Board 8 > Yet another Great Ace Attorney Playthough topic (spoilers as I go)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I wonder how Shamspeare thought he got poisoned. Based on Soseki's account, Shamspeare drank the tea right from the start so Shamspeare would have known it wasn't poisoned. Especially if he never drank any tea around 1am. So he likely knew Soseki was innocent from the start. But if it wasn't Soseki, Shamspeare would have to conclude he had no idea how he almost died. Although since this is Shamspeare, maybe he just wasn't think about that at all.

In regards to Soseki and Shamspeare. It's a bit a of shame regarding the whole murder thing. It seems like they might of gotten along pretty well otherwise and both of them could have used a friend. Shamspeare inviting Soseki to his room wasn't a trap or anything since Shamspeare had no idea about the poison at the time. I mean, he then tried to kill Soseki shortly afterwards but business is business. >_>
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He probably honestly had no idea how it happened, but he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to get rid of Soseki if he could.

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I mean, he had no other visitors that night, so the suspicion would naturally fall on Soseki as it is. But his greed would ensure he wasn't open to any alternative theories.

Of course, even if he connected the dots to the poison kicking in shortly after blowing on the gas pipe to try to kill Soseki, he can't exactly be forthcoming to the authorities about it. And he'd likely conclude that Soseki was the one to poison the pipes since he had already tried the trick before.

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Yeah, I still think he'd suspect Soseki, since Soseki was the only other person that Shamspeare knew was in his room, and it didn't seem like Shamspeare was aware of Duncan's trick to pick the lock.

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Team Rocket Elite posted...

If Shamspeare was innocent, nothing would happen until Metermann tries to blow into the gas pipe someday down the line

Oh yeah, I forgot about this. Metermann would likely not have been affected by it since as Van Zieks said, strychnine evaporates within a few days so it would be gone by the time a gas work company goes to check it. The length it took for Shamspeare to try his trick again is likely why he was able to survive.
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I guess that's true. Van Zieks was a bit vague on how quickly it evaporate but it had only been 2.5 days since Shamspeare had been poisoned so it can be inferred it doesn't take that long.
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Case G2-3

We get an opening cutscene about the Great Exhibition and it sounds like some sort of catastrophe occurs that damages the Crystal Tower in Hyde Park. We get another cutscene where a teleporting machine is being demoed?! Ancient London sure has some advanced technology. Except it starts smoking and the scientist near it starts panicking so maybe they still need to work on it.

It's October now. The Great Exhibition is going on right now. Ryunosuke has been banned from court for six months now due to the events of G1-3 being found out during G1-5. I thought it was due to playing government secrets in the middle of court but I guess not! Ryunosuke wants to go ask Stronghart for permission to stand in court again. Sholmes gives Ryunosuke a newspaper and it says: "The Reaper Attacked". Woah, apparently Van Zieks got attacked by people armed with guns. I hope he's okay. The newspaper doesn't say so we also need to go ask Stronghart about this.

Ryunosuke and Iris head off to meet Stronghart. Stronghart has been keeping tabs on Ryunosuke so he's okay with Ryunosuke standing in court again. Naturally, he also has a case for us. There was an accident at the Great Exhibition yesterday where an explosion ended up killing Odie Asman. The person in charge of the experiment was Albert Harebrayne and he is now being charged with murder. We also find out Van Zieks is okay. He was attacked because Asman's underlings believe Van Zieks was responsible for the curse that killed Asman. Asman was doing shady underworld stuff on top of his investor work.

Next up we check in with Van Zieks himself at his office. He's also there with his apprentice. Iris mentions that Van Zieks's apprentice is sitting in an odd way. It's a bit hard to tell due to the cloak, but is he sitting seiza-style? That could be a hint that the person is Japanese. I'm not really sure what other cultures have people who sit like that. Van Zieks is really nice guy. Ryunosuke and Iris are clearly here to mess with things in his office and troll him but he doesn't have us thrown out. He must be desperate for company. >_> Ryunosuke mentions he is going to defend Harebrayne and we find out that Van Zieks is friends with Harebrayne and also the prosecutor for the case. Is that allowed? Seems like a big conflict of interest to me. Van Zieks's apprentice shows up and he is wearing a mask. Wouldn't it be crazy if this was somehow Kazuma who faked his own death? I can't think of another reason for someone to hide their face. Ryunosuke says it doesn't feel like his first encounter with the apprentice. Wait, that's not actually Kazuma is it? It really sounds like Kazuma since the apprentice is also an accomplished fighter. It turns out Van Zieks doesn't know who the apprentice is either. That's all Van Zieks has to say so it is time to meet the client.

Harebrayne seems cool. Scientifically speaking, of course. He claims the experiment yesterday, with the explosion, was a success. It was? He also says he has no idea why the accident is being treated as a murder case. It turns out Asman was the one who was funding the demo of the teleporting machine to begin with so there's no motive. Harebrayne also mentions he hasn't met Van Zieks since graduation and only heard a rumor that some big event caused Van Zieks to change.

Next we head to the Great Exhibition to see what we can find there. We meet Gina there! Oh, and Gregon as well. Due to G1-5, Gregson was off duty until recently. But, he's back since in the AA world everything except murder just gets you a slap on the wrist. Gina is now an apprentice Scotland Yard detective. While looking around the site of the explosion, we find a burnt piece of canvas and a bowgun of all things. We talk with Gina. She spent some time in prison but is out now and an apprentice detective because everything except murder just gets you a slap on the wrist. The fact that Gina is here means that she has escaped the Reaper's curse just like Soseki. Supposedly everyone else who got a Not Guilty on Van Zieks is dead. Gina tells us that the victim seemingly teleported from the experiment platform to the Crystal Tower. So the experiment was a success except he didn't survive. Human is dead, mismatch. Gina says that Ryunosuke isn't allowed to investigate the platform and in fact neither is Scotland Yard. Apparently only the Forensic Investigation Team is allowed to investigate. We go up anyways. Gregson is here and we find a screwdriver but that's it since we can't look at things in detail. Also, the Forensic Investigation Team arrives so we have to leave.

On Iris's suggestion we head to Madame Tusspells to look for Sholmes who might have more information on Van Zieks' background. We do find Sholmes and bring him up to speed about what is going on. Esmeralda Tusspells also shows up. She's the owner of the museum and hired Sholmes to be a temporary sculpture. There is apparently a problem with the Tusspells Special Exhibit. There's supposed to be a waxwork of a famed killer but it isn't here and there's a human laying on his back unconscious. It's time for a Great Deduction!

Sholmes claims that the waxwork killer was sold for 200 Pounds. We adjust this to being it was stolen and the ransom demand is for 200 Pounds. This segways into who the famed killer was. It was of a famous killer known as the Professor. 10 years ago the Professor went around killing 5 people including nobles and royalty. His fifth victim was Klint van Zieks, the older brother of Barok van Zieks. Maybe Klint is the name of the person in the painting in Van Zieks's office? The murder of his brother is seemingly what caused Van Zikes to change. I wonder if this Professor person is Japanese and was the person Van Zieks felt betrayed him.

We get one more cutscene of Van Zieks talking with Harebrayne. Van Zieks confirms to Harebrayne that he will be the prosecutor for the case and that Van Zieks still considers Harebrayne to be a friend. I'm not sure why Van Zieks is allowed to prosecute this case but it definitely seems like there's going to be a weird dynamic in court because of it. I wonder if Van Zieks currently thinks Harebrayne committed murder or not. Right now we have like no information on what happened or why it is thought to be a murder.

Investigation Part 1 End.

We learn a lot of backstory going around but not much about the case itself. Does Ryunosuke believe in the Reaper's curse? It's definitely suspicious that people keep dying. But, Ryunosuke should at least know that Graydon was the one who killed McGilded. He also knows that Gina and Soseki are still alive. I suspect the curse really is just coincidence. Teleportation doesn't exist so I suspect some wax model shenanigans there. But, I believe the cutscene showed Asman walking around so a wax model doesn't explain everything. Not that I really have any info about what went on. There's no way the apprentice is really Kazuma, is there? But who else could it even be?
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G2-3 hype

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We're in the lobby just before the trial and Sholmes woke up early to meet us along with Iris. Sholmes has to head off to deal with the ransom case at Tusspells but he does give us some advice. He tells us that a teleporting device is impossible and Iris backs him up on this. Even in ancient London, it can't be done. I didn't expect the teleporting device to be real but it is interesting how the case won't even pretend it is possible. Iris is heading off as well. So no assistant this time? Although, Susato's profile has been suspiciously present since the start of the case. With that, the Bailiff calls us in.

It's time to meet the jury! In order they are a man in a light brown suit, a woman in a pink dress, a magician, a man holding a flask, a young lady eating corn and the police officer who was sleeping at Tusspells. All new faces this time except No. 6 but we barely know him so he might as well be new. The incident took place shortly after the Great Exhibition opened. I thought the posters in February said it was opening in 6 months? I guess it opened late. Juror No. 4 is of the Royal Society which seems to be a science organization of some sort and he also says teleportation is impossible. Van Zieks says the teleportation machine's demo was a success?! I did not expect that! He also claims this is murder. I have not a clue if he believes that or is just doing his job which he explicitly volunteered for. At the very least the conflict of interest doesn't seem to be a problem.

The first witnesses are Harebrayne and Gregson. Gregson says that Asman was stabbed in the heart first before he later broke his neck and that's why this is murder. The only one who could have stabbed him is Harebrayne while on the stage before the bird cage was teleported. The bird cage was then teleported too high and fell down on to the Crystal Tower. Van Zieks presents the screwdriver we found as the murder weapon and Harebrayne helpfully says that it is his screwdriver, Andrew. Lovely. Harebrayne tries to defend himself by saying there would be blood spray everywhere if he stabbed Asman on the stage. Gregson counters back by saying this can be avoided by leaving the screwdriver in the victim. Ryunosuke counters that by saying the screwdriver was found at the platform and not with the victim's body.

Ryunosuke reads my mind here. I've been thinking "Why are we doing this? Teleportation is impossible". Ryunosuke comes out and thinks it. All current arguments are based around an impossible event somehow actually happening. Ryunosuke is going on the offensive here and Harebrayne stops him?! The teleporter can't teleport metal so there's no contradiction that Andrew was left behind. Thanks for that Harebrayne. >_> But this is still a problem because Asman was wearing glasses with metal frames. Ryunosuke pushes to claim that the teleportation never happened and Asman could have been killed somewhere other than the stage. Van Zieks defends his friend and claims that even if it seems absurd, the demo clearly worked and teleported Asman to the Crystal Tower. This means only Harebrayne could have killed Asman. Such a good friend. >_> We go to a 20 min recess as new witnesses are called in.

Harebrayne is unhappy with Ryunosuke poking holes in his hypothesis. He really does believe the machine is real. But, he didn't build the machine right? The engineer who built it could have made changes to the design. The Bailiff calls us back in so it was a short break!

One of the new witnesses is a police detective. So it looks like Gina will be testifying again. "The testimony we are about to hear can be considered highly reliable". That's true. Gina would never lie to us except that time she did that landed her in jail. <_< The witnesses are Balthazar Lune, Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond Ormstein and Gina Lestrade. Lune runs the hot air balloons in the area of the stage while Gotts is a spectator from Bohemia. Inspector Lestrade is a famous detective from Scotland Yard who has helped solve numerous cases. Gotts and Gina were in a balloon watching the stage at the time of the explosion. Gina mentions a second explosion which prompts Van Zieks to go over the timeline in more detail.

When the machine was turned on, the first explosion happened and caused the machine to aim too high. After that, the bird cage on stage disappeared. Right after that there was a second explosion (right on top of a hot balloon icon) right beside Gina's balloon. Out of that explosion, a bird cage appeared in mid air and fell down on the Crystal Tower. The arrow drawn makes it look like the cage fell out of a balloon. I wonder if the game is trying to tell me something. One thing I noticed was that even this far into the trial we've seen 0 jury votes. I'm really curious what might cause Juror No. 4 to vote guilty since he thinks teleportation is nonsense and that's what the prosecution's case is built on.

Gina says that the bird cage fell out of the second explosion. I'm guessing that was the green hot air balloon exploding and dropping the cage. But wouldn't Lune know a balloon blew up? Lune says that all of his balloons are accounted for so it looks like there was a 4th balloon out there. Gotts claims that there was a green balloon in the sky at the location of the second explosion so it looks like I'm on the right track. Or not, since I lose a bunch of health here trying to figure out what to do next. It turns out, I needed to present the green cloth to Lune's statement that the balloons were undamaged. That was a bit tricky. Usually you present to the statement uncovered by pressing.

