u/Goldberry15

Color me impressed! Donkey Kong Country was good, but nothing super impressive, but after Gangplank Galleon, Diddy's Kong-Quest has been great so far! Crocodile Cauldron and Krem Quay are both great, and if the game can keep up this quality, I can see myself putting the game on the same page as Tropical Freeze, which is no small feat!

For reference, I played through Tropical Freeze during last winter, and had an absolute blast. Due to college, I haven’t been able to touch the SNES Trilogy, but I’m working through it. Tropical Freeze still feels the best to control (which of course it does, it’s the Wii U game), but I was not expecting Diddy's Kong-Quest to be pushing out highs that overshadow the heights of the original game. Heck, I’d say that Kleever is a better boss than King K. Rool, and he's BOSS TWO of this game! I guess I should’ve expected this, since I’ve seen nothing but the upmost praise from this game in particular, but I kinda passed it off as “nostalgia bias”, which was definitely foolish on my part.

I might even try to get Returns if time permits during this summer.

I have seen a common opinion that Miles Edgeworth is too harsh towards Athena Cykes in Dual Destinies, and that he would never act like that if it was written well, and this may be the largest & most common misunderstanding of Miles Edgeworth I have ever seen in my life.

EDIT: It appears that, when editing the post, it removed the screenshot of Miles Edgeworth saying "We have to treat everyone as a suspect -
Maya, as well as Iris. It's our job, Wright."

​If Miles Edgeworth truly would NEVER suspect someone who might have murdered their parent based on his trauma from DL-6, SURELY, SURELY, Miles Edgeworth would NEVER have said this in Bridge to the Turnabout, also known as 92% of player's favorite case in the entire series. This dialogue is there for everyone to see, even to this very day, and alone should be enough to quash the idea that Edgeworth acts out of character during Turnabout for Tomorrow.

But I still see people insist, regardless of the above quote, that Edgeworth would not have been that harsh towards Athena.

So, let's look at context.

Aura Blackquill is currently holding his best friend's daughter, as well as numerous other people, hostage, and will not harm them unless both he and his best friend try Athena Cykes for the murder committed during UR-1.

If Miles Edgeworth were to be more lenient, and, lets say, not take his job as deadly serious as it must be in this circumstance, what might happen? Perhaps Aura Blackquill might start to break the bones of the hostages, which would seriously harm Trucy Wright if she were the hostage chosen. So it might be in his best interest to take the trial as seriously as possible, especially since he knows that Phoenix Wright is capable of facing against him and actually standing a solid chance.

But let's suppose we want to ignore all of that context, and ask "why didn't he just refuse Aura's request?"

In AAI2's ending, Miles Edgeworth continues to be a prosecutor on the basis that he should use his position to save the people that a defense attorney could not. Simon Blackquill is in such a position where he actively refuses any help from a defense attorney because he believes that he must take the blame for UR-1. In other words, he is someone who cannot be saved by a defense attorney, meaning that only the opposite side of the courtroom could save him: A Prosecutor. He tries to take on the Blackquill case, and I know what many people would immediately try to counter with: "Why did he wait until Simon's execution date to act?!"

The answer can be found in Japanese laws. Assuming that Japanafornia takes more inspiration from Japanese laws (given that the original series is set in Japan), Article 476 of Code of Criminal Procedure Part III states that "When the Minister of Justice orders the execution of the death penalty, the death penalty shall be executed within five days."

Miles Edgeworth may have a lot of influence as Chief Prosecutor, but he is NOT the Minister of Justice. Also, as an important reminder: Clay Terran was murdered on December 15th. This throws a wrench into Edgeworth's ability to personally investigate UR-1, not to mention another active investigation happening: the bombing of HAT-2. This creates an issue, where he'd literally need everyone out to investigate by himself and a few trusted partners, something that he literally can't do until December 20th, in which Aura Blackquill holds hostages, which necessitates that no one, except those that she allows, enters the Cosmos Space Center.

You can blame him for not starting the investigation process prior to December 15th, but from his point of view, he had no reason to believe that Simon would be executed anytime soon.

