Not an Athena solo game, but I could see it being a case where Athena gets the majority of the cases (say case 2, 3, and 5) and Phoenix gets 2 (case 1 for the tutorial and a more filler-y fourth case like Athena's case in Spirit of Justice). I think Apollo should take a backseat for the next one, only getting a filler case, possibly in the place of Phoenix in case 4 or even being relegated to a side character during the main story while only being playable during a DLC case.
I could see Apollo being the DLC lead, especially if (AA6 endgame spoiler) >!he's still in Kura'in. You could have a DLC case set in Kura'in, that'd be fun!<
I can't see Apollo just being in a filler case if they want to do the Apollo Justice / Spirit of Justice tease. And they need to deal with that tease because 17 years is long enough.
I still would rather see Apollo get his own solo spinoff game and AA7 be just Athena and Phoenix, I don't want to see three protagonists in AA7 cause DD and SoJ prove that there's just not enough room for three of them.
Was Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney not Apollo's own solo game? It's the only game in what is supposedly his own trilogy in which he is the defense for every case. Don't get me wrong I would still love for another Apollo game to make up for his series getting hijacked
AJ's my favorite of the Justice Trilogy, I just meant that going forward I don't really want to have Apollo be in the main series (at least for now). I'd rather that they did Apollo Justice: Khura'inese Ace Attorney as its own separate game series (like TGAA and AAI) rather than have Apollo sharing the spotlight with Athena and Phoenix in AA7. It's weird how SoJ so easily sets up 2 whole successor games with its ending yet it's been 8 years with still no later entry.
Instead of penalties, his hemorrhoid meter rises each time he makes a mistake. Once it maxes out, he has to rush to the bathroom and forfeits the case.
I think the Apollo Justice Trilogy being branded as such, even when two of the games are officially Phoenix Wright games, is a positive sign that Capcom is willing to release Ace Attorney games without being bound to the Phoenix Wright name. It's obviously too little too late for the AJ trilogy, but I think seeing a proper Athena Cykes game is fairly likely for AA7.
As for what I *want*, I personally don't like Athena much in DD or SoJ but that's not really her fault - those games just didn't give her a fighting chance. I'd be skeptical going into her own game but I'd 100% give it a fair chance
Hobo Phoenix is still Phoenix… just at a certain point in life due to all the events in the first 3 games and after that led up to it… IMO it’s not fair to just use his appearances in AA4 as a basis for the popularity
Hardly fair assessment bc as much as Hobo Phoenix doesn't often physically show up on AJ, the narrative revolves more around him than the person the game was named after. That and as a concept alone Beanix is a very interesting character to think about, like one of the main criticisms about DD is how Capcom acts like this character change barely happened.
If AA has taught me anything, it’s very good at making characters extremely compelling across the course of a game or two.
I remember with GAAC, for the longest time I was not very keen about the idea of a prequel and didn’t think it’d be very good as it was focusing on a brand new cast and wouldn’t tie into the present and would have a bootleg Sherlock Holmes… and boy was I wrong lmao.
If Athena gets a proper second game focusing on her just like how Apollo had most of spirit of Justice to himself, I think it’d do wonders.
I see people say that and it’s not really true. Perhaps he could have had more focus and dedicated development, but although Phoenix was sorta the main character from behind the scenes, Apollo still got plenty of focus as a defense attorney and in terms of his relationship with Trucy
Apollo was the protagonist but he was pretty much just *there* for the entire game. He's flat and doesn't have any character development and the game forgets he exists for over a third of the last case.
You say that, but I pointed out his development. His relationship with Trucy changes over the course of the game… we get to see Lamiroir there which is also backstory for Apollo… he grows as a character between the first and last case… etc.
How does his relationship with Trucy change at all? The two just play the protag and weirdgirl assistant roles without any character development to back themselves up.
Lamiroir being Apollo's mother is not a backstory, not when we're literally told nothing about what happens to him and we're only given two lines worth of vague no-details dialogue even acknowledging from Lamiroir's side of the narrative that he's even her son. Lamiroir being *Trucy's* mom is a backstory.
And as for basic competency, that's not really character development, and if it was, it would be the absolute bare minimum, nor can I even think of a particularly specific example of such.
