#i love a protagonist the moment i play aa4 i just know apollo will be my new skrunkly

[journalsouppe]

APOLLO JUSTICE!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! What i would literally give to have a true AA4 sequel. I wholeheartedly believe if Yamazaki's team could ignore aa4 canon to make 5 & 6 then Shu Takumi should absolutely be allowed to ignore any 5&6 canon to make an aa4 sequel. I'm dying out here pleaseeeeee

The Phoenix sticker is from Peachcott. The Klavier sticker is from Ayabit from the Turnabout Cinema zine. The Apollo and Trucy stickers are from astarsor.

Writing typed below!

rating: 9.8 played: Fa 2023 port: 3DS favorite? Y replayable: Y recommend? Y series: Ace Attorney

Comments

THE JUDGE PAINTING

apollo's such a dork <3

ooo i like the perceive function

i love the music

DONT SAY THAT TRUCY T_T

there's so much going on in this investigation

wow i love how uneasy i feel even after the trial ended

LMAO I FORGOT ABOUT THE PHOENIX SEX PHOTO

i dont think y'all want your panties back...

klav's a bill and ted fan i see lol

LOVE mr eldoon's design 10/10

klapollo meet cute moment LMAO

oops ^^; i accidentally wrote a 600 word essay about the first case

i like how apollo cried over trucy

IT'S JUSTICE TIME??? T^T

i like klavier's hands a normal amount

alita must have some dirty fucking feet

the animations are so smooth

apollo being jealous of klavier at the concert and thinking he's cool LMAO

apollo is WHIPPED

trucy is KILLING it in court, she really is nick's daughter

klavier's shoe print *skull emoji*

out of pocket shiny forehead comment LMAO

lamiroir has similar vocal tones as malon!

THE PENIS FIRE AND KLAV PUTTING IT OUT IN THE BKGD

the smile and hair twirl klavier LMAO

why am i doing this music recording thing T^T

i dont like looking at daryan T_T

letouse kazuma moment lmao

capcom loves the face down death with writing on the ground huh LMAO

wtf is the judge talking about

i love all these scientific tests with ema! :)

i love the snackoos SFX

klav does not miss an opportunity to take a short at apollo's big forehead LMAO

APOLLO YOU DUMBASS

faking blindness is crazy

I KNEW IT WOULD BE DARYAN'S VOICE

klav's office is so much more normal than edgeworth's

WAIT IS IT GRAMARYE AND NOT GRAYMAYRE??

THE ANIMALS??

i love apollo and lamiroir goofing on klav

similar tech opening to brc

WTF WAS THAT KRISTOPH JUMPSCARE T-T

LORD DADDY???

oh he's insufferable

HOLY SHIT THAT'S WHY VERA IS STARING AT KLAV??

"rip off" phoenix is so real for that

are they injecting magnifi with piss??

im curious why kristoph would do this to phoenix

he just left his daughter???

tf is going on

T^T THE KRISTOPH ZOOM IN

why does klav have that egg from dragon tales

apollo understands me with mascots

this is so gay omfg

daryan not liking trucy means he goes even more into the shit book than before

apollo the journaling king

the x-ray function is a really fun addition

BABY TRUCY

omg phoenix with out the ugly hd redraw

GUMSHOE

he said it!!! he said 'ace attorney' lmao

i love and hate that i have to present the journal page

why does the screen shake when mr misham speaks T_T

THAT SCAR IS FREAKY

siblings omgggg

Summary:

I love this game so much. I love it so much that I am heartbroken knowing that AA 5 & 6 butchers the story it setup and I'm considering not even playing them unless AA7 is announced. I love all the main characters so much, the whole story was so well built and I can def see the influence the story had on DGS. Apollo is such a good protagonist, he's relatable but also so unique. I love seeing his character progression in the game: a new attorney who is easily manipulated to a confident and determined attorney who trusts in his own judgement. I LOVED Klavier oh my god. I love how much he respects Apollo and although he doesn't hesitate to tease him, he doesn't bully or abuse Apollo in any way. They both have a mutual admiration and rivalry where they try to play as fairly as possible. Klav doesn't maliciously withhold or change evidence, but he does spend hours reviewing his arsenal and thinks of all the counter arguments the defense could bring up. I really like Apollo's ability, it continues the mystery and mysticism from the original trilogy but with new mechanics. I adore Trucy so much. She honestly might be my favorite AA character. She's determined, strong willed, and above all -- extremely silly. I couldn't of asked for a better character to be Phoenix's daughter. I also LOVE the sibling reveal at the end but gdi if only they actually figure it out T^T T^T. I think Apollo and Trucy's dynamic is probably my favorite Defense and assistant dynamic. This who game was so fun, I know 4-3 is not everyone's favorite and it is a little all over the place but I also enjoyed it and loved the premise. There's so much to say, I haven't even talked about Nick and Kris - what an incredible feud, what a genius development for Nick. I cannot recommend this game enough, I am so obsessed with it and cannot wait to make art <3 <3.

