I binged these puzzles like a ravenous animal that hasn't found game in weeks
1982
she slayed so much harder than pac man. and i'm only half joking. the game is actually better.
This review contains spoilers
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is an origin story. It’s a prequel to a game that doesn’t exist. It’s divisive, and I think it’s very misunderstood, but I believe it’s my favorite AA game as of now.
A quick note before I get to the game: I played the 3DS remaster of Apollo Justice. This means I got remastered sprites, an option to play in 3D, and the glorious “Skip All Text” option. After coming fresh off of the Investigations games, the skip text option is a godsend. The text in the DS games scrolls unbearably slow, so to have the option to complete/skip any text box at any time was excellent. I also switched on the 3D effect occasionally, and it looked pretty nice – especially in the MASON system. I highly recommend playing this version of the game if you can.
Before discussing the chapters, I want to talk about this game’s biggest flaw in my opinion: the investigation sequences. Outside of the MASON system investigation in case 4, the investigations have essentially reverted to the quality of AA1. This means you can’t present profiles (yay!) and there are no psyche locks or rebuttals (aww!). Progression can be super obtuse, requiring the player to present a random piece of evidence before moving forward with the story. I played the investigations duology before this because they come first in the game’s timeline, but I know this game released first. So I can’t fault it for not having the fancy logic system, rebuttals, or birds-eye movement. But I absolutely can fault this game for not having at least some equivalent to psyche locks. And I do. I liked the forensics stuff that you do with Ema, but it’s such a small part of the experience.
I’m also going to address the new Perceive system here. I find it to be a net neutral effect on the gameplay. Finding the tics of witnesses wasn’t ever hard. I didn’t like the narrative implications of the magatama being a lie detector, and I guess I still don’t like the bracelet doing it here, but at least you always have to back up your claim with evidence…so it’s kinda just like a normal cross examination. It was never a huge deal for me, and I don’t find it to be an intrusive mechanic.
Oh, and the soundtrack is the best in the series. No contest.
Episode 1: Turnabout Trump
”I have a message for you. ‘The last hand is about to be played. You’ll need a trump card to make it…Use it wisely, and the game is yours.’ That is all.”
- Trucy Wright
This is the least controversial case in the game, as far as I can tell. It’s an amazing intro case that subverts your expectations in a very cool way. Phoenix returns in a very different state than we know him to be in. Your mentor, Kristoph Gavin, is the culprit and the murder mystery itself was also super fun to unravel. Not only was the bloody ace an interesting trump card to win the case, but it has a lot of interesting story implications down the line. I don’t have much more to say about this one…it leaves mysteries for the future while being a compelling case on its own. One of my favorites, for sure.
Episode 2: Turnabout Corner
”Some advice: Now’s a good time to review all you know…Everything you’ve learned over the last two days.”
- Klavier Gavin
Turnabout Corner is blatant filler but panty-snatching aside, I think the way this case continues to subvert player expectations and present itself is incredibly smart and underappreciated. Most of the big character introductions happen here. You meet Trucy, a deceptively perceptive little girl and daughter of Phoenix. During the trial, she convinces the courtroom that she’s being threatened at knifepoint in order to call a recess. She actively contributes to discussions in the courtroom and a lot of her actions suggest that she knows a lot more than she lets on. Perhaps one of my favorite dynamics is between Ema Skye and Apollo/Trucy. Ema has grown into a cynical detective who hates her job. While Gumshoe was super attached to Edgeworth, Ema hates this game’s prosecutor and most of the police force in general. She wanted to be in forensics, and sticks around hoping to repay her debts to Phoenix Wright. What I love about her is that her attitude brightens up so much when you work with her. While Gumshoe always had a sort of rivalry with Phoenix and resisted supplying info to him, Ema has no problem breaking the rules and letting Nick’s successors help out with her forensics work. It truly seems like Apollo and Trucy are her favorite part of her job and their interactions in this case and going forward are great. The prosecutor of this game is Klavier Gavin, Kristoph’s younger brother. He’s not here to get revenge, he’s just a nice guy. I think this is his weakest of the three cases he’s in, but he is still yet another tool that the game uses to subvert player expectations. The murder itself is cool, and the twist with the noodle stand at the end was fun. I like how the judge doesn’t give Alita Tiala any pretty girl privilege like he did for April May and Dahlia Hawthorne. It’s refreshing having him on your side. When Apollo proves that Alita is guilty, Klavier decides to help you bring her to justice instead of being like all the other AA prosecutors who are kinda like "ungh...this cannot be!". Also, there’s a character named Big Wins. A very enjoyable case all around.
Episode 3: Turnabout Serenade
“It won’t be easy proving he did it. Especially under the current court system…Every man has an igniter. Find Daryan Crescend’s igniter…and set it off.”
- Phoenix Wright
“Maybe the law doesn’t allow it…But who’s going to think you’re really innocent after hearing this trial?”
- Apollo Justice
It’s no question that this is the weakest of this game’s cases, but there’s still things to appreciate. Even though Lamiroir appears, I would still consider this filler. But we get more Ema, and a much better look at Klavier. His veil of a cocky rockstar gets lifted when he gets upset with the band. Apollo also visits his office, and they exchange information in a very civil way. Because the culprit, Daryan, is someone who Klavier is close to, you can see the hesitation that Klavier has when going against him. He puts up more resistance this time around to exposing the culprit, in comparison to the last case. There were moments when he tried to subtly guide Apollo to the truth after he caught on to Daryan’s actions. The biggest problems that are usually mentioned with this case are the music video that keeps getting replayed, and the ridiculous logic that is argued, particularly on the first trial day. I don’t know if the 3DS version reduced the amount of times you see the video, or if it just didn’t get on my nerves but it definitely wasn’t as big of a problem as people say. I do agree with the dumb arguments on the first day, like how Machi was supposedly blind so he missed his first shot. And how Daryan firing the gun is what messed up his performance of Guilty Love. I also was expecting Machi to have pressed the detonator switch by having it connected to one of the hammers in the piano, but the game wasn’t that creative. Daryan was also an incredibly obvious culprit. It’s eh, but by no means terrible in my eyes. At the very least, there were no major gaps in logic when it came to the actual murder plan.
Episode 4: Turnabout Succession
“Herr Forehead. Are you sure you don’t have evidence? Evidence! Evidence that shows this man, Kristoph Gavin, requested that forgery seven years ago! Just…Prove it! Clear up these doubts now, or I swear, I’m off this case!”
- Klavier Gavin
”Prosecutor Gavin looks like he’s in physical pain! That darkness…I have to pull that darkness out of him…And proof is the only way I can!”
- Apollo Justice
As of now, this is my favorite case in the series. I think people misunderstand what this case represents. It is all about ego. On the final day of the trial, Vera Misham is already in critical condition, likely to die. Kristoph Gavin had already been sent to jail because of your first victory. There is no new criminal to catch, no lives at stake, and the defendant’s stand remains empty. The practical stakes are incredibly low. By this point in the game, you already know the killer is Kristoph. So if there are no stakes, and there’s no more mystery to solve, then what’s so important about this case? Turnabout Succession is a series of intertwined character studies. Kristoph Gavin is a man who acts on his pride and his pride alone. He killed Drew (and tried to kill Vera) in order to keep the nature of his forgery a secret. He killed Zak Gramarye for this reason as well, along with his vengeance for rejecting him over a game of poker. The reason he forged the evidence in the first place? At the time he commissioned the forgery, Kristoph wasn’t fired by Zak yet. He intended to use the forged piece of evidence to win in court against Klavier, when they planned to face off for the first time. This alone hints to the strained relationship that the brothers have. Once Zak fired Kristoph, Kristoph then decided to tip off Klavier because Phoenix hurt his pride. On the last day of the trial, Klavier with zero remorse mentions how he still believes that Phoenix and Zak deserved what he did to them. He’s a terrifying man. Kristoph’s narcissism reflects clearly in Klavier’s trust issues. Throughout each case against him, Klavier faces a larger obstacle of witnesses that he distrusts, which he overcomes by trusting in Apollo. Alita Tiala had no relation to him, so all he needed to do was trust in Apollo to present the incriminating evidence. Daryan Crescend was Klavier’s bandmate and colleague. Upon finding the burnt firecracker in the room of the crime scene, Klavier had some doubt in Daryan and registered him as a witness, against Daryan’s wishes. Daryan resisted during the trial, creating an inner conflict for Klavier. He needed to trust in Apollo to “find Daryan’s igniter” and go through with what he started. Kristoph was the final test. There were several points during this case when Klavier was in major distress, like when he found out the nature of the forgery and when Kristoph threatened him from the stand. He was in denial that Kristoph was the perpetrator behind Nick’s disbarment for seven years, and struggled to come to terms with the fact that he was also behind Drew Misham’s death. He literally begged for Apollo to find something to incriminate his brother, begged for a reason to trust him and his claims. Klavier’s arc revolves around his increasing need to place his trust in Apollo’s questionably capable hands. If anything, these two characters have more chemistry than any others. And of course, there’s Phoenix Wright, behind it all. He engineered the Jurist and MASON systems all to get back at Kristoph. Klavier was the one who pointed out the forged evidence that Phoenix presented, during his first ever trial (outside of Germany at least). Klavier always held a small amount of pity towards Phoenix, and Kristoph befriended Phoenix in order to keep tabs on him – just like how he was stalking the other members involved with the Gramarye case. You could argue that Phoenix did all of this in order to get his badge back, but it’s undeniable how crazy his plan was just to run circles around Kristoph in the end. Notice how this case connects the egos of all of these characters – and I didn’t even go into detail on the Troupe Gramarye drama either. I’d like to expand on Phoenix’s ego. Many people argue that the drastic change to his character in this game was a form of character assassination. I disagree. (also, let’s be honest. He was a piece of cardboard before this game.) I think during the 7 years he was disbarred, he went through some sort of ego death. This was intentional character regression. He made a living at the Borscht Bowl Club using Trucy’s analytical talents to cheat at poker. He forged the bloody ace in the first case. And he created an arguably rigged Jurist System in order to corner Kristoph. He put Thalassa on the jury, knowing who she was. He roped Apollo into everything to carry out his will. Phoenix is a con man. In this review, I included quotes from each chapter. If you look at them, you’ll notice that they all have to do with at least one of two things: distrust in the court system, and trust between Apollo and Klavier. This game has been very good at dropping hints throughout that cases require definitive evidence (that Klavier needs in order to believe in Apollo), and that the current court system is unable to declare the right verdict in its absence. Phoenix in particular is very cynical about this. This is why he creates the Jurist System. And I think the existence of the jurist system, along with a ton of other hints, supports an all-but-confirmed theory that I have.
