So I was going put this on my dual destinies post but it got long so. I enjoyed the mason system but I think the gimmick let's it down a lot. 4-4 is a great trial and I loved it a ton but it's messy as fuck in places because of the non chronologically story telling and it fucks up putting us in Apollo's head because it gives us information he's not privy to and doesn't explain what he actually does know. It gives us the dumb sibling loose end that just shouldn't be there. I think Apollo and Trucy being siblings is a cool idea and a good twist but there is absolutely no reason to leave them in the dark about this. So here is what I would do.
We start in the lobby just before the second trial day with Phoenix there. He says something like "ok Apollo. I've asked you to come here early to show you what I've been working on. I think it's finally time you learn. I've been waiting for you to discover most of it on your own but now it's time to show my hand. Are you ready to know the whole truth?" Then we flash back to playing Phoenix like we did to playing Mia in 3-4. It can either be its own case and act as foreshadowing for the final case or honestly preferably it can be a flashback within the case same place it is currently. And it goes chronically. All we've lost is the gimmick of bring the present information into the past which was confusing as fuck for actually tracking how this happened in universe because phoenix wright isn't a time traveler. Phoenix had enough information to interegate people in the past so he can do it the way he actually did. Then we flash back to the present. We get to see Apollo's reaction to this information and tie up his arc with losing faith in phoenix on screen instead of through implied dialogue. The Thalassa reveal needs some altering but you could just have her be around because she's a juror and then have Apollo notice something when he looks at her picture.
But now the jurist system is without a mechanic which sucks so instead I propose a bar at the top of the screen instead of the health bar where you try and sway the opinion of the jury. It could look like the judical scales with a procecutors badge on the right and a defense attorney badge on the left. You present the wrong stuff and it goes towards guilty because you look incompetent. When it gets to the end of one side you get either guilty or not guilty. All the other switches are scripted for when Klavier or Apollo present convincing evidence, but there's like 3 points buffer on Klavier's side that show your lives. If Klavier gets a big turnabout while you're on less than 3 lives you're in trouble. It's 3 now not 5 because I think there should be the ability to gain them back at certain points where Apollo is doing a really good job. Like a mini check point. Kristophs breakdown does so much to tip towards Apollo that it eliminates the previous penalties and you win. This will have the added benefit of making the way you play the case as Apollo actively feel different to the way you play other ones instead of just being told it's different now. Have it move a ton on Klavier's side when he plays air guitar, it'll be cute. Main issue with this is that if you lose all you lives after a recharge point but before Klavier gets a turnabout it will mean you have to play a ton while you already know you're dead so maybe add something in where the judge says you don't know what you're doing after the 3rd life and his comment move the scale solidly into Klavier's side.
My only worry would be space but this is a very easy thing to code (we're talking like one extra variable that needs adjusting and some very basic visual assets) but given we're now losing the graphical effects for mason and also the Thalassa reveal cut scene which all look pretty data intensive I honestly think we're saving more space than we lose.
AA doesn't need gimmicks. They can be fun but the are not what makes the games good. That's the narrative. And as much as I like the mason section it does fuck that up quite a bit to the extent that people are still debating what actually happened.
This is Apollo's game, it doesn't make sense for there to be information we have that he doesn't.
And honestly as I said in my last post I think the fact that AA4 is a genuinely great game with a confusing ass narrative at points has actively hurt the series going forward. People don't want to blame this game for Apollo's confusing ass plotlines because it's a lot more charming and likeable and compelling than it sounds like that later games are but it really is where I think a lot of the complaints originate. Why are his loose ends not tied up? Because AA4 was vauge as fuck about which ones were and weren't cleared up and there isn't really a good reason for them to come up again.
Look at the trilogy. All the lose ends are tied up nicely at the end of each and then the next game builds on the foundation of what was there before. AA4 is a great game. I love it. But it's a bad foundation because of the ambiguity of the Mason section because building on it requires very very specific reference to the past cases which is difficult to do in a sequel.
Like honestly sit and think about how much reference you need to do to tie up the sibling reveal in a completely new case where you have no guarantee the player has played AA4. You need to establish some basics that you would have to already. Apollo and Trucy have perceive, the bracelet is how Apollo senses it, Trucy is Phoenix's adopted daughter. That's a given. If this isn't the first case they should know this already. But then you also need to establish who the Gramaryes are, who Lamoiror is, what perceive actually is, that Thalassa used to have the bracelet, that's she got shot and lost her memory, that Apollo's an orphan, probably some stuff about Zak and Trucy, what Phoenix used to be like during his disbarment, that he got disbarred in the first place, that will bring up questions you'll need to answer about why he did and how he got reinstated, and that he is aware of they're siblings and Apollo and Trucy aren't and that him and Thalassa are waiting for the right time to tell them. That is a shit ton to ask. Aa4 only just covered it in its entirety and it took like 2 cases. And be aware this is stuff you have to recap without boring people who have played AA4 and already know. Its a really really big ask for one loose end.
Compare it to the recaps in the trilogy and it's even more clear. There you basically just need to explain DL6 and it can be done by saying "Edgeworth thought he shot his dad in an elevator but didn't. It was actually his mentor a ruthless procecutor called Von karma. Misty fey lost her credibility as a result," that covers like 90% of the references to past games.
Not only that but with the art style change you have to make completely new assets for it instead of just reusing the ones from the old games the way the trilogy does. like I get why they just decided to not touch it and invent some new stuff for him.
Hire me capcom. I'll fix this for the AJ trilogy release
