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Old 10-31-2013, 09:43 AM   #51
Talon87
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Just came in here to ask if anyone got the game and what they thought so far. Saw this edit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyranidos View Post
EDIT: If anyone cares, the game is getting great reviews. But apparently the gameplay is much easier than before.
Well, that's certainly good news that the game is getting great reviews. As for the gameplay reportedly being easier, I can see that going one of either two ways, depending on what people mean when they say that.

The bad possibility: that the game more or less plays itself. That identifying the culprit is far too easy. That the game practically hollers at you where you should look next, who you should talk to, etc. No sense of accomplishment, however minor, and instead just 100% the feeling of going through the paces of a script, something which most visual novels try to avoid the player feeling.

The good possibility: that when people say "the gameplay is easier" what they really mean is that there's far less of the "GUESS WHAT TEACHER'S THINKING! " nonsense that plagued PW2's courtroom sessions and to an even worse extent PW3's. That instead we now get courtroom gameplay which is closer in feel to PW1, where a reasonably intelligent teenager or adult can pretty much nail which piece of evidence to present when. That no longer do you have to constantly save mid-trial, guess, and then turn your DS off and back on because you guessed wrong and if you were to keep it up you'd fast be out of stamina with which to make multiple guesses in one go. (And no one likes having only one guess per go. That's the worst in a PW game. ) This was a serious problem the later games had (especially 3! Great as that game was! ) where you'd be asked to present some piece of evidence but there were multiple eligible pieces you could present (I'll spoiler tag a specific example from PW2's final case below) and unless you were on exactly the same wavelength as the script team then you were going to be penalized even though any reasonable human being IRL could understand where you were going with the evidence you wanted to present at that time. (See example below.)

Spoiler: show
There's one point in the case where you're asked to present evidence that events were witnessed in a room which had a spy camera in place of a giant stuffed bear's eye. Your case file at this point has three pieces of evidence:
  • the bear itself
  • the spy camera (lens and cable)
  • the transmitter (a green circuit board with transistors and such)
The question is asked in such a way that any of these three would seem like legit answers. But the game only accepts one of the three answers to the first question. (Say they want the lens and cable.) You don't pick that answer though because you're a smart player and you know that there's an arguable fault that could be raised if you present that evidence ... and sure enough the prosecution does object to the evidence and raise the very fault you thought of. Then, at that time, the writers invite you to present the piece of evidence which explains that away. (Say it's the transmitter.) And it's like, "If you'd only let me present the transmitter in the first place, we could've avoided all of this. Why was I wrong to present that then? "

I don't remember if this was the exact order or whatnot so take that with a grain of salt. Also, this was by no means the only time PW2 did this. It's just one of the most memorable because of how absurd the situation is. (With a question worded in such a way that three different pieces of evidence are all excellent choices to respond with.)

If this is what people mean when they refer to past Ace Attorney games as being "hard" or "harder than the new one", then I can honestly say that I'm delighted to hear the news.

So yeah. I guess it all boils down to whether they mean that the "Guess what Teacher's thinking! " dragon has been slain or whether they mean that the game, ever a narrative on rails, is now wearing only the thinnest of raiments with which to hide this fact from players.
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Old 11-22-2013, 10:07 PM   #52
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OkikuMew View Post
Get:
DLC Special case of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies

I already finished the main game, and as any fan I wanted more... but I was still hesitant to get it, since I thought 6$ was a bit high. But I bought it anyways, thinking that it is actually an ok price if you think that the actual game is about 30$, and there's 5 chapters in there... X) Anyhow, I'm already a few minutes in, and I got treated with a good monologue from Phoenix where you can hear clearly his sexy voice, a anime cutscene, and tons of fish puns. I already do not regret buying it.
Fucking Capcom. Are you kidding me!? Not even Ace Attorney is safe from Capcom's voracious appetite for pay-to-play microtransactions. Argh.
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Old 11-22-2013, 10:11 PM   #53
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Nope. Well at least in the US (so far) haven't sold the gamplay-useless costumes (not counting the free ones)... But I still thought it was an ok price since with the whole game it is about 6 bucks a chapter/case Anyways it's not the first time AA got DLC: Let's not forget the bonus case in the first one that you can get though the Wii version of the first AA!
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Old 11-22-2013, 10:33 PM   #54
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If you're saying that Capcom made the bonus case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- the one with Lana Skye and Damon Gant -- a DLC episode requiring payment when they ported the game to the Wii ...
  1. not my problem. I own it on DS.
  2. seriously FUCK CAPCOM'S UNQUELLABLE GREED
That's about as bad as if Level 5 ported the Layton games to the Wii and then decided that each of the originally-free DLC episodes for those games will now cost $1 a pop.
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Old 11-22-2013, 10:41 PM   #55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
If you're saying that Capcom made the bonus case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- the one with Lana Skye and Damon Gant -- a DLC episode requiring payment when they ported the game to the Wii ...
  1. not my problem. I own it on DS.
  2. seriously FUCK CAPCOM'S UNQUELLABLE GREED
That's about as bad as if Level 5 ported the Layton games to the Wii and then decided that each of the originally-free DLC episodes for those games will now cost $1 a pop.
I see what you mean. For me it was a bonus since I got it on the Wii first (well I wanted on the DS first, but long story short the store where I "got it" did a mistake and put in AA3 in a AA1 box. And they no longer had any AA1 games.) and the price of the Wii version was a lot cheaper than the DS one anyways (10$ if I'm right) and the case was... 1, 2$? It's not as bad as it sounds.
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Last edited by OkikuMew; 11-22-2013 at 10:51 PM.
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Old 11-22-2013, 10:47 PM   #56
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Nah, it's still pretty bad. The discounted cost on the Wii is a given given that:
  1. the game was years old at that point
  2. 99% of interested Wii buyers likely already owned it on the DS (you ARE the 1%!)
  3. you don't get to charge full price for WiiWare the way you do retail cartridges that are physical, come in boxes, have manuals, etc.
So no, the fact that they had the gall to dissect out the bonus case from the .nds file and say "Okay! If you want to play what we originally gave you for free, give us $2!" is ludicrously greedy of them.
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Old 11-22-2013, 10:57 PM   #57
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ah, ok. I see it more that "hey, for a total of 12$ instead of 30+$, you get a game that's no longer sold in retail anymore!" but I see you side of thinking too.


So, a bit of fun with the DLC here, being so chockful of jokes, and I just encountered one that took me by surprise. It's not the most awesome joke ever, or even something important to the storyline, but the DLC being still new and all I think it's best to spoiler it:
Spoiler: show
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix
A tornado of sharks? Not even Hollywood could conjure up something that insane.
Sharknado reference ftw!
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Old 03-20-2015, 05:46 PM   #58
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Accoring to this Reddit thread, AA5 will be on sale for roughly $17 for the next week.
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Old 03-20-2015, 06:39 PM   #59
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And for those in the PAL regions, AA5 and the Original Trilogy are also on sale until about the 26th, I think.
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Old 07-22-2016, 09:21 AM   #60
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Let's do this!

I downloaded this game over a year ago, back when it was on sale, but delayed playing it until after I had completed Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Despite beating the game well over a year ago, I didn't "complete" it (i.e. obtain every single puzzle within Story Mode) until just a couple of days ago. And so for one long year, AA5's been put on hold. I've done other things during that time period -- read some books, watched some television programs, played some Pokémon -- but the desire to play the latest installment in one of my most favorite franchises was ever present, and it finally boiled over last week. So here I am, several years late to the party, ready to share my own playthrough thoughts on Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies.

Some general thoughts before I delve into case discussion ...

First off, the graphics. Kaisa had told me that AA5 looked tons better than Vs. did. Weeeeell ... yes and no. The character models look phenomenal, much better than their Vs. counterparts. Whereas Vs.' models look like they belong on the Nintendo DS, AA5's models not only feel at home on the 3DS but marry the sprite art of the original games with the 3D models of the new era of gaming really well. Unfortunately, the text looks abysmal. It's super, super fuzzy on the top screen. No matter how far away I hold the 2DS, it remains fuzzy-looking. Graphics like "OBJECTION!", "TAKE THAT!", and "HOLD IT!" are also really washed out and fuzzy-looking. I did some light research into the matter and it appears to be a Capcom of North America flub. Sigh. Really disappointed that this wasn't patched any time between the game's 2013 North American release and now when I'm playing it in 2016. They've had two and a half years to fix this and haven't.

Second, the music. So far, it's been fine. Nothing has grabbed me the way that some of the original games' most iconic pieces have, but it's okay, I'm only a case and a half into the game so far. The soundtrack generally sounds stronger to me than AA4's, though, so that's good at least.

Third, the Court Record (and related). Not really sure why they made the jump from the traditional formula's two rows to the new formula of only one row. Also, if they were going to make changes to the formula anyway, I'm more surprised that they aren't taking full advantage of the 3DS's dual screen display. Still, it's nice to see that they're not lazy about this. Sure, "if ain't broke, don't fix it," but it's nice to know that they at least want to try and improve it. I like a few of the changes I've already seen, like more evidence than just documents having 2+ pages (e.g. collections of photos, which in the older games often had each photo be its own separate evidence piece) as well as one character's briefs / notes in Case 2.