I think Apollo Justice was intended to have a direct sequel(s) in which Phoenix Wright becomes a villain.
First, let me clarify that I have not played Dual Destinies or Spirit of Justice yet. I know that they introduce a third attorney named Athena, and that they all have to share screentime. I know it semi-retcons the direction that Apollo Justice was leaning towards, and I know that a game shared between three protagonists is likely not enough to create an entire arc for Apollo. I know that Shu Takumi, creator of the trilogy and AJ, did not work on DD or SoJ. The next game he worked on, however, did include a jury. That game was The Great Ace Attorney Adventures. I’m not sure what happened that stopped Takumi from working on the main series but I do think it’s clear that the jury system was always a creative direction that he wanted to go in (as well as a reflection of the IRL justice system reform happening in Japan at the time), and the jurist system introduced in Turnabout Succession was just the beginning of the story. Apollo punched Phoenix after finding out that the bloody ace was forged in the first chapter as well. I think all of this definitely points to a continuation of these concepts in a sequel. There’s also the argument that Apollo’s own game was stolen from him for Phoenix’s brand recognition. While I don’t doubt that Capcom may have told Takumi that he had to include Phoenix in the game, you must be delusional to think that making Phoenix the puppet master in Turnabout Succession was some kind of business decision. He doesn’t even appear on the cover of the game, and you think that his involvement in the final chapter of the game was made to sell more copies??? Nobody is going to know what happens that late into the game until you’ve already bought it. I think the realistic thing to assume is that Takumi simply worked around Capcom’s demands (if this is all true) by making Phoenix a very different character than he was in the trilogy. The assertion that Apollo’s game wasn’t really about him is a fair argument, however. But I think this was done in the foresight that there would be a direct sequel(s) that expands Apollo’s character and makes him the true protagonist. Remember, this case is called Turnabout Succession. It’s about Apollo’s succession to Phoenix as an attorney – his literal origin story. I think there were several plot points intentionally left open in order to prepare for a sequel. Along with the jurist system and Phoenix’s character trajectory, Apollo still doesn’t know that her mother is Thalassa, Apollo and Trucy still don’t know that they are siblings, we still don’t know the backstory behind the Gavin brothers, Ema still hates her job, and we never learned how Klavier coped in the aftermath of this trial. In the first Ace Attorney trilogy, the first game was initially a standalone product with a closed ending. Justice for All barely had any overarching plot development at all, so Trials and Tribulations had to create entirely new villains and a new ending with little buildup from previous games. Apollo Justice has the power of foresight, which none of the previous games had.
I also should talk about the actual mechanics of this case. To nip this in the bud, I was never confused about the MASON system when I played this game. It’s not time travel or a continuity error. It’s an interactive game that Phoenix created where the jurists had to play through different events in a nonlinear order. Its events were curated by Phoenix and don’t necessarily reflect what he did in real life. It was a system to simplify fact gathering. It also happened to be my favorite investigative sequence in the game. In the past, I was torn on the use of the magatama because although it helped with the pacing of investigation sections, it felt like a cop out to have an automatic lie detector. In this game, I actually don’t mind it at all. Any time a character in the MASON system lies, you can tell because you’ve already gathered the evidence from another event/Apollo’s day 1 investigation. Once you finish every possible conversation with a character, the MASON system takes you out of the scene and marks it with a checkmark. This is super helpful and clears up obtuse progression as opposed to regular investigations when you sometimes have absolutely no idea what to do. I also liked the flashback trial day. In past cases, with the exception of flashback cases, whenever there was some kind of past incident (like DL6), it’s only told through brief black-and-white summaries and evidence. With the Gramarye case/disbarment, the player actually gets to experience everything firsthand. I think this is much better storytelling than anything the series tried to do previously. I let out an audible gasp when Thalassa’s reflection showed in the jurist voting and when her sleeve rolled down to remove her bracelet.
Turnabout Succession ends with an oddly foreboding scene, with narration regarding the trial in past tense. Creepy music plays in the background, not victorious sounding at all.
”The record will show that when the verdict was announced, special witness Kristoph Gavin…laughed. A laugh louder than any ever heard before…or since. A laugh that echoed in the halls of justice, lingering for what seemed like hours.”
But out of everything, I think the most telling exchange was right before Kristoph’s defeat.
Klavier: The law is “absolute”…? You can’t be serious.
Kristoph: Wh-what?
Klavier: Odd. I thought you spent your life looking for loopholes? The law isn’t absolute. It’s filled with contradictions.
Judge: The law is the end product of many years of history…the fruit of human knowledge! Like a gem, polished to a gleam through trials…and errors. It is this fruit we receive, and pass on, and face in our time. And it is always changing, growing. Nurturing it is our task as human beings.
Klavier: Except for you, Kristoph. You aren’t changing. You’ve stopped. You’re not needed anymore.
Apollo: (I couldn’t think of anything to say. Maybe…because I still haven’t seen enough. But someday, I’ll know what law is. And I’ll fight to change it if I have to!)
A quick note before I get to the game: I played the 3DS remaster of Apollo Justice. This means I got remastered sprites, an option to play in 3D, and the glorious “Skip All Text” option. After coming fresh off of the Investigations games, the skip text option is a godsend. The text in the DS games scrolls unbearably slow, so to have the option to complete/skip any text box at any time was excellent. I also switched on the 3D effect occasionally, and it looked pretty nice – especially in the MASON system. I highly recommend playing this version of the game if you can.
Before discussing the chapters, I want to talk about this game’s biggest flaw in my opinion: the investigation sequences. Outside of the MASON system investigation in case 4, the investigations have essentially reverted to the quality of AA1. This means you can’t present profiles (yay!) and there are no psyche locks or rebuttals (aww!). Progression can be super obtuse, requiring the player to present a random piece of evidence before moving forward with the story. I played the investigations duology before this because they come first in the game’s timeline, but I know this game released first. So I can’t fault it for not having the fancy logic system, rebuttals, or birds-eye movement. But I absolutely can fault this game for not having at least some equivalent to psyche locks. And I do. I liked the forensics stuff that you do with Ema, but it’s such a small part of the experience.
I’m also going to address the new Perceive system here. I find it to be a net neutral effect on the gameplay. Finding the tics of witnesses wasn’t ever hard. I didn’t like the narrative implications of the magatama being a lie detector, and I guess I still don’t like the bracelet doing it here, but at least you always have to back up your claim with evidence…so it’s kinda just like a normal cross examination. It was never a huge deal for me, and I don’t find it to be an intrusive mechanic.
Oh, and the soundtrack is the best in the series. No contest.
Episode 1: Turnabout Trump
”I have a message for you. ‘The last hand is about to be played. You’ll need a trump card to make it…Use it wisely, and the game is yours.’ That is all.”
- Trucy Wright
This is the least controversial case in the game, as far as I can tell. It’s an amazing intro case that subverts your expectations in a very cool way. Phoenix returns in a very different state than we know him to be in. Your mentor, Kristoph Gavin, is the culprit and the murder mystery itself was also super fun to unravel. Not only was the bloody ace an interesting trump card to win the case, but it has a lot of interesting story implications down the line. I don’t have much more to say about this one…it leaves mysteries for the future while being a compelling case on its own. One of my favorites, for sure.
Episode 2: Turnabout Corner
”Some advice: Now’s a good time to review all you know…Everything you’ve learned over the last two days.”
