Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies / YMMV

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies

This page shows off the YMMV tropes for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies.

Accidental Innuendo:
- The ending cutscene of Case 3 has Juniper smiling happy and blushing at the sight of Apollo, while she's cosplaying as Lamiroir. It's quite an adorable moment between them, but if you've completed Apollo Justice, then you may see this scene in a slightly squickier light. The fact that the Gyakuten Saiban 5 Official Visual Book says that Juniper may have "scored a few points in [Apollo's] book thanks" to her dressing up as Lamiroir doesn't help lessen the Squick either. Couple that with Apollo's Oedipus the King reference (detailed in the Shout-Out section of AJAA) in his game regarding Lamiroir's brooch and it's even worse.
- When Sasha is called to testify in the DLC case, the zoom-in for when the Cross-Examination is about to begin makes the witness stand completely cover her pants... making her look naked from the lower body.
Adorkable:
- Hugh. Let's face it, when he's revealed to not be a genius, his mannerisms change from stoic and smug to adorably shaken and a little emotional. Plus, his glasses really give him this look even if he's not a genius like he thought.
- When you first meet Robin all the random shouting is fairly annoying and just seems like Robin's a guy who tries way too hard to convince everyone he's masculine...then it turns out that's exactly what it is. Afterwards these bouts of random yelling serve to make a funny contrast to all the Kawaiiko things she does and turns her character hyperbolic, which is what makes her endearing.
- Myriam. She has some definite social deficiencies but other than that she's kind of endearing (wandering around everywhere in a box, her reaction when her face is exposed, and her animations are generally charming in a quirky way). Her reaction to her laptop hitting the ground also qualifies.
Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Some of the fandom interpret Simon Blackquill's admiration for and adoption of Japanese culture, complete with using Japanese honorifics in the English script, despite having (at least in the English version) ostensibly no Japanese heritage, as a sign that he's a weeaboo. Also the revelation that his under-eye streaks came from crying a lot in prison has given birth to the theory that Simon is secretly a crybaby.
- The villain of the third case is hardly sympathetic by the end. But was he being serious when he offered to defend Juniper? Would he have used his willingness to forge and cheat to let her go free, or would he have sunk her to throw suspicion off himself?
- How much of Yuri Cosmos' braggart facade is genuine and how much is actually Obfuscating Stupidity employed to deflect the questions of the true nature of the HAT-1 Miracle?
Angst? What Angst?: Klavier's life just got worse in this game thanks to his mentor, Constance Courte, being killed for a completely selfish and pathetic reason (being Too Good for This Sinful Earth in the worst way possible). Adding that to all the emotional weight from the previous game he had to bear and by now he should be a cynical wreck...but, nope, just smiles on and tries to charm any lady within arm's length.
Anti-Climax Boss: The phantom, who, true to form in a game criticized as being too easy, goes down much easier than most previous final bosses in the franchise.
Anvilicious: Case 3 is big on preaching The Power of Friendship, and how "the ends justify the means" is never a valid approach. It only gets more hamfisted when the teacher that preaches it turns out to be the culprit of the case.
Ass Pull: During the final trial, after giving the possibility of the phantom killing Metis Cykes, Phoenix proves it by having Edgeworth go back in the security footage, revealing an unidentified figure with an injured hand fleeing the crime scene. Meaning that apparently no one checked the security footage for seven years. While handwaves are given about the footage never being checked due to Blackquill confessing and the government deliberately rushing the investigation, it still feels like an enormous stretch. At bare minimum, you'd think someone would have reviewed the evidence more thoroughly after Blackquill's trial.
Awesome Levels:
- Turnabout Academy is generally well-received due to the interesting plot, the whole high-school setting and for having a cast of intriguing and lovable characters, who are much more complex than they seem. It's also the only case to have Athena as playable character, and it's interesting to see how she fares, considering it's her very first trial as the lead defense attorney, using what she learnt from Apollo and Phoenix when she was their co-counsel. The only real weak point is the culprit, who is considered dull and not much of an antagonist but for the rest it's considered a pretty solid case.
- "Turnabout Reclaimed," the DLC case, is considered by many to be Justice For All's "Turnabout Big Top" done right, because it also features the interesting elements of that case, namely the circumstances and nature of the real culprit, but with much more likable other characters. Also, the notion of defending a killer whale in court for the first half of the case is considered by many to be absolutely hilarious. It also introduces the twist of there being no actual murderer (the victim fell to his death and the one other person around clearly tried to save him, but failed, and then acted to frame the animal he blames for the death of the woman he loved).
Base-Breaking Character:
- Athena Cykes herself. One half of the fanbase finds her a likable character with an interesting chemistry with Apollo, while another half finds her an irritating example of Spotlight-Stealing Squad at its finest. A third camp meanwhile finds Athena an interesting character but would rather she not be a lawyer so Apollo and Phoenix could share the lawyer spot equally.
