I've now finished Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies! I've rambled at great and spoilery length on the last two cases, so my notes are under a cut.



Athena: Wasn't Clay your best friend?
Apollo: ...We need to focus on the trial right now.

I already loved Apollo, and now it turns out he doesn't know how to cope healthily? That's one of my favourite character traits!

Are Clay and Blackquill related? They look sort of similar, and Blackquill seems to be taking this trial very seriously. (A note from later on: well, I was right to think a Blackquill relative was involved, at least!)

Poor Apollo. The day after the death of his friend, and he has to speak about the case in court.

Why is this guy testifying in his spacesuit?

Apollo going 'I don't care what happens to me!', nooooooo (but also yessssssss).

Is Apollo wearing Clay's jacket? That's slightly heartbreaking.

Athena gets all shifty when Phoenix comments that she seems to know a lot about space. I hope she's been brushing up on it because Apollo loves space.

(It later transpires that Athena and Apollo have visited the space centre together! Aww.) (Or have they? Later still, Athena talks in a way that suggests they haven't. Did I somehow imagine in some dialogue about them going together?)

I was very excited that we were getting a case calculated to make my favourite character suffer, and I was slightly let down when we switched from Apollo's perspective to Phoenix's, thus distancing ourselves from that suffering. But at least being in Phoenix's perspective means we get to see Apollo as he tries to keep it together and then breaks down and yells at nothing.

Wait, it's only just occurred to me: we don't yet know how Apollo injured his eye. Was he at the space centre when the bombs went off?

I can't believe our client got declared not guilty even though we didn't expose the actual murderer! This is unheard of! It really seemed like 'PROVE WHO DID IT, THEN, RIGHT HERE IN THE COURTROOM' was a prerequisite for a 'not guilty' verdict in this universe.

And now Athena's suspected in the murder of Apollo's best friend! That is some excellent emotional turmoil, added to a ship I was already loving.

...okay, if Athena used to live at the space centre, I concede that her knowledge of it is probably unrelated to her relationship with Apollo.

Apollo can't say for certain whether Athena is the killer!! He must have been watching the trial, of course; I wish we could have seen his reaction at the moment Athena became a suspect.

I really wasn't expecting to see Pearl and Edgeworth! It's good to have them back, even if my main interest lies with Apollo and Athena. I loved Pearl (and Maya's letter) showing up when Phoenix was feeling lonely.

Maya doodling Phoenix in her letter to him: extremely cute.

(This isn't right...! I can't let it happen! I have to stop it somehow!) I love how passionate Phoenix is about saving Blackquill.

Athena can't be sure that she didn't do it either!

Did they blow the roof off the courtroom just so everyone's hair could blow dramatically in the wind during the anime cutscenes? That's beautiful.

Athena's terrified of courtrooms but felt she had to become a lawyer! (I really like her expressions when her trauma gets the better of her.)

Where's Apollo? I miss him.

I don't ship Athena/Blackquill romantically, but I think their relationship is fascinating. They've both gone to such ridiculous lengths to protect each other! There are such complicated emotions there!

Edgeworth snapping 'You are the last person in the world who should be criticising my aesthetic sense!' at Phoenix is beautiful.

When Athena was struggling with her memories of the day of the murder, Phoenix saying, 'It's all right. I'm right here. You're safe, Athena,' genuinely touched my heart.

At first, when I saw the security footage of the murderer from seven years ago, I thought it was Clay. I suppose it was just the black hat making me think of his black hair.

I KNEW IT, I KNEW AURA WAS IN LOVE WITH METIS

This casts an interesting light on the exchange where she compared Apollo's pain at losing Clay to her pain at losing Metis. I mean, I was already looking at it in that light because I suspected Aura was in love with Metis, but now I realise it may have been a canonically intended interesting light.

And then, after it's become clear in the trial that Aura was in love with Metis, Apollo explicitly says to her, 'Just as you lost someone close to you, I lost someone close to me, too.'

God, poor Apollo. He was in love with Clay, and now he doesn't know whether Athena was the one who killed him. And what does he think will happen to his relationship with Phoenix and Trucy if he gets Athena convicted? How many friends is he preparing to lose here?

(He's prolonging the hostage crisis by demanding the trial continue! Does he know that Trucy is one of the hostages?)

Oh, wow, he suspected Athena even before the lighter was found. I suppose that explains why he broke away from the agency before that revelation.

(Poor Apollo must've been beside himself during that investigation...) Phoenix thinks, and they're my thoughts exactly. Poor Apollo! Trying to investigate the murder of someone you care about, while knowing for a fact that the person you're investigating with, who you also care about, is lying to you about it. He must have been falling apart. I love it.

Right after I wrote the above paragraph, Apollo said, 'I didn't know what to do or think. I couldn't even sleep.' I love this case so much.

Oh, God, he bandaged up his eye so he couldn't see Athena next to him in court.

I don't think Apollo's fine.

He begs Phoenix to clear up the doubt inside him! He needs to be able to trust Athena again!

Wait, is Fulbright the murderer? Surely not.

Wow. It's not often that an Ace Attorney game genuinely manages to surprise me. I THOUGHT YOU TRUSTED IN JUSTICE, FULBRIGHT.

Apollo's so angry that he was convinced to turn on Athena! He asks Athena to punch him! I already loved their relationship, and then this case filled it with delicious pain. I'm enjoying my new ship, but it's a bit too nice and cute and functional, I found myself thinking in case three, shortly before Apollo began to suspect Athena of murdering his best friend. I'm so pleased. Thanks, Dual Destinies!

Edgeworth comments that Phoenix has some promising young people working under him, and Phoenix says, 'Yeah. I think they're pretty great, myself,' and I love how much fondness the characters in these games have for each other.

It's good to have Athena and Apollo back on the same side! Although it was also good to have them in conflict. This is very much a win-win situation for me.

I was entirely ready to believe Fulbright's 'the culprit forced me to cooperate' story before he got a new 'hey, by the way, I'm evil' sprite. I'm so easily taken in by this guy.

I laughed aloud at Athena barging her way behind the defence's bench when she's the defendant, and at Apollo's expression.

Athena and Blackquill working as a team is pretty great.

This mask business is very weird, even for an Ace Attorney game.

It amuses me that Apollo and Athena keep switching places behind the bench. Are they fighting over who gets to stand next to Phoenix?

'When I had my doubts about Ms Cykes, I felt like I would collapse under the weight.' Look, I know I've made it clear that I love Apollo's anguish in this case, but I really love Apollo's anguish in this case.

'Ah, the complicated love-hate relationship between life-long rivals!' Athena says, because she is a Phoenix/Edgeworth shipper.

I was hoping for a bit more resolution to Apollo's feelings about Clay, but I suppose that's what fanfiction is for.

I laughed when Robin spoke about how Athena had inspired her to pursue law more seriously, and then concluded with, 'Ahh! I'm going to prosecute Athena someday! You'll see!' You follow that dream, Robin.

This game ends with Apollo and Athena triumphantly clasping hands! An excellent ending.



Having now finished Dual Destinies, I can confidently declare it my favourite game in the Ace Attorney series. I love my stupid team of ridiculous lawyers. I love the different dynamics that having three protagonists gives us. It's been an absolute delight to play.