- Klavier Gavin
Turnabout Corner is blatant filler but panty-snatching aside, I think the way this case continues to subvert player expectations and present itself is incredibly smart and underappreciated. Most of the big character introductions happen here. You meet Trucy, a deceptively perceptive little girl and daughter of Phoenix. During the trial, she convinces the courtroom that she’s being threatened at knifepoint in order to call a recess. She actively contributes to discussions in the courtroom and a lot of her actions suggest that she knows a lot more than she lets on. Perhaps one of my favorite dynamics is between Ema Skye and Apollo/Trucy. Ema has grown into a cynical detective who hates her job. While Gumshoe was super attached to Edgeworth, Ema hates this game’s prosecutor and most of the police force in general. She wanted to be in forensics, and sticks around hoping to repay her debts to Phoenix Wright. What I love about her is that her attitude brightens up so much when you work with her. While Gumshoe always had a sort of rivalry with Phoenix and resisted supplying info to him, Ema has no problem breaking the rules and letting Nick’s successors help out with her forensics work. It truly seems like Apollo and Trucy are her favorite part of her job and their interactions in this case and going forward are great. The prosecutor of this game is Klavier Gavin, Kristoph’s younger brother. He’s not here to get revenge, he’s just a nice guy. I think this is his weakest of the three cases he’s in, but he is still yet another tool that the game uses to subvert player expectations. The murder itself is cool, and the twist with the noodle stand at the end was fun. I like how the judge doesn’t give Alita Tiala any pretty girl privilege like he did for April May and Dahlia Hawthorne. It’s refreshing having him on your side. When Apollo proves that Alita is guilty, Klavier decides to help you bring her to justice instead of being like all the other AA prosecutors who are kinda like "ungh...this cannot be!". Also, there’s a character named Big Wins. A very enjoyable case all around.
Episode 3: Turnabout Serenade
“It won’t be easy proving he did it. Especially under the current court system…Every man has an igniter. Find Daryan Crescend’s igniter…and set it off.”
- Phoenix Wright
“Maybe the law doesn’t allow it…But who’s going to think you’re really innocent after hearing this trial?”
- Apollo Justice
It’s no question that this is the weakest of this game’s cases, but there’s still things to appreciate. Even though Lamiroir appears, I would still consider this filler. But we get more Ema, and a much better look at Klavier. His veil of a cocky rockstar gets lifted when he gets upset with the band. Apollo also visits his office, and they exchange information in a very civil way. Because the culprit, Daryan, is someone who Klavier is close to, you can see the hesitation that Klavier has when going against him. He puts up more resistance this time around to exposing the culprit, in comparison to the last case. There were moments when he tried to subtly guide Apollo to the truth after he caught on to Daryan’s actions. The biggest problems that are usually mentioned with this case are the music video that keeps getting replayed, and the ridiculous logic that is argued, particularly on the first trial day. I don’t know if the 3DS version reduced the amount of times you see the video, or if it just didn’t get on my nerves but it definitely wasn’t as big of a problem as people say. I do agree with the dumb arguments on the first day, like how Machi was supposedly blind so he missed his first shot. And how Daryan firing the gun is what messed up his performance of Guilty Love. I also was expecting Machi to have pressed the detonator switch by having it connected to one of the hammers in the piano, but the game wasn’t that creative. Daryan was also an incredibly obvious culprit. It’s eh, but by no means terrible in my eyes. At the very least, there were no major gaps in logic when it came to the actual murder plan.
Episode 4: Turnabout Succession
“Herr Forehead. Are you sure you don’t have evidence? Evidence! Evidence that shows this man, Kristoph Gavin, requested that forgery seven years ago! Just…Prove it! Clear up these doubts now, or I swear, I’m off this case!”
- Klavier Gavin
”Prosecutor Gavin looks like he’s in physical pain! That darkness…I have to pull that darkness out of him…And proof is the only way I can!”
- Apollo Justice
As of now, this is my favorite case in the series. I think people misunderstand what this case represents. It is all about ego. On the final day of the trial, Vera Misham is already in critical condition, likely to die. Kristoph Gavin had already been sent to jail because of your first victory. There is no new criminal to catch, no lives at stake, and the defendant’s stand remains empty. The practical stakes are incredibly low. By this point in the game, you already know the killer is Kristoph. So if there are no stakes, and there’s no more mystery to solve, then what’s so important about this case? Turnabout Succession is a series of intertwined character studies. Kristoph Gavin is a man who acts on his pride and his pride alone. He killed Drew (and tried to kill Vera) in order to keep the nature of his forgery a secret. He killed Zak Gramarye for this reason as well, along with his vengeance for rejecting him over a game of poker. The reason he forged the evidence in the first place? At the time he commissioned the forgery, Kristoph wasn’t fired by Zak yet. He intended to use the forged piece of evidence to win in court against Klavier, when they planned to face off for the first time. This alone hints to the strained relationship that the brothers have. Once Zak fired Kristoph, Kristoph then decided to tip off Klavier because Phoenix hurt his pride. On the last day of the trial, Klavier with zero remorse mentions how he still believes that Phoenix and Zak deserved what he did to them. He’s a terrifying man. Kristoph’s narcissism reflects clearly in Klavier’s trust issues. Throughout each case against him, Klavier faces a larger obstacle of witnesses that he distrusts, which he overcomes by trusting in Apollo. Alita Tiala had no relation to him, so all he needed to do was trust in Apollo to present the incriminating evidence. Daryan Crescend was Klavier’s bandmate and colleague. Upon finding the burnt firecracker in the room of the crime scene, Klavier had some doubt in Daryan and registered him as a witness, against Daryan’s wishes. Daryan resisted during the trial, creating an inner conflict for Klavier. He needed to trust in Apollo to “find Daryan’s igniter” and go through with what he started. Kristoph was the final test. There were several points during this case when Klavier was in major distress, like when he found out the nature of the forgery and when Kristoph threatened him from the stand. He was in denial that Kristoph was the perpetrator behind Nick’s disbarment for seven years, and struggled to come to terms with the fact that he was also behind Drew Misham’s death. He literally begged for Apollo to find something to incriminate his brother, begged for a reason to trust him and his claims. Klavier’s arc revolves around his increasing need to place his trust in Apollo’s questionably capable hands. If anything, these two characters have more chemistry than any others. And of course, there’s Phoenix Wright, behind it all. He engineered the Jurist and MASON systems all to get back at Kristoph. Klavier was the one who pointed out the forged evidence that Phoenix presented, during his first ever trial (outside of Germany at least). Klavier always held a small amount of pity towards Phoenix, and Kristoph befriended Phoenix in order to keep tabs on him – just like how he was stalking the other members involved with the Gramarye case. You could argue that Phoenix did all of this in order to get his badge back, but it’s undeniable how crazy his plan was just to run circles around Kristoph in the end. Notice how this case connects the egos of all of these characters – and I didn’t even go into detail on the Troupe Gramarye drama either. I’d like to expand on Phoenix’s ego. Many people argue that the drastic change to his character in this game was a form of character assassination. I disagree. (also, let’s be honest. He was a piece of cardboard before this game.) I think during the 7 years he was disbarred, he went through some sort of ego death. This was intentional character regression. He made a living at the Borscht Bowl Club using Trucy’s analytical talents to cheat at poker. He forged the bloody ace in the first case. And he created an arguably rigged Jurist System in order to corner Kristoph. He put Thalassa on the jury, knowing who she was. He roped Apollo into everything to carry out his will. Phoenix is a con man. In this review, I included quotes from each chapter. If you look at them, you’ll notice that they all have to do with at least one of two things: distrust in the court system, and trust between Apollo and Klavier. This game has been very good at dropping hints throughout that cases require definitive evidence (that Klavier needs in order to believe in Apollo), and that the current court system is unable to declare the right verdict in its absence. Phoenix in particular is very cynical about this. This is why he creates the Jurist System. And I think the existence of the jurist system, along with a ton of other hints, supports an all-but-confirmed theory that I have.
I think Apollo Justice was intended to have a direct sequel(s) in which Phoenix Wright becomes a villain.
First, let me clarify that I have not played Dual Destinies or Spirit of Justice yet. I know that they introduce a third attorney named Athena, and that they all have to share screentime. I know it semi-retcons the direction that Apollo Justice was leaning towards, and I know that a game shared between three protagonists is likely not enough to create an entire arc for Apollo. I know that Shu Takumi, creator of the trilogy and AJ, did not work on DD or SoJ. The next game he worked on, however, did include a jury. That game was The Great Ace Attorney Adventures. I’m not sure what happened that stopped Takumi from working on the main series but I do think it’s clear that the jury system was always a creative direction that he wanted to go in (as well as a reflection of the IRL justice system reform happening in Japan at the time), and the jurist system introduced in Turnabout Succession was just the beginning of the story. Apollo punched Phoenix after finding out that the bloody ace was forged in the first chapter as well. I think all of this definitely points to a continuation of these concepts in a sequel. There’s also the argument that Apollo’s own game was stolen from him for Phoenix’s brand recognition. While I don’t doubt that Capcom may have told Takumi that he had to include Phoenix in the game, you must be delusional to think that making Phoenix the puppet master in Turnabout Succession was some kind of business decision. He doesn’t even appear on the cover of the game, and you think that his involvement in the final chapter of the game was made to sell more copies??? Nobody is going to know what happens that late into the game until you’ve already bought it. I think the realistic thing to assume is that Takumi simply worked around Capcom’s demands (if this is all true) by making Phoenix a very different character than he was in the trilogy. The assertion that Apollo’s game wasn’t really about him is a fair argument, however. But I think this was done in the foresight that there would be a direct sequel(s) that expands Apollo’s character and makes him the true protagonist. Remember, this case is called Turnabout Succession. It’s about Apollo’s succession to Phoenix as an attorney – his literal origin story. I think there were several plot points intentionally left open in order to prepare for a sequel. Along with the jurist system and Phoenix’s character trajectory, Apollo still doesn’t know that her mother is Thalassa, Apollo and Trucy still don’t know that they are siblings, we still don’t know the backstory behind the Gavin brothers, Ema still hates her job, and we never learned how Klavier coped in the aftermath of this trial. In the first Ace Attorney trilogy, the first game was initially a standalone product with a closed ending. Justice for All barely had any overarching plot development at all, so Trials and Tribulations had to create entirely new villains and a new ending with little buildup from previous games. Apollo Justice has the power of foresight, which none of the previous games had.
