And probably the most disappointing thing about this game is that there are flashes where it's pretty good, but that's all they are. Just flashes. There's no consistency. I'm currently playing through 4-2, and it has the makings of an interesting case, but there's the awful first investigation day, panty-snatching, and Trucy staging a fake kidnapping with the Amazing Mr. Hat to postpone the verdict (which is far worse than any spirit channeling deus ex machina the PW games pulled off, by the way). But the second trial day is actually pretty good, as well as the moment where Eldoon removes his hat and talks to you about Wocky as a doctor during the second investigation day, and Alita Tiala is a decent culprit. She has some good cross-examinations.
But Klavier Gavin's not really a compelling prosecutor aside from having some cool animations (like, is anybody actually going to miss him if there's an Apollo Justice sequel?), and I have a hard time telling what kind of prosecutor he's supposed to be. There are times when he points out contradictions for you and seems to be rather helpful, but then there are other times when he deliberately hides relevant facts (like the fact that Machi isn't the one who's blind, Lamiroir is). I don't really like Klavier's rock star persona either. He tries to come off as cool, but instead he comes off as rather dull. The only time he feels like a real prosecutor is in 4-4 when he's going at it with Kristoph at the end.
And I don't think I really would've minded all the stuff about Phoenix being stripped of his attorney's badge if they had actually pulled it off well. Plus, his raging indifference and general unwillingness to be helpful when you talk to him as Apollo bothers me quite a bit because it doesn't feel like him. I know he'd have reason to change over the course of seven years, especially with the stuff that happened to him, but there's just something kinda irritating about the fact that he doesn't really seem to care about being any sort of mentor to Apollo when he could've been. Plus, Phoenix and Trucy's interactions are just...I dunno the right word to describe them, but I don't like them. I suppose they're too silly for their own good, especially Trucy. I mean, I do like Trucy on the whole, but there are times with the ridiculosity (to borrow a word from Redd White) of their relationship goes a bit too far.
I don't know if there's really a point to this topic other than to say that Apollo Justice has some unrealized potential, and I wouldn't really mind a sequel where they could possibly capitalize on it, especially now that Hobonix's story is essentially finished. I liked Apollo quite a bit, but the game didn't really do much with him as a character. By the end of the first PW, Phoenix was a fully developed and fleshed out character. I can't say the same for Apollo because he gets overshadowed by Hobonix for most of the game, but he could become a good character in his own right if Capcom would let him get out of the shadow of Phoenix Wright and stand on his own.
I know that's not a popular opinion and most people would prefer if Capcom somehow retconned Apollo Justice so that it never happened and Ace Attorney 5 went back to Phoenix, but I think he deserves another shot if they could just cut back on the silliness of the first AJ a bit and give Apollo some time in the spotlight.
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