Culture for Dollars (Day 107)

I'm actually considering going back and replaying the first four Phoenix Wright/Ace Attorney games--though it's unclear at this point whether or not that'll actually happen. It seems odd to replay games centered around solving mysteries since there'll be no difficulty the next time around but in my case I have a really terrible memory. There's a good chance that I'll have just as many issues solving cases as I did the first time around. They're worth replaying for the characters and the story regardless.

I'm at the tail end of the third case in Dual Destinies and I'm really hoping that there'll be two more cases The first case was really short (as is usually the case) and the second case was a relatively medium length. I'm not done with case 3, but it's shaping up to be another medium length case. I imagine the fourth case will be a long one, but I have to admit I'd be disappointed if it ended up being the last one. I haven't looked up anything about these games online prior to playing, so it'll continue to be a mystery to me--though I have heard some rumblings of DLC that I'll definitely have to investigate.

I want to discuss the merits of the game in more detail, but I think I'm going to wait until I'm completely finished. My impression of the game is incomplete right now--and I feel like these games can't be properly judged without considering the whole package. Trials and Tribulations in particular was much greater than the sum of its parts and I'm hoping the same proves to be true for Dual Destinies. 

One thing that's been bothering me is the fact that the game received a Mature rating, seemingly out of the blue. None of the previous games in the series have had such a rating, and so far I can't tell you what could have warranted it. There are murders, of course, but nothing particularly graphic has been shown in the animated sequences or still images. I'm not done with the game yet, so I guess it's premature to speculate on their reasoning.

Regardless, I'm enjoying this new game. I thought Apollo Justice was a bit of a low point in the series, but this entry is making me like the character of Apollo a lot more. The new character Athena is wonderful too, and the feature that came with her--the Mood Matrix--is interesting. It's definitely a good game, but only time will tell how it ranks in the series.