[sholmeser]

i was thinking a little more abt why i consider aa4 to be the best aa game ,….putting ramble under cut bc its kinda long orz

it basically just comes down to the fact that aa4 takes the classic, more basic structure of aa1 and improves upon it. u have the first case to introduce the protagonist’s mentor (mia and kristoph); this person is gone by the second case, which focuses on the relationship between the protagonist and his new assistant and fleshes out their dynamic (even if 4-2 isn’t focused on trucy like turnabout sisters is on maya); the third case sheds more light on the rival prosecutor (on the flip side, turnabout serenade revolves around klavier while 1-3 does not on edgeworth); and the fourth case is, of course, the Big One that centers on lore and character stories. the games are structured almost exactly the same, if you exclude rise from the ashes (which is dlc content anyways).

however, what makes aj different from jfa (which also does something similar) is that aj showcases phoenix’s story from an outsider’s perspective; though aa4 is, obviously, about apollo, phoenix is still arguably the protagonist of the entirety of ace attorney (through aa4 at least) and aa4’s story hinges almost entirely on his history with kristoph and zak. jfa, however—which follows this same structure—takes all of the characters that we knew from aa1 and does relatively little new with them. sure, edgeworth’s disappearance puts phoenix in a state of turmoil, and phoenix and maya’s relationship grows stronger when he has to save her, but this all happens in 2-4; 2-2 and 2-3 are basically irrelevant (besides the introduction of pearl and kurain village, which aren’t even that significant until t&t) and just largely feel like something you have to sit through to get to the grand finale. this structure works better in aa1 and aa4 because we’re still getting to know the characters, who have just been introduced, by aa2 simply can’t do this because the only new major characters are franziska and pearl; though pearl’s relationship with her family does shed more light on mia and maya’s past relationship, franziska is very, very distanced from phoenix and isn’t properly expanded on throughout the game aside from small moments in trials and her post-credits scene with edgeworth. aa4 works so great because it’s able to take that classic formula of “introduction case > dynamic exploration case > dynamic exploration case > huge loredrop finale” and do something completely new with it through the utilization of its fresh set of characters and creative storyline choice (they absolutely didnt HAVE to disbar phoenix and choose the route of a new protag in aa4—they totally could’ve just kept telling phoenix’s story as they had previously—but they did what they did and it went so fucking hard), as well as stronger writing due to the amount of time for which the series had existed, which allowed for the writers to get more comfortable and more unique.

furthermore, i feel like people generally cite t&t or dgs as being the best-executed ace attorney games, but i don’t think that’s necessarily the case. first off, while i think that t&t is definitely a very strong choice (because it deviates so sharply and so well from the aa norm with its first, fourth, and fifth cases) 3-2 and 3-3 (as much as i love the stolen turnabout…) unfortunately fall victim to not being incredibly significant and feeling like a bit of a waste of time, ESPECIALLY recipe for turnabout. where 2-2 at least let us know more about maya and her family and, in the long run, set up for dahlia and iris’ narrative, 3-2 and 3-3 do basically. nothing, despite being pretty fun play-throughs. and, as i’ve mentioned, this is different in the case of aa4 because entirely new characters and dynamics are being explored for the very first time, just like they were in aa1; however, as i’ve also said, 4-2 and 4-3 simply have better quality of writing than 1-2 and 1-3 because ace attorney was such a more solidified series at this point in time.

