User blog comment:SalemMurders/How to make an effective Villian/@comment-31953669-20180228123827

SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST ACE ATTORNEY GAME AHEAD PLEASE DON'T HURT ME

I think there are two good types of villains, and both are executed amazingly in Turnabout Goodbyes (Episode 4 of the first AA, currently my 2nd favorite episode)

The first type of villain is the relatable, tragic one. Yanni Yogi is a very well-written tragic character. He was blamed for the murder of a famous defense attorney, and his own defense attorney ended up being awful. He ended up having to plead insanity. The whole ordeal left his reputation in the trash, his career as a court bailiff ruined, and his fiancee suicidal. You can truly understand why he carried out the crime commited. What he did was wrong, and he has to face justice in the end, but seeing this man get sentenced is immensely powerful (even more so because of Ace Attorney's amazing soundtrack).

The second type of villain is the truly evil, awful one that feels good to take down. This is demonstrated in Goodbyes by Manfred von Karma. He straight-up murdered a defense attorney who got him a penalty. For 15 years he raised the son of the defense attorney into a twisted, corrupt prosecutor just like him, before betraying his adopted son and framing him for murder.

Manfred might not hit you in the feels as hard as Yogi, but it truly feels great to expose him for  both of his murders and watch him freak out.

I really like this series, because the villains are so well-written (most of the time)