What's the worst Ace Attorney game?

Board 8

Page of 3
Board 8 » What's the worst Ace Attorney game?
Only room for ten, so I took off T&T.

I always thought AJ was regarded as the weakest link by the fans, but several reviews of the new trilogy name Dual Destinies the lowlight of 4-6. I wonder if opinions have shifted! And I've been told both spinoff series have inferior first entries.
you'd be surprised how many positive opinions there are on AJ out there!
It's probably AJ, but AAI1 is a close 2nd.
SSBM_Guy
"[Freud] started his scientific career by trying to explain the sexuality of a fish. And he failed."
I haven't played GAA or the Layton crossover but it's definitely Spirit of Justice to me.
"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
AJ has the worst case in the series by a fairly wide margin
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
Spirit of Justice is the only one I played I couldn't finish.
O P E R A T I O N O U S T : Nominate SHEIK!
https://i.imgur.com/OpudFxm.jpg
AJ is the only one that I couldn't stomach to continue. I got like an hour into the 2nd case and just couldn't stand one thing about it. Mostly just the characters being utter trash.
~Silver_Ermine~
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9r5hhXQbJ1rbct63o1_500.gif
AAI is mind-numbingly dull at times, but Apollo is actively bad most of the time
thelefty for analysis crew 2008 imo -transience
I have a third degree burn in flame-o-nomics -Sir Chris
I haven't played anything beyond the first three games, though I'm going to remedy that soon with the Apollo Justice Trilogy. From what I can tell though, I don't think I'll enjoy Apollo Justice very much. But I'll abstain from voting, as I haven't played it yet.
It's more like if you don't have to wait in line at Arby's because some dude stopped by and kidnapped all of the other customers. - MoogleKupo141
Bitto posted...
It's probably AJ, but AAI1 is a close 2nd.
This sounds right. AJ is infuriating and they retconned most of it quickly for a reason.

AAI1-5 is a great example of how you can take something great and ruin it by padding it with fluff, thus making it take way too damn long. I don't think people would hate the game as a whole if that case was 45 minutes shorter. It would have felt satisfying as opposed to "Fucking finally!"

HaRRicH posted...
Spirit of Justice is the only one I played I couldn't finish.
Nahyuta is the worst prosecutor tbh. Way too much of his annoying shtick.

All that said, I've only played the core six and AAI1. AJ is the only one I didn't finish.
Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered!
RIP Bob Barker (1923 - 2023) - and thanks for all the memories.
Voted AJ but I wanna vote AAI2 since they never released it here so I havent been able to play it. (Yes, I know about other methods)
"so is my word...It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:11
I think AAI1 and AJ are both over-hated. Dual Destinies is actually the one I enjoyed least.
DireKrow posted...
I think AAI1 and AJ are both over-hated. Dual Destinies is actually my least favorite.

They can be over-hated and still be the two worst games
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
th3l3fty posted...
AAI is mind-numbingly dull at times, but Apollo is actively bad most of the time

It's Reyn Time.
Simon Blackquill's a boss, how could anyone dislike Dual Destinies? The guy's one of the series' best prosecutors.

AJ is the worst in my mind, simply because the quality of writing took a huge dip. I'm still baffled that nobody pointed out the impossibility of a small blind kid being able to accurately fire a high-powered weapon.
Come watch me on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gameryogi
azuarc beat me.
That's why 4-3 is so frustrating

Literally the only part of the crime Machi could have committed is escaping through the air duct and yet Apollo is utterly incapable of pointing this out

Instead we have to watch the same video over and over again because Trucy refuses to help us solve a magic trick
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
AJ easily has the worst defendants in the series. I'd be fine with pretty much any of them being found guilty except Phoenix I guess.
It's tempting to linger in this moment, while every possibility still exists. But unless collapsed by an observer, they will never be more than possibilities.
AJ, but I've only played it once a long time ago. Finally going to replay it, so I'll get to see how it looks after all this time.
Congrats to azuarc for winning the 2020 GotD Contest
"I like goldfish." Godric
It's still AJ around here, I see!
It's extremely funny that GAA1 is the only one with no votes because that's easily one of the contenders imo

But it's AJ
Yeah I'm curious who voted GAA2 and what their reasoning is for GAA1 > GAA2
It's tempting to linger in this moment, while every possibility still exists. But unless collapsed by an observer, they will never be more than possibilities.
hombad46 posted...
Yeah I'm curious who voted GAA2 and what their reasoning is for GAA1 > GAA2

