#might play dual destinies in a bit

[princehatterene]

you’re not a failure for not getting a job (the entire market is just shite lately) and you DO still deserve a car as a human being bc you deserve to go places and do things

thanks man 🥺

[ot3]

Have you ever played the AA: Investigations spin-offs? If so, did you like them? I know they're kind of rough around the edges, but AAI2 is definitely my second favorite game in the entire franchise, so I'm curious to hear your opinion.

yes, i've played them both! i think they're definitely REALLY solid overall and add a ton to the series. aai2 is absolutely a huge step up for the duology but i do think people are a little bit too hard on aai1. i feel it exists in the sort of same niche as dgs1 where it maybe needed and editing pass it didn't get but is redeemed by its sequel's ability to stick the landing.

my biggest problem with aai doesn't have anything to do with any of the rough pacing or any specific case, however. i just don't fully buy yamazaki's edgeworth. there's nothing i see as egregious enough that i just won't accept it like i do with phoenix's characterization in aa6, but i feel like there's a certain degree of flanderization that happened in to his character. i feel like he gets a little bit watered down in his behaviors and actions - particularly in aai1's flashback case, where i think he's acting entirely too reasonable and helpful compared to the kind of person we knew him to be in aa1. i also think overall his dialogue was made a bit too stuffy and formal, whereas in the trilogy a strong part of what appealed to him about me was that he seemed like he should be that kind of guy but was mostly just kind of a pompous jackass, and as soon as he got pissed off most of that refinement completely drops off

it's hard to say how much of the difference in edgeworth's characterization was motivated by writing him as the protagonist rather than the antagonist or deuteragonist, and how much was a difference in approach to localization, and how much was actually yamazki's Vision. but given the state of aa5 and 6 i'm not inclined to give the man much benefit of the doubt.

with that said, though, i do think what aai2 actually did with edgeworth's arc was fantastic. 'why would edgeworth keep being a prosecutor' is a question that deserved an answer and i really appreciate they took the time to give us that answer in a satisfying way. inherited turnabout might be the strongest middle case in the franchise. it is genuinely difficult for me to wrap my mind around how you go from making aai2 to making dual destinies.

but the single most important thing the aai games had to give us was this screenshot

[auriidae]

more of these guys :] (part 1) (part 2)

classpect thoughts under cut! yippee

these absolute fools gave me SO much trouble. i changed each of their classes and/or aspects like twice while drawing this lmao.

pearle was going to be a rage player initially! i had her down as one for the chaos — yknow, ‘red’s my favorite color’ and all that. but the catch ended up being that in this au, as rage represents in-game chaos and bloodlust, it only exists while the game is in effect, and so rage players don’t have much dominion over stuff that happens after that period ends (which has all sorts of delightful implications for grienn’s character, but anyways). meanwhile pearle definitely continues playing and also grows as a character even in times of peace. i was thinking in terms of comparing her arc in double life to secret life in particular — ‘she left the tower’ and all that, yknow? she went from being terribly isolated and functioning on a completely independent scale, winning only for herself, to being a key member of a team and finding a purpose in helping them. which is pretty incredibly space-coded, in my mind! my personal qualification for space players is that they’re destined to be lonely, often physically separated in some way from others, for a while but not forever — because space is about creation, after all. and if you look at being a witch from the perspective of reinvention — what pearle manipulated or reinvented here was herself. she found her place in the story and the person she wanted to be. witches are also some of the most powerful characters in terms of specifically manipulating their aspect, i think, which is great because i’ve heard she's pretty great at pvp lol

ignore that martyn’s color palette is not particularly great it’s hard to unify the design of a character who is super rustblood-coded but also inextricably linked to the colors green and yellow of all things. i’ll redesign him later. anyways! at first i had thought there might not be any light players in this session — since light is about sort of seeing through the laws of the game and often deliberately defying them, as well as having a certain degree of control over narrative agency due to this. and because, yknow, the life series is a minecraft youtube roleplay series, realistically the ccs aren’t going to be playing any characters that go out of their way to completely ruin the game or refuse to play it by the rules altogether. but then i started thinking — and i don’t know an awful lot about martyn’s character so forgive me if i’m going a little bit off the rails here — does martyn want to understand? because if he as a character tries to understand and affect his destiny even though he’s ultimately limited by the nature of the story itself, then he could totally be a light player. so that’s where i was coming from here. think about how he won limited life in the end, for instance — not by playing into what the game itself had been leading up to, but by acting on and finishing his own story. he’s a knight because i do think knights are a certified Narrative’s Little Guy class — they persevere through so much pressure and often also have that sort of dual persona thing, both of which are particularly endearing to an audience. it’s hard work, keeping up with the narrative and fulfilling his own quest for understanding while he’s at it!! but he does it!!

renn is Such a blood player guys he is such a blood player ohhh my goodness. playing the game in terms of your relationships with others, right? basing how you go about it on allies and interactions, and being a leader above all else? i’d say that’s pretty ren the dog coded tbh. i don’t have too much to say here because i think seer of blood renn is pretty self-explanatory — he sees the entire game as a game of relationships and ties. he has a lot of knowledge about this field specifically, and shares it with his allies in the way he helps direct them and keep them alive. the reason he’s blood instead of light is because he puts his allies over knowledge, i think — he’s far too busy dealing with all that stuff to speculate for too long what the purpose of it all might be, and that would detract from his goal (of winning alongside others or dying nobly), anyway.

again questions abt them are open forever always :3

[local-hyena]

Just finished Apollo Justice : Ace Attorney and my mind is BLOWN. I will repeat this with every game but dear lord I am not clever enough for these games. I loved figuring out how every case intertwine in the span of 7 years. The MASON system was really fun. I purposefully picked the good ending, because I wanted ANSWERS. I might go back and do the bad ending later.