Alright, from here on I'll offer my thoughts case by case.
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Old 07-22-2016, 09:51 AM   #61
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Case 1:

Spoiler: show
Oh my gosh! It's such fun diving back into this universe again. Seeing the Wright & Co. office brought back such a confused wave of happy nostalgia and "wait no that's not right! D: :'D" as the game flooded me with combinations of AA4 memorabilia intermingled with AA1-3 stuff. Seeing the office being used as a law firm office by Phoenix but seeing Trucy's hat rack there ... it was just so weird and interesting and gosh I loved it! >D<

Just as in all other Ace Attorney games, Case 1 is the tutorial case that is meant to introduce newcomers to how you play an Ace Attorney game. Pressing, presenting, it's all here. The case even introduces the newest mechanic of all, Athena's technology which can assess the emotional state of an individual no matter how they look on the outside.

Like many Case 1's before it, AA5 Case 1 even goes so far as to flat out show you who the perpetrator is before the trial even gets underway. I liked it better the way AA4 did it, where you had no idea who was guilty until halfway through the case and even then it was a pretty big surprise. But this is a nice nod to the franchise's origins.


I like Athena's personality. It's new, feels like it belongs to the AA universe, and doesn't come across as too unreal. She's a distinct personality from Mia, Maya, Pearl, and Ema, from Phoenix, Edgeworth, Gumshoe, Franziska, and Apollo. It's impressive to me that the writers were able to come up with someone who feels so new yet at the same time so not forced, so not utterly unrealistic. Good job!

Athena's design, on the other hand, is kind of the opposite. ^^; It's too unreal. I don't like it. She doesn't seem dressed like any 18 year old I've ever known, much less one who we're asked to believe comes from the boonies. The hair, the yellow clothes, all of it -- it just feels too comic book character-ey. I dunno. They tried. ^^;

Kinda sad and surprised that they gave us the Winston Payne nod but couldn't bring back the actual Winston Payne. I guess I owe them one though: "Gaspen Payne" was such an obvious and forced pun that it brought to my attention that Winston Payne had been a pun too all along -- "winced in pain." Never noticed that until now. Huh. :o

I enjoy the novelty of Athena's emotion powers, but a) I worry that they'll get stale quick and b) they feel rather broken. ^^;;;; I mean, imagine if in real life you could see someone with a perfect poker face, even an unintentional one as in Juniper's case, and you could just know that, nope, they may look happy but they're actually sad or they might look sad-scared but they're actually lovey-dovey happy. I mean ... I think it'll be fun to play around with within this game, but I'm not so sure about its place in future games. We'll see.

Juniper's crush on Apollo was kinda cute, but I'm not sure I can ship that pairing. Even if platonic or non-romantic, I feel like Apollo and Trucy are just too good a pair not to always be paired together. Maybe if the game gives Trucy a new guy to counterbalance Juniper I could see it. For now, Juniper feels too much like a third wheel to Apollo's and Trucy's bicycle.

It feels so wrong having Phoenix have a partner in the courtroom that isn't Maya (1-3) or Apollo or Trucy (4). This isn't a slight against Athena. Like I said, I like her! It's just ... it just doesn't feel right somehow, y'know? XD We'll see.
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Old 07-27-2016, 10:00 AM   #62
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Case 2 Part I:

Spoiler: show
I'm through the first day, both investigation phase and trial phase. So far, I'm enjoying the chapter. The crime and setting are both 4/5 at best for me, but the new permanent characters like Fulbright and Blackquill I am really enjoying. Let's discuss!


Bobby Fulbright's been a fun new addition to the cast of characters. While he has a lot of the usual trappings of a sequel character -- a little too colorful, a little too "we're trying to make a big impression on you" -- he's a pretty fun nod to Kogoro from Keroro Gunsou and other, similar characters who satirize the stereotypical tokusatsu hero. And for that I love him to pieces. It's pretty fun and wild to have Kogoro be in my Phoenix Wright universe, and I think he makes for a great alternative to Gumshoe if the AA team really wants to spread out and not keep rehashing the same characters over and over again.


Simon Blackquill's our new primary prosecutor. He's ... interesting, to say the least. I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of a prison inmate serving as a prosecutor -- the AA series has always been pretty good with keeping the legal world of the games in sync with the legal world in real life, but Blackquill's serving as prosecutor is not something you'd ever find in the real world. But it's a fun idea.

Knowing the series as well as I think I do, I feel like it's too obvious that Blackquill is not really a villain, he didn't really commit murder, and that the final case of the game is going to both identify Athena's parents' killer as well as exonerate Simon Blackquill. Just seems way too obvious. But for the younger players at home, perhaps it's a funner, more thrilling ride. I hope so.