Might be a spicy take but I thought the 1-3 and 1-5 combo was better than the 2-4 and 2-5 combo (and 1-4 rocks). 2-3 is probably the best case in that group though

anyway I think its probably AAI1 but AJ and SOJ are close
I live on, THROUGH THIS SEASHELL!
VeryInsane's mobile account
Post #23 was unavailable or deleted.
GAA1. AAI1 and AJ are the weakest after it but they at least feel like full games to me. GAA1 is intentionally half a game and I honestly find every single case in GAA2 to be better so GAA1 is basically just the worst half of a big game to me. And its best case, G-3, I still don't think is as good as 4-4 and I-4.
</topic>
I have an unreasonable distaste for E1-4 for how badly it mishandled Edgeworth's character, but I'm the only one who seems to care about that.

Also Yew sucks
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
Post #26 was unavailable or deleted.
GAA1+2's only sin is being a slog. They are miles better than AJ and SoJ.
2 line break(s), 160 characters allowed
GAA1 and AAI1 aren't great but AJ is just a crime against the series.
Azuarc is my favorite arc of the Game of the Decade 2020 anime.
GranzonEx posted...
GAA1+2's only sin is being a slog. They are miles better than AJ and SoJ.

GAA1 by itself has a sin of having a midgame tier final villain and case and numerous plot threads left unresolved. Most of the cases just aren't very good too. G-1 is alright but it's way too long. G-2 is weirdly structured, has no court segment and while very emotional has a "wow, really?" type of reveal and ending and can be a bit unsatisfying. G-3 is the magnum opus of the game but even its ending can lead a bit to be desired. G-4 is G-4 even though I actually like it more than most. G-5 is a midgame tier final case with an obvious villain that's taken down in the span of a single day, which due to being the final case, really drags the pacing. Also of course there are several cliffhangers to lead into GAA2.
All in all, it's interesting to note that a common theme with GAA1 cases is unsatisfying endings. Luckily GAA2 improves on pretty much every angle.

Also SoJ is top tier game.
</topic>
AJ probably has the worse story but I voted for AAI1 because of how much I dislike the visual presentation/art style.

AAI2 is good enough to make the visual presentation tolerable.
"A blank page or canvas, his favorite. So many possibilities."
- RIP Stephen Sondheim, 1930-2021
it's easily AAI1, and AAI2 a close second. AAI2 is a lot more boring and drags so so much, but at least the overall story is better. Then I was not a big fan of Layton vs AA because it felt like a watered down combo of each series. And then, AJ, which is fine but clearly worse than all the other mainline games with meh characters.
~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS
I go back and forth between AJ and AAI1 and right now I think it's investigations

just dull and annoyingly stretched out. 4-3 is still terrible but the other cases I can stomach if I turn my brain off
while you slept, the world changed
It's tough. AJ in a vacuum makes sense. AAI1 is also bad.

But GAA1 is ABSOLUTELY the worst. I truly hate it. 1-4 makes me want to hurt myself and 1-5 makes me want to hurt someone else. If the games weren't a package deal, there's no way I would have ever purchased if played GAA2.

BUT GAA2 might be the best game in the franchise, and GAA1 is 100% required to play it. And as stated, they're only sold as a single game here, and one could argue should have been a single game to begine with (in no way is 1-5 a final case of an AA game).

....It's GAA1. That's the worst. I dont know which is worse between I1 and AJ, both games you actually might enjoy the follow ups for more if you don't play the originals, so they're more ignorable. GAA1 is an unremovable tumor festering in GAA2's glorious back. You can't escape it.
https://youtu.be/qj9p6IFSlnk?si=cZ5L4OPM0TjVjwCD
https://i.ibb.co/3M3Gmgj/r-CEGjv8-Q2-Stzp2rdtr9pg-UVi.png
I hate AJ the most because of the story and characters, but I1 is without a doubt the most boring game in the series (although 4-3 and the first day of 4-2 are up there too). Ultimately, I'm still more offended by AJ as a package deal than I am by I1, although I'd sooner replay AJ than AAI1. Even just thinking about I-3 and I-5 makes me feel dread within me. Still voted AJ because I hate it on an emotional level.

GAA1 is a ridiculous answer. I'm not a huge fan, but even just based on the rather amusing script and pace, it's infinitely better than either of those games. It does feel like an incomplete game, but I'd sooner play any of the GAA1 cases anything in either AAI or AJ. So many of the GAA1 witnesses are fucking hilarious.
Surskit
GAA1 1-3 are perfectly serviceable if oddly paced. 1-3 is downright intruiging.

1-4 is in the running for worst AA case.

