Ace Attorney/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

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* In 1-5, we're taught about evidence law, specifically that evidence needs to have the approval of the Police before it can be used in court. So... aren't all the evidence that Phoenix uses from his own investigations from the past 5 cases illegal?

** In 1-5, we're also taught that any evidence that isn't approved by the police department can be legalized if the presenter can offer a credible connection between the case at hand and the evidence (second rule of Evidence Law). This is probably how Phoenix manages to hide most of his case breakers from the prosecutors.

* http://larkismyname.deviantart.com/art/PW-COMIC-The-Atmey-Paradox-74843496?q=gallery<!-- 3Alarkismyname2F65281&qo=70 An incredibly valid contradiction. Explain please. -->

* Is it true that only the American versions of the game are [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]? I'm confused by that point.

** The Japanese version takes place around present day (a year or so into the future). The reason the Western version takes place ten years into the future is the justify the in game legal system being different too that off the current day American system.

** Female Murderers: There's at least one in each game (PW - {{spoiler|Dee Vasquez}}, JFA - {{spoiler|Mimi Miney}}, T&T - {{spoiler|Dahlia Hawthorne}}, AJ - {{spoiler|Alita Tiala}}, and two in AAI - {{spoiler|Cammy Meele and Callisto Yew}})

*** Also {{spoiler|Mari Miwa}} in GK 2, {{spoiler|Belle Windsor}} in the manga.

** There's also a basis in reality that women are both less likely to commit murder and less likely to be murdered.

** Oddly enough, there has never been a case with a female murderer and victim, except for one case in the Miles Edgeworth manga.

*** What about 3-4? {{spoiler|Dahlia killed Valerie}}. Both are women.

* Is the penalty for killing of ANY kind in the PW:AA universe death? Phoenix frequently says something like "the defendant's life is on the line here!" and it's implied that if Phoenix loses, his client will get the death penalty. This even applies if the death is accidental, or in self-defense (''even if the person being killed is a serial killer coming at you with a knife''). Prison sentences are never even brought up.

** No one's sentence is ever shown or even implied apart from Manfred's. Although even his sentence is never stated as being death, it's just said that he's "not around any more". When Phoenix talks about the defendant's "life" being on the line, he's talking about how their life will be destroyed should they be found guilty. I mean they will be sent too prison and it they would be labelled a killer for their whole life, so their life IS on the line. Self-defence is pretty much stated too as being a legally justified killing and thus you won't go to prison for it. The reason Phoenix was determined to prove away the charge of self-defence was because it was basically admitting that the defendant HAD killed someone and, even though they won't get charged with anything, they would be labelled a killer which would basically ruin their life. Plus, despite people wanting to believe that the law can't punish a kid for accidental killing someone while in a life or death situation, the fact is that it can. I mean, you can call what Edgeworth did (in case 1:4) different things like self-defence, manslaughter ect, but it's clearly shown in case 2:2 that some one who commits a self-defence killing is still put on trial and prosecuted. It's just that, most likely, the defendant isn't given a sentence. Plus let's not forget that people seem to be forgetting that this is a VIDEO GAME SERIES. A bit of difference too the real world is only expected. You can't expect it to be 100% accurate.

** Simply...IT'S A VIDEO GAME. The game's harsh legal system and tendency to have prosecutor's abuse go unpunished are both [[Take That]]'s at the Japanese legal system prior too 2006 when the old system was still in place. Said system was infamous for it's harshness against defence attorney's and laid back way of court proceedings.

** Nope. The only reason is that ''Justice For All'' was written as a GBA game before the DS update of the first game was written.

** It struck me as highly unfair for Phoenix to assume that Edgeworth left only because of his broken winning streak when he had, in 1-5, admitted to feeling guilt about his past actions and doubt over whether he could continue. Perhaps Phoenix not remembering this is proof that 1-5 was made later.

*** Plus it's for gameplay purposes as well. It'd be pretty crappy if you couldn't investigate right? Also in Japan, attorney's DO have authority to investigate.

* What's with the strings of flags? They are attached to the blow up Steel Samurai in game 1 case 4, at that shack in game 3 case 5, and Valant Gramarye pulls them out of his cane when shocked in game 4. Any reason behind the recurrence of this prop?

* Basic one. This is in regards to the English translation...they say America moved to the new court system (three days, no trial by jury, etc) to streamline trials because the caseload was too high. Okay, that's a weird rule in light of American jurisprudence and civil rights issues, but hey, this could be a dystopian near-future. Problem, though: people who confess to their crimes (4-2, 3-2, 1-4, for instance) still get their day in court and still have to go through the motions of a trial. This implies the functional abolition of the plea bargain. Since between 80%-90+ % of all cases (depending on jurisdiction) are resolved by plea bargain, and of the cases that do go to trial most are already finished within a few days (although with much more lead-up investigation than in PW) anyway...how is this in any way functional? Justice and civil rights have already taken a beating, but even the argument of efficiency is now trashed.

** Plea bargains still exist, Franziska was saying Phoenix would be asking for one within 10 minutes at the start of the 2-2 trial. Which means that it's up to the attorney to decide to go for one, even if the client wants to confess and that's why it hasn't come up in any of Phoenix or Apollo's trials.