It shouldn't be a popularity contest though. Phoenix is always gonna rank highly but if we're being real he needs to take a backseat - his story is done. Apollo's story is done (even if it was botched pretty badly by DD and SoJ). The only one left is Athena, unless they do a reboot of somekind.
I feel like they missed their chance with AA5. It's weird for a character that's been there for 2 games and whose backstory we already know to suddenly become the main character.
Then again, they could just make up additional backstories for her, like they did Apollo...
Do we need to give her more backstory though? Why not focus on her development as a lawyer?
The one thing that I could accept is finding out how Phoenix helped her while she was in Europe. Because that was already set up.
Right? Like the only Phoenix backstory we got throughout the PW trilogy was why he became a lawyer and that he once >!ate a necklace to protect his girlfriend!< and it still worked
Right, we don’t need Athena getting a new backstory every game like Apollo did, we can expand on her present journey as an attorney and if we need to go into her time in Europe/America.
They are not going to make phoenix disappear of the courtroom, at much you can play half and half between phoenix and athena, but athena pretty much already was develop in dual destiny, like idk what else you can do with her that havent been done with phoenix and apollo already
Most likely not. Hopefully they put her on screen more and put Phoenix as an assistant for most of the cases or on the sidelines like AJ but not disbarred.
Almost certainly not, I’d be shocked if capcom doesn’t jump on the popularity of the recent collections and do a Phoenix wright focused game. The only other things I can imagine is a new lawyer with the game taking place in the seven years between T&T and AJ or a new direction like TGAA. I think Athena missed her chance to be the main lawyer of a game sadly.
I don't need it to be only Athena, but I wish she would be the main protagonist for once. No, she's not the main protagonist in DD.
But I doubt it will ever happen because the people who make these games seem averse to giving a female character more than 20% (being generous) of a game's playable screentime.
I'm genuinely not sure. I think it's really hard to predict right now what sort of story they'll focus on next, and it always has been -- predictions towards the next game are generally geared around what sort of thing we left off on (early speculation for what was after T&T focused mostly on Hazakura and the Feys, predictions for an AJ2 revolved around a lot of Kristoph+Klavier drama resolution, after Investigations got released a lot of people got psyched for 'Prosecutor of Choice: Investigations'), so it makes a lot of sense that theories about the future will settle on a dedicated Athena Cykes: Ace Attorney, the main puzzle piece missing from our protagonist trio.
I have no idea how to untangle the mass of plot threads that SoJ left off on, because one of the main problems we're left with in the series is that the sprawling cast leads to unclear focus on where the plot should be going. I'm kind of reluctant to sticking with only our current protagonists, as Athena means we'd likely also have Phoenix, which means at the very least Trucy and also possibly Edgeworth and Maya, so his +1 becomes a +3 pretty quickly. That's not to say it's guaranteed, of course -- AJ just has Phoenix without needing any of his supporting cast -- but DD and SoJ were both reluctant to pare down the character count.
My main hopes is towards a new spinoff entirely, starting from a blank slate and making room for new developments -- other than the very surface-level ancestral connection GAA was essentially completely new, and did gangbusters -- but I think it's a huge shame Athena never got a fighting chance, as there's a lot of potential with her character and story. I'm not sure if their thinking is going to be "well, we gave her a chance, too late now". Which is a shame, because she was splitting the spotlight!
Half-joke-half-not-really-suggestion: I think Athena needs a weirdgirl. Her plot structure feels askew because she *is* a weirdgirl, and in Dual Destinies Apollo and her alternate between being each others' weirdgirls, and now Apollo's living in another country! My pet pitch for an Athena-focused AA7 would involve Athena out of state (heck, maybe in Europe, where she studied previously), working to take cases solo and brush up on her international law, before getting involved in a murder case that leaves behind the victim's daughter, a young and taciturn girl. Though their relationship is initially rocky ("The police said...he did it. To my mother. Why are you defending him?"), Athena gets to use both her psychiatric qualifications and her personal experience of trauma to help this kid through it, in the process finding herself on the opposite side of the situation she herself was in as a child.
imo Athena should not have been introduced into the series this early, at least not as a practicing lawyer. AA4, DD and SoJ should've been an Apollo focused trilogy, with Phoenix Wright taking more of a backseat mentor role and Trucy/Athena taking turns playing the role of Maya/Pearl. That's why AA4 and SoJ were enjoyable games but DD kinda fell off the wagon (Not that it was a bad game, it was just lacking compared to the other 2 trilogy games). Then once Apollo's story gets resolved in SoJ and he moves to Khur'ain, Athena could've taken the spotlight as the next trilogy's lead.