I also should talk about the actual mechanics of this case. To nip this in the bud, I was never confused about the MASON system when I played this game. It’s not time travel or a continuity error. It’s an interactive game that Phoenix created where the jurists had to play through different events in a nonlinear order. Its events were curated by Phoenix and don’t necessarily reflect what he did in real life. It was a system to simplify fact gathering. It also happened to be my favorite investigative sequence in the game. In the past, I was torn on the use of the magatama because although it helped with the pacing of investigation sections, it felt like a cop out to have an automatic lie detector. In this game, I actually don’t mind it at all. Any time a character in the MASON system lies, you can tell because you’ve already gathered the evidence from another event/Apollo’s day 1 investigation. Once you finish every possible conversation with a character, the MASON system takes you out of the scene and marks it with a checkmark. This is super helpful and clears up obtuse progression as opposed to regular investigations when you sometimes have absolutely no idea what to do. I also liked the flashback trial day. In past cases, with the exception of flashback cases, whenever there was some kind of past incident (like DL6), it’s only told through brief black-and-white summaries and evidence. With the Gramarye case/disbarment, the player actually gets to experience everything firsthand. I think this is much better storytelling than anything the series tried to do previously. I let out an audible gasp when Thalassa’s reflection showed in the jurist voting and when her sleeve rolled down to remove her bracelet.
Turnabout Succession ends with an oddly foreboding scene, with narration regarding the trial in past tense. Creepy music plays in the background, not victorious sounding at all.
”The record will show that when the verdict was announced, special witness Kristoph Gavin…laughed. A laugh louder than any ever heard before…or since. A laugh that echoed in the halls of justice, lingering for what seemed like hours.”
But out of everything, I think the most telling exchange was right before Kristoph’s defeat.
Klavier: The law is “absolute”…? You can’t be serious.
Kristoph: Wh-what?
Klavier: Odd. I thought you spent your life looking for loopholes? The law isn’t absolute. It’s filled with contradictions.
Judge: The law is the end product of many years of history…the fruit of human knowledge! Like a gem, polished to a gleam through trials…and errors. It is this fruit we receive, and pass on, and face in our time. And it is always changing, growing. Nurturing it is our task as human beings.
Klavier: Except for you, Kristoph. You aren’t changing. You’ve stopped. You’re not needed anymore.
Apollo: (I couldn’t think of anything to say. Maybe…because I still haven’t seen enough. But someday, I’ll know what law is. And I’ll fight to change it if I have to!)
2023
Pikmin 4's first hour of gameplay is terrible. After not receiving a Pikmin game for a decade, the first hour of the experience is when all of the horrors of modern AAA game design settle in: grueling tutorials, a less-than-half-baked character creator, an incredibly boring supporting cast, and a sanitized UI that feels slow to navigate and lacks any of the charm previous installments contained.
That's the best word I can use to describe Pikmin 4's aesthetics: "sanitized". The cover art no longer looks like a clay model, fonts remove the series-unique bubbly typefaces from older games, similar to the minimalist aesthetics of the open world Zelda games that I've grown to hate, and the flavor text seldom contains the humorous charm akin to the spam mail, letters from Olimar's wife, or banter between captains. While the previous games took place on a ravaged Earth with relics resembling some human life, Pikmin 4 goes the much less creative route and opts to have the game set in a house and yard - as if it took place in the present day. It's another sanitized aspect of the design that prioritizes marketability over creative freedom, and the design of the different areas and dungeons blend together as a result. Oatchi's reveal as "the new dog character" feels like an additional thinly veiled marketing tactic - although he's actually cute unlike that crusty rat from the Puss in Boots sequel so I don't mind as much. The base area has the most annoying music ever to come out of the Pikmin franchise, and the growth of the area throughout the game is nothing short of disappointing. Story and characters are consistently disappointing if not downright contradictory. I don't heavily value story in a Pikmin game like I may in the Zelda series but there was a string of bad choices that led to me feeling this way.
I don't mind customizable silent protagonists when:
1: there are extensive customization options and
2: the supporting cast is able to fill the void of a silent protagonist
but neither of these things are true. Customization is pathetically simple and I tried to make myself look unique but I just ended up looking like Alph.
I'm not gonna fully get into the whole timeline/canon nonsense but just know that it's stupid and the game realistically had no reason to serve as a reboot. Instead of the Pikmin 3 cast returning, Pikmin 4 introduced weird lookalikes for no reason, and refuses to elaborate on Koppai's dwindling food supply. After the credits, Louie usurps the villain role yet it's never explained why he is turning people into leaflings, unlike when Olimar was the villain. There are simply too many issues like this to overlook.
Nintendo shit the bed with the multiplayer functionality in Pikmin 4. Which is weird, since this is a Miyamoto title. Co-op mode doesn't let the player take control of Oatchi/another captain, instead, they throw little pebbles. In general, Oatchi fails to be as versatile as a second captain, even in singleplayer - with charging pikmin being more difficult, the "go here" command being less intuitive, and other limitations. Bingo battles are gone completely, and there was a HUGE missed opportunity in not making the nighttime expeditions multiplayer.
As a whole, I found nighttime expeditions to be interesting, albeit severely underdeveloped. You simply collect crystals with glow pikmin, and use them to fight waves of enemies that walk towards your base. This is a good idea at its core, but I would have loved to see more tower defense and puzzle solving elements. Imagine if nighttime expeditions became an entire separate tower defense mode, with (online?) multiplayer, more puzzle solving and cooperation, etc? In its current state they are far too easy and shallow to enjoy.
Dandori battles are...fine, I guess? Aside from the lucky capsules that feel like they go against the entire point of dandori, they are pretty interesting ways to pit two players' efficiency skills against each other. My problem with it is that it cuts off half of your screen. Seriously, this sucks so bad. The limited visibility has me constantly feeling lost in what should be relatively small arenas. They also just feel like horrible pacebreakers when compared to the main game.
I found winged pikmin to be much more stupid than they were in Pikmin 3, and I never often found good uses for red or rock pikmin either.
Those are all my negative thoughts regarding Pikmin 4. Notice how I never brought up the main game?
That's because it's excellent. While the time limit is no longer here (unless you're talking about Olimar's side adventure which is also excellent and a completely unique set of puzzles!!), the challenge to optimize your strategy is still very much present in Pikmin 4. Each world is designed with multiple bases and dungeons with their own sets of puzzles and treasure. The overworld's clock runs faster than in the dungeon sections, so the speedier gameplay up above makes room for the gauntlet-like puzzle solving and compounding threats of the underground. While I said I didn't like dandori battles, I absolutely love dandori challenges. The bite-sized time trials in efficiency are super satisfying to crack. They're plentiful in number and you even get a 10-level gauntlet which is insanely difficult and addicting (except for level 7 which sucks because of the lock-on feature). The upgrade and item systems (aside from the things you unlock after finishing the entire game ughhh) are rewarding and I did legitimately feel like there were multiple strategies to each boss. The loop of 100%ing each dungeon, each area, is just so satisfying and fun that I'm able to overlook many but not all of the game's other shortcomings.
To be frank, Pikmin 4 felt like it was 🤏thiiis close to being a disaster. Everything about it aside from the core gameplay looked like it sucked - say if the core gameplay were to take some more pages out of Pikmin 2's book, I bet it absolutely would have sucked badly. Fortunately, that didn't happen. With a great game under its belt, it feels clear what steps the Pikmin series should take for the future.
- I don't mind if we get the dog again but multiple captains is a must-have in order to preserve the game's complexity. Oatchi was a diet captain at best.
- Expand heavily upon nighttime expeditions. Take notes from the tower defense genre and implement multiplayer.
- Bring back proper multiplayer as a whole. Bingo battles, main game...everything. It shouldn't have taken a hit in the first place.
- Cool it on the sanitized presentation. This one feels less likely to happen but visiting a normal human house can only get so interesting. Give us silly fonts, make the characters interesting again.
I'm excited to see how this series will grow in the future. Hopefully it won't take another ten years.