- Over time, Phoenix Wright himself has become this in the fandom. While many celebrated his long-awaited return to the protagonist role, seeing it as a return to form after being disbarred and spending seven years as a depressed "pianist" in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, just as many argue that his characterization being shifted back to a much closer approximation of Phoenix in the original trilogy has meant entirely abandoning the changes and growth he went through in the previous game, unhelped by the way he goes through no particular growth at all here in Dual Destinies.
- Then there's also the phantom, also known as Bobby Fulbright. Some think he was one of the most terrifying opponents our lawyers have ever encountered, others think that he was a good concept that was executed terribly and there's also a third group that considers him a dull and uninteresting character prone to downright moronic actions, such as bringing the lighter with Athena's (Actually Clay's) prints in the first place instead of letting Starbuck take the fall. The most polarizing aspect of Phantom is that a lot of emphasis is put on his eventual reveal without much foreshadowing, and that his final identity is a mystery even for himself, resulting in a main villain who is nothing but a mystery for the sake of it.
Best Boss Ever:
- While opinions on Turnabout Countdown are divisive, people agree that Ted Tonate is a pretty good Starter Villain (arguably even better than L'Belle and Means) that is able to make things work out for himself despite how literally on the spot he has to work, especially at the end when he comes up with a bluff worthy of Phoenix Wright. He works well as the very first challenge the player come across in a game that is particularly bleak.
- Hugh O'Conner is an interesting opponent and probably the biggest challenge in Turnabout Academy. His testimonies are concise and need to be attentive to detail to unfold. Plus he's an interesting character which turns out to be more than just an arrogant smartass. His Mood Matrix is also so outright hilarious that you can't help but enjoy it for how over-the-top it is. And clearing it is truly cathartic when it proves to be just what Athena needed to uncover the true culprit of the case and giving him, Juniper and Robin some needed peace of mind.
- Simon Blackquill's testimony in Case 5. It manages to combine both Mood Matrix and regular contradiction finding into the one testimony, uses the Mood Matrix in creative ways that haven't been seen before such as noise levels increasing and accumulates in an overload of every emotion at once. It's also a very emotionally-involving moment for the characters.
- While the bosses in this game tend to fall short of the usual standards, Apollo is a well liked challenge. Determined that Athena is the true killer, his intense desire to avenge his best friend puts him at odds with another protagonist and shows how much he's improved as a lawyer in the most tragic example possible, as the only way to defeat him is to cause him to have a Heroic BSoD. It's a tense and tragic battle against a character finally standing on his own two legs.
- Marlon Rimes stands out among Ace Attorney villains. His Mood Matrix presents a unique challenge in where he has two emotions running wild that the player has to pick apart individually and his last testimony is challenging yet hilarious, mixing up rap lines with his testimony, making him really unique both as a witness and as a culprit.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
- In the DLC case, Phoenix brings his client, an orca to the stand. He then proceeds to cross examine it. Said cross examination is completely meaningless as he already had the evidence and information he needed to go forward. But it was a Funny Moment, and a nice Call-Back to the parrot cross-examination from the first game (that the Judge even alludes to).
- In the same case, while Norma DePlume and Athena are discussing the fact that the orca song Norma heard, and the song the orca does sing, are different. It alludes to the fact that there are two orcas, but the discussion culminates in the two of them having a Fantasy Sequence of themselves singing the songs they know.
- In a less comical example, midway into the DLC case, Blackquill very suddenly makes an appearance during the second investigation under Fulbright's watch, and starts interrogating Phoenix on the latter's motive for being an attorney. Not only is this the only time in the game where Blackquill appears outside of the courtroom, but the conversation is never brought up again or resolved. Given that datamining reveals the case was supposed to be part of the base game, it's possible this is a case of Orphaned Reference.
- During the second trial of Case 3, it's revealed that Hugh isn't actually a teenager at all, but is really 25. Not only does this contribute nothing but a brief Red Herring thread, but the game gives only vague and contradicting explanations as to how this is even the case, and it's never brought up again even though Hugh's backstory is actually important to the case itself.
Broken Base:
- Many fans dislike that the game focuses a bit more on Athena rather than Apollo and Phoenix. Although the game does go into delve slightly more into Apollo's backstory than the previous, none of it has anything to do with the hanging plot threads from his previous game—the only one of those that gets addressed is the nature of black Psyche-Locks, and even then it isn't in a way that relates to their appearance in AJAA. Others however are glad that unlike Apollo in the previous game, this game's new playable character actually got a satisfying amount of Character Development in her debut alone.
- Phoenix's Character Rerailment (see below). Some like how it's closer to his original portrayal; others think it's a Badass Decay step down from the Magnificent Bastard "hobo."
Catharsis Factor:
- While he may be a relatively weak villain, bringing down Aristotle Means can be this considering how his idelology completely screwed over Hugh, Juniper, Robin, and who knows how many other students.
