Episode 1
{(Toccata and fugue in D minor plays) tragic misuse of a literal classic]
"Sinning this soundtrack! We are starting early I see!" three sins added.
(Creepy nightmare judge is creepy.)
"Can you sin a game for making something that is intended to be creepy…creepy? Shouldn't you remove a sin? I mean…I would remove 5 sins for this awesome opening sequence, but you are just doing you." One sin added.
(Phoenix was assaulted in the courthouse and is suffering from temporary amnesia, but they can't delay the trial while he gets medical attention or find a substitute attorney…why, again?)
"Maybe because he doesn't get a chance to explain what happened. They don't listen to him because they want the trial to be made swift and believe Phoenix is just trying to make excuses. He is the biggest bluffer the court has ever seen. Why would they take his word for it? Maybe they should, but the reason he is the protagonist is because he has to overcome obstacles on his own, not sit and twiddle his thumbs while a substitute attorney nobody cares about argues the case. That's why the game is about him, genius." one sin added.
[(Maggey: people are at their best first thing in the morning) No, they are not.]
"Most of them are. After getting enough sleep, you are full of energy and feel ready to take on whatever the day will bring. That's literally the reason we are creatures of the day. What you actually meant to say was: people are too bored to get out of bed in the morning. Yes, some are, but you didn't say that." One sin added.
(Why would all the other layers laugh Maggey off? Her case isn't that hard!)
"Because they are not Phoenix Wright. And I don't just mean that he is the main character and he has to take the case. I mean that this case is very hard if you don't see what he sees. Or do you think any lawyer would have asked for a baseball glove to be presented as evidence?" one sin added.
[(In court.) Phoenix tries to tell everyone he has amnesia and the judge's response is to admonish him.]
"Yes. If he had listened to him, the case would have been declared a mistrial, Maggey would find a new lawyer and this whole case would be a waste of time since the main character would become irrelevant. Why is it so hard for you to understand some things need to be done for the plot to advance? Not everything needs to happen according to logic. I don't know about you, but I don't come to play these games because they are like real life. It's for the exact opposite reason!" one sin added
(Maggey goes out of her way to deny having sex with Dustin, but we never find out why.)
"Most people don't like their personal relationships becoming a subject of discussing in a courtroom full of strangers. Are you telling me you would admit having sex with anyone in a room full of people you don't know?" one sin added.
(Game gives no fucks here that the defendant is standing on the defense's bench here, even though she isn't representing herself, but gets all riled up in later games when Phoenix and Athena do it 9 and 10 years later. Why is that?)
"Okay…that is an actual sin. But not for this game! This game does it correctly! The defendant is supposed to be sitting next to their lawyer on the bench in the USA! Sure, that makes future games problematic in that aspect, but it's not a sin in this game if it does it correctly!" one sin added.
[Maggey acts as our tutorial guide.) Maggey goes from angry to helpful so quickly, I got whiplash.]
"Maggey realized that Phoenix is not himself. She doesn't know yet he has suffered amnesia, but she sees he is having trouble focusing. So she decides to help him remember what he needs to do to stop her from going to jail. She is still looking out for herself here. And her survival instinct takes precedent over her anger." One sin added.
(Gumshoe trained Maggey when she first became a police officer, self-identifies as her boss and is later confirmed to have a crush on her, but can't recognize when her name is misspelled. Neither can anyone else apparently. I get it's an easy contradiction to start the game with, but how is Phoenix the first one to notice it?)
"Even if Gumshoe knew Maggey well, there is no guarantee he would know how to spell her name. Especially when both uses are correct. Maybe he didn't know which one she liked to use. The only ones who could tell are the ones with access to the court record and…did you expect Payne and the judge to notice anything at all?" one sin added.
(Dustin Prince doesn't have pupils. This disturbs me more than it should.)
"Nitpicking on minor details that are not anything wrong with the game. Just Piercetheveils being Piercetheveils." One sin added.
(Also, I identified my attacker before dying cliché. To be fair, this is only the second time this series has used it, but what is it with killers using these things?)
"Because they are trying to escape punishment by framing someone else? Just a thought. And for those of you ready to write a review saying "She is saying it is a stupid mistake", yes it is. You got it, killers get caught because they are stupid enough to make mistakes and leave evidence. Are you sinning the mystery series for finding a way for the protagonist to outsmart the killer?" One sin added.
(Maggey and Dustin were talking about marriage after only six months of dating. Rushing it much?)
"That's not a sin. That's a real-life thing real life people do. People tends to get married months after knowing each other. Hell, some get married days after knowing each other. That may be too rush, but it's a thing, so you cannot sin it! Also, haven't you heard of love at first sight? Wait…don't answer that!" one sin added.
[(Marriage? But wasn't the victim eight years older than her!-What?! You saying a guy's gotta marry someone the same age as himself, pal?! Mind your business!) Game shares it's opinion about age gap relationships in this trial. Is this supposed to be meta or foreshadowing the third episode. I can never be sure on this one.]
"There is no sin there! You just said a bunch of random things that are in no way wrong with the game and you still treat them as sins! Come on! Why do you have to be so grumpy towards those games? They are great!" one sin added.
