Of course, the reason it seems like there's no way out for Ryuu is that there is no way out for Ryuu. The case is so beautiful in how it uses the player expectations of an AA case against them. The obvious point of reference is 2-4, but there you can make the argument that the player knew a bombshell was coming - after all, Maya was kidnapped, Edgeworth was back, it was the finale. The way this case was set up, it almost felt like another case 1, designed to teach you the basics of jury trials with a slightly tougher challenge.

Then Megendahl comes along and stomps all over the player. The writers did a great job in balancing him out in being suspicious; he gets more and more unsettling as the case goes on, but never quite enough for the player to seriously suspect him in most cases. If anything, the biggest tipoff is just how competent he is in his own defense, and even that can send the player astray - an AA player might think, "hey, finally, a competent defendant," not, "this guy's too good." We're trained to trust our clients, and on a meta sense, another guilty defendant after 2-4 has been something I think a lot of the fandom doubted would really happen again.

In particular, the way the case itself develops is so good at misleading you. Yes, you can examine the carriage ASAP and find the luggage-filled compartment and notice there's only one spot of blood - but you don't have to, at least not immediately. And when you do notice the difference? If you're like me, you still don't make the final leap for a while. My immediate reaction to the disappearing luggage was honestly, "there must be a secret passage in the carriage or a false back, and that's how the killer got in." As for the blood? When I noticed that I started to think that maybe during the smoke someone had somehow swapped the entire carriage. It wasn't until we were most of the way through the final testimony, and Fairplay/Ladyfirst being guilty really wasn't sitting with me, that I made the jump.

And even then the case dares to leave itself vague. You "know" what happened, but there's so much you can't tell is fact or fiction. Megendahl walks, and you understand he's guilty, but there's no decisive proof for once.

And then, of course, that ending. Suffice to say the stream went batshit.

The only difference is that I, uh, didn't figure out how to investigate the inside of the carriage until after you-know-what. So... I was kinda slow to catch on ^^"

"Did you see the bloodstain earlier?" "I didn't even investigate it!" "Are there any other suspicious spots?" "How am I supposed to know?!"

The good thing about this case was that it certainly knew how to lead me astray and follow its whims. It did a good job of playing the players and everyone involved. I loved the idea of someone fiddling with the crimescene itself as it is in the courtroom.

The bad thing is that's pretty much all the case has going for it. Maybe except for Gina Lestrade, she's cool (as a sidenote, when I saw her at first I thought she was Niko from the last case). But the case, the trial, the murder... it feels pretty bland. Yeah, I'm confused, I'm curious about who is banging from inside the burning omnibus and I assume this case has its place in the overall story, but frankly I could give a shit about the lack of conclusion because I feel like it never took off (until the end where it leapt). There were some exciting moments but not long-lasting or big enough to make the case as a whole not feel flat. With that said, it worked quite well as an introduction to the court system (which also works well).

I don't know about you, but I think this was the best case of the game I really just liked the end a lot, in all honesty, and I like Megundal a lot and how they leave his guilt/innocence a mystery here. It's a simple but very interesting case from that point of view and I love how they mix up the formula here. It's super fresh.

Haha I liked what they did with it too and how it ended, but for the most part it just never caught my interest.

I'm assuming Megundal is in the omnibus but I hope not, because what a great villain. When Ladynotkiller and other dude were fighting for their defence, I thought "They really don't seem guilty." But I assumed they must have been. I genuinely wasn't expecting them to pull a Matt Engarde again. It was only when Zieks mentioned the blood missing on the skyline. Second time he mentioned a problem. And I realised he must be telling the truth.