild thing about 1-4 is the whole "accidental murder is still murder" angle on that one)

Tbf that's just von Karma's interpretation. In reality, unless Gregory actually passed out at the very moment Miles fired the shot, he has every reason to assume Yanni shot him. Now maybe intentionally he left out that Miles did fire the gun first, but even that is uncertain.

If he passed out around the time Miles threw the gun, then he could've believed that's what happened.

It's more fun to think that's how it happened anyway.

I'll grant you that.

7.5

Von Karma is actually the weak point of this case. He feels less effective as a prosecutor than Edgeworth for me. I think in a different position in the cases like as the prosecutor in a T&T or JFA case after Francisca or Godot he might work better but he's supposed to have this aura and for me it just doesn't work too well

Story is good though. Interesting part of the lore. It's not bad just not a top case for me.

10

Leonhart4 posted...

Phoenix calmly reading the DL-6 case file during the recess right after Edgeworth has confessed to the crime might be low key one of his baddest moments.

It's my favorite Phoenix moment. Like, it's the defining moment of Phoenix's entire character for me.