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    Ace Attorney I love the Judge, he's such a nice old man and he deserves more recognition

    August 31, 2020

    Ace Attorney I love the Judge, he's such a nice old man and he deserves more recognition

    I love the Judge, he's such a nice old man and he deserves more recognition

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 08:43 PM PDT

    Did a little Phoenix fanart for my friend a while ago. What do you guys think?������

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 06:26 AM PDT

    kristoph and my OC (alex)

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:06 PM PDT

    ��Turnabout Sisters��

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 10:14 PM PDT

    I used one of my favorite conversations from Survivor as objection.lol practice

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:06 PM PDT

    Drew Franziska Von Karma

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 12:33 PM PDT

    Inconsistency in Dual Destinies (Potential Spoilers)

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 11:54 PM PDT

    In the first case when Apollo is attacked, and Junie, Athena, and Phoenix discover him, and they don't notice the writing in blood "Woods"

    Yet somehow in the picture of the crime scene that Prosecutor Payne presents to the court, Apollo has supposedly written "Woods" in blood.

    I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense, wouldn't they have noticed the writing in blood when they first discovered him? Major inconsistency.

    submitted by /u/elderstrawberry
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    Acapella remix of Questioning Moderato 2001

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 04:59 PM PDT

    I just ended Part 3-2: Investigation of Farewell, My Turnabout...

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 08:35 AM PDT

    I did not expect this. I thought that De Killer was really working as Engardes butler so that he had an alibi. I didn't have an idea who could've hired him to kill Corrida though.

    And then I broke Engardes five Psyche-Locks (which was easier than I thought it would be) and suddenly everything just came tumbling down on me. Engarde just being whole crazy? Him hiring De Killer, him knowing about Maya and everything? Them cooperating? That crazy stare with his scar? I did not expect that! I'm still completely shocked...

    How the feck am I supposed to save Maya? (don't answer please, I'm not trying to spoil stuff for myself, just rambling a bit) If I get Engarde a not guilty, that scumbag is going to walk around free while another person is going to die! But if I get Engarde a guilty, who knows what will happen to Maya... At the same time, I think she may have escaped from Engardes Mansion, but who knows. Also, it's going to confuse the Judge a lot when the defense pairs up with the prosecution to get Engarde a guilty, but Edgeworth did the same in PW:AA, so I guess no problems there. At least until I get in trouble and get a penalty.

    Also, when people get a guilty verdict in Ace Attorney, do they die? There is a lot of stuff pointing to that, like when Edgeworth says ''What's wrong, Wright? Your client gets to see another day.'' or something like that.

    submitted by /u/TastyAsexualPlatypus
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    I made a Smash Ultimate moveset for Phoenix! I hope he's in Fighter Pass 2!

    Posted: 31 Aug 2020 12:04 AM PDT

    (There are no case-specific spoilers anywhere in this post.)

    Series icon: The famous pointing pose on every logo

    (He can't wall jump.)

    Neutral attack: Case File Smack- Phoenix smacks the opponent with a piece of paper three times.

    Forward tilt: Secret Weapon Missile- Missile, one of Gumshoe's secret weapons, appears and barks in front of him (this is clearly indicated by a cartoony area-of-effect).

    Up tilt: Secret Weapon Fishing Pole- Sweeps the air above him with a fishing pole, one of Gumshoe's secret weapons.

    Down tilt: Secret Weapon Metal Detector- Sweeps the area in front of him with a metal detector, one of Gumshoe's secret weapons.

    Dash attack: Clumsy Lawyer- Phoenix falls and drops a stack of papers/evidence.

    (Each smash attack is meant to represent a partner character)

    Forward smash: Samurai Spear- Phoenix pulls out the Steel Samurai's signature weapon and thrusts it in front of him (this smash is representative of Maya, the spiritual aspect is represented in his down special. You could consider the down special also representative of Pearl)

    Up smash: The Amazing Mr. Hat- Borrowed from Trucy, Mr. Hat pops out above Phoenix.

    Down smash: Luminol Spray- Borrowed from Ema, Phoenix sprays luminol around him, first behind him then in front of him.

    (The briefcase materializes for these attacks)

    Neutral aerial: Briefcase Twirl- Phoenix swings a briefcase around him.

    Forward aerial: Briefcase Thrash- Phoenix swings the briefcase downwards in front of him.

    Back aerial: Briefcase Bash- Phoenix holds the briefcase like a shield and thrusts it out behind him.

    Up aerial: Briefcase Clash- Phoenix swings the briefcase above his head.

    Down aerial: Briefcase Smash- Phoenix slams the briefcase down below him with both hands. Can spike.

    Grab: Lawyer Lock- A desk materializes under his hands, and Phoenix slams one hand on it. This "grabs" the space in front of him. The opponent is stunned, with vague lock graphics around them (could be based on the Psyche-Lock aesthetic, however it will not place an actual Psyche-Lock on them for reasons explained later).

    Pummel: Desk Slam- Phoenix slams on his desk with one hand, and the recoil causes damage to the opponent.

    Forward throw: The Truth is Ahead- Phoenix points in front of him, and the opponent is sent flying in that direction.

    Back throw: The Truth is Behind- Phoenix points behind him, and the opponent is sent flying in that direction.

    Up throw: The Truth is Above- Phoenix points above him, and the opponent is sent flying in that direction.

    Down throw: The Truth is Below- Phoenix slams both hands down forcefully, and the opponent hits the ground and is then thrown at an angle.

    Floor attack (front): Justice Gets Back Up- Sweeps behind him while getting up.

    Floor attack (back): Justice Rises Up- Sweeps around him while getting up.

    Floor attack (trip): Justice Never Rests- Sweeps around him while getting up.

    (The briefcase materializes for this attack)

    Edge attack: Edgeworth Swing (idk lol)- Climbs up and swings his briefcase out in front of him.

    Neutral special: Present- Hold the special button to cycle through different evidence. The evidence appears in a window above him while he assumes his thinking animation. The different evidence available is his attorney badge, an autopsy report, and the Thinker statue from the first game in that order (could add more, still deciding what else to add). Press the special button to throw the evidence. Different evidence has different properties. You can save the progress of the evidence order by pressing shield.