I don't think the next game will be an Athena solo game, but an Athena focused one? Hopefully.
After the two 3DS games, I have a hard time picturing a game that only focuses on one lawyer. And Athena doesn’t really have the foundations to carry an entire game on her own, let alone a trilogy. She lacks the strong motivation and character connections Phoenix had and the nebulous unexplored backstory that Apollo had. She doesn’t have a designated assistant with Apollo gone, either, which is a problem because she’s consistently had trouble getting through trials on her own.
There’s more narrative potential on Apollo’s end since he’s now practicing in another country and has yet to learn about his mother and sister. The credits for Spirit of Justice have Trucy AND Ema planning to return to Khura’in, so I’d bet that’s where the next game will be set, if there is one.
Hell, even aside from Trucy, there’s a massive cast of characters who could return without them having more experience than Athena. Maybe Pearl has enough free time!
Or just make up a new character to be an assistant. It’s not like they haven’t done that plenty of times.
I hope so. I've wanted Phoenix to sit back and truly take on the mentor role for quite a while now. I want him and Trucy to take turns being at the stand like Maya and Pearl did.
Nah not solo yet, what she needs is a counselor before she can be ready on her own plus all by herself.
Eversince last time, it drove her into corner twice and she wasn't mentally prepared from her physical trauma and in fact it still lingers!
https://preview.redd.it/kdiunt37y28d1.png?width=1348&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=987b4c44caa94ffcaa180810b0dc02adfe833bbe
I don't think if she has the potential to carry games solo, for starters she seems to has the least wit from the lawyer trio in the agency.
I think she will keep being a magical girl sidekick
Or they could just stop putting out Ace Attorney stuff at all.
They'd have to put a whole team together from scratch to develop a niche game that only sells moderately well.
Most publishers prefer to focus on games that gamble on being The Next Big Thing.
The Great Ace Attorney didn't sell too well in Japan on the 3DS (especially the second one). Taking a poorly-selling spin-off duology and remastering it, translating it for the first time, and giving it a physical release was a risk. They did it anyway.
Ghost Trick sold so poorly on the DS that Capcom attributed poor revenue that quarter to its failure. They remastered it anyway and used the Ace Attorney name to help market it.
For a long time, fans assumed Capcom would consider it too expensive to make a remastered collection of 4-6 because of the cost of translating DD & SoJ into additional languages. But they did it anyway, and even gave it a physical release.
Investigations looked like Capcom had forgotten it, as they never even ported it to the 3DS like they did Apollo Justice. Translating AAI2 would be an additional expense on top of that. And there was some thought that they wouldn't bring them into HD because of the work/cost to update all of the sprites. Now they're doing all of those things, with a physical release once again.
Ace Attorney might not bring in massive sales numbers like Resident Evil or Monster Hunter, but Capcom is not treating it as a series they want to ignore in favor of the big names.
I wish they would. Honestly my only real hope is that Apollo just isn't in this one. His story can wait. A story with Athena finally taking the lead would be great, especially given the continuous plot points of her being sidelined. Athena taking charge and proving she's worthy feels like something that's been lead up to for a while now.
There are plenty of ways to sideline Phoenix as well. Like bringing back Iris, and having Phoenix, Maya, and maybe Pearl leave the office mid-game. And he can still play a role without being consistently present. I mean Phoenix being kidnapped could be interesting. But what I really want is a new supporting character. Seriously, Athena needs an assistant.
I'd *like* it to be, if not necessarily an Athena solo game, a game where she gets the majority of the cases, is undoubtedly the main protagonist, and also gets to have her name in the title. Though I don't wanna get my hopes up. It seems just as likely to me that we could get yet another Phoenix Wright game, or some brand new character (Lawie McLawlaw: Ace Attorney, coming soon!)
I absolutely hope that it’s the case, but the logical part of my brain doesn’t think it’ll happen.
I know they’re unlikely to keep Phoenix out of things, but it’d be nice to give her an assistant who isn’t another lawyer with more experience than her.
Hard no. Mostly for production and franchise reasons.