Van Zieks is still trying to claim the teleportation machine is real. I wonder if that's his odd way of supporting his friend even at the cost of his friend's life. He claims there just happened to be a balloon at the end point of the teleportation which caused it to explode. Apparently these are Hydrogen balloons and not hot air balloons. Why are people allowed to ride in Hydrogen balloons? Lune is adamant that there was no exploding green balloon since none of his balloons are green. Gotts is unhappy with Lune claiming he was mistaken about the green balloon so he busts out a black and white picture as evidence. As luck would have it, the photo captured a very crucial moment. It caught a picture of a flaming arrow shooting down the balloon!

It is finally time to expose the magic behind the trick. Ryunosuke says the birdcage was hidden inside the green balloon the whole time. On stage the birdcage disappeared in a cloud of smoke due to the explosion. Afterwards, the crossbow fired an arrow causing the green balloon to explode. The second bird cage appeared from the explosion and fell on to the Crystal Tower. Van Zieks wants to know how the victim went from the stage to the Crystal Tower in this case. Juror No. 3, the magician, steps in. He says this can work if the person on stage was a body double for Asman. Juror No. 4 also backs us up here saying the science checks out. The teleportation never happened so Harebrayne could not stab Asman on stage.

Things are going pretty well aren't they? So, Harebrayne decides to put a stop to it. Harebrayne confesses to stabbing Asman. What?! I have no words for this. That's obviously a false confession but he's willing to bet everything on his teleporting machine. He absolutely refuses to allow his machine to be examined. Van Zieks asks what the defense's position is. If Ryunosuke says the machine is fake, it can be examined and the secrets revealed. If Ryunosuke says the machine is real, it will be protected but Harebrayne will likely be charged with murder. The game asks me to decide. Is the magic teleporting machine real or is it a trick?

Trick. Harebrayne said before that science is also here in pursuit of the truth. Looking away is not the answer. But, Ryunosuke can't get the words out.

"'What must I give up on?' is not the question you have to ask yourself here. It's 'What can I protect?'"

Hello Susato. It's been a long time. Ryunosuke also realizes what he needs to do. He tells Harebrayne that they are both in the profession of finding the truth and that's what they must pursue here. Van Zieks says Harebrayne can't avoid the issue any longer and should have something to say. This gets Harebrayne to remember something he saw. Just before the experiment started, he saw the engineer who built the machine holding a crossbow. His name is Enoch Drebber so still no A. Shin. Juror No. 3 and No. 4 recognize the name as being a infamous con artist who is both a magician and an engineer. Harebrayne is finally coming around to the idea that he was tricked and the machine is a fake.

Harebrayne opposed examining the machine because he didn't want the secret of his hypothesis to be reve

There's a unique animation that only plays if you had pursued Harebrayne when he wasn't speaking during the first trial section.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AceAttorney/comments/pq7uhx/gaa_23_defendants_unique_animation/
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There's a unique animation that only plays if you had pursued Harebrayne when he wasn't speaking during the first trial section.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AceAttorney/comments/pq7uhx/gaa_23_defendants_unique_animation/

Also the moment Harebrayne confesses to the murder is a pretty powerful moment.
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van Zieks was definitely trying to protect the invention as a show of friendship. I can't imagine he actually believes teleportation is real.

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We're back at Naruhodo's Legal Consultancy and Susato dumps a bunch of info on us. "The Hound of Baskervilles" was something she saw on the side of a box of papers in Mikotoba's study. Mikotoba was the one to tell her not to tell anyone else about it. She didn't even know it was a Sholmes story and just happened to mention the title when Iris brought up Baskerville. Soseki included a picture of a collar with the B on it in his report. This is what freaked out Mikotoba but once again Susato doesn't really know why. Mikotoba and Jigoku are arriving next month for the International Forensic Science Symposium. Jezaille Brett was apparently a fake name. Her real name was A. Shinn. So, we have the fourth name! Three of them are currently dead... Or not? Menimemo says that Kazuma's body disappeared and never made it to Hong Kong. Well that's that. The apprentice is Kazuma for some crazy reason. Maybe the reason is related to why many G1-2 characters didn't show up in the credits of the first game. If Kazuma is alive, Sholmes should have known since he checked Kazuma's body. So a lot of interesting stuff but none of it really seems to be related to the current case. We've got a trial tomorrow so we're off to investigate!

First up is meeting Stronghart at the Lord Chief Justice's Office. Here we meet a woman who is eventually introduced as Courtney Sithe. She's the chief coroner and I recognize her name from the autopsy report. She's also the head of Stronghart's Forensic Investigation Team. It turns out Stronghart, Mikotoba and Jigoku all know each other. Mikotoba likely knew Sithe as well. It feels like almost all of the older reoccurring characters seem to know each other one way or another. Mikotoba ultimately left London 10 years ago. I wonder if that's related to the major events from 10 years ago we keep hearing about. Not much help for the current case here either but we do finally get permission to examine the machine on the experimentation stage.

Before we go there, we catch up with Harebrayne at prison. I end up getting my answer about Van Zieks. Harebrayne is of the opinion that Van Zieks really did believe in his work and it wasn't just an angle he was using as part of prosecuting the case. He's a good friend except for the whole murder accusation thing but no one is perfect. Finally, Harebrayne mentions that Drebber has a workshop that uses special oil with a unique scent and conveniently he has Drebber's business card with a small sample of that oil. That's all for here.

We meet up with Gina and Gregson at the experiment stage. Gregson is getting transferred to France and wants to take Gina with him. That's too bad. I'll miss her. Although, she was kinda useless during the previous trial. >_> We talk with Gina and she now has a dog named Toby. As luck would have it, Toby is good at tracking scents and we have a sample of a unique smell that is associated with Drebber's workshop. I'm not really sure this should really work but Gina takes Toby and the business card to try and track down the workshop.

We head on top of the experiment stage and finally get to look around. Unexpectedly, Van Zieks is here. We bring up the suggestion that Klint was killed by the Professor and Van Zieks replies that our research skills are lacking. That's interesting. Does that mean Klint wasn't killed by the Professor? I guess we still don't know the Professor's name so there's still a lot we don't know. Van Zieks's apprentice is also here. I was wondering if he was but I didn't see him before. As the apprentice tries to leave, Susato calls out to him. "Kazuma-sama!". I guess the game is done just dropping hints! I really wonder where this is going. The thing with Pavlova in G1-2 was an accident, right? Was Kazuma always planning to fake his own death? That seems unlikely so how did things end up like this? The apprentice runs off anyways but Van Zieks gives up a bit more info. The apprentice was first assigned to him about 3 months ago and the apprentice currently has amnesia. He will also be showing up in trial tomorrow as a judicial assistant for the prosecution! That's definitely something to look forward to. The Forensic Investigation Team is arriving soon so we need to leave.

I try to go to Tusspells next but Sholmes isn't there for some reason so onward to the Forensics Laboratory! We were supposed to meet with Sithe for an update on her findings about the case. While we wait for her, we snoop around and find out that the Forensic Investigation Team is cooking their books with fake purchases for some reason. When Sithe arrives, she shoots down one of our theories from the trial. Based on fingerprint data, the Asman on stage and the Asman found dead on the Crystal Tower are the exact same person. There is no body double. That's a twist I was not expecting. Teleportation doesn't exist so we need to find another way for Asman to get from the stage to the Crystal Tower. You know, I said Gina was useless before but, she explicitly said she didn't see what was inside the bird cage at the time it came crashing down. So, maybe it fell down while empty then somehow Asman was killed and put in the bird cage. Gina also said no one went to the bird cage before the police arrived. But, this still works out if the police person who arrived wasn't the police but was someone in disguise like what happened with Graydon luring McGilded out. Suddenly another girl wearing a mask shows up. She wants to cut open Ryunosuke and that's our signal to go.

The only other place to go is back to Tusspells to see Sholmes. This time he's here and tells us the waxwork case is largely solved which means it isn't fully solved. What does that mean anyways? I want to go see it but there's no option to do that. Gotta focus on the case first. Apparently Sholmes recognizes Drebber for some reason but won't say why. We also try to ask him about Kazuma and I fell for it. I actually thought Sholmes made a mistake about Kazuma being dead but that wouldn't have really made sense. So it does seem like Sholmes lied to us but he says we'll need to find out the rest during the trial tomorrow. But, no time to ponder that, for the low cost of 5 shllings, it's time to see what the Professor looks like! They've been hyping this up a lot but I'm not really sure what to expect. I'm thinking he might look like Drebber and that's why Sholmes reacted so strongly to seeing a picture of Drebber.

Sholmes conned us! The head of the Professor is missing so we can't tell what he looks like! That's why this case was largely solved and not fully solved. We take a look around a find a shard of glass from the Crystal Tower in the Professor's jacket. So this means the waxwork was used as a fake person in the case somehow but I'm not really sure why. The other waxwork in the room looks like Drebber! So I was only a bit off. Sholmes tells us a bit more about the case from 10 years ago. The Professor used a large dog to attack his victims. Perhaps related to the collar that Selden stole? The Professor was tried in a closed court so his identity was never revealed to the public. After he was killed and buried, Drebber allegedly saw the Professor rise from the grave and that's the scene depicted by the waxwork. But the police say that the Professor's body was exactly where they buried it. Gina now rushes in and tells us Drebber's workshop has been found!

Gregson and Gina are at the workshop but Drebber is nowhere to be seen. After looking around the place, we hear noises from the locked back room. Sholmes helps us unlock the door. The room is a complete mess and there's clearly a bomb in the centre! Why is everyone ignoring the bomb in the room? Apparently everyone except Susato had no idea what a time bomb looked like. Sholmes tells us that it actually isn't a bomb and only looks like one. It's time for another Great Deduction!

Sholmes says that gravity was initially reversed in the room before being restored back to normal. Is this also making fun of a solution from a real Sherlock Holmes story? The time bomb is really an anti-gravity device. Drebber reversed gravity and used that to access the skylight to escape. Well the time bomb clearly isn't an anti-gravity device so does that mean it's a real time bomb? It's time for some corrections! The room is a mess because Drebber was looking for the safe password he wrote under a piece of furniture and he forgot which one. There are shoe prints around because Drebber was trying to pop a balloon by throwing a shoe at it and failed. There might be something in the balloon so we decide to pop it open with the crossbow. Maybe we'll find the Professor's head inside it? It could be in the safe as well. Nope, it's in the balloon! The head is wearing a locked metal helmet so we STILL can't figure out the identity of the Professor. I'm platinum mad. T

Team Rocket Elite posted...

Is this also making fun of a solution from a real Sherlock Holmes story?

no this time it's just him being ridiculous...!

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And nearly got everyone killed doing so! >_>
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Team Rocket Elite posted...

Maybe the reason is related to why many G1-2 characters didn't show up in the credits of the first game.

tbf, both of the G1-2 new characters are culprits and culprits practically never show up in the credits. Graydon was a huge anomaly.
And yeah a lot of things happened in this investigation. One of the more memorable investigations in the series imo.
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Trial Part 3 begins! Just before the trial starts, Gregson brings us the Professor's autopsy report due to a request by Sholmes. I take a quick look through it and it doesn't seem to say much. It'll probably be important in someway anyways, though. We enter the courtroom and, as we were told before, the Apprentice is with Van Zieks this time.

The first witness is also an expected one. Enoch Drebber takes the stand. Drebber claims that all he did was build the machine based on the specifications given to him and that the machine was real. He also brings up that making a trick work would require a body double and Asman didn't have a twin. We know from fingerprint data that the Asman on stage and in the Crystal Tower were the same person. Drebber would have also known this from setting things up which is how he knows to bring it up. So there must be another trick to this. At the very least due to inconsistent damage on the bird cage relative to eyewitness reports, we can show there were likely two different birdcages. One on the experiment stage with Asman in it and one that fell on the Crystal Tower. Then at some point they got switched! I was originally thinking only Asman's body was moved but I guess swapping the entire bird cage works as well.

Drebber wants to point out another issue. If Asman's birdcage didn't fall out of the sky, how did it fall 30 feet? But, that's not really a problem since that's about how high the experimentation stage was so the bird cage just needed to fall to the ground through the hollow stage. The stage is still intact so it can be examined for a hollow area. Can we ask the person who built the stage? That wasn't Drebber, right? Van Zieks points out a problem here. Even if Asman was killed when he fell through the stage that doesn't get him to the Crystal Tower. After the explosion, everything was locked down by the police so Drebber couldn't have switched the birdcages after that. So how did the bird cage go from inside the stage to on top of the Crystal Tower? If Drebber couldn't do it then Ryunosuke says Drebber must have had an accomplice! I have no idea who it could be, though. The game wants me to name the accomplice already?! It's mostly a blind guess but I go with Sithe since that's what the game is hinting at even thought I'm not really sure that makes sense but I don't see anyone else who might work. That's apparently the right answer. Ryunosuke wants to implicate the head of the Forensic Investigation Team as being an accomplice! Let's go! The only way the bird cages could have been switched is after the Forensic Investigation Team gained control of the site. Therefore, they must have helped with it. In the past, I had suspected someone dressed as a police officer messing with the scene, not this! Ryunosuke wants Sithe brought to the stand!