    The attorney badge flies forward quickly at a straight horizontal angle and covers the most distance, but deals the least damage. The autopsy report flies forward more slowly and takes a curve down towards the ground. It disappears upon hitting the ground. It deals a medium amount of damage. The Thinker statue covers the least horizontal distance and moves slowly, landing with a heavy thump but deals the most damage. Throwing evidence successfully results in Phoenix yelling "Take That!"

    Side special: Press- Phoenix yells "Hold It!" A speech bubble will appear in front of him and last for a couple of seconds, with similar properties to Piranha Plant's poison breath.

    Up special: Stepladder- Phoenix leaps off a stepladder that materializes. The stepladder disappears immediately after and is not a separate item.

    Down special: Magatama- Phoenix holds out the Magatama in front of him. This reveals a Psyche-Lock on the opponent right in front of him and slightly pushes them back (dealing 1% damage). The Psyche-Lock can be removed by successfully hitting the opponent with a piece of evidence from the neutral special. Opponents who have had their Psyche-Lock broken take more damage and knockback from the next attack. The amount of increased damage and knockback depends on the severity of the evidence thrown (more consequential evidence is placed later in the roulette order in the neutral special).

    Phoenix's side special Press will do more damage to opponents with a Psyche-Lock. You cannot reveal more than one Psyche-Lock on an opponent at a time. Psyche-Locks also cannot be revealed while the opponent is in the increased damage state; as soon as the opponent is hit you can find another Psyche-Lock. Psyche-Locks will eventually go away if evidence is not "presented" in time.

    Final Smash: Guilty Verdict- Phoenix points in front of him. Anyone caught in the area in front of him gets transported to a courtroom. The opponent is stuck at the witness stand. It then zooms out to show Phoenix and Edgeworth standing at their desks. There's a cut-in with both of their faces (like before a testimony in the games), and both slam their desk and shout "Objection!" with the text appearing. The judge appears ominously above the opponent and brings his gavel down (maybe could look like the beginning of Justice for All). "Guilty" appears on screen, the courtroom doors slam shut, and the screen returns to the match, with the opponent flying away with massive knockback. Could make the prosecutor to appear random, pulled from a set list. (Edgeworth has to be in though)

    On-screen appearance: Courtroom doors open and Phoenix steps out, brushing himself off.

    Up taunt: Coffee Break- Phoenix sips out of a coffee mug. Animation based off of T&T

    Side taunt: Objection!- Phoenix points in the direction he is facing. Says "Objection!"

    Down taunt: Silly Lawyer- Phoenix performs his "silly" animation from the trilogy where he has a sheepish grin, with one hand on his hip and the other on his head.

    Idle poses: -Phoenix adjusts his suit. -Phoenix brushes off his pants.

    Victory poses: -Phoenix does his confident animation from the games, with both hands on his hips. -Phoenix celebrates with Maya (and Pearl?). Maya is throwing confetti around. -Phoenix and Mia both stand next to each other and point forward, smiling.

    Alternate costumes: 1: Default look for Phoenix 2: Maya colors 3: Mia colors 4: Apollo colors 5: Edgeworth colors 6: Franziska colors 7: Godot colors 8: Klavier colors

    Boxing ring title: The Ace Attorney

    Classic Mode: Title: Turnabout Smash Theme: Is based on various cases (could get spoilery, but as long as references aren't too overt it's probably fine). Could be the first case from each game or something. Have an ally character in each round representing a partner character from the series. Final boss is Dracula, representing Manfred von Karma.

    Kirby transformation: Kirby gets Phoenix's spiky hair.

    Stage: Courtroom Walk-off stage. Various defense attorneys and prosecutors from the series can be seen in the background.

    submitted by /u/Self-ProclaimedKing
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    Khura’in is annexed by the Chinese Communist Party.

    Posted: 31 Aug 2020 12:02 AM PDT

    What should the people do?

    submitted by /u/CamperorLOL
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    Godess of Law (Piano)

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 10:01 AM PDT

    Drew Mr Lawyer on paper. (Sorry, Im not good at traditional art.)

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 11:54 PM PDT

    Playing Turnabout Serenade for the first time, and...

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 12:05 PM PDT

    I'm only through the first trial but this is one of the most confusing and frustrating cases I've ever played. So this court decides to place a blind (well we thought so anyway) child who theoretically had access to a weapon only police have as the main suspect? Not to mention the fact that the main theory the prosecution brings up is that he murdered to the lyrics of the song but THE KID DOESN'T KNOW ENGLISH?? Unless Lamiroir interpreted it for him that makes absolutely no sense to me.

    I know Ace Attorney is a heavily satirized version of the legal system but this is just absurd like they even say shooting the gun could dislocate a man's shoulder, why would this "blind" child with no motive to murder use this as a weapon? Why would he kill in the first place? They never address any of this at least not yet and its very very frustrating. Okay rant over but god...

    Maybe it'll get better later on but as of the first trial I am losing my mind

    EDIT: So I finished the case. I will say it did get better and confirming he knew English and wasn't blind did make it a little more believable but even then the trial was started with the assumption that both of those things weren't true. Still one of the messiest cases I've played, not to mention Daryan being blatantly the killer but getting away for like half an hour got frustrating, like I get that its to set up the 4th case but they dragged it a lot but that's not my main issue.

    submitted by /u/Lucidiaa
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    What are great game recommendations if you like Ace Attorney games?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 11:03 AM PDT

    I've played all the Ace Attorney games/spin-offs outside of Dai-Gyakuten Saiban 1/2. I've also played Ghost Trick (amazing game).

    I then branched out and played Danganronpa 1 and I honestly didn't think it was that great.

    Anyway other standouts or must plays? Thanks!

    submitted by /u/lovedepository
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    John Phoenix

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 04:51 PM PDT

    Is anybody keeping up with the whole John Phoenix thing over on fanfiction anymore?

    submitted by /u/RoundPhone7
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    Would a more adult AA story work?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 09:48 AM PDT

    This is to gauge views on a debatable topic.