TAKAAAAAAAAAAA! Oh my god. This came as such a surprise and I love it so, so much! A hawk in the courthouse! The prosecutor has a pet! And not just any pet! But a loyal hawk who will attack anyone who threatens its master! I could think of one response and one response only when first I met Taka: "SCREE!" #thingsdaisysays


It's been nice to see Trucy again. I feel like I'm one of the few people on this forum who genuinely liked AA4, like, really, really liked AA4. Yeah, it has some problems. Yeah, it has some disappointments. But it's a great game and one of the things I love so much about it is its main cast of characters. Timeskip Phoenix, Timeskip Ema, Apollo, and Trucy are all so great. So it was really nice getting to see Trucy again. Warmed my heart, honestly. With as much hate as AA4 got from the fandom, it was easy to think that Trucy might never see the light of day in a main series game again. And granted, her role here's been pretty minor so far , with Athena stealing the role of Apollo's courtroom sidekick in this first case. But I'm optimistic that a future case in the game will allow players to play through the investigation and trial phases as the Apollo-Trucy duo, and if it does then this player's going to have a lot of fun with it.


So what about the case itself? So far, so okay. I'm not too into Jinxie or her dad or the various case-specific side characters. I don't much care about lucha libre and it seems Japan's fixation with it is omnipresent, to my mild annoyance. We have an entire town at our fingertips yet our actual investigative range is depressingly narrow. And finally, the culprit is way too obvious. (To be discussed below.) So when you put all of this together, I'm having an okay time with the case but I consider it one of the more forgettable ones. This isn't Game 2 Case 2. This isn't Game 3 Case 5. That's okay though -- because a case this early on doesn't have to be the game's best. In fact, you could say it does more harm when it's not. *eyes Game 2, which follows one of the best cases ever with one of the worst*

I'm frankly astonished we haven't been inside the chamber yet where Tenma Taro was supposedly imprisoned for centuries. That seems like a really obvious room we need to investigate for this on-again off-again sealed room murder mystery. I'm guessing we go there now on Day 2.


So the villain. Florent L'Belle. Here's the problem ... he's too obviously the villain. And no, not even in a "Oh, look at me, I'm Mr. Smart Talon! :3 I can figure any children's mystery out, yep! " sense. No, in the THEY SHOWED IT AT THE START OF THE CASE WITH AN EXPLICIT MOVIE FILE sense. There's absolutely no suspense now 'cause we know who the villain is and we know justice's gonna get served. The only questions are how he did it and why.

Say what you will about Game 4, but one of its best improvements over the classic formula was keeping you in suspense about the murderer's identity. Who can claim to have known from the outset that Kristoph Gavin would be the culprit in Case 1? Who can claim that on playing Case 3 for the very first time their list of suspects did not include all of Daryan, Machi, Uncle Valant, and La Miroir? The game doesn't spill the beans to you early. Even when you're correctly suspecting the killer early on, you're simultaneously suspecting other false leads. No one looks at Case 3 and goes, "Oh. It's clearly Daryan. Daryan did it. 100%. Would bet my entire life's savings on it, no joke." No one does that. Sure, Daryan's suspicious, but so is Machi! So is Uncle Valant! Even La Miroir, we've been trained by previous outings in the AA universe not to judge a book by its cover and not to let a pretty face deceive you! Game 4 did a wonderful, wonderful job of making these cases true "Whodunit?" murder mysteries. That just isn't the case right now with AA5, not at all. Case 1, let's show you the killer right from the top. Case 2, let's do the same thing. I am PRAAAAAAAAAAAYING that this is the last of it and that beginning with Case 3 I'm going to get to actually solve a murder mystery rather than being handed the culprit on a silver platter.
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Old 07-27-2016, 08:17 PM   #63
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Case 2 Part II:

Spoiler: show
Finished the case. Surprisingly little left to say here aside from wrap-up.

The Amazing Nine Tails: That was quite the, if classic, surprise that the Amazing Nine Tails was none other than Damien Tenma. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker that it was Rex Kyubi. From the white hair to the large frame to the family name pun, it seemed so obvious that it was him. Even if I stopped to consider that we might have the wrong man, I never considered that it might be the mayor of Tenma Town.

Costumed Tenma Taro: another surprise was that this was Filch. I might've considered that in like the first 10% of the story, but from then onward until the reveal I wouldn't have considered it.

The folding curtain: I feel a little stupid about this one. I was so smugly confident about the foxes facing away from one another on the folding curtain that I began to get irritated with the game for dragging things out. Then when it was revealed that you fold the curtain in on itself to reveal the secret pattern, I was like, "Well! ... " Oh well.


Grand moments and animations: while the substance of the grand moments themselves didn't quite match up to the greatest courtroom moments in the original trilogy, man if the flare wasn't excellent! Really loved what they did with the camera angles and such. Even took a photo of one such moment. (See above.)

