Ace Attorney Deep Dive: “Farewell, My Turnabout” (Justice For All – Case 4)

After one great case and two pretty woeful ones, I think a lot of people were sick of “Justice For All” before its final case. After playing “Farewell, My Turnabout”, however, a lot of fans have this game as one of the better entries in the series. That bizarre shift in appreciation will become clear after I’ve evaluated the overwhelming merits of one of Ace Attorney’s greatest finales.

I’ll be deconstructing the case in ten distinct categories and giving a score out of ten for each. This will give a definitive score out of a hundred, if the maths checks out!

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Micro Story

At an award ceremony, Juan Corrida (The Jammin’ Ninja) is killed in his hotel room whilst Matt Engarde (The Nickel Samurai) is accused of the crime. What makes the motive initially muddy is that Engarde had just beaten Corrida to win the award, so if anything the “jealous murder” should’ve been the other way around. Corrida was also due to give a press conference posing as the Nickel Samurai until his untimely demise, threatening to expose a great secret … more on that later.

Circumstances also lead to best-boy Edgeworth taking the prosecutor’s bench for this one case – I don’t mind Franziska, but sometimes a little fan service can go a long way!

But what makes “Farewell, My Turnabout” such a gripping case other than the plethora of twists and turns is the kidnapping. Maya gets abducted by a mysterious assassin-for-hire, and his demands are simple – Matt Engarde is to get a ‘Not Guilty’ verdict, or Maya dies. The entire case oozes with tension and an unsettling energy right up until the final credits, and it’s no exaggeration to say I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Score: 10/10

Macro Story

For the first time in ages, “Farewell, My Turnabout” actually doesn’t have much in terms of an overarching narrative. Where it shines, however, is in its development of the main characters – namely Phoenix, Maya and Edgeworth.

Maya has the least to do because … well, she’s hardly in it. Her being kidnapped means there’s a gaping hole in the plucky assistant department that Pearls ends up filling, so I did miss her optimism and un-seriousness throughout the Investigations. What she does do, however, is push Phoenix to his absolute limits – she all but demands a Guilty verdict for the culprit, even at the cost of her own life, and it puts Phoenix in a position to question everything he knows about being an attorney.

As I mentioned before, Edgeworth returns in this case and he cements himself as my favourite Ace Attorney character. Gone are the von Karma quirks that made him a douchebag – he’s now a respectable, albeit as snarky and arrogant as ever, prosecutor with a lust for the truth and nothing but the truth. His individual growth is astounding, but yet again it’s his relentless pursuit of truth that sees Phoenix in the crossfires. Both Maya and Edgeworth – two of Phoenix’s closest friends – force him into uncomfortable corners … that’s some good writing!

And that leaves us with the main man, Phoenix Wright. His inner turmoil of whether to sacrifice his morals for the Not Guilty verdict or his best friend for the Guilty verdict is one of the best inner conflicts I’ve ever seen in a game. Period. He’s pushed to his absolute limits, and that deep-rooted anxiety is conveyed so well across the whole case. For the first time in ages, Phoenix comes out of the courtroom at the end a changed man.

If “Farewell, My Turnabout” had somehow connected to the overarching narrative I would’ve given it a perfect ten (and had my mind blown), but the character work we got instead was truly sensational.

Score: 9/10

Mystery

For the first half of “Farewell, My Turnabout”, you’re completely in the dark. Everyone is lying. Maya’s kidnapping puts you in a dizzied frenzy. No clear suspect comes forward, and there’s no definitive piece of evidence or crystal-clear motive. Needless to say, my mind was whirring.

Sadly for the sake of this Mystery category, that doesn’t last long. Phoenix works out pretty quickly during the second Investigation that Matt Engarde isn’t being entirely truthful, and once he’s revealed as the guilty party is becomes less of a mystery and more of a “how the hell is Phoenix going to get out of this one?”.

I’m glad the case took a turn into a more introspective, worldview-shattering narrative, but that does unfortunately mean this category’s score will be knocked down a place or two.

Score: 8/10

Side Characters

We get a lot of returning characters in “Farewell, My Turnabout” as well as one completely new one. I have more to say on the topic of the newbie, so I’ll fizz through the returning players as quickly as possible:

Pearls and Mia return, and their familial connection to Maya makes her kidnapping even more disheartening. Lotta Hart and Will Powers also pop up here and there for comic relief. The big stinker in this section is Wendy Oldbag – why did nobody’s favourite character come back? Why did the writers ruin an otherwise flawless cast?

By far the best of the side characters just happens to be the new one, Adrian Andrews. She’s Engarde’s manager and also the prime suspect for the majority of the Trials – in fact, if Phoenix is to get the “Not Guilty” verdict, he would have to throw Andrews under the bus by condemning her in the real culprit’s place.

But what makes Andrews such a compelling character is her tragic backstory involving Celeste Inpax – Inpax was Engarde’s manager and lover for a time before becoming Corrida’s manager and boyfriend, as well as Andrews’ mentor. To put a long story short, Engarde and Corrida’s petty rivalry eventually leads to Inpax’s suicide. Corrida created a fake suicide note to reveal all of Engarde’s misdeeds, and Andrews was going to help him divulge it to the world at the staged press conference.