    I'll never forget how they had to substitute Godot coffee in place of cigarettes or alcohol. One glaring example (that worked, fortunately) of the series censoring itself.

    Ace Attorney games are fully capable of tackling some grown up themes in its own way. SOJ is a step in the right direction in regards to making the player sick to the stomach and one could argue it's the most grown up game of the main six, which is good, as it's the most recent.

    AA can be horribly sad at times, like Trials and Tribulations and Dual Destinies' stories as well as Dhurke's fate, it can be horribly tense, like Justice For All's sudden kidnapping plot and blackmail tonal shift but it can never really be just "horrible". "But what if it was?" is what I'm interested in.

    The series has had mean and unjustifiable villains, but only one, maybe two, I would say is purely despicable. It's never tapped into sadism and what is unfortunately reality when it comes to some of real life's most notorious "villains".

    Serial killer documentaries are massively popular in the west, and there have been some truly awful individuals that have done unimaginable things. Then you have films like Se7en, which has vile subject matter done in a very clever way, in which if you haven't seen it, the villain actually wins in their own cruel "game."

    Could the series take the shackles off and have a main antagonist that's demented and pulls off sick things? Would allowing the series to take a step forward in realism detract from the other qualities like slapstick writing and creative character design? How about if uncomfortable things were only implied or told, not shown?

    Let me give an example. What if one of many victims to a vile serial killer was a character you liked, and they took pleasure in confessing to court the horrible things they did to them (I won't disclose their methods) to incite reaction? Would that make you too uncomfortable?

    What if there was an M-rated spin off at least? I'm curious if there's any room to explore, or none, for AA. Thanks. :)

    submitted by /u/Sonicboomer1
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    A Cast in Review - Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:42 AM PDT

    Game four - I wanna talk about it. I got into Ace Attorney originally back in 2008. Even played Investigations right when it first came out. Really becoming a major fan of the series and committing to playing the rest of it took a while longer. I played AJ:AA for the first time in 2012, if memory serves, and I just loved it. That was right when I was properly getting into the fandom, so I had a ton of fan content based on both the original trilogy and Apollo's debut game to enjoy, as well as the excitement with the leadup to the then-approaching release of Ace Attorney 5. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney has held a special place in my heart for the years since, as a result, and I looked forward to replaying it again, to see and judge for myself how it holds up.

    I'm happy with it! I love this game's core cast in particular. Rookie Apollo, trolling mentor Phoenix, quirky but capable assistant Trucy, grouchy but lovable detective Ema, flashy but respectable prosecutor Klavier - they've all got a dynamic that I really enjoy, and the game's story presentation sets it apart very noticeably from its three predecessors, giving it an extremely unique mood and atmosphere no other game in the series before or since has matched.

    Before we start, check out my other cast review posts, if you haven't seen them yet:

    And with that, let's really dig into the cast!

    APOLLO JUSTICE

    Loud, cute, and a supporting character at best in his own debut, named-after-him game.

    So I love Apollo. Like Phoenix in his first appearance, he starts off Case 1 as a nervous, stammering rookie trying not to screw up in front of his mentor. I know a lot of people accuse Apollo in this game of effectively just being Phoenix with a different set of sprites, and while I can see some of why they would think that, I disagree strongly.

    Apollo does have the misfortune of lacking agency in this game. That's an obvious point against him, and one that I'll concede makes it harder to pick out unique, distinguishing attributes in his personality. He spends nearly this entire story being manipulated, and while that's interesting to observe once all the pieces have come together, it can just as easily hurt the experience of following him through a story that doesn't feel like his own. Sure, AA1 was much more a game about Edgeworth than about Phoenix, but Phoenix still had a more personal stake in its events than Apollo has here.

    Still, I think Apollo does more than enough to set himself apart from his predecessor. As early as Case 1, we see that he lacks one of Phoenix's most consistent traits, specifically his deep-set trust and sense of loyalty toward others. Apollo's a good guy, and he cares about people, but he can't make himself ignore or automatically fight back against the doubts he feels toward others when the evidence points against them. He won't flip allegiances in an instant, but he's always determined to see where the facts and evidence lead, even if they're directing him against someone like Kristoph Gavin, his mentor.

    Of course, this isn't totally universal with him. He begins Case 1 as a Phoenix Wright fanboy, raising objections that effectively amount to "there's a contradiction because Phoenix Wright would never do that". Clearly the idea that his hero lost his badge for evidence forgery years ago never made Apollo doubt in the kind of person he believed Phoenix to be, and throughout this case, as the ex-attorney pushes him along a path that eventually sees his own boss indicted for Shadi Smith's murder, Apollo (while confused and unsure) does put his trust in Phoenix right up to the verdict. Of course, he comes to regret this on some level after the trial's end, when he learns that the final, critical piece of evidence he was handed was a fake, crafted to trap Kristoph in a situation that left him unable to escape his crime in spite of his calculating efforts.

    Apollo punches Phoenix in the jaw, he's so outraged at the way he was used. He promises himself that he won't ever take up the job offer Phoenix gave him, and storms away, hoping never to see the man again.

    ... Doesn't last long. Putting your own employer in prison isn't great for one's long-term financial wellbeing. So, Apollo is forced to swallow his pride and visit what he believes to be Phoenix's law office, only to instead be met with a quirky, colourful talent agency, and a strangely-dressed girl claiming to be Phoenix's teenage daughter.

    Despite Apollo's extensive uncertainties about the idea of working in the Wright Talent Agency, he takes to the busywork and odd jobs his first visit presents with about the same dedication he shows in law, even finding himself bonding with Trucy in quite a short time. He tries so hard to be taken seriously, but Trucy's just not having it.

    I love the scene in Phoenix's room at the clinic. He and Trucy are just openly bullshitting Apollo right to his face, manipulating him into joining up with them like it's second nature to them. Apollo even seems to recognize that he's being played, but at this point, what other options has he got left?