The real "Tenma Taro": ehhhhhhhhh it was kind of interesting that he was a large gold ingot that was stolen several generations ago but IRL if you're not going to do anything with that ingot then I'm not entirely sure how much influence it would really give you. Oh well. Doesn't matter too much. It's an acceptable alternative to an actual youkai.

All this "dark age of the law" talk: not really sure where Capcom is going with this seeing as I feel we already visited this epoch in AA4 (and that it begins some time between AA3 and AA4 and ends with AA4's end), right down to the fabrication of evidence. I guess I'll have to see what AA5 plans to show me, but if it's either a rehash of AA1 (with von Karma's methods) or AA4 (with Kristoph Gavin's), I'm going to kind of bite my lip at the game for being too melodramatic over something we've seen before.
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Old 08-01-2016, 09:37 PM   #64
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Case 3:

Spoiler: show
I completed Case 3 several nights ago. I'm actually currently halfway through Case 4 and only just now realized I never did post about Case 3 ...!

This case was pretty great. I have my complaints, and we'll get to those in a second, but on the whole the case was exciting, colorful, and just plain fun. The reason I didn't post sooner wasn't for lack of interest. Lack of time and not wanting to be spoiled on anything while scouring for images were the two biggest factors.


It was a delight to see Student Council President Juniper Woods. While I like both sides of her, not gonna lie -- super attracted to her earnest, serious side on display throughout most of Turnabout Academy. It's all the more fun and aww knowing that she's working hard putting up a front and that underneath lies the Juniper we met in Case 1.

While character reappearances are frequent in the Ace Attorney games, for some reason I am still pleasantly surprised when they occur. I hadn't expected we'd see Juniper again, much less in such a starring role. It was a lot of fun, and it motivates the player that much more to ship Apollo with Juniper (even if pretty much zero shipbuilding takes place in this case, much to my surprise). Where before she was a one-off character we were told to care about, now we really do care about her. I'd like to see Juniper again as much as I'd like to see Uncle Valant, Lamiroir, and many other characters that might otherwise remain stuck behind in their debut games.


One thing I really enjoyed about this case was the fact that it kept you guessing and for so long. While some might argue it's contrived, I felt the twist after twist after twist-nature of the writing here was pretty well executed and a lot of fun. I also appreciated, as I'm sure you can guess from my last posts, the fact that the culprit wasn't 100% clear until late into the first day of courtroom testimonies. Once Hugh takes the witness stand, you know the culprit is likely either Means or else an O'Conner-Means pair. Towards the end of his testimony, you're pretty sure it's just Means. And throughout the second half of the case, you're like 99.9% sure it's just Aristotle Means. But for a good long while, for almost half the case, the game presents you with multiple choices that all have the air of legitimacy to them. You suspect Means because he has that creepy smile and advocates for a bad philosophy, but that's all you have to go on and you know that you shouldn't judge people based on their looks. You suspect Hugh because of his ugly personality. You suspect Robin because he's suspiciously too nice, too squeaky clean-seeming. And of course you don't think Juniper did it, but you have to question if she might not have been an accomplice, unwitting or otherwise, given the case's opening movie sequence.


Robin was a pretty fun everything. My only complaint here is that "Oh, Japan! " the writers copped out and took the easy path of making Robin a girl all along rather than sticking with what it seemed they were originally implying, which is that Robin was transgender. I'm not saying what they went with is in and of itself bad. It's just that they set this up so cleanly for Robin being "a guy who likes to wear women's clothes," "a guy who puts on this faux persona of masculinity when really he admires femininity," et cetera, and then at the very last second they pull the rug out from under us and reveal that Robin's actually a boobs-toting girl who's been hiding his gender from most of the academy for the past two and a half years.

Other than that, I really enjoyed Robin. She's super cute as a girl, she was quirky but fun enough as a guy, and just generally all around I enjoyed having her onscreen.


Hugh was fine. He's not a very likeable person, but by the end of the case you just can't help but to wish him good luck with his future. I enjoyed what they did with him and the various other characters with whom he had relationships. It's almost like, he himself wasn't that great of a character but his relationships were pretty solid reading material.


Speaking of relationships, I'm really glad that in the end Constance Courte is fully exonerated of all wrong-doing. For a good stretch there in the mid-end to end of the case, the player is left believing that Prof. Courte was the one who was taking Hugh's bribes. It makes you question her relationship with Juniper, if it was really a two-way street as depicted in the photo above. Then, at the very end of the case, we're shown that the evidence which led us to believe that Prof. Courte had been the bribe-taker had actually belonged to Prof. Means, that Prof. Means was the bribe-taker, and all is well again with Prof. Courte.


Scuttlebutt was an okay character. Like Hugh, she's got kind of an ugly personality. But there's something adorable to her too, to where you want her to succeed at becoming a formal member of the group of friends. Part of me even ships her alternately with Hugh and Robin.