- Bringing down the phantom after they gave PTSD to Athena, killed Apollo's best friend and screwed over so many other lives in the process. He may be easy to bring down at the end but damn it, didn't it feel good to give them what they rightfully deserved.
Character Rerailment:
- Phoenix acts more in line with his original-trilogy characterization than in the previous game. His role as a mentor remains, but he acts considerably less manipulative and secretive.
- Also the Judge, who's somewhat more reasonable and down-to-Earth again, while previous games were giving him quite a lot of Flanderization into more and more of a Cloudcuckoolander.
Complete Monster: "The phantom" is a mysterious international super spy and the other figure responsible for "The Dark Age of the Law". Murdering multiple people to assume their identities, the phantom has no qualms over the suffering his actions cause, allowing the neighbors of one of his victims to believe she had been killed by her 11-year-old daughter. Sabotaging a rocket, the phantom nearly kills the astronaut aboard and years later bombs an entire space station; he later murdered yet another astronaut, Apollo's best friend, and framed the astronaut's coworker. Attempting to bomb a courtroom to destroy a piece of evidence, the phantom is willing to kill hundreds to get away and tries to frame Athena and her friend for his atrocities.
Contested Sequel: Some fans enjoy the game for its Lighter and Softer approach to storytelling, along with likable characters and fun mystery-solving. Others consider it one of the weakest games in the series, owing to its often basic, hamfisted story and themes, one-dimensional villains, and many plot threads and characters of the previous games being dropped or Demoted to Extra.
Critical Dissonance: While the game's Metacritic score was tied with both the original Phoenix Wright and Trials & Tribulations as the highest in the series until that point (since surpassed by The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles), probably a result of its technical advancement compared to previous titles, and coming after a long drought of content in the series. Many fans, however, rank it as one of the weaker entries in the series due to the low difficulty, excessive focus on Athena, consistently weak and/or obvious antagonists for most of its cases, and often-hamfisted themes.
Disappointing Last Level: As with many other Ace Attorney games after the original trilogy, the last level is divisive. It's generally praised for its high stakes, the number of Shocking Moments and Player Punches it delivers, and the unique setting of the destroyed remnants of Courtroom 4, but some fans feel that it runs out of steam after the true Big Bad comes out into the open, that getting them to admit their identity feels far more drawn-out than it should be, and that the game fails to make them into anything more than a Generic Doomsday Villain.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Clay Terran is very well-liked among fans despite spending none of the story alive and onscreen, due to his role as Apollo's childhood friend giving Apollo a bit more defined background than he received in his debut.
- Jinxie Tenma is another beloved character, partly because she's quite funny, partly because she's Trucy's friend, but mostly because she's just plain adorable. There was much rejoicing when she made a surprise re-appearance in Spirit of Justice, in the form of a note addressed to Trucy and Apollo.
- Jinxie's father Damian Tenma is also well liked due to being an endearing Large Ham and one of the few Good Parents in the series. His mannerisms and gimmicks fit well into the Denser and Wackier tone of the chapter and his desire to help his daughter as much as possible make him effortlessly likable, with his wrestling persona being the icing on the cake of an already popular defendent.
- Robin Newman is another popular character due to her energetic yet complex personality as well as the substantial Character Development that she goes through. The reveal that she was forced to pretend to be a man due to her worrying about the stigma surrounding female lawyers is also a topical and nuanced portrayal, fitting with the chapter's theme of self acceptance.
- Plonco and Clonco are beloved due to being adorable robots who help lighten the mood of a case that would otherwise be overwhelmingly bleak. They also end up being quite helpful witnesses who even help to provide evidence to defeat the Big Bad.
- Marlon Rimes is another fan favorite character due to his very likable, laidback personality with a good of depth and being possibly the most tragic and understandable culprit in the entire franchise, trying to put down what he thought was a dangerous animal who killed his girlfriend and even risking his life attempting to save the victim when he fell to his death. Many considered Turnabout Reclaimed one of the best cases in the series in large part to him alone.
Epileptic Trees: While this game claims that "The Dark Age of the Law" was started by the combined effects of Phoenix's disbarment and prosecutor Simon Blackquill's murder conviction, some fans point instead to the actions of Manfred von Karma, Damon Gant, and Lana Skye all the way back in the first game as what truly kickstarted it. Their respective methods were practically the embodiment of the "the ends justify the means" philosophy that seems commonplace among legal professionals by this game's setting, and their trials brought all that dirty laundry into the public limelight. Phoenix's disbarment and Blackquill's conviction a few years later can be read as simply acting as the tipping point for a profession that was already losing all public trust.
Fan Nickname: A couple of characters have one:
- Solomon Starbuck has been nicknamed "Space Larry Butz", simply "Space Larry", or "Butz Aldrin" due to his face looking very similar to...yeah.