That's the best word I can use to describe Pikmin 4's aesthetics: "sanitized". The cover art no longer looks like a clay model, fonts remove the series-unique bubbly typefaces from older games, similar to the minimalist aesthetics of the open world Zelda games that I've grown to hate, and the flavor text seldom contains the humorous charm akin to the spam mail, letters from Olimar's wife, or banter between captains. While the previous games took place on a ravaged Earth with relics resembling some human life, Pikmin 4 goes the much less creative route and opts to have the game set in a house and yard - as if it took place in the present day. It's another sanitized aspect of the design that prioritizes marketability over creative freedom, and the design of the different areas and dungeons blend together as a result. Oatchi's reveal as "the new dog character" feels like an additional thinly veiled marketing tactic - although he's actually cute unlike that crusty rat from the Puss in Boots sequel so I don't mind as much. The base area has the most annoying music ever to come out of the Pikmin franchise, and the growth of the area throughout the game is nothing short of disappointing. Story and characters are consistently disappointing if not downright contradictory. I don't heavily value story in a Pikmin game like I may in the Zelda series but there was a string of bad choices that led to me feeling this way.
I don't mind customizable silent protagonists when:
1: there are extensive customization options and
2: the supporting cast is able to fill the void of a silent protagonist
but neither of these things are true. Customization is pathetically simple and I tried to make myself look unique but I just ended up looking like Alph.
I'm not gonna fully get into the whole timeline/canon nonsense but just know that it's stupid and the game realistically had no reason to serve as a reboot. Instead of the Pikmin 3 cast returning, Pikmin 4 introduced weird lookalikes for no reason, and refuses to elaborate on Koppai's dwindling food supply. After the credits, Louie usurps the villain role yet it's never explained why he is turning people into leaflings, unlike when Olimar was the villain. There are simply too many issues like this to overlook.
Nintendo shit the bed with the multiplayer functionality in Pikmin 4. Which is weird, since this is a Miyamoto title. Co-op mode doesn't let the player take control of Oatchi/another captain, instead, they throw little pebbles. In general, Oatchi fails to be as versatile as a second captain, even in singleplayer - with charging pikmin being more difficult, the "go here" command being less intuitive, and other limitations. Bingo battles are gone completely, and there was a HUGE missed opportunity in not making the nighttime expeditions multiplayer.
As a whole, I found nighttime expeditions to be interesting, albeit severely underdeveloped. You simply collect crystals with glow pikmin, and use them to fight waves of enemies that walk towards your base. This is a good idea at its core, but I would have loved to see more tower defense and puzzle solving elements. Imagine if nighttime expeditions became an entire separate tower defense mode, with (online?) multiplayer, more puzzle solving and cooperation, etc? In its current state they are far too easy and shallow to enjoy.
Dandori battles are...fine, I guess? Aside from the lucky capsules that feel like they go against the entire point of dandori, they are pretty interesting ways to pit two players' efficiency skills against each other. My problem with it is that it cuts off half of your screen. Seriously, this sucks so bad. The limited visibility has me constantly feeling lost in what should be relatively small arenas. They also just feel like horrible pacebreakers when compared to the main game.
I found winged pikmin to be much more stupid than they were in Pikmin 3, and I never often found good uses for red or rock pikmin either.
Those are all my negative thoughts regarding Pikmin 4. Notice how I never brought up the main game?
That's because it's excellent. While the time limit is no longer here (unless you're talking about Olimar's side adventure which is also excellent and a completely unique set of puzzles!!), the challenge to optimize your strategy is still very much present in Pikmin 4. Each world is designed with multiple bases and dungeons with their own sets of puzzles and treasure. The overworld's clock runs faster than in the dungeon sections, so the speedier gameplay up above makes room for the gauntlet-like puzzle solving and compounding threats of the underground. While I said I didn't like dandori battles, I absolutely love dandori challenges. The bite-sized time trials in efficiency are super satisfying to crack. They're plentiful in number and you even get a 10-level gauntlet which is insanely difficult and addicting (except for level 7 which sucks because of the lock-on feature). The upgrade and item systems (aside from the things you unlock after finishing the entire game ughhh) are rewarding and I did legitimately feel like there were multiple strategies to each boss. The loop of 100%ing each dungeon, each area, is just so satisfying and fun that I'm able to overlook many but not all of the game's other shortcomings.
To be frank, Pikmin 4 felt like it was 🤏thiiis close to being a disaster. Everything about it aside from the core gameplay looked like it sucked - say if the core gameplay were to take some more pages out of Pikmin 2's book, I bet it absolutely would have sucked badly. Fortunately, that didn't happen. With a great game under its belt, it feels clear what steps the Pikmin series should take for the future.
- I don't mind if we get the dog again but multiple captains is a must-have in order to preserve the game's complexity. Oatchi was a diet captain at best.
- Expand heavily upon nighttime expeditions. Take notes from the tower defense genre and implement multiplayer.
- Bring back proper multiplayer as a whole. Bingo battles, main game...everything. It shouldn't have taken a hit in the first place.
- Cool it on the sanitized presentation. This one feels less likely to happen but visiting a normal human house can only get so interesting. Give us silly fonts, make the characters interesting again.
I'm excited to see how this series will grow in the future. Hopefully it won't take another ten years.
Tears of the Kingdom improved on nearly all of Breath of the Wild's positive qualities, but completely failed to address its negative qualities - in some ways regressing in certain aspects.
The strongest conflict the player is faced with regarding this game's design is the contradiction between nonlinearity and structured progression. This affects the gameplay but also tends to bleed into the mishandling of the story and the design of the world itself.
Link's abilities and the world design have so many mechanical improvements to the point where TOTK actually feels sort of like the sandbox BOTW tried to be. Ultrahand is the star of the show, with recall and ascend being additional conveniences. Fuse is a gimmick that ultimately adds needless micromanagement in my opinion. Nintendo, amidst the criticisms of poor weapon durability, instead decided to double down on their decision and make material fusion a core mechanic. It was marketed in a way where you're like "wow, look at all of these possibilities!" but I found myself just fusing my highest damage materials to my weapons every time. The lack of accessibility and convenience built into the UI really makes experimentation feel like a chore. Particle effects in many places (the worst example being in fiery areas of the depths) were so overwhelming and they literally blinded you. Camera speed when using ultrahand grinds to a halt. Fusing items to weapons and shields requires the player to scavenge their inventory, drop the items on the ground, equip the items you want to be fused, and only then can you fuse them. There is no option to do this in menus. Fusing items to arrows is a one-time instance - you can't toggle items on or off. If you want to use (or throw) bomb flowers, get ready to use the scroll menu for every single shot. Autobuild charged the player zoanite to build things, and never asks the player if they can use zonai item capsules instead, forcing the player to once again go into the menu and place each part on the ground if they want to use them. The other huge fumble was the implementation of sage powers. They feel downright awful to use, requiring the player to run and talk with them to activate the power. I have no idea why Riju's power couldn't display a button prompt when the player draws their bow nor do I know why they decided to make her effective radius a tiny circle that expands so slowly. Sidon's power should have been able to be activated when the user has their shield up. Again, Nintendo refuses to improve accessibility or convenience - a problem also present in games like Animal Crossing (remember when players begged for years for bulk crafting and more durable tools?) and Splatoon (inadequate colorblind support, lack of/inaccurate reticles, etc) with no solutions in sight.
Combat is the sore thumb that the community hasn't shied away from pointing out. Not only are there less swordplay options compared to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, but the optimal strategy of flurry rushing and headshotting gets incredibly monotonous quickly, and isn't helped by the still-poor enemy variety (another complaint Nintendo doubled down on). Weird strategies of using complicated zonai devices can be funny in short clips on YouTube, but are way less convenient or sustainable than simply swinging a high-powered weapon over and over. I hate how your weapon combo knocks over bokoblins/lizalfos/horriblins and they just go flying back, so you have to run towards where they flung, and do the same thing while their incredibly bloated HP bars dwindle down. Bosses can sometimes be interesting, but other times stink. Frox are okay, but get old quick because they're the only unique boss in the depths. Colgera was literally just target practice, Queen Gibdo was cool but unfortunately made worse by the poor implementation of Riju's power and fuse, Mucktorok was so easy but it had so much HP and kept running away, and Marbled Gohma was good except for the fact that Yunobo is annoying to access and takes a while to recharge (and he's annoying as fuck). Flux constructs are cool for the first few fights but then you have to fight them 100 more times. Gleeoks are actually really fun, and I enjoy their multiple phases and elements. At this point, combat is the first thing that needs a direct overhaul in the next Zelda game.
I was pretty harsh on BOTW's minimalist style soundtrack, as it felt like a step down considering the series' deep history with music. I think TOTK's soundtrack is fuller in some areas, but I do actually miss other musical aspects of BOTW. The shrine theme from BOTW was beautiful and iconic with its bagpipes, strings, and synths, and I find it much superior to the current shrine theme, which I can barely even hear. I also think the lack of any Kass equivalent is a big blow to the game's musical identity. Otherwise, TOTK's soundtrack was very nice. The dungeon and boss themes were pretty, and I absolutely adore the music on the sky islands and especially the Thunderhead islands. I will say, however, that I audibly groaned when I got to the cold area of the great sky island and heard those same stupid ambient cold sound effects. I still think it wouldn't hurt to give each province their own subtle musical motif - it would add a lot to the exploration and regional identity of the world.