I am extremly exited about the nextgames, however I insist on pmaying them in order of release, which means the next 3 games I'll play will be spin-offs (Investigations 1 + 2 and the Prof. Layton crossover). I am very interested in investigations because 1. Playing as Edgeworth will be very interesting and I look forward to discovering the new mechanics and 2. GUMSHOE. GUMSHOE IS BACK GUYS. MY PAL GUMSHOE.

Dual Destinies will most likely provide thrilling new cases, characters and infos. It kinda makes me want to speedrun the next three games, kinda like I played Trials and Tribulations in only 20 days (I probably can finish a whole game in a couple of days, but on the other hand, I feel like I wouldn't appreciate the game enough...)

Bits of spoilers :

I NEED TO KNOW HOW THE FUTURE GAME WILL HANDLE HOW TRUCY AND APOLLO WILL LEARN THAT THEY ARE RELATED, AND THAT THEIR MOTHER IS STILL ALIVE. I tried not to get too spoiled, but I've never heard anyone adress these facts.

Also KRISTOPH YOU ASSHOOOOOOLEEE

[aceofwaffles]

Okay, so I’ve never really seen people talk about how bad the English voice acting in the Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice cutscenes is (although tbh it’s mostly DD, SoJ’s is a bit better). I wouldn’t necessarily encourage you to watch the cutscenes if you haven’t played the games bc there’s probably plenty of spoilers, but if you have played the games or don’t care about spoilers, please go watch them again. They bring me so much joy.

But for those of you who are familiar and feel the same way I do about them, allow me to introduce you to Case Trailers.

They are short previews of every case in the Apollo Justice Trilogy and this was the first one I saw:

(Maybe slight spoilers for Turnabout Revolution, but only if you truly want to know nothing)

This actually might be the only one I watched, but please share any others you think are funny bc this is truly the worst thing I’ve ever seen. I love it so much.

[nyaagolor]

How would you rank all the Ace Attorney games you’ve played from favorite to least favorite? You seemed to enjoy all of them, to varying degrees.

So this is actually kind of hard for me to answer depending on whether you base your metric on “how much fun were they to play” “how much do I think to explore the themes / writing / think about the game in general” or “how well written do you think they are”. I’m gonna do all of them and prolly talk a lot so yeehaw. Under the cut bc. surprise surprise! I got long winded

Quick disclaimer: Not including DLC cases or spin off games because if I did we’d be here all day

“How much fun did I have playing through the actual game”

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Justice for All

Dual Destinies

Spirit of Justice

This might be kinda surprising to some people considering what I talk about on this blog, but honestly my opinions on these games changed drastically after I had time to ruminate on them. Here’s some explanations if you’re curious!

AA1 very well could be at the top because it was the first game in the series and I was going in fresh— while Turnabout Samurai was a bit of a slog, I managed to get through all of these cases in a day each and just could not put down Turnabout Goodbyes. I don’t think about it as much anymore because it was so foundational and all the things it introduced have been explored by other games, but this game really is the reason I fell into this series with such ferocity.

AA3 was much of the same, and I don’t think I had as much fun with a tutorial case as I did with Turnabout Beginnings. The characterization present in this games and the nonlinearity of the narrative is genuinely fantastic, and my opinion of it has only increased over time.

AA4 is ranked a little lower because I actually wasn’t vibing with the game when I first played it— it was only after Turnabout Succession that everything fell into place and the game skyrocketed up my favorites list. Once I’m finished with all the spinoffs and have some time to chill I actually plan on revisiting it with fresh eyes because I think a second playthrough has the potential to be soooo much better than the first. Also APOLLOOOOOOO he’s my little guy :)

I thought justice for all was fine, but boring. Big Top made me feel some emotions that were less than positive, but generally speaking all the cases were fine but didn’t leave a big impression on me. Also I don’t like Farewell My Turnabout nearly as much as other people— I still like it but it didn’t totally blow me away or anything. Game is still like an 8/10, but it didn’t leave a huge impression on me.

Dual Destinies was confusing as hell timeline wise and it made it kinda difficult to figure out what was even happening, and for that same reason I struggled to attach myself to the plot. The game had some moments that really were stellar but the sheer length and layout of the cases kinda made me wanna cry

I literally only finished this game so I could get to Investigations. Characters were great but it was so. Damn. long.

“How much do I like thinking about the games, its writing, and its themes”

Dual Destinies

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Spirit of Justice

Justice for All

This part of the list actually has very little to do with how good I think the games are or how much I like them, but sometimes a game’s themes just Captivate you.