- Yuri Cosmos is nicknamed "Captain Segway" because of him looking like a captain and his scooter highly resembling a segway. He's also been called "Captain Space Pirate" due to his vaguely pirate-y look (mostly due to having one of his eyes hidden in shadow and his facial hair), and, well, he's a captain of the space centre.
- The true culprit behind the final case is nicknamed Fakebright, due to him impersonating the deceased Detective Bobby Fulbright.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- Knowing Bobby Fulbright's real identity and the truth behind Blackquill's conviction (namely, that it's false) makes the times he tases the hell out of Blackquill a lot less funny.
- A LOT about Fulbright, actually. His "Are you calling me a bad guy?!" joke in the second case turns out to be, well...true and especially Jinxie calling him a ghost, seeing as the real Fulbright is dead.
- From Turnabout Reclaimed: you'll likely stop finding Rimes' raps as funny after he raps about attempting to murder Orla in the same upbeat fashion he always does.
- Since Turnabout Reclaimed came out a few weeks after the main game (but is chronologically in the middle of it), for those who beat it first, having Fulbright as detective again, knowing what you do about his identity is really uncomfortable.
- In the investigation for Case 4, Phoenix warns Athena that she'll become a suspect if she gets her fingerprints on evidence. It was all rather lighthearted and funny at the time, but The Reveal and Wham Line at the end of the case make this MUCH less funny on a second playthrough.
- One for another game in the series. Presenting the attorney's badge at one point in Case 4 leads to a throwaway joke conversation that ends with "The true culprit is the judge!" Come the second The Great Ace Attorney, and not one, but two judges are culprits, and one of them is the duology's overall Big Bad.
- The reveal in case three that O'Conner had his grades inflated due to his parents bribing the school becomes a lot less funny when there were exposures of several major scandals with several U.S. colleges that involved bribes from parents to have their children's enrollment accepted during mid 2019.
- Sasha constantly saying that Orla, a whale, would never hurt or kill anybody is a bit hard to hear if you've seen Blackfish. There's also this line, which also becomes harsher if you've seen the movie:
  Phoenix: [Orcas] don't...eat people, do they?
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In case 5-4, Solomon Starbuck asks to be banished to the moon. The last part of Turnabout Storm came out the day after this game's international release.
- The "Youkai craze" bringing tourism to Nine-Tails Vale is this in light of Yo-kai Watch's popularity. The first game came out the same month as Dual Destinies in Japan, but Dual Destinies beat Yo-kai Watch to America by over two years.
- A reversed instance of this (for the audience; for the characters, it's played straight) occurs in the fourth case. The Judge asks about the bomb transport case, a crucial piece of evidence in cases one and four, and Blackquill jokingly tells him that it's his coffin. One of the final revelations of the first case is that the the body of the murdered detective, Candice Arme, was hidden inside the transport case during the very trial Blackquill made the joke in. Of course, none of them knew this at the time.
- The DLC case's final testimony is named "The Dissin' of Phoenix Wright", and insults Phoenix at the end of each line. Spirit of Justice went on to answer this with its own DLC case, in which Larry's first testimony is named "Nick is a Jerk Face!", which consists of nothing but Larry insulting Phoenix and complaining that he called him as a witness.
I Knew It!: Many people have predicted that Blackquill would end up being innocent of the murder he's serving time for. Someone on this very wiki's WMG page even predicted that the real culprit was Bobby Fulbright.
Improved Second Attempt:
- This game's finale reuses a plot point that was present in the very first game, namely the court agreeing that the defendant's innocence has been proven beyond reasonable doubt, but the trial continuing until the culprit is caught. This was disliked in the first game, but this time around it was better received. The difference is that in the first game, the Judge acknowledges the defendant's innocence in the second day of trial, but still tasks both lawyers with finding the culprit resulting in a third day of just that, but if you get a Game Over, the defendant is still declared guilty as usual; while this time around, the defendant herself refuses to let the trial end until the culprit is caught, everyone else agrees, the trial continues and ends that same day, and if you lose, you get a full bad ending where the defendant is acquitted but trust in the courts keeps dropping due to the culprit getting away.
- A more direct case-to-case comparison would be the DLC case "Turnabout Reclaimed", having similar elements to Justice For All's "Turnabout Big Top", but cutting out a lot of the gameplay frustrations that held back the cases of the original trilogy, lacking some of the questionable characterization and relationships from "Big Top", and justifying the culprit's motives better due to one of the characters being an animal.
Iron Woobie:
- Simon Blackquill willingly went to jail for seven years for a crime he didn't commit to protect the victim's very young daughter, and refuses to try and prove his own innocence out of fear of putting suspicion onto her and by case five is a day away from his execution. Then his desperate older sister kidnaps people so he is forced to fight for his innocence and sure enough, Athena (the person he's doing all of this for) gets accused in short order. By the end of case 5 you just want to hug the guy.
