I've seen tons of people complain about this game being the worst of the franchise. Mainly because Phoenix isn't the Player Character and because he got a laid-back Character Derailment. Others point out that the game has a lot of plot holes they aren't willing to ignore.
To them I say: not a big deal.
Let's talk about Phoenix first. He certainly Took a Level in Cynic and is more carefree. He doesn't seem to care about anything much... save for the change in the legal system. It makes sense that being tricked into presenting false evidence and getting disbarred would make anyone sour, and it gets better when you learn what Phoenix is doing to get revenge on the man responsible for the Dark Age of the Law. Simply put, a brilliant Batman Gambit spanning seven years. What Phoenix lost in likability, he made up for with magnificence.
Now the plot holes. What plot holes are we talking about? I can only think of Cases 3 and 4.
Case 3 features Klavier indicting a blind child of firing a large gun that would break his arm by recoil and of carrying a man much bigger than him all the way to the top of a tower on stage. Sure enough, it sounds stupid. It makes you hate the legal system... Wait, what? You're telling me it's the whole point of the franchise? Exposing how bad the legal system is? Well, then they did a good job at it! The only bad thing you can point out here is that the game's creators didn't leave clear enough that the court was bought by Borginia's authorities so the trial would go smoothly.
Case 4 features Time Travel. You have to show evidence from the present to a person 7 years ago. And the game says explicitly it's not Time Travel, but a fun recreation of someone's findings in that span of time. I agree here, but it doesn't make the game any less fun.
I'll be honest here: I like Apollo. He's my favorite lawyer to this day. Granted, he didn't get a lot of Character Development or backstory in this game, but the creators had to explain why on earth Phoenix is like this all of a sudden, after the happy ending of Trials and Tribulations. Given what was told about Apollo in Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, I don't think they could have thrown in anything in this game. They would need like 6 or 7 cases total to include Clay Terran and Dhurke that far ahead. Though I guess they could've come up with something else.
I liked the thing about the jurist system, and I wasn't happy when that was dropped in Dual Destinies. It would've given room to interesting possibilities. I guess Status Quo Is God.
So overall, not nearly as bad an experience as people say, though I admit they could've handled some things better. If you like Ace Attorney, give it a chance.
A different, interesting take on Ace Attorney
I've seen tons of people complain about this game being the worst of the franchise. Mainly because Phoenix isn't the Player Character and because he got a laid-back Character Derailment. Others point out that the game has a lot of plot holes they aren't willing to ignore.
To them I say: not a big deal.
Let's talk about Phoenix first. He certainly Took a Level in Cynic and is more carefree. He doesn't seem to care about anything much... save for the change in the legal system. It makes sense that being tricked into presenting false evidence and getting disbarred would make anyone sour, and it gets better when you learn what Phoenix is doing to get revenge on the man responsible for the Dark Age of the Law. Simply put, a brilliant Batman Gambit spanning seven years. What Phoenix lost in likability, he made up for with magnificence.
Now the plot holes. What plot holes are we talking about? I can only think of Cases 3 and 4.
I'll be honest here: I like Apollo. He's my favorite lawyer to this day. Granted, he didn't get a lot of Character Development or backstory in this game, but the creators had to explain why on earth Phoenix is like this all of a sudden, after the happy ending of Trials and Tribulations. Given what was told about Apollo in Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, I don't think they could have thrown in anything in this game. They would need like 6 or 7 cases total to include Clay Terran and Dhurke that far ahead. Though I guess they could've come up with something else.
I liked the thing about the jurist system, and I wasn't happy when that was dropped in Dual Destinies. It would've given room to interesting possibilities. I guess Status Quo Is God.
So overall, not nearly as bad an experience as people say, though I admit they could've handled some things better. If you like Ace Attorney, give it a chance.