World design was a net upgrade over BOTW, as the caves, chasms, pirate ships, and expanded towns all contribute to the world's fullness. It's less of a quiet game, and you can argue it doesn't hold a candle to BOTW's atmosphere, but I think it works well enough as a sandbox. I do think TOTK's overworld does a good job at addressing the complaints of a barren overworld in BOTW. Unfortunately, those complaints are just as valid when looking at the depths. There's a complete lack of diversity in biomes, all enemies are recycled except for Frox, and the scarce points of interest like the mines and coliseums are reminiscent of Wind Waker's eye reefs - incredibly repetitive. The depths were a slog and I only felt compelled to activate all the lightroots for imaginary completionist peace of mind. Sky islands were pretty underwhelming, all things considered. I enjoyed the occasional individual zonai mechanical puzzle, but other islands copy pasted the same launch platforms, spinny islands, crystal puzzles, and boss islands. Again, my only desire to visit them was not out of curiosity but out of completionist's desire.
This is minor, but I vastly prefer the visual aesthetics of the sheikah over the zonai. Shrine music, coloration, and enemy design all felt more thoughtful. Guardians were scary but pretty, and their presence was a neat way to direct players in certain path choices.
Zelda stories save certain parts of Wind Waker, Skyward Sword and Majora's Mask have never impressed me. There's only so much you can do with a continuous prophecy of good and evil and a silent protagonist. Breath of the Wild's main narrative conflict, the "Calamity", was a bore. What was interesting was how the various missteps of the kingdom 100 years prior shaped the development of the tragedy. Center to this story was the growth of Zelda's character displayed through assorted memories scattered across Hyrule. This system was terrible for multiple reasons, the most egregious being the ability for the player to view them out of order, making the events appear as character regression. The most optimal way to view these cutscenes are through a YouTube compilation, and that's pretty shameful. TOTK's only improvement to this system is the geoglyphs, giving the player a much easier opportunity to access the memories. Other than that, they're worse. A temple does give you the order in which to find the memories but that design is so counterintuitive to the "go anywhere, do anything" world the devs have created. If I see a point of interest, I'm going to go there. Who in their right mind would zigzag all across the map just to watch the memories in order? The memories themselves displayed less characterization and more info dumping the random lore. I find a lot of the dialogue and story content to be incredibly corny, "secret stones", ganondorf's cliche ass monologue and all. The twist with the light dragon was kinda cool but I still prefer learning about Zelda's actual character development, and of course I would prefer an actual linear story over either option.
Dungeons were just as bad as BOTW, with some minor mixups and extra visual flair. The terminal-based systems were lazy enough in BOTW but the linearity of the dungeon design in TOTK is somehow even more egregious. The water temple was jaw-droppingly pathetic, with a gimmicky water bubble mechanic only present here, and four individual paths to each terminal with no semblance of nonlinearity or environmental puzzles. The wind temple was nearly just as bad, having a fleeting sky boat mechanic and a similarly simple design. I sorta saw the vision with the fire temple but the minecarts could be avoided for more easy and convenient (but also more boring) cheesy solutions. Also, building a super long platform to ring the gong with no floor was a horrible experience and it felt so terrible to know the solution the whole time but be let down by finicky mechanics. The lightning temple by far showed the most promise. The starting section was generally linear but had some branching options and encouraged exploration. Once you got to the main room, there was immense verticality, adding complexity. Previously, I was never a fan of verticality in Zelda dungeons. Namely, the Snowhead Temple in Majora's Mask felt bogged down by the unintuitive map and it was overall annoying if you accidentally fell down a floor. Here, it's much more manageble and one of the few times I enjoyed having waypoints in dungeons. The lightning temple actually makes use of ascend in clever ways, and the light puzzles do get progressively harder. I still don't think it's nearly on the same level as most traditional dungeons but it has some good qualities that I won't overlook. The fact that there were yet again only four dungeons was an immense disappointment, and it's even more disappointing because I found the spirit temple early on and didn't know it was a pseudo-dungeon until much later. I was so pumped when I stumbled upon it for the first time but my hopes were crushed lmao.
The push and pull of nonlinear solution finding and structured progression is at its worst when it comes to puzzles and shrines. TOTK has more shrines than BOTW, but the higher quantity is not put to good use. There are WAY too many crystal shrine quests, and overall the quality of overworld shrine quests absolutely plummeted. Without Kass, the amount of environmental puzzle solving is highly decreased, and many out-of-the-way shrines simply hide in caves with hard to spot entrances. It felt as though a majority of shrines were just Rauru's Blessing. So many of the shrines that do have puzzles are entirely too short, introducing one cool idea but never expanding on it for more complex puzzles. For example, the shrine "Alignment" has the player using recall to align three spinning pillars in order to ascend through all three of them. When you get to the top, it's just over. No expansion on those ideas, no added complexity, and most importantly, no application of this puzzle exists anywhere else in the game. There are so many other shrines that are just as brief and unapplicable to the overworld as this one, to the point where it would be futile to name them all. I've already seen complaints from others about that one shrine that requires the player to get caught in a laser trap when the rest of the entire game incentivizes you to avoid lasers. I won't say all shrines are bad. The Proving Grounds are reminiscent of the Eventide Island challenge of BOTW and are a much more diverse and engaging set of combat challenges than the tests of strength. There are also some shrines that act as a single puzzle but their scope justifies that. One shrine in particular that I loved, "A Prone Pathway", requires the player to navigate a spinning cage, making use of height differences in platforms and ascension to make their way to the top. It's a simple assessment of the environment that isn't dependent on linear mastery of learned mechanics, nor is it so fucking braindead that you can just cheese it with a zonai device or fused item. Which brings me to another point: the application of ultrahand and zonai devices on puzzle solving. I've heard so much praise on TOTK's open ended puzzle solving mechanics but it can't be understated how much this dumbs down level of puzzles available ingame. It's hard to reconcile these elements of progression and creativity, because everybody wants something different. It doesn't help that veterans of Breath of the Wild had no issue with certain basic environmental puzzles. Remember the BOTW shrine surrounded by thorns? Accessing it was part of the challenge, and while simple, it had a single clear solution: gliding from a higher distance. Not only do veterans not get to experience that "aha" because it's just second nature, but zonai devices trivialize any puzzles based on vertical or horizontal world exploration. The paraglider could have been used as a unique progression tool, as it changes the way you can interact with the world after obtaining it (deku leaf in WW had a couple puzzles that made great use of this). In a baffling decision, you're actually able to miss out on the paraglider by exploring other places before going to lookout landing. At first, when I dropped from the sky without a glider, I was excited that the glider was going to be used as a progression tool like that. But no, it's just able to be missed out on to absolute disadvantage of the player.
Just like BOTW, the genius design of the starting area does not properly translate to the scope of the entire world. Right off the bat, the great sky island shows you a korok that needs to reach his friend; there's a metal pipe that reaches from your island to the other korok's island. In this situation, you're able to:
- build a lift using the conveniently placed hook and platform that can carry both you and the korok
- ignore the korok and discover the application of shield surfing, transporting you across faster than any other mode of transportation thus far in the game
- spend an hour making a really long bridge or rigging some stupid intricate zonai device that is technically "creative" but is inefficient, unsustainable, and obviously not ideal
upon reaching this island, there are more activities for you to do in the immediate vicinity.
^This type of problem solving is straight up absent from most of the actual overworld and all of the depths. The third option is always available as a crutch and ends up souring the puzzle solving experience. Zonai devices quickly trivialize the speed and quality of navigation, and there is usually never more than one objective nearby at a time. It's why the Great Plateau and Great Sky Island are just so much more engaging than the rest of the game. Fun fact, I actually accidentally skipped through the entire thunderhead isles using the hover bike. I didn't know it was a linear set of puzzle islands, and I just obliviously made my way to the top without knowing what was below.
I know I talked a lot of shit, but I'm actually mostly happy with TOTK's open overworld and sandbox mechanics. The physics engine is so promising and provided a excellent 40 hours full of childlike wonder, discovery, and exploration. But the following 80 hours were pure monotony. I'm so sick of the open world wave dominating gaming right now. If you had to make me choose between being able to waste an hour and a ton of resources building a stupid custom tank, or playing through a fully linear game with dungeons like the Sandship, I'm taking the fucking Sandship. To hell with "make your own solution", I want to solve real puzzles.
The strongest conflict the player is faced with regarding this game's design is the contradiction between nonlinearity and structured progression. This affects the gameplay but also tends to bleed into the mishandling of the story and the design of the world itself.
Link's abilities and the world design have so many mechanical improvements to the point where TOTK actually feels sort of like the sandbox BOTW tried to be. Ultrahand is the star of the show, with recall and ascend being additional conveniences. Fuse is a gimmick that ultimately adds needless micromanagement in my opinion. Nintendo, amidst the criticisms of poor weapon durability, instead decided to double down on their decision and make material fusion a core mechanic. It was marketed in a way where you're like "wow, look at all of these possibilities!" but I found myself just fusing my highest damage materials to my weapons every time. The lack of accessibility and convenience built into the UI really makes experimentation feel like a chore. Particle effects in many places (the worst example being in fiery areas of the depths) were so overwhelming and they literally blinded you. Camera speed when using ultrahand grinds to a halt. Fusing items to weapons and shields requires the player to scavenge their inventory, drop the items on the ground, equip the items you want to be fused, and only then can you fuse them. There is no option to do this in menus. Fusing items to arrows is a one-time instance - you can't toggle items on or off. If you want to use (or throw) bomb flowers, get ready to use the scroll menu for every single shot. Autobuild charged the player zoanite to build things, and never asks the player if they can use zonai item capsules instead, forcing the player to once again go into the menu and place each part on the ground if they want to use them. The other huge fumble was the implementation of sage powers. They feel downright awful to use, requiring the player to run and talk with them to activate the power. I have no idea why Riju's power couldn't display a button prompt when the player draws their bow nor do I know why they decided to make her effective radius a tiny circle that expands so slowly. Sidon's power should have been able to be activated when the user has their shield up. Again, Nintendo refuses to improve accessibility or convenience - a problem also present in games like Animal Crossing (remember when players begged for years for bulk crafting and more durable tools?) and Splatoon (inadequate colorblind support, lack of/inaccurate reticles, etc) with no solutions in sight.