- Apollo would also count. In the very first case, he's going to defend Juniper of her murder charges, even as he's heavily bandaged from injuries sustained when a court room was blown up. We then learn that not long ago, his best friend was murdered and he's been going on a quest by himself to try to find the truth behind it. In the process, he sees that it's very likely that Athena, his friend and co-worker, committed the crime. While he really, really wants to believe she didn't do it, he simply can't, until Phoenix is able to use evidence to prove it. And after Athena's found innocent, he asks that she punch him because he feels so horrible about thinking she was guilty.
It's Easy, So It Sucks!: Many fans complain about the game holding the player's hand too much, such as with the advice given after making a mistake, after cycling to the end of the testimony in a cross-examination, as well as if you make multiple mistakes in a row on one segment. There's only one penalty larger than 20% in the whole game, you can only examine places with evidence inside them, there are no penalties when failing Psyche-locks, and many other examples.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Athena's backstory with the The UR-1 incident is sometimes criticized for retreading Edgeworth's backstory with the DL-6 incident presented in the first game, with both having a parent mysteriously murdered in front of them when they were children but suffering from Trauma-Induced Amnesia that prevents them from knowing the full details and years later becoming suspects of being the killers themselves. While there are twists on the formula, some still find it too similar in the end.
It Was His Sled: An unusual example in that the twist has two layers to it, but only the first layer is widely known: many people are aware that Bobby Fulbright is the Big Bad without necessarily knowing that he's an imposter, with the real Fulbright having died before the events of the game.
Jerkass Woobie: Myriam Scuttlebutt is a tabloid reporter for Themis Legal Academy, with her actively trying to drag Juniper Woods' name through the mud. However, she's only like this because she's an outcast to Juniper, Hugh O'Conner, and Robin Newman's friend group, and when Athena outright calls Myriam a failure as a reporter, her confidence is shot and she preemptively deletes all the work she's ever done.
Magnificent Bastard: Aura Blackquill is the older sister of Simon, who deals with Robotics at the Cosmos Space Center. Having lost her partner Metis Cykes to the phantom, and her brother to a false conviction, Aura loses faith in the courts and decides to take justice into her own hands by manipulating Apollo Justice and Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth into having a retrial with the person she thought was responsible, Athena Cykes as the defendant, through a robot rebellion, having programmed several of her and Metis' robots into kidnapping several hostages, including Trucy Wright. Despite being proven wrong by Phoenix that Athena is the killer of Metis and Clay, her testimony about seeing the killer in the current case holding the lighter-gun in the opposite hand from where Athena's prints are, allows the protagonists to arrest the phantom. She then gives herself up gracefully and releases the hostages, while her brother is absolved, just like Aura wanted.
Memetic Mutation:
- Case 5-2 has Apollo Justice mention Phineas Filch's "First world problems."
- "IN JUSTICE WE TRUST!" Considering a certain reveal this can be mutated/corrupted to "INJUSTICE WE TRUST!"
Moe:
- Two words: Junie knitting!
  - Junie in her valley-girl outfit.
- Athena dips into this too with her propensity to Squee at certain things (particularly Orla). She also has a number of "d'awww" animations (like sheepishly tugging at her hair when she's flustered).
- Jinxie Tenma, the resident Shrinking Violet Meido, as well.
Most Wonderful Sound: The pulsing sound that happens when Apollo's bracelet reacts to someone being tense.
Narm:
- Toward the end of Case 3, Hugh O'Conner pulls a Skyward Scream followed by Inelegant Blubbering. The delivery is more than a little awkward.
- A lot of lines in the anime cutscenes are unfortunately not pulled off as well as they could have been.
- The fifth case's Villainous Breakdown has a part where the culprit is wearing L'Belle's mask, with bulging eyes, while flailing his arms wildly, which looks much funnier than any scene where a terrorist/murderer/spy feels fear for the first time due to being at risk of being assassinated and desperately trying to remember his real face, which he has forgotten due to wearing a mask all the time has any right to be.
- Athena's theme plays in the illustrations menu. Lots of these illustrations have bloody corpses and you have her theme playing there which doesn't help matters when you see the latest illustrations.
Narm Charm: The transformations some culprits make when you press them too hard, namely Marlon Rimes inexplicably growing three times his size and pulling a swordfish from nowhere and Aristotle Means suddenly folding his hair to look like a spartan helmet, gaining a blackboard and becoming a Drill Sergeant Nasty. Most people agree they're nothing short of ridiculous, yet just as many people agree that these transformations are both the funniest and best parts of each character.
Nightmare Fuel: Found here.
Paranoia Fuel: The phantom is shown to have masks for characters he has no reason to impersonate and was never shown to be impersonating, like Ted Tonate and Jinxie Tenma. Who knows when some character was actually him, trying to keep an eye on the heroes?
