Episode 2
(Maya says she has to work hard to be strong until she is an adult, but um…she's already eighteen in this game. By legal standards she is an adult.)
"Yes. Now, she is an adult. But this line by Maya was a recap of what she told us before leaving at the end of the last game. She was 17 then, which means she was not an adult, by legal standards. Also, I am pretty sure she meant to become an adult as in…to become responsible and able to carry the burden of the entire village's future, not to become adult by legal standards. You do know those two don't go together, don't you?" one sin added.
[(Oh, come on, Nick! I wouldn't take a crazed killer as a client!) But you will channel one]
"Mimi Miney accidentally killed fourteen patents by mixing their medications due to being overworked. Yes, I know that is fucked up, but…exactly what part of that makes her a crazed killer? This just shows how misunderstood Mimi truly is." one sin added.
(You can take occult classes in college? That wasn't in my course catalog.)
"Parapsychology is actually an actual course in college. Occult studies is the informal naming for it. In any case, it does exist." One sin added.
(Morgan Fey.)
"I still don't get why you sin characters that are assholes! Because they are assholes? That's the whole point! The villains are assholes! How can one be a villain and not be disliked by the majority of the audience? If you don't dislike her, how will you feel the great satisfaction of putting her behind bars?" one sin added.
[(The winding way.) Phoenix claims the garden is beautiful, but we can't see it.]
"We can see part of it. We see there is grass, some plants and a small stone lantern. They cannot show us all of it-mainly because they would be wasting memory card space on something that doesn't really affect the case-but it stands to reason the rest of it should be something like this." One sin added.
[(Please have some lovely bitter green tea and jaw-droppingly large strawberry deserts.) What does Morgan have against her own brewing/baking? That never gets explained.]
"I have no idea what Pierce is talking about here. She says the tea is lovely. It does taste bitter, but that's what green tea is supposed to taste like. The deserts are large, but since when is that a bad thing about sweets? If anything, she is praising her brewing-baking." One sin added
(Takumi takes the time to mock passive-aggressive housewives in this scene.)
"Okay…and why is that a sin? It's clear that was meant as a joke. So a game trying to find a way to get the audience to laugh and relax before things get very serious is sinful? Thank God Pierce is not writing the scripts at Capcom or this series would be finished from the first game." One sin added.
[(The murder occurs) Phoenix has the option of wasting time at the scene of an ongoing murder.]
"You mean the 5 seconds he spends thinking about breaking the door down to get in? Unlike you, people think things through before saying or doing them. And there is a reason for that." One sin added.
(Why doesn't Khurain have a local police force? They're two hours from the city and we don't know about any towns nearby. Why doesn't the village have some officers on hand for scenarios just like this? I feel like this is against regulation somewhere.)
"It might be because they are an ancient cult living isolated in the mountains and are not subjected to the regulations of the big city. Also, since they are family, things tend to be pretty calm-aside from the occasional assassination attempts. Really, do you expect this clan of spirit mediums to waste their already limited resources on a police force they will almost never use?" one sin added.
"Also, I want to point out how Pierce say that we don't know about any towns that might be nearby. This means there may be small towns nearby that can send their officers over in cases of emergency. Stop sinning things you don't know!" one sin added.
(What was Gumshoe's business trip that got him out here within a few minutes' distance of Khurain? And if he was on a business trip, why would he be called in on a case? Is Takumi just that against creating a second detective character. I love Gumshoe, too, but this whole scenario is contrived at best.)
"Do you have any idea how jurisdiction works? What am I even asking? Of course you don't. The LA police has no authority in a town two hours away from their jurisdiction which ends at the borders of the city. If Gumshoe was in the vicinity for whatever reason, even personal, that gives him the right to take lead of the investigation there. It doesn't matter if he was on a business trip. Protocol is: if a crime occurs and you are near it, you drop everything and go!" one sin added.
"Also, Pierce sins something she likes cliché. I love Gumshoe and so does everyone who has ever played the games. So…why fix what's not broken?" one sin added.
[(Meeting Ini Miney) This fake, persona.]