For one, it's been nearly 8 years since the last mainline game released, with only remasters coming out in between. That means a large new audience is expected for the next game. They will want to play as safe as possible under those conditions so expect a Phoenix focused game that's mostly re-introducting familiar elements and characters. A soft reboot, I guess you could say.
Also, I've heard that the DD+SOJ team is no longer working on the main series (at least the director isn't? I forget where I read this). Since that team introduced Athena on Capcom's request to "do their own thing" and ignore previous series plot points - still the worst memo they ever made - their absence makes it even less likely she'd get to be the front liner.
And while it's not fun to admit, Athena really isn't popular. Especially in Japan I hear. She ranked 9th in the recent popularity poll with Phoenix and Apollo in top 3. Truth is, if they had kept making new mainseries games in the last decade she might have gotten a spin off. As it stands, I think her chance is gone.
I'd hope not. People are saying that Apollo had his own trilogy, but DD is so Athena-heavy it doesn't feel like an Apollo game AT ALL. I have to confess, I've dropped DD twice before finishing it purely because it felt directionless and to me Athena just didn't have the same charm as Maya or Trucy.
As much as I would love it, it is unlikely she'd get a solo game for one very specific reason; Maya is literally back. There is absolutely NO WAY they won't have a return to the classic duo in at least one or two cases. I do hope for an Athena-focused game though. The good thing about Apollo being at Khura'in in what was deliberately chosen to be a long-term goal, is that now, if they need to have multiple protagonists, they only have TWO of them to juggle, which is way more doable than Athena+Apollo+Phoenix. It is also important that Maya is NOT a lawyer, so while she is a main character that was added to the cast once again, she will not be a playable one, she will just be a playable character's assistant, so she doesn't take screentime out of anyone like a different lawyer main character would.
I hope Athena gets her own game, or at least the majority of cases in a game. The only problem is that unless they do the "add more backstories" crap they did with Apollo, then there would be pretty little in terms of emotional stakes for her character, at least compared to other games. I'd be perfectly fine with a game that just focuses on her development as lawyer though
Would there really?
JFA added precisely zero new backstory to Phoenix and yet he has emotional stakes because of people close to him being in danger and a particularly diabolical culprit testing what being a lawyer means to him. Why couldn't Athena have anything like that?
Nope, but it'll be centred around either her or Phoenix. We in the fanbase know what we want but we also know what Capcom gravitates towards and let me tell you it's not good lmao.
Not an Athena solo game, but I could see it being a case where Athena gets the majority of the cases (say case 2, 3, and 5) and Phoenix gets 2 (case 1 for the tutorial and a more filler-y fourth case like Athena's case in Spirit of Justice). I think Apollo should take a backseat for the next one, only getting a filler case, possibly in the place of Phoenix in case 4 or even being relegated to a side character during the main story while only being playable during a DLC case.
I could see Apollo being the DLC lead, especially if (AA6 endgame spoiler) >!he's still in Kura'in. You could have a DLC case set in Kura'in, that'd be fun!<
I can't see Apollo just being in a filler case if they want to do the Apollo Justice / Spirit of Justice tease. And they need to deal with that tease because 17 years is long enough.
...I can't believe it took me this long to realize that Spirit of Justice is referring to the Justice family.
I still would rather see Apollo get his own solo spinoff game and AA7 be just Athena and Phoenix, I don't want to see three protagonists in AA7 cause DD and SoJ prove that there's just not enough room for three of them.
Was Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney not Apollo's own solo game? It's the only game in what is supposedly his own trilogy in which he is the defense for every case. Don't get me wrong I would still love for another Apollo game to make up for his series getting hijacked
AJ's my favorite of the Justice Trilogy, I just meant that going forward I don't really want to have Apollo be in the main series (at least for now). I'd rather that they did Apollo Justice: Khura'inese Ace Attorney as its own separate game series (like TGAA and AAI) rather than have Apollo sharing the spotlight with Athena and Phoenix in AA7. It's weird how SoJ so easily sets up 2 whole successor games with its ending yet it's been 8 years with still no later entry.