Obvious Judas: Aristotle Means being the killer of "Turnabout Academy" is hardly a surprise, given his suspicious appearance (complete with a creepy smile) and his "end justify the means" philosophy.
Older Than They Think: The "Dark age of the law" is chronologically older than people think. Prior to Dual Destinies, we had their ancestors dealing with such a thing back then. The Justice Minister Mael Stronghart is corrupted because he wanted power and abused his authority whereas Jigoku Seishiro who is the Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs in Japan is tamer in comparison but still corrupted regardless. Prior to Stronghart getting ousted and his status revoked after confessing, those in the gallery during the closed trial supported Stronghart's questionable methods which showed that they are willing to turn blind eyes to corruption as long as the crime rate remains low.
Player Punch: Oh boy, the last two cases were not kind to a lot of people. First of all, Apollo decided to leave the office to work by himself in order to find out who really killed his friend. Second of all, Athena managed to be accused of murdering Clay after the Big Bad made everybody believe her "fingerprints" were found on the lighter. Third of all, Trucy got kidnapped by Aura Blackquill as an attempt to redo Simon's trial. Fourth of all, Athena was accused of murdering her mother and almost everybody (including Athena) believed that. Fifth of all, Bobby Fulbright ended up being Dead All Along as the Big Bad killed him to do a Dead Person Impersonation on him.
Polished Port: The ten months it took to port the game to iOS and Android allowed Capcom to carefully adapt the interface to work on a single screen. Also, the fact that compatible mobile devices have more memory, processing grunt and higher resolution display than a 3DS, meant that better quality graphics were included at the expense of the stereoscopic imagery being watered down to regular 3D. Additionally, Capcom took the porting period as a chance to fix tons of typos and a Dub-Induced Plot Hole in the third case: Professor Aristotle Means having his staff when he first meets the player, even though it was stuck in a murder victim at the time, was an error in the 3DS English version. In the mobile version, he appropriately is not holding his staff. And it's cheaper, too! Additionally, the game also took its time to be ported to Android, which resulted in a practically bug-free initial release.
Rainbow Lens: On top of Aura Blackquill and Herman Crab, who are heavily implied to be a lesbian and asexual respectively, there's Robin Newman. She is, canonically, not Transgender, being a cis woman who was Raised as the Opposite Gender, but her arc and behavior heavily resemble common trans narratives: overcompensating in an effort to pass as male, eagerly embracing feminine clothes and mannerisms once she is out, and physically removing something she felt prevented her from being female (though in this case it was a chest binder).
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: By some miracle, Apollo Justice, at least for those who thought of him as a Replacement Scrappy in the previous game. Hell, in an official poll taken in Japan around the time, he actually made it as the most popular Ace Attorney character!
Ron the Death Eater: Downplayed, but some people took Apollo accusing Athena of murdering Clay Terran as a sign of him not having any trust in his peers. This is despite the fact Apollo is constantly stated to be acting out-of-character, and the fact he clearly states he is only accusing Athena out of desperation to have Phoenix prove him wrong.
Salvaged Gameplay Mechanic: This game brings back Psyche-Lock sequences, but the mechanic has been modified to no longer affect your lifebar, which is refilled at the start of each new day. This means you won't go into the next trial day stumbling into a ton of game overs just because you didn't do well on a Psyche-Lock sequence the day before.
The Scrappy:
- Filch is a sleazy, remorseless thief who interferes with the case and lies constantly purely because of cowardice. Unlike many examples in the franchise, the player is also never given the ability to punish him, and he never shows a Hidden Heart of Gold either. Good luck finding anyone who likes him.
- L'Belle, while intended to be hated, is despised for being an extremely one-note Stupid Evil villain with nonsensical motivations trying to steal the gold that is the true identity of Tenma Taro, a plan that wouldn't even have worked, all because he was somehow so arrogant that he couldn't fathom the idea of selling his own products, made worse by how insanely convoluted his plans are. Many consider him a contender for the worst villain in the franchise.
- While not as hated as L'Belle, Aristotle Means is considered an extremely weak villain by many fans. Despite appearing quite a bit over the course of the case, he is given almost no personality or much characterization at all beyond repeating his philosophy constantly, which grinds quite a bit on fans nerves. He is never given a detailed motivation for his actions, and once he's identified as Courte's killer he does nothing but continue to endlessly argue "ends justifies the means", leaving him very uncompelling as an antagonist. Being a very poorly hidden villain does not help.
Sequel Difficulty Drop: The puzzles and testimonies aren't terribly difficult to figure out and penalties are kept to a minimum of 20% (essentially 5 chances before a game over), though there are some bits of Moon Logic Puzzle here and there and one single instance in which penalties are doubled in weight. Additionally, while running out of health results in a Guilty verdict as it always has, this game will simply drop you back at the spot where you failed immediately afterward, with a full health restore, no less.
