I'm a pretty big fan of the Ace Attorney series, so to mask my butthurt over the fact that I can't afford that Professor Layton Vs Phoenix Wright game that just came out (and I keep incorrectly referring to Professor Layton Vs Ace Attorney, because Professor Layton is a jerk who insisted that the entire franchise be named after him and Phoenix Wright isn't) I played some of Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice today.
Only Case 2 of the game mind, I've actually beaten it twice beforehand but during the second playthrough I skipped over the second case due to it being boring. Which pretty much makes that case the only one in the entire series that I haven't overplayed to death (I've played Trials and Tribulations FOUR times, and if you judge me for that well you can just get off my turf I guess). Having played it again...yea it's still pretty boring, but playing it again now made it a refreshing kind of boring.
I bought (and reviewed on this very site!) Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies on the day it came out, and although it was mostly good times there was always something missing from it. It suffers from what a lot of long-running franchises eventually catch when their original creators start to get removed from the picture but the series keeps going in the name of brand recognition, and that's when it starts to feel like a fangame. Not necessarily because the creators themselves are Wayforward (oh boy what a slip I meant to say "fanboys" how did this happen I'm so sorry!) but because they're being made to service the fanboys. And that's why Dual Destinies has weird quirks like old characters coming back for no reason, and Phoenix Wright being the main character once again even though the story barely needs him any more.
None of that matters though, the point with Dual Destinies was that it got lost in creating crazy murder scenarios (and they are really clever) whereas the original trilogy of games were grounded in character. Dual Destinies replaces that emphasis on character with dumb anime melodrama and callbacks to the old game, which dorks and fanboys can get into but it left me feeling cold personally. I've always had a huge respect for this series due to being filled with nonsense and convenient plot devices but still making it all work in the end because it grounds the craziness (and occasionally laziness) in the people. So while Dual Destinies was still entertaining, it just didn't grab me the same way the other games did.
And that's the thing with Apollo Justice as a whole, but especially the second case, the murders and scenarios in this game are probably the most boring ones in the entire series. The second case could probably be an episode of CSI if you took the stereotype college student who steals panties out of it, other than that it's a pretty simple murder and a boring story about gangsters. But still, the story still shines in that you see the development in character and the relationship of new leads Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright (who is gosh darn adorable, but the existence of Deviantart makes me uncomfortable saying that on the internet).
Trials and Tribulations is my series favourite because you had the convoluted crazy murders (many will argue they get a little too crazy) mixed with the comedy AND the characters. Apollo Justice just has the characters, Dual Destinies just has the crazy murders, so overall I find both lacking, but the fact that I probably prefer Apollo Justice either says a lot about me as a person or perhaps even storytelling in general.
I dunno, everyone else in the world loved Dual Destinies for the completely illogical melodrama, lazy themes and overblown murders. But then again a lot of people paid to go see Transformers 2...and 3...and eventually 4...so what do I know.
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