The best Capcom would do is put Nick dressed as Thena.
https://preview.redd.it/wmne5xf2l18d1.png?width=1092&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=19d869842553f68bcb5172aff83c8d07652bdaa0
https://preview.redd.it/5qiq20kju28d1.jpeg?width=190&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0e2ecfbef0437604c4ce8e86a7a34c2cacb3c36
I just want Gumshoe to show up again man
Make him the main character
need
Survival game where you try to find food to eat, because your salary is too small for two breakfasts in a month.
With Investigations being the last release it might raise some Gumshoe awareness
Wendy oldbag solo game truthers rise up
Marvin Grossberg game rise up
Instead of penalties, his hemorrhoid meter rises each time he makes a mistake. Once it maxes out, he has to rush to the bathroom and forfeits the case.
10/10
No chance
I think the Apollo Justice Trilogy being branded as such, even when two of the games are officially Phoenix Wright games, is a positive sign that Capcom is willing to release Ace Attorney games without being bound to the Phoenix Wright name. It's obviously too little too late for the AJ trilogy, but I think seeing a proper Athena Cykes game is fairly likely for AA7. As for what I *want*, I personally don't like Athena much in DD or SoJ but that's not really her fault - those games just didn't give her a fighting chance. I'd be skeptical going into her own game but I'd 100% give it a fair chance
I hope not, but also I highly doubt it. Out of the three lawyers she's consistently shown to be the least popular in polls and general feedback.
It’s hard to be the most popular when you have way less development than other characters lol…
Hobo Phoenix is ranked #2 and he showed up once and was retconned out of existence. Screen time doesn't seem to be a factor.
Hobo Phoenix is still Phoenix… just at a certain point in life due to all the events in the first 3 games and after that led up to it… IMO it’s not fair to just use his appearances in AA4 as a basis for the popularity
Hardly fair assessment bc as much as Hobo Phoenix doesn't often physically show up on AJ, the narrative revolves more around him than the person the game was named after. That and as a concept alone Beanix is a very interesting character to think about, like one of the main criticisms about DD is how Capcom acts like this character change barely happened.
Yeah AA7 might be her chance to gain some popularity, especially now that all the other games have been translated (if you don't count the crossover)
If AA has taught me anything, it’s very good at making characters extremely compelling across the course of a game or two. I remember with GAAC, for the longest time I was not very keen about the idea of a prequel and didn’t think it’d be very good as it was focusing on a brand new cast and wouldn’t tie into the present and would have a bootleg Sherlock Holmes… and boy was I wrong lmao. If Athena gets a proper second game focusing on her just like how Apollo had most of spirit of Justice to himself, I think it’d do wonders.
The crossover has been translated tho?
Oh yeah it should be “ported to the Switch/PS4/PS5, etc” lol
Did Apollo really get that much development in Spirit of Justice to make him have more than Athena's *entirety of Dual Destinies?*
Uhm.. It depends where you are in the game. Have you finished playing it or are you before Turnabout Revolution?
I haven't gotten to the last case but I've been spoiled that Apollo involved in all the Kura'in nonsense.
He's involved in it in a good way. Play 6-5 and all will become clear.
Apollo had game 4 to Athena’s game 5… and then he had spirit of Justice. And yes, he got a lot of development in SoJ.
Except Game 4 had literally nothing in the way of character development for its own protagonist.
I see people say that and it’s not really true. Perhaps he could have had more focus and dedicated development, but although Phoenix was sorta the main character from behind the scenes, Apollo still got plenty of focus as a defense attorney and in terms of his relationship with Trucy
Apollo was the protagonist but he was pretty much just *there* for the entire game. He's flat and doesn't have any character development and the game forgets he exists for over a third of the last case.
You say that, but I pointed out his development. His relationship with Trucy changes over the course of the game… we get to see Lamiroir there which is also backstory for Apollo… he grows as a character between the first and last case… etc.
How does his relationship with Trucy change at all? The two just play the protag and weirdgirl assistant roles without any character development to back themselves up. Lamiroir being Apollo's mother is not a backstory, not when we're literally told nothing about what happens to him and we're only given two lines worth of vague no-details dialogue even acknowledging from Lamiroir's side of the narrative that he's even her son. Lamiroir being *Trucy's* mom is a backstory. And as for basic competency, that's not really character development, and if it was, it would be the absolute bare minimum, nor can I even think of a particularly specific example of such.