If you’re reading this you’ve probably seen this blog, and you know how I feel about Dual Destinies. I am OBSESSED with this game. I love the characters, I love the themes, and I am fascinated by every part of the writing process and how the game ended up the way it did. I think about this game an unhealthy amount actually. Don’t let my complaining make you think I don’t love this game to pieces. Bc I do. So much.

I love expanding on things. The media I blog about? KIrby and Pokemon, stories that practically beg for you to fill in the gaps and work with their vagueness. So when Takumi handed me a game with half a dozen hanging plot threads and massive time gaps just begging to be filled? You can bet I would never shut the fuck up about it. AJAA my absolute beloved

I could probably talk about Miego for hours. This game is incredible I think about it on the regular. Ough.

This game slams but all the ideas introduced by it have been expanded on and talked about and worked with in a hundred different ways so it’s hard to me to really go back other than to say “wow Turnabout Goodbyes was so fucking good”

Literally the only context in which I think about this game is “this should have been a spinoff” but honestly it barely crosses my mind except when I purposefully try to ignore it

JFA is good and makes me feel absolutely nothing

“How well-written do I think the games are”

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Trials and Tribulations

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Justice for All

Spirit of Justice

Dual Destinies

These are suuuuuper close so this list is a lil shakier than the others but explanations are below as usual!

Ok this is really REALLY tough because I think AA1 and AA3 are tied. They both have their moments and I think the themes are incredible, but for the purposes of this list I’m putting AA1 above AA3 because BttT is a little bit absolutely batshit insane? Turnabout Goodbyes is TIGHT. Sorry Godot you’re still my favorite prosecutor ily kitten

See above

I’ve never seen an AA game whose final cases elevates the entire game quite like AA4. I thought the game was good, but the Turnabout Succession hit and oh my GOD. I think about this game constantly it’s so, SO good. Also helps that Apollo really shakes up the series, he’s my favorite species of insect

These cases were fine, Franziska is a solid prosecutor, the whole “chooses death” thing was fresh, and Farewell was some of the best character writing this series has seen. I don’t honestly have much to even say about it bc it’s super solid

The difference between DD and SOJ is that I think DD had a really good story that it failed to tell effectively while SOJ succeeded in telling its story but that story fucking sucks. Jokes aside I don’t like SOJ but the story is cohesive at least. It had a plot. It was Fine. DD failed miserably but oh my god what you could have been. Ily. Mwah.

See above

Sorry this wasn’t a clear ranking / favorites list, hope you enjoyed regardless!!

[penny-nichols]

ok. So gonna write a list of the sibling and/or romantic relationships cases in AA

-literally all of the trilogy (possibly excluding Turnabout Samurai, but it dies have peripheral Mia and Maya discussion)

-Apollo Justice cases 2 and 4

-Dual Destinies cases 4,5, and DLC? I think its 4 5 and DLC. not much sibling stuff in Dual Destinies outside of Simon and Aura.

-Spirit of Justice cases... 3, 5, and DLC? I think thats mostly it?

gonna split them into sibling cases vs romantic cases now.

Sibling cases are:

1-2 (Mia and Maya) 1-3 (Peripheral Mia and Maya) 1-4 (Mia and Maya) 1-5 (Lana and Ema) 2-2 (Ini and Mimi. a bit of Mia and Maya. Misty and Morgan. Pearl and Maya might be something I touch on) 2-3 (Acro and Bat, peripheral Edgeworth and Franziska) 2-4 (Peripheral Edgeworth and Franziska, Adrian and Celeste in the anime) 3-4 (Dahlia and Valerie) 3-5 (Dahlia Iris and Pearl, Mia and Maya, Misty and Morgan, Franziska and Edgeworth) 4-4 (Kristoph and Klavier, Apollo and Trucy) 5-4 and 5-5 (Simon and Aura) 6-5 (Nahyuta, Apollo, and Rayfa) 6-DLC (Sorin and Selena)

Romantic relationship cases are:

1-1 (Larry and Cindy) 1-4 (Yanni Yogi and Polly) 2-1 (Maggey and Dustin Prince) 2-3 (Max/Trilo/Bat and Regina) 2-4 (Matt/Juan/Adrian and Celeste) 3-1 (Dahlia and Phoenix) 3-2 (The DeLites) 3-3 (Viola and Tigre) (Yeah Viola thought Tigre loved her and he was just pretending to to not get killed by the mob for running her over. and no one talks about this) 3-4 (Dahlia and Terry) 3-5 (Phoenix and Iris) 4-2 (Alita and Wocky, Little plum and big wins kitaki) 5-4 and 5-5 (Aura and Metis) 5-DLC (Marlon Rimes and Azura Summers) 6-3 (Tahrust and Behleeb inmee) 6-5 (Amara and Dhurke) 6-DLC (Sorin and Ellen, Pierce and Selena)

now I feel like some of these can definitely be trimmed. I don't think 2-1 is necessary (actually maggey keeps insisting that they weren't together so it's way easier to exclude), 3-3 is unmemorable and Tigre and Violas relationship is not even really a central part of it. 5-DLC is probably not much too. It does involve the loss of a lover but we don't know much about Azura generally, and any point that Marlin could bring would be brought up much better with Pierce Nichody and/or Acro

I'll have to pare things down generally, and obviously some relationships play a much bigger role than others. I also cut a lot of the crushes (aka one sided where the other party is not at all playing along, so no juniper and apollo or maggey and gumshoe or any oldbag stuff. etc)Eliminating crushes entirely would mean no Adrian or Aura for romance but I think they're an interesting enough topic to ignore that for.

