The PROBLEMS with Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

I think where AJ went wrong is that it's not Apollo's game. There's no greater focus on him and for most of the game it feels like he's just going through the motion. While he's a great character he's not as well defined in AJ unlike how in the first game we saw what motivated Phoenix to be a lawyer. We don't know what motivates Apollo. I'm currently playing through the 3ds games rn and I hope that they fleshed him out more.

Honestly, I love Phoenix in AJ, one of the only things I love about the game. Seeing how far he's fallen after 7 years is very interesting, even if it would've been better to show the whole progression. Because we don't play as him for most of the game, we get to see him from other people's perspectives, so when we finally do play as him, we get to see just how much of his old self is still there, just not shown to the outside world. What SUCKS is how they didn't commit to this after AJ. He becomes a lawyer again in DD instead of staying as a mentor to Apollo. They somehow go BACKWARDS with his character. He seems completely incompetent in court, and his reputation has completely changed. Everyone seems to only know him for bluffing when he was simply a very skilled and smart attorney before. He only ever relied on bluffs in the worst situations, like when he was thinking out loud about where the bullet went in 1-4 and when he needed to buy time in 2-4. I wanted to pull my hair out with how much Phoenix would make a very fair objection, and then the prosecution would be like "oh yes, another classic bluff from Mr. Wright." But they're honestly fair to think that, because Phoenix gets disheartened WAY more than he should. Even when the situation isn't awful and he's completely against a wall, he'll think something like "I've gotta think of something, even if its just a bluff!" TL:DR, Phoenix's transformation in AJ was great, but his transformation to DD was awful, which in hind sight, stains Phoenix's character in AJ.

"Apollo Justice has no backstory" Future games each giving him a different backstory: Say no more fam

Some of my own interpretations: The MASON System was presented to the jurors before the trial, it wasn't shown as evidence in court. It was a loose interpretation of the whole incident presented as a simulation/video game, so there wasn't any actual time travel. I think it was supposed to be a "judge for yourselves" thing for the jurors. While Phoenix is infamous for the evidence forging, he still has friends in law enforcement. I recall it was stated somewhere that Ema helped him work on it, but I could be wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if he convinced the judge to run that test trial. Phoenix also didn't do that trial to catch Kristoph for the murder. He'd already been caught for his previous murder and is already in prison. The purpose of the trial was to declare Vera innocent because if we did a conventional trial, it would have been impossible to get her off the hook by proving someone set up a murder 7 years ahead of time. Turnabout Serenade was supposed to get across how the law system stopped considering common sense and blindly follows evidence as the only thing that matters. Hence why Machi was arrested because he was present there, with the gun and body, and the illogical part that he couldn't have fired it without injuring himself wasn't considered. The jury was supposed to introduce common sense to the law because the verdict would be voted on by common people who aren't burdened with strict court regulations. The Jurist System being retired with no mention was probably Capcom's response to how heavily criticized Apollo Justice was, along with the change in directors. There's also a video out there about how the Professor Layton director recommended that the Dual Destinies team ignores the previous games and makes the game its own thing. Takumi sort of followed up his jury ideas in The Great Ace Attorney where he also covers the flaws of the system. That's why, in addition to a prequel to the whole franchise, the duology can be considered a spiritual successor to Apollo Justice.

My biggest problem with Phoenix Wright is that he gets disbarred as a lawyer and ends up an isolated drunk rendering his interactions with most of the characters in the last three games mean absolutely nothing. The friendship with Edgeworth was meaningless, the rivalry with Franziska and Godot was meaningless, the brother-sister camaraderie with Maya and Pearl was meaningless, the student-mentor camaraderie with Mia was meaningless, even the mentioned romantic relationship with Iris whom he believed was Dahlia for years was meaningless (also Capcom pretending Iris never existed in the later games just makes it even worse). Everything that the original trilogy built up has gone to waste since Phoenix Wright ends up alone and miserable anyway. It's why I will always consider Trials And Tribulations as the real ending of the series.

I may be in the minority, but Apollo Justice is my favorite game! I dunno why, but for me, Apollo is a lot more relatable or a protagonist than Phoenix to me. Maybe it’s because of his anxious energy and dry humor, but he was a lot more of an enjoyable protagonist to me. Along with that, Klavier is just,,,,, my all time fave character. He’s kind, has a very unique personality and flaws, and is just so human. A lot of people hated Turnabout Serenade, but it’s my all time favorite case because we get to start seeing the cracks in Klaviers otherwise “flawless” persona. Just, I know the game has its flaws, but it holds a special place in my heart :)

I feel like Capcom tried to distance itself from AJ in Dual Destinies by having Apollo gone most of the game, either looking for more info about Clay or cleaning toilets. Spirit of Justice gave Apollo a bigger role and isn't relying on Phoenix as much to solve cases so SoJ Apollo's game more than Apollo Justice.

