Played again. This time on 3ds. It made me think, was the Apollo Justice game a blessing or a curse?

Unfortunately my review hasn't changed.
I really liked the aspect of injecting risky new ideas but... None of the ideas feel fleshed out to me. New minigames and Apollo's bracelet thingy are pretty mindless inclusions. Finale of it still feels rushed and doesn't conclude anything. Investigation time travel mumbo jumbo is stupid and doesn't add anything to plot, I would go as far as to say it takes away from it with how it enables Phoenix to use something from future in the past? Final court day is super short and not even close to something satisfying. There is only just 2 witness statements you need to solve to finish it. JUST TWO!? I wonder they did this way just to promote the jury system to Japan. Was it a last minute decision? Or was it planned from the beginning? I don't know but with doing that, they just wasted the antagonist for a stupid reason. But even if they did a more complex finale court day, it wouldn't solve the problem of his stupid motivation. It's just stupid. By the way the worst thing they did was sidelining Apollo at the finale day. Isn't like this is supposed to be his own game? Then why Phoenix promoted consistently at the finale more than Apollo?

But also I really liked the idea of even the clients you are supposed to protect may not be that innocent people even if they are not the killers. Also the idea of, for finding the truth, you need to take risks even things like forgery. Also I really liked they created opposite versions of ideas they created before. Helpful Prosecutor idea with Klavier, clever assistant idea with Trucy and grumpy Detective idea with Ema etc. It really gives it's own feeling without feeling like a repeat. Also new soundtrack that focuses on the mystery aspect is a cream on the cake! Before I forget, mentor and jaded Phoenix is my favorite Phoenix version. I damn liked him with how he is ready to find the truth whatever it takes! He is ready to do dirty tactics even! Really brave move right there.

But like I said unfortunately Apollo Justice can be a curse more than a blessing. The moment they injected the idea of the "broken Justice system", sequels went with that way and since then we didn't get a full on personal struggle focused ace attorney game. Since then every game is about there is a broken system we need to "fix" and this is not ace attorney for me. At least this game still have it's ace attorney core other than it's finale but it's sad that they choose to continue with the justice idea rather than personal struggles of Apollo idea. It's really sad.

Este juego se siente como un "borrón y cuenta nueva" básicamente regresamos a las mecánicas mas similares primer juego, no hay megatama (salvo en un capitulo puntual) y ya no puedes presentar personas (agregados de justice for all). El que los testimonios sean evidencia (cosa que hiso trial and tribulations) sigue ahi, pero mas allá de eso el juego regreso a la raiz de la saga agregando sus propias cosas. La musica es sintetizada y techno, la paleta de colores cambia y los fondos tienen su estilo distintivo.

Nuestro protagonista apollo tiene la habilidad de percibir el lenguaje corporal en los interrogatorios para destapar mentiras, lo que requiere prestar atención en la linea de dialogo que posee la mentira, que el juego de indica sutilmente. Y al ser este juego pensado desde el principio para la DS, las mecánicas del capitulo extra del remake del primer juego, Alzarse de las cenizas, de poder analizar la evidencia física con la pantalla táctil esta desde el principio del juego.

En la historia... me tiene polarizado, que me digan que Pheonix perdió su trabajo MESES después de ese hermoso final de trial, donde Pheonix aceptaba que era el digno sucesor de Mia por todo lo que había pasado hasta ahora y destapar todos los misterios, se siente que toda la trilogía original sirvió para nada. Pero por otro lado punto del juego es develar eso misterio que lo llevo a perder. Que a su vez, irónicamente le quita protagonismo a apollo que el personaje que controlamos.

Los casos como tal siguen siendo tan divertidos y creativos como entregas pasadas (excepto por ti justice for all) con sus personajes entrañables que te inspiran a completarlos.
El fiscal del juego, Klavier, es bastante diferente del resto de fiscales, su estilo es de un boyband de los 2000 (de hecho si es cantante de una banda), y ya desde el principio su objetivo es buscar la verdad, cosa de hecho... lo hace algo aburrido, pues no tiene que aprender nada realmente, ni tiene ningún conflicto que superar (no contaría yo lo del ultimo caso, pues aun asi nunca dudo de saber la verdad). Lo único que lo sostiene es su estilo.