Van Zieks won't have that until we can sort out some other issues. First off, he wants to know what was originally in the bird cage that fell on the Crystal Tower. I'm not entirely sure why that is important. Like let's say it was empty. Would that be a problem since the bird cages will be switched anyways? In any case, it should be the Professor waxwork that was inside it. The one that is apparently in the middle of the courtroom that I never noticed until now. >_> Now Van Zieks wants to know why a wax work that looks nothing like Asman was used for the body double. We run out of answers here. Ryunosuke wants Drebber called up to answer that since Drebber was the one who stole and returned the wax work. Why did Drebber return the waxwork anyways? I guess it doesn't really matter since even if he kept it we would have found it when we raided his workshop. But, he could have destroyed it and that might have worked out better for him. Van Zieks is done with humoring our accusations and calls for the jury to make a decision. And they do. 6 Guilty votes. I had a little hope that No. 3 or No. 4 would hold out but nope. It's summation examination time!

From Juror No. 6 we find out that Sithe's maiden name was Stevens which matches the Professor's autopsy report. So there's a connection between Sithe and the Professor there. We claim this could be why Drebber used a wax work of the Professor and could lead to a link between Sithe and Drebber. This honestly sounds pretty flaky to me but it's enough to get Juror No. 2 and No. 6 to change their vote so the trial can continue. I don't think Juror No. 4 really gave a good answer on why he is voting guilty when he doesn't believe in the all important teleportation step of the prosecution's case. But he is open to more evidence for our case and we present Crystal Tower glass found on the Professor as evidence that he was in the bird cage. That gets No. 4 to change his vote and No. 5 decides to copy him. So that's our 4 Not Guilty votes!

Even so, we still need to work out a number of issues. Like the wax work really doesn't look like Asman so why was it used? Maybe Drebber was using it to blackmail Sithe regarding the true identity of the Professor. But would the waxwork even have an accurate face to begin with? Van Zieks wants to call in Tusspells to answer questions about the Professor waxwork. Can she also unlock the helmet? The court goes on a 45 minute recess to call her in.

During the break we go over how everyone involved in the case seems to be connected to the Professor, except for Harebrayne. Harebrayne confirms he has no idea what is going on and has no connection to the Professor. I think he was also in Germany at the time. Sithe then suddenly shows up. Sithe says the Stronghart has forbidden Van Zieks from calling her in as a witness. Is Stronghart in on the deception was well? I don't think that he is and I'm sure Sithe will get called in anyways. Sithe came to tell us she has no regrets in the way she fights crime. So maybe somehow she was working with Drebber voluntarily and wasn't being blackmailed? With that she leaves. Sholmes is also about to go back to the gallery but gives us one last hint. He said we should pursue to truth to the bitter end.

Trial Part 3 done!

This sure escalated quickly! It sounds like we've mostly figured out the secrets behind the magic trick. Asman fell to his death through the stage. At the same time, the green balloon popped and dropped a second bird cage with the Professor in it on to the Crystal Tower. After that, the Forensic Investigation Team sealed off the area and Sithe rearranged the crime scene.

Even now, we're lacking a lot of information about the Professor case so hopefully we find out more soon.
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Team Rocket Elite posted...

The one that is apparently in the middle of the courtroom that I never noticed until now. >_>

yeah this totally threw me off too, Ryunosuke points and suddenly it's there

instantaneous kinesis is real

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LeonhartFour posted...

yeah this totally threw me off too, Ryunosuke points and suddenly it's there

instantaneous kinesis is real

An attorney's pointer finger can make magic happen.

---

Trial Part 4 starts with Esmeralda Tusspells taking the stand. Also, she does indeed have a key to the mask. But, I still don't really know how the waxwork could have an accurate face since it is supposed to be a secret. Oh, Van Zieks brings this up. The Professor's face isn't public knowledge so the face under the mask can't be real. Tusspells disagrees. Her family only does perfect models. She had a mold taken of the Professor's face just before he was buried to make this happen. That's some dedication!

She also tells us a bit more about the incident where the Professor allegedly rose from the dead. Supposedly, the Professor was shot dead right after it happened. Tusspells is surprisingly willing to admit to performing illegal activities and stealing national secrets. Is she going to be okay? Based on the timing of when Tusspells was handling the body and the progress of rigor mortis we find a contradiction with the Professor's autopsy report. Rigor mortis should kick in 2 to 3 hours after death yet it had not even 4 hours afterwards. Ryunosuke points out that this must mean the Professor's autopsy report was manipulated to have the wrong time of death listed! So, the Professor was seemingly killed and buried but wasn't dead. He came out of his grave and then was shot dead for real. But, why? What's the difference in all this? Why not kill him properly the first time? Finally, Ryunosuke brings up the fact that the witness to the Professor rising again was Drebber. Tusspells confirms this. She explicitly went to meet Drebber 10 years ago to make the waxwork of him.

We have a lot more info now so it is time to get back to the question of why Drebber used the Professor waxwork as the body double. The Professor waxwork could have been used as a warning to Sithe that the culprit knew what she did 10 years ago with the Professor. Ryunosuke wants Sithe called to the stand! Will Van Zieks go for it? Naturally, he does! Sithe finally takes the stand and so does Drebber. Tusspells stays on the stand as well.

Drebber testifies first and he says he'll tell the truth about what he saw that night 10 years ago. The thing is if he really is blackmailing Sithe, he can't give away her secret here. Also, telling the truth could get him hit for murder in the Asman case. Unsurprisingly, Drebber lies and claims he was mistaken about what he saw 10 years ago. He also said that a journalist from the Daily Circus ended up tracking him down somehow and interviewed him. After taking a look at the newspaper again, I see an "O Asman". Apparently everyone is connected! Due to the article, it was found out that Drebber was stealing corpses from the graveyard and he was expelled from university. He also claims the gunshot was made up by the newspaper article. Tusspells disagrees with this. She also interviewed Drebber 10 years ago and Drebber told her about the gunshot. Drebber also told her about the mask and getting sprayed with blood. Drebber is just getting wrecked here by Tusspells. It's hard for him to make up stuff when he already blabbed the truth to her. Also was Drebber covered in blood when he went to the police? Trying to explain that must have been fun. Tusspells even has Drebber's original camera with real blood on it from back then. Drebber just can't catch a break here. Ryunosuke claims Drebber is lying about everything to protect Sithe due to an agreement between the two. Drebber was blackmailing Sithe about the Professor not being executed when he was supposed to and got her to help with switching the bird cages. For Drebber's motive we point out that Asman was the one who wrote the article for the Daily Circus and it would go on to ruin Drebber's life. Drebber motive was revenge!

Drebber looks like he's about the crack but finally Sithe steps in. She's just been standing there the whole time so maybe it's finally time for her to do stuff. Or not? She just folds. I didn't really expect her to do that! She's barely done anything after being called to the stand. Sithe is confessing to helping Drebber with murder to keep her secret from 10 years ago. I'm recalling Sholmes's hint to pursue the truth to the bitter end but where else could there possibly be? Things already look quite bad for Sithe.

The rundown of the crime is that on the day of the explosion, Sithe found the waxwork of the Professor in the Crystal Tower along with a message from Drebber. It contained a threat of blackmail and instructions on how to manipulate the crime scene. So Sithe more or less confirms what Ryunosuke has already found out. Despite the confessions from Sithe, Drebber still holds out on confessing. We want to go after him but the judge brings us back on topic. This is a trial for Harebrayne not Drebber. So if Harebrayne looks to be innocent, we are done. The judge want to end the trial with a not guilty verdict but Ryunosuke objects! He wants one final testimony from Sithe regarding her exact involvement with Drebber.

Sithe says that Asman's body fell through the stage as we expected. But, you know we still don't know why Asman got stabbed. Wasn't falling down good enough to kill him? She made a mostly accurate autopsy report and only changed the location the body was found. Oh, she also explains the stabbing. Sithe explicitly took Andrew beneath the stage and stabbed Asman with it to frame Harebrayne. Except this causes a contradiction with the blood stain on Asman. Asman must have been standing up at the time he was stabbed. Uh oh. That must mean he survived the fall, doesn't it? Ryunosuke then suggests exactly that! How realistic is that anyways? 30ft is quite a long drop. Anyways, this must mean that when Sithe met with Asman he was still alive and Sithe was the one who killed him with the screwdriver! Sithe claims she has no motive to kill Asman. But, didn't she have to if she wanted to protect the secret about the Professor? Like that was the entire reason she was doing any of this, right? Ryunosuke presents her doctored accounting logs as evidence on why she killed Asman. This kinda seems like a big shot in the dark to me! Ryunosuke claims that Asman was blackmailing Sithe for money to keep her secret about the Professor case and that's why Sithe killed him! And that's finally it for Sithe. Drebber also takes the stand again and finally confesses. Although, I'm not entirely sure what's changed about the situation for him to prompt him to do this. He largely admits that we've already figured out everything. After this, Sithe is taken into custody. Both Sithe and Drebber will face trial for their crimes. But for now, Harebrayne gets his Not Guilty!

After the trial Ryunosuke and Susato meet up with Harebrayne to congratulate him on his not guilty. Harebrayne say he plans to look around the Great Exhibition but Van Zieks shows up and says he can't do that. Is he worried about the curse? Harebayne is one of his close friends so he wants him out of the country immediately. Ah, he is worried about the curse. Like everyone else, he has no idea why it happens but it doesn't seem to hit people who have left the country. It's possible that those who are really innocent like Gina and Soseki can avoid the curse but Van Zieks doesn't want to take any chances. More or less it seems like Van Zieks did believe in Harebrayne the whole time and was relying on Ryunosuke to get past his own attacks to get the not guilty verdict. After Harebrayne leaves, Van Zieks says he wants to talk with Ryunosuke in the courtroom.

Van Zieks brings up how he doesn't like Japanese people and seems to want to talk about why. 16 years ago, three students from Japan came to Britain as part of an exchange program. I'm guessing Mikotoba, Jigoku and the Professor? Van Zieks confirms one of then was Mikotoba. At the time, Van Zieks felt like they were very capable people and had a high impression of Japanese people. The six years later, the Professor case happened and Klint was killed. For more context 10 years ago, Britain and Japan were working on an important treaty. This is why the Professor trial was a closed trial. If the Professor's identity was public, it could have damaged treaty negotiations or even lead to war between Britain and Japan. Van Zieks said he borrowed the key to the mask from Tusspells and he unlocks the mask. Van Zieks hasn't exactly been subtle with the hints but we now know for certain the the Professor was Japanese! Although, I was expecting a face I would recognize with how long they were hiding the Professor's face.

Suddenly Kazuma starts yelling and throws off his cloak. He refers to the Professor as "father". So there's the twist! Kazuma also finally takes off his mask confirming that he really is Kazuma. It seems his memories are back as well. So is Kazuma's true goal in Britain to clear his father's name and find the real killer? Kazuma thanks Susa

G2-3 so good

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Case G2-4

This time the opening cutscene hints at a murder at the edge of town that is somehow related to the Professor case. After the cutscene, we have Ryunosuke and Susato meeting up with Mikotoba and Jigoku. Mikotoba says he actually had no idea where Kazuma went after he went missing in Hong Kong. We also get confirmation that Jigoku was the third Japanese transfer student during the Professor case. The symposium is starting tomorrow and that's why Mikotoba and Jigoku are here. We also finally get a name for Kazuma's dad. His name was Genshin Asogi and he was a police detective. I thought he would be a defense attorney and that's why Kazuma was studying to be one but I guess not. Also Kazuma was never actually told that his dad was convicted of being the Professor. So I wonder if Kazuma found out somehow despite how locked down the secret was or if he wasn't actually sure until the mask came off in G2-3. Mikotoba also reveals that he and Jigoku were witnesses during the Professor trial and they tried to defend Genshin but it didn't work out. That's all the time Mikotoba and Jigoku have to talk since they want to check into their rooms now.

We can go exploring now so we head off to the Sholmes's suite and Gina is here arresting two people? I wonder what that was about. Sholmes also has bright red hair for some reason. This is apparently his solution to figuring out the rent for the month because he squandered the money he got from Tusspells already. Since we know Kazuma is alive, we can finally grill Sholmes about lying to us. He admits he did help fake Kazuma's death but also had no idea what happened after Kazuma disappeared in Hong Kong. But, it seems like he still can't tell us why he did all this.

