and other tales about my first playthrough of ace attorney's 5th and final case ☆
okay. so. i just completed rise from the ashes like what? 15 minutes ago? AND THERE ARE SO MANY THOUGHTS GOING ON IN MY HEAD RIGHT NOW IM NOT SURE IF I CAN PROCESS THEM ALL.
but first of all: let me address my own personal elephant in the room. I DIDNT EVEN REALIZE THAT DAN AND PHIL RELEASED A NEW HARD LAUNCH EPISODE WHILE PLAYING THIS CASE. goes to show how focused i was on finishing this cause this is the first time ive been this late to listening to a hl episode. . its such a scary thought the case had me SO invested for so many good reasons though, no regrets here!
anyways, ABOUT THE CASE. as soon as the opening cutscene played i was immediately cause offguard by the use of 3d models like okayyy capcom this case wasnt part of the original plan huh?? (which was something i didnt realize beforehand. . surprisingly) at first i thought i wasnt gonna enjoy this case as much as turnabout goodbyes but OH WAS I WRONG
the moment ema was introduced i INSTANTLY clicked with her. . she means the world to me now after finishing this case oh ema skye you are so loved (┬┬﹏┬┬) her absolute nerdiness resonated with me so much i felt it transcend beyond my 3ds screen (even if it took a bit of getting used to not seeing maya throughout the case minus when she showed up when wright realized the similarities between her situation and the fey sisters but thats besides the point)
honestly throughout the case i feel like i had to use a guide for the investigations more than the trials cause I JUST KEPT MISSING THE MOST OBVIOUS THINGS SOMEHOW?? the trials were so fun especially on the last day (even if they melted my brain a bit but hey thats just ace attorney trials in a nutshell) hey werent nutshells mentioned sometime in this case? or maybe i just forgot. . theres too much about this case to fit in a nutshell anyways actually, now that i think about it maybe im just starting to finally get the hang of how the aa case system usually works so yay for me!
im preeeeeeeettttttttttyyyyyyyyyy sure that i thought 90% of the characters throughout this case (other than like. . edgeworth, lana, meekins, + other obvious ones) were the ones who murdered goodman ( ゜-゜) i mean, at least i got it right eventually righttt. . . like its the thought that counts i swear
ALSO. nothing couldve prepared me for how relevant that blue badger was gonna be cause at first i thought it was super cute but the more and more relevant it somehow got (literally until the final day) really started to make me go Huh. speaking of things which i couldnt have been prepared for: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CASE AND SL-9??? HELLO i was actually convinced that ema was the one who killed neil marshall for like a good 30 minutes i felt so bad for her but she was handling it LIKE A CHAMP you go girl she might be the strongest 16 year old alive
can i mention how much of a banger marshall's theme was though i mightve found him annoying throughout the first half of the case but that didnt make me wanna stop put my 3ds down and just start dancing why is this cowboy texas lover guys theme so catchy OH AND entering edgeworth's office for the first time and instantly knowing whose office it belong to was so silly i didnt expect it to look like THAT but i mean at the same time its edgeworth so it Just Makes Sense
back to more actual case related ramblings! the amount of things lana did just to protect ema HURTTTT SO MUCH :(( especially cause she had to live with the "truth" for 2 years and not have anyone else to mention it to other than possibly gant (if she even brought it up with him again) who ended up being the one who murdered goodman and framed her 14 YEAR OLD SISTER JUST IN CASE?? it was such a beautiful moment to see lana smiling by the end of the trial cause the absolute burden she mustve felt throughout those 2 years brings me so much pain just thinking about it
i think so far turnabout goodbyes is still my favorite case but this one 100% mightve had the most interesting characters!! it was so interesting to piece together everything that happened there were so many plot twists the case was really good but Okayyyy one small tiny pet peeve i had is the amount of times that you had to discuss about a different murder throughout the case like dont get me wrong seeing all the puzzle pieces connect and having a moment where everything just CLICKS was really cool but at the same time there was so much going on it was getting too hectic for me to keep up and process
oh!! also!!! this case was definitely the most consistent one ive tried to finish (with the exception of. . you guessed it: turnabout goodbyes) which kinda surprised me ! even if it took 2-ish days to play through, completing it literally was the only thing which occupied my mind which led to me eventually falling asleep at 12am when i reached the part where you investigate gant's office for the first time. . . Whoops
overall this case literally subverted ALL my expectations in the best possible ways!! i enjoyed using the new gimmicks they introduced too (especially the luminol fluid! it was so fun just going around and spraying everywhere) although using the fingerprint testing kit gave me a headache the first time i used it cause i didnt realize i didnt put enough powder on the fingerprints so everytime i used my microphone i blew all the powder away. . i tested every single fingerprint on the handprint of gumshoe's locker it took so long for what i was doing wrong to click
the skye sisters are as important to me as the fey sisters now im so glad they were able to get the truth that NONE OF THEM WERE GUILTY IN THE FIRST PLACE okay maybe lana knew about her innocence but she didnt know about ema's okay. . also theres no way that edgeworth's actually gonna resign as a prosecutor right??? RIGHT??? i dont wanna play justice for all yet but hey hopefully he just has a change of heart who knows Or else who's wright gonna have tension with in the court?? manfredd von karma???
so far these are all my (coherent) thoughts about this case ^_^ theres definitely a lot more incoherent thoughts but if i mentioned them this blog might end up becoming longer than the case its talking about
as for my gameplay stats (for lack of a better word) so far! i started phoenix wright: ace attorney on the 15 of november, 2025 and finished it on the 24th of november, 2025 with a whopping playtime of 27 hours and 20 minutes! if you want a more accurate time of the time i spent actually playing the game then it'd be like around 24 hours :D i managed to wake up before my 3ds died and i was so relieved that it still had battery. . anddd ive opened the game 10 times in total! thank you nintendo 3ds activity log for keeping track of this
and that's mostly it! as you can see i didnt expect to become this attached to the game when i first started it on the 15th, im so glad i managed to somehow avoid all spoilers for this game despite it being first made in 2001 cause it was super fun to just figure things out as the game went on!! this is maybe the 3rd time ive mentioned them but oh well the skye sisters are one of my fav characters in the game now there was so much to learn about them in just one case :'D seeing the ending was so bittersweet but im glad everything (mostly) worked out in the end !
to anyone who read this, i hope you have a lovely day!! hopefully this blog post didnt fry your brain as much as an ace attorney case fries mine ^_^ as always, thanks for taking the time to read this!!