I don't HAVE to play this much ace attorney for my English class. but I WANT to

[mrslittletall]

Yesterday I finished the final DLC case of the second Ace Attorney trilogy and now that I finished all of it... what can I say? I can understand why people say the story of the games is a bit of a mess. Because it is. They clearly start it with trying to have a new main character, Apollo, but make the final case all about Phoenix' story and then in the next game they kinda fridge the new assistant, Trucy, in favour of Athena. I don't even think Athena is a bad character, but wow, I felt so sorry for Trucy. But I also feel sorry for Apollo and Athena, because in the end, they decided to make Phoenix the main character again. His story was told in my book. I heard the sales were bad because Phoenix' name wasn't in Apollo Justice (even though he plays a major role in this one) and yeah... Apollo's backstories as well... is... nobody ever going to tell him and Trucy they are siblings?! Will you just keep that a secret forever and ever and ever? Anyway, okay, the story is a bit of a mess, but still enjoyable. Especially the final cases had me on the edge of my seat and I liked quite a bit of character development of the new characters. The music was fantastic as well, as always. I never thought that I would get a new favourite Objection theme, but Apollo's blows it out of the water. Especially the piano version that acts as his character theme in Dual Destinies. The cases were really really fun. I actually think they were better structured than some cases in the first trilogy. Yeah, they might have been a bit more streamlined, but to be honest, in the first game of the first trilogy you always were moving around until you found the event that nobody pointed out would happen. The characters telling you where you should move next just erased annoyance and frustration. And I sometimes still was stumped in the cases and was like "Okay... I have no clue what the evidence is you want me to present" and sometimes I was like a step too far and was like "But this evidence woooorks! Oh, you haven't figured out the context yes, right? How do I get them theeere, I know the murdered and how they did iiiit." Well, whatever ^^ I had my fun with it. I also played the two DLC cases. I have to admit though, the last DLC case felt like a bonus "Phoenix and Maya vs. Edgeworth" again. Like fanservice ^^ A bit sad that I barely saw ship tease between Phoenix and Egeworth anymore though. Where has it gooone? Oh, also, the 3D models... the ones in Dual Destinies were so rough, Trucy looked so uncanny, but I really liked them in Spirit of Justice. Still, the hand drawn models were kinda iconic, so I was a bit sad to see them gone. Overall, good games, I enjoyed them. I get the criticism, but they are not awful. They are perfectly servicable and enjoyable.

[its-hai-time]

hi i have had turnabout light brainrot for the past like 2 days but specifically about the concept of a soundtrack for it bc i am absolutely obsessed with video game osts so i am going to unload all my thoughts. i'd imagine the song for klavier's apartment is really empty and just doesn't have much going on. would fit how he is just. really alone there. also it's in c minor. idk i just think every depressing song in c minor sounds good. i don't know any other locations the case would include, but i'm still playing around with what klavier's jail cell theme might be. athena's is a music box version of her theme and trucy's is a slower/sadder remix of her's, so i've tried slowing down guilty love. unfortunately the music production team is amazing and it still sounds very peppy at .25 speed, and just doesn't fit the vibe at all. so i thought maybe it would instead be guitar's serenade or the gavinners • twilight gig. both are absolutely GORGEOUS themes that i would love to see reused, and both come from cases where he lost someone important to him (daryan went to jail and his law mentor died). even just incorporating elements of those songs into a different new theme created for the turnabout would give me psychic damage and make me pass away instantly from how happy i would be. an acoustic guitar with some reverb would fit extremely well too, and i'm always one for throwing mallet percussion into everything and anything, so i can see it having a marimba or vibraphone as well. additionally, given this isn't just an added case to another game and is rather a whole new game, apollo's theme would get an update like it does every game. 2013 had this beautiful electric guitar section, and 2016 had what i think is a synth solo that was absolutely amazing. i think it would be really cool if this version included the bell bits that were in the orchestra and 2013 versions of the theme!! also the 2013 version's ending is honestly my favorite of all time, so it would be neat if it included something similar to that. honestly even if you never listen to another theme from dual destinies PLEASE listen to apollo's theme it's so good i force everyone i meet to listen to it. i have so much more i could say but i'm just now realizing how long i've already made this so i'm gonna stop now. sorry i am a massive game music nerd and love your comic lol. super excited for part 13, but remember to take your time and not feel pressured to release it before you think it's ready.

the thought that someone can have actual brainrot for my work is amazing aaaaah. Anyways I'm LOVING these music ideas, especially for Klavier's apartment, you'd expect it to be pretty over the top for the rock star himself; but he really doesn't live in his apartment that much, it's kind of a lonely place when you look around at it. A slower, understated score fits much better to show how empty the place is. Anyways I've never played past aa4 so I'll be checking out those apollo themes soon I guess lol.

anon if you wanna message me with your musical score brainrot I'm literally so open. I always love opportunities to talk about the game au as a whole rather than just the one case everyone knows.

