Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

[Talint]

Just beat the game. Rivals Trials and Tribulations as best game in series.

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Awesome you get to play as Athena. I figure she'd be the permanent Second Chair fixture, but everyone rotated around as second chair, and that was pretty cool.

Apollo really comes out in this game. It's funny to juxtapose Apollo's development when they reintroduce Klavier, and watching just how terrible and boring Klavier is. Also, Case 3 finally breaks the mold of being Worst Case in the Game. Hopefully Robin Newman and Hugh O'Conner become semi-regulars.

Fucking shit Case 5. You see the Edgeworth return coming almost a mile away, but it doesn't detract from it any. Watching them battle it out makes you all giddy.

The Bobby Fulbright reveal was fucking god tier. Had absolutely no idea that was coming; I very audibly went "Son of a bitch!" when it happened.

[Xerlic]

Just finished case 3 last night.

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Without a doubt the best breakdown ever. And Simon keeps getting more and more badassed.

Without a doubt, Simon is my new favorite prosecutor.

Case 3

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It was kind of obvious to guess that he was the killer since planting a red herring followed by a twist is the series's MO, and Means was the outlier that really stuck out. I like how his evil teacher mode with the blackboard, though.

Yeah, Simon is awesome. I thought he was just another generic Manfred/Godot clone, but he grew on me throughout case 3. I like how his "Objection" becomes "Silence" after he goes SSJ and breaks the chains.

[Corrderio]

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That evil teacher bit was great, but I loved during his breakdown when he was writing what his punishment should have been on the blackboard while getting barraged with paper

Also finished Case 4

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Holy crap at the twist where it points to Antehna being the killer since her prints were on the bloody lighter. They really outdid themselves with this case. They even started to make me like Fulbright since despite him being a bumbling idiot, he does have an actual sense of justice when he noticed how personal the case was to Simon and how unusually reckless he was.

[Corrderio]

Just finished the final case. Holy hell that was amazing. Simon is officially the best prosecutor in the series. Only thing I never understood though...

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They never did explain the reasons why the phantom sabotaged the HAT-1 and HAT-2 blasts. Or why Apollo's arms were bandaged. He claimed the eye patch was so he wouldn't pick up on Athena lies, but still doesn't explain his arms.

Also...

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Pearl is still cute as hell

[Talint]

Just finished the final case. Holy hell that was amazing. Simon is officially the best prosecutor in the series. Only thing I never understood though...

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They never did explain the reasons why the phantom sabotaged the HAT-1 and HAT-2 blasts. Or why Apollo's arms were bandaged. He claimed the eye patch was so he wouldn't pick up on Athena lies, but still doesn't explain his arms.

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The arms were a result for the courtroom bombing where he shielded Juniper. I was under the assumption that there were extensive injuries all over his body.

As for HAT1, I think they kind of sweep it under the rug as "General Espionage". Like, of course spies are going to sabotage space launches. That's what they do.

HAT2 was probably less about espionage, since it was an effort for The Phantom to destroy the evidence.

[Corrderio]

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Oh right, it skipped my mind about his injuries in the first case. Went through the final case as fast as possible since I wanted to get it done by tonight.

And maybe. I always assumed the phantom's intentions was something to do with asteroid/moon rock research. Kinda sucks we didn't never got to find out. At least on the bright side there's hope to see Gumshoe back.... assuming Capcom doesn't try to bullshit us like they did with AAI2

[Ayn]

Every single time Fullbright shows up, I about lose it.

[Cream Soda]

Every single time Fullbright shows up, I about lose it.

This, though I love when you present your attorney's badge to him(as Apollo). HERE COMES JUSTICE!

From case 2, which I'm still on

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Anyone present all the evidence to Phoenix? I can't remember which triggered it, but you get him to talk about one of his prior cases where Maya was the suspect


also, did you search the air vent in the fox chamber and get the ladder/step ladder cameo?