Shocking Moments:
- Case 5: When Aura Blackquill accuses Athena of murdering her own mother, she has a breakdown in the Detention Center and Phoenix sees five(!) black(!!) psyche-locks! For context, only one other character had black psyche-locks- Kristoph Gavin, the Big Bad of the previous game — and no explanation was given back then. There's little doubt the player will have the same reaction as Phoenix. The impact is only heightened by "Announce the Truth 2013" playing in the background.
- Midway through the final trial, Apollo Justice takes the witness stand to testify against your client.
Sophomore Slump: Among fans who don't dislike Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, it's a common opinion to consider Dual Destinies as the weakest installment in the Apollo Justice Trilogy. Problems cited are a poorly executed overarching story, watered-down gameplay and by extension diminished challenge, Trucy being Demoted to Extra, and Athena being perceived as an underdeveloped main character due to screentime having to be split between her, Apollo, and Phoenix. Meanwhile, Spirit of Justice is seen as having a better executed (if still contested) storyline, fixing some of the gameplay concerns including increasing the difficulty, and dedicates a full case to Trucy and her Stage Magician career.
Squick: The phantom claims he doesn't even know his own face anymore and shows that he lives his life wearing mask on mask on mask. This means he never sees his own face, meaning he doesn't wash it, so try not to think about what he must look like under a dozen layers of latex that he never, ever takes off.
That One Level:
- In "Turnabout Reclaimed", the "Special Episode," Marlon Rimes's "flip-flop" testimony. It's far enough from English that it's basically unintelligible^note, it suffers from all-caps syndrome, and it takes two or three steps to break. While it's extremely straightforward to work out which piece of evidence to present, it's borderline impossible to work out which statement to present it on. The trick is to press and see what he talks about during that pressing, not what he raps about in the main statement. It's the first statement that you need to present it on.
- Means' first testimony in Case 3 can be pretty annoying, since the correct statement to present evidence is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it one.
- Simon's testimony during the final case. It requires you to use both the Mood Matrix and present evidence, something that hasn't been done together before this point. You have to be careful, though: mess up too many times, and Blackquill will not only get convicted, but he will die (you heard right: die!) at the hands of the state!
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Clay Terran is Apollo's best friend since their childhood, and his only role in the story is to die to give Apollo some Angst.
- Despite her adoptive father now returning to the role of protagonist, and the previous game ending with a scene strongly hinting toward deep emotional troubles she was concealing, Trucy is severely Demoted to Extra after having been a main character in the previous game, with her extremely limited appearances in this game subjecting her "magician" personality traits to severe Flanderization and removing any and all focus on her father-daughter relationship with Phoenix or her growing friendship with Apollo.
- In concept, a defense attorney who was disillusioned by the legal system's corruption and cynicism and decided to embrace these tenets for the sake of their clients, clashing with their more idealistic colleague and former rival, would be a great way to add depth to the legal world of Ace Attorney and represent the greater scope of what the Dark Age of the Law really entails. In reality, Aristotle Means lacks the character depth necessary to make such an idea interesting, is barely present in the case, and reveals himself to be a bog-standard villain with a weak teacher gimmick after being sufficiently questioned, acting smug and dominative until the end of the trial. In addition, rather than an ideological conflict between his worldview and his fellow teacher's, his murder of Constance Courte was purely motivated by her learning of the bribes he's received. In addition to all of this, many fans think he should have had his own ''Objection!'' voice clip.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: "Turnabout Academy" has both Phoenix and Klavier as guest speakers at a prestigious law school. Given the past history between the two of them, and how it's stated that Phoenix losing his badge was one of the events that started the Dark Age of the Law, it would've been a perfect opportunity to delve further into how they were both affected by their first trial together. All the more so when the titular academy has become overrun with the corrupt "ends justify the means" philosophy thanks to the Dark Age of the Law, a philosophy that both Phoenix and Klavier strongly oppose. And yet, they only interact once, briefly, to discuss the location of the crime, which the player only learns of through an offhand comment after the fact.
Trans Audience Interpretation: A segment of the fanbase has decided that Robin Newman is actually a trans girl, rather than a crossdressing cis girl, on the grounds that her arc makes more sense as a trans girl's Coming-Out Story. Similarly, some find it easier to believe that Robin is actually genderfluid, but either in denial or doesn't know how to properly deal with it, resulting in her swinging wildly back and forth between stereotypically masculine and feminine behavior.