Next place to visit is to go meet up with Stronghart. Van Zieks is here as well but not for long since he needs to head off to take care of a meeting. The Symposium is beginning tomorrow which will help Stronghart's goal of getting forensic science accepted during police investigations. Like fingerprints aren't accepted during court although I recall Van Zieks using fingerprint evidence anyways during G2-3. We also ask him how Kazuma ended up as Van Zieks's apprentice. It turns out Kazuma stowed away on a ship to get to London. Stronghart assigned him to Van Zieks to keep an eye on Kazuma. That's seems like an odd action to take since Stronghart suggests he didn't know it was Kazuma at the time. Even more odd is making Kazuma wear a mask. One last thing Stronghart has to say to us is how most of the Professor's victims 10 years ago were considered a blight on society. I assume Klint is not included in that. That gets Susato to point out a parallel to the modern day Reaper who goes after criminals who have evaded justice.

It turns out I missed something back at Sholmes's place so we head back. We find an article about the Red-Headed League who seemed to be looking for some one to give money to just for having red hair? I guess that's what Sholmes was after but he botched things so didn't even make it to the interview. That's when Evie Vigil shows up. She was Juror No. 2 from the G2-3 case and wants to hire Sholmes to help look for her missing husband Daley Vigil. Daley Vigil is the chief prison guard at Barclay Prison, the prison connected to Lowgate Cemetery. Everything is connected to the Profesor case! Daley only went missing yesterday but Evie already suspects something might have happened. After that, Evie leaves and Sholmes tosses the case to Ryunosuke so we are off to Barclay!

We head to Barclay and meet the governor Barry Caidin. But, he doesn't want to talk to Ryunosuke since he's Japanese. Fortunately, Mikotoba knew Caidin from 10 years ago and is able to give us a reference letter. Once Caidin sees that and finds out that Susato is Mikotoba's daughter, he changes he tune real fast. It turns out Caidin really liked Mikotoba. We can now ask him about Vigil and he talks about Vigil in the past tense for some reason. Does that mean Vigil left the job or Vigil isn't alive anymore? Caidin said Vigil left the job... ten years ago?! I was expecting something like a month. But, there's that connection to the Professor case again. Vigil was fired after causing a problem with an execution. Caidin can't say if it was the Professor case or not but that in itself gives it away. That's about all Caidin can tell us except he also gives us a copy of Vigil's dismissal notice. Wait, this notice more or less says why Vigil was fired. I thought Caidin couldn't give us this information? It seems like Vigil tried to help the Professor escape before his execution. I guess that's more evidence that Genshin wasn't actually guilty.

With our investigation of Barclay complete, we head back to meet up with Sholmes. When we see him, Sholmes has apparently gone from SSJG to SSJGSSJ since we last met. We're about to update Sholmes on what is happening but Inspector Lestrade comes in and interrupts us. Let me guess, Vigil was found dead? Gina is shaking and crying. Something is very wrong here. She says Gregson is dead. I don't know what to say. I'm completely stunned that they killed off Gregson! You know, after finding out A. Shinn was dead I was kinda worried about Gregson since he was on the list as well. But, I didn't think about it much since Kazuma came back to life. Now Kazuma is somehow the only one of the list who is still alive. Just what is that list? Like Kazuma was assigned Hosonaga as a bodyguard so there really was a belief that someone might try and kill him. Perhaps the accident and faking his death actually saved his life in the end. Gregson was apparently shot in a room on Fresno street far away from where he lived. Gina says the culprit has been captured already. It was the Reaper. Well, that's another bombshell! Van Zieks of all people was arrested for shooting Gregson! When the police arrived on the scene, Van Zieks was the only person in the room with Gregson. After that Gina heads back to the crime scene while Sholmes tells us to follow up with Van Zieks.

At prison we talk with Van Zieks but he also has little idea what happened. He obviously didn't shoot Gregson but won't say why he was in the area either. Van Zieks says in his career only 19 defendants have been acquitted and 16 of them are dead. The three that didn't would be Soseki, Gina and Harebrayne. Harebryane sent a letter saying he safely arrived in Germany. As a result of the curse, no defense attorney will take his case. Ryunosuke offers to be Van Zieks's defense attorney since no other would touch the case but Van Zieks declines the offer. So does he plan to defend himself? Is he allowed to do that? In any case, that's all he is willing to say so next we're off to the crime scene.

Gina is here and is somehow in charge of the crime scene so we get permission to investigate from her. She tells us that no one knows why Gregson was here in the first place. Gina says she got out of jail about 6 months ago. G1-5 was 6.5 months ago. So she got like 2 weeks in jail for perjury and then joined the police after that under Gregson. The room we are in was rented out to Hugh Boone but there's no record of such a person. Susato suggests that Boone might have been an alias for Gregson. We look around the room and find a picture of Evie Vigil for some reason so it looks like this case will connect to that case at some point. We also find a gun that allegedly belonged to Van Zieks, a police figure with an hidden key and a red hair piece. That's an interesting mix of items but doesn't seem to bring us any closer to figuring out who killed Gregson.

For more info about the gun, we go see Stronghart. Kazuma, who was supposed to be missing, is there and it sounds like he just got back from a mission from Stronghart. We find out the Van Zieks's trial is tomorrow and, surprise, Kazuma will be the prosecutor! Kazuma says his memories are back now. It turns out that after losing his memories all he could really remember was he had to go to London so he made his way here. In regards to the gun, Van Zieks was assigned a gun of the same model but claims to have lost it so the gun at the scene could be his. Before we leave, Kazuma stops us. He asks Ryunosuke for a favor. He wants Ryunosuke to be the one defending Van Zieks. So what is he planning? Kazuma gives us a picture of Klint, Van Zieks and Gregson from over 10 years ago and tells us to go meet Van Zieks before visiting hours end. So we do!

Van Zieks tells us a bit more about his backstory. He first became a prosecutor 10 years ago. As an aside, we still don't know why he took a break 5 years ago. My initial prediction was because he got betrayed by a Japanese friend at the time but that was actually the Professor case from 10 years ago. 10 years ago Van Zieks respected Genshin a lot and then was betrayed when the Professor case

This case has some of the best investigations in the series imo.
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Gregson might have been the most legitimately surprising victim reveal to me other than Mia.

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Team Rocket Elite posted...

That must mean he survived the fall, doesn't it? Ryunosuke then suggests exactly that! How realistic is that anyways? 30ft is quite a long drop.

I have just been informed that it is in fact possible to survive a 100ft fall.
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Team Rocket Elite posted...

I have just been informed that it is in fact possible to survive a 100ft fall.

I mean we learned that in 3-5...!

okay it wasn't quite 100 feet

---

Leonhart4 posted...

Gregson might have been the most legitimately surprising victim reveal to me other than Mia.

yeah, when the Vigil subplot was introduced I was like "oh, ok, so he's going to be the victim this time", only for Gregson to totally throw me off guard
he's the recurring detective! you can't do that!!

equally a shock but in a lighter direction was the sudden appearance of blue-haired Sholmes; I legit just had to stop to laugh for a min when I got there. you think the gag has been played out and then, bam

---

Trial Part 1 begins and unlike previous trials this one does not have a jury. Sholmes is here and his hair is back to normal. Here's something I didn't think about until now. What is Sholmes's connection to the Professor case? I don't think we know what he was up to 10 years ago and I get the impression he knows some things about that case that he isn't allowed to share. Gina and Mikotoba are here as well. Mikotoba is here to watch Ryunosuke in action since the Symposium got postponed. After finding out Ryunosuke thinks Van Zieks is innocent, Gina asks him to get the guy who really killed Gregson. So despite how everything looks, Gina is still willing to accept the possibility that Van Zieks is innocent and that justice won't really be done unless the real culprit is caught. With that the bailiff calls us in!

So the jury seats really are empty but there still seem to be member of the public in the gallery. Wait, I'm actually wrong. This is a closed trial. The people in the gallery are restricted to members of the judiciary. So are Mikotoba and Sholmes in the gallery? Maybe Sholmes can get in but it doesn't seem like Mikotoba would count. Kazuma then goes over the details of the case. It happened on November 1st at 5pm. Several witnesses heard a gunshot at the same time which is how they figured out when it happened. We get the autopsy report. This time the coroner's name is Maria Gorey. I wonder if this was the person we met in Sithe's office earlier. The Time of Death field is blank on the report. Huh? That's unusual. I briefly considered that this was a bug in the game but it would have been patched by this point in time. When a police officer arrived at the scene, only Van Zieks was in the room with Gregson's body. At the time, Van Zieks was holding the gun that is believe to be the murder weapon. Picking up guns without thinking is apparently something prosecutors like to do.

For the first witness, Van Zieks is called up to tell his side of the story. Van Zieks was in the room as part of his investigation of Gregson. It was dark and he couldn't make out much and then heard a gunshot. After that he picked up the gun on the floor and at the same time the witnesses entered the room. At that time, Gregson's body became visible. Van Zieks can't say why he was investigating Gregson. Why not? This is a closed court so the secrets would be kept a secret. Other than Van Zieks, no one was in the room until the three merchant witnesses burst into the room. Van Zieks has no idea why Gregson's body seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Kazuma objects to Van Zieks's testimony and presents a candelabra as evidence. I love how his defense attorney roots show up here. He uses it to point out that the room should have had lighting at the time. Kazuma also says Van Zieks is lying about have never been to the room before since it had a bulletin board with a bunch of clippings about the Reaper. That makes it the Reaper's secret hideout and Van Zieks is the Reaper. That seems super flimsy to me since it relies on Van Zieks being the Reaper and there's no known evidence of that. I briefly considered the idea that Gregson was the Reaper but that's impossible. Once again we know Graydon and Sithe were responsible for two of the kills. Also, Gregson was worried about Gina getting hit by the Reaper. That's not a problem if Gregson was responsible.

Continuing on, the three merchant witnesses are called in. Is that Beppo I see?! The three witnesses go by the names Gossip, Venus and Beppo now going under the name Sandwich. The witnesses say that for the whole day they only saw Gregson and Van Zieks enter the building. Gossip says he saw a person with red hair enter the building first but is a bit vague regarding whether that was really Gregson or not. Gossip was the first one into the room followed by Sandwich while Venus went off to find a cop. Based on what Gossip said we work out that the bulletin board was on the floor at the time when he entered the room based on a bloody hand print. So someone must have put it back upright. Ryunosuke proposed that bulletin board was near the door blocking the body and candlelight from view. When Gossip came flying in, he knocked the board over revealing the candle and body. That's why the witnesses and Van Zieks appeared to see different things and also why Gregson's body seemed to just appear out of nowhere.

The witnesses testify again about how the bulletin board got moved but no one seems to have any idea. Sandwich helpfully informs us that Venus really did go to the crime scene. Now that I think about it, I believe Van Zieks also said three people showed up after the gunshot. Venus confirms she did move the bulletin board while looking for things to steal. I don't really get how no one saw her do this. It's a big bulletin board! Anyways, Venus said she ultimately found and removed a pocket watch from the crime scene.

Suddenly Gina shows up and she is not happy with Venus. Turns out the pocket watch was a gift to Gregson for his work on the Professor case and Gina says she'll steal it from Venus if Venus tries to get it back. Gina is such a sweet girl. She really liked Gregson. We examine the watch and it appears to be broken and stopped at 5pm. Oh, I was thinking it would show a different time than 5pm to turn the case on its head since I feel that's how things normally go. How does this help us if it just confirms what we already suspected? Maybe it really says 5am? But, wait! The watch wasn't broken at all! It just wound down and happened to stop at 5pm. So this might mean that Gregson was dead for longer than we thought. If so, why wasn't this in the autopsy report? Why was the field just empty? I like how Ryunosuke calls her Inspector Lestrade to make her sound more important but I guess she is the lead detective on the case. At least, I think she is. Gina tells us that Gregson diligently wound his watch every evening for the past 10 years. If the watch stopped due to winding down it means Gregson was forcibly unable to wind it the previous night. So on the evening of October 31, Gregson was likely already dead!

If Gregson wasn't killed on November 1st, we need to show where the gunshot sound came from. Ryunosuke comes up with a neat trick for how it could work. Firecrackers were tied to a candle such that the candle would burn down to light them at 5pm. That's the source of the scorch marks on the candelabra. For better or worse, Van Zieks is super punctual since this went off barely a minute into Van Zieks entering the room. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but the original explanation was the candle got hit by a bullet but I don't think a bullet was found in the wall which should have killed that theory dead.

The next thing that needs to be explained is who was the red haired person who entered the room before Van Zieks if it wasn't Gregson. But, it could have been anyone since the witnesses only remember the red hair. Ryunosuke suggests it was the true killer disguised as Gregson! Now Kazuma suddenly starts laughing. He naturally noticed the omission on the autopsy report from the start. He thinks Ryunosuke's hypothesis regarding Gregson is plausible enough that it needs to be explored. Gregson didn't tell anyone what he was doing on the 31st but the red hair stuff makes it sound like he was investigating the Red-Headed League which just so happened to be holding an event on the 31st. On the bulletin board with articles about the Reaper, oddly enough there's also the newspaper clipping about the Red-Headed League. As luck would have it, Sholmes arrested two people as part of the Red-Headed League scam yesterday so Ryunosuke wants them brought in as witnesses. We get a 30min recess to make this happen.

