As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
"This town was created for me! It's my fault you've all been used and suffered so much!"
"I can't stop thinking how her death was completely my fault. That's why I need to be stronger... But I can't. I just feel so... hopeless."
— Phoenix Wright, Chapter 5: "A Taste of Despair"
In a crossover game where character interactions make all the difference, soul-crushing scenes are bound to be aplenty, but the game takes the extra step to show just how psychologically damaging Labyrinthia is, which makes them hit even harder.
Third Case
- Maya is accused of killing Layton by turning him into a golden statue. Phoenix and Luke arrive to see the Golden Layton crashing to the floor (with a terrified Maya looking on), losing an arm in the process. The next day, during the trial which will decide if Maya will be burned alive for witchcraft, a really pissed off Luke TAKES THE STAND to testify against Maya. Really sad to see Luke so shaken by Layton's apparent death. What makes it so much worse is that it directly mirrors the scene in Dual Destinies where Apollo accused Athena of murdering Clay.
- The last half of the trial is just torment for your emotions. First, Greyerl talks about her first use of witchcraft and her attempted suicide shortly after (keeping in mind she was just a child). Then she talks about how the alchemist took her in and raised her, caring for her and protecting her, telling her to pretend to be a boy for her own safety. She then goes on to talk about the night the alchemist died, and how she was afraid he was going to out her as a witch to the Storyteller, ensuring her death. So she switched the letter out for blank paper and proceeded to murder him via strangulation. It's really not helped by the fact the illustrations of the crime scene make the victim look rather like Edgeworth. Then you find out she didn't kill him, but he chose suicide. Then the contents of the real letter are revealed, and it goes downhill from there. Oh, and Greyerl is seemingly going to be cast into the fire for pretty much nothing except being born a witch.
- And then you have Greyerl's backstory before all this. Her parents were poor, and were going to lose their house. So she decided to use her magic powers, specifically Goldor, to create a source of money for them. She tried to transmutate a leaf, but just as she was casting the spell her pet goat (which she makes clear was one of her only friends) got in the way, and, well... the results were obvious. Fearing that her parents would be punished if they found out she was a witch, she attempted suicide... by drowning herself in a freezing lake. This may be one of the most tragic things to come out of any Ace Attorney case. It gets even worse considering none of it was actually real, and everything was just a large experiment in hypnosis by the government. She never really turned her goat into gold, as it was all an illusion. She was going to kill herself over something that wasn't real, but everyone thought it was...
- Despite being declared innocent, during a post-trial commotion Maya ends up accidentally locked in the cage and dropped into the fire pit.
- After the events of the trial, Phoenix just seems so broken after (for all he knows) seeing Maya die right before his eyes. Grieving and genuinely angry for the first time in his series, his outburst at Barnham is equal parts tragic and awesome.
- Unable to sleep that night, Phoenix slips out of his bedroom to clear his mind with a glass of water. He breaks down in front of the tavern keeper, confessing that he couldn't save Maya and doesn't know whether or not he'll be able to look after Luke and Espella. The inn keeper tells him to get a grip with some stern words... and Turnabout Sisters
playing mournfully in the background.
The Epilogue
- Two young girls accidentally caused an entire village to burn down and awoke to an overwhelming view of the inferno. No wonder why the incident was (quite literally) covered up.
- The length that people went to protect others tugs on your heartstrings. The Storyteller examining his avalanche of lies and mistakes in trying to somehow help his daughter out of her delusional and catatonic depression, as well as the revelation that Espella's entire martyr complex and suicidal impulses flow from a meaner-than-average scolding on his part. In the end, he subjected who-knows-how-many women to unimaginable hell, drove his best friend to suicide, earned the hatred of his best friend's daughter (who actually cared deeply for Espella and was initially all on board with this whole insane scheme), and drove away his beloved daughter in his obsession with keeping her sane and happy...All for Nothing, because, at the end of the decade, Espella was still suicidally depressed and delusional. And to top it all off, he was slowly dying from a terminal disease (He gets treatment and survives but he didn't know he would live at the time) Give this poor man a hug already, he's suffered more than enough punishment for his actions.
Special Episodes
- Constantine's backstory of all things turns out to be one of these: an event described in Special Episode 6 where Barnham's horse was spooked by a stray dog, causing him to get thrown off, get his foot tangled in the reins and be dragged through the Labyrinthia for hours gets a followup in Special Episode 8, where it's revealed that Constantine was actually the stray dog's puppy, who in turn was fatally wounded when Barnham's horse trampled her during the event described above. He was trying to help his long-dead mother by stealing large amounts of food for her, but this ended up angering the townsfolk who wanted a scapegoat for the thefts, thinking it was the witches who did it. Barnham realized this when he managed to follow Constantine to his nest and saw the corpse of the same dog that spooked his horse. He then took Constantine under his care as penance for indirectly killing his mother and to save him from the townsfolk's vengeance for stealing their food.