    Something I didn't realize until replaying the whole original trilogy was just how damn often Phoenix was bailed out by timely appearances from Mia. Seriously - it was startling to see how many cases include a seemingly hopeless moment salvaged by Phoenix's dead mentor returning via channeling. Apollo, by contrast, spends much of this game prepared well enough not to find himself in that sort of situation nearly as often. Sure, he has the benefit of an assistant more well-versed in courtroom strategies, a prosecutor who's actually a decent person from the get-go, and even a detective who takes a much friendlier tone with him from their second meeting on, but he doesn't find himself stuck in a corner and forced to fumble for any possible bluff or minor triviality nearly as often as Phoenix did in the first three games, and I appreciate that.

    Apollo describes himself in Case 3 as "not the kind of lawyer who can overlook a crime", and that's a good fit considering that every one of his clients in this game is, while innocent of the murders with which they're charged, guilty of some crime or another. Whether Phoenix actually personally created the forged ace or not, he prodded Apollo into presenting it while knowing full well it was a fake. Wocky was proud to be an up-and-coming mobster, and actually outright wanted to kill the victim in his case, though it's left uncertain whether he would have had the nerve to go through with it. Machi was involved with international smuggling. Vera, though unknowingly, had an entire criminal career as a forger than spanned over most of her life. In spite of any of these, Apollo will do his job to the best of his ability and fight as hard as he can to prove his clients' innocence, but he won't be swayed into helping them escape the consequences of their other actions.

    I mentioned how Apollo quickly bonds with Trucy - that's something that shows clear cracks in his efforts at maintaining professionalism. Having known Trucy for about a day at most, when Apollo is led to believe that she's been taken hostage by the mob, he's ready to fight anyone he needs to in order to protect her, and his emotions get the better of him again when he learns that Trucy was duping him and the entire court just to stall the verdict in their case.

    With Klavier Gavin, who becomes his rival, Apollo respects the prosecutor's abilities, if not his showy personality, and comes to understand his opponent with a bit of time, sympathizing with Klavier's personal struggles and trying to help him break past them.

    With Ema, Apollo can keep up with her bitter, snarky personality, and also strike up and maintain a pretty friendly rapport that benefits them both in their investigation work.

    And with Phoenix, while Apollo is clearly still feeling burned by the events of his first case, he eventually begins to regain the respect he once had for the legendary ex-attorney. There's something missing here, though - in Case 4's last trial segment, Apollo's inner monologue indicates that at last, after months of secrecy, Phoenix finally came forth with explanation for his actions before and since hiring Apollo, opening up to him. Sadly, the way this is presented means that this hugely impactful interaction between the two happened entirely off-screen, and we only see Apollo talk with Phoenix one single time more afterward.

    One thing I do like about Apollo's part in the finale is his last few lines in the trial. He doesn't give one of Phoenix's grand, idealistic inner monologues about law and his role as an attorney, but instead admits to himself that he just hasn't seen enough in his career yet to really understand either of those things. It's easy to miss, but I think it's a very important footnote to his role in this game.

    So in the end, I love Apollo's character and relationships in this game. I just wish the sequels to follow hadn't dropped just about everything about him save for basic personality traits. That's something we'll dig into in the Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice threads, of course.

    KRISTOPH GAVIN

    So Kristoph's weird. I like him, first thing. Thought I should open with that. Starting out as what appears to be this game's Mia analogue, Apollo's mentor soon starts to be revealed as a player in a story much bigger than most of the courtroom's occupants ever expected. This represents the first time that we see Apollo in a part he'll be playing frequently in this game, as the baffled outsider to a conflict that's clearly been brewing for much longer than he knew.

    Kristoph's interrogation and breakdown in Case 1 set this game apart from its predecessors instantly. We see that the years haven't changed Phoenix's courtroom instincts nearly as much as the start of the case would have us believe, but this also shows us that he's spent the years since we left him dug in with a conflict that can stand up to Mia's rivalry with Dahlia.

    I wish that a bit more had been done with Kristoph's actual mentor-student relationship with Apollo. Maybe one short case with Kristoph as the actual mentor would've been better, before we discover that Phoenix is also in this game, and his role turns us against Kristoph.

    Anyway, the elder Gavin is a broken, terrifying man. Maybe the ego and megalomania made him change at some point, or maybe he was always like this. In either case, this man truly is the Von Karma of defence, unafraid to turn to any underhand means necessary to win a case, while also being so unhinged as to stalk and plot revenge schemes against every last individual he sees as sufficiently involved in an incident that made him feel mad.

    The issue of motive is something people often bring up with Kristoph. We never do explicitly see his black Psyche-Locks break. Some have accused this of meaning that, to this day, we still don't know why he murdered Zak Gramarye. I don't think I can agree with that, since his motives seem pretty cleanly spelled out by the case's end. Kristoph saw the Gramarye trial as his ticket to success and notoriety as a defence attorney, and to ensure his victory, he prepared the forged diary page. But then, following what was, to him, a simple card game that he lost, his chance was taken from him and given instead to Phoenix Wright.

    Now, Kristoph is clearly an exceedingly prideful man. As indicated by his unhinged rant at the end of Case 4, he views himself as the only one worthy to stand at the defence bench. In his twisted, warped worldview, the man who solved the DL-6 and SL-9 cases, who defeated Miles Edgeworth, Manfred and Franziska von Karma, Damon Gant, and countless other criminal opponents, is "a second-rate attorney who relies on luck and bluffs". Nothing could ever be good enough for Kristoph to view anyone else as his equal. The idea is an impossibility to him. And what this highlights is that Kristoph Gavin's motive is one very simple, and very human thing, taken to its absolute worst form.

    Envy.

    Why does he conceal his motive behind a set of Psyche-Locks Phoenix can't even attempt to break? Because that motive is his envy toward Phoenix, and to admit it, even indirectly, would be to admit that he sees Phoenix as superior to him, and that is unacceptable in Kristoph's poisoned mind. It is antithetical to everything he believes. When every last contingency of his has failed him, and he learns that Phoenix Wright has successfully overhauled the legal system itself to bring about his defeat, the very last trace of Kristoph's composed, in-control façade shatters, and the man completely breaks.

    ... The fact that he spent a hundred-thousand dollars on an expert forgery that he couldn't even use in the end might have also played into it.