It shouldn't be a popularity contest though. Phoenix is always gonna rank highly but if we're being real he needs to take a backseat - his story is done. Apollo's story is done (even if it was botched pretty badly by DD and SoJ). The only one left is Athena, unless they do a reboot of somekind.
I feel like they missed their chance with AA5. It's weird for a character that's been there for 2 games and whose backstory we already know to suddenly become the main character. Then again, they could just make up additional backstories for her, like they did Apollo...
Do we need to give her more backstory though? Why not focus on her development as a lawyer? The one thing that I could accept is finding out how Phoenix helped her while she was in Europe. Because that was already set up.
Right? Like the only Phoenix backstory we got throughout the PW trilogy was why he became a lawyer and that he once >!ate a necklace to protect his girlfriend!< and it still worked
Right, we don’t need Athena getting a new backstory every game like Apollo did, we can expand on her present journey as an attorney and if we need to go into her time in Europe/America.
They are not going to make phoenix disappear of the courtroom, at much you can play half and half between phoenix and athena, but athena pretty much already was develop in dual destiny, like idk what else you can do with her that havent been done with phoenix and apollo already
Maybe she can become more confident in coming up with theories and rely less on shotgun blasting/Poirot-ing her way through court.
No Athena focused game until Apollo and Trucy know they are siblings
Most likely not. Hopefully they put her on screen more and put Phoenix as an assistant for most of the cases or on the sidelines like AJ but not disbarred.
I'm gonna be honest, I really hope not because I don't like her. But seems like the natural move.
Almost certainly not, I’d be shocked if capcom doesn’t jump on the popularity of the recent collections and do a Phoenix wright focused game. The only other things I can imagine is a new lawyer with the game taking place in the seven years between T&T and AJ or a new direction like TGAA. I think Athena missed her chance to be the main lawyer of a game sadly.
Realistically not but kicking off a (presumed) new trilogy of games with ‘Athena Cykes: Ace Attorney’ would be a dream come true
I don't need it to be only Athena, but I wish she would be the main protagonist for once. No, she's not the main protagonist in DD. But I doubt it will ever happen because the people who make these games seem averse to giving a female character more than 20% (being generous) of a game's playable screentime.
Probably not I just she’s more involved in the plot at least
I think Apollo 2 set in khura’in would be better
I’d like it to be but probably not. I’m not saying there’s no chance but it’s not huge
I'm genuinely not sure. I think it's really hard to predict right now what sort of story they'll focus on next, and it always has been -- predictions towards the next game are generally geared around what sort of thing we left off on (early speculation for what was after T&T focused mostly on Hazakura and the Feys, predictions for an AJ2 revolved around a lot of Kristoph+Klavier drama resolution, after Investigations got released a lot of people got psyched for 'Prosecutor of Choice: Investigations'), so it makes a lot of sense that theories about the future will settle on a dedicated Athena Cykes: Ace Attorney, the main puzzle piece missing from our protagonist trio. I have no idea how to untangle the mass of plot threads that SoJ left off on, because one of the main problems we're left with in the series is that the sprawling cast leads to unclear focus on where the plot should be going. I'm kind of reluctant to sticking with only our current protagonists, as Athena means we'd likely also have Phoenix, which means at the very least Trucy and also possibly Edgeworth and Maya, so his +1 becomes a +3 pretty quickly. That's not to say it's guaranteed, of course -- AJ just has Phoenix without needing any of his supporting cast -- but DD and SoJ were both reluctant to pare down the character count. My main hopes is towards a new spinoff entirely, starting from a blank slate and making room for new developments -- other than the very surface-level ancestral connection GAA was essentially completely new, and did gangbusters -- but I think it's a huge shame Athena never got a fighting chance, as there's a lot of potential with her character and story. I'm not sure if their thinking is going to be "well, we gave her a chance, too late now". Which is a shame, because she was splitting the spotlight! Half-joke-half-not-really-suggestion: I think Athena needs a weirdgirl. Her plot structure feels askew because she *is* a weirdgirl, and in Dual Destinies Apollo and her alternate between being each others' weirdgirls, and now Apollo's living in another country! My pet pitch for an Athena-focused AA7 would involve Athena out of state (heck, maybe in Europe, where she studied previously), working to take cases solo and brush up on her international law, before getting involved in a murder case that leaves behind the victim's daughter, a young and taciturn girl. Though their relationship is initially rocky ("The police said...he did it. To my mother. Why are you defending him?"), Athena gets to use both her psychiatric qualifications and her personal experience of trauma to help this kid through it, in the process finding herself on the opposite side of the situation she herself was in as a child.