** Why do people assume that Phoenix didn't keep in contact with his friends in Apollo Justice? In fact there's evidence too the contrary in the game itself. Examining the DVD stack in next too Phoenix's hospital bed in case 2 prompts him to say how a "kid" he knows keeps sending him Samurai [[DV Ds]] to right reports on (obviously Maya) so he DOES keep in touch with people, its just not shown because it doesn't NEED to be. That's what I HATE about the fandom; why do people think that Apollo Justice had too feature Phoenix Wright characters when it's meant too be APOLLO'S GAME.

** Besides said "foreign celebrity" {{spoiler|wasn't foreign at all. She just thought she was. She was probably born in the same country as everyone else. Thus she could very well perform jury duty}}.

** There isn't, I don't think. I think we just have to accept that that's another factor of the game's ludicrous legal system and move on lest we tie ourselves in knots trying to explain it.

*** Still, sometimes Phoenix would have been more useful (*cough* 1-2, 2-2 *cough*) if he was not the defense. That way he could testify as an 'unbiased' witness for the defendant.

**** The same goes for Apollo in 4-3. But that case also reveals a problem with the setup: the court was hesitant to accept Lamiroir's testimony at face value because she was a friend of the defendant. Wouldn't they say the same thing about Phoenix testifying on Maya's behalf?

* Steel Samurai seems to have a massive following both among kids and adults during its run time, a lot of publicity events and a ** theme park** . Why spend so much on all that only to cancel it after 13 episodes?

** No, but it is mentioned in 2-4 that there are multiple shows taking place in the same universe that were produced and aired after the cancellation. Looks like Steel Samurai wasn't the first show in it, just the one that brought in the most new fans at the time.

** Alternately, it wasn't just "Episode 13". It was "Season 5, Episode 13", and the show's been running for years.

** It wasn't cancelled but {{spoiler|Von Karma}} says that it has been put on hold indefinitely, which amounts to the same thing actually...

* Will the rules of presenting evidence/profiles ever be consistent? In the first game, you could only present evidence unless a person is requested. The second game allows presenting a person's profiles. The third game covers Mia's first two cases, before Phoenix ever took up the mantle, but she was allowed to present people as well. ''Apollo Justice'' goes back to the rules of the first game. Who makes the rules?!?

* One of the odder new aspects of the third game was the heightened tendency for characters to cross-examine the defendant, mostly because this forced the defense attorneys to point out contradictions and thus hurt their own case. This continued in ''Apollo Justice'', to the point that {{spoiler|calling upon the defendant to testify is the final solution to case 3}}. So how does this mesh with the constant tendency in ''Investigations'' for the opponent to dismiss every immediate suspect's statements on the grounds that they'd say anything to protect themselves? If that's true, then no one should have cross-examined them at all!

** Well, in real court systems, the defendant is allowed to speak in their own defense. They may not be believed, but they can do it.

** I think Phoenix actually asks Gumshoe this very question in 3-2, but I'm not sure what his response is.

** Simply put: It's not uncommon for homicide detectives to take up other cases if the police are short of hands. And in response to the comment above, Phoenix actually asks Gumshoe why he is on the case and he replies by saying that "they needed all the help they could get with casing Mask*[[De Masque]]".

** That'd be awesome

*** Exactly. Imagine Ema's reaction to Maya's unscientific channeling technique. Oh sure, she may have heard about it from her sister, but that's totally different from seeing it. How would someone who believes so closely in science react to something like that.

**** Studying it very closely and trying to determine the principles behind it. It may be [[Measuring the Marigolds]], but contrary to a common viewpoint, science is not about dismissing the supernatural.

** It would take the surprise out of the moments when someone yell's "HOLD IT!" or "OBJECTION!" and they have the epic shocks on everyone's faces before finally revealing who it is that saved the day.

* Why do the four mentioned feel the need to yell "Take That" at everything they point out? [[Rule of Cool|I know it's more exciting that way]], but, for example, at the end of 3-2, {{spoiler|Phoenix shows Ron why Dessie would stay with him by showing him the urn. Does he need to yell, "TAKE THAT!" at him?!}}

** I always thought the whole thing was a [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]] given that at one point in 1-5, Phoenix was supposed to present an evidence to the judge. When you presented the wrong evidence he yells "TAKE THAT" and yet Phoenix doesn't say anything out loud and the judge penalized him for ''taking too long''.

* Does the courthouse have any security or surveillance whatsoever, aside from the courtroom bailiff? I'm looking at three specific situations here. 1) The very beginning of 2-1, in which a witness strikes the defense lawyer over the head with a fire extinguisher in plain sight in the defense lobby, and no one witnesses it. 2) In ''Apollo Justice'''s fourth case flashback, 3) In ''Investigations'' case 4, the only witness to anything happening in the courthouse hallway is {{spoiler|a judge using the bathroom in the opposite wing}}. Admittedly, you can't always prevent these kinds of things from happening in the courthouse, but these events go almost completely unnoticed.

*** It says "Defendant Lobby No.1" in the setting text. Phoenix is attacked there, and meets with Maggey in the same location.

**** Well that aside, it's a game about investigating crimes. I'd be no fun if you could just watch the video to see what who the killer is.

[[Category:Headscratchers]]

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