1-5 I have a personal vendetta against. It offends me to my core. I almost didn't finish the game because of it. I already went on a 10k+ word rant about it in the original release topic though and I have no interest in getting into the details anymore.
https://youtu.be/qj9p6IFSlnk?si=cZ5L4OPM0TjVjwCD
https://i.ibb.co/3M3Gmgj/r-CEGjv8-Q2-Stzp2rdtr9pg-UVi.png
G1-2 is not a good case for many reasons, some of which aren't even revealed until the second game. I'd say it's easily a bottom five case for the series, perhaps bottom three. I don't think G1-4 is bad, but it's definitely weird and not in the usual way Ace Attorney is weird. The other cases are good though.
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/080/145/638.png
UshiromiyaEva posted...
1-5 I have a personal vendetta against. It offends me to my core. I almost didn't finish the game because of it. I already went on a 10k+ word rant about it in the original release topic though and I have no interest in getting into the details anymore.
This is 100% how I feel about AAI2-2.
"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
GiftedACIII posted...
GAA1 by itself has a sin of having a midgame tier final villain and case and numerous plot threads left unresolved. Most of the cases just aren't very good too. G-1 is alright but it's way too long. G-2 is weirdly structured, has no court segment and while very emotional has a "wow, really?" type of reveal and ending and can be a bit unsatisfying. G-3 is the magnum opus of the game but even its ending can lead a bit to be desired. G-4 is G-4 even though I actually like it more than most. G-5 is a midgame tier final case with an obvious villain that's taken down in the span of a single day, which due to being the final case, really drags the pacing. Also of course there are several cliffhangers to lead into GAA2.
All in all, it's interesting to note that a common theme with GAA1 cases is unsatisfying endings. Luckily GAA2 improves on pretty much every angle.
The thing that drags both GAA games to me is that almost every trial could have been solved in one go but the game goes "nope you can't use that line of reasoning here you have to convince these 6 dumbasses to vote the other direction". You can see how the evidence connects but the game just drags on and on. AJ is just bad but you can reasonably finish a case in 2 hours if you can take how mind numbingly bad it was.

I think GAA2 from the third case onward has almost perfect pacing. All the pieces start falling together and you see the whole picture.
2 line break(s), 160 characters allowed
I think the worst gameplay mechanic in the entire series was that spirit mirror shit from SoJ. I hated every minute of that game.
2 line break(s), 160 characters allowed
The games all start to drag a lot later on. AAI2, SoJ, and both GAA games particularly suffer from this. If not for 6-5 being an all-timer, it'd probably be my choice here, but as is, I've gotta go for GAA2. I really didn't like G2-4 and G2-5.
All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.
The series kinda forgot how to be brisk after AAI1. Ace Attorney becomes something different starting with AAI2 (really with the last case of AAI1) where the scale and scope of each game just kept getting bigger. It wasn't enough to have a handful of cases that primarily affect Phoenix's world and not much else anymore. You needed to have Edgeworth solving global conspiracies on a weekly basis, Phoenix and company overhauling the legal system of multiple countries, etc.

Not that those games aren't good, but they're definitely different and that change rubs some people the wrong way.
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/080/145/638.png
GAA1 had some of the worst witnesses. That Rolly and Patty pair and that top hat guy with his hat constantly slipping.

GAA2-4 has my favorite witnesses in the entire series. Those guys from the Red Headed League were hilarious.

Also Shamspeare is too good.
2 line break(s), 160 characters allowed
UshiromiyaEva posted...
1-5 I have a personal vendetta against. It offends me to my core. I almost didn't finish the game because of it. I already went on a 10k+ word rant about it in the original release topic though and I have no interest in getting into the details anymore.

Can you just give us the CliffsNotes?
It's like paying for bubble wrap. -transience on Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
redrocket posted...
Can you just give us the CliffsNotes?

I believe it was something about how the cat flap maker made no sense
It's tempting to linger in this moment, while every possibility still exists. But unless collapsed by an observer, they will never be more than possibilities.
AJ's biggest sin is taking a giant dump all over T&T's practically perfect ending. It forgets that Ace Attorney is meant to be a lighthearted, fun world and instead makes everyone miserable because their life sucks. Trucy is the bright spot of the game because, even though her life does indeed suck, she no-sells misery and chooses to be cheerful anyway. Apollo also works as the protagonist because he hates the game's world as much as the player does.

Unfortunately, that does not make them immune to the Idiot Ball that AJ loves to throw around as the need arises.
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/080/145/638.png
To be as BASIC as possible, since none of this is fresh in my mind, and there are definitely some I have forgotten. I feel like there's something about a piece of evidence brought in late for no god damn reason, like total deus ex machina "oh I had this on me, huh!", but it's escaping me at the moment.

