Come on, the mysterious guy is clearly Anzu, the silhouette being in the 3rd mystery proves it has to be a recurring character.

Half-serious plot prediction: Anzu's and Myles' mother is Maya. She got framed yet again in that case from 8 years ago and Phoenix failed to defend her. This caused Anzu to hold a grudge against his father and change his last name. Phoenix quit the law after that failure. The reason both brothers decided to become lawyers is also because of that.

I don't think there's a lot to say though. All things considered, it was a good for a first case. The pacing was good; it wasn't too long and it didn't feel too short either. If there was anything I thought was weird it was the first testimony, which seemed to end rather abruptly with the trial going to recess. I imagine that was necessary to get Apollo out of the trial, but it was rather jarring.

I liked pretty much all of the characters. Apollo might have been my favorite despite how little he was present. He just felt a lot like the Apollo we know while still showing the kind of maturity one would expect from his grown up self. Ai'Wiht Nihs was a good killer. I liked his design and sprites and all that, and he had enough variety to be entertaining while still being a formidable opponent. His breakdown was pretty cool and a good use of limited resources. I thought his name was a little too much pun and not enough name though, even for Khura'in. Not sure exactly why; I was fine with Burha Gahl.

Wheazen was kinda your standard Payne but him leaving in the middle of the trial was hilarious, and I think Angela getting her one testimony was good because it allowed her relationship with Myles to be shown more clearly than just saying they were friends. Also I feel like the judge should be dead right now but I'm not complaining. Ema was just kinda there but I guess she'll be important later maybe.

I liked Myles as a main character though he hasn't done a whole lot that makes him unique yet. I feel like he acted pretty normal after Apollo left though, despite freaking out in the lobby. And then before Apollo came back he just sorta gave up. idk it was just kinda weird. Anyway I'm most impressed with his relationships with the other characters, like Angela, Anzu, Apollo, and Phoenix, which are already pretty well established.

I definitely enjoyed the mystery. Obviously there weren't any huge twists, but even with being reasonably certain that Nihs did it, I didn't really figure out how the crime was committed until it came time to present evidence. Most of the testimonies also had more creative solutions than just presenting evidence or pressing one statement too, which is a good sign. My favorite part was probably how Nihs was able to keep providing rebuttals even after getting caught with the victim's blood literally on his clothes.

I guess if I had one problem it was that Khura'in town wasn't really a huge focus besides sorta being involved in Nihs's motives and some of the characters' designs. But it did show progression from SoJ though, which is pretty cool.

Including the Layton-esque Mystery Log is a really neat idea though, and it's no doubt gonna be useful later on as more chapters are released, especially for a fangame where new chapters are usually pretty sporadic. I'm interested in seeing more not just because of the plot details already introduced but mostly for the game's setting itself, which is already proving to be vastly different from the one we're used to.

That was probably a bit rambly but I've got a bad headache so don't judge me

-During Nihs's first testimony, going past the last statement doesn't switch the bottom screen to just one button. So you can still go back, press, and present on Myles's internal monologue. It just treats it like you're on the last statement though.
-Typo somewhere after pressing Nihs's first statement. "More specifically, that one one was being chased by the other."
-If you present the wrong evidence on Nihs's first testimony, Ema shows up for like a second.
-After presenting whatever you present on Nihs's first testimony. Someone says "this all hypothetical" at some point. My notes are very detailed.
-Reloading a save on that part where you say yes or no breaks the game and you have no choice but to go back to the testimony. I don't remember what specifically this is referring to but I wrote it down.
-There's no penalty for saying Nihs has a twin, despite the flashing bar indicating otherwise. Could be intentional I guess.
-Not really a typo, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize Nihs was painting a house, not a picture of a house. This could be made more clear maybe.
-Pressing Nihs on his statement about having 2-3 jobs per day (which most sane people probably don't do as it's totally pointless) causes the game to skip to Nihs's next press statement instead of returning to the testimony.
-During Nihs's third testimony, it says "(Nihs looks quite all of a sudden)"...somewhere.
-"You were an accomplice? How does that makes any sense?" I didn't write down where this was, but I assume it was shortly after Nihs said he was an accomplice.
-Whenever there's a penalty that takes the whole bar (like when you get ONE CHANCE and Nihs's breakdown), the flashing yellow bar extends outside the prestige meter if you've taken damage.
-"I say her laying there, dead!" In Angela's testimony, one of the main parts. I think it should be "lying."
-"I saw a lady in distress, so my first natural instint was to help her." Somewhere in Scary Nihs's testimony.
-"I won't give in. I'll fight this to fight this to the end." Somewhere in Nihs's last testimony with the epic music. I think Myles said it but I forget.
-The walkthrough doesn't say to present the locket after the trial. What if someone were to get stuck on that part? >:(

Well, there is one thing I might add to the Planetbox's list of typos, the one that stood out to me:

"You're client is guilty, Wright. Friend or not."

It's in scene17nihstestimonyE.script

Apollo originally wasn't supposed to leave the trial, actually. I had him duck out last minute when I decided to add in the Mystery Log, so that whole recess was a last-minute addition. I considered adding a 2nd testimony for Ema, but I figured that her original testimony was plenty long enough.


Don't worry, Ai'Wiht Nihs is the worst pun I have planned, barring a surprise change in name for a future witness.


I considered having a new Judge for a while, but classic Judge is just such a good character for any trial that I decided to just have him be immortal instead of using time to try and develop a brand new judge.


Ema was ultimately the only available choice for a detective. I didn't want to introduce the new detective until The Medical Turnabout for story reasons, and our other detective friend couldn't be in this trial for reasons I cannot say right now. Having Payne ramble on for 5 minutes wouldn't have done much either, so that just left Ema. I might find a place to fit her in later on, but I don't have any major plans for her right now.


A lot of the script after Apollo leaves is just the original script (in which Apollo was still there), so Myles seeming fairly unconcerned is most likely a result of that. I'll make sure to write in some parts to help establish the whole "oh shit I'm on my own" thing.

While I like Myles's dynamic with Apollo a lot, it isn't exactly the best indicator for his character. I'm planning on having Myles be more confident than other protagonists, which will be easier to see once he gets his assistant. Expect him to be teasing his assistant, rather than the AA staple of the assistant teasing the lawyer, for example.


I've always liked these longer testimonies, so expect to see more in future cases. I've always found it more fun when the cross-examination is almost like its own puzzle, rather than just a simple "present X on this statement" type of thing.


This is a remnant of the first game synopsis, actually. The original story had cases alternating between Khura'in and California, similar to SOJ. By the time I decided to keep the game in California, this case was planned out to a point where I just decided to keep it as is.


This was one of the things I was most excited for, actually. I always loved being able to keep track of the main ideas/conflicts in Layton through the Mysteries, and considering that this game will be tied very close together case-by-case (similar to AAI/AAI2), having something to keep track of everything going on is pretty helpful. I had a lot of fun making all the art for it too.

It seems your game is broken because there is no 6th statement when cross examining Ema. I tried to look up the guide but no luck.