Ace Attorney discussion - worst/best cases? (spoilers)

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I've been replaying several of these games in the last few months. Trials and Tribulations, Apollo Justice and most of Investigations. I bought a 3DS a few weeks back and I've just started the final case of Dual Destinies.

This thread can be used for more general discussion, but I was wondering what your favourite - and least favourite - cases are?

I'm afraid that there will be spoilers ahead. Please duck out now if you prefer to be without.





Favourite cases:

2-4
5-3

Thus far, Dual Destinies (aka 5) has been my favourite game of the whole series. Even the weakest case, 5-2, was better than most of the weaker cases in these games. 5-3 could have been weak, what with its immediately obvious culprit and filler status, but there are so many twists and character forming bits, the whole cast of that case is incredible... you disregard the obvious culprit as 'too obvious', too, leading you to genuinely question who the culprit is. Admittedly, the fact that it turns out to be the one character who is a caricature rather than a genuine personality should have lessened that, but I was caught up in it especially given how much the writers screamed at me that Means was rather sinister.

Thus far, 5-5 is shaping up pretty well too.

Worst cases is probably more interesting. Here's a list:

1-3
2-3
3-3
4-3
AAI-3

There might seem to be a pattern here, yeah?

Apollo Justice (aka 4) is probably the most interesting one to discuss, because that game was absolutely awash with weak cases. 4-2 and 4-4 were both poor, 4-1 was a weak starter (first cases have special immunity though since they're so short) but 4-3 was absolutely ridiculous. The whole case is based on defending somebody against a series of improbabilities, to the extent that he is essentially proven innocent early on in the case. They also deal with some very specific timings during the concert yet ignore some possibilities -- Daryan could have totally missed his note for other reasons, for a start. You begin to distrust the writers, to think in terms of what seems more appropriate for their narrative rather than what is true to the case in your mind, and so it falls apart.

4-2 wasn't good, and it was entirely forgettable as a case, but I enjoyed meeting Trucy (she's still a good sidekick imo) and the whole open-ended feeling at first. Phoenix and co. were basically sending you on errands and it all tied up into a convoluted murder case, silly but fun enough.

4-4 had so much potential! It's a shame that the premise of the second half made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The MASON system was clearly a contrived way to get you to be able to jump through time, but it also relies on Phoenix inexplicably filming himself in the past through knowledge that he would only have in the future. You get to use psych-locks but not on the actual culprit, whose dark magatama imply clearly deep motivations are NEVER ADDRESSED. You don't even find him conclusively guilty, because he just says Clearly Evil Things and then your client (who very obviously didn't do it) is found innocent by jury. Never mind that Phoenix was friends with the guy for 7 years and yet that fact is never fully addressed.

The whole Gramarye story isn't particularly interesting although the case of Magnifi's death is absolutely the best part of that game. The fact that he committed suicide is a bit of a cop-out though.

ANYWAY! Let's talk Ace Attorney~