the best in the series, i never felt thist devastated uncovering the many twist it has to offer.

what makes gs6 outstanding is that it feels like a more mature version of the core ideas Yamazaki's team explore back in gk2. maybe the storyline is less interconected but the concept here is way more focused and in service of a wider commentary

ace attorney was never a series about justice but about finding truth, so when Takumi decides to make such a divise game as gs4, Yamazaki -basically his disciple- started his own journey to find what kind of story he wants to tell. unsurprisingly, all the four games revolves mostly around the same principle: coming together with our parents/masters, and creating our own path

gk1 is a game so reiterative and insecure, trying way to hard to be 'as good as the sensei's games'. with the addition of a longer script and far more interesting characters, gk2 basically became the staple of what makes 'the best ace attorney game'. but in my opinion, that one is barely a draft of what makes the actual best ace attorney game

gk2 it's mostly about what we make with what we learned from our father figures, how both their achievements and failings will shape the kind of person we will become. there's a serious issue here: Edgeworth, even tho a charismatic protagonist, is such a reformist that it doesn't end up being a good counterpoint to the game's main villain. it's way too obssesed on having The Grand Turnabout, that massive case where everything find its own place, that forgets the broader discussion that's underlying the whole package

gs5 is a weird experiment with some of the best single cases in the series, but the excesive pressure on the part of Capcom to make a 'revival' following gs4 poor reception force it to constrain it's own narrative merits. but it also shines when it comes to what makes Yamazaki's writting so special: he is less interested in what it makes his own vision, but on how he can incorporate the whole team into their own view of what means to be just(ice). the departure of Apollo turning himself into a conflictive character, the introduction of Athena, a revolutionary attorney when it comes to the new ways to find meaning in the more deeper realms that regular evidence can't even grasp, Phoenix taking a step forward, losing his whole Hobo persona, but becoming that image that, in the first place, inspire Edgeworth to became that character everything's seems to love back in gk2. yeah, Phoenix is a really bland character, but he is written not to be that likeable, but a symbol

this takes us to gs6. you can make the argument that recycles way too many plot points of the original trilogy + gk2, being now full of retcons, but i think it's clever in the way it compromises with its own idea of Succession. gs6 has maybe the most complex set of characters in the series, the harder to digest crimes and an absolute obssesion with not being able to hold up to our superiors expectatives, with the final case being an statement on how Apollo may follow his three dads steps, but became his own lawyer, an absolute lawyer, a revolutionary lawyer, a title Phoenix is too awkward & coward to sustain. it manages to do it by being the most unique and politically driven of them all, and even if i don't think if manages to take all the steps forward it should considering its about Revolution, it is, without a doubt, the best stance the series ever had

Nahyuta is the better Edgeworth - someone who wanted to change everything within the system, but got fucked up so badly in the end that he can't do anything but being a oppresor now. Apollo is the one who actually defeated The Phoenix Wright, this isn't anymore the stakes of The Right Thing To Do in Farewell nor the destruction of the legend in Succession, but something way more honest and personal: the absolute respect of Apollo/Yamazaki for his former idol, but making something new. something different, that one thing the old ones can't even start to imagine: build something unique. something better

Revolution is the best ace attorney case not because 'everything fits on their place' like Grand, but because everyone get to terms with their inner demons to create the only place where truth can make actual sense. i fucking despise monarchy, but in the context of the religious country that Khu'rain is, there's hardly a more coherent outcome than turning their opressive mechanisms into fair tools. even tho i prefer the Mood Matrix as an interactive gimmick, the Divination Séance is even more meaningful: an obstruction to the player, the ruin of the people, finally starting to be used for a good cause - there's not shady evidence, but making the correct interpretation of what's in front of us.

It's quite fascinating how gs came from clumsy silly mysteries with way short scripts for VN's standards, to massive games trying to shape the way we can save people through the justice system. gs4 tries to create a space within the court for the people to make the right choice. gs5 made us go through extra-official spaces that law doesn't even consider, because most of their characters recognize that the fairness in trials rarely occur in the dark age of the law. gs6 is about Revolution, people obssesed with dying to become the martyr that could shape the country. surprisingly, aware that only within the cultural interchange of ideas the countries can start to take a step further for Tomorrow. Yamazaki's past concepts, following your father's steps to reform, doesn't hold anymore - even Edgeworth seems aware of that now lol

i was so scared to replay this game and find out it aged poorly for my new principles of what actually means to fight for justice. it doesn't deliver perfectly, but it's the one that makes the most while fucking it up just a little. maybe it's a japanese court system thing, that would make sense

A Dragon Never Yields.