[rehncohro]

March 18th, 2024 - Apollo Justice Trilogy (2024)

After Capcom rereleased the original trilogy so many times, it was nice to see them rerelease the later games in the series for once. This is the first time 4-6 have been available on actual consoles. Previously, it's just been pure handheld devices and mobile. This compilation is a HUGE improvement over the 2019 release of the original trilogy. Not only that but it's a much better collection than Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.

There a few quality of life features here and there with the older games getting mechanics from later games in this package. There are a few things to play around with in the menus too like being able to change the backgrounds for each game or the music that plays for each game. Then there's all the extra content to look at. Definitely feel like more effort went into this than Chronicles. There is a bit of clash with one game being 2D sprites and the other two having 3D models but despite that, it all plays well and looks damn good.

This is the best way to play all three of the games so far and it actually made my least favorite Ace Attorney game a little bit more enjoyable. For the most part, I still feel the same about all of the games. Apollo Justice (AA4) is one of my favorite games because of the dialogue, Dual Destinies (AA5) is, well, Dual Destinies, and Spirit Of Justice (AA6) I love because of how unhinged it is.

If you love Apollo or any of the games from his era or you have yet to play these three, I highly recommend you pick this up. These games might be divisive but if you end up liking Ace Attorney, chances are you'll like at least one or two of them.

[ballwizard]

oh btw my ACE ATTORNEY dual destinies post game review. LONG RAMBLE CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS BELOW.. BEWARE!!!!!

ok SO. ending-wise it was fucking awesome. funnily enough while me and sal were on our own between playtime we ended up both getting spoiled on fulbright dying and something odd happening to him. On accident. So we both kind of knew what was coming, but not how or why. and id say it actually didn't take away from the surprise considering by the point you really hammer down on it, it's pretty obvious imo LOL. ALL the disguises threw me for a fucking LOOP!! i was like. Huh??? THIS GUY??? ironically all the big ones he did before the breakdown were ALL characters i voiced which was really really fun for me. i think the choice to have him impersonate phoenix last was so cool and the new sprites he gets RULE SO HARD. genuinely thought it was sick as hell. i miss you bobby every day of my life

something really funny that occurred was : Throughout the entire game sal decided they HATED Simon blacjquill. like genuine vitriol at seeing him. when we found out he was on deaths door they were like KILL HIM‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ OT WAS SO FUNNY. but by the end of the game they did nearly a complete 180 on him and he was the first character they doodled after finishing the game.Thwy were sooooo mad about liking him now

speaking of liking characters: my top fave new characters were DEFINITELY bobby fbright & damien tenma. i already talked about fulbright yadda yadda he's cute yadda yadda need him expoditiously yadda yadda cool ending. Damien on the other hand was the only side character that we were consistently SO happy to see literally EVERY time. (Excluding Bobby). Dude fucking rocks he's so weird and he owns. Cawwww caw caw caw

casewise i think the weakest might have been the monstrous turnabout? even though i LOVED damien the rest of the case was. It was okay? but with the rest of the cases being so interconnected jt just felt kind of out of place. hypocritically i found jinxie and filch and labelle kind of annoying despite liking damien... eye dee Kay. My Opinion. my fav case was the very last one i think. i would say it was the academy one but means just felt like a kinda weak villain. especially since it felt really obvious from the beginning with his whole shtick (which was ALSO annoying) and also his whole. Him. but i liked the whole bit with scuttlebutt & the trio. it was very cute. Also elephant in the room, robin, i felt DEFINITELY could have been handled better. but it really wasn't THAT bad, and i like that he retained her like, testosterone rage screaming despite him "getting revealed". In my beautiful mind they're gender fluid. Smiles serenely. it was also nice seeing klavier again but his 3d model is NOT DOING HIM WELL . i like his gay little intro animation though

oh yeah and the 3d. since we were playing the original trilogy concurrently to dd, we got to compare how the characters look pretty often and i found that it's kind of weird, but i understand why it was done & honestly it allowed them to do more fun stuff. like having bobby wave out of the window or all the shit with recreating the silhouette of the statue was REALLY fun to see and I thought it was cute as hell. Simon does look like he's poking himself in the eye though. the normal art in the game was cute too & i thought the cutscenes were fun when they showed up!

comparing it to the original trilogy, without rose tinted lenses of nostalgia & with direct referencing via.... playing them both at the same time... i really think it was a solid game. one thing i really, really liked about it vs the trilogy is that it's a lot more... easier?? straightforward?? it's hard to put into words but i NEVER felt like i had hit a dead end in investigating and didn't know where to go. the notes system as well as the button to look back at recent dialogue are SUPER helpful, and even if i might not have used them All the time, they really helped when we needed them lol. i LOVE. not having to present every single piece of evidence to a random during investigations and just PRAYINF that one of them make something happen. and especially since i was playing with someone else, and therefore took what could be week + long breaks between playtime, it was really useful to get back into the swing of things. ANYWAYS

Overall it was a really fun & engaging play!! me & sal enjoyed it a lot and it's got our gears turning and steam smokin and shit. we actually finished the second game right before finishing the last case of dd and it was fucking awesome. we started trials & tribulations (one case in!) and after that we might hit up the investigations games... and THEN we'll play spirit of justice. so that's the game plan teehee

