The Ace Attorney Series

Glad to see that the entire Ace Attorney franchise is now available digitally.

As long as HD Apollo isn't like HD Edgeworth.

Totally hyped for Bahvin

kinda pointless having Apollo Justice the only game in the franchise avaliable for Android if none of the other games are...I mean,the IOS port of Phoenix Wright Trilogy was crappy,but Dual Destinies was actually superior to the 3DS version and I wish I could have that on my device...

edited 11th Oct '16 11:32:06 PM by johnnysasaki

Investigations when, though? :(

I want SoJ to get an iOS port personally.

You should know I always come fully prepared, Mr. Justice.

That is the biggest contradiction in the series yet.

if only they'd give you the option of objecting to that

It is also the first time Phoenix says some far-fetched horseshit in the court and doesn't get penalized or harassed by everyone.

"In my country, suspects are innocent until proven guilty."

So, here we go, a list of various feelings I had about the game. These probably will be a bit disorganized since I’m writing down my thoughts as they come to me, but I hope they’re enjoyable.

I wrote up a lot more than I thought, now that I look at it...

—-

I'm of mixed feelings about Nahyuta.

On one hand, I really like him and his role as a prosecutor. He makes a good antagonist in the courtroom and I enjoy how his animations go from subtle to extreme when he's angered. It's also refreshing to see someone with respect for authority. He's polite not only to the judge, but also compliments Ema on her work. I appreciated that.

But I wasn't a fan of him telling the defense and defendants to go to Hell. That was way out of line.

I also didn't like that his "that was the second time" shtick got dropped. They really should have done more with that, given that a proverb about a Buddhist monk giving you three chances was the source of inspiration for his name. Maybe if he only got really aggressive and hostile when you pissed him off I'd be able to accept it more.

It's also really annoying that he never doubts himself or apologizes for his rash words. That's a lot of really heavy stuff saying that you'll send someone to Hell, you know? Not something you should say lightly and ignore.

Made even more annoying by the fact that he should be supportive of the defense's ability to find the true culprit given how seriously he takes his last rites. It'd be one thing if he got annoyed by their bluffing or grew hostile due to lack of evidence and went back to his original claims, but they didn't go that route bafflingly.

Also, "A dragon never yields", he says. After years and years of yielding to Ga'ran.

Nahyuta, please.

—-

So, while I liked Case 5 of So J and think it was a strong case overall... it felt both strong and weak at the same time.

Dhurke was great, Apollo becoming an Ace Attorney Super Saiyan was great, a lot of the mystery and build-up was great. My favorite detail in the case has to be the jet L’Belle hair dye. It’s what Amara uses to disguise her hair color when channeling Inga and Dhurke. And, if you recall Dual Destinies, it also washes out incredibly easy with water or other moisture. That kind of continuity nod was absolutely stellar. Jove Justice also kind of lined up with the details we got on him from Spark Brushel in the fourth game, though Spark said he died during a performance. Kind of weird he had Apollo on-stage with him instead of a guitar, but I can overlook that.

There’s also the matter of Rayfa’s nicknames for Phoenix and Apollo: Barbed Head and Horned Head. These are very distinct features of theirs and she refers to them continually. When you factor in that Inga has a list of features to identify people as and also refers to Phoenix as “spiky-haired attorney” at one point, you could see that as a game long foreshadowing of Inga’s condition. Undoubtedly, Rayfa is parroting his manner of referring to people. That’s a nice detail.

But then you have issues like the first half of the case being a retread of 2-4 without any of the emotional value, especially since Maya is barely in the game as is and on replays you know she’s not even in danger.

There’s also the issue of things like Inga’s plan for the Founder’s Orb never being expounded upon. What did he want it for? I would surmise he wanted it for Rayfa given that she mentioned not having much spiritual power yet, but it’s still annoying we never get it spelled out for us what his intentions are. He seemed to love her given that he kept that photo of her in his vault. That provided a source of irritation for me as well, though, since we never see Rayfa really come to grips with her father figure killing her actual father. I don’t think she really even talks about Inga towards the end.

