John Dunbar
correct about everything
Following has spoilers, of course, but since it's an oldish game, I suppose tags aren't necessary, but don't read if you haven't played and so forth.
I admit that the change in the main characters were probably the biggest reason why I waited so long to play the game, despite being a huge fan of the first 3 games. I was glad to see Phoenix have a big role, although I have mixed feeling how he was portrayed. I ended up really liking Trucy, but Apollo felt pretty hollow. I have no clue what the character was about or what drove him. He pretty much felt like a copy of Phoenix from the first game with less story and character. Even when you found out that he could not have been raised by his biological parents, there was no word about his past. The earliest thing you know about it that somehow he ended up working for Kristoph, which alone is pretty suspicious.
Phoenix Wright getting disbarred for presenting forged evidence was pretty silly (considering the stuff that the attorneys have pulled in this game, it seemed like a really weak way for him to lose the badge, especially since it was clear he couldn't have forged it himself). Not to mention what he does afterwards. A disbarred attorney would be in charge of fixing the judicial system again with no explanation. While the 7 year long investigation and collecting info from different times was a good idea, the MASON system just made it seem like time travelling. Biggest problem for me was how they handled his relationships. Phoenix's circle of friends was always very important part of the game. It's just hard to imagine that Phoenix could be disbarred for 7 years and the player doesn't get a single word how all his friends felt or reacted to it.
Perceiving seemed at first like a cool idea, but I much prefer the psychelocks. While it was a great to be able to pick up witnesses' "tells", I really failed to see how it was supposed to work in practice. With psychelocks you at least convinced people to tell you their secrets by using information and evidence, but why would someone admit to lying because you see them sweat or swallow? It would have been much better if it would have just told you when and what they're lying about, so you'd know how to strike, but now it just seemed silly. "Ok, I'm sweating, you got me".
Even though I missed Gumshoe, I liked Ema Skye and the scientific investigation parts, although I did think they were too scarce and a bit too scripted. I much preffered it in the fifth case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
While it was nice for a change to have a prosecutor that didn't seem to hate you, there really was a lot of drama lacking in the trials. Edgeworth, Von Karma and the likes would take it as far as they could, but in the end it always seemed that Gavin was on your side. While what a prosecutor probably should be like, it really took away from the urgency and danger in the court.
Now I really don't believe that Kristoph would try to kill all those people just because of the case (if he did that would be a major disappointment). I hope his true intentions weren't really so shallow and petty, and the special locks kinda hint that way. I of course realize that the special "cold and full of despair" locks may have been there just so you won't be able to fully crack the case before trial, but I still hope they weren't there for such a silly motive.
That does seem to be one of the biggest flaws in the game. The motives and actions of Kristoph and Zak were really bizarre, so obviously I'm hoping the next game will reveal something new, but as it stands it left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
While I thought it was a great game and I definitely enjoyed it, it is still my least favourite in the series (PW3 > PW1 > PW2 > AJ).
Now if you don't care what I thought of the game, skip all that, but could you help me understand a couple things:
Now I'm not sure were these plot holes as such (a lot of times with these games "plot holes" just turns out to be the player not paying attention), but I'd appreciate if you guys could clear these up for me:
In Case 2, how did the bullet end up in the safe? In her testimony I think Alita said that she tried to get the chart, but the doctor attacked her. Best I can guess that the doctor opened the safe and then attacked her, and somehow the gun fired and the bullet landed in the safe, but I don't recall this mentioned in the testimony.
Also, in Case 3, how did the Interpol agent know that "the Siren" was the witness? That made sense when you believed she witnessed the crime from that little window, but when you found out she was in the ventilation system, how could he know? There's no way she could see the murder from up there, even if she weren't blind, so the agent couldn't have seen her either.
In the final case, why did Kristoph seem to care about the outcome of the trial so much? Sure, the person accused of a murder he committed might get acquitted, but there's still nothing decisive to pin the crime on him. Not to mention at that point it was still highly likely she'd die of the poison anyway.
Basically I'm thinking that there's a lot more to Kristoph than was revealed (like how the hell does someone get a scar that looks like the devil on his hand) and I'm hoping he'll be a main villain in the whole Apollo story. He's pretty cool. Also hope to see more of Valant (alakaaaaaaaazooooomggggggg).