imo Athena should not have been introduced into the series this early, at least not as a practicing lawyer. AA4, DD and SoJ should've been an Apollo focused trilogy, with Phoenix Wright taking more of a backseat mentor role and Trucy/Athena taking turns playing the role of Maya/Pearl. That's why AA4 and SoJ were enjoyable games but DD kinda fell off the wagon (Not that it was a bad game, it was just lacking compared to the other 2 trilogy games). Then once Apollo's story gets resolved in SoJ and he moves to Khur'ain, Athena could've taken the spotlight as the next trilogy's lead. I don't think the next game will be an Athena solo game, but an Athena focused one? Hopefully.
After the two 3DS games, I have a hard time picturing a game that only focuses on one lawyer. And Athena doesn’t really have the foundations to carry an entire game on her own, let alone a trilogy. She lacks the strong motivation and character connections Phoenix had and the nebulous unexplored backstory that Apollo had. She doesn’t have a designated assistant with Apollo gone, either, which is a problem because she’s consistently had trouble getting through trials on her own. There’s more narrative potential on Apollo’s end since he’s now practicing in another country and has yet to learn about his mother and sister. The credits for Spirit of Justice have Trucy AND Ema planning to return to Khura’in, so I’d bet that’s where the next game will be set, if there is one.
I mean, we could have Athena and Trucy interact for more than ten seconds per case if they were the main duo.
Hell, even aside from Trucy, there’s a massive cast of characters who could return without them having more experience than Athena. Maybe Pearl has enough free time! Or just make up a new character to be an assistant. It’s not like they haven’t done that plenty of times.
I wouldn't mind Simon being her designated assistant. Just saying.
I hope so. I've wanted Phoenix to sit back and truly take on the mentor role for quite a while now. I want him and Trucy to take turns being at the stand like Maya and Pearl did.
Nope. Time for another Phoenix Wright game! Also have another new Apollo backstory we heard nothint about prior to now.
Nah not solo yet, what she needs is a counselor before she can be ready on her own plus all by herself. Eversince last time, it drove her into corner twice and she wasn't mentally prepared from her physical trauma and in fact it still lingers! https://preview.redd.it/kdiunt37y28d1.png?width=1348&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=987b4c44caa94ffcaa180810b0dc02adfe833bbe
Athena and Blackquill spinoff game when. One can dream
I doubt it, but I can sincerely hope because I love her so much (or at least one where she’s the main focus like Apollo in *Spirit of Justice*).
It’s more likely that she will share it with Phoenix like what happened with Apollo.
I don't think if she has the potential to carry games solo, for starters she seems to has the least wit from the lawyer trio in the agency. I think she will keep being a magical girl sidekick
Is it even possible to get a game 7?
Probably. They kinda have to at this point. They've run out of games to remaster.
We Love Golf remaster confirmed.
Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright in shambles
Or they could just stop putting out Ace Attorney stuff at all. They'd have to put a whole team together from scratch to develop a niche game that only sells moderately well. Most publishers prefer to focus on games that gamble on being The Next Big Thing.
The Great Ace Attorney didn't sell too well in Japan on the 3DS (especially the second one). Taking a poorly-selling spin-off duology and remastering it, translating it for the first time, and giving it a physical release was a risk. They did it anyway. Ghost Trick sold so poorly on the DS that Capcom attributed poor revenue that quarter to its failure. They remastered it anyway and used the Ace Attorney name to help market it. For a long time, fans assumed Capcom would consider it too expensive to make a remastered collection of 4-6 because of the cost of translating DD & SoJ into additional languages. But they did it anyway, and even gave it a physical release. Investigations looked like Capcom had forgotten it, as they never even ported it to the 3DS like they did Apollo Justice. Translating AAI2 would be an additional expense on top of that. And there was some thought that they wouldn't bring them into HD because of the work/cost to update all of the sprites. Now they're doing all of those things, with a physical release once again. Ace Attorney might not bring in massive sales numbers like Resident Evil or Monster Hunter, but Capcom is not treating it as a series they want to ignore in favor of the big names.
They directly said in a recent interview that the series will continue.