In the lobby we meet up with Sholmes. So he was watching the trial. We go over some of the questions that are still outstanding. Like was the omission on the autopsy report an accident or on purpose? Why was Van Zieks investigating Gregson? Why was Gregson investigating the Red-Headed League? At least right now, they have no connection to the Reaper. What in the world is Kazuma trying to do at all?

Trial Part 1 done!

I think most of what we learned in Trial Part 1 was used to answer major questions that came up in Trial Part 1 so it's hard to predict where Part 2 will go. The missing time of death on the autopsy report is a big deal. Can we just get a second opinion from Tusspells or something? Like if Gregson died on the 31st, the prosecution's case against Van Zieks falls apart pretty hard. Surely we can at least find out what the explanation is for the missing time of death?

The decision to go with no jury is an interesting one. I don't know what 2-5 will be about but I assume something important that might also be a closed trial. So are we just done with the jury overall? Even in

Team Rocket Elite posted...

The Time of Death field is blank on the report. Huh? That's unusual. I briefly considered that this was a bug in the game but it would have been patched by this point in time.

Haha, noticing little details before the game wants you to is always fun.
Team Rocket Elite posted...

Picking up guns without thinking is apparently something prosecutors like to do.

Ryunosuke for prosecution in the future confirmed
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GAA getting rid of the jury means it's serious business time

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Trial Part 2 begins with the two people behind the Red-Headed League being brought in: Fabien de Rousseau and Peppino de Rossi. They are asked to explain how their scam worked and they have no problem blabbing about their wrongdoing. They were charging an application fee to apply for the Red-Headed League with intent to take all the money and run. Their big event took place on October 31st, the day before Gregson's body was found. They are adamant that Gregson was not one of the 1000+ people they interviewed.

However, an issue comes up when Ryunosuke mentions that Gregson was a detective. De Rossi said he did remember one of the applicants claiming to be an inspector. But, why would Gregson do that? De Rousseau at first tries to cover it up but eventually gives in. However, he still says the person claiming to be an inspector looked nothing like Gregson. Wait, are they describing Daley Vigil? Vigil kinda fits the description they are giving. De Rousseau says he asked the person for ID and the inspector showed his ID. But, this makes no sense. Gregson was supposed to be doing an undercover investigation and this would blow his cover. In the end, they steal the ID and chase the person out of the park.

The ID gets added to the Court Record so let's find out who it was! Oh, no photo in the ID. That doesn't seem like a good idea for police ID. The name in the ID is Tobias Gregson... This is a real ID isn't it? Was Gregson's ID not found on his body? Susato is well versed in spotting forged Scotland Yard IDs and confirms the ID is real. Gina also confirms that that really is Gregson's ID! Ryunosuke wants to claim that this must mean the person who went to the park really was Gregson. But, I'm not so sure about that. It could be the real killer who stole Gregson's ID. Okay, Ryunosuke is now heading in that direction as well. Gina says Gregson would have reported his ID was stolen if he could. Ryunosuke suggests that Gregson might have been killed after his ID was stolen but before Gregson could report that. So pretty close to what I was thinking. Also, I currently have doubts that either de Rousseau or de Rossi were involved in Gregson's murder. If they were, they would have known the ID was real and thus volunteering it would be a very bad idea.

Now the testimony completely changes! They now say they ended up kidnapping the inspector. So I'm thinking it really was Vigil. That coincides with when he went missing. Or not? They said they released the inspector on the morning of November 1st so Vigil should have been able to go home. Assuming this somehow was Gregson it would explain why he couldn't wind his watch that night but doesn't explain why he couldn't after he was released.

During the night of the 31st, the captured inspector briefly managed to escape from them but was recaptured. Apparently, this got a bit rougher than they wanted and the inspector ended up with a bruise on their neck. De Rossi also has one from the time he got cold feet and tried to run. The bruise looks very similar to the one Gossip had. What is going on?! So the fake Gregson wasn't Gregson nor was it Vigil like I expected. It was Gossip?! Gregson's victim photo also explicitly confirms that Gregson did not have such a bruise and thus could not have been the one who went to the Red-Headed League. The court wants to know who the imposter was and Ryunosuke says it was Gossip! Why did Gossip have Gregson's real police ID? But, there's a problem. The witnesses don't recognize the picture of Gossip either. The only way to sort this out is to call Gossip back to the stand!

Gossip confirms that he has a ring mark on his neck but claims it is a birthmark. De Rousseau and De Rossi also claim Gossip was not the same person who they captured. Can Venus and Sandwich confirm that Gossip was on Fresno Street during the 31st? He would have been gone quite some time if he was kidnapped. De Rousseau mentions that he did see Gossip before. Gossip was talking with a housing agent and De Rossi peeked at the papers and discovered Gossip's real name, Hugh Boone. Well, that's a thing. Gossip is literally the person who was renting the room Gregson's body was found in! Ryunosuke then presents the picture of Evie Vigil found in the Fresno Street room. Boone is just another alias, his true identity is Daley Vigil! So I was on the right track before but fell short of realizing there were multiple layers to the disguise. The court has Gossip's disguise removed revealing that he really is Daley Vigil. De Rousseau and De Rossi confirm that Vigil was the person who they kidnapped.

Vigil then explains what is going on. After he was fired from Barclay, he took up the persona Gossip and the fake name Hugh Boone to sell stuff on Fresno Street. One day, Gregson found him and asked for his help on a secret assignment. Gregson wanted Virgil to impersonate him and Gregson loaned Vigil his ID to make this happen. This happened a few times and Gregson gave Vigil money in exchange for his help. Vigil confirms that's why he was at the Red-Headed League gathering on the 31st.

While this explains a lot, Kazuma points out it's all bad news for the defense. Gregson could not have been killed due to the Red-Headed League gathering since Gregson was never there. I do wonder if Vigil has any idea where Gregson was on the 31st since he had to loan the ID at some point. Kazuma has a question for Vigil but it's actually about the Professor case. He wants to know what Vigil's involvement with the execution of his dad was. He asks for Ryunosuke to let him do this. I mean, why not? The defense was currently in bad shape anyways so we need a new foothold. So ask away!

It turns out Vigil blocked out his bad memories from the time he got fired so Ryunosuke presents the dismissal notice to jog his memory. Vigil said he was overseeing an execution on June 17th 10 years ago and something went wrong. The prisoner escaped and was killed in the cemetery. Lots of blood was found at the site to confirm what Drebber saw. The investigation into this came to the conclusion that the prisoner got help from someone on the prison staff and Vigil was accused of being that person. This is what lead to Vigil losing his job. The stress from this broke Vigil and he tried to jump out the window in the governor's room at Barclay prison. With that Vigil collapses which brings the trial to an end for the day.

Trial Part 2 done.

So we find Vigil and we sort out the events of the Red-Headed League but I'm not sure how much any of this helps with finding Gregson's killer. I feel bad for Vigil. I get the impression he really didn't help Genshin escape from prison 10 years ago. Also, it seems unlikely that he killed Gregson. There is one thing that Vigil knows that might be helpful. 15 mins before Van Zieks entered the Fresno room, a person with either red hair or wearing a red wig entered the building. Vigil saw this person and, as Gossip, was lying about not knowing what Gregson looked like. Vigil should be able to confirm that it really wasn't Gregson even if he doesn't know who it really was. Also, just any info on what Gregson was doing on the 31st or earlier may be helpful.
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GAA sure enjoyed having partners in crime as witnesses.

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What are your thoughts on the potential culprit? Someone we already know or someone who has yet to be introduced?
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GiftedACIII posted...

What are your thoughts on the potential culprit? Someone we already know or someone who has yet to be introduced?

I've already played a bit further into G2-4 so this will be based on where I currently am which is a bit after finding Gregson's trunk. At this point, I doubt it will be a character who hasn't been introduced yet. If I had to take a guess, I would say Jigoku. Jigoku and Mikotoba were at Dunkirk on October 31st. The only thing I know about Gregson's movement on the 31st is here might have been Dunkirk at the time. That significantly reduces the number of people who could have killed him to pretty much just Jigoku or Mikotoba and I doubt it would be Mikotoba. Also, Jigoku is the one with the ominous looking trunk in the commemorative photo and Jigoku was not subject to luggage searches at the border unlike Mikotoba due to Jigoku's status as Minister of Foreign Affairs. So Jigoku is super sus!

Kazuma was also "missing" on October 31st so he might have been the one to go with Gregson to France and also responsible for the sword slash on Gregson's trunk. Gregson himself was shot, not stabbed so Kazuma wouldn't have been the one to kill Gregson. At best, Kazuma assisted with Jigoku.

Motive would be revenge since that's the running trend in this game. Genshin was innocent and potentially was responsible for killing to real Professor. Gregson was instrumental in finding or possibly forging evidence to have Genshin found guilty. Jigoku would be getting Gregson back for that. Although, I suspect Gregson planned for Genshin to escape all along and this may have been a cover up for Klint being the Professor. But, this all fell apart when Genshin was shot after coming out of the grave anyways. If I had to guess who shot Genshin, I would go with Stronghart due to simply running out of characters to indict. Could be Caidin as well, I guess. Could really be anyone until we find the photo from Drebber's camera or something.
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That's a well thought out analysis! Would certainly be interesting to look back on once you complete it.
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Investigation Part 2 begins and there's still a lot we don't know. Like Gregson's board was covered in documents related to the Reaper and also had an article about the Red-Headed League. Iris suggests that Gregson hired Vigil as an impersonator to create a fake alibi for Gregson for some reason. So maybe that's all the connection there is between the Red-Headed League and the Reaper. It certainly doesn't seem like De Rousseau and De Rossi are involved with the Reaper. So we're off to investigate and this time Iris is joining us.

The first stop is the Lord Chief Justice's Office. Stronghart is here with Kazuma so we eavesdrop on them as usual. Stronghart seems to be giving Kazuma an order he doesn't like but we don't know what it is. Kazuma leaves after this. Stronghart tells us that 16 people who managed to get a Not Guilty on Van Zieks have died over the past 10 years. A bit too many to be a coincidence but McGilded and Asman really did seem to be killed for independent reasons. Since the current trial may reveal the identity of the Reaper, it is a closed trial to prevent the info from leaking to the public. Stronghart also suggests that Kazuma has an ulterior motive that he feels may conflict with his plan. After that, we get permission to talk to Kazuma directly so let's go do that.

Except Kazuma isn't in his office so we go follow up with Van Zieks instead. I'm not really sure what to ask him about. If Gregson really died on the 31st then Van Zieks wouldn't have any info on that. Or maybe he does? After years of investigation he has come to the conclusion that the Reapers are an organization that erases people and Gregson was helping them! Well, that's a bomb shell! Van Zieks claims that Gregson was responsible for investigating targets and planning how to kill them. I guess that's possible but I'm still not really sure it's true. Gregson wouldn't have had to worry about Gina getting erased if Gregson had an in with the Reapers. Van Zieks said he knows the name of the assassin carrying out the hits. Her name is Asa Shinn! But she's been out of the country for quite some time now. She couldn't have been involved with McGilded and Asman's deaths but I guess we know who really did those ones. Ryunosuke wants to bring up G1-1 but can't since Iris is around right now and Shinn likely killed her father. There's one more thing Van Zieks reveals. Genshin once saved his life after a group of bandits tried to attack him. This was after Klint died but before Genshin was arrested. At the time, Genshin seemed to have a positive opinion of Klint. So, what's going on here? It sounds like Genshin allegedly killed a person he respected. That's all Van Zieks has to say so it's time to go leak this info to the Japanese government (Is that really okay?).

So we meet up with Mikotoba at the hotel. It turns out he did manage to get special permission to watch the trial. Susato lures Iris away while Ryunosuke fills him in on what Van Zieks told us. Also, in regards to Iris, Mikotoba doesn't know if Dr. Wilson had a daughter but is certain that Dr. Wilson was never Sholmes's partner. Iris comes back so after that so that's the end of that conversation. Jigoku is brought up and he apparently hasn't been seen since this morning. We also get a copy of the group photo from yesterday. Beside Jigoku is a trunk and there was a missing trunk from the crime scene. This was where I really started to have a bad feeling about Jigoku. Mikotoba finally gets around to asking Ryunosuke for a favour. He wants Ryunosuke to come back to Japan after the trial! He said that Japan needs a good defense lawyer for something urgent. I wonder what it is? Mikotoba says Susato can decide whether she stays in London or comes back to Japan. That's everything Mikotoba has to say and he goes to send the info we leaked to him to the Japanese government. Before we head off, Sholmes shows up. Apparently the name Assassin means something to him so wants to also send a message to Japan. Susato takes the message to give to Mikotoba to send off but we don't get to see what it say. That's it for the hotel so let's try to see Kazuma again.

