Yeah, I do think he’s a pretty good prosecutor. He feels like an Edgeworth 2.0. His has the bangs, he’s determined to crush you, and he’s incredibly smart. And he has style and grace.
And MAN, when you finally make him have his “breakdown.” It’s awesome and hilarious.
Something I really appreciate about this game: the use of the 3D models to their full potential. In Dual Destinies, I didn’t quite understand why they went with the 3D models, since it didn’t do anything too amazing with them. This game definitely did awesome stuff, though. Cutscenes with them, using it for TV footage (which was awesome in The Magical Turnabout BTW), and even the Song of Ceremony. It’s downright amazing.
They were used pretty well honestly, although I think Dual Destinies was better at the dramatic “break downs” for the most part. One of my favorite things about PW:AA SoJ is that in all reality, it’s pretty much AJ:AA SoJ.
It’s funny to think that in this one, not only was Maya accused of murder, but she was also kidnapped. She’s got some pretty bad luck. This is her what, third time of being accused of murder, and her second time being kidnapped? Gosh dang kid, but hey. Phoenix gets to have more adventures with her, and Apollo has ascended to taking over Dhurke’s position. Man, Dhurke was such an awesome character…
You know, I’ve began to see a reoccurring theme with spirit channellers in Ace Attorney. One sister tries to kill or usurp the other sister out of jealousy, then that sister disappears only to later be revealed as living in plain sight. Perhaps this goes back to the Founder of the Khura’in channeling technique (which is Ami Fey, pretty much requiring her to be the first royalty in the kingdom, considering that channeling is a requirement for owning the throne), and someone else, which would of course make Ami Fey the sister that was forced to go into hiding in that situation as well. We also know now that spirit channeling can only be done by royal descendants, which gives merit to the idea that there’s a cycle of jealousy and betrayal, and that Ami Fey herself had to be royalty, and her journey out of Khura’in to Japan and then to America was more or less an attempt to go into hiding
Gosh it’s been a long time since I’ve discussed Ace Attorney here. Well, here goes nothing.
Spirit of Justice is one of the best AA games done in a while. Not only are the animations incredible, but the soundtrack is amazing, the story is fulfilling and entertaining, and it finally gives one of the best AA characters, Apollo Justice, some fleshing out with the final case being about him.
I’ll review each case, because each is pretty spot on.
[WARNING: Spoilers. The game has been out for months, but just in case, PLEASE don’t read any further if you haven’t played it!]
The Foreign Turnabout
Pros:
The singing parts of the trial which were hilarious.
Gaspen Payne, the “Royal Payne” or as he calls it, “The Great Payne.” His baldness reveal was just gold.
The Seance mechanic is amazing.
The case is one of the funniest AA’s had to date.
Cons:
Villain is revealed at the beginning, which is tiresome but understandable.
Rayfa comes off as annoying here. She’s not like this for the whole game, thank goodness.
The Magical Turnabout
My favorite case in this game.
Pros:
Roger Retinz. I don’t care if he’s so easy to point to as the bad guy, he’s a jerk and figuring out his whole plan is just so fun. I think the whole point is that you’re supposed to know it. His breakdown is also fun.
The use of the 3D models to make footage to analyze, show Bonnie and Batty giving away their “teleportation” trick, and have Trucy give a physical testimony through showing off her magic trick.
The tension of Roger Retinz ruining your career in every way possible is wonderful. I really hate the guy!
The mystery of how Retinz killed someone while having an actual alibi through a trap is just pure genius.
Nayhuta is SOOOOO satisfying to defeat. Take those freaking beads to the face you jerk.
Cons:
It makes me sad to see that Apollo’s percieve isn’t being used in court anymore.
Athena kinda takes the backseat, but she’s still a good assistant.
Gosh I hate Nayhuta, but maybe that was the point.
The Rite of Turnabout.
Pros:
Maya is back! Yay!
Phoenix loses a case for real and it’s devastating.
Rayfa is a fantastic assistant.
The whole murder/suicide was a fantastic mystery.
The assassin is also amazing.
Intro to the Defiant Dragons. I liked it.
We get to talk to Inga some more and I loved to hate him.
The callbacks to Steel Samurai and how “Plumed Punisher” was a rip-off of it.
Tahrust and Beleeb is a beautiful couple and you do truly feel sorry for them.
Cons:
Maya being back. She hasn’t grown up much, but at least she acts a little more adult.
Phoenix is a freaking IDIOT now. It drives me nuts how he could miss such an important aspect of the Seance, which is that Tahrust turned around and committed suicide. I could tell that immediately when the seance happened! Also, how could he NOT tell that the bearded guy was Datz?!
Tahrust being channeled by Maya is disturbing. The worst part is that he likes to twist his leg around his head. Gosh it’s just… NO. STOP.
Turnabout Storyteller.
I REALLY don’t like this case.
Pros:
Blackquill is back and he’s still amazing. His sparring with Nahyuta is gold. Nayhuta this whole time is calling you names and then Blackquill does it back to him.
Uendo is a interesting and engaging witness. The mystery of his fourth personality and how you actually have to get him drunk to get it is great.
Cons:
ATHENA IS AN IDIOT! Gosh what is with this game and making everyone but Apollo an idiot? Athena can’t even defend very well. She has to get so much help from Blackquill that even Blackquill gets annoyed by it.