This isn’t even talking about how Edgeworth treats Athena with respect and integrity, as proven with lines like this:

"…Hmph. It appears Ms. Cykes is much braver than you, Mr. Wright. What say you, Your Honor? In light of her courage, will the court give Ms. Cykes this opportunity to confess?"

Now, after analyzing ALL of that, I think I've made it abundantly clear that Miles Edgeworth acts very reasonably (aside from that one line at the very start of the 5-5 trial which, yes, I am upset about, but the moment that it passes, it's smooth sailing) during Dual Destinies, and I am tired of seeing people state that he isn't.

I'll break this post in 4 sections: Models, Character Design, Background, and Animation.

MODELS

This one is the hardest to compare, as model quality is VERY often confused for character design quality.

GAAC:

Ryunosuke, the 3D Original Protagonist of GAAC

The facial structure of Ryunosuke looks rigid. One look at his ear, armband, or collar, and you could easily tell that this is a character made with the express purpose of being in a 3DS game, as opposed to a console. Still, the details of the clothes themeselves aren't nearly as rigid, with the hair, button textures, and coloring all working very well.

AJT:

Athena, the 3D Original Protagonist of DD

Of course, the circular nature of the sleeve holes and ear shape both clue you in that this is a model made for the 3DS, but almost everything else is exceptional (especially Widget. That thing probably has more polygons than the entirety of FF7). The hair, despite being extremely anime-esque (Japanese media taking inspiration from Japanese media? wowsers!), still looks natural. The only thing making this appear "worse", which is an entirely stylistic approach, is the black outlines, which can make flaws in the model (like the ear shape) more apparent.

Athena, the 3D Protagonist who happens to appear in SOJ

And they completely removed the black outlines with the SOJ version, instead using a same-color outline. (yellow for the jacket, brown for the hair (looks like the Metis genes are kicking in), blue for the tie, etc.). And when you examine further, they manage to iron out the other issues. Take a look at the silver button on her yellow jacket, and compare it to the DD model. The improvement is clear as day.

I think I prefer the DD/SOJ models overall (even if I don't like some coloring choices) over the GAAC models.

CHARACTER DESIGN

When I see people cite why they like the 3D of GAAC more, it is almost always because of the character design, and I mean... I can't blame that opinion.

GAAC:

Courtney Sithe

I believe limitation often brings about innovation. Because of the time period that GAAC is set in, the character designers were all restricted to designs around that time. Take the person shown above. This design is eye-catching, and stands out a lot more than a description of "a coroner" would imply. Even the more simple designs, like Bruce Fairplay, tends to stand out because of how un-Ace Attorney it looks. Sure, his design is one that you'd forget under any other circumstance, but because of its appearance in Ace Attorney, and how... "normal" it looks, you recall it. By all accounts, the above design also does the same. It looks like something someone would wear. Maybe not the snake around the back of the glove, but everything else certainly.

AJT:

Sasha Buckler

Dual Destinies completely leans into the expressive anime-like style (Japanese media taking inspiration from Japanese media? wowsers!). There is more inherit goofyness and whimsy to be found in Sasha Buckler's design than any other GAAC design (excluding maybe Iris' design). The absurdity of the spiky hair, large pirate hat, whistle, and floaters (the things around her elbows, not entirety certain what they're called) all mess together for something that you'd see in any Ace Attorney game. After all, their absurdity is what they're known for.

Dhurke

Spirit of Justice may have felt that the boundless possibilities in the character design department had limited the effectiveness of the designs in Dual Destinies, just as having 70 different flavor options for Ice Cream leads to decision paralysis, while 5 different flavors allows for one to come to a better decision at a quicker pace. It's possible they felt that they needed the story to have a more unique "setting" than just Japanafornia, which eventually led them to create the Kingdom of Khura'in and its character designs. These character designs, due to their unique, grounded (even if foreign) nature, stick out more, and are thus more memorable. Of all of the qualms I've seen people toss towards Khura'in, the character design is not one of those qualms.