Lastly, I think it was an AAI reference, but "every nook and cranny" was mentioned, I think by Blacquill

I like Blaquill so far, but Godot is still my favorite so far

[Odesseiron]

Oh man, just finished it. What another fantastic game in the series. Easily matches Trials & Tribulations for best in series. The writers for this game (both of the original scenario & the english story) deserve so much credit. For tying the story together, the characters, everything. Loved the cameos, (though I was hoping for a couple of others) I just hope we don't have to wait 5 years for the next one. I really hope it sells enough so they can make more.

If this for whatever reason is the last game in the series (designed, I mean) I am okay with it. It had such a solid story. Every time you can't think the series will top itself, it does.

Now, to spoilers!

FINAL CASE SPOILARS!!

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I called it being Fulbright from about the middle of the 4th case on. I wasn't too sure about him. Something seemed a bit off. I couldn't put my finger on it. New Head investigator out of nowhere? Seems fishy. Especially when he started to be so cooperative. Something just felt wrong. Sure enough, it turned out to be him. That didn't take anything away from the game though. I still enjoyed every second of it. Everything, the sabotage of the first mission, the explosion in the courthouse and space station, all to destroy any shred of his identity.

When Fulbright first took off the mask, I was like WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!! STARBUCK!? Then everything else happened. What a crazy ass case. They make it work though. Shit is so much fun. Having Edgeworth come back for half a case was awesome too. I was really hoping you'd square off against him. He's always been the best at giving the most solid prosecution in the series. That being said though, Blackquill takes the cake as far as prosecutors go. Then Godot. Edgeworth still has a solid place in my heart though.

Missed Gumshoe, Larry Butz, Maya, Godot, Franceska and some others, but I suppose you can't have them all in one game. Would be too much. Anyway, I 10/10 from me.

[Ayn]

On case 4..

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Where Blackquill does the whistle early on. I'm sitting there saying "..Why's he whistling? The hawk is already there."

Then Fulbright, out of nowhere.

Every, single, god damn time.

[Lucavi]

Love this game with all of my parts, but especially my peepee.

I hope they never stop making them so long as they can keep making great songs and writing great stories. Also, they've done a great job on showing age progression. Phoenix and Miles look so goddamn wizened in this game compared to older ones.

[Corrderio]

Oh man, just finished it. What another fantastic game in the series. Easily matches Trials & Tribulations for best in series. The writers for this game (both of the original scenario & the english story) deserve so much credit. For tying the story together, the characters, everything. Loved the cameos, (though I was hoping for a couple of others) I just hope we don't have to wait 5 years for the next one. I really hope it sells enough so they can make more.

If this for whatever reason is the last game in the series (designed, I mean) I am okay with it. It had such a solid story. Every time you can't think the series will top itself, it does.

Now, to spoilers!

FINAL CASE SPOILARS!!

Spoiler: show

I called it being Fulbright from about the middle of the 4th case on. I wasn't too sure about him. Something seemed a bit off. I couldn't put my finger on it. New Head investigator out of nowhere? Seems fishy. Especially when he started to be so cooperative. Something just felt wrong. Sure enough, it turned out to be him. That didn't take anything away from the game though. I still enjoyed every second of it. Everything, the sabotage of the first mission, the explosion in the courthouse and space station, all to destroy any shred of his identity.

When Fulbright first took off the mask, I was like WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!! STARBUCK!? Then everything else happened. What a crazy ass case. They make it work though. Shit is so much fun. Having Edgeworth come back for half a case was awesome too. I was really hoping you'd square off against him. He's always been the best at giving the most solid prosecution in the series. That being said though, Blackquill takes the cake as far as prosecutors go. Then Godot. Edgeworth still has a solid place in my heart though.

Missed Gumshoe, Larry Butz, Maya, Godot, Franceska and some others, but I suppose you can't have them all in one game. Would be too much. Anyway, I 10/10 from me.