    PHOENIX WRIGHT

    I'll admit it - I'm a fan of Hobo Nick. First off, I respect the bold change in direction for the character. Maybe the execution of Phoenix's disbarment left a fair bit to be desired, but I think this was an admirable effort to take the series' original hero in a totally new direction.

    Now, I see a lot of people disappointed by the way Phoenix seems to regress in Dual Destinies, but I'll argue that the "cool, calculating mastermind" image of Hobo Phoenix was never a real thing in the first place. Yes, I've certainly got issues with Dual Destinies Phoenix that I'll get into in that game's post in a week or so, but the only reason Phoenix appeared to be such an in-control genius in the events surrounding Kristoph's defeat was that he'd spent seven whole years building his case and planning Gavin's downfall. Just look at his dialogue in the MASON System segments. He's still about the same good-natured guy we remember, just more world-weary and showing signs of depression. Still, he never lets that damage his ability to care for Trucy.

    And speaking of Trucy, I just love the way her relationship with her adoptive father is portrayed. These two love each other dearly, and it's plainly visible. Apollo doesn't buy into it, but a lot of that is because of the double act the two perform in openly bullshitting him at every chance they get. Phoenix doesn't know for most of this game's story whether or not he can fully trust Apollo. He stays secretive and dismissive toward his new hire in conversations for exactly that reason, but by the game's end, he's changed his view of Apollo, and is more than willing to stake his seven years' worth of planning on the rookie's success.

    The other point of common contention is, of course, the forged ace. Now, as I'm writing this, I'm exhausted. I'm not gonna try and dig into a full, moralistic debate over the ethics of Phoenix's actions in Case 1. I will drop a link to a post of mine from a couple of years ago about this topic, though. Don't worry, it's a short one.

    The ace wasn't the first time Phoenix played a somewhat morally-grey card to win a Not Guilty verdict. A much more literal one than his bluff against Furio Tigre, of course, but this wasn't something totally out-of-nowhere for him, and honestly, I like the way this injects some deeper and more nuanced moral ambiguity into the guy who was previously the shining hero of the series.

    Of course, there's also his behaviour in the Gramarye trial, acting much cockier than normal for him, and trusting a shady piece of evidence handed to him out of nowhere by his client's daughter mere minutes before the trial begins. To that, I say two things:

    Phoenix had every right to be feeling confident. While he might have been flying a bit blind in the trial, this was Phoenix coming off the end of the original trilogy, and all of the complex, incredible mysteries he solved therein. He had defeated prosecutors thought to be unbeatable more than once, exposed the crimes of a corrupt police chief, and helped to put nearly two decades of Fey Clan history to rest. And to top all of that off, his opponent in the trial was a complete rookie. Can you honestly blame him?

    As for the diary page, it was hardly the first time that someone abruptly delivered game-changing evidence to him, and it had always worked out for him in the past.

    OLGA ORLY

    Olga's fun, as both a character and a red herring to play on the audience's Case 1 expectations. Her quirks and animations are memorable enough, even if she can be a little bit of a jerk, what with the whole "scheme to destroy Phoenix's reputation" thing. She also unwittingly injects one hilarious moment into Kristoph's first breakdown, so that's a point for her.

    THE JUDGE

    So I kinda love the Judge in this game. He's the same old goof we remember, but this game lets him show much more than that, as well. He takes absolutely no shit from anyone this time around, upping his penalty-snark game to expert levels. He's also allowed to show far more wisdom and clarity alongside of his eccentricities, though. This shows best in his final speech at the end of Case 4.

    The respect he's come to have toward Phoenix is a great touch, as well. In the Gramarye trial, he's clearly shaken by idea that the attorney he's watched mature from a nervous rookie to a courtroom veteran may have actually stooped to forgery, and even after seven years, he still seems to be holding onto the belief that Phoenix is a good, honest person worthy of the attorney's badge he once lost. It reveals a level of humanity we don't normally see from the Judge.

    SHADI SMITH/SHADI ENIGMAR/ZAK GRAMARYE

    Bastard of many names. I called Kristoph "weird", but he's got nothing on Zak. Zak is just... an anomaly. Like a more extreme version of Misty Fey, I just... can't begin to understand why he does the things that he does.

    If you skipped just a couple of very specific bits, you could walk away from this game with the impression that Zak is a respectable, friendly guy caught up in bad situations that force him to make difficult decisions. He and his stage partner were overworked and abused by their mentor. He lost his wife in a stage accident. The outcome of his trial saw him escape the courthouse in a true magician's style, leaving behind his otherwise-parentless daughter, and his soon-to-be-disbarred attorney. He chose to lie low for seven years, and then returned to ensure that his daughter, now cared for by that very same ex-attorney, would be granted the legal performance rights to his late mentor's famed illusions, as well as to fix the damage his past disappearance unwittingly caused to his stage partner's reputation and career.

    All of that seems to paint the picture of a respectable man in bad circumstances. Then, you examine the rest.

    Zak was in possession of the real missing diary page, and while he didn't know in advance that Kristoph had ordered the creation of a forgery, he still allowed Phoenix to present that forgery when it came up in the trial. Then, he used his eight year-old daughter as part of his escape plan, having her assist him in an illusion that would help him elude the court bailiff and the police. This left his daughter alone save for the attorney whose career he had just allowed to be destroyed. Then, after hiding from public view for seven years, his return was accompanied by a deliberate and carefully-plotted effort to frame Phoenix (read: the person who had been solely caring for his abandoned daughter for the past seven years) as a cheat in a poker game, and destroy his reputation and career again. The closest thing we ever get to an explanation for this is the sole fact that Phoenix actually beat him in their first poker game, years ago, and Zak doesn't like to lose. Y'know, Zak - the guy who makes a habit of getting to know people by playing poker with them. And when his plan to frame Phoenix as a cheat fails, he throws a tantrum and whacks his accomplice over the head with a bottle, which could well have killed her, as his own death minutes later indicates.

    He's just utterly incomprehensible. Why are his actions so bizarrely inconsistent? Most of his screentime in the present-day section of Case 4 feels like it's telling you to feel sympathetic toward him, but that completely flies in the face of everything he contributed to the plot prior.

