#when the courtroom drama hits just right 👌

[alynnl]

I did another gameplay marathon and cleared TGAAC 2-3 and I was absolutely blown away by it.

Needless to say, this case has completely shattered the myth of Third Case Syndrome for me.

Let's dive into what (or who) made the largest impression on me.

Barok van Zieks. Up until now, his past was shrouded in mystery, and he appears to be the typical rival prosecutor who wants to poke holes in the defense's arguments and be extremely rude the whole time doing it.

But this case is different for Van Zieks. Because his friend Albert Harebrayne is accused of murder. He meets the accused before the trial, which is something he's never done before. And during that trial, Van Zieks believes in Albert's scientific theory. And it's not a ploy. He truly sees his old friend from university as a man of science and refuses to discredit him.

Even when the trial goes completely off the rails and Albert ends up confessing to the crime in question (just for one more chance to prove his hypothesis is correct), Van Zieks doesn't appeal to the jury and ask them to call for a guilty verdict. He patiently waits for Ryunosuke and Susato to talk him down, then asks for Professor Harebrayne to tell the truth about the machine.

During the investigation, Van Zieks cooperates with Ryunosuke in a limited way, giving him a photograph of the engineer, Enoch Drebber. The fact that he even opens up to him at all is huge. He even asks about Soseki which was even more unexpected!

The third phase of the trial has Van Zieks appearing like he's his usual aggressive self (countering nearly all of Ryunosuke's arguments) but something curious happens when the judge calls for a summation examination. Van Zieks doesn't object. He doesn't even comment on how it's a waste of time. He takes a step back in a sense and just lets it happen.

And when Enoch Drebber and Doctor Sithe are finally brought to the stand, he openly cooperates with Ryunosuke. They both do what they can to find the truth: about the murder at the Great Exhibition as well as the incident at the graveyard ten years ago.

When Drebber is sure he's been had, he takes his anger out on Albert, who's been proven to be innocent in all of this and makes a remark about his lack of talent.

And when those comments get to Professor Harebrayne, it's Van Zieks who speaks up to comfort him. "(Your efforts) are not laughable, they are laudable." Barok showed kindness and mercy, when he rarely showed either one in past cases. He clearly still cares for Albert and "would have trusted no one else to be the prosecution in this case...or the defense."

Van Zieks comes so close to outright saying he respects Ryunosuke! I certainly never expected that from him unless the situation was truly desperate and Ryunosuke was his only hope, sort of thing.

Barok then proves to be (over)protective of Albert by having immediate arrangements for him to leave Britain for Germany, to keep him away from the whole Reaper's Curse Conspiracy (that's what I'm calling it now!) It makes their reunion quite bittersweet, but it shows that Van Zieks is still only human and cares about others.

But the surprises, like the chapter/case itself don't stop there.

Even though he's not required to tell him anything about what happened ten years ago, Van Zieks willingly shares details of his past. He talks about who his brother Klint was, and how he met people from other countries who came to study British law when he was (from what I understand) Chief Prosecutor. Then he revealed face behind the iron mask of The Professor's waxwork head. I figured this serial killer was of Japanese origin given Van Zieks's distrust of all Japanese people.

But what I didn't expect was for it to be Kazuma Asogi'a father. And for the then masked, amnesiac Kazuma to recognize it and recover his memory, as well as reveal his own face!

So while it's a brief, happy reunion between Kazuma, Ryunosuke, and Susato, I can't help but imagine Van Zieks's sense of dread.

All this time, this mysterious young man without a memory who he took as an apprentice is the son of his brother's alleged killer.

I say "alleged" now because...given the revelation that Dr. Sithe forged The Professor's autopsy report, Mr. Asogi might have been wrongly convicted.

It's also still equally possible that Mr. Asogi was a killer, and Kazuma will have to face a hard truth.

As a narrative, Chronicles case 2-3 functions more like a typical fourth case in other games with a total of 5 cases/chapters - where you unlock secrets that will be important in the finale, that involves solving a decades-old cold case or blowing the whistle on a massive cover-up. It's the rising action to what will probably be a very exciting climax. And I can't wait to see where it leads!

As it stands, I have my own predictions for Chronicles 2-4 and 2-5. Since I'm going in with minimal to no spoilers, it will be interesting if any of these are true...

Yujin Mikotoba and Herlock Sholmes know about the incident ten years ago. That's their big secret they're hiding. It's possible they are in collaboration to prevent the wrong secrets going into the wrong hands, even if it means keeping it from Susato, Iris and Ryunosuke.

Barok Van Zieks will get arrested and it will all be a setup. Kazuma will prosecute him. It’s possible that Ryunosuke might have to stop his best friend from using the trial as a means to get revenge. He'll have to persuade him to work together for the truth.

Mr. Asogi will be exonerated in death and the real culprit behind that case will be uncovered

The true mastermind(s) behind the Professor case and the one(s) carrying out the Reaper’s Curse Conspiracy are the same - similar to Blaise Debeste and his Worsties, Patricia Roland and the Zheng Fa president’s body double in Investigations 2

This last one is more wish fulfillment than anything, but there will be a group photo and all the recurring defense team, detectives, and prosecution team will be included.

Along with my educated guesses, I look forward to more surprises as I go through the rest of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.

It's been an amazing experience and I'm happy I discovered this spinoff (and the series as a whole.)