and second, the reason why i feel very hesitant to label dgs (both combined) as “the best” is because, while dgs2 is executed to near-perfection in my opinion, the entirety of dgs1 is very much so just setting up for it. dgs2 is very unique in that EVERY SINGLE ONE of its cases is part of an overarching storyline (even 2-2, albeit more loosely), and the reason why it’s so enthralling to play is that every case leaves you wanting more and more due to the sheer amount of unanswered questions that are dropped, which all culminate in 2-5. however, the game as a whole is ABSOLUTELY riding on the coattails of dgs1, because it hinges on the first game to introduce its characters, relationships, and important plot elements. dgs1 is essential to dgs2’s existence, but it’s just SO boring to play through on its own because it’s essentially one huge setup for 2-3 through 2-5, and the cases feel rather bland because of that. you have to sit through 15-20 hours of dgs1–which in my opinion does not expand NEARLY enough on the stories of its characters, especially susato and van zieks (herlock and iris are kind of different cases so they don’t really suffer from this in my opinion)—before u can reach the absolute brainexplosion (for lack of a better term) that is dgs2. dgs2 cannot exist without the setup that dgs1 provides for it, but dgs1 is uninteresting to play through because it’s unnecessarily long and its Big Case doesn’t have a any sort of significant, emotional meaning to any of the main characters like…every single other one before it did. which i don’t think is INHERENTLY a bad thing, but that makes it harder to appreciate the case for what it is and make a connection to it. i think that dgs is absolutely amazing, but its problem is that it needs two entire games—both of which are weak individually—to tell one story. D

tldr: aa4 good bc it repurposes the classic ace attorney formula into something new and exiting + its better than dgs and t&t because its more cohesive and does not fall victim to Useless Second And Third Case Syndrome. idrk what the point of this was sorry i was just thinking because i reeeeeallym really really like aa4 and also dgs and t&t but like i like aa4 more. anyways. Bye

[4ragon]

Can't speak for anyone else but I for one would love an incoherent rant about the dark age of the law plotline

Alright buckle up kiddos.

So I have a lot of complaints with Dual Destinies as a whole. It’s a poorly paced mess, the final confrontation was deeply underwhelming, it has all these weird “Gotcha” moments where they put in the most bizarre, logic breaking plot twists and then undo them within ten minutes completely for shock value. And yet, despite all of these issues, there is nothing in this world that pisses me off more than the words “The Dark Age of the Law.”

I hate the Dark Age of the Law subplot more than literally any other thing in Ace Attorney. It is a complete failure of a story in literally every possible way. It not only doesn’t work within the context of Dual Destinies, it also completely flies in the face of everything we understand about the original trilogy! It!!!! Sucks!!!!

But no. That was too coherent. I think we should break this down.

First I’m going to start on a macro level. The Dark Age of the Law is the clearest indication to me that the writers of Dual Destinies never played another Ace Attorney game. They treat this Dark Age of the Law thing like this big bad, this shiny new toy, this never before seen wonder, but??? Corruption has been a CENTRAL part of every single AA game since game one!! Since case 2 even!!!

The Dark Age of the Law is this whole idea that people have lost their trust in the court system. And what do they site as the catalyst for this breaking of trust? Phoenix Wright’s disbarment and Simon Blackquill’s arrest.

And okay. Phoenix Wright’s disbarment is a reasonable one. Phoenix was sort of known for being this paragon of truth and justice, this man willing to do what it took to find the truth and protect people in need. His name being smeared through the mud could very well shake up the foundations of trust that the people had in the court system.

But Simon Blackquill? Simon FUCKING Blackquill shook up people’s faith in the court system?? Simon Blackquill is the reason that people are convinced that the entire system is full of lies and deceit? SIMON CONFESSED!! He didn’t even do anything corrupt!! He murdered a woman, sure, but he then immediately lets everyone know “Yes, I super did this murder. No one else.” And they treat it like it’s this big turning point??

LANA SKYE!! You guys remember Lana Skye? The Chief Prosecutor at the time, who was accused of murder, and who still went to prison for doing like a million other crimes after being blackmailed by the chief of police.

SPEAKING OF WHICH the fucking CHIEF OF POLICE was a murderous monster who blackmailed people and also murdered. Did that have no effect on people’s trust in the courts?

Manfred von Karma? Never lost a case in 40 years, literally everyone talked about how he and Miles were KNOWN to be corrupt? Also, you know, murdered a man in cold blood?

