Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy

[b]Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney[/b] What a way to start this trilogy off. [i]Turnabout Trump[/i] is the best starting case in the entire series counting spinoffs, it is such a good introduction with such good intrigue. The next two cases are fine, good even, but nothing to really write home about aside from the introduction of Klavier Gavin who is awesome and I deeply love. [i]Turnabout Succession[/i] is a pretty contentious case but I just love it, the way it plays with the timeline and connects to the first case is so incredibly satisfying. I also just love Apollo himself, a lot of people like to point out he's really not that relevant to the plot and they're not really wrong but I honestly just don't care all that much, he's such a fun character to be around. He also has the best voice lines in the series and they completely butchered them in the next games and I'll never forgive Capcom (seriously the way he yells "Objection!" is music to my ears every time). [b]Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies[/b] Man do some people hate this game, and look, I kinda get it, but Dual Destinies is so deeply elevated by the mere presence of Athena Cykes and my personal favorite gameplay gimmick, the Mood Matrix, that even the fact that she doesn't get enough time as a protagonist only barely brings it down. There is something about this character that somehow manages to override all my critical sensibilities. Like, sure, [i]Turnabout Countdown[/i] is a fairly middling first case and [i]The Monstrous Turnabout[/i] isn't appreciably better and the whole "Dark Age of the Law" thing feels very tacky and shallow, but have you SEEN Athena?! Anyway, not to suggest Dual Destinies doesn't have good cases or stories to tell, far from it, it's my favorite game in the trilogy and that's for a reason. [i]Turnabout Academy[/i] is an excellent case with a great setting and characters (and the only case where Athena is the protagonist for its entirety!), [i]Turnabout Reclaimed[/i] is an extremely fun case and honestly, the only one in the entire franchise where I was looking forward more to the investigation than the trial, and [i]Turnabout for Tomorrow[/i] is a bonafide masterpiece with a deeply compelling mystery and some of the most poignant and dark themes in the series. Also did I mention Blackquill? He's great, and his dynamic with Athena is one of the best in Ace Attorney. [b]Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice[/b] This is a weird one. Despite not starting with its best foot forward with [i]The Foreign Turnabout[/i], not only the weakest [i]starting[/i] case but the weakest one generally in the entire trilogy, Spirit of Justice follows it up with nothing but good episodes, and its pacing is aided by going back and forth between the settings of Khura'in and Japanifornia. The mysteries might be a little convoluted sometimes, especially with the introduction of the Seances, but there's really not much to complain about. Even the somewhat controversial [i]Turnabout Storyteller[/i] I found to be very good, especially due to having one of the best witnesses in the series in Uendo Toneido (who is honestly only second to The Great Ace Attorney's Skulkin Brothers). Still, despite Spirit of Justice being one of the more consistent games in the series and enjoying it greatly, it doesn't excite me as much as the first two in the trilogy. It doesn't reach the level of novelty of Apollo Justice or the boundless charm of Dual Destinies, and Nahyuta, while receiving much less credit than he deserves, is still the weakest prosecutor in the series. He's much more nuanced and interesting than people make him out to be, but he still doesn't have that X factor that makes every other prosecutor feel so vivid and fun. [i]Turnabout Revolution[/i], while still being the best case in the game, having a lot of suspense and excitement and a very clever twist, is probably my least favorite final case in the mainline Ace Attorney games (don't get me wrong, it's still VERY good). Still, Athena is here and despite her hair strangely being a lot less orange I love her just as much, Apollo gets a nice wrap-up to his sometimes confusing and confused character, seeing Maya again after all this time was wonderful and Phoenix is just Phoenix and I honestly couldn't ask for much more.