Just finished the game. If Maya doesn't return to Ace Attorney, I just don't know, guys.
She was totally on form this game. Energetic and helpful without me ever thinking "Geez, tone it down, girl." or feeling like she was drawing on anime cliches.
She's always been a great character to me, but there were a couple times in the original PW trilogy that I felt like she way too spacey for her own good.
I'm not familiar with the Layton series, whereas I've finished every Ace Attorney, and I was really here for Nick and Maya, though Layton and Luke really grew on me. That said, it kind of bugged me how Layton seemed to always take the lead when it came to actual thinking. Even at court he always seemed to be leading Phoenix along and to one step ahead of him, but smugly waiting for everyone else to catch up to his train of thought. Would have really liked it if Phoenix had been allowed to shine on his own in the courtroom, at least. Leave Layton to prove how brainy he is on the puzzle and investigation segments. Quick lateral legal thinking is supposed to be Phoenix's schtick.
As for my more spoiler-y impressions:
I got weird 999 vibe-chills when Arthur Cantabella took the stand and went into his "I'm the president of a pharmaceutical company..." exposition. And then things just kept getting weirder from there.
GAME: "The magic was all an illusion created by the shades!"
ME: "Wait, even if that's true, how the hell did the "wall portal" spell work? And what about the magical invisibility cloak that we *just* proved is an *actual invisibility cloak?* And how the hell did an entire bell tower appear out of thin air in a blaze of flames!?"
GAME: "Everyone was hypnotized to ignore anything that's pure black, and the entire bell tower was covered in a pure black robe like the shades were using!"
ME: "So nobody ever walked across the giant inviting grassy plaza in the middle of town and bumped into the giant invisible bell tower? And even if the invisible-hypnosis thing tracks, wouldn't a giant structure like that covered in a black trap cast weird shadows that people would notice?"
GAME: "DRUGS AND HYPNOSIS!"
And then Layton and Wright somehow "dispel" the illusion on the entire town by dramatically pointing and saying a word? What the hell? I'm going to assume that part of the hypnotic suggestion was that people would snap out of it upon hearing the word "taelenda" or whatever it was, but don't you think that would be something to actually mention in the narrative itself, somewhere!?
Luke just kind of disappears after he and Layton leave the Storyteller's Tower and Layton appears as Inquisitor. When he suddenly showed up in the animated cutscenes again when the trial was over I actually said out loud "Oh yeah, Luke's in this." When he caught Espella and Darklaw/Eve with the crane machine all I could think of was how ridiculously lucky that was and how really, everybody should be looking at some bloody stains on the pavement. Also, nobody had been knocked out for this "trick." Wouldn't people have seen a floating little boy operating invisible levers?
How the hell were the witches and things in the beginning of the game before you get to Labyrinthia done, especially considering they were definitely witnessed by Layton and Luke and they weren't under any sort of suggestion yet? In retrospect a lot of the event of the first hour of the game are absolutely bonkers. Layton and Luke were alone at night in a secluded place when they were "sucked into" Labarynthia, but did Phoenix and Maya just get kidnapped/abducted right out of a courtroom lobby?
I was disappointed that we only got to hear Cornered (AA1 Version) once or twice in the entire game, it's just too great a song to pass up. Cornered (Spell Breaker) is amazing, though, so I guess it's not too bad. The Final Witness was also criminally underused and would have set some *amazing* atmosphere at a couple of points in the game.
The whole ending of the game just seemed to drag on, too. So many times that it felt like we'd wrapped up things fairly well and then someone would bring up something *else* to wring another testimony out of. And for all the padding and mysteries being clarified, there was never a really satisfying "gotcha!" moment in the final trial. Maybe because the story didn't really have a "villain." It was very much a Layton "figure out the mystery" ending and not a satisfying Ace Attorney "dealing out long-overdue justice" one.
It was weird how the idea of being responsible for the destruction of an entire town and the deaths of all its inhabitants was, justifiably so, something that pushed Espella to the edge of madness, but when Darklaw/Eve discovers it was actually *her* fault she just kind of shrugs and takes it in stride. "Oh, I killed my mom and dozens of others? Well if we dwell on that it won't seem like a happy ending!"
And then the Storyteller *out of fucking nowhere* goes "I have an incurable disease!" And they let that hang in the air for maybe 10 seconds before he's like "But also I have the cure, so... I don't know why I brought that up."
STORYTELLER: "I'm going to go into surgery, Espella, but I'll be back soon."
ESPELLA: "And then everything will be fine and happy, Daddy?"
STORYTELLER: "Of course, my dear."
ME: "Arthur Cantabella died of complications during surgery. THE END."