Combat is the sore thumb that the community hasn't shied away from pointing out. Not only are there less swordplay options compared to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, but the optimal strategy of flurry rushing and headshotting gets incredibly monotonous quickly, and isn't helped by the still-poor enemy variety (another complaint Nintendo doubled down on). Weird strategies of using complicated zonai devices can be funny in short clips on YouTube, but are way less convenient or sustainable than simply swinging a high-powered weapon over and over. I hate how your weapon combo knocks over bokoblins/lizalfos/horriblins and they just go flying back, so you have to run towards where they flung, and do the same thing while their incredibly bloated HP bars dwindle down. Bosses can sometimes be interesting, but other times stink. Frox are okay, but get old quick because they're the only unique boss in the depths. Colgera was literally just target practice, Queen Gibdo was cool but unfortunately made worse by the poor implementation of Riju's power and fuse, Mucktorok was so easy but it had so much HP and kept running away, and Marbled Gohma was good except for the fact that Yunobo is annoying to access and takes a while to recharge (and he's annoying as fuck). Flux constructs are cool for the first few fights but then you have to fight them 100 more times. Gleeoks are actually really fun, and I enjoy their multiple phases and elements. At this point, combat is the first thing that needs a direct overhaul in the next Zelda game.
I was pretty harsh on BOTW's minimalist style soundtrack, as it felt like a step down considering the series' deep history with music. I think TOTK's soundtrack is fuller in some areas, but I do actually miss other musical aspects of BOTW. The shrine theme from BOTW was beautiful and iconic with its bagpipes, strings, and synths, and I find it much superior to the current shrine theme, which I can barely even hear. I also think the lack of any Kass equivalent is a big blow to the game's musical identity. Otherwise, TOTK's soundtrack was very nice. The dungeon and boss themes were pretty, and I absolutely adore the music on the sky islands and especially the Thunderhead islands. I will say, however, that I audibly groaned when I got to the cold area of the great sky island and heard those same stupid ambient cold sound effects. I still think it wouldn't hurt to give each province their own subtle musical motif - it would add a lot to the exploration and regional identity of the world.
World design was a net upgrade over BOTW, as the caves, chasms, pirate ships, and expanded towns all contribute to the world's fullness. It's less of a quiet game, and you can argue it doesn't hold a candle to BOTW's atmosphere, but I think it works well enough as a sandbox. I do think TOTK's overworld does a good job at addressing the complaints of a barren overworld in BOTW. Unfortunately, those complaints are just as valid when looking at the depths. There's a complete lack of diversity in biomes, all enemies are recycled except for Frox, and the scarce points of interest like the mines and coliseums are reminiscent of Wind Waker's eye reefs - incredibly repetitive. The depths were a slog and I only felt compelled to activate all the lightroots for imaginary completionist peace of mind. Sky islands were pretty underwhelming, all things considered. I enjoyed the occasional individual zonai mechanical puzzle, but other islands copy pasted the same launch platforms, spinny islands, crystal puzzles, and boss islands. Again, my only desire to visit them was not out of curiosity but out of completionist's desire.
This is minor, but I vastly prefer the visual aesthetics of the sheikah over the zonai. Shrine music, coloration, and enemy design all felt more thoughtful. Guardians were scary but pretty, and their presence was a neat way to direct players in certain path choices.
Zelda stories save certain parts of Wind Waker, Skyward Sword and Majora's Mask have never impressed me. There's only so much you can do with a continuous prophecy of good and evil and a silent protagonist. Breath of the Wild's main narrative conflict, the "Calamity", was a bore. What was interesting was how the various missteps of the kingdom 100 years prior shaped the development of the tragedy. Center to this story was the growth of Zelda's character displayed through assorted memories scattered across Hyrule. This system was terrible for multiple reasons, the most egregious being the ability for the player to view them out of order, making the events appear as character regression. The most optimal way to view these cutscenes are through a YouTube compilation, and that's pretty shameful. TOTK's only improvement to this system is the geoglyphs, giving the player a much easier opportunity to access the memories. Other than that, they're worse. A temple does give you the order in which to find the memories but that design is so counterintuitive to the "go anywhere, do anything" world the devs have created. If I see a point of interest, I'm going to go there. Who in their right mind would zigzag all across the map just to watch the memories in order? The memories themselves displayed less characterization and more info dumping the random lore. I find a lot of the dialogue and story content to be incredibly corny, "secret stones", ganondorf's cliche ass monologue and all. The twist with the light dragon was kinda cool but I still prefer learning about Zelda's actual character development, and of course I would prefer an actual linear story over either option.
Dungeons were just as bad as BOTW, with some minor mixups and extra visual flair. The terminal-based systems were lazy enough in BOTW but the linearity of the dungeon design in TOTK is somehow even more egregious. The water temple was jaw-droppingly pathetic, with a gimmicky water bubble mechanic only present here, and four individual paths to each terminal with no semblance of nonlinearity or environmental puzzles. The wind temple was nearly just as bad, having a fleeting sky boat mechanic and a similarly simple design. I sorta saw the vision with the fire temple but the minecarts could be avoided for more easy and convenient (but also more boring) cheesy solutions. Also, building a super long platform to ring the gong with no floor was a horrible experience and it felt so terrible to know the solution the whole time but be let down by finicky mechanics. The lightning temple by far showed the most promise. The starting section was generally linear but had some branching options and encouraged exploration. Once you got to the main room, there was immense verticality, adding complexity. Previously, I was never a fan of verticality in Zelda dungeons. Namely, the Snowhead Temple in Majora's Mask felt bogged down by the unintuitive map and it was overall annoying if you accidentally fell down a floor. Here, it's much more manageble and one of the few times I enjoyed having waypoints in dungeons. The lightning temple actually makes use of ascend in clever ways, and the light puzzles do get progressively harder. I still don't think it's nearly on the same level as most traditional dungeons but it has some good qualities that I won't overlook. The fact that there were yet again only four dungeons was an immense disappointment, and it's even more disappointing because I found the spirit temple early on and didn't know it was a pseudo-dungeon until much later. I was so pumped when I stumbled upon it for the first time but my hopes were crushed lmao.
The push and pull of nonlinear solution finding and structured progression is at its worst when it comes to puzzles and shrines. TOTK has more shrines than BOTW, but the higher quantity is not put to good use. There are WAY too many crystal shrine quests, and overall the quality of overworld shrine quests absolutely plummeted. Without Kass, the amount of environmental puzzle solving is highly decreased, and many out-of-the-way shrines simply hide in caves with hard to spot entrances. It felt as though a majority of shrines were just Rauru's Blessing. So many of the shrines that do have puzzles are entirely too short, introducing one cool idea but never expanding on it for more complex puzzles. For example, the shrine "Alignment" has the player using recall to align three spinning pillars in order to ascend through all three of them. When you get to the top, it's just over. No expansion on those ideas, no added complexity, and most importantly, no application of this puzzle exists anywhere else in the game. There are so many other shrines that are just as brief and unapplicable to the overworld as this one, to the point where it would be futile to name them all. I've already seen complaints from others about that one shrine that requires the player to get caught in a laser trap when the rest of the entire game incentivizes you to avoid lasers. I won't say all shrines are bad. The Proving Grounds are reminiscent of the Eventide Island challenge of BOTW and are a much more diverse and engaging set of combat challenges than the tests of strength. There are also some shrines that act as a single puzzle but their scope justifies that. One shrine in particular that I loved, "A Prone Pathway", requires the player to navigate a spinning cage, making use of height differences in platforms and ascension to make their way to the top. It's a simple assessment of the environment that isn't dependent on linear mastery of learned mechanics, nor is it so fucking braindead that you can just cheese it with a zonai device or fused item. Which brings me to another point: the application of ultrahand and zonai devices on puzzle solving. I've heard so much praise on TOTK's open ended puzzle solving mechanics but it can't be understated how much this dumbs down level of puzzles available ingame. It's hard to reconcile these elements of progression and creativity, because everybody wants something different. It doesn't help that veterans of Breath of the Wild had no issue with certain basic environmental puzzles. Remember the BOTW shrine surrounded by thorns? Accessing it was part of the challenge, and while simple, it had a single clear solution: gliding from a higher distance. Not only do veterans not get to experience that "aha" because it's just second nature, but zonai devices trivialize any puzzles based on vertical or horizontal world exploration. The paraglider could have been used as a unique progression tool, as it changes the way you can interact with the world after obtaining it (deku leaf in WW had a couple puzzles that made great use of this). In a baffling decision, you're actually able to miss out on the paraglider by exploring other places before going to lookout landing. At first, when I dropped from the sky without a glider, I was excited that the glider was going to be used as a progression tool like that. But no, it's just able to be missed out on to absolute disadvantage of the player.