"Sinning "Ini" Miney. She is probably one of the most sympathetic villains in the whole main series. Sure, what she did is wrong and she has to pay, but you still fell sorry for her. She was caught in a middle of a series of unfortunate events and lost everything she had. And now that she managed to find balance again, she sees it bring threatened. So she takes drastic measures. You may think her fake persona is annoying, but…it may not seem like it when you realize it's her shield. She is bottling up so much trauma and playing the dummy like this is her self-defense mechanism to keep it bottled up." One sin added.
(No matter what you say to Pearl, it all ends the same way: she runs away and Phoenix questions his hairstyle choice. This is funny once, not three times.)
"Interesting…tell me, after you see her run away the first time, what would urge you to keep doing it for no reason? And why is the game at fault for something you are choosing to do on your own?" on sin added.
[(Visiting Maya in detention) Recapping events from the last game]
"Well it had been a long time since the first game released, so people might not remember the details clearly. Also, some people might start playing this game first, so they need to get a grip of what happened in the previous one. Also, also, all of that is important for this case. You fail to get there are overarching plotlines over all three of these games." One sin added.
[(Maya insists Phoenix will have a guilty client and lose the case) Sorry, Maya, you are about two case early to be making that claim]
"Pierce talks to the screen cliché." one sin added.
(Maya gives us the magatama but she can't put energy in it for us. Why not?)
"Oh, it couldn't be because it takes immense spiritual power and Maya wants Pearl to do it since she is way stronger that her." One sin added.
"Also, give the poor girl a break! Right now she believes she lost control of the spirit she channeled, allowing her to kill a man. She has lost faith in her abilities!" one sin added.
(What did Maya say about Phoenix that convinced Pearl they were in love? Why didn't we get that as a flashback scene?)
"It's almost like 8-year olds don't understand the concept of platonic relationships and believe all boys and girls who hang out together are couples." One sin added.
"Also, one sin ago you complained about the case having too many flashbacks. But now you ask for a flashback that wouldn't change anything about the case, only waste time? As to why it isn't shown…let's just say some things are better left to the imagination of the fandom…" one sin added.
(If Pearl doesn't know what lawyers are, what does she think Mia did with her life? Pearl was seven when Mia died, so she would have known and had memories of her, right? Did Mia never tell her? Why is this a thing?)
"Because Mia moved out of the village many years before being killed. Since then, it's strongly implied she cut ties with everyone expect Maya, who also moved to the city. Pearl was definitely very young when Mia left, so she might actually not remember her. And she probably thought Mia was undergoing some special form of spiritual training wherever she was. Done. See how simple it was? I mean you ask those questions, you make them sound impossible to solve, you sin the game for them…but you don't bother to think why they are happening." One sin added.
(We interrupt your regularly scheduled murder mystery…)
"Skip!" one sin added.
(Edgeworth's supposed death. I knew nothing of the first game or its characters the first time I experienced this case, and by the time I did, I already knew Edgeworth reappeared in the finale of this game, which felt this scene feeling like complete bullshit…)
"Stop right there! So…one of the greatest plot threads in the series, which had every player I've ever seen play this game on the edge, and which brings Edgeworth's character arc closer to completion, is sinful….because you played the games out of chronological order. This is a sin on you! Five in fact!" five sins added.
"Also, calling this particular part of the game bullshit. That's worth…this many sins!" twenty sins added.
(What does spirit channeling have to do with ferreting secrets out of people? Why can' this be like logic chess and have Phoenix imagine the locks in his head?)
"Sinning the psyche-locks. This is one of the most clever bits of gameplay in the whole series. Because spirt channeling, and the supernatural in general, does not solve this for you. All the magatama does is show you when someone is lying or hiding something. You have to figure out why and how and prove It with logic and evidence. You have to interact with the supernatural, since you are in the village where everything is determined by it, but it also needs to be combined with the classic logic of mystery stories. And the way this is done is…perfect." One sin added.
[(Morgan rants about how Pearl is better than Maya) Foreshadowing.]
"And where's the sin? Morgan is being set up as an antagonist. The game isn't even hiding this. Are you sinning the game for doing a good job of helping you predict who the villain is going to be?" one sin added.
