An utterly uneven experience from beginning to end that doesn't just feature two completely irrelevant trials that completely tank the pacing of the story but also dares to have one of them be one of the most boring cases in the franchise which should probably and honestly have been DLC or simple extra cases post game.
That stands in complete contrast to the two trials here that are really good, especially the third one, which may just be one of my favorites in the series. The game also feels a lot more like a proper follow up to AA4 than Dual Destinies did which somewhat makes DD feel all the more irrelevant in retrospect, which is somewhat damning since, for all its supposed faults, DD is at least a much more consistent game than this wildly over the place SoJ. They push Apollo back into the spotlight, which you may not expect because of how the story is told for most of its runtime. They address the whole forged evidence thing in a much grander scale than they did in 5 which makes this feel like a more evolved follow up to the ideas pushed forward in 4, but in the end the game is still undercooked.
The ending also fell flat on its face for me which makes this a genuinely sad ending for the franchise, with no new entry in 8 years. At least not in terms of this specific continuity. Ace Attorney 7 should still be coming according to the now years old Capcom leaks but I feel like its state is in flux. I can't say I need more Apollo but I don't feel like Takumi would want to return to Phoenix either. But considering in which directions they took Apollo he may have no other choice to go back to Phoenix or just soft reboot the franchise all over again, which may feel fans unsatisfied after so many years of waiting. If Takumi is the one helming the next entry in the first place... who knows. I hope it won't be much longer until that game gets revealed, if it still exists, and that it initiates a new trilogy – or at least Duology like The Great Ace Attorney's – that tells a more refined story over multiple games. And while we're at it, please bring back interesting prosecutors.
That stands in complete contrast to the two trials here that are really good, especially the third one, which may just be one of my favorites in the series. The game also feels a lot more like a proper follow up to AA4 than Dual Destinies did which somewhat makes DD feel all the more irrelevant in retrospect, which is somewhat damning since, for all its supposed faults, DD is at least a much more consistent game than this wildly over the place SoJ. They push Apollo back into the spotlight, which you may not expect because of how the story is told for most of its runtime. They address the whole forged evidence thing in a much grander scale than they did in 5 which makes this feel like a more evolved follow up to the ideas pushed forward in 4, but in the end the game is still undercooked.
The ending also fell flat on its face for me which makes this a genuinely sad ending for the franchise, with no new entry in 8 years. At least not in terms of this specific continuity. Ace Attorney 7 should still be coming according to the now years old Capcom leaks but I feel like its state is in flux. I can't say I need more Apollo but I don't feel like Takumi would want to return to Phoenix either. But considering in which directions they took Apollo he may have no other choice to go back to Phoenix or just soft reboot the franchise all over again, which may feel fans unsatisfied after so many years of waiting. If Takumi is the one helming the next entry in the first place... who knows. I hope it won't be much longer until that game gets revealed, if it still exists, and that it initiates a new trilogy – or at least Duology like The Great Ace Attorney's – that tells a more refined story over multiple games. And while we're at it, please bring back interesting prosecutors.