With discourse turning to the Apollo Trilogy yet again and a vocal group praising AA4 while condemning the 3DS games, I, as a vocal fan of DD and SoJ and someone who's... somewhat ambivalent towards AJ:AA, I wanted to stop and consider something regarding the cases of the game and the themes tying them together, and why in general I don't think I found them to be a satisfying package. In the past I've talked a lot about the cast as a whole and how I feel like the new characters are underutilized and how I just don't care for how Phoenix was used or his big dumb grudge match with Kristoph, so right now I'm mostly focused on the individual cases and specifically how they tend to be resolved.
Turnabout Trump: Like many players I actually find 4-1 to be a highlight for the game, and it has a resolution that sticks with you. It seems like the typical conclusion to an Ace Attorney case, the player presents evidence that seemingly decisively takes down the culprit, they have a breakdown and go to jail. It's only after the trial that Phoenix reveals that he knew the evidence was a forgery but let you present it because he knew Kristoph couldn't challenge it without implicating himself. I actually like this moment, and at the time it made me interested in the dynamic between Phoenix and Apollo. Apollo thinks he's getting a big Phoenix moment where he presents a major piece of evidence from an unlikely source to close out the trial, but instead all he's done is play along with Phoenix's plan to effectively frame an admittedly guilty man, and he gets so heated he actually punches the guy. Great stuff, wish literally any case after that had that energy from Apollo.
Turnabout Corner: The case proper kind of feels the least connected with the others in terms of the recurring theme of how one man can't always be expected to singlehandedly steer the case towards the correct solution with nothing but his own detective work with a mystery that feels more in line with others from earlier in the series, which might be because the concept was conceived prior to this game. The final evidence presented is more of what you'd expect of a minor detail coming back to close up the last hole in your case (the panties in the tailpipe) with the only real wrinkle being that Klavier kind of nudges you towards this. Personally I'm kind of mixed on this moment, I feel like it both takes the wind out of Apollo's sails in getting to actually solve a case without Phoenix guiding his hand while also making "nice guy" Klavier look like a bit of a dick if he seems to already know the answer before you, but that's neither here nor there really. Overall kind of a middle-of-the-road case, good mystery with mostly weak one-off characters (Guy Eldoon is cool) and an awkward place to introduce the supporting cast.
Turnabout Serenade: I have some mixed thoughts on 4-3. I actually like that it has a lot of moving parts, I like that Kristoph actually seems to be playing to win at once so you have to catch him on the backfoot once or twice, and Daryan is a serviceable enough bad guy that you want to take him down. But I agree with a lot of what's been said about the implausibility of the prosecution's case against the seemingly blind foreign child and the case kind of loses steam about halfway through once Lamiroir fingers the culprit. As a result the second half feels like there's just not enough mystery left to solve and I don't think the buildup is strong enough for the payoff of needing to get Macchi to confess on Daryan's behalf. Maybe if they had played into the idea of Daryan using his connections to mess with the investigation or we had more supporting witnesses to obfuscate things more than just dancing around the one obvious culprit it could have landed better. It's a weird mix of both too complex but also too quickly resolved to feel like you need to think outside the box. The end result is a final confrontation that's basically a less interesting version of how Phoenix took down the bad guy in 2-4.
Turnabout Succession: Hoo boy. I can't help but feel this might be the most divisive final case in the series. I've seen some people put this in their top cases of all time lists, and others put it right at the bottom. As for me... I feel like this is probably the most disappointing case if not actually the worst overall. It starts out pretty strong, I would say most of it up through the flashback trial is mostly without many major flaws beyond my continued issues with Apollo's lack of agency. But once we get to the MASON system segment... yeah, that whole bit feels like it's standing where a second investigation segment and first half of a final trial with Apollo should be. Focusing on the trials and how they relate to the others in this game though, I feel like once again the conclusion of Phoenix's last presents a great setup in how Phoenix is set up to think that he's got the unexpected winning evidence he needs only for it to be a trap to screw him and his client over. This is a cool concept, it parallels how Phoenix gets back at the guy who set him up seven years later by ironically using the same girl who was used against him in the past (now his own daughter) as well as another clueless attorney to get back at Kristoph. It'll sure be neat when we see Apollo learn about this, potentially making him question everyone in his life for their involvement in these incidents, right? I could go on about what a missed opportunity this is but I'd be getting off topic, so I'll just say the final trial segment sucks and you just present a couple pieces of evidence that just shows the guy you know is guilty might be guilty. There's no big gotcha, just "Haha, it's actually the jury that's gotcha, this was what the game was about apparently. Fuck you Apollo and fuck you player, you're not worth shit". I don't care how "epic" Kristoph's breakdown is, Phoenix vs some asshole who's already in prison is not a Pay Per View event I want to pay for.
In conclusion I think besides not being sold on the cast as a whole I feel like a lot of my negative feelings about the game come from a game where the story is built around unsatisfying finales shockingly not having a satisfying payoff. It's an interesting concept but they still needed some way to make it feel like Apollo and by extension the player got to flip the script and make a choice that changed how things play out, because I don't think switching POVs to a different character for one scene to press a button cuts it, especially when that happens after what was already supposed to be the emotional climax of the case. You can tell me I'm not big brained enough to see what this game is going for, but I'll generally take a mid case with a satisfying conclusion over a case with a lot of potential that runs out of steam before the finish line, even if I'd prefer one that's strong from start to finish.
Sorry if this is kind of rant-y, I just felt like I needed to get off my chest why this game doesn't do it for me and generally I find more to criticize looking back on it. If you feel it aged well that's fine too, but I definitely can't say I'll ever like it as much as the games that follow it.