(Spirit hides vital information from lawyer cliché.)
"How is that a cliché? Name me one series that has done this other than ace attorney! Come on, just one! Oh, nothing? Okay…" one sin added.
"Also, on one hand you blame Mia for constantly coming to save Phoenix…but you also don't want her to teach him how to stand on his own and handle the trial alone…okay…" one sin added.
"Also, also, Phoenix is perfectly capable of standing alone. Where are you getting that he always needs Mia? In rise from the ashes, she only appeared once on the first day. Okay, it was uncalled for, but Phoenix then takes the chief of freakin' police down on his own! How is that not development?! And don't try to say it was written later! We are speaking in terms of chronological order here!" one sin added.
(In the courthouse) Pearl ran a distance that is two miles by train to get here on time through wilderness and city, but her clothes aren't even slightly dirty. Did she change upon getting over here?]
"Or maybe her clothes wouldn't necessarily get dirty. Or maybe the animators didn't want to bother wasting effort for a new, dirty sprite for the sake of perfect accuracy." One sin added.
[(The pursuit-cornered theme plays when Maya speaks of Edgeworth) Nostalgia trip pulled a mere year after the first game came out. Isn't it a little early to be remember the good ol' days when your game is still in its second game? And I thought blatant nostalgia was the later games' problem.]
"Who said anything about nostalgia? They are trying to give you the hype you felt when Phoenix and Edgeworth went at it in court by playing the awesome music that is connected with those memories. And it works." One sin added.
(Also, Maya way overhypes the events of turnabout sisters and turnabout samurai.)
"No." one sin added.
(Maya is every player except me in the "Phoenix tells her Edgeworth died between games" scene)
"You are still sinning the game for an awesome plot that you ruined by playing the games out of order. You want another serving? Here ya go!" twenty sins added.
(Franziska says she can win a case in twenty minutes, but her father supposedly could in three. She has a long way to go before she's in his level)
"Suggesting Franziska should become like her father. The reason she is not on his level is because she is not completely ruthless and devoid of emotions like him. Even she sees a line. It may not be clear in this case, but just ask yourself one question: did Franziska ever kill a man, try to further torture a traumatized man or assault people with a taser? Exactly." One sin added.
(Phoenix's argument for why the hole in the folding screen is eight inches off the ground) This is disproved later with the hole in the clothing box, but why couldn't the bullet have gone through at an angle? It could have been fired from Grey's height pointing slightly downwards and gone through the sleeve and then the folding screen no problem. Why does everyone just assume the gunshot was perfectly horizontal?)
"Because they have agreed both gunshots were fired after Grey was stabbed in the stomach, losing a great amount of blood. Do you…see the problem with your question yet? Grey couldn't have been standing up, ergo the gunshot was fired from floor-level, ergo it was perfectly horizontal, ergo the killer was squatting on the floor. It's called logic, gal." One sin added.
[(Lotta on the stand) Franziska can't get witnesses to say their names…wait, wrong prosecutor!]
"Still calling things that only happen in this series clichés. You haven't learnt a single thing, have you?" one sin added.
(Pearl channels Mia) How did she get to the defense bench without being noticed? And why aren't her clothes cutting off all circulation? Why can't we look at her from the front view? Why does my last question feel so wrong?)
"I know what you are all thinking. I know she makes it sound like that last question needs to be asked, but…after hearing it out loud…did it really though? The only reason she asks this is because she is trying to copy cinemasins' trademark cringiness as well as his trademark stupidity. And it works." One sin added.
(Also, Mia ex Machina.)
"Oh, My God! This is getting annoying! You use Deus ex Machina, but you have no idea what it actually means. You keep throwing these words around: cliché, Deus ex Machina, convenience…I am starting to believe you have a whole list of random words and you ini-mini-miny-mo which one you will use each time." one sin added.
(Why does Franziska allow Phoenix to question Lotta again. This is ultimately what does her in, and she really has no reason to help Phoenix win. Did she feel her victory would be cheapened by not letting him speak? Why foil her own revenge plot?)