Geiru is my least favorite AA villain. She killed her dad because of a misunderstanding and then it makes you hate her even more even though she is supposed to feel sympathetic? They even say in the case that she’s wasted potential. That’s her whole character. Wasted potential. Good job guys.
The defendant is annoying and frankly stupid. AA why do all your more cartoony-looking characters have to be the annoying ones?
Turnabout Revolution
This case is the bomb.
Pros:
The dynamic between Apollo and his dad, Dhurke, is powerful.
Dhurke is one of my favorite AA supporting characters, and for good reason. He’s passionate, compassionate, brave, and hard working. He can also be selfish, so that’s a flaw, but he’s just an amazing man, and you feel heart broken when it’s revealed that he’s dead the whole time. Seriously, that really broke my heart.
Paul Atishon is a hilarious parody of American Politicians. He’s a jerk to everyone and you love it.
You have two excellent cases in one here. First, you have a civil trial where Atishon sues Dhurke and you have to face off against Phoenix. It’s very fun, especially when it converts into a murder trial. The second is even more engaging and has this dangerous feel to it. Plus you dethrone a QUEEN! That is just… MMMMMM yes.
Apollo is a genius here and he shows the “Spirit of Justice” as the title says through the whole “dragon never yields” motto his father keeps saying. It got so excited when he finally started winning. Also, his victory over Phoenix was the stuff of legend and shows he was ready to take the final test.
Phoenix and Edgeworth interaction is always a pro.
Apollo’s biological father is briefly introduced, and at first you think it’s pointless, but then you learn that he literally helps save the case through seeing a Seance of his final moments. Through a brief glimpse, you see how Apollo gained his powerful voice, being a musician’s son, and you see that in his final moments, Jove Justice cared for his son even when he was killed. His final sights also lead to seeing who REALLY tried to kill the original Queen.
The defiant dragons are legit.
Nayhuta, despite being a jerk, has this amazing moment where he shows a hand tattoo, just like Dhurke’s, and says “a dragon never yields,” defying the queen.
Apollo leaving to help the people of Khura’in his sad but also a good send off.
Armie Buff is adorable and likeable. I forgot to mention that earlier.
Phoenix is the assistant, and thank goodness too. I missed seeing that.
Rayfa has good character building.
Cons:
Ho boy, I don’t wanna do cons, but here we go. First off, Phoenix being forced to represent Paul Atishon by kidnapping Maya was disappointing. I don’t get it. Why does Capcom insist on making Phoenix 100% perfect? I prefer him flawed. I think it would have been better that he actually SUPPORTED Atishon and then learned that Atishon was using him.
Nayhuta, despite redeeming himself, still felt like a jerk to me in the end. His redemption came too late, and it was just a retread of Edgeworth.
Apparently Inga was supposed to come off as a guy who loved his daughter and did awful things? I never picked that up, which is unfortunate.
Garan is such a weak villain. This game did good making villains as strait-jerks and not being sympathetic. But I feel Garan needed some sympathy for the awful things she did, not just being mad for power. She felt like Von Karma 2.0 and I just feel we needed something different. Oh well. It was still satisfying to freaking dethrone her through law.
I guess the OG queen was supposed to be the better one, but I hated her guts too. Seriously she was a jerk to Dhurke and then even after she understood the truth I didn’t feel she deserved redemption.
Why did Dhurke have to die. :’( OK don’t count this one I’m just sad.
The Game’s Entirety.
Pros:
Fantastic soundtrack.
AMAZING use of the 3D models. I’m glad they did more with them than Dual Destinies did. It was debatable to me whether using the 3D models was good in Dual Destinies, but SoJ just shows that it was a necessity if they wanted to make cooler things. I’m glad they went with 3D.
This game had some good characters.
The writing is excellent and rivals Trials and Tribulations in terms of overarching plot. This one is just so much more fleshed out.
The Seance mechanic was great, and I hope they use it more in further AA games.
Cons:
The bare use of former functions like Percieve and Mood Matrix made me sad because I liked them.
The puns, while fun, just made things less serious. It ruined 6-3 somewhat, but I’m glad 6-5’s final part avoided them.
I just hate how Phoenix and Athena seemed kinda stupid in this game. It just bothers me.
Although the jerk villains worked in some cases (6-2, 6-5), the other ones just weren’t as engaging. Geiru especially isn’t very fun to take down, although Garan is. We did have a sympathetic “villain,” which was Beleeb and Tahrust and that worked good, but I dunno, these villains weren’t the best.
I just really hate 6-4. It’s fan service, pure and simple.
Overall, solid game. I recommend it to any AA fan, because you can tell Capcom tried to put a ton more effort in this game than DD. I’d give it an 8/10. The flaws are too over-bearing to me to be frank. Still, play it guys. You’ll love it.
I honestly think the reason DD and SoJ have so many issues is the use of a standard case number amount per title that keeps getting carried over. They’ve increased cast size, but they haven’t started giving the games more cases to compensate for that. I honestly would have liked the inclusion of Maya a lot more if she’d been able to appear a lot more. I liked the idea of having a civil case, and I’m glad that Maya didn’t change too much personality wise.
Personally speaking, my favorite case was the DLC one.
Honestly, I’d like to go back to having darker, more high stake murder trials. If they want to get really creative, they could make dialogue choices that actually matter and potentially change tge outcome of a case or investigation for better or worse. That might be a bit too ambitious though.