There was also the issue of Nahyuta’s confession that he killed Dhurke. How did that even hold up in court? There was no way for him to hide at the scene of the crime or even leave without someone noticing him and yet this is never even addressed. That kind of hurt my enjoyment of Ga’ran as a villain given that she didn’t quite feel intimidating as an adversary, but intimidating as someone who could just bullshit new rules on the spot. I also hate how she’s so... overly evil. Like, they couldn’t have made it more obvious that she was the final villain. During the whole cross-examination with Amara where Apollo is accusing her of being the murderer, I was just rolling my eyes the whole time because come on.

And I have no idea how she killed Inga while disguised as Dhurke without him noticing that fabulous rack.

—-

The DLC had some good parts, but all in all, I thought it was pretty meh.

The reveal of the true villain was pretty hype, but then instead of becoming a badass surgeon or something, he just goes “LALALALALALALALALA, I CAN’T HEAR YOU! OOPS, TIME FOR THE VERDICT! DON’T LISTEN TO HIM EVERYONE!” Really killed my enjoyment of his character.

And the last part where it’s revealed that Pierce killed that guy with the clock... I’m not going to lie, I had to look up which part of his testimony was wrong, because come on. “I was always in the company of others.” does not necessarily hold false when he’s in a reception photo with other people, even if he is off to the sidelines.

Also, you can’t tell me that he could pick up the object that was the centerpiece of the wedding, go over to one of the Pegabulls, beat someone savagely over the head with it, close the item, return it to its spot, and continue on as normal without anyone noticing his movements/sounds or without Gloomsbury making a sound.

—-

The best villain in the game was Mr. Reus and I will fight you over this opinion unless your counterargument is Paul Atishon.

—-

Apollo’s sections felt really strong, I think. He got the best portions of the game, and I was glad that they FINALLY had an idea of what they wanted to do with him.

Granted, I’m not in love with how every new AA game is intent on giving him a new layer of sob story to his history. “Oh, my parents are dead/amnesiac.” “Oh, my friend died.” “Oh, my dragon dad died.” Come on, now. He also has waaaay too many convenient ties to the plot of whatever game is going on. Even Phoenix wasn’t tied to every major case in his trilogy.

—-

Phoenix’s sections felt really lacking in direction. I mean, they really had no idea what to do with him in this game save for nostalgia baiting. He goes to Khura’in to visit Maya, only he shows up a few weeks early and conveniently stumbles across a crime that happens at that time. Then, he meets up with Maya again and she gets accused of murder, just like in the Trilogy, after which he saves her. And then she gets kidnapped, just like in the Trilogy, and he has to argue in favor of a killer in court. And then there’s the DLC case where you have Larry, Edgeworth, and Maya doing their old thing... just like in the Trilogy.

I’m also not a fan of how Phoenix lost his poker face from Apollo Justice ever since he became an attorney again. Seeing him make that dumb shocked face so often really bothers me because he shouldn’t be that green anymore.

Maybe Phoenix should just get one or two cases a game from now on and leave the cases to the newer blood? They have reason to act inexperienced and they could use the development.

—-

Athena’s section was rather nice. I’ve heard people saying that her case is the worst in the series and yeaaah no. Turnabout Big Top and Turnabout Serenade are still going strong.

I liked Turnabout Storyteller a lot due to the interactions between Athena and Blackquill. She gets a lot of fun interactions with people, and I’m eager to see her grow as a character. I really liked how she got Owen to open up with her; it reminded me of Mia talking to Phoenix in the first case of the third game. There’s a potential for her to be as good as Mia when she finally starts getting some cases.

That being said, I really hated how she had to rely on Blackquill the whole case. It’s good that she didn’t just re-use that breakdown animation from the previous game where she freezes up in court (even though I think it’d be weird if it never happened again in her solo title), but it felt like she basically had no idea what she was doing. She’s been behind the bench before, even if only as the lead attorney once!

I also didn’t like how they kept using Trucy as an excuse to keep her out of the events of the DLC. I mean, geez, only using Trilogy characters for the DLC? I know Ema was in AJ, but she was added into AA 1 post-production, so I still consider her one. I really wish Trucy would grow up and stop acting like such a brat all the time; I liked how they handled her in Case 2. It felt like a return to form for how she was in the fourth game. It was also nice to see Mr. Hat again, though I wouldn’t mind if I never saw the words “magic” and “panties” in the same sentence ever again.

Also, I’m really annoyed how triggered people seem to be by her using the term “microaggressions” in Case 2. It’s a psychiatric term, not something Tumblr coined!

—-

The best villain in the game was Mr. Reus and I will fi-

Oh, sorry, did I say this earlier? And not all that long ago?

STOP WITH THE FUCKING FLASHBACKS EVERY FIVE MINUTES, CAPCOM, HOLY SHIT

—-

In regards to culprits, I'd say they were all good, barring Pierce becoming really annoying at the end.

My only complaint is that every culprit has a transformation into an evil side now as well as a theatric breakdown.

I mean, what happened to the old days where a person was just a person? I think the only people who "transform" in the first game are April May and Yanni Yogi. In the case of the first, she just gets angry and in the case of the latter he just stops pretending to be insane. Those were both pretty subtle shifts, all things considered.

And don't get me wrong, I love breakdowns, but I miss the subtle ones like Acro crying or Dee Vasquez breaking her pipe. If those were done now, Acro's would probably do a wheelie all over the courtroom before crashing through a wall or something. That's part of the reason I got taken out of Geiru's breakdown so much because it goes from "lol her breasts really were balloons" to trying to paint her in a sympathetic light. A bit more tonal awareness would be nice.

—-

Stop teasing me about Trucy and Apollo being siblings and just tell them already!

—-

In the end, I’d say

T&T > I2: PP > AA > So J > DD > JFA > I1: ME > AJ

Edgeworth > Blackquill > Nahyuta > Godot > The Franz > Klavier

6-2 > 6-5 > 6-4 > 6-3 > 6-1 > 6-DLC

edited 15th Oct '16 8:59:17 AM by Hobgoblin

Nice, our top 3 prosecutors are pretty similar (I may just like Godot a bit more, though xD)

Another reason I believe Yuty and Franzy should return in the future is that, by the last time we see them, they have both shown signs of improvement. Showing how things have changed could help improve their situation in my list (both are my least favorite prosecutors).

And I'm glad to see someone shares my opinion on Case 4 and on Phoenix losing his Hobo Wright savvyness (the closest he got from an experienced Real Life lawyer). This comes back a bit in Case 5, but not so much and it goes downhill pretty fast.

I think the thing about Athena is that she still needs to be more independant. Even in DD while she had her own case as the lead attorney, she had Apollo there to help her and even then she did almost lock up right there and needed the help of like 4 people to get back to her senses. I don't think her relying on Blackquill was too much of an issue because it mainly shows that Athena still has more development to go through.

As for the culprits, I think my personal list for this game would probably be Mr Reus > Geiru > Pierce > Beh'leeb > Andistan'dhin > Paul Atishon > Ga'aran

Yeah I don't get why I like Geiru so much but for some reason I feel really bad for her.

Him going "BWAAAAH!? THE INITIALS!?" at what was literally the first contradiction made me disappointed.

Geiru was neat, yeah.

Regarding breakdowns, I'd say Tahrust's was pretty simplistic, it's just him howling in anguish and it works. But I guess it depends on if you count the subsequent de-channeling scene as part of the breakdown or just a... subsequent scene.

That one was nice the whole way through.

All things considered, it makes sense that his breakdown isn't really exaggerated or made to be satisfying. He killed himself to protect his wife and feels deeply sorry he had to leave her behind. You're supposed to feel sorry for what happened, not exactly happy for having defeated an asshole as usual.

I would argue that Retinz didn't really go through an evil transformation because he was already an ass from the start. He really just started acting more like a magician since he was already exposed as one and it's just another part of his personality

Geiru's transformation is also her just getting angry and Paul Atishon doesn't really change.

I actually liked Pierce's "transformation", breakdown, and just how he was handled in general. I think that he's a better-done Acro: Sure, Acro was written sympathetically, and he showed remorse about the murder, but that was literally only because he murdered the wrong person. I don't remember the fine details, but I'm pretty sure that he never mentioned that, if the murder of Regina had gone through, he would've as much remorse as he did, having murdered Russell. Pierce, on the other hand, actively realized that everything he did was horrible and, not only counterproductive, but more-or-less spat in the face of his late fiance. He left the courthouse, acknowledging his wrongdoings and accepting his punishment. Acro just cried because he was getting arrested (don't get me wrong, I still feel for the guy, I just don't sympathize with him all that much).

And his transformation is probably one of my favorites: Whereas Marlon drank fish water and became a pirate, Pees'lubn got metal and Ga'ran turned Obviously Evil, Pierce just...fiddled with his suit a bit and turned into a mean surgeon. It's the finer things that you learn to appreciate.

(Also, sorry if i'm repeating myself. i can't remember if i actually posted something like this, or if i'm just remembering that i had wanted to before..)

edited 15th Oct '16 3:04:18 PM by TruthHurts22

it kinda makes sense to me that phoenix's pokerface breaks so easily in case 5. after all, he wasn't exactly calm or confident during case 2-4. he doesnt really know what to do, he knows he's working on a fraudulent case, and he's got no one on his side of the bench to calm him down. the scale was so heavily stacked on apollo's side while phoenix was in a lose/lose position that im not surprised he flipped out so easily.

rather, im a bit annoyed that athena is inexplicably tightlipped about the situation when she overhears.

also apollo wasnt all that deeply tied to DD's story. literally the only investment he really had was that his friend was murdered. everything else stems from him being a laywer and working with those related to the situation. its not quite the same thing that So J did, where he's the de-facto main character. even AJ wasnt really about him, instead being more about phoenix and the gramarye family. apollo has a few relations sure, but i wouldnt really say it ties into the game, especially since he doesnt know he's related to any of these people.

case 5 was really, really good. i liked a lot of it. i liked it a lot more than i expected to, but im not particularly fond of garan. i just dont like her design at all. however, her going I Am The Rules was kinda cool, just for how it had to be dealt with, though it does make me wonder why anyone actually went along with it. i dont think monarchs actually have the power to change the law on the fly, or on a whim, or without support. it was little better than a tacit confession, too.

mr reus was the best villain, hands down, and case 2 was probably the best or 2nd best. it helped that A. apollo didn't receive the idiot ball throughout the case to make nahyuta seem more competent, unlike case 5-2. and B. it felt like a 4th case instead of a bland 2nd case.

case 4 was the weakest, though it had goodpoints (blackquill and athena's interactions, and uendo.) it felt more like a first case than the actual first case.

case 3 was a roller coaster ride, but pretty stressfull. overall maya's involvement in the game is kind of disappointing, but i didn't really expect much else. at least we got to see her.

edited 15th Oct '16 3:16:07 PM by Tarsen

I'm surprised that more people don't realize that case 3 of spirit of justice is an expy of case 1-3; the crimes and the murderer are similar (they even wear similar black dresses), with the major difference being that 1-3 takes place in Japanifornia's legal systen and 6-3 takes place in Khura'in's legal system. Also the plot in 6-3 even depends on the Khura'in expy of the Steel Samauri.

Maya is a lot better in the DLC case

Pretty much all of the cases are expies, but this is true.

i guess i didn't notice because case 6-3 felt a lot more intense and personal, and threw the curve ball of phoenix getting an actual guilty verdict on the first day

Does anyone else feel like the following situation would have been neat to have in Case 5?

After the confirmation of Dhurke's death, Ga'ran would move to have the trial cancelled right there since the defendant is dead and thus couldn't be sentenced. Apollo would at first be surprised, until Ga'ran made clear that she'd do all he could to ensure that he was considered guilty by the public. The judge would ask Apollo if there was any reason the trial should continue under the circumstances, and he'd have to present the law book containing the DC Act, declaring that because of that law, taking up Dhurke's defense made him a defendant as well! It'd be a fun way to throw the law back in Ga'ran's face. Apollo could even challenge her to repeal it right there- giving a major victory to the revolution either way!