"Because of her pride. She is so confident her case is perfect, that she doesn't believe it is possible for him to find a hole in it. Pride comes before a fall. Ever heard of that one? Or are Deus ex Machina and cliché the only words in your vocabulary?" one sin added.
(This game makes fun of the idea that the defendant was killed by their supposed victim, but SOJ takes them seriously. And thus turnabout revolution was born.)
"Yes…the most epic finale case after 3-5. If it took inspiration from this one…this should be a win, not a sin." One sin added.
(Mia reads Phoenix's every thought in this trial. I would have considered her more of a mentor than an assistants, but I guess she fits the bill.)
"Pierce thinks only Phoenix's assistants read his mind. Guess he thought Gymshoe was his assistant in 3-3." One sin added.
(Franziska threatens to punish Gumshoe if she's assigned a penalty. Considering the last von Karma murdered his opposition lawyer over the same thing, shouldn't this be considered a concern? I know she would never go through with it…)
"And I'm gonna stop you right before because you just answered yourself. You really think this game would have the balls to make a character with so much potential a murderer or kill off the best detective in the series? No! And neither does anyone else!" one sin added.
(Pearl is the one who gave Phoenix the power to see psyche-locks and it still takes less than a day for her to end up on the wrong side of them. In other words, irony.)
"And why is irony a bad thing? The fact you are sinning this means you think a game using irony is something fundamentally wrong with the game itself…which is ironic." One sin added.
(Pearl broke the urn) Eight-year old can't spell a three-letter name. I get she's raised in a cult, but does she not receive any conventional education? If so, sin on her mother from educating Pearl so poorly.)
"Yes. It is a canon fact that Pearl has not be taught much aside from spirit channeling stuff and the fact strangers are dangerous. If it's canon, then you can't sin it. A sin means it's done accidentally and ruins the flow of the game or the logic of the plot. This does neither of those things."
"Also, Pearl might be suffering from some form of dyslexia. I'm not saying that's canon. But blaming an eight-year old for not spelling perfectly when they might be suffering from a condition hat hasn't shown yet…it's a shitty move." One sin added.
"Also, also, this is ironic coming from you. You are an adult and you don't even know what Deus ex Machina means." One sin added.
(Miney drops her fake persona to threaten Phoenix) Finally! I'd be more impressed with her fake persona if it wasn't so goddamn annoying. Why would she impersonate her sister in that way? Did she hate her?)
"Pierce sins something she likes cliché." One sin added.
"Also, maybe her sister did act like that when she was alive. That makes this not annoying and it also makes Mimi an amazing actress. Seriously, to be able to perfectly keep this up in front of everyone for almost a year…maybe she missed her true call." One sin added.
[(Mia's psyche-locks.) Why does Mia protect her aunt over her sister? I can believe not wanting to incriminate Morgan, but not at Maya's expense.]
"You are misrepresenting this scene. Mia is not trying to protect Morgan. She just has faith in Phoenix. She can see he has become and adept lawyer and instead of holding his hand from beyond the grave, she wants him to put the pieces of the puzzle together to be prepared for the trial. You are sinning Phoenix's mentor for proper mentoring." One sin added.
(Morgan on the stand) Does Mia have bad blood with her aunt? It wouldn't surprise me the way Mia's acting, but it does make me curious. Especially considering she didn't want to accuse her aunt earlier. Unfortunately, this is never explained.]
"Oh, I don't know, girl. The fact she is lying on the stand and acting as the accomplice on a plot to send her younger sister to prison and steal the position of leader from her…it could make Mia very angry. It would make me angry." One sin added.
"Also, sinning mentor for proper mentoring. Again." One sin added.
(How long did it take Lotta and Phoenix to make a phone call? The manor is right across from the pay phone and Morgan claims she was out for ten minutes. Sure, she is lying, but if Lotta and Phoenix weren't at way for at least that long. They would have called her bullshit sooner. So we're back to where we started: what were Phoenix and Lotta doing during those ten minutes?)
"Waiting for the police. A murder was just commited and they were specifically told to step away to avoid further bloodshed. They called the police and they want them to arrive, get to the scene and make sure it's secure before returning there, like all responsible citizens should, and not put themselves in harm's way for no reason at all. Do you even use your head or do you just wear it for looks?" one sin added.