    WINSTON PAYNE

    The Payne returns, and he's something special, here. New hair, new confidence. I honestly feel bad for Payne in this case. He's up against a rookie once again, and while there's some ego in play on his end, what with seeing the once-legendary Phoenix Wright now reduced to a pianist on trial for a murder, all he wants in this case is to do his job, and yet the trial runs completely away from him in no time at all, leaving him, confused, in the dust.

    TRUCY WRIGHT

    You ask me, Trucy is terrific. Even with Phoenix out of the legal field for the whole time he's properly known her, she clearly picked up plenty of useful knowledge of the courtroom from him, and this makes her a more directly capable assistant to Apollo than Maya could usually be to Phoenix.

    She's cute, quirky (no doubt picking up more than a few traits from Maya), funny, and the source of plenty of heartwarming moments. The way she forces herself to maintain a performer's smile even when she's hurting is similar but not identical to Maya's smiling front, as well, which is another contributor to her sadly-underused relationship with her dad. If only she hadn't dropped into utter irrelevance everywhere but 6-2 after this.

    GUY ELDOON

    Silly. Noodle-wig doctor, somehow run out of the medical business by a guy who can't tell the difference between "dead" and "alive". Still, Eldoon's a friendly enough fellow who looks out for Trucy, and I can't ever fault him for that.

    SPOON

    DOG

    ... Old dog, by the look of her. I've got an old dog.

    "DIRECTOR HICKFIELD"

    Japan, we need to talk about this. Who or what convinced you in years past that scummy, perverted old men creeping on teenage girls was funny? And moreover, why the fuck do you still think it's funny?

    Moving on.

    WESLEY STICKLER

    And I called those other guys "weird". While there's not a lot about Stickler that makes him worth remembering, I do like the way everyone (understandably) reacts to him like he's a creepy pervert stealing panties, when he's really, honestly not doing it for any of the reasons they think.

    I actually found Turnabout Corner to be a surprisingly fun case on a replay. I like it a lot more now than I used to.

    EMA SKYE

    Well, if you know me, you probably know that I adore detective Ema. My favourite character in the series, without peer. Because this will take too long and I'll run out of character space if I go into full detail right now, I'll link a past comment of mine that summarizes some of why I love her so much. (This one contains some Spirit of Justice spoilers, so heads-up for that.

    Here and now, I'll just mention a couple of other things I observed from this replay of the game.

    • Trucy totally ships Ema and Apollo. Just look at the way she responded to the time Apollo nearly set Ema on fire.

    • Ema later feeds Apollo during trial proceedings.

    • Despite her reputation, Ema actually spends surprisingly little of this game's runtime being grumpy. It's really just when she has to be around Klavier, or when her investigation has been proven faulty by Apollo. Otherwise, from as early as her second proper scene, she's actually pretty cheerful and friendly for most of her time spent interacting with Apollo and Trucy, especially when they request her help with forensics-related matters. She even tries to directly goad Apollo into asking her for help just to have some fun at times. I'm just baffled by how Takeshi Yamazaki's take on their relationship is that it's shaky and unfriendly. Were his eyes closed during this game's cases?

    PLUM KITAKI

    Charming. Mob Mom is much more jovial and teasing than you'd probably expect of an infamous crime boss's similarly cutthroat wife.

    WINFRED KITAKI

    Big Wins is also surprisingly close to a decent guy for a fearsome mob boss, all out of love and concern for his son. I like these two. He does threaten Apollo with serious consequences if he fails to secure Wocky's acquittal, but it's hard to tell if that threat is even serious, given his other behaviours.

    WOCKY KITAKI

    Now, I can completely understand why people don't like Wocky. He's one of the least cooperative and most hard-headed clients in the entire series. Even after Alita has admitted to seeing him as a bratty nuisance, and confessed to the victim's murder, Wocky still tries to get in Apollo's face and yell threats at him for accusing her in the first place. In the end, though, Wocky's a kid. Barely even into adulthood, he's shown repeatedly not to have a healthy, mature outlook on life yet, and his parents are motivated just to ensure his wellbeing and give him a chance at a decent life. His last scene before Case 2's end shows that he does care about his parents as well, underneath his brash, aggressive exterior. He wants the fearsome reputation that his father's criminal career has afforded him, but he needs time to develop anything more than an unhealthy view of such a path in life.

    PAL MERAKTIS

    Another dead jerk doctor in a game's Case 2, but this one tried to kill a nurse instead of trying to have one return from the dead.

    ALITA TIALA

    Dahlia Jr. is a reasonably good villain for this case. I rather enjoy how you could almost take her for a sympathetic culprit who does want Wocky acquitted, only for her to basically laugh in the face of that idea and admit that she can't stand him and that she only hired Apollo because he looked unreliable enough to ensure a Guilty verdict.

    KLAVIER GAVIN

    I never disliked Klavier. I didn't think he was amazing back when I first played this game, and while I still don't, my opinion of him has actually gone up.

    For starters, of course, he's just a decent, honest guy. His only priority in the courtroom is the truth, and if his witnesses are lying, trying to cover their own asses, he won't lift a finger to stop Apollo's interrogation of them. Sure, this makes him an easier opponent than Phoenix's rivals, and arguably less satisfying to "defeat", but I enjoy the change of pace all the same.

    Now, what I really appreciated upon replay was the discomfort Klavier is shown to feel in regards to Phoenix's disbarment, and the Gramarye trial. When Vera is on the stand in Case 4, and her testimony starts to strongly suggest that she was the forger behind the diary page that cost Phoenix his career, Klavier freaks out. Between this trial segment and the very last, it becomes clear that he's spent the past seven years dealing with nagging doubts and discomfort, scared of the idea that he might have helped to unjustly destroy an innocent man's career.