She’s a deeply flawed individual with depressive tendencies and an over-reliance – or “dependency” as Edgeworth puts it – on other people. The scene were Edgeworth effectively extracts the dark truth from Andrews is extremely troubling, and you can’t help but feel terrible for everything this poor woman has gone through as a result of a rivalry-turned-grudge between two utterly evil men.

It’s amazing how much impact one single character made on this case, but the returning players (barring Oldbag) flesh out the cast to make it one of the best in the series thus far.

Score: 9/10

Soundtrack

All of the moody tracks in “Justice For All” make a return for this final case, and that sombre atmosphere works wonders when paired with the harrowing story of kidnapping and inner conflict.

But the new tracks are fantastic too – Shelly de Killer’s theme is really cool, Edgeworth’s “Great Revival” is an epic return for a fan-favourite character, and “Hotline of Fate” (the frantic track that plays whenever the kidnapper phones Phoenix) is half the reason “Farewell, My Turnabout” feels so intense.

Score: 9/10

Investigations

Other than the Mystery (which wasn’t that important for this case to begin with), the Investigations are probably the most disappointing aspect of “Farewell, My Turnabout”. I still really liked them, though – this case is just so strong across the board!

The hotel setting and all of the rooms you visit are fairly standard, but it’s the frenzy of searching for Maya that made even the dullest Investigation scenes feel electric.

The part where you finally dig up the truth from Matt Engarde and see his true character was the kind of twist that’ll stick with me until the day I die, and I especially loved the part where you hear a cat meowing in the background of a phone call and rush to Engarde’s residence – my blood was pumping double-time!

Score: 8/10

Trials

If you thought the Investigations were intense when you had to search for Maya, just wait until you reach the courtroom segments!

The first Trial is enlightening rather than shocking as more pieces of testimony and evidence are brought up, and for the longest time I genuinely thought Adrian Andrews was the culprit and Phoenix was on the right path.

But it’s the final Trial where “Farewell, My Turnabout” earns its reputation. Phoenix knows that Engarde is the true culprit, but he has to stall the court until the authorities find Maya. The longer this stretches out, and once every plan starts to fall through, words cannot describe how panicked I was.

Something I forgot to mention in “Rise from the Ashes” is that there’s the possibility of a bad ending if you make the wrong choice at a crucial moment. I’m not a fan of outright “bad” endings in videogames, so that tarnishes the final score by a little bit.

Score: 9/10

Case Logic

For a case with so many moving parts, it’s amazing how watertight “Farewell, My Turnabout is.” I found a Reddit thread of someone pointing out a few plot holes, but then commenters in the replies managed to provide a counter-argument to every single one!

The only part of the case that I still have gripes with is the ending where de Killer didn’t know Adrian Andrews was a woman. It leads to a really fun contradiction and “Aha!” moment, but c’mon … are you telling me de Killer didn’t do the bare minimum research on his client before taking the assignment? Andrews was Engarde’s personal manager (and the person in closest proximity to him at the pre-determined murder scene) after all!

Score: 9/10

Culprits

In the few times we’ve had two culprits in an Ace Attorney case, one of the culprits has ended up being more defined / memorable / iconic than the other. “Farewell, My Turnabout” has no such issue.

If you thought Juan Corrida was a piece of shit, just wait until you learn what Matt Engarde is really like – he’s evil in every sense of the word, and it’s only once he reveals his true personality that you realise how sinister his scheme was. His rivalry with Corrida ended up making an innocent woman take her own life, and Engarde doesn’t care in the slightest – in fact, he uses the opportunity to kill Corrida down the line with a hired assassin.

Speaking of hired assassins, I hate how cool Shelly de Killer is. I don’t want to root for this murderous assassin, but his design and theme are so slick! My favourite parts about him are that he gets away scot-free, and that he has a strict moral code that ends up working in Phoenix’s favour. Once de Killer finds out that Engarde plans to blackmail him (another reason why Engarde was the worst), he sticks to his word and releases Maya in order to target his backstabbing client instead. This case has so many moving parts and dubious motives, and I love it!

Score: 10/10

Charm

It’s only after replaying “Farewell, My Turnabout” that I realised how well paced – and gripping by extension – it is from start to finish.

It’s no exaggeration to say it’s some of the most invested I’ve been in ANY videogame or detective / mystery / thriller story, let alone an Ace Attorney case, and the phenomenal characters and soundtrack help cement this as one of the greatest chapters in Phoenix Wright’s saga.

Score: 10/10

FINAL SCORE: 91/100

While “Farewell, My Turnabout” isn’t my all-out favourite case in the series (top five, I’m sure, but not number one), it’s near-flawless on paper. I’d be surprised if any of the cases I cover on this Deep Dive manage to conquer this unbeatable score.

And so ends the extreme highs and lows of “Justice For All”. To put those extremities in context, here are the four cases of the game scored worst to best:

4 – The Lost Turnabout [39]

3 – Turnabout Big Top [41]

2 – Reunion, And Turnabout [79]

1 – Farewell, My Turnabout [91]

Aaaaand that’s my list! You can check out some of my latest blog posts below: