History YMMV / PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies

** Then there's also [[BigBad the phantom]], also known as [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: bringing the lighter with Athena's (Actually Clay's)[[/note]] 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]]]].

** Then there's also [[BigBad the phantom]], also known as [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: bringing the lighter with Athena's (Actually Clay's)[[/note]] 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]].

** Then there's also [[BigBad the phantom]], also known as [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: bringing the lighter with Athena's[[note]]Actually Clay's.[[/note]] 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]].

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: The Phantom, who, true to form in a game criticized as being [[ItsEasySoItSucks too easy]], goes down much easier than most previous final bosses in the franchise.]]

* AssPull: During the final trial, [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:reviewed the evidence more thoroughly after Blackquill's trial]].

** Then there's also [[BigBad The Phantom]], also known as [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: bringing the lighter with Athena's[[note]]Actually Clay's.[[/note]] 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]].

* MagnificentBitch: [[AloofBigSister 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 [[GracefulLoser gracefully]] and releases the hostages, while her brother is absolved, just like Aura wanted.

* ParanoiaFuel: The Phantom is shown to [[spoiler: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?]]

* {{Squick}}: [[spoiler: 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.

** [[spoiler: Yuri Cosmos]] can be considered one by the end of the fourth case. [[spoiler: 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, [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:it's even revealed he got demoted, though only to "assistant director"... of the space center that ''bears his name'', mind you.]]

** Edgeworth's [[ClosetGeek secret love of the Steel Samurai series]] reaches a whole new level once it dawns on you that now [[spoiler:he has his own personal Samurai now as the [[DaChief Chief Prosecutor]] and therefore the "Twisted Samurai" Simon Blackquill's boss]].

** Upon fixing Klavier's statue in case 3, Athena notes, "[[Music/{{Queen}} Don't stop me now! The artist inside me wants to get out and have a good time!]]". Hilariously, just ''four'' years before, the makers of ''VideoGame/{{Osu}}'', an open source ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'' clone, [[http://youtu.be/p3QjSMXRYnQ created a demo]] using the referenced Queen song ''and'' ''Ace Attorney'' characters to showcase the game's then-new story-branching feature (which allows the game to change the outcome of the plot based on how well the player is doing).

** [[http://jadenkaiba.deviantart.com/art/Artwork-Athena-Minerva-Ace-Attorney-314022167 This OC]] was drawn almost one year before ''Dual Destinies'' came out. Both are redhead lawyers wearing a yellow and white suit, listen to other people's hearts, and are named Athena.

** While Phoenix Wright has cross-examined a parrot before, he was able to "cross-examine" and prove the guilt of [[VideoGame/{{Okami}} Amaterasu]] and [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Rocket Raccoon]] in ''Ultimate VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''. Now in the first DLC case, he defends an orca. In addition, he calls [[spoiler:a robot to the witness stand, not unlike him fighting against the likes of Zero and Sentinel]].

** One of the Space Core's lines in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' mentions a "space trial" and "Judge Space Sun Presiding". The fourth case of this game is set at a space center, involves astronauts, the defendant's (Japanese) name contains the word "sun" and one of the witnesses' (Japanese) names contains the word "space". (Their English nickname and surname, respectively, are also words meaning the same.)
** Creator/WendeeLee voicing Athena becomes more hilarious given [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkxhyrhmn5A this scene]] from ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya''.

** Jinxie's father Damian Tenma is also well liked due to being an endearing LargeHam and one of the few GoodParents in the series. His mannerisms and gimmicks fit well into the DenserAndWackier 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.

** The game's initial reveal with Phoenix as the main character and a new unknown assistant caused an unsurprisingly large amount of controversy. Fans were divided on where the main series should go next ever since Apollo Justice came out. While some were thrilled to have Phoenix back as the main character, others wanted Apollo's story to continue and were concerned about whether he would appear in the game at all or if he would be written out with a HandWave. This was fortunately alleviated by the later reveal that Apollo would, in fact, still be a prominent character in the game, though the nature of his role as well as Phoenix's would later become the subject of a substantial BrokenBase.
** The game is a digital-only release in the West. It took no time at all from the initial announcement for camps to form between the fans who didn't care and were happy the game was even localized at all and those who hated the decision and considered boycotting Capcom entirely. The reason given for the digital-only release was that "the previous games never got much support in retail," despite the fact that a generous part of the reason why was [[InvisibleAdvertising Capcom's own minimal-at-best advertisement for the series]], favouring home console titles like ''Resident Evil'' or ''Devil May Cry'' instead. The biggest point of contention for the digital-only release was that Nintendo's [=eShop=] allows only one console to use any particular piece of purchased content at a time--transfers are possible, but only by taking two consoles and transferring the rights from one console to another, after which the content on the original console will be deleted. In other words, there's no contingency for simply downloading previously purchased content onto a new device (unlike, say, Platform/{{Steam}}) if the original [=3DS=] is lost or broken somehow. European fans were ''even more'' divided on the issue, as this game, unlike the previous entries, did not benefit from any non-English translation. Some were fine with the game being digital-only but lamented that such a dialogue-heavy game could not be properly enjoyed without a fluent level of English, while others didn't mind English being the only available language (either seeing it as a necessary evil to get the game released in Europe at all, have a sufficient level of English to enjoy it themselves, see it as an opportunity to improve said level of English, or disliked the previous translations to begin with) but desperately wished they could physically own the game. There was also the issue of the eShop being unavailable in several countries that to receive NTSC/UC consoles, namely, Southeast Asia. Some fans in the region weren't pleased and wanted to boycott Capcom as well, some wanted to petition Capcom to release the game on cartridge, while others in the region were left to spoof their console's location and pay through their nose for gift cards to buy the game.

* ImprovedSecondAttempt: This game's finale reuses a plot point that was present in [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney the very first game]], namely [[spoiler: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, [[spoiler: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, [[spoiler: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]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Apollo’s behavior in the last case is a point of contention for a lot of people, specifically when [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:he’s trusting in Phoenix to prove his suspicions wrong]], players still dislike how [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:threatened to take known gangsters to court when he thought they’d stalled a verdict by threatening Trucy]]. Here in ''Dual Destinies'', he [[spoiler:''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 [[spoiler:apologizes for causing so much turmoil during the recess]], he only shows remorse for [[spoiler:being suspicious about Athena, not for putting Trucy in more danger than necessary]].

* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Awesome Video Game Levels]]:

** The game is a digital-only release in the West. It took no time at all from the initial announcement for camps to form between the fans who didn't care and were happy the game was even localized at all and those who hated the decision and considered boycotting Capcom entirely. The reason given for the digital-only release was that "the previous games never got much support in retail," despite the fact that a generous part of the reason why was [[InvisibleAdvertising Capcom's own minimal-at-best advertisement for the series]], favouring home console titles like ''Resident Evil'' or ''Devil May Cry'' instead. The biggest point of contention for the digital-only release was that Nintendo's [=eShop=] allows only one console to use any particular piece of purchased content at a time--transfers are possible, but only by taking two consoles and transferring the rights from one console to another, after which the content on the original console will be deleted. In other words, there's no contingency for simply downloading previously purchased content onto a new device (unlike, say, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}) if the original [=3DS=] is lost or broken somehow. European fans were ''even more'' divided on the issue, as this game, unlike the previous entries, did not benefit from any non-English translation. Some were fine with the game being digital-only but lamented that such a dialogue-heavy game could not be properly enjoyed without a fluent level of English, while others didn't mind English being the only available language (either seeing it as a necessary evil to get the game released in Europe at all, have a sufficient level of English to enjoy it themselves, see it as an opportunity to improve said level of English, or disliked the previous translations to begin with) but desperately wished they could physically own the game. There was also the issue of the eShop being unavailable in several countries that to receive NTSC/UC consoles, namely, Southeast Asia. Some fans in the region weren't pleased and wanted to boycott Capcom as well, some wanted to petition Capcom to release the game on cartridge, while others in the region were left to spoof their console's location and pay through their nose for gift cards to buy the game.