Thank you for reading if you did lol ^__^ ❤️🌈‼️

[fioras-resolve]

it is kind of amazing, a lot of the most passionate ace attorney fans i see these days have gotten into it fairly recently, like after the series basically finished. the modern ace attorney fandom is largely a better one than what i saw back when the 3DS was the hot new thing.

maybe it's a different experience getting into the series now because the games are all out. i got into this series a decade ago when the original trilogy came out on the WII, so while i did have the entire DS era to appreciate, i had to experience dual destinies, spirit of justice, and the layton crossover as they came out, and they kind of had to stand as their own experiences. while the layton crossover came out in japan in 2012, we in the states had to wait another two years, after dual destinies came out.

and to me both of these games were like? fine? you know i had a fun time with them, and they're not bad mysteries, but they also didn't make me feel the way the original trilogy did. i played apollo justice back in 2012, then waited a year to find out its themes would get undermined in the next game. it took another three years for spirit of justice to come out and reveal that the series really is in a strange relationship with itself now. it gives us a new set of characters each game, a new game mechanic to enhance the trials and blur the mechanical focus the series once had, a new backstory for apollo justice instead of bothering to develop the plot threads that were established at this point 15 years ago.

(ugh) i don't mean to mean to be negative about the modern trilogy. it does have a lot of charm to it, and i'm actually more willing to defend spirit of justice than you might expect, but like. when you wait years for "pretty good, yeah" it starts to make you a bit jaded about the future of the series. i've chosen to believe that, since the last new game the series has gotten was in 2017, that there simply isn't a future. the series is done now, and i can make of that what i will.

but if you got into this series recently, you basically have the entire series to binge, and can do so as a full package. you get to see phoenix wright's growth over six games, his relationship with edgeworth, maya, the law as a whole, and you get to appreciate all the characters for what they are rather than anticipating what they could be. if you don't like the games, you can just play another one. or, hell, watch a longplay of it. it's probably a better experience because the trial design of JFA and T&T are fucked.

i'm excited for the future of the AA fandom, but i wonder what place i really have in it. i mean, i'm a game designer now, part of why i made those graphs was just to understand the mechanical design of the trials, what makes these things work or not work. but ace attorney is enjoyed as a story first and a video game second, and i can't bring myself to get passionate about the story anymore. these days i'm more often impressed by games than i am excited about them, and in general my mechanical analysis mind doesn't work well with the kind of fandom that is primarily about characters and relationships. i envy the modern ace attorney fandom.

at this point i've... i don't wanna "moved on," but it's more like "branched out." i've tried a lot of other mystery games! a few mobile ones, aviary attorney, ghost trick, her story, layton, socrates jones (which is fucking excellent by the way), and umineko, which is textually a game but not practically. i might try famicom detective club sometime? i dunno, i just like trying new things, because i love discovering ways that games can surprise me. maybe ace attorney 7 comes out and makes me reconsider all this. but, in the meantime, i'm glad to be here for what the ace attorney community has become

[ot3]

Could you pls elaborate on why you think 5 and 6 is bad? 🥺 I've been waiting a long time to get to them and was really excited to play them when they drop on the Switch 😭

im in like a constant loop of talking about how much i hate aa5 and 6 but then not tagging those posts because i don't want to be hater in the tags and then people ask me why they're bad so i just have to talk about why they're bad again because i dont know how to find any of my old posts about it

anyway the long in short of it is just. the writing is bad. in all of the ways that writing in an ace attorney game can be bad it's bad. for dual destinies the game has an M rating but despite the fact that a high rating might give them the chance to do a little bit more deeper or complex writing they hard pivot the other way and you get a very surface level conflict with characters and a villain it is almost impossible to get invested in. aa6 suffers from similar stuff. they don't seem to understand what to do with their characters besides inflict more potent drama on them because they believe higher stakes means more interesting situations, which is not true.

phoenix in particular gets absolutely shafted in terms of character writing. the game inability to pick who their actual protagonist is means nobody gets enough screentime and most of the screentime anyone does get in any of these games feels wasted having to trudge through a cast of forgettable gimmicky side characters.

but the worst part of all of it is that the games are terribly, terribly unfunny. i could pretty much forgive anything else if the games had manage to be entertaining but these games just feel so fucking sterile despite how hard theyre trying to be both off the wall and dramatic.

the only way to make these games even somewhat compelling is to imagine what they could have been like if they had actually been good. it really seems like even people who enjoy these games can't enjoy them on their own merit and each person has their own pet interpretation of the canon that makes the games bearable. but i really don't think there are any characters or plot points introduced in 5 or 6 that add literally anything beneficial to the franchise

[mostlyihyperfixate]

Okay! I just finished Dual Destinies (save for the FLIPPIN' ORCA CASE; I can't believe my game attempted to get me to move right on to Spirit of Justice without even pointing out the orca case!), so as usual, quick thoughts go!

Uhhhhh…

I really don't know what to think about this game. I'm actually kind of conflicted about it. I can name a whole host of things I actually really, really enjoyed, so it's not like I hated the game. But for some reason I still find myself wanting. But I don't know what I want.