Underused Game Mechanic: The DLC case boasts the comeback of the forensic investigation we saw back in Rise from the Ashes and in Apollo Justice...except it was simplified as heck. Luminol tests now need a single spray on the right area to reveal the bloodstain (as opposed to the multiple touches you had to do before), and the fingerprint search and analysis is done for you by another character while you're in court.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Apollo's behavior in the last case is a point of contention for a lot of people, specifically when he asks to postpone Athena's "not guilty" verdict in order to indict her for the murder of Clay Terran. While his reasoning is that he's trusting in Phoenix to prove his suspicions wrong, players still dislike how he pushes to continue the trial for something that could easily be talked through with Phoenix or covered at a separate trial for Clay's murder. He also seems uncharacteristically uncaring about Trucy given their history together: in their debut game, Apollo threatened to take known gangsters to court when he thought they'd stalled a verdict by threatening Trucy. Here in Dual Destinies, he asks Aura to stall the verdict even though she's also holding Trucy hostage to get her way, implying Apollo values seeking justice for Clay or his trust in Athena more than Trucy's well-being. Even when he apologizes for causing so much turmoil during the recess, he only shows remorse for being suspicious about Athena, not for putting Trucy in more danger than necessary.
The Un-Twist: For some, the reveal of Aristotle Means as case 3's villain. He immediately stands out so much from the other characters, and his philosophy is such an overwhelmingly negative influence on the setting, that it's surprising he's the villain because it's so unsurprising. This is even more obvious in the Japanese version, where said witness is missing his rather conspicuous staff the first time you see him, but has it with him during subsequent meetings. This item proves to be a crucial piece of evidence late in the case. However, the localized 3DS version of the game suffers from an odd error where he always appears with the staff, meaning English players don't get that hint. The error was fixed in the mobile port.
Viewer Gender Confusion: With the long eyelashes and feminine face, you wouldn't think Robin Newman appeared to be male at first glance. Makes sense as Newman is really a girl.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The undersea tunnel aquarium in the DLC case "Turnabout Reclaimed" is notably one of the most breathtaking locations in the series.
Win Back the Crowd: Many of those who disliked the direction Apollo Justice took with the franchise were relieved to find Dual Destinies more willing to call back to history of the series with surprise returning characters and light nods to previous games.
The Woobie:
- Juniper Woods. She's the first case's defendant and she has the misfortune of having Gaspen Payne as the prosecutor, who is willing to drive innocent young girls to tears. And before that, she was almost crushed by rubble and is only alive because Apollo jumped in to save her. And case 3 is a huge emotional train wreck for her; she actually breaks down in tears in the Detention Center when Apollo discovers that Juniper is having doubts in her friend Hugh.
- Jinxie Tenma in the second case. Her mother is dead, and her father gets accused of murder. She spends most of the case dealing with a crippling fear of monsters, and when she takes the stand, her fear overwhelms her to the point where she starts showing borderline paranoid schizophrenic delusions. To top it all off, the prosecution then accuses her of being an accomplice.
- Athena herself as her backstory begins to be revealed, but even before then her Heroic BSoD in Case 3 counts too.
- Yuri Cosmos can be considered one by the end of the fourth case. Incredibly pompous though he is, it's hard not to feel sorry for him when he's genuinely terrified by the phantom's presence. He looks utterly broken and pitiful at the end. He's also a good man at heart, truly loving his space station and doing what he could to save the lives of his employees. Also, he didn't even do anything wrong (unless you count not coming forward with his suspicions about the bombing right away), but his reputation took a huge hit because of the way Phoenix made him look in court. In the epilogue it's even revealed he got demoted, though only to "assistant director"... of the space center that bears his name, mind you.
- Speaking of the above, we have Solomon Starbuck, who had been driven to fear the thing he loves most, and despite being completely innocent has given up all hope and is a sad wreck, at least, until the protagonists bring him out of his funk.
Woolseyism:
- In Case 5-2, it is stated that the Nine Tailed Fox defeated the Youkai Tenma Taro and sealed him in a locked cave where a mansion is later built. Youkai were supposed to be hundreds if not thousand-year-old folktales from Japan, but in the western version of the game, the series is set somewhere in California. It is stated in the game that Nine-Tails Vale and Tenma Town were founded by Japanese immigrants, and Japanese immigration to the United States began sometime in the 1800's. This would mean that two Japanese Youkai somehow crossed the Pacific Ocean during 1800's and fought an epic battle on California soil. The real story coincidentally fits quite well with the new California setting; Tenma Town's founders paid for the land with a large gold ingot, which served as a Conflict Ball in Nine-Tails Vale and was locked up, with "Tenma Taro" being a metaphor for how the villagers acted like monsters to get the gold. California is well-known for getting a surge of Asian immigrants when large gold deposits were discovered there, so the localization now implies that Tenma Town's founders struck it rich in the California Gold Rush, using their findings to pay for land.
- Localizing the name Hosuke Odoroki into Apollo Justice pays off in this game, especially because he gets a new co-worker named Athena Cykes. Plus, the names of Greek gods are commonly used in astronomy, coinciding with Apollo and Athena's connections to the Cosmos Space Center (Apollo via his best friend Clay while Athena spent most of her childhood there).

YMMV / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies

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