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    Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

    Game » consists of 5 releases. Released Jul 25, 2013

    The fifth entry in the Ace Attorney franchise, and the first for the 3DS.

    Haven't played any games in the series. Ok to start here?

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    XenoNick

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    After reading some reviews and looking at footage I'm kinda interested in picking this up but I've never played any of them before. Would like to know if I'd be completely lost or not. Thanks.

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    Zeik

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    #2  Edited By Zeik

    There are few explicit tie-ins with the previous entires. You should be able to jump into this one and understand what's going on, by and large. The game has tons of callbacks to old games though and plenty of returning characters, so you definitely wouldn't get as much out of those things as returning fans.

    I think the game is good enough to stand on its own, but at least for me having played the other games is what really made the game excellent.

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    golguin

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    #3  Edited By golguin

    I would say to start at the very beginning. You wouldn't buy the 5th book in a series without reading the first four. All the games are pretty amazing.

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    trueheart78

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    Try the demo on the e-shop, if nothing else. I found it entertaining, and now it's on my radar to purchase soon. I've not played the series before.

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    Zeik

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    @golguin said:

    I would say to start at the very beginning. You wouldn't buy the 5th book in a series without reading the first four. All the games are pretty amazing.

    The other games are definitely worth playing, but I don't feel it's quite the same as a book anthology. At least not for this game. The original trilogy definitely had an ongoing arc, but Apollo Justice effectively started a new arc. In other words, it's more like reading Fellowship of the Ring before The Hobbit.

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    donchipotle

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    #6  Edited By donchipotle

    You probably don't need to play the first three, but the fourth one (Apollo Justice) should probably be played before jumping into this one. It feels more like a sequel to Apollo Justice than a continuation of the arcs from the first three. There will be some references and cameos that are lost on you if you don't play the first three, but other than that the game deals pretty much exclusively with new characters so that's not a huge problem.

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    DonutFever

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    #7  Edited By DonutFever

    Start from the beginning if you can, but if not you can understand what's going on in each case pretty well.

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    afabs515

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    The first three aren't necessary. Phoenix's character has pretty much fully developed by this point from what I can tell. The first three games tell his story. Apollo, on the other hand, undergoes some development in this game, so playing Apollo Justice seems kind of necessary. Either way, if you just get this game, you should be able to follow the main story fine; you'll just miss out on some of the references to the old games. The game is mainly about Athena though, and she's introduced in this game.

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    Zeik

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    #9  Edited By Zeik

    @afabs515 said:

    The first three aren't necessary. Phoenix's character has pretty much fully developed by this point from what I can tell. The first three games tell his story. Apollo, on the other hand, undergoes some development in this game, so playing Apollo Justice seems kind of necessary. Either way, if you just get this game, you should be able to follow the main story fine; you'll just miss out on some of the references to the old games. The game is mainly about Athena though, and she's introduced in this game.

    The funny thing is that despite Apollo Justice theoretically being all about Apollo, I think this game did WAY more to develop him as a character. AA4 introduced Apollo, but apart from that I don't think you miss out on that much if you jump straight into this one. The one and only piece of background info you learn about him in AA4 is pretty irrelevant in this game it seems. I suppose he develops a bit as a lawyer over the course of that game, but I wouldn't say it's strictly necessary.

    I think it's kind of funny that despite them making a big deal about Wright's return it seems like the "Dual Destinies" are actually more about Apollo and Athena.

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    generic_username

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    #10  Edited By generic_username

    I'd normally agree that you should play Apollo Justice first, but that's probably the weakest entry in the series, and I wouldn't want you to end up being put-off by it. Honestly, I'd say start from the beginning just because the previous entries are fantastic games, but this game is self-contained enough to make it an alright starting point. Also, the older games are kind of difficult to come by, and the iOS "HD Trilogy" doesn't do them justice.

    I say this being someone that actually really enjoyed Apollo Justice, but it's definitely not as good as this game, or the previous ones.

    I guess your actual question is whether or not you'd be completely lost, and the answer is definitely no. There would be good chunk f references that'd be lost on you, but nothing crucial.

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    McDayman

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    I'd normally agree that you should play Apollo Justice first, but that's probably the weakest entry in the series, and I wouldn't want you to end up being put-off by it. Honestly, I'd say start from the beginning just because the previous entries are fantastic games, but this game is self-contained enough to make it an alright starting point. Also, the older games are kind of difficult to come by, and the iOS "HD Trilogy" doesn't do them justice.

    I say this being someone that actually really enjoyed Apollo Justice, but it's definitely not as good as this game, or the previous ones.

    I guess your actual question is whether or not you'd be completely lost, and the answer is definitely no. There would be good chunk f references that'd be lost on you, but nothing crucial.


    Basically what he said. The original three games are spectacular, and I would recommend you to play them anyway. It just makes more sense to get into them first so you'll get all the references in AA5. Not sure what the issue with the iOS ports is, but I believe you can get the original three on WiiWare as well. It also looks like you can get retail copies of each game off Amazon for around $20 a pop ($30 for the second for some reason). If you've cash, they're worth it.

    One thing of note about those games, though. If you rely on save prompts from the game, you're sure to end up with a game over late in a tough court room scene and then having to read through the whole scene up to that point again. Here's a tip for that. When you're making a decision (presenting evidence, answering a question, etc) that you're not sure about, make use of the START button to do a quick save. It will kick you back out to the main menu, but you can load right back to that point then, and again if it all goes bad.

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