    When he began his prosecution career with the Gramarye trial, at just seventeen years old, Klavier was arrogant and hotheaded. He wanted to prove himself, and thanks to some precise words from his trusted older brother, he saw his chance. Kristoph led him to believe that Phoenix Wright was an underhanded cheat who would gladly stoop to dishonest tactics to secure a win. Eager to show his brother and the court at large what he was capable of, Klavier headed into the Gramarye trial with all the confidence in the world. All of it seemed so simple - he just needed to watch for the moment that Wright planned to put his forgery into play, and spring his planned trap. He would both expose a fraudulent defence attorney and convict a murderer at once.

    And yet, as he describes in the final trial segment, when he succeeded, his "victory" left him with only a horrible sense of doubt. In his youthful arrogance, there were things he'd failed to consider. Could Wright have possibly planned that forgery for himself, given the limited time and resources he had available? How had Kristoph known it would happen? Was it all just a bit too perfect, and too easy for him?

    Klavier clearly doesn't take finally learning the answers to those questions well. Just as his worst fears had led him to believe, his rush to claim victory led him to destroy the reputation and career of a good, honest man who had done nothing to deserve it, and at the root of all of this was his own older brother, who he had chosen to trust without hesitation.

    This is, to me, the biggest piece of lost potential with Klavier in the games to follow. In this single game, he sees his brother and one of his personal friends indicted and convicted on murder charges, later learns what a depraved, monstrous bastard his brother really is, and has the guilt of his past part in Phoenix's disbarment crash down on him, and yet every last ounce of all of this is abandoned the moment this game ends. What a complete waste.

    LAMIROIR

    Ahh, Thalassa. After being kind of unreasonable for much of the unimpressive Case 3, keeping secret after secret that will only make it harder to give Machi a chance at an acquittal, our look into her past gives us a totally different view of the traveling songstress. The tragedies that befell her as at as early an age as nineteen or so were far worse than she ever could have deserved, and her rather awful father was absolutely no help, sending her off to a foreign country with her memory damaged just to maintain the illusion of her death.

    In this specific cast review, I can't fault Thalassa for not yet telling her children the truth about her identity. From an outside perspective, it really isn't her fault that the later two games would go on to show so little interest in addressing her ever again, but this does eventually make her seem like a cowardly, irresponsibly absent parent.

    MACHI TOBAYE

    Pretty blank. Machi is the least interesting of the four uncooperative clients in this game. He only rarely speaks at all, and even when he does, his motives are left pretty blank.

    Guess I'll take his space here to say the usual piece about what a dumb case Turnabout Serenade is. I think it's got some good moments, and certainly isn't awful overall, but there are some stupid things that go on here. In particular, though, and much more than the usual "why was Machi accused anyway" question, I'll tackle the annoyance of how forced this case's methods for ensuring the player only solves the mystery in one specific way are.

    At two separate points in this case's runtime, Ema suddenly produces a piece of evidence found at the crime scene that the player just arbitrarily wasn't allowed to find earlier (the first from her personally, and the second delivered by Phoenix mid-trial), both of which would have totally altered the flow of earlier trial segments had they been in play back then. It just comes across as lazy writing, forcing the player along a poorly-planned path.

    ROMEIN LETOUSE

    Dead Interpol guy. Bizarrely poetic, obscure final words.

    DARYAN CRESCEND

    You can pick Daryan out as the case's culprit as early as the first investigation just because he has the greatest sprite variety of any character introduced in this case.

    Anyway, he's an opportunistic dick. The closest two things he gets to any properly humanizing traits are his honest, relatively-positive remarks about Klavier's personality, and his loosely-implied choice to smuggle the Borginian Cocoon into America for the benefit of the Chief Justice's terminally-ill son. Of course, it's made pretty clear that Daryan's actual motivation is the massive paycheque said smuggling could also net him, so that seemingly altruistic side to him loses some steam.

    VALANT GRAMARYE

    The lesser Gramarye jerk. Still a jerk, mind.

    Valant is really fun to watch, with his flashy animations and theatrical expressions. Troupe Gramarye was clearly a seriously rough group to work in, and it obviously took a major toll on the guy. Doesn't really excuse his efforts to frame Zak for Magnifi's death, of course.

    Now, like Zak, Valant eventually comes to regret some of his past choices surrounding the Gramarye trial, but unlike Zak, he doesn't screw it up with any backhanded or selfish schemes attached. So, still a jerk, but not nearly as bad as his fellows in the male side of the Gramarye band.

    VERA MISHAM

    Cute, sympathetic (especially in her younger years), and undeserving of the bad hand life has dealt her.

    I really mean that kid Vera is sympathetic - I feel absolutely terrible for her during her scenes in the MASON System investigation. She's a sheltered, scared kid with a father who cares for her, but clearly has no idea at all of how to raise a daughter on account of his own extremely reclusive nature, and her quiet, shy nature is exploited maliciously by Kristoph for his own gain at the expense of those around her.

    DREW MISHAM

    Interesting guy. I love the morally-grey nature of this game's cast. Drew isn't an especially bad guy, but he genuinely doesn't know what to do with his life beyond continuing the one thing he's found that works, even if that thing is using his daughter's brilliant artistic talent for crime. He clearly comes to regret having unwittingly sealed the fate of Phoenix's legal career, as shown by his observations of Apollo's early cases, and were it not for his untimely death, I think he would've wanted to try and make amends with the Wright family for his past mistakes.

    SPARK BRUSHEL

    Ugh. Brushel is wearying. On one hand, he's probably the most helpful and cooperative witness in the whole franchise. On the other, he's Spark Brushel. Apparently Zak punches him a lot.

    To me, he's like an anti-Lotta. A journalist-type who tries to play by the book and fight the good fight for its own sake, but who proves to also have a positively intolerable personality to deal with, where Lotta is someone I find charming, but who also has a seriously bad tendency to prioritize her chance at a scoop over the lives of the falsely accused. At least she recognizes her screw-ups and tries to make up for most of them. Brushel doesn't really need to do that, of course, because he's overall just not a bad person, as irritating as he might be.

    DICK GUMSHOE

    So, people complain a lot about how Phoenix and Gumshoe behave in the Gramarye trial. "Phoenix is too cocky". "Gumshoe is too aggressive". I'll admit that I can see both.

