After the Matt Engarde case, Phoenix Wright has gone into a rut, however, one day, Maya comes and shows him a case that gets him interested...

Part One, the Investigation

-First off, don't put any profiles/evidences before the trial starts.
-Nick vs. Franny, I'm guessing.
-Ugh, noncustom music. I HATE noncustom music.
-Blackscreen prologue!
-Blackscreen prologue part 2: This time with motives for murder!
-"justifications" tee hee hee
-PROPER INTRODUCTIONS ARE FOR WUSSIES, NICKY BOY!
-So it takes place in between JFA and T&T. Nice to know.
-...I will never forgive you for not using the later version of the Sisters Ballad.
-Yep, only Maya.
-After a "-", there should be a pause of 1. Just saiyan.
-RAMEN BURGERZ NOMNOMNOM
-It's about spirits residing in platinum of course. Silly Nicky-boy.
-Oh hey, Pearl can spell. Inb4 she spells "PhoenixXMayaOTP"
-...Words. Nice job Pearl, you can spell words.
-A thief took up writing?
-His name's Terry? A small mistake there...
-TRADITIONAL KURAIN KIMONOOOOOOS
-Well this is completely OOC for the both of them.
-Maybe it's a self-insert fanfic Terry wrote or something.
-Terry Told it. He killed him. I know he did.
-Alright, I can tell this trial is mostly optional stuff - *shot*
-TELL HIM ABOUT YOURSELF WRY.
-All writers write writes.
-YEP IT'S A SELF-INSERT FIC
-Turnabout the Turnabout. Someone should make that.
-It had to be done.
-Of course real people have been referenced. IT's a movie.
-ZOMG MAYA IS IN PRISON OR SHOULD I SAY AYAM
-Where's the psyche-lock animation?
-Yes it's a story. I'm playing/reading it.
-Always Murder.
-It's a closed-room! Bully.
-The police are completely unreliable in this world.
-Oh, you used the red truth. Except you broke the rules while using it.
-So who WAS the victim?
-Survival movies... He made Clock Tower.
-SEARCHING FOR THE MACGUFFIN ONE: THE MACGUFFIN SEARCH IS ON
-inb4 global studios
-eeyup
-Ah, this music... My favorite from JFA.
-It's the Wright-Mobile! Travel anywhere... The wright way!
-*thinks about it*
-...Wow I got it right on my first try. It was a pretty easy puzzle though.
-Global Studios = backstage of a rock concert
-ohai franzy.
-Gumshoe is Marcie while Franzy is Peppermint Patty.
-Everyone is a mindreader.
-It's always as a defense attorney, get with the program~
-OH! YOU! SHUT! UP!
-You obviously whip her. WHIP HER, NICK. WHIP HER GOOD.
-She's like Ema in MSaT. Only worse.
-There's something I can do. THE CULT OF THE BADGE WINS ALL.
-...Wow. It's candy.
-THE BADGE DID NOT WORK. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU. *never forgiven count 2*
-Emotion Battle. It's the new feature at work!
-I like this system. It's like Heart Scope but better.
-The useless piece of trash that Franzy is.
-They're all WHAAAATing at OOCness.
-I know how it feels to be a jerk. It feels gooooood.
-OOCCCCCCCCCCCCC *never forgiven count 3*
-The Emotion battle only shows up once? THEME RELEVANCE IS DEAD.
-Oh yay, we won. Now, let's find out what the case is about for once!
-Random testimony go.
-So that's why he was arrested. So what, we'll find out the trick.
-Okay, multiple choices. Let's go with the knife first.
-The first piece of evidence has been added. And it's a missing weapon.
-Gumshoe is unreliable. The second option yields nothing.
-inb4 gumshoe is the killer.
-"lived a few minutes after death" seems legit.
-Mysterious gloveprints. Mystery 1: Gloveprints?
-So you're reusing mechanics from Serenade in order to better this trial? Huh.
-Detectives = press everything. Seems legit.
-Potential game-breaking bug here - it seems Maya will ask you to end the examination even if you don't have the Report and the Knife.
-A map! It'S THE MAP, IT'S THE MAP, IT'S THE MAAAAP
-department of redundancy department
-The paparazzi are in the mafia nicky boy, didn't ya know
-SWISS ROOOOLLLLLLS *never forgiven count 4*
-I'm gonna end the testimony here...
-So, we must continue. Game breaking bug averted.
-The missing weapon is evidence that there is a trick!
-Or not.
-Alright, part 1 of the SoC is ending here. Baaaai!

Examine the doors.

Now we're stuck again. It's right after the second emotion battle with Lana - I mean Victoria.

What is the problem?

Problem fixed.