This time Kazuma is here and finally tells us what he thinks. Kazuma really is out for revenge on Van Zieks for the rigged trial his father got. So it sounds like Kazuma does think Genshin is innocent. We ask him about the autopsy report but he doesn't really have any details about the missing time of death. He does say we can go directly ask the coroner about it. Kazuma gives us a few more details about how he snuck off the SS Burya and made his way to Britain. Kazuma also tell us how he found out his father was executed in the first place. It was apparently due to an anonymous letter he received several years ago that contained info about the Professor case. The letter was what drove him to come to Britain and find the truth about his father. In regards to the identity of the Reaper, Kazuma already knew Gregson was involved but thinks Van Zieks was the one giving Gregson his orders. That would make Van Zieks part of the Reapers. Kazuma is of the opinion his father would never kill another person so there's no way he could have really been the Professor. Also, as a neat bit of trivia, we find out one of Genshin's apprentices took the name Karuma as a family name! I wonder if we'll ever hear anything about the Ayasato family. I don't think we have so far. There's nothing else he has to tell us so it's time to move on. But, it is interesting how Kazuma really does seem to believe Van Zieks is guilty.

The next destination is meeting Dr. Gorey at her lab to ask about the autopsy report. She's in the lab and looks to be the same person we saw with Sithe before. We ask her about the autopsy report and she says it isn't her fault. Stronghart told her not to fill in the time of death. So Stronghart of all people was surpressing forensic evidence? That is not a good sign. Stronghart normally loves forensics. One thing I noticed. Why does Gorey have a different family name than Sithe? Sithe's maiden name was Stevens so Gorey doesn't match that either. We convince Gorey to take the autopsy report and fill in the time of death. I can't wait to be the one to present the updated autopsy report in court tomorrow! The time of death was "indeterminate". Never lucky. Apparently, Gorey noticed some rotting fish in Gregson's coat pocket which was inconsistent with the estimated time of death from looking at just the body. As a result, Gorey suspected that the time of death had been manipulated. Gorey is pretty good at her job! If the body was chilled, Gregson could have died no earlier than 31st but that's good enough to give us a potential out.

After meeting with Gorey, we go check up with Vigil at the hospital. He's adamant as always that he did not help the Professor escape. We ask him to tell us what he knows about the Professor case. He said it turns out there was a loophole in Barclay's security. Outgoing coffins were not searched a second time after being sealed. During the actual execution, only Sithe and the executioner were present. Afterwards, Sithe confirmed the Professor's death and the body was put in a coffin. However, it was nailed shut before Vigil could confirm the death himself. Vigil didn't think much of it but likely Genshin was alive inside at the time. So Sithe and the executioner must have been in on it. The coffin was buried at Lowgate only for Genshin to come out of it later and be shot dead anyways. Why did Sithe keep her job after this but Vigil didn't? It doesn't seem like there would be any way for her to explain her way out of it. I wonder if Sithe knew Genshin was innocent and that's why she helped with the escape plan.

Vigil also tells a story of some other meetings he had with Genshin. In general, Vigil found Genshin to be a very respectable person to the point where he couldn't believe Genshin could possibly be guilty. When he asked Genshin about it, Genshin cryptically confirms that Genshin did in fact kill one person. This was the point where I seriously started to consider the possibility that Klint was the real Professor. If Klint was the real Professor and Genshin killed Klint, it would explain why four of the Professor killing seemed to be openly corrupt people and the fifth was Klint who was seemingly clean. Also if Genshin is innocent and the Professor killings stopped anyways, the real Professor is likely no longer active as well. Vigil also talks about Genshin writing a will. Genshin wasn't supposed to write anything down but he convinced Vigil to give him special permission just for this. The will would then mysteriously disappear and although it was written in secret, Caidin somehow knew they existed and called them the Asogi Papers. Vigil says that's all that he knows. He laments that he'll likely be arrested soon for impersonating a polic

Team Rocket Elite posted...

There's an oddly placed flashback here to Ryunosuke remembering that Gorey is Sithe's daughter. It's a bit weird since we already talked with Gorey about that not too long ago. To be honest, this entire scene feels like it is playing out as if we haven't already gone to see her

lol you were supposed to do that. Everyone LP I've seen has done that lol, usually because they get stuck on needing to present the autopsy report to Kazuma and try every other location first. I only found out on a second playthrough doing Kazuma's route first. I completely forgot the coroner's room can be unlocked before you talk with Caidin lol but since you did that I remember you actually get some funny dialogue where Gorey actually shoos you away the first time you talk to her since usually her first discussion naturally segues into Genshin's autopsy report.
Team Rocket Elite posted...

is Asa Shinn supposed to be an English name or a Japanese name? I get the assassin pun but she's supposed to be English but the name sounds very Japanese.

English. Her Japanese name was Ann Sasha, for the Japanese term ansatsusha but it is ironic since the English name sounds more Japanese while the Japanese name sounds more English.

Team Rocket Elite posted...

Ryunosuke wakes up back at Naruhodo's Legal Consultancy. Susato and Sholmes are here but before we talk with them we head back to the Fresno Room to talk with Gina. Not much more info to be had here, though. Ryunosuke does recall that Gregson planned to bring Gina to France, though.

Oh hey you actually managed to do this. I somehow missed this even while doing a see all dialogue run.
You get an achievement for doing so.

All in all, an incredibly hefty investigation, which I guess was needed since the episode ended on it.
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Dr. Gorey is great. I did make sure to talk with her the first time before showing her the autopsy report.
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Case G2-5

Just a title card for the opening sequence this time. Case G2-4 covered the investigation so we go right into the trial. Iris is here and gives us a small gift. It's a small rabbit doll and we're told to pull its ears if we ever get stuck in the trial. Iris also tells us that Sholmes didn't come home last night. Susato follows up and says that Mikotoba and Jigoku didn't return to their hotel rooms either. A lot of missing people right now! With that, Iris heads off and the rest of us go into the courtroom.

I was wondering if Stronghart would hijack Kazuma's position and be the prosecutor for the case but he didn't. In the panning shot of the court room Kazuma is still there. That's when Susato tells Ryunosuke to look at something. Stronghart is the judge?! How is that going to work? I can't exactly pin a bunch of crimes on him is he's the judge. Stronghart said he took the place as judge since the scope of the case has increased significantly since yesterday and now involves the Professor case as well. Kazuma and Stronghart recap what we found out from Vigil yesterday. Kazuma also relays a message from Dr. Gorey regarding the missing time of death. She said the defense's claim that Gregson died on the 31st could not be ruled out. <3 Dr. Gorey. Kazuma presents the updated autopsy report. But, I wanted to do that. ;_; Since Gregson may have died on the 31st we now need to figure out what he was doing that day.

The first witness to be called up is Gina! She says based on Gregson's secret notebook, he was investigating smuggled goods on the 31st. This took Gregson to a gentleman's club where Van Zieks was also seen on the 31st. Something I've been wondering. Gina has been mentioning how she took a look at Gregson's secret notebook but how does she read it? Oh, Gina says she can read now but only up to the letter V. That's almost all of them! The name of the club turns out to be "The Grouse". It doesn't sound familiar to me. Actually, that's the same name as the ship that Mikotoba and Jigoku sailed in on, the SS Grouse. But, that ship wasn't in London until the 1st. Ryunosuke uses the boat ticket to show that Gregson was really visiting a ship called "Grouse". This section was a bit confusing since I was picturing the club as being part of the ship rather than being an unrelated location with the same name. Kazuma suggests there's a problem with this since the SS Grouse was in France on the 31st. But, that's no problem. Gregson had a passport to be in France on the 31st. So far my predictions are looking pretty good! It seems Gregson did go to France and board the SS Grouse on the 31st.

And Kazuma knew this from the start! I was starting to worry he wasn't the person who went with Gregson to France but maybe he was? Kazuma was only pushing the gentleman's club idea because the higher-ups asked him to. Kazuma has a very different idea about what Gregson was up to. Kazuma claims Gregson went to France as part of an assassination job for the Reapers. But who is the target? All the people who got a Not Guilty on Van Zieks are dead except those who really aren't guilty. However, the attempt ultimately failed which is why no one on the ship died. He pushed the idea that the secret notebook isn't an investigation for previous Reaper hits but a planning book for future ones.

Gina testifies again about what's in the notebook. The final entry is dated October 31st with a location of Grouse and a name thought to be the next target. There's a note that makes it sound like the target is Jigoku but the numbers don't add up. 19 people got an acquittal again Van Zieks. 16 are dead. The remaining three are Soseki, Gina and Harebrayne. Because of that I ruled out Van Zieks and being the prosecutor against Jigoku. Gina reads out the name of the target and it is Jigoku! Also neither Ryunosuke nor Kazuma seem to believe Gina when she says the Gregson wasn't a Reaper. They better apologize to her when it is revealed that she was right! Continuing on, Kazuma claims that Gregson went back to London after he failed then Van Zieks killed Gregson for his failure.

Van Zieks now barges on to the stand to clear up things. Van Zieks said he also got the wrong Grouse which is why he ended up at the club on the 31st. He also claims Gregson was just the tactician and normally another person handles actually killing the target (usually Asa Shinn). Ryunosuke points out that Gregson's passport allows for another person to come with him but we don't know who. Also the notebook normally lists the name of the assassin for each target but that part of the entry is blank for October 31st. This sounds more like an investigation notebook than a planning notebook to me! Van Zieks points out that if Gregson was planning the murder, he would have to know who the hired assassin would be. Van Zieks also now remembers that he did prosecute Jigoku 10 years ago for damaging the bench during the trial. He forgot that the Reaper didn't actually have a perfect kill record? That's not really fair for trying to work things out. Jigoku was acquitted after agreeing to pay back money for the damage he did. Does that really count as an acquittal? That sounds like he was found guilty and got a small punishment for the minor crime.

Kazuma claims that this was the key to everything. That trial made Jigoku a valid target for the Reaper and they tried to kill Jigoku when he came back to Britain. With this Gina is pleading with Ryunosuke for help showing that Gregson wasn't a Reaper. Ryunosuke does feel like something was off. Ryunosuke says that Kazuma mentioned Gregson's metal trunk and Kazuma shouldn't have known about it. I'm not really following why Kazuma shouldn't know about the trunk. Gina did tell him about it after finding it, right? Well, it seems like she didn't because Kazuma is trying to make excuses for why he said it was a metal trunk. Ryunosuke asks Kazuma where he was on the 31st! I think I know where this is heading!

"At the Port of Dunkirk, on board the SS Grouse". He just admits it! Or not. Nope, it's a fake out. He wants us to prove it. That piece of metal stuck in the sword slash on the trunk was hard to find. I didn't see it until now. And it matches the broken tip of Karuma! Kazuma admits that he really did go with Gregson to Dunkirk! He joined Gregson as a fake hired assassin and only pretended to go after Jigoku. When Gregson and Kazuma arrived at Jigoku's cabin, he wasn't there. After that Kazuma left the ship and eventually returned to London. As for how Karuma and Gregson's trunk got damaged, Kazuma won't say and claims it is unrelated. Stronghart claims that Jigoku needs to be found to verify that he is unharmed and there will be a 30min break to do so. That's not very long. Jigoku really is missing so I am a bit worried. I still think he's the one who shot Gregson but that doesn't mean Jigoku can't be killed himself.

During the break Ryunosuke and Susato have a bad feeling about what's going on. So it's time to pull on the bunny ears. It's a remote communicator. It lets up talk with Sholmes who is currently on the SS Grouse! I didn't really expect that. I wasn't really sure how this was all going to work without being able to explore the Grouse where the crime happened but it seems like we can! The SS Grouse is currently in Dunkirk. Sholmes and Mikotoba are on board after Mikotoba looked at Gregson's notebook and worked out what Grouse really meant. They've got 30 minutes to find more evidence for Ryunosuke!

Trial Part 1 End

Looking back on my initial predictions certainly was interesting! I think this trial pretty much confirmed or reinforced things I had suspected. Jigoku is looking super guilty right now. He is literally meeting with Gregson on the 31st as I predicted. Jigoku's name was in the notebook as I expected. Kazuma really was the person who went with Gregson to France. Although, it is still unclear what exactly he did on the SS Grouse. I doubt he directly helped with killing Gregson.