(If Dustin Prince was a leftie, shouldn't all his friends on the friends know about this? Is it not public record among the police? Why is no one suspicious he used his non-dominant hand to write so neatly while dying?)
"I don't think the police department, or any other place of work, requires people to divulge their dominant hand. And in order for his colleagues to know…they must have paid attention when they see him write. And…why would they?" one sin added.
(Three years before Ema Skye was introduced as a character…)
"More rabble that is nothing wrong with the game. Skip!" one sin added.
[(Maggey doesn't outright tell Phoenix her boyfriend was left-handed.) Co-counsel is vague on purpose to put pressure on the player cliché.]
"It's like there is a reason one of these people is on the game's box and the other does not appear again until the credits." One sin added.
[(Payne objects then stutters) Frivolous objecting cliché.]
"Calling something that is not a cliché a cliché. And that is ironic coming from you. A cliché by definition is a word used to much it has lost its original meaning. And your use of the word cliché has become a cliché in itself!" one sin added.
(Payne forgets he has another witness to the crime until literally a second before the verdict is called.)
"It's like he was left as a loss for words from Phoenix disproving his case so quickly and had to interrupt the judge to call his witness." one sin added.
[(In recced) Maggey's response to Phoenix being hit on the head and given amnesia is…to kick him on the head and potentially concuss him a second time. Who let this woman be a cop? And why?!]
"One could ask the same question for the officers who took care of Tyre Nichol and Tamir rice. Maggey is a saint!" one sin added.
[(Richard Wellington) This guy's eye makeup.]
"Pierce doesn't like eye makeup. There are women in these games wearing it and you never call them out. What, are men not allowed to wear it? That's sexist!" one sin added.
[(Wellington's damage animation is him strangling himself.) Well, that's one way to make him be quiet. I can't say I'm particularly opposed to this.]
"Pierce sins something she likes cliché." One sin added.
(Gumshoe claims he graduated from a top-ranked college, but his salary is so low, he can barely afford basic necessities. How are student loans not killing him?)
"I could say Gumshoe is 31, so he could have easily paid student loans before his salary began getting ripped to shreds….but I don't need to. Because it's clear Pierce doesn't get Gumshoe is lying to get in Wellington's face for insulting him." One sin added.
(This pursuit theme.)
"Sinning this pursuit theme. Listen, gal…the words "Bad soundtrack" and "ace attorney" don't go in the same sentence." One sin added.
[(Proving Wellington had heard Maggey's name) And in the end, the move that saves the defendant's freedom…is the stereotypical while girl spelling of her name. If Maggey had normal parents, she would have been fucked.]
"Then it's a good think it didn't happen. Which means there is no reason for you to sin this." One sin added.
(Also, in the second case of the first game and the first case of the second game, the piece of evidence that ultimately does the stereotypical rich brat in…is a list of names. Coincidence?)
"Did…did you just ask a question and sin the game for it? What kind of sin is this? Also…nobody cares if it's a coincidence!" one sin added.
[(Wellington tries to argue the phone isn't his.) Is Wellington the only person in the world that doesn't store personal information in his phone? Unless this a burner he used to keep his criminal life separate-a move that is way too smart for this culprit-it should say who he is somewhere. Why doesn't Phoenix try this?]
"Because it could actually be a burner phone. Why are you so sure Wellington isn't smarter than he looks? He has bad eyesight and tends to panic easily…but you have no other point of reference!" one sin added.
(Phoenix's shocked animation has no pupils. I forgot to sin it last game, but even so: this bothers me more than it should.)
"Oh, so you just forgot. And here I was thinking you had decided to be less of a nitpicky asshole. I am disappointed." One sin added.
(How did Wellington call his phone to discover Phoenix had it? There is no there phone on this shot.)
"There is. You just can't see it. Watch the anime, you will see I am right." One sin added.
(Game does the dramatic pan between the characters after an interjection even if you already know who interjected. So what was the point?)
"To create drama? I mean…you just said that. This always works, even if you know who did it." One sin added.
(Stupid as the culprit is, the final nail in the coffin is that he and Phoenix had the same model cell phone. If either man had any other, or even a different color like Maya, Wellington couldn't have fucked up like this and Phoenix would have lost the case.)
"Okay, if you are going to sin the game for every time the writing allows the protagonist to win and take down the bad guy, you have just failed at understanding proper storytelling. What did you want them to do, allow the villain to win because every way for the protagonist to win is "Convenient?" Then stay away from the mystery section of the library." One sin added.
(Game plays Toccata and Fugue at the same time as its court theme. Those songs sound terrible together.)
"Lies." One sin added.
(Maggey's terrible life)
"So the sin here is a character has a tragic backstory that encourages them to try and get better every time. In other words, the motivations that flesh out the character is wrong. Okay…" one sin added.
(Phoenix gets his memory back, but still can't remember who Winston Payne is. Poor guy.)
"Caring about Winston Payne. That's worth…these many sins." 5 sins added.
(Ending narration.)
"Padding the sin count." One sin added
Total sin tally: 37
Sentence: struck with a fire extinguisher