So that creepy smile ... Yeah, the moment you meet Prof. Means you're like, "Either he's the bad guy or else this is a red herring." So once again, they technically hand you the villain super early. But unlike the two prior cases, there's still a chance he's not the culprit given the red herring possibility. And thanks to the solid writing in the previous four main series AA games, players already know full well that they shouldn't judge a book by its cover. We've had killers who were super good looking (from Dahlia Hawthorne to Matt Engarde). And we've had innocent parties who shared character traits in common with typical villains (like Uncle Valant or Spark Brushel). Judging Means by his creepy smile, we realize, is both unfair and could possibly be leading us astray. It turns out that it's not , but we don't know that at the time. And that's nice. A breath of fresh air after the "HERE'S THE KILLER, GUYS! "-style reveals at the beginning of the two previous cases. :')

That stated, Means was never far from the top of the list of suspects. His whole "ends justifies the means" schtick was hammered home too much, and even if they hadn't repeated it ad nauseum we still would've recognized it for the immoral slippery slope that it is. We've had two games already explore how bad forged evidence and false testimony is. (AA1 with Miles Edgeworth and Manfred von Karma; and then AA4 with Kristoph Gavin.) Not only do we not need a third, but having a third game which decides to explore this whole "OoOOoOoOoooOoh, the Daaaark Aaaage of the Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaw! WhoOoOoOOoOh!" routine with forged evidence all but tells us that we're dealing with the culprit here. Thankfully, what keeps us guessing is the fact that Means has a devout disciple -- Hugh O'Conner -- who has taken his teacher's teachings to heart. This makes it hard for first-time players to know with certainty whether the culprit is Prof. Means, Hugh O'Conner, or a Means-Hugh pair working together.


Klavier's cameo was really cool. I thought what they did with Klavier, giving him a mock mini-trial to conduct opposite Apollo, was a sleek compromise between the AA4 haters and the AA4 fans like myself. For the haters, it's like, "You don't gotta panic: he's only got a minor role, he'll be out of your hair momentarily." But for the fans, it's like, "We only have enough room for five cases and two or three prosecutors. One of those has to be Payne, one of them's gonna be the new guy we thought up, and you just know that fans want to see Miles Edgeworth" (Talon note: non-spoiler speculation on my part) "... so yeah, we're not going to be able to justify including Klavier here in a full trial. But! We can at least do this much for you: we can at least give you a trial-within-a-trial and let Klavier be the prosecutor for that trial. Whaddya say? " From the "Herr Foreheads" and "ja"s to the "fräulein"s and "Achtung, baby!"s, it was great to see Klavier again. He's easily my least favorite of the five main prosecutors we've had so far, but that doesn't mean I dislike him. On the contrary, he's a wonderful addition to the cast. I absolutely love his positivity and willingness to cooperate with the defense. Realistically I think he'd lose his job , but in-universe it makes him one of the coolest and purest of heart prosecutors there is.
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Old 08-21-2016, 10:59 PM   #65
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Because of the nature of how Case 4 ends, I pressed straight on to Case 5, intending to write my Case 4 post in the coming days. Then because of how Case 5 plays out, I was both hooked and also figured that I should delay writing anything about Case 5 until I completed the case. Then because I was eager to start the bonus case, I did that, and ... well ...

Reporting in to say that I have beaten all of AA5. Sorry for the lack of posts between the end of Case 3 and what is now the end of Case "6".

I'd still like to offer case-specific thoughts in the near future, but for right now I'll go ahead and give an overall review of AA5, along with a comparison with the other AA titles.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

AA5's a really solid entry. In as few words as possible, its greatest strength is "a return to form," its greatest weakness "hand holding."

Like pretty much every Ace Attorney game before it, there are cases in this game which are going to join your list of Top 5 or Top 10 Cases Ever and then there are cases which will not. Unlike previous AA games, I'm impressed to say that there's not one single case in this game which is a stinker. The tutorial case is by far the weakest, but even it's not half bad. (And is really lent some meat to its bones by some of the later cases which tie back into it.) Game 2 has a bad case. Game 3 has a bad case. Game 5 has no bad cases. All silver and gold medalists. Nice.

So how does it compare? Well ...