Blaise Debeste??? Chairman of the fucking ETHICS BOARD???????? Like!!! That’s some deep fucking corruption right there!!!! And he constantly talks about the mysterious disappearances around him of people who disagreed with him, does that not shake your faith?!

In Turnabout Sisters, as early as case 1-2, Redd White calls up the Chief Prosecutor (who also is not Lana, just to be clear) and demands his complicitness in covering up his own crimes. That’s how central corruption is to the entirety of Ace Attorney.

And you’re going to look me in the fucking EYES and tell me Simon Blackquill, some 21 year old nobody with no power or influence, who theoretically stabbed a woman and made no effort to cover that up, is the reason the courts have lost the faith of the people? You have the NERVE??? the AUDACITY??? the fucking GALL????? to tell me that SIMON is what caused this? The system was never trustworthy, and if it was, what the FUCK did Simon have to do with changing that???

Horrible. Terrible. Disgusting.

BUT

Let’s pretend for a moment that Dual Destinies existed in a vacuum. First Ace Attorney game you’ve ever played. Never touched another one in your life. If you were unfamiliar with the world that Ace Attorney has already spent six games establishing, does the Dark Age of the Law subplot hold up?

No. No it doesn’t.

So as I’ve said a million times before, it was clear that Dual Destinies should not have tried to juggle three protagonists. It just didn’t work. They learned their lesson and booted Athena out of that protagonist title in SoJ, and as much as I hated that decision, it was at least a much stronger overarching story for it.

Now. There were three main throughlines in Dual Destinies. Athena’s story centered on introducing her, of course, but it also was about her struggle to save a friend who needed saving from the law and also himself. It was very AA1 in that way.

Apollo’s story was a little harder to outline, because a lot of it is saved for the last couple of cases, but it’s really about his relationship with Athena. Coming to trust her, his trust in her being shaken, struggling to overcome that, grief, loss, yadda yadda, and I have my criticisms of how it’s handled, but that’s the gist of it.

And Phoenix needed a story. So they made up this stupid fucking bullshit garbage and dumped it in his lap and said “Here you go, best friend! Our dear money maker! This is what you’re working with!” And then they proceeded to use it to beat the shit out of Phoenix until he started spitting out dollar bills.

Okay no sorry I have no idea what the fuck I just said but liSTEN

The Dark Age of the Law storyline was clearly supposed to have some significant thematic relevance to the story, given how hard they were hammering it into us in case three. It was supposed to mean something, and I think it was supposed to mean something to Phoenix in particular. After all, he and Miles won’t stop TALKING ABOUT IT GOD MAKE THEM SHUT UP

The Dark Age of the Law subplot had nothing to do with that final case. Remove it, and nothing changes, because, again, Simon had nothing to do with the corruption in the first place, and the Phantom certainly had nothing to do with corruption. It’s so surface level. “Uh oh, people don’t like the courts. If you can solve this unrelated crime, everything will be fixed.” And then he does (also Athena should’ve been the one to win the case, but that’s a different problem) and nothing ever comes of it, other than “Hooray, you fixed the corruption!” He didn’t??? Miles what the fuck are you talking about????

If they had woven in the corruption throughout the story somehow, maybe it would’ve found some way to be impactful? But it was a floundering, half-thought-out subplot in an already bloated game that failed to give any meaning or help anyone develop as a character. Hell, it kept falling out of relevancy and only popped in to rear its head when the writers remembered it existed and decided to have yet another person remind us that THIS IS IMPORTANT GUYS NO REALLY.

Like! Okay. What if they tied it more to AA4? I mean Phoenix’s disbarment and subsequent return could’ve actually affected the plot. Have people actively mistrust Phoenix or something. Or maybe have it affect anyone in any way. Sure it divides the fucking high schoolers for that mess of a “power of friendship” storyline, but so could a plot about, I don’t know, electing a homecoming queen or something. It affected Athena for one case, but what did that even teach her other than “Trust your gut, sweetie, don’t do lawyer crimes!” Phoenix didn’t have an arc in this game, and he shouldn’t have had to, unless it was coming to grips with the fact that he was never going to get those 7 years of his life back and the smears against his character were always going to linger. But they didn’t do that, they just needed him in there for brand recognition.

I can handle a lot of bullshit in these bullshit lawyer games. That’s part of the appeal. But unlike most of the other bullshit, this particular threat was unsatisfying, meandering, and unnecessary.