For your first case, I'll admit, it's pretty impressive. In the sense that the story has narrative coherence (at least so far) and fairly early knows (again, at least SO FAR) what it wants to be.

Now, I have several crituques as of now, if you will:

• The prologue is streched way longer than it actually should be. This is especially noticable by the fact that the music just keeps looping over and over again to the point where any impact it would've had is completely lost. I'd suggest either changing the tracks (because, honestly, even these ones aren't doing it much for me) or trying to shorten the prologue to match the music.
  While on the subject of prologue, some rewordings could be nice - for example, I remember the word "justifications" used right after a sentence having the world "justice", making it sound a bit repetetive (even though the meaning is different).
• We're pretty much thrown right into the case. ...Not that that's a bad thing, actually. It's nice to cut the crap and get to the point, for once, but the problem is that it feels... a bit off. I can't quite explain it. It seems weird that Phoenix would unquestionably accept a case (even though you explain he's "hopeful", I still find it a bit odd. Even in such a state, you'd think he would at least take some interest in what the case is actually about before heading right to the detention center on Maya's request.
• When using exclamations for "WHAT THE" or anything similar (a question that's yelled, basically), I would suggest using "?!" instead of just "!".
• There's... something off about Phoenix. Can't quite put my finger on it. (This one isn't a critique, by the way, but just a general thing I happened to spot).He says he doesn't remember the night before, and at that, his behavior on the subject of Terry's movie and the victim (One second, I think he said he called him "the director..." and then proceeded to ask who exactly he was?) is... very strange. (Also, note that I was experiencing a bit of a headache while I played this section, so if I missed an explanation for that, I do apologize).
• Is it even possible for Phoenix to see psyche locks on himself? I mean, he was dishonest more (not gravely, but still) than once in the AA games, and they didn't show up, right?
• This is sorta a minor thing, I guess, but when introducing new features, I'd kinda like it when they're introduced more in the sense of story. Maybe something like "(Hm... How can I break her? Maybe I can try [INSERT INSTRUCTIONS HERE]... I think I'll call it... An emotion battle. Yeah. That sounds like a million-dollar idea. ...Even though I'm not quite sure how it would sell, but...) (DISCLAIMER: Not me actually telling you what to write XD) But yeah, an example. Still though, as I said, a minor thing, I guess.
• Alrighty, now, this is the part that... kinda put me out of the whole thing. The emotion battle with Franziska. How is it, that Franziska von Karma, pretty much the toughest nut to crack in terms of personality in the entire AA universe, is cracked in just about two seconds (aka two questions)? And frankly, I find it a bit unbelievable that Nick would even treat her like this. The entire shift is bizarre, to say the least, and completely took me out of the characters, I have to say. And after all that insulting, she actually LETS us investigate? Phoenix should've died before he even finished his second insult.
• That's an interesting idea, using the CE concept outside of court and giving you the option to tackle it whenever you want. Pretty damn clever. Though I sorta don't like how Phoenix pretty much acknowledges it as a testimony as he was in court. If this was a normal conversation, and you were talking about the crime with him, would either of them even consider it to be an actual testimony?
• Well, there's Moe. I like the idea of presenting our own joke to him. That's pretty clever, too, even if it's a minor thing. But still, I would've liked to see more of that flashback between him and Arthur. Also, instead of running away when meeting him, I think Nick should probably be more like "(What on earth...?)". Because the chances of finding a CLOWN on what's essentially a crime scene, let alone one you actually KNOW are pretty damn low, aren't they?
• So, alright, I left the defendant's room and vent into the Actor's Area (I believe that's what it's called), got into an emotion battle with Victoria and... I have to say, it goes on quite bizarrely. One moment, we're talking about... stuff (also, the fact that's she's even willing to talk to me, even when I'm joyful is pretty strange, considering she knows why I'm here), and the other I'm... accusing her of hiding something? O... kay... Then I'm presenting profiles... Even though I'm not quite sure why. Hm... I presented two of these people before and they didn't have that much reaction with her, so...
• Anyway, I died here, due to the fact I messed around with Gumshoe's testimony a bit and the fact I never bothered to save, so... This is what I get, I guess. XP

It's an interesting idea and it seems you're really trying to bring out this... story, but there are problems with the execution. The emotion battles, for one, move way too fast, in my opinion, and instead of an argument or an actually "battle", it's just Phoenix owning everyone and making them cry. XP Additionally, Franziska's little... "episode" was, uh... er...

...Yeah. XP

The dialogue is fairly solid, I'd say. Sadly, I can't really comment much on the story aside from the actual crime due to the fact I got pretty early in, but, er... Yeah. I'll get around to finishing this and, of course, giving full thoughts..