=AA Games By Favorite/Best Cases=

AA4 Case 4 >= AA2 Case 2 >= AA3 Case 5 > AA1 Case 4 > AA5 Case 3, 5 or 6

=AA Games By Overall Package=

AA4 >= AA5 > AA3 > AA1 > AA2

These opinions are subject to change, but this is how I feel right now. AA5 is overall a solid package, so much so it surprises even me in how well it muscles out many of the earlier AA games. Good for the development team! As far as specific cases go, AA5 has its fair share of greats, but I don't think any of these greats is as good or as memorable as the greats from earlier titles. Doesn't have to be a contest. Just trying to assess my own thoughts and feelings on the matter.
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Old 10-02-2016, 01:32 PM   #66
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I finished playing this game and Spirit of Justice. I'll just put everything in this post. Dual Destinies felt a little off, but it was still enjoyable. The CGI models looked nice for the most part. I also liked the constant change of perspective. Then the bit in the final case where
Spoiler: show
Apollo, Phoenix, and Atena all stood at the same podium was pretty great.
The "Dark Age of the Law" plot point was a bit over-the-top, but it gets the job done, I guess. This game it didn't bring about many strong emotions. It seemed like it was trying to play things safely.
For what I thought about the new characters: (not really a spoiler, but people are sensitive)
Spoiler: show
Athena: She fits in pretty well. She's not my favorite character or anything, but her therapy sessions are nice....atlest in a visual sense. From a gameplay sense, it's kind of frustrating. What they want you to do is sometimes so god damn vague, or isn't a contradiction at all. They still look very nice.

Simon: One of my least favorite prosecuters. I know his slashing at the attorneys is supposed to be funny, but it isn't. It's just annoying. Isn't slashing at people and threatening their lives illegal? So he's constantly doing illegal shit in a court? Besides that, he's okay.

Juniper: So she seems to be a somewhat major character. Too bad she never made that much of an impression on me.

Robin: Best new character in the game. I loved everything he did. It's just a shame he only took part in one case. I always lost it when he did that over-the-top throwing pottery on the floor emote.

Fullbright: He didn't make much of an impression on me. Atleast his role was really cool.


Now for our old friends: (all of these characters appear in the trailer, so trailer spoilers)
Spoiler: show
Phoenix: It was nice controlling him again. His role seems to have changed based on his experience, which is nice. It seems Apollo is the "Phoenix" in this game.

Apollo: Oh shit! We have the teenage angst even though he's in his 20's! I like the fact that the judge pointed that out as well. For some reason, I prefer being Apollo. Maybe it's because Phoenix is "overpowered"?

Trucy: It's also a shame they did away with The Amazing Mr. Hat emote. I loved it in Apollo Justice. Kid Trucy with The Amazing Mr. Hat was adorable. As a character, she's the same entertaining Trucy. I like how you can go back to the Wright Agency to talk to Trucy in the middle of investigations.

Pearl: It was nice seeing her again. She seems to be much more calm in this game. Though it seems making her childish is still her quirk. Which I guess isn't bad. I loved her "forenzicking". What they did with her hands on cheek emote was great. They made an adorable emote even better. I'm not sure why they made her mouth crooked though.

Edgeworth: He didn't do much, but it was nice he came back. I miss having him as the rival prosecuter. He's about the only one who isn't a clown who does whatever the hell he wants.



Now onto the cases: (end of game spoilers)
Spoiler: show
Case 1: Eeeeh.....beginning case. It wasn't anything special. It was more eventful than the previous games' first cases though, so that's a plus.

Case 2: Once again, nothing special. Though it's kind of frustrating how you have to say things that you know are wrong to progress. I thought it was really sweet when you figure out that whats-her-name knew who The Amazing Nine-Tails is. I didn't expect the twist though.

Case 3: So we have a law school that is all for breaking the law? Makes perfect sense. I was sort of hoping Mr. Dollar Bill wasn't the killer. I was hoping Juniper had some sort of dark side. Sadly there was none of that. Even if Juniper revealing her "weakness" to Athena seemed like she was trying to manipulate Athena. It was an entertaining case, and it was nice seeing Gavin again.

Case 4: The prelude to a better series of cases. Move along people, nothing to see here!

Case 5: Part 1 was alright. Part 2 is where it's at. Athena's flashback was a bit disturbing. The thing with Simon is something you can see from a mile away. Fulbright being Mr. Superspy was great. He was pretty chilling when that fake smile wore off. When he first pulled his mask off, I was almost fooled. I saw Mr. Spaceman and went "Oh god damnit!" for a second.


__________________________________________________ _________

Spirit of Justice was a bit of a love-hate relationship with me. Unlike Dual Destinies, it sparked many strong emotions. Some negative, even if most of them wore off after time. Overall, I think it's a better game than Dual Destinies. The new characters were better and the overall story was more interesting.

Onto new characters: (minor spoilers)
Spoiler: show
Rayfa: She was an excellent new character. She seems like a generic tsundere, but thankfully there's alot more to her. Rayfa's struggles the entire game was nice. How she slowly warmed up to Phoenix was endearing. Not to mention her emotes are adorable.

Nahyuta: Another irritating prosecuter. He's not as in-your-face as the others, but he's still irritating. He's a massive hypocrite. He could be worse at the very least.