I side with Gina. Van Zieks, Ryunosuke and Kazuma are all wrong. Gregson isn't a Reaper. If breaking a stand and paying money to get it fixed was still sufficient reason to draw the ire of the Reapers, Gina would be long dead.
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For the investigation I play as Mikotoba with his trusty sidekick Sholmes! We're trying to get into Cabin No. 2 but a crewman who looks like Strogenov is guarding it. It turns it he is a Strogenov, Tchikin Strogenov. Tchikin claims that Jigoku already left the ship 2 hours ago. So at least it sounds like Jigoku is still alive even if he's not here. To get Tchikin away from the door, Mikotoba pulls the alarm in the hallway then sneaks into the room with Sholmes.

We talk a look around the room and find Jigoku's trunk so it looks like we are on the right track. Unfortunately, not even Sholmes can get past the lock on it so we still can't open it. We find an evacuation drill notice in the garbage bin. It was for October 31st and would cause all crew members to gather in the same place. Finally, we find a glass with ice on it. Mikotoba says the ship has large refrigerators used for storing things like ice. So now we know how the time of death was doctored!

Tchikin is back from the prank we played on him and naturally wants us off the ship. But, before that Sholmes says he sees through Tchikin's deceit. Are we going to get a Great Deduction with Mikotoba and Sholmes? Sholmes says that Jigoku is on the ship and that Tchikin knows exactly where he is. Is Sholmes going to be right for once? Those both sounds like very reasonably claims. And we do get a Dance of Deduction! After G2-5 started with a trial I didn't really expect another one of these but here it is. Mikotoba uses the ice to show that Jigoku was here recently and also shows how a bullet hole has been hidden. Jigoku paid off Tchikin to help him hide in his trunk. Tchikin wrote the combination to the trunk lock on his arm. We punch in the code and the trunk is now open. It's good to see you again Jigoku.

Jigoku claims the Reaper tried to kill him on the 31st so he is fleeing the country for his own safety. Jigoku doesn't want to go back to London but Mikotoba came prepared with a subpoena to serve him from the Old Bailey so he doesn't have a choice. It looks like we'll be able to drag him to court and have him testify. As one final thing, we find a piece of Gregson's pocket watch inside Jigoku's trunk. So the evidence against Jigoku just keeps piling up!

We jump back to Ryunosuke in court and the evidence has also teleported to us. So I can now confirm for certain that the piece in Jigoku's trunk fit with Gregson's watch. The 30 minutes are up and Stronghart said the Jigoku could not be found. But, Ryunosuke knows better. He knows where Jigoku is and wants him called in as a witness. Stronghart is okay with this so the trial will continue tomorrow to give Jigoku time to make his way back to London. 3 day trial hype!

That's it for the trial. At night Ryunosuke meets up with Sholmes and Mikotoba who have now returned. There are a few things we need to ask him about. The first is about the telegram he sent out. It was a request to search Jigoku's office for a telegram sent from Britain a year ago and Hosonaga managed to find it. It was the telegram with the list of four names we found earlier! It was sent to Jigoku a year ago and a month afterwards, Dr. Wilson was killed. That's all Sholmes will say for now so we switch back to the topic of why he lied about Kazuma being dead. He did this to prevent Kazuma from reaching Britain for the study tour. He also explained everything to Pavlova so she doesn't keep thinking she killed someone although Kazuma really was in bad shape after the accident.

Back on the top of the four names, Sholmes thought Shinn was dead at the time so he feared that Gregson and Kazuma would be targeted as well. So he tried to protect Kazuma by preventing him from reaching Britain. Although, Dr. Wilson was killed in Japan so I'm not entirely sure this actually helps. After Sholmes found out a few days ago that Shinn was still alive, he realized he was wrong about what the list of names were. It was actually a list of victim and killer pairs! Shinn was sent to Japan to kill Dr. Wilson while Kazuma was allegedly sent to Japan to kill Gregson. But Kazuma said he didn't kill anyone and I'm pretty sure Jigoku killed Gregson. So I think Kazuma is telling the truth about only pretending to take the job. This whole swapping assassins thing is to take advantage of diplomatic immunity although I have doubts that would have really protected Kazuma if he killed Gregson. Although, I guess it could still cause problems because it takes a really, really, really long time to revoke someone's diplomatic immunity.

One last thing Sholmes reveals is why Gregson was getting transferred to France. It was an attempt to protect Gregson from being killed and Gregson was supposed to bring Gina along. So why was Gregson with Kazuma on his trip to France? In the end, the transfer was a bit too late and Gregson was killed. With that, the group breaks up since Sholmes and Iris need to prepare something for tomorrow.

Investigation Part 1 End

More or less things are still on track for my Jigoku killed Gregson theory. There's even now a way for Jigoku to have manipulated the time of death analysis. I wonder who sent the telegram to Jigoku since that person would likely be a Reaper. Also if the telegram was calling for Gregson to be killed that's more evidence that Gregson wasn't a Reaper. I'm also kinda curious how everything will tie back to the Professor case. Right now it seems like we are on pace to pin Gregson's death on Jigoku without really having to dive into the Professor case much. But, I expect that will change.
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Tap dancing Mikotoba was great

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LeonhartFour posted...

Tap dancing Mikotoba was great

Yes, that was great.
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Mikotoba got major points for tap dancing.

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Trial Part 2 begins with Seishiro Jigoku being called to the stand. Apparently Kazuma was the one behind Jigoku being subpoenaed and Kazuma would have had to have known to do this from even before the second day of the trial began. Just how much does Kazuma know? At first Jigoku doesn't want to testify since he claims to be unrelated to the case. To show a connection, we present the secret telegram sent to Jigoku that we got from his office. Kazuma doesn't seem to understand what the names are about despite being part of the assassin exchange. I suspect he really doesn't know. I don't think he would have been okay with Shinn killing Dr. Wilson so likely Kazuma thought the whole thing was one sided. Ryunosuke claims an assassin exchange took place where Gregson was one of the targets and Jigoku was involved in planning the Japan side of the exchange. Furthermore, there are signs that Gregson may have been killed in Jigoku's cabin on the SS Grouse. As such, Jigoku isn't necessarily unconnected to Gregson's death.

Jigoku confirms that he sent Kazuma as an assassin to target Gregson but claims the plan fell through. He also said that it was impossible for him to shoot Gregson because there was always a crewman on guard outside his cabin that would have heard the gunshot. The plan fell through because of the events of G1-2 and Sholmes interfering and having Ryunosuke sent in Kazuma's place. Ryunosuke tries to claim there was a bullet hole in Jigoku's cabin which shows a gun was fired. Apparently Kazuma didn't know about this which shows it was made after Kazuma left the room. Jigoku claims that it wasn't a bullet hole and no bullet could be found. I mean there's no bullet in the Fresno room either but that doesn't stop Kazuma from saying a gun was fired there! In any case, Ryunosuke follows up by showing the evacuation drill notice to show there was a 20 minute gap where the room was unguarded. The drill was after the ship left port so Kazuma wouldn't have been on the ship anymore. Does it actually make sense to do the drill after leaving port? That feels like something that makes more sense to do just before leaving port. Now's the moment that I've been waiting for for a long time now. Ryunosuke accuses Jigoku of killing Gregson! Ryunosuke also presents a broken part of Gregson's pocket watch. He claims it broke when Jigoku killed Gregson during the 20 min gap.

Jigoku gives more testimony to counter Ryunosuke's hypothesis. Jigoku claims Gregson tried to attack him first and Jigoku used jujutsu to subdue Gregson which caused him to run off and also broke the watch. Just because the watch broke inside the cabin doesn't mean Gregson was killed there. Jigoku further said that there would be no way to move Gregson's body from the cabin room to the Fresno room. Stronghart brings up how luggage is inspected when it is unloaded from the ship but this wouldn't have applied to Jigoku. Kazuma does bring up a good point regarding how it doesn't make sense that Gregson's body would be brought to London rather than thrown into the sea. But, Susato comes in with the save! First class passengers were carefully watched so Jigoku might not have had a chance to throw the body overboard. With that said, I don't know why Jigoku brought the body to the Fresno room or how he even knew about it. Here's another thing I've been waiting for for a while. I finally get to present Jigoku's trunk! Ryunosuke said it could be used to transport the body since Jigoku was not subject to inspections. After Jigoku arrived in London, he was then free to set up the scene in the Fresno room. He also shows how the time of death could have been manipulated via the fridge on the SS Grouse.

Even that isn't quite enough to show that Gregson was killed on the ship and not in the Fresno room. As such, Kazuma is still pushing for the latter. But that's okay, Ryunosuke says he has evidence that directly contradicts Gregson being killed in the Fresno room. He does? I just completely hit a wall here and can't figure this out at all. Many, many guesses later I present that victim photo but even then I stare at it for minutes and can't figure out why this is the one. It turns out that the answer was because Gregson was curled up as a ball. This was brought up as an issue but I had long since forgotten and was nowhere near figuring it out. Ryunosuke claims Gregson's body would not have ended up like that if he was shot in the Fresno room but it is consistent with Gregson being transported in a trunk. Ryunosuke wants Jigoku's trunk checked for traces of blood! Now even Kazuma is starting to believe! I guess he wasn't faking it when he said he thought Gregson was killed in the Fresno room.

Jigoku finally admits that he did bring Gregson's body into the country via his trunk! So does that mean we win? With that admission, it is now impossible for Van Zieks to have been the one to kill Gregson. But, that doesn't stop Jigoku from trying to pin the crime on Kazuma! Jigoku claims Gregson was already dead when he entered the room. Stronghart wants to know what Ryunosuke thinks. If you say "possible" here, it is still possible for Van Zieks to be found guilty. >_> Anyways, it's impossible! The gun could only have been shot during the 20 minute window when the room was unguarded and Kazuma already left the ship at that point. He even had the foresight to leave a paper trail to confirm he did this. With that Jigoku is finally out of answers. I'm not really sure where things are going. We've just shown that Van Zieks must be innocent but there's still all that Professor case stuff that needs to be dealt with.

Jigoku goes over what happened from his point of view and at this point we've already figured out most of it. He was mostly forced into the assassin exchange by his British counterpart. This person is also the one who helped lure Gregson to Dunkirk where Jigoku would kill him. The trap worked based on giving Gregson a fake Reaper mission which means the British counterpart is allegedly the head of the Reapers! Despite all this, Jigoku still says he can't reveal the identity of his British counterpart. Jigoku went to the Fresno room based on what Gregson planned to do before he died. The idea was to frame Hugh Boone for the murder when he showed up at 5pm to meet Gregson. Van Zieks showing up was a coincidence. While doing the Fresno street crime scene set up, Jigoku wore the red wig so that's the person with red hair that Vigil, Venus and Sandwich saw. Jigoku also said the one mistake he made was giving Gregson back his fish and chips that had fallen out of his pocket. This was the key that tipped off Dr. Gorey that something was wrong with the time of death of the body.

That's all Jigoku can share. Something I was wondering, does Jigoku have diplomatic immunity? It doesn't sound like he did. Now that I think about it, even as a transfer student 10 years ago he didn't have diplomatic immunity and had to stand trial. Unsurprisingly, it was only Shinn going to Japan who would really benefit from immunity and not the assassin going from Japan to Britain. Before Jigoku leaves, Ryunosuke asks him one more time to reveal the identity of the British counterpart but Jigoku still refuses. I wonder what he is being threatened with such that he still won't say anything.

With that Stronghart hands down a Guilty verdict for Jigoku. He said Van Zieks is innocent, though. So what's next? The trial is over and we still haven't done the Professor stuff. Stronghart is about to give a Not Guilty verdict when Kazuma objects! Looks like we aren't done yet. Kazuma claims that Van Zieks was the one giving orders to Gregson and the British counterpart to Jigoku. He claims he's going to prove it! Well, that's one way to keep things going. Kazuma wants Van Zieks to testify again about his involvement with the Reapers and the assassin exchange. Ryunosuke says he'll allow it!

That's where I'm up to now. So I was mostly right regarding who killed Gregson. I didn't figure out the assassin exchange so I wasn't able to figure out the motive and also the whole curled up Gregson thing went completely over my head. But, almost everything else was how I thought it would be. Oddly enough, we are moving on from the Gregson case but Kazuma still hasn't said how a piece of Karuma ended up in Gregson's trunk. My assumption is he pretended to attack Gregson for some reason but I don't know why. Also if he was pretending, why swing the sword so hard he breaks it?
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Bump for now. I need to get back to this some time.
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The trial continues and Van Zieks naturally denies all involvement with the Reaper business. He claims there's no connection between him, Gregson and Dr. Wilson but that's not true. Klint's autopsy report and the Professor case connects everyone together. However, Van Zieks says the autopsy was in his favour. It really did uncover evidence that Genshin was the Professor. What exactly was that evidence, though?