Just like BOTW, the genius design of the starting area does not properly translate to the scope of the entire world. Right off the bat, the great sky island shows you a korok that needs to reach his friend; there's a metal pipe that reaches from your island to the other korok's island. In this situation, you're able to:
- build a lift using the conveniently placed hook and platform that can carry both you and the korok
- ignore the korok and discover the application of shield surfing, transporting you across faster than any other mode of transportation thus far in the game
- spend an hour making a really long bridge or rigging some stupid intricate zonai device that is technically "creative" but is inefficient, unsustainable, and obviously not ideal
upon reaching this island, there are more activities for you to do in the immediate vicinity.
^This type of problem solving is straight up absent from most of the actual overworld and all of the depths. The third option is always available as a crutch and ends up souring the puzzle solving experience. Zonai devices quickly trivialize the speed and quality of navigation, and there is usually never more than one objective nearby at a time. It's why the Great Plateau and Great Sky Island are just so much more engaging than the rest of the game. Fun fact, I actually accidentally skipped through the entire thunderhead isles using the hover bike. I didn't know it was a linear set of puzzle islands, and I just obliviously made my way to the top without knowing what was below.
I know I talked a lot of shit, but I'm actually mostly happy with TOTK's open overworld and sandbox mechanics. The physics engine is so promising and provided a excellent 40 hours full of childlike wonder, discovery, and exploration. But the following 80 hours were pure monotony. I'm so sick of the open world wave dominating gaming right now. If you had to make me choose between being able to waste an hour and a ton of resources building a stupid custom tank, or playing through a fully linear game with dungeons like the Sandship, I'm taking the fucking Sandship. To hell with "make your own solution", I want to solve real puzzles.
BIG step down from previous entries. I think this is a byproduct of Nintendo's greed and rushed game philosophies for this generation creeping into the AC franchise. So much cut content, missing characters, bland villager personalities, unremarkable music, lack of town/building upgrades, and content shelved behind DLC. Crafting was poorly implemented. I won't lie and say I didn't spend a ton of time on it, but I spent way more time on other entries. I don't see myself coming back to this game, at least not for a while.
2003
I want to make it known that I think FFX-2 is mid in spite of the gaudy pop music and lighthearted tone. I'm not one of those joyless misogynistic freaks who hates the tone change of the sequel. I actually like it a lot and I think it fits well in a world rediscovering its identity post-theocratic fiasco.
FFX-2's biggest flaws are in its nonlinearity and heavy padding with shitty minigames and side objectives. I desperately wanted to like this game more than I did; diving into Yuna's character growth transforming a selfless martyr into someone who's finally trying to live for herself (and notably stumbling along the way, as anyone would) is FFX-2's greatest strength. Solving her identity crisis is baked into the game's systems - with dresspheres, the greater political conflict between New Yevon and the Youth League, and party members Rikku and Paine.
I unfortunately could not tolerate sitting through the awful open-ended chapter structure (as opposed to FFX's hallway storytelling which I much prefer) and poor side objectives. Rikku and Paine also don't get nearly as much character spotlight as they deserve - with Rikku basically unchanged since FFX and Paine being no deeper than her relevance to the much less interesting larger plot. I think the dressphere system in battle is nice but not nice enough to make me jump through hoops in order to get all of the cool hidden classes. Even with its much shorter runtime than FFX, X-2 finds ways to pad itself drastically.
The soundtrack is also way worse.
Maybe I'll come back someday, but I think I'm better off just watching the important cutscenes on YouTube.
FFX-2's biggest flaws are in its nonlinearity and heavy padding with shitty minigames and side objectives. I desperately wanted to like this game more than I did; diving into Yuna's character growth transforming a selfless martyr into someone who's finally trying to live for herself (and notably stumbling along the way, as anyone would) is FFX-2's greatest strength. Solving her identity crisis is baked into the game's systems - with dresspheres, the greater political conflict between New Yevon and the Youth League, and party members Rikku and Paine.
I unfortunately could not tolerate sitting through the awful open-ended chapter structure (as opposed to FFX's hallway storytelling which I much prefer) and poor side objectives. Rikku and Paine also don't get nearly as much character spotlight as they deserve - with Rikku basically unchanged since FFX and Paine being no deeper than her relevance to the much less interesting larger plot. I think the dressphere system in battle is nice but not nice enough to make me jump through hoops in order to get all of the cool hidden classes. Even with its much shorter runtime than FFX, X-2 finds ways to pad itself drastically.
The soundtrack is also way worse.
Maybe I'll come back someday, but I think I'm better off just watching the important cutscenes on YouTube.
1994
Way more meat on its bones than you would think. It proves that there is more than just a simple arcade experience to be found with the classic DK style of gameplay. I wish we got more of it.
As far as compilation titles go, this one is severely unoptimized. There is horrible input lag on the SNES titles. There is sometimes severe slowdown when there are too many things onscreen. Saving is AWFUL. Rather than using dedicated save states, the only save points are when completing a level - the game only remembers your password. Because of this, custom button mapping isn't saved and must be reconfigured every time you boot up the game. You also aren't allowed to map several buttons. (I wanted to map my dash either to ZL or down, neither were possible so I had to go with L and replace the item switch button) There is no dedicated options menu to configure saving, checkpoints, and button mapping. Compare this with Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 and 2, for the classic series. MMLC1 had a rewind feature, and although MMLC2 didn't have that, there were still dedicated checkpoints with save states that you could return to. Both versions allowed the player to change the button controls on the fly. Also keep in mind that MMLC2 included Mega Man 7 - a game that also runs on the SNES. However, this game had no major input lag unlike the X Legacy collection and worked just fine with its dedicated Legacy pause menu. The games in MMXLC are unoptimized, lack accessibility options, and inferior to the legacy collections of the past. Capcom: you set a precedent, and then you failed to meet it. This is not acceptable. The base games are good, sure, and the extra content that is present is nice. But these emulation problems are not only easily solvable, but Capcom has literally solved them before with Mega Man 7 on Legacy Collection 2. This game came out in 2018. And I'm writing this in 2022. As of now, this title is still on version 1.0, meaning Capcom didn't even try to patch anything. SNES emulation is NOT hard. Do better, Capcom.
Because it was intended to be released as a standalone product with no sequels, an entire open and closed story was written, leaving little room for plotholes (excluding 1-5). You can't say the same about the other two games in the trilogy. It's a great game that holds up on its own.
So I'm a classically trained violist, and I've been playing since I was around 9. Yanny vs Laurel really helped me grow as a musician because it was when I first understood ear training and aural skills. Upon first hearing the sound, my inclination was Yanny. I was a kid surrounded by the company of other kids, and I played an instrument with a semi-high register. It was only natural that I heard Yanny. But it was brought to my attention by my friend who played double bass that he heard Laurel. I decided to listen for the lower register, and there it was, clear as day! It was a really powerful moment for me and it really goes to show how two things can be true at the same time. Have a blessed day, everyone.
2017
This game is a clear product of the openworldification of modern gaming. You can see it in the UI, the character designs, and the world visuals. It's a homogeneous mixture that makes me feel so incredibly ambivalent.
2001
fog of war is perhaps the worst game mechanic to ever exist methinks
I really struggled to click with this game. The battle system is cumbersome. Visions in battle were frustrating and broke the pacing. Some characters (and arts) are objectively better than others yet the game incentivizes you to mix all of them in order to max affinity. In general, the affinity and skill trees among party members felt restricting and I would have much preferred a standard skill point system or something. I enjoyed the story, for the most part. Although I will say that I vastly prefer all of the spoiler-y story bits presented in the endgame to the actual party members themselves. The smaller scale interactions between party members got downright annoying at times and the voice acting was super iffy (it's been memed to death at this point but it seriously just feels annoying atp). You will never convince me that Riki is a cute or likeable character. I think Shulk's relationship with Fiora made sense but there was literally no reason to turn it into a love triangle with Melia other than fanservice/JRPG tropes that I detest. And it ultimately contributed to Melia feeling like the most incomplete character by the game's end. Sidequests sucked. They were super boring and did nothing to meaningfully expand the world or entertain the player. The collectopedia and gem crafting were stupid. Rebuilding colony 6 was tedious. The final dungeon had such a huge difficulty spike that I switched the game to easy mode in order to circumvent it. I'm glad the easy mode exists, but I wish I didn't have to use it. There were so many instances when I wished there was a run button. The soundtrack was very nice, and the visual remaster made the game look very pretty.
To me, this game feels like a good story, but presented all wrong. I don't care for the battle mechanics at all, side modes never held my attention, and I always felt like I needed to push to the end without wanting to ever stop and smell the roses. I feel like this would have been better as an anime or something. What good is a competent story if it's not fun to experience?
To me, this game feels like a good story, but presented all wrong. I don't care for the battle mechanics at all, side modes never held my attention, and I always felt like I needed to push to the end without wanting to ever stop and smell the roses. I feel like this would have been better as an anime or something. What good is a competent story if it's not fun to experience?
Michael Jackson! hee hee!!!