[(Miney relays what her sister told her). Where have I seen these cutscenes before?]
"At the begging of the review, you called those cutscenes awesome and the best way to start a case. Why would you sin the game for taking the opportunity to show them again?" one sin added.
[(Miney reveals her true personality for longer than a second) Finally. This may be the only villain I find more pleasant post-transformation. I would remove a sin…if I didn't have to spend hours of gameplay talking to her fake persona already. I swear, this is the case's strongest weakness in my book.]
"Pierce sins something she likes cliché." One sin added.
[(The judge is about to end the trial when) Yay, Mia ex Machina.]
"Skip! We will not be entertaining this wrongful uses of phrases today, sir!" one sin added.
[(Discussing the car accident) Incident from x years ago is related to today cliché. In this case, only one year ago, but the core of the cliché remains.]
"But this accident brought about everything that happens in this case . Are you actually sinning the game setting its own plot into motion?" one sin added.
(Did Mia just whip Phoenix?)
"No. She might have slapped him. Only one person has a whip around here." One sin added.
(Mimi Miney: ace car nerd)
"This line. I get it's a joke, but this goes back to what I said in my Phoenix Wright: ace attorney fic. If you want to make jokes, have a separate joke counter and don't count them as sins. Tell me one reason that line you just said is a sin of the game." One sin added
(How could a nurse afford to import a sportscar? Did she have rich parents that died? A sugar daddy? A lucrative side job? Nurses don't make enough money for this shit and it's never explained.)
"Maybe to all of the above. Next question. Do you have questions that actually matter in the case and people actually care about?" One sin added.
(Here's a question that has yet to be answered about this case: If Morgan wanted to discredit Maya as an heir and Mimi wanted to hide the fact she was alive, why murder Grey at all? If those two did nothing, Maya would have failed at her first big channeling and just be seen as weak the same way Morgan was. Grey wouldn't have gotten what he wanted, no, but he probably would have blamed Maya, not thought Mimi was still alive. With Maya disgraced as a medium, Morgan can push Pearl forward as the rightful heir, getting what she wants without bloodshed. But hey: murder mystery's gotta murder mystery, yo.)
"Your premise is wrong, which is what's causing you problems. You begin with the assumption Grey would give up on the channeling thing after Maya failed. He would not. Given how stubborn this guy is, he would go to another medium in the village and ask the same thing. And if many mediums tried but none succeeded, he might get suspicious about Mimi still being alive, since it's not possible for so many mediums to fail if she's dead. And if he looked into it and prove Mimi was alive, it would prove Maya was not weak and she would retain her right to the throne. You are also ignoring the possibility Mimi is getting paranoid since she is feeling the past closing in on her. This means Mimi feels the need to get rid of that loose end for good. And Morgan feels the same way, since it's the only possible to ensure Maya will never be able to get the throne. So…this could not be done the way they wanted without bloodshed." One sin added.
(Also, this is dark, but if Morgan really wanted to get rid of the main family and have Pearl take her place…she was their caretaker after Misty left, right? Couldn't she have just killed them in an accident years ago to get what she wanted? Or even just Maya, as Mia had already chosen to leave the village? If she's willing to resort to killing people now, why was she not willing to years ago? Why does it take her until the next game to gain the guts needed for her to kill Maya?)
"Maybe because killing her in an accident would attract too much attention to her exactly because she was their caretaker? The police tend to look very, very deep in those cases. And I doubt Morgan is so perfect a criminal that she would clear all evidence of foul play. If you haven't noticed, Morgan, both times she tries to hurt Maya, never actively does anything. She sits on the sidelines, and lets the events unfold by themselves. She doesn't want to get her own hands dirty and put her own neck on the line. And people willing to kill for you aren't exactly around the corner. That's why." one sin added.
(Final scene with Morgan) Foreshadowing Bridge to the turnabout. So far this is the only foreshadowing…]
"And I am going to end by skipping this nonsense because I am done repeating my self over and over." One sin added.
Total sin tally: 104
Sentence: whipped into unconsciousness