I like Phoenix's new character here and in the newer games because it expands on his change in Trials and Tribulations. We see him fulfil the role of a mentor much like Mia did. But that's not enough to save the new protagonist Apollo who is barely more than a side character in AJ and DD. I think the pacing would be better if they introduced Athena first so they could spend DD expanding on her backstory and Apollo would be introduced as a supporting character. Also I think Emma deserved more development, since every new game there's a new detective while in the original trilogy Gumshoe served as the detective in all three.

The thing that irked me was how it took Phoenix 7 years and made him a hobo to finally expose the truth of the case, when if this were a case in any previous Ace Attorney game he would have solved it in three days. Keep in mind, “past” Phoenix already had almost everything he needed: he knew who the real forger was, he knew that Gavin was Zak Gramarlye’s previous attorney, and he easily could have figured out that Magnifi shot himself and how he was blackmailing Zak and Valant.

What went wrong is they never finished the original story plan and scrapped it, And because of it most of its plot threads didn't go anywhere.

Apollo Justice was clearly made with a direct sequel in mind, which it never got, to explain all of this "dark age of the law" era and go into deeper detail of the events of 7 years after Phoenix lost his badge. The sequel would've probably focused more on the jurist system along with Apollo and Trucy finding out about their mother while hobo Phoenix keeps being the father/mentor at the same time assisting during investigations. It would also go into detail whatever happened Edgeworth, Larry, Gumshoe, Maya and the rest of the old cast and maybe even unite them with the new cast like in the newer games. Honestly, so much potential story and gameplay wise was lost only because Crapcom decided to make Phoenix an attorney and the main focus of the whole game again in DD.

imagine if turnabout serenade had Daryan Crescend as the defendant & Machi Tobaye was the culprit. where instead of having to prove the only thing that makes sense you would have to turn the logic around & have to prove something that seems ridiculous at first glance.

I actually really liked Turnabout Serenade except for the ending (because how the heck is calling the defendant to testify for the millionth time supposed to be "decisive?" This is the only part of the game where I got any Guilty verdicts). And I enjoyed the video sequence, too. The song in that one isn't annoyingly repetitive like the Blue Badger theme in Rise from the Ashes.

I think part of the reason why the ending of Turnabout Succession falls flat for me is how, despite Kristoph and everyone else's claims, there is quite a bit of evidence that could have tied him back to the murder of Drew Misham even without the jurist system. The letter presented was faked to be sure, but given they mention Phoenix's recording of the letter, the judge could have requested a search of Kristoph's cell or on Kristoph himself (especially given that, since he is in prison, his quarters are actually state property and not a private residence. The mail was also being examined by staff at the prison, so there were also likely records of Kristoph's recipients and senders based on what came through. And even putting that letter aside, the red envelope showed a clearly hand-written message that could be compared to Kristoph's own writing. So yeah, I kind of get what the message the game wanted to convey with needing the new system was; but I feel like this case in particular was too clear-cut on the innocence of the defendant and the guilt of the villain.

AJ may have many many flaws but goddamnit it's my favorite aa game.

I feel like Nick was trusted with the Jury system is because even thou he had to charge him as guilty to it's implied the judge still thinks he's innocent so he probably had some influence there

Apollo has more bearing on the story in Dual Destinies than he does in his own game lmao

We actually know why the jurist system wasn't used again. After Aj Takumi was busy with the crossover game so Capcom put his assistant on the lead. And then started a new era of Ace attorney where they didn't want to directly adress events of the previous game thinking that it would dissuade new fans from bying them after finishing the new one. Some fans call this the "no spoiler rule". And it's the reason DD basically ignores everything that happened in AJ

Worst thing about Turnabout Serenade is that it doesn't give the player any closure. It just ends abruptly, without telling us clearly what happened during the murder, who moved the body and why, and why Maki was found unconscious next to it. And the dead body having a guitar too, wtf? The writers were on crack when they came up with this case.

I have mixed feelings about this one, even though i had fun with it, the game had this bland feeling throughout the whole story. The saddest part is the fact that the most memorable moment of the game for me was the AA1 style trial on a game that was supposed to be Apolo's story. Klavier was really good tho.