Datz: Best character ever! Every scene he took part in was a blast. I hope he makes a return in a future game. Better yet, make him star the next game! Call it "Datz Attorney". His thumbs-up emote is great.

Dhurke: Another great new character. He's the definition of "cool hombre".


For our fun cast of old characters:
Spoiler: show
Phoenix: Not much has changed from last game. His edge seems to have dulled though. Not sure if it's because of the difficulty of the cases he was in, or the writers wanted to make Apollo shine.

Apollo: Apollo did quite a bit in this game. I wonder if his actions this game were the answer the writers gave to people comparing Apollo's accomplishments to Pheonix's. I need to look more into his history though, because this game seems to have given his history a huge plothole. I might be wrong, and I hope I am.

Athena: Didn't do that much. I guess this game didn't have much place for her.

Maya: For a game that has her reappearance as a selling point, her return was pretty underwhelming. Her return was a source of frustration, because of a huge case of "Not this shit again!". I'll mention why in the case spoilers. Besides that, it's still nice to see her again. The past two games felt empty without her. She grew up very well. They didn't make her too childish, but she also hasn't become dull due to her growing up. It seemed like this game was a huge set-up for her to do stuff. I liked her interactions with Rayfa. I imagined her fangasming at the lawyer trio, with them seeming like Lawyer Sentai.

Simon: I actually liked his role in this game. It wasn't huge or anything, but it was endearing. It's just a shame the case he was involved in sucked.

Ema: It's nice to see her again. I guess fans didn't like grumpy Ema? She wasn't as irritable in this game. Actually she looks younger in this game compared to Apollo Justice. Her thinking emote is cute.


Now onto the cases! (end of game spoilers)
Spoiler: show
Case 1: I didn't care much for this case. It felt like it was needlessly dragged out, and the entire thing was "DEATH TO LAWYERS!". I liked how Phoenix made waves in that shitty country, but otherwise a lame case.

Case 2: So much for Trucy getting by without being arrested. This case seemed to be like it could have been a setup for her mother to reveal herself, but sadly that never happened. It's especially teasing with the guy who hates the Gramaryes. He's going on about how he was beaten by Apollo, not a Gramary. It's almost screaming for someone to go "OH BUT YOU'RE WRONG! APOLLO IS A GRAMARY TOO!". I do agree with the guy though. The Gramarys are ass holes.

Case 3: As soon as Maya returns, she is arrested. Fucking great. So much for fun-fun investigation times with Maya. Instead, Rayfa joins. This chapter seems to do more for Rayfa than Maya. Atleast she was by Phoenix's side during the case. Though....she's alot more perceptive. So much for dumb little Maya *sniff*. The case itself was full of despair, and the way it turned out was kind of depressing. I liked the case though.

Case 4: Ugh....not a good case. Boring banter with the witnesses until you finally get to realize the obvious....only to throw you off for something as stupid as what kind of flower was used to kill the guy. Simon being by Athena's side and putting Nahyuta in his place was great atleast.

Case 5: NOW MAYA HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED! HORRAY! Apollo's bonding with Dhurke was nice. Then they turn the tables and show you it's actually Maya channeling Dhurke! This case is where Apollo truly shined. He did so freaking much. Defeating Phoenix and easing his burdens along with dethroning a corrupt queen. I was hoping this case would reveal the link between Kuh'rain and the Fey clan. I kept wishing they would reveal the Holy Mother's name to be Ami Fey. So much for that! Then they have Apollo move to that shitty country. It was kind of sad seeing Apollo and Trucy separating. Despite my bitching, I enjoyed the hell out of this case.


I'm finally done with this freaking franchise! Now I can do other things!
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Old 10-02-2016, 01:46 PM   #67
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I didn't see you mention the DLC case for AA5. If you haven't played it yet, you definitely should! It's possibly the best case in the entire game.
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Old 10-02-2016, 04:20 PM   #68
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I read the DLC case. I just forgot to mention it:

DLC case spoilers
Spoiler: show
This one was a pretty nice case. I guess they had to if they were going to force you to pay $8 for a single chapter. When Trucy was first introduced, one thing I wanted from her was to show Pearl her tricks. For only $8, you can have that! A case that ends with no-one at fault was a good change of pace. Even though Mr. Rapper going out with Ms. Pirate Tits kind of grossed me out, I still liked that in the end, he was a good guy. It's also nice to see Phoenix pull his usual crazy shit on his first case back. I spent the first half of the case almost screaming "Pay more attention to that damn hook on the ceiling!". Chubby bitch doing that Marylin Monroe shit was funny. Great usage of that "despair" emote of Phoenix's. Then finally, we get Pearl and her "forenzicking".
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