Regardless, due to Khura'in being based more in fiction than in reality (whereas GAAC is primarily focused in two VERY real countries), it doesn't yet reach the character designs of GAAC for me. So, I prefer the character designs of GAAC over the combination of DD/SOJ.

Background

One of the most underrated parts of the 3D games.

GAAC:

Naruhodo's Living Space

This is my favorite background in GAAC in terms of design, and it feels lived in, but unlike the character designs of the game, I can't say the lived-in aspect of the background feels particularly impressive. I think a major qualm I have is how you can CLEARLY tell that everything here is 2D. There isn't a single 3D model in sight. It's honestly my largest qualm with GAAC's approach to 3D. It feels... flat, to put it bluntly. Maybe a part of the problem is that we never get to see ANY area of the games in full 3D (aside from the courtrooms), whereas with DD and SOJ, 3D investigation is constantly used.

AJT:

Lecture Hall

With the Lecture Hall, there's a sense of scale, and a sense of grandness. Sure, it doesn't feel "realistic", but I can actually image walking around this space, whereas with the Naruhodo bedroom (I'm calling it that, Sholmes woke us up there), I feel like if I move even the slightest bit forward in that room, the illusion would completely collapse in on itself. Heck, I can't even say that the designs of GAAC's backgrounds are better in the "lived-in" way, because...

School Hallway

This place ALSO looks lived in. Not "cosy", certainly, but it feels completely grounded in reality, while also allowing me to feel that, if I were to walk around that hallway, the 2D illusion wouldn't be broken. Sure, the balloons are obviously 2D, but everything else, from the banners to the trophies to the paper cut-outs, all of it feels "lived-in", in the same way that GAAC felt. As for SOJ...

Tehm'pul Temple

... If this doesn't give a sense of "grandness", then I don't know what would. The elements look a lot more 2D here, but that's because, in motion, these 2D elements move, and makes the place feel even more alive. Sure, GAAC had its moving background elements, with the steam from the Tea Pot, but nothing on Spirit of Justice's level. I feel that Dual Destinies has better base backgrounds, but I'm certain that the approach that Spirit of Justice is using, with moving 2D elements in the background, is one that would allow for greater highs.

I much prefer the backgrounds in DD/SOJ over the backgrounds in GAAC.

Animation

Now for the biggest component. Due to the nature of needing a video to actually see the animations in progress, I'll have to stick to talking about them, as I can't provide a video.

With GAAC, it's motion capture. Almost all of it is motion captured. This gives a greater feeling of realism, but it can also be blatantly obvious when the game is snapping between motion captures. If you look at the animation when Barok is wearing his cape, and reaches out for the bottle to pour his glass, you'll notice the cape suddenly jerks backwards. It's only on screen for 4-5 frames, but the moment you notice, it may break immersion. The reason being is that, because most of GAAC is motion capture, and because motion capture is capturing motion, in reality, my brain tries to apply the same constraints of reality to these models. They look fluid, but the moment the model does something that wouldn't happen in reality, it no longer looks "realistic".

Start

After 4-5 Frames of Animation

However, DD/SOJ are not constricted by the boundaries of motion-capture, so all "not realistic" animations don't bother me.

Robin Investigating

Some of these animations are my favorites in the series. Robin Newman making a reference to the Investigations games by examining evidence exactly how Edgeworth would've done on his own (Gumshoe was there to help him) is hilarious, but also much more captivating to look at than most of the motion capture in GAAC (barring the more exaggerative ones, like Eggert and Shamspeare).

Sorin's System Check

Both Solomon's "system check" and "panicking" animations are so seamless and fluid, despite it obviously not being motion capture. Sure, it's "not realistic", but it feels like it has more "life" in it than motion capture, if that makes sense. That's also not mentioning the one animation that took the Internet by storm back in June of 2022, for better, or for worse.

Clussy

All in all, I'd say that I prefer the animations of DD/SOJ over GAAC.

And, having gone over every part of 3D I could think of (aside from the "please play me on the 3DS" portions, in which a moment from Turnabout Revolution very EASILY takes the win, over the Stereoscope and the coin + dynamite toss), I can confidently state that I prefer the 3D of DD / SOJ more than GAAC.