Kazuma is now claiming that said decisive evidence may have been fabricated. Gregson and Dr. Wilson were in on it and had to be silenced to protect the secret. So Kazuma really does think his father was innocent and came to Britain to clean Genshin's name. Ryunosuke wants evidence of this fakery and Kazuma says he has it! On the SS Grouse, Gregson confessed to Kazuma that the key piece of evidence was fabricated. But, Gregson refuses to say who ordered the fabrication which causes Kazuma to lose his temper which in turn leads to Kazuma breaking Karuma. Gregson also said he really did think Genshin was guilty. I did suspect before that Gregson knew that Genshin wasn't the Professor but I guess I was wrong on that. Although, I think Genshin really did kill Klint. The key problem is assuming that Klint's killer is also the Professor. Kazuma claims only the lead prosecutor at the time could have made such orders to Gregson and that person was Van Zieks. Furthermore, based on what Jigoku said this would make Van Zieks the head to the Reapers as well.

What Kazuma said is apparently the last piece of the puzzle Van Zieks needed. He now claims to know the true identity of the Reaper. Ryunosuke seems to have caught on as well. Are we about the accuse Stronghart? Yes, we are! Ryunosuke points out that Van Zieks only took on the Professor case after Klint died so the prosecutor at the time was really Stronghart! Van Zieks confirms that it was Stronghart who gave him the evidence all those years ago and this was after the autopsy. Stronghart declines to respond to the accusations since he's the judge and he can do what he wants. He also said that since Gregson is dead there's no way to confirm that Gregson said what Kazuma claimed he did. After all, it isn't possible to summon a ghost to the stand. I got the reference there! As such, Stronghart denies Ryunosuke and Kazuma's request to accuse him of the crime. Totally no conflict of interest there. >_> But, we still have an out. Gregson and Dr. Wilson might be gone but there are still people from back then who were involved in Klint's autopsy.

Ryunosuke wants to call in Mikotoba to testify! It sounds like Stronghart had no idea that Mikotoba was involved and thought Dr. Wilson wrote the autopsy report. He also denies the request because he's the judge and can block any witnesses that might make him look bad. He just wants to trial to end at this point. What can we do about this? Suddenly Sholmes arrives! He pretty much goads the audience into putting pressure on Stronghart so the trial will continue! Sholmes even brought Mikotoba here and Mikotoba is already ready to testify! With that, Sholmes leaves but reminds us to pull on the bunny doll ears if we get into trouble.

Mikotoba takes the stand and Dr. Gorey is here as well! Van Zieks stays on the stand as well. Stronghart is continuing to veto Dr. Sithe showing up so this is what we have to work with. I'm curious what exactly happened. Since Mikotoba was there, why didn't he know about the forged evidence? It seems rather unlikely that Mikotoba would assist in framing Genshin. Mikotoba, in his testimony, says he didn't see any signs that the autopsy was fabricated. Dr. Gorey once again mentions that evidence found in Klint but still dances around what it was. Mikotoba does say there were some times when he was away from the autopsy table to fetch tools so there is a possibility the forgery happened when he stepped away. Mikotoba also reveals finally reveals with the decisive evidence was, Genshin's ring. Dr. Gorey helpfully brought over the ring as evidence. <3 Dr. Gorey

Mikotoba continues on and say he never actually say the exact moment the ring was pulled from Genshin's body. Dr. Wilson had sent him away from the table for a moment just before the ring was found. Ryunosuke said that swallowing the ring would have caused internal damage yet none was found and Mikotoba agrees. Mikotoba asked Dr. Wilson about it 10 years ago but Dr. Wilson just handwaved it. Stronghart claims Dr. Wilson can be trusted so this isn't a contradiction. This gets Van Zieks to recall a detail about the time Genshin saved his life. He recalls Genshin sustaining in injury to his ring finger at the time. It sounds like this event was when the ring was stolen. Stronghart wants to know why Genshin never brought any of this up. Genshin never denied the charges against him nor claimed evidence was forged. Ryunosuke thinks it was because Genshin already cut a deal at that point. Intentionally getting sentenced to death was in fact part of the plan to escape the prison! Kazuma now wants Caidin and Vigil to testify about the jailbreak and Sholmes conveniently already sent them a notice to come to the courtroom. Just how far ahead does Sholmes see?

Caidin and Vigil now join Van Zieks on the stand while Mikotoba and Dr. Gorey step off. Woah, Caidin just outright spills the beans on the jailbreak plot but says he was just following orders and doesn't know who masterminded the plan. Caidin said Vigil was not in on the plan and just happened to be selected to take the fall for it. Caidin's role mostly ended with getting Genshin out of the prison so he doesn't know why Genshin was shot afterward. Caidin also says that the jailbreak plot didn't make much sense since Genshin shouldn't have had any leverage to negotiate with. Ryunosuke brings up Genshin's will. But, the problem is that the will doesn't really have anything incriminating in it so I'm not sure how that would help. Ryunosuke brings up the possibiliity that the current will is a forgery.

The problem with that is Kazuma is able to confirm that the brushwork on the will really does look like Genshin's so this will appears to be the real deal. Caidin said that he was with Genshin when Genshin wrote it at the Prosecutor's Office before going to prison. This ends up triggering another memory for Vigil. Vigil recalls that the document Genshin was holding was written in scarlet coloured ink while the will we are looking at has black ink. Klint's autopsy report also mentions scarlet ink so what does this mean? The ink colour throws Stronghart into a panic so he seems to think it is important somehow. It sounds like Genshin was really holding a document written by Klint? Ryunosuke uses Klint's autopsy report to suggest that Klint was writing something in scarlet ink just before he died. So when Genshin claimed to be holding a will he wasn't lying. Genshin was holding Klint's will!

So now the issue is what was on the will? Stronghart is once again trying to shut things down so it must be important. But, Ryunosuke thinks he has it figured out. Ryunosuke suggests that Klint's will must be a confession related to the Professor case, specifically regarding the identity of the Professor. Van Zieks is not happy about where this is going but Ryunosuke has to go for it anyways. The true identity of the Professor is Klint van Zieks! Unsurprisingly, Stronghart already knew this!

To tie up a loose end, Van Zieks confirms that Klint owned a giant hunting dog called Balmung. Balmung had a jewel studded collar that was stolen and no one bothered to tell him it was found again even though Gregson knew. Susato described the collar to Van Zieks and Van Zieks said it sounds like the same one. The "B" on it really does stand for Baskerville. Klint's wife was from the Baskerville family and the collar was acquired when they got married. The collar is known to have blood on it but at this point it isn't possible to confirm if it is human blood or not.

Getting back on topic, Ryunosuke believes that Klint's will was the leverage Genshin had to negotiate a deal to escape from jail. This gets Stronghart to reveal the truth of the situation. But, does he really need to so this if we can't find the will? It turns out that 10 years ago, Genshin went to Stronghart and said he was certain that Klint was the Professor. But, Stronghart didn't believe him or at least pretended not to. As a result, Genshin confronted Klint himself and the end result was Klint died. So it sounds like Genshin really did kill Klint. Since Stronghart was the only other person to know who the Professor really was, he tried to keep it a secret. Stronghart admits to ordering Gregson to forge the evidence and Gregson never knew that Stronghart was lying about who the Professor was. Gregson was the one who organized the attack on Genshin and Van Zieks to

Man, that final stretch of the trial is so good.

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Yeah, the last part of the trial was pretty cool. I do feel bad for Van Zieks, though. Finding all that out about Klint is pretty rough.
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congrats on finishing the game! and on making a lot of good calls, particularly the professor's identity
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The trial may be done but there are still some mysteries that need answers. Klint mentioned a favour he asked from Genshin in his will but didn't write down what exactly it was. But, it turns out Mikotoba might know what it is. Before Genshin's execution he asked for Mikotoba's help regarding the wife of a friend who was about to give birth to a child. Genshin slips up an accidently implies he might not die even through he is scheduled to be executed and Mikotoba catches him but Genshin won't elaborate. Mikotoba does find the woman and saves the child but unfortunately the mother passes away. Based on the Baskerville logo on the woman's trunk, it is likely the woman was Klint's wife! But, I'm not entirely sure what she was doing in the middle of nowhere or why she didn't have other options even with Klint gone. Mikotoba wanted to take care of the child but, as luck would have it, he was being sent back to Japan and couldn't take the child with him. As such, he entrusted the child to Sholmes. Okay, I think I see where this is going. Mikotoba names the child after his late wife, Ayame Mikotoba. Ayame translated to English is... Iris. Poor Iris. It seems like both of her parents are dead at this point but at least she still has her uncle!

Sholmes and Iris now join the conversation and Iris wants to have a party to celebrate. Van Zieks is invited but turns it down saying he will come by another time. Van Zieks is also thinking of stepping down as a prosecutor but Kazuma isn't having that. Kazuma, in his own way, encourages Van Zieks to keep walking his path. It sounds like Kazuma intends to keep studying under Van Zieks as well. With that the group separates.

Gina is at the party as well and we get an update on her plans. She's thinking of leaving the police force since Gregson isn't around anymore. But, Sholmes gives her Gregson's fixed pocket watch and everyone convinced her to keep trying and upholding (the good parts) of Gregson's work. Gina also said she promised to help find Iris's father but Iris said that's no longer necessary. Does Iris know the truth now? No, it turns out she's giving up due to all the problems she has caused due to the search.

After the party, Ryunosuke meets up with Mikotoba to tie up a few more loose ends. Calling Susato back to Japan was actually a delay tactic in regards to investigating the Baskerville dog collar since that might have revealed who Iris's real father was. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" was sent to him by Sholmes when Sholmes asked for advice regarding what to do about it. Mikotoba would send it back which is why it was still found at Windibank's. Mikotoba's initial plan was to hide the identity of Iris's father forever but now feels like he should tell Iris the truth some day. Moving on to the subject of the favour Mikotoba asked of Ryunosuke, Ryunosuke has decided to head back to Japan with Mikotoba. So it seems like his adventures in London have come to an end. Mikotoba is heading back in a few days so there's not much time left.

Mikotoba heads off and Susato shows up. She apparently overhead the conversation but already knew that Ryunosuke would decide to go back to Japan. So it seems like Ryunosuke and Susato might be parting ways. Ryunosuke wants to ask Susato to come back with him but ultimately can't do it. They are about to part ways and Susato once again says Ryunosuke had a splendid performance in court today. With that, Susato heads off for the night.

The day of departure is here! Ryunosuke is at Dover preparing to head back to Japan. It's time to say farewell to everyone. Kazuma is here and somehow Ryunosuke didn't know this. It's a long ride to Dover. Was Kazuma hiding the whole time? Kazuma formally says he has switched to begin a prosecutor and will be studying under Van Zieks. He also asks Ryunosuke to take care of Karuma for him since there really was a brief moment where he really did think about killing Gregson that day on the ship. Ryunosuke accepts the sword although it is a bit odd that a defense attorney is carrying a sword called Karuma. Although, that's technically a different family.

Susato now speaks up and asks if she can join Ryunosuke on his journey in Japan. Ryunosuke gladly accepts! Although, he is worried about how Susato will get her luggage on board but Susato says it is already on board. She's on top of things as always! She's also already told Kazuma about her plans to head back rather than stay with him in London. The ship is now about to leave so Kazuma and Ryunosuke promise to have another duel in court someday. Ryunosuke and Susato also say farewell to Sholmes and thank him for all of his help. With that, Ryunosuke and Susato's adventures in Britain have come to an end and they head back to Japan on the ship! The credits now roll.

The scenes in the credits actually reveal a few more things. You know that 5 year break Van Zieks took? I thought that was going to be a dropped plot point but it actually does have an answer. The burden of being treated as a member of the Reapers got to Van Zieks so he had to take a break to cool off. Tusspells also mentions that she lied about thinking Genshin was already dead as part of a deal with Stronghart. That was actually something that was bugging me. At the time she took the mold of Genshin's face he would have still been alive but Tusspells said she thought he was dead and it felt like she should have known better. Also it doesn't seem like Genshin was drugged or anything so he would have had to have pretended to be dead the whole time. Poor guy.

Susato gets a section where she's excited about Ryunosuke opening an office in Japan as a Great Ace Attorney. Finally, there's a cut to the daruma doll with its second eye finally filled in. After that, the rest of the credit roll.

Great Ace Attorney beaten!

Good game. I think almost all the plot points I can think off got tied up. The only one I can think of that wasn't was why Dr. Gorey had a different family name than Dr. Sithe. This discrepancy was brought up in game but it was a minor thing and nothing ever came of it. One unfortunate thing was Hosonaga mostly disappeared after the first two cases in the first game. Although, it couldn't really have been helped considering his role in the story.

SeabassDebeste posted...

congrats on finishing the game! and on making a lot of good calls, particularly the professor's identity

Thanks! I'm looking forward to finally being able to go through the other playthrough topics to see what other people though (I saved them before they purged since I went through way slower than everyone else. >_>). Although, I bet everyone else figured out Gregson was a Reaper before I did!
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