I was talking to my friend Lauren the other day. She's been playing these games, too. She started out pretty far ahead of me, but now she's a couple cases behind on account of having real life friends and real life activities to attend. But I was telling her that so far the Apollo Justice trilogy just doesn't feel like the same game as the Phoenix Wright trilogy to me. Which is silly! They really aren't THAT different. They've got the same set up, the same mechanics, this game had a lot of the same characters. But whereas with the original trilogy I would be talking myself through what the possible solution to a testimony was and eagerly looking forward to being done with my day so I could play just a little bit more…I just don't do that with these games. I mean, it's not a CHORE to play, but I definitely don't find them as interesting.

And you can't even say that it's because of Phoenix at this point. Phoenix is back. And I liked having him back! I didn't feel like he got too much focus, and I was delighted to see him back in the saddle as Teenage Weird Girl Dad--although, sadly, he still sucks at being a dad to Apollo, who probably needs to see if Miles will adopt him, since between Simon and Eustace, Miles seems to have a better grip on how to raise sons.

And I liked Athena! I can't really think of a non-hate sink character in this game I didn't like. Oh, wait. I lied. I didn't really like Solomon Starbuck, but that was more because his sighing took up a lot of time. I wound up feeling about the same about Apollo as I did at the end of the last game. I mean, hey, at least they tried to do something with him! They telegraphed it too hard and made me completely bamboozled as to why his coworkers and/or ostensible friends can't comprehend why he wants to take some time off not only after receiving injuries that required a hospitalization on two separate occasions but also his best friend and roommate died--but, hey. They did at least try.

I would have liked to see more of Klavier. I enjoyed his fairly short role quite a bit, and felt like he and Apollo had better back-and-forth just in the time. But I fully admit that could just be the fact that I've read enough fan fiction now that I've got a fleshed-out Klavier in my head that I am subbing in.

And Simon was a good prosecutor. At first I was like, "He's a little one note, though." And then I remembered Godot and his coffee, and I was like, "Never mind. Continue." Simon didn't bump Franziska or Miles off my top prosecutors list, but in the end, I did enjoy the emo little weeb, especially after his open interactions with Athena.

I wish Trucy hadn't been relegated to an endless magic panties joke.

I liked almost all the cases! The opening wasn't, like, the best opening case there's been, but Ted might have been the best and least annoying of the culprits. Jinxie is ADORABLE, and her dad is great, and even though the culprit was really annoying, he was supposed to be so that's okay. I thought I was going to HATE the Themis Academy case. I'm not interested in reliving high school in any way, shape, or form, and the lawyer school thing sounded so silly. But I wound up getting a real soft spot for those kids. Actually, they way they helped Athena through her PTSD made me literally tear up. I was so worried about a 25-year-old confessing his love to Junie, and then it turned out to be this wholesome thing of him working up the nerve to confess he's 25 and not a genius. It might have wound up being my favorite case.

Case 4 was the weak one for me. Maybe it's because I just am not someone fascinated by space? I guess that's weird coming from a Star Trek fan, but real life space is terrifying, and I'm not someone who spends time looking at nebulas and stuff. So the space center as the sudden most important set piece just didn't spark my interest. I do not care of Solomon Starbuck gets to go back to space. I don't care about space. Sorry.

And Bobby was just…a really lousy final boss. Maybe not Kristoph levels of lousy, but still…for a guy that was built up to be this amazing super spy that had eluded even being KNOWN for seven years, suddenly he's just…on the stand making stupid, obvious mistakes, like saying, "Who knows? My lover? Maybe my kids?" when Phoenix asks who the Phantom took hostage. Destroying evidence right in the middle of court. Generally making himself so incredibly apparent it was hard to take him seriously at all. It wasn't really satisfying to defeat him, in the end.

And I think the crux of my problem was…it wasn't a satisfying game. Maybe if I'd been playing this series when it came out all those years ago, I'd be pleased with the "quality of life" changes made. But it felt like the game ran almost entirely on autopilot. I didn't have to do anything. I didn't have to think. The answers were fed to me. I could only observe, like, one specific part of each level, which really minimized the character interactions. Instead of having to figure out where to go, oftentimes the characters would just go to the next place for me. I realize that the fingerprinting and other forensic evidence activities weren't everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed them, and that's gone. Looking at evidence more in depth is gone…it felt like there was really nothing there for me to do. This is the only visual novel series I've ever played (I made my best friend promise not to let me go down the Danganronpa rabbit hole), so maybe that's more typical

And, frankly, I just don't find the 3D stuff as charming as the 2D sprites. Mostly, the artwork's okay. Miles' is the worst by a longshot. But overall, the leap to 3D isn't bad. I didn't hate it as much as I expected to.

So, yeah. Just sort of a weird mix of a game for me. The fact that it didn't feel like much of a game probably has the most to do with it.

I think I'll take a break for a bit before I start up Spirit of Justice. I'm not sure if I'll dive into the orca case first or not. But as much as I enjoy a good hyperfixation, it's time for a bit of a break. It's come to the point where I'm either playing the game, reading fic about the game, or thinking about the game, and I gotta draw a line and give my brain a bit of a break before September. I pre-ordered a physical copy of Ace Attorney Investigations (mostly as a treat for future me getting through her CE convention), and I'll probably still read some fic, but…I gotta let my brain do some non-Ace Attorney stuff for a little while. I've actually been thinking about going back and doing a third draft of my novel, so maybe I should spend some time outlining that.