Spoiler: show

Only thing I didn't like was how much of a hollow victory it felt like when you got the phantom. Yes we figured out who the murderer was, but still a lot of unanswered questions. What was his real identity? Why murder Athena's mother? Why attempt to sabotage the rockets? I'm sure I'm missing something, but still a lot of unanswered questions. Hopefully they plan on a sequel and got T&T on us and tie up every loose end from Dual Destinies.

And yes, that final case is what sealed the deal for Blackquill for me. He was willing to do whatever it took to make him look like he murdered Athena's mother in order to protect her out of pure respect for his mentor in order to "protect her most precious treasure". That and him playing along with the phantom to lure him into a false sense of security so Athena could pick up on his false emotions was also cunning

[Lucavi]

It cannot be said enough: I love this game. They've done such an amazing, amazing job with it. There are a few translation errors, but the -game- itself is a masterpiece, once again.

If every book was like this, kids would read forever.

[Xerlic]

Just finished the game on the bus ride to work. I had to sit in Bryant Park to finish watching the ending haha. Overall I thought the game was great, but it felt like they tried to cram too much into the game. I admire Capcom for giving the fans what they want, but there were a lot of points in the game that I felt things were too "fanservicey".

Phoenix/Apollo/Athena stuff:

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I was really excited to finally get to play Phoenix as a main character again. He seemed a lot wiser and more experienced in AA4 compared to AA3, which makes sense considering the time skip, so I was expecting his presence in the courtroom to be different than in the earlier games as a protagonist. However, he played out like he did in AA1-AA3 which made it feel like Capcom disregarded his development from AA4. Believing in your client always and bluffing is classic Phoenix Wright, so I can't really complain though.

I liked Apollo's role in this game. He has good chemistry with Athena, and I didn't mind switching off between Phoenix and Apollo as you go from case to case.

I'm torn on Athena. Her storyline is interesting and she is integral to the game. This is classic Ace Attorney stuff where the entire game leads up to the epic final case and everything is wrapped up. At first I felt she was just another Maya/Pearl/Trucy, but she began to grow on me.

There were times that I felt there was too much stuff in this game. Having to play three different lawyers each with their own "power" seemed a bit forced. Some of the characters felt like they were inserted just to please the fans.

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Klavier seemed a bit random showing up in case 3. Pearl's only purpose seemed to be to remind us that the Feys still exist.

Even Edgeworth felt kind of shoehorned in to give that classic Phoenix vs. Miles showdown that the fans wanted (not that I'm complaining). It might have been more epic of Edgeworth showed up at the very end with the evidence about the real Fulbright.

Easily matches Trials & Tribulations for best in series.

I like how they ended AA5, but I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree. I loved TT because it tied together the whole trilogy. To me, it almost felt like I was experiencing the ending of Return of the King again. It just felt much more epic the way that final case tied together so many things.

[Lucavi]

Looking back at T&T, there are a metric ton of plotholes that exist from the last case (some japanese guy actually made an entire fan trial that cleans up the plotholes and branches into the sequel), but there were just so many feel-good moments in that final case that it felt absolutely perfect. So long as the series continues to have strong "wrap ups" without jumping the shark, I'll always be happy.

[Corrderio]

Got a list of these plotholes? I thought it tied up pretty much every lose end.

[Lucavi]

I'll name the ones off the top of my head, but if I can find the link, I'll send that.

Godot not burning the letter as he read it before Pearl, and thus, denying the entire murder plot altogether.
Iris not simply dumping Misty's body into the river rapids from her side of the bridge, like the police officer's body that was tossed in the earlier case. She originally moved the body across the bridge on Godot's orders in order to draw suspicion away from Maya, but... no body = no charges, really.

[Ayn]

Just finished.

They need to continue making these games forever.

[Lucavi]

Just finished.

They need to continue making these games forever.

They have my money every time, from reputation alone. This is the 4th amazing game in the series I've played: they've earned those $40 or whatever they'll charge.

[Corrderio]

I really hope they do as well. They left a big enough plot hole open for another game and then some.