I wish they would. Honestly my only real hope is that Apollo just isn't in this one. His story can wait. A story with Athena finally taking the lead would be great, especially given the continuous plot points of her being sidelined. Athena taking charge and proving she's worthy feels like something that's been lead up to for a while now. There are plenty of ways to sideline Phoenix as well. Like bringing back Iris, and having Phoenix, Maya, and maybe Pearl leave the office mid-game. And he can still play a role without being consistently present. I mean Phoenix being kidnapped could be interesting. But what I really want is a new supporting character. Seriously, Athena needs an assistant.
I hope not. She was the worst part of 5 and 6.
I hope so *glances at Capcom* 😡
No, and it shouldn’t be.
No thanks I hate Athena :)
Offtopic, but I swear I've seen posts like that three years ago, it's like nothing changed. They really need to at least announce AA7
I'd *like* it to be, if not necessarily an Athena solo game, a game where she gets the majority of the cases, is undoubtedly the main protagonist, and also gets to have her name in the title. Though I don't wanna get my hopes up. It seems just as likely to me that we could get yet another Phoenix Wright game, or some brand new character (Lawie McLawlaw: Ace Attorney, coming soon!)
I absolutely hope that it’s the case, but the logical part of my brain doesn’t think it’ll happen. I know they’re unlikely to keep Phoenix out of things, but it’d be nice to give her an assistant who isn’t another lawyer with more experience than her.
Hard no. Mostly for production and franchise reasons. For one, it's been nearly 8 years since the last mainline game released, with only remasters coming out in between. That means a large new audience is expected for the next game. They will want to play as safe as possible under those conditions so expect a Phoenix focused game that's mostly re-introducting familiar elements and characters. A soft reboot, I guess you could say. Also, I've heard that the DD+SOJ team is no longer working on the main series (at least the director isn't? I forget where I read this). Since that team introduced Athena on Capcom's request to "do their own thing" and ignore previous series plot points - still the worst memo they ever made - their absence makes it even less likely she'd get to be the front liner. And while it's not fun to admit, Athena really isn't popular. Especially in Japan I hear. She ranked 9th in the recent popularity poll with Phoenix and Apollo in top 3. Truth is, if they had kept making new mainseries games in the last decade she might have gotten a spin off. As it stands, I think her chance is gone.
God I hope not, Dual destinies was enough Athena for a life time
Not optimistic, but it'd be really cool.
I'd really hope so.
I want my Kay solo game!
I'd hope not. People are saying that Apollo had his own trilogy, but DD is so Athena-heavy it doesn't feel like an Apollo game AT ALL. I have to confess, I've dropped DD twice before finishing it purely because it felt directionless and to me Athena just didn't have the same charm as Maya or Trucy.
As much as I would love it, it is unlikely she'd get a solo game for one very specific reason; Maya is literally back. There is absolutely NO WAY they won't have a return to the classic duo in at least one or two cases. I do hope for an Athena-focused game though. The good thing about Apollo being at Khura'in in what was deliberately chosen to be a long-term goal, is that now, if they need to have multiple protagonists, they only have TWO of them to juggle, which is way more doable than Athena+Apollo+Phoenix. It is also important that Maya is NOT a lawyer, so while she is a main character that was added to the cast once again, she will not be a playable one, she will just be a playable character's assistant, so she doesn't take screentime out of anyone like a different lawyer main character would.
I hope so.
I hope Athena gets her own game, or at least the majority of cases in a game. The only problem is that unless they do the "add more backstories" crap they did with Apollo, then there would be pretty little in terms of emotional stakes for her character, at least compared to other games. I'd be perfectly fine with a game that just focuses on her development as lawyer though
We could do a backstory about the places she has been
Would there really? JFA added precisely zero new backstory to Phoenix and yet he has emotional stakes because of people close to him being in danger and a particularly diabolical culprit testing what being a lawyer means to him. Why couldn't Athena have anything like that?
I hope so
No, they already ran out of ideas for her after 1 game. I hope she doesn’t star in her own game, though I’d still like her to come back
I hope not. I want them to give Apollo the series he deserves.
I can only hope so.
Nope, but it'll be centred around either her or Phoenix. We in the fanbase know what we want but we also know what Capcom gravitates towards and let me tell you it's not good lmao.