    Now, let me introduce you to Alexander O. Smith. Smith was the lead translator for the DS version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, as well as for this game. In the first game, Gumshoe was very much a bull-headed and often cocky sort of person, very sure of himself in his detective work under Edgeworth's supervision. Does it not make sense, on some level, that the same guy who translated just the first game prior might inject some of those traits into Gumshoe the next time he worked on the detective's personality in a game?

    Now, for my own complaint. Why in the world do Spark Brushel and Mike fucking Meekins get so much MASON System screentime after the trial, while Gumshoe is gone from the moment his cross-examination ends? This part has nothing to do with translators - he just doesn't factor into the aftermath of Phoenix's final trial and subsequent disbarment at all. It's a huge missed opportunity.

    MIKE MEEKINS

    He's still Meekins. Nothing of consequence has changed. Gumshoe deserved this screentime.

    MAGNIFI GRAMARYE

    Troupe Gramarye's grand-bastard. Magnifi's a real piece of work. ... Wait, no - I meant "piece of trash". Yeah, that sounds more like it.

    Harsh, demanding mentor, and willing to fake his daughter's death and leave her alone, blind, and lost in a foreign country just to use her "death" as blackmail over his students. What a colossal asshole.

    Let's be real here - the only reason Mr. Reus didn't whack this guy years earlier was that he hadn't been invented yet.

    ... OK, JC's exhausted, but this post is done. I'll proof-read it later. Like usual, let me know if I missed anyone of consequence, and by all means, share your thoughts and points of debate for this post below!

    submitted by /u/JC-DisregardMe
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    What is the worst mechanic for cross-examination?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:02 AM PDT

    1. Penalizing,when pressing a certain statement
    2. Pressing statements in some bizarre order
    3. Making one statement appended to testimony,but presenting evidence to the other statement.

    View Poll

    submitted by /u/paulvanzieks
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    A bit of honesty about the 3DS games

    Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:32 PM PDT

    I don't like them. But first let's look at this the pros and cons for a moment:

    Pros

    Athena Cykes in general

    5-3, 5-4 and 5-5 were generally strong as well as 6-2

    Graphics look good

    Blackquill in general too

    Decent OST

    Dhurke Sahdmadhi

    The voice actors did well in cutscenes, namely Blackquill, Wright and Cykes. Although, Edgeworth did well in cutscenes but.. we don't talk about his objection.

    Cons

    Quite a few characters are just... different. Phoenix has his badge back and gets it off screen because fuck you

    Nahyuta Sahdmadhi.

    Edgeworth's objection, or tbh anyones objection for that matter. I only really like Prosecutor Sahdamadi's and Blackquills. Wright, Justice and Cykes doesn't really have a strong objection.

    I downright refuse to play 5-2. It's genuine trash. In my first playthrough I just held B and used a guide so I didn't actually have to play it after the first trial.

    Lack of characters we actually want to see, e.g. Gumshoe. Rather we get the usual Maya Fey accused of murder spiel

    I'm sure you can gather, I don't like AA5 and AA6. I just don't enjoy them. Everytime I had to pick up Dual Destinies (DD) I always sort of groaned because I just didn't want to. I reached the point in Spirit of Justice (SOJ) where I just don't really care for the story anymore and I've given up on playing it. I never really liked the goofy mystical side of Ace Attorney and tbh SOJ just takes the mystical side and shoves it in your face. I don't give a shit about some kingdom never once mentioned by the Fey clan, I give a shit about the already bloated cast and their character development. I don't really care about Rayfa Padma Khu'rain compared more to Trucy Wright. Trucy got fuckall in DD and from what I've heard the same with SOJ. Why not develop the current cast of characters? I don't want even more that I'm not going to remember by AA7.

    SOJ doesn't even make sense. In the prologue Wright is on the phone to Maya Fey and she gets attacked and screams. So Wright, being the sharp thinking genius he is with a good decade of experience in being a lawyer under his belt, decides she's in serious trouble and gets a flight to see her. Because yknow she could have, I don't know, tripped on some stairs, or, accidentally got a painful paper cut that made her drop her phone?

    Now let's talk Apollo. I'll be real I loved Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (AJAA) but in these past two games I can't say Apollo has really impressed me. He's just.. there. He is fine but he wasn't exactly developed in his own game and I hoped he'd be developed in DD and SOJ. But in DD for like three cases he's edgy and grieving (5-1 5-4 and the start of 5-5) and in 5-3 he doesn't really do all that much. I don't know what he's like in 5-2 because I can't physically play it. But anyway he gets a new backstory in SOJ and is now apparently probably an adopted prince in some far off nation that wasn't mentioned or heard of until SOJ. Seriously we lost a Thalassa storyline for this utter shite.

    Now for Athena. I liked Athena in DD and her backstory as well as Blackquill's is probably the reason I played all the way through DD. Blackquill was a really cool character. Yeah he wasn't perfect but eh who is. Definitely at least B-Tier. Athena in SOJ is just sorta.. there. There's a few throwaway lines to ship her and Apollo but other than that she doesn't really do much until 6-4, where she becomes incompetent and barely able to hold her own in court, almost as if everything she learnt in the past 2 games was entirely reverted.

    Finally for Phoenix. I don't even really know what to say here. Its a Phoenix Wright game but I honestly don't have much to say about Phoenix. He gets his badge back during the period of fuck you and he's now an attorney again, meaning hobonick is gone. I liked hobonick. I wanted to see a transition from that cynical angry Phoenix to a restored, slightly less pessimistic Phoenix until eventually a better-than-before Phoenix. But it's kind of hard considering his entire character arc was finished in T&T and his disbarment arc was completed off screen in the middle of the second game it was featured in, early on in the game. He doesn't have much more to do until SOJ when he travels to Khu'rain, but even then all be does is save some shortarse and rescue Maya for the 8th time.

    tl;dr All in all I don't like them. I won't be replaying them. I probably won't even finish SOJ.

    and yes this is heavily opinionated don't @ me because i disagree with you, i don't like the choices made with the game but that doesnt mean theyre objectively bad, just subjectively. Apart from Edgeworth's voice

    submitted by /u/LMWJ6776
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