El final, si bien es menos "épico" que los anteriores tiene un comentario que me gusto mucho, que la ley al estar hecha por humanos también posee errores y contradicciones, y que un sistema de justicia debe de perfeccionarse para poder llegar a verdad de los casos. Años de ver series forenses y personas que tratan a la ley como la máxima fuente moral y que este juego cuestione y admita que ley tiene errores que deben ser corregidos y que el sentido común también tiene un papel importante en el asunto, me impresiono bastante. Es algo mas del ultimo caso y un dialogo directa mas que el juego lo trate a lo largo del mismo, pero es un acertado mensaje a pesar de todo.

Solid and lovely game in the franchise that falters here and there but is overall lovely. Main aspect where this game stands outs are the characters in this game, all of which feel like they have their own unique charm that the series feels like the series only tapped into in this game, where all the characters feel inherently cartoony while also being able to take them seriously and most importantly imagine what kinda stuff they would do outside of the trials, which is a thing I don't think I felt about in previous games, barring some characters that were charming enough to leave an impression on me, like Will Powers, Adrian Andrews, Ron & Desirée. It feels like I distinctly remember characters like Wocky, Guy Eldoon, Daryan, Valant, Vera, there's just so many characters that stand out and are unique AND interesting in their on ways that I feel like is different than before. I dunno. I simply just love and enjoy a lot about this game and its characters. Pretty damn solid.

I went into this game with low expectations and came out very content with what I got. It took me a while to finish it because I dubbed the whole game with my friend, but that only added to the experience. I think what makes me like this game so much is the overall atmosphere. The courtroom has a darker colour scheme, the music focuses more on the mysterious vibe, and character designs such as Phoenix and Ema help set up the atmosphere of the game well. As for the cases themselves, while I didn't particularly care for Turnabout Corner, I surprisingly like Turnabout Serenade and I absolutely adore Turnabout Trump and Turnabout Succession. I don't want to go too deep into the cases due to spoilers, but I feel like the only issues with this game are that the killers are pretty obvious most of the time (Turnabout Corner and Serenade), and the killer's motivations can be weak at times as well. Either way, it doesn't change how much fun this game can be. The humour is probably the best in the series so far and the one off characters are actually pretty good for the most part (I actually like Spark Brushel). Overall, while I'd say this game had flaws, I would say I had too much fun with the game to care. I know it wouldn't be for everyone, but I think it's an enjoyable experience for myself.

I don’t care what anyone says, this is a good entry in the series.

It is true that at times, it feels like the spotlight is taken from the titular character just to focus on past characters again. Though, the time we do get to spend with the new characters is delightful! Despite really only being for a single game, this might be one of the better main casts in an Ace Attorney game! Apollo has the perfect newbie energy, Trucy is a ray of sunshine, and Klavier is such a cool prosecutor/guitarist. Then we have the returning characters, Phoenix and Ema, who have both evolved in ways that feel strange at first, but they work so well!

I will say, the cases aren’t amazing. The third case makes very poor logic just to point the finger at your defendant. Not to mention the overuse of the video tape. And then there’s the final case, and without spoiling anything, there’s some weird logic at play there as well. Events not lining up with the evidence you have, and characters knowing info they probably shouldn’t, although there is a reason for this, though the context its presented in is still strange.

The new perceive mechanic had potential. Pointing out little quirks with the witnesses you cross examine is a very creative concept, and the presentation is stellar! The problem is that it disrupts the flow of the courtroom segments a bit, and take a little too long when we could have just used evidence instead.

Now, I think my biggest issue with this game, is that it never really had a satisfying follow-up. The next two mainline entries BARELY acknowledge this game beyond the characters and ONE case in Spirit of Justice that feels like an homage. This is most likely because this game didn’t perform well back then for one reason or another, and when new writers stepped in to continue the story, the decided to sweep the events of this game under the rug just to make later games feel more like the trilogy (or at least they tried).

Whatever, I still like this game a lot. I just wished we got more games in this series like this.

I went into this game not expecting too much in comparison to AA3. However I finished the game pleasently surprised! The characters are great, and Apollo is a more than suitable stand in for Phoenix. I played this with my friend and we dubbed the game together which made it a much better experience than it would have been if I just read it myself. Some of the one off characters like Stickler and Brushel we really fun to voice because of their goofy nature. The weakest link here is definitely Turnabout Corner but it's made up for with all of the other cases. Everything coming together in the end was quite satisfying and I was genuinely surprised at some of the reveals late game. Overall this is another really solid entry in this really solid series. My friend and I will be working our way through the next 2 main series games and I'm very much looking forward to it!