I'll be back later for Spirt of Justice and the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for sure!

[truckreincarnation]

Dual Destinies || The Final Hours [3/3]

Unbelievable.

Or, no. Perhaps it was entirely believable that she wouldn’t have stood a chance against someone with two hundred years’ worth of experience over her. Manami pouts up at them, still sulking for a moment… before bursting out laughing, now free of any trace of malice.

“Ahaha! Okay, okay… I do feel a lot better after that, and you did beat me fair and square, so… yeah! I guess I am!”

She wasn’t the final boss, after all. Just his penultimate henchman. She sits up, wincing a bit from the exertion and criss-crossing her legs, staying planted firmly on the ground.

“So you’re gonna want me to run off with a bunch of demands, probably, right? Since I can get there quickly? Well, I’m gonna need to know what they are first!”

… Germain looked back at the others, an expression that could only be described as baffled on their face. Back to Manami. They supposed it made sense playing along would’ve calmed her down.

“Uh. R-Right. S-Sorry, I c-can’t believe that worked. They’re… n-not just demands. Well, there are d-demands, like n-not d-destroying Last Haven, but… I know the c-carrot just as well as the s-stick. And it’s n-not just me. Haven’t you b-been listening? Everyone has a p-part in this.”

Manami pouts again. “Jeez, I was just trying to keep a little spark of rivalry going!! That’s how this is supposed to go. I’m not… just asking you. Really. It was just, you know, I was… ughhh, nevermind, it was gonna be a whole Thing!!”

“Th-There is no s-spark.” Germain spoke flatly.

“Wh, what?! Even after all that…? Come onnn, at least humour meeee…” she whines pathetically, but, well. No sense crying over spilt lactose-free milk. The next act is beginning.

A long, exasperated sigh, with perhaps the slightest bit of resignation. “M-Miss me with that c-corny shit. Esmée, A-Avery, Yuliya, e-everyone’s b-been pointing it out. We c-can c-come to a s-solution that helps the D-Demon King, if… you’d j-just listen. We have s-suggestions and offers to g-go with the d-demands. And if you w-won’t listen…” Germain glanced to Shin… winking conspiratorially at him. Way to kill the mood. “I d-doubt everyone’ll m-make it easy for you. So let us help you.”

Manami glowers for a moment, but sighs - with a significantly more overblown resignation. “He’s not going to be that easy to bargain with. There are some terms I know he won’t accept, but… if you really are going to leverage that stupid spell against him, then… maybe we can work something out. Something that doesn’t involve trapping him, either. But if you really want to stop him from destroying Last Haven, you are going to have to make it worth his while. After everything you’ve all said, it… does sound like some of you have ideas that… might not be totally terrible.” She makes that silly pleading face at Shin, then casts a slightly more apologetic look to Avery and Esmée in particular.

She makes her pouty little -3- face again, a bit embarrassed.

“... I guess you’ve convinced me. Let’s negotiate! Maybe, um, run some of that by me again…? You’ve got a few hours before I’ll need to take off if you want me to get there in time to present, um, present a case to him. He’ll be starting soon otherwise, after all…!”

[smilepebble]

i was wondering if you have any favorite cases across the ace attorney series (spinoffs included) and what they were? or who your favorite characters are if you have any. also, hope you have a good time finishing the chronicles duology as you finish it!

hmmm there's a lot of aa cases i like, but most of my absolute favorites are the fan favorites lol. 3-5 is my absolute favorite from the main series bc it's such a good ending to the original trilogy, and also bc all the fey family stuff is so interesting to me. my other faves from the original trilogy are 1-5, 2-2, 2-4, and 3-4 id say.

i suppose my one unpopular opinion is that i liked 4-3? i loved the music aspect of it and the repetition didn't really bother me all that much because that's just kinda what you do when you do music, you gotta play it over and over a lot. idk. apollo justice definitely had it's issues but it was the first aa game i actually played instead of watching let's plays so it's got a special place in my heart. the sprites in that game are fantastic and also 4-1 is a favorite too.

dual destinies was an insane game gotta say. but no one case really sticks out all that much? i remember really liking 5-3 when i first played it, although when i recently watched a let's play of it it didn't quite hit as hard as i remember it. i still like the concept through, even if i find Lawyer High School to just be really really funny. of course 5-5 is pretty infamous, and i absolutely love the one scene that got the game an M rating. athena cykes is like. characters of ever in that one

i haven't played spirit of justice since it came out so i barely remember anything from it. i remember liking it though even if i feel like they were a bit heavy on the Special Lawyer Superpower stuff. i remember liking 6-2 if only because we finally got a case that completely focused on trucy after aa4 and like. gave her some agency

as for investigations, id say aai1-4 was a good one, but i didn't really care for the rest of the first game tbh. but investigations 2 is amazing. id say aai2-3 and 2-4 are my favorites from that one.

dgs so far is like. i can't pick a favorite case. they're all so good. like holy shit these games are so consistently good they might just beat out the original trilogy in my mind