Ace Attorney Deep Dive: “The Foreign Turnabout” (Spirit Of Justice – Case 1)

After many of these mini retrospectives, we’ve finally reached the most recent of the mainline games – “Spirit Of Justice”. We have a new country to explore this time around … and yet Phoenix seems to stumble across a murder case wherever he goes.

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

Phoenix visits the foreign kingdom of Khura’in to see Maya, and when he touches down he’s met with a plucky tour guide Albhi Ur’gaid. When a police officer is killed, however, Albhi is accused of the crime – and Phoenix is of course the one to defend him in court.

There’s also a plot about a mystical treasure box, and how its contents have been stolen. We don’t get a good idea of the contents just yet, though, so it comes across as a generic theft plot.

The appeal of “The Foreign Turnabout” is definitely the new environment, characters and Trial dynamics rather than the plot, so I’m not surprised the Micro Story was very shallow. It’s only the first case / tutorial of the game, after all.

Score: 5/10

Macro Story

The Micro Story in “The Foreign Turnabout” was a little lacking, but the Macro story is where things start to get juicy.

The plot point that Khura’in hates lawyers and sentences all of them alongside the defendants is insane, but I expected nothing less from this series. It adds real stakes to an otherwise mundane tutorial Trial.

I also liked the subplot of the brewing revolution, and how Dhurke and his Defiant Dragons are causing quite a stir. It’s still early doors, though, so the score will be good but not great.

Score: 7/10

Mystery

In typical Ace Attorney first case fashion, we’re shown the culprit before the gameplay even begins. There goes the Mystery.

But what’s in the treasure box? We don’t know. How’s Maya doing? We don’t find out yet. Who are Dhurke and his rebels? It’s too soon to say.

I was vaguely interested to find out what the culprit’s motive was, but it was a bit boring. This score won’t be good.

Score: 3/10

Side Characters

There are more new Side Characters in “The Foreign Turnabout” than we’re used to for a first case, mainly due to the new setting. Some hit better than others.

Ahlbi Ur’gaid (brace yourself for lots of pun names in Spirit Of Justice) is the first person you meet in Khura’in, and he’s also the defendant of this case. His heart is in the right place and he’s clearly meant to be loveable – his cute dog helps that fact. Hopefully we get to see more of him soon.

The royal princess herself Rayfa Khura’in is a bit of a whiny brat when you first meet her. I have the foresight of knowing what comes next in Spirit of Justice so I know her character develops a fair bit, but at the start she’s designed to be unlikeable. Make of that what you will.

Another character designed to rub you the wrong way is Inga Khura’in, the minister of justice … except this time he’s quite sinister. You can tell he’s going to be some sort of villainous force, and I was intrigued to know more after his brief encounter.

It’s no surprise to know the worst character in this case is a Payne, as they’re usually the worst character in any tutorial case. Gaspen Payne is a narcissistic opportunist who sucks as a prosecutor and is actively advocating for Phoenix’s execution. Scumbag.

Last but not least, I wanted to shout out the nameless Khura’in Judge. He doesn’t do anything crazy, per se, and he’s not exactly a notable character, but he’s way more level-headed and reasonable than the usual Judge. What a bro.

Score: 6/10

Soundtrack

The best part about this case (and any Ace Attorney case with middling scores in other categories) is the new soundtrack with updated variants of previously heard classics.

“Objection!”, “Pursuit”, “Cross-examination” and “Confess the Truth” all get updates I like, and in terms of the new stuff there’s the “Divination Seance” theme as well as the various songs that go alongside the culprit’s testimony. Great stuff.

Score: 8/10

Investigations

Would you look at that, we’ve reached yet another tutorial case where my ten-category system falls apart.

Since there are no Investigation phases in “The Foreign Turnabout”, I instead default to locations – Khura’in is such a new and fresh place for an Ace Attorney game to take place, and the few scenes we do see – like the courtroom and marketplace – are rendered with a lot of care and attention.

Score: 7/10

Trials

“The Foreign Turnabout” is the first case of Spirit Of Justice, and in typical Ace Attorney fashion it follows the structure of no Investigations and one simple Trial.

It’s not a bad Trial at all – in fact, the Divination Seance makes for a really cool new mechanic for Phoenix to battle against – but I know the best of this game is yet to come.

Score: 7/10

Case Logic

It’s a short tutorial case, so “The Foreign Turnabout” was unlikely to have any logic pitfalls. It’s actually pretty strong and consistent across the board – but there were a couple of things that made me groan.

Nobody noticed the key-shaped engraving on the side of the treasure box (but in fairness it’s well hidden), everyone in Khura’in speaks English / Phoenix’s language for some reason (but in fairness they had to do that for the localisation), and the biggest logical leap is how Phoenix and Payne were allowed to do the Trial by their own country’s rules in the first place.

Can you imagine someone from Khura’in travelling to Japanifornia (if that’s what it’s called?) and insisting on running the Trial by their rules? No chance.

Score: 7/10

Culprit

Well, I’ll give Pees’lubn Andistan’dhin some credit (other than his funny name) – he certainly knew how to be a memorable first culprit in an Ace Attorney game.

His motive is pretty flimsy, and he’s far from the imposing and intelligent culprits we’ve seen in the series, but his outbursts of musicality made the testimonies such a joy.

Score: 7/10

Charm

A new location, the allure of mystical forces, a call to revolution, death stakes for the protagonist, a seance that allows insight into the culprit’s final moments, and Rocker Jesus takes the stand.

“The Foreign Turnabout” came out swinging, which I appreciated.

Score: 7/10

FINAL SCORE: 64/100

Very middle-of-the-road in terms of first cases, but I enjoyed “The Foreign Turnabout” and look forward to replaying the rest of Spirit Of Justice.

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