I admit that the change in the main characters were probably the biggest reason why I waited so long to play the game, despite being a huge fan of the first 3 games. I was glad to see Phoenix have a big role, although I have mixed feeling how he was portrayed. I ended up really liking Trucy, but Apollo felt pretty hollow. I have no clue what the character was about or what drove him. He pretty much felt like a copy of Phoenix from the first game with less story and character. Even when you found out that he could not have been raised by his biological parents, there was no word about his past. The earliest thing you know about it that somehow he ended up working for Kristoph, which alone is pretty suspicious.
Phoenix Wright getting disbarred for presenting forged evidence was pretty silly (considering the stuff that the attorneys have pulled in this game, it seemed like a really weak way for him to lose the badge, especially since it was clear he couldn't have forged it himself). Not to mention what he does afterwards. A disbarred attorney would be in charge of fixing the judicial system again with no explanation. While the 7 year long investigation and collecting info from different times was a good idea, the MASON system just made it seem like time travelling. Biggest problem for me was how they handled his relationships. Phoenix's circle of friends was always very important part of the game. It's just hard to imagine that Phoenix could be disbarred for 7 years and the player doesn't get a single word how all his friends felt or reacted to it.
Perceiving seemed at first like a cool idea, but I much prefer the psychelocks. While it was a great to be able to pick up witnesses' "tells", I really failed to see how it was supposed to work in practice. With psychelocks you at least convinced people to tell you their secrets by using information and evidence, but why would someone admit to lying because you see them sweat or swallow? It would have been much better if it would have just told you when and what they're lying about, so you'd know how to strike, but now it just seemed silly. "Ok, I'm sweating, you got me".
Even though I missed Gumshoe, I liked Ema Skye and the scientific investigation parts, although I did think they were too scarce and a bit too scripted. I much preffered it in the fifth case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
While it was nice for a change to have a prosecutor that didn't seem to hate you, there really was a lot of drama lacking in the trials. Edgeworth, Von Karma and the likes would take it as far as they could, but in the end it always seemed that Gavin was on your side. While what a prosecutor probably should be like, it really took away from the urgency and danger in the court.
Now I really don't believe that Kristoph would try to kill all those people just because of the case (if he did that would be a major disappointment). I hope his true intentions weren't really so shallow and petty, and the special locks kinda hint that way. I of course realize that the special "cold and full of despair" locks may have been there just so you won't be able to fully crack the case before trial, but I still hope they weren't there for such a silly motive.
That does seem to be one of the biggest flaws in the game. The motives and actions of Kristoph and Zak were really bizarre, so obviously I'm hoping the next game will reveal something new, but as it stands it left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
While I thought it was a great game and I definitely enjoyed it, it is still my least favourite in the series (PW3 > PW1 > PW2 > AJ).
Now if you don't care what I thought of the game, skip all that, but could you help me understand a couple things:
Now I'm not sure were these plot holes as such (a lot of times with these games "plot holes" just turns out to be the player not paying attention), but I'd appreciate if you guys could clear these up for me:
In Case 2, how did the bullet end up in the safe? In her testimony I think Alita said that she tried to get the chart, but the doctor attacked her. Best I can guess that the doctor opened the safe and then attacked her, and somehow the gun fired and the bullet landed in the safe, but I don't recall this mentioned in the testimony.
Also, in Case 3, how did the Interpol agent know that "the Siren" was the witness? That made sense when you believed she witnessed the crime from that little window, but when you found out she was in the ventilation system, how could he know? There's no way she could see the murder from up there, even if she weren't blind, so the agent couldn't have seen her either.
In the final case, why did Kristoph seem to care about the outcome of the trial so much? Sure, the person accused of a murder he committed might get acquitted, but there's still nothing decisive to pin the crime on him. Not to mention at that point it was still highly likely she'd die of the poison anyway.
Basically I'm thinking that there's a lot more to Kristoph than was revealed (like how the hell does someone get a scar that looks like the devil on his hand) and I'm hoping he'll be a main villain in the whole Apollo story. He's pretty cool. Also hope to see more of Valant (alakaaaaaaaazooooomggggggg).