* SophomoreSlump: Among fans [[BrokenBase who don't dislike]] ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', 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 [[ItsEasySoItSucks diminished challenge]], Trucy being DemotedToExtra and Athena being perceived as an underdeveloped main character due to screentime having to be split between her, Apollo and Phoenix. Meanwhile, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'' is seen as having a better executed (if still [[ContestedSequel contested]]) storyline, fixing some of the gameplay concerns including increasing the difficulty and dedicates a full case to Trucy and her StageMagician career.

** In "Turnabout Reclaimed", the "Special Episode," [[spoiler: Marlon Rimes's "flip-flop" testimony. It's far enough from English that it's basically unintelligible [[note]]To elaborate, it's LeetLingo, [[TalkLikeAPirate pirate speak]] and [[JiveTurkey over-the-top rapping lingo]] blended together into a mix that's nigh unreadable[[/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. [[spoiler: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's 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.
** [[spoiler: 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, [[spoiler:and Blackquill will not only get convicted, [[ItsAWonderfulFailure but he will die]] (you heard right: '''''die!''''') [[ItsAWonderfulFailure at the hands of the state]]!]]

** Case 5: [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:had black psyche-locks]]- [[spoiler:Kristoph Gavin, the BigBad of the previous game]]- and no explanation was given back then. doubt the player will have the same reaction as Phoenix. The impact is only heightened by "Announce the Truth 2013" playing in the background.

* SophomoreSlump: Among fans [[BrokenBase who don't dislike]] ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', 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 [[ItsEasySoItSucks diminished challenge]], Trucy being DemotedToExtra and Athena being perceived as an underdeveloped main character due to screentime having to be split between her, Apollo and Phoenix. Meanwhile, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'' is seen as having a better executed (if still [[ContestedSequel contested]]) storyline, fixing some of the gameplay concerns including increasing the difficulty and dedicates a full case to Trucy and her StageMagician career.

* SophomoreSlump: Among fans [[BrokenBase who don't dislike]] ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', 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 [[ItsEasySoItSucks diminished challenge]], and Athena being perceived as an underdeveloped main character due to screentime having to be split between her, Apollo and Phoenix.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Apollo’s behavior in the last case is a point of contention for a lot of people, specifically when [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:he’s trusting in Phoenix to prove his suspicions wrong]], players still dislike how [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:threatened to take known gangsters to court when he thought they’d stalled a verdict by threatening Trucy]]. Here in ''Dual Destinies'', he [[spoiler:''asks Aura'' to stall the verdict even though she’s also holding Trucy hostage to get her way, implying Apollo values seeking justification for Clay or his trust in Athena more than Trucy’s well-being]]. Even when he [[spoiler:apologizes for causing so much turmoil during the recess]], he only shows remorse for [[spoiler:being suspicious about Athena, not for putting Trucy in more danger than necessary]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Apollo’s behavior in the last case is a point of contention for a lot of people, specifically when [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:he’s trusting in Phoenix to prove his suspicions wrong]], players still dislike how [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:threatened to take known gangsters to court when he thought they’d stalled a verdict by threatening Trucy]]. Here in ''Dual Destinies'', he [[spoiler:''asks Aura'' to stall the verdict even though she’s also holding Trucy hostage to get her way, implying Apollo values his trust in Athena more than Trucy’s well-being]]. Even when he [[spoiler:apologizes for causing so much turmoil during the recess]], he only shows remorse for [[spoiler:being suspicious about Athena, not for putting Trucy in more danger than necessary]].

''YMMV/{{Ace Attorney Investigations|MilesEdgeworth}}'' | ''YMMV/GyakutenKenji2'' | ''YMMV/TheGreatAceAttorney''\\

''YMMV/{{Ace Attorney Investigations|MilesEdgeworth}}'' | ''YMMV/TheGreatAceAttorney''\\

* AssPull: During the final trial, [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:due to Blackquill confessing and the government deliberately rushing the investigation]], it still feels like an enormous stretch.

** 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, [[spoiler: 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, [[spoiler: his murder of Constance Courte was purely motivated by her learning of the bribes he's received]].