totally get why this may not be some people's Thing ace attorney-wise but i really loved it. real talk sometimes even in my fave games of this series there's at least one case that really drags/feels like filler (i think dual destinies really suffered from having TWO cases that i wasn't super invested in, even if i thought the concluding case was strong) whereas that wasn't a problem here! even the non-plot relevant case worked because it 1) didn't outstay its welcome, 2) had some fun characters in the witness box (and from what i've read a surprisingly accurate depiction of did?) 3) gave the focus to characters who otherwise wouldn't have had much in this game. between that and trucy's case i think this did a much better job than dual destinies at juggling an increasingly large cast of characters by simply acknowledging that it COULDN'T give them all equal attention all the time but could spotlight a few for one part. though i understand that maya may be less prominent than people imagined when it was first announced she was coming back (it's a bit hard to gauge this for me 7 years on).

also i think it's fun that you get followed around a bunch by a teenage girl who hates you and insults you at every opportunity!

I never finished this game. I got bored in the third case and called it quits. Every bad thing about ace attorney since the end of the first trilogy coalesced into this game while GAA was singing beautiful songs in Japan only. Overreliance on gimmicks, comically overblown stakes, boring investigation sequences, bloated cast, this game really does have every criticism of ace attorney in one package. Doesn't help I was playing this on my phone, which is absolutely the worst way to play these games.

Finished the SOJ replay. Still pretty goated with the sauce top 3 games easy. Music at its zenith here the overall cases are better than DD and the new/returning character stuff is peak the main complaint would be unlike every other game the prosecutor is lame this time around. Nahyuta like peaks in the first case with some good quirks but other than and the ending he doesn't really do much outside of talking in Religious holy talk. Regarding other stuff tho. I like how tied together this game is on replay you can see so many little hints its great. Themes wise I wouldn't say its as interesting as DD but the stuff there was still good with Sucession and Inheritance. The new setting of kurain'in is so good and with some new characters being goat like Dhurk and Rayfa who is amazing. I Inevitably feel like Im selling it short like I do with most things but to boil it down its just some real fucking fun ace attorney man the sound effects, the music, the mysteries, the animations, the banter its all just so Enjoyable and Great and Ace Attorney