First of all the case is just generally slow and boring as all hell, it was clearly a case that was never meant to be a final case, but was forced into being one when they decided to make GAA into 2 games.

The culprit is one of the all time worst, and is even more obvious from his very first scene in the game than the infamous 3-3.

Zieks in this case is the absolute dumbest prosecutor in all of Ace Attorney (in general Zieks is pretty terrible in all of G1).

Even in a scene where there are specifically moments where the courtroom is entirely silent, nobody can hear someone drilling through a foot thick hardwood door.

AND YES

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/08b9d796.jpg

THIS FUCKING TINY DOOR HAVING A FUCKING HANDLE ON IT COMPLETELY CONTRADICTS THE GAME'S LITERALY ULTIMATE FINAL PIECE OF EDVIDENCE AND ARGUMENT.

"Oh but that just a tiny mistake on the part of the animators, it's not like they were game devs".

IT'S THE GAME'S FINAL PIECE OF EVIDENCE. THERE'S NO EXCUSE
https://youtu.be/qj9p6IFSlnk?si=cZ5L4OPM0TjVjwCD
https://i.ibb.co/3M3Gmgj/r-CEGjv8-Q2-Stzp2rdtr9pg-UVi.png
To be fair, Phoenix wasn't exactly immune to the idiot ball in his first game either. For three cases in a row he thought it would be a good idea to confront a suspected murderer with evidence of their misdeeds outside of the courtroom. Well maybe he didn't think von Karma was a murderer yet, but he was definitely not trustworthy.
It's tempting to linger in this moment, while every possibility still exists. But unless collapsed by an observer, they will never be more than possibilities.
hombad46 posted...
To be fair, Phoenix wasn't exactly immune to the idiot ball in his first game either. For three cases in a row he thought it would be a good idea to confront a suspected murderer with evidence of their misdeeds outside of the courtroom. Well maybe he didn't think von Karma was a murderer yet, but he was definitely not trustworthy.

And to his credit, it only happens to him one time again after that, and it was only because he was ambushed by the guy!
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
Omniscientless posted...
I hate AJ the most because of the story and characters, but I1 is without a doubt the most boring game in the series (although 4-3 and the first day of 4-2 are up there too). Ultimately, I'm still more offended by AJ as a package deal than I am by I1, although I'd sooner replay AJ than AAI1. Even just thinking about I-3 and I-5 makes me feel dread within me. Still voted AJ because I hate it on an emotional level.

GAA1 is a ridiculous answer. I'm not a huge fan, but even just based on the rather amusing script and pace, it's infinitely better than either of those games. It does feel like an incomplete game, but I'd sooner play any of the GAA1 cases anything in either AAI or AJ. So many of the GAA1 witnesses are fucking hilarious.

Disagree. I1's relatively boring story is helped by the game being rather snappy unlike GAA1's slog. Outside of I-5, its cases are much better paced than G1 with its baffling 1 day structure. I'd actually sooner replay I-1, I-2 (which isn't that bad, mostly inoffensive, honestly a superior version all around of G1-2), and even I-5 over G1's equivalents even if G1's 1st case and maybe the 5th case (though I think Shih na's segment is the real highlight and on par with Gregson's reveal) are better. AJ's 4-4 and 4-1 as well.

GranzonEx posted...
The thing that drags both GAA games to me is that almost every trial could have been solved in one go but the game goes "nope you can't use that line of reasoning here you have to convince these 6 dumbasses to vote the other direction". You can see how the evidence connects but the game just drags on and on. AJ is just bad but you can reasonably finish a case in 2 hours if you can take how mind numbingly bad it was.

I think GAA2 from the third case onward has almost perfect pacing. All the pieces start falling together and you see the whole picture.

Indeed, I think this can chalked up to G1's 1 day structure which only gives a single (long) day of investigation and then a single day of court which doesn't give any room to discover new significant evidence on a second day which means nearly every evidence is already given to you the first time you enter court and you need to wait the long time for it to become relevant rather than piecing together multiple new clues as they come. GAA2 going back to the traditional 2 day structure completely fixes that. I'd say G2-2 was executed well in that regard too. Even G2-1 is a lot quicker than G1-1.
UshiromiyaEva posted...

Completely agree with all your points here.
</topic>
Honestly though AAI1 was enjoyable. Never understood the hate.
~Jacksonville Jaguars~
Board 8 » What's the worst Ace Attorney game?
Page of 3