I don’t know why this case took me actual years to finish, but I suspect it had something to do with the gameplay design. From a writing standpoint, I think it was pretty good! As far as I remember, anyway, given the literal years it took to finish this thing. The characters were charming, the case hit some good emotional beats, and the scenario and concepts were fun and creative. Cross examining an animal in an Ace Attorney game is always a good time.

The problem, I think, is that there were numerous points where I could tell what the answer to a particular line of questioning was, but not where they wanted me to present the evidence in question. I mean, Ace Attorney does this pretty often? But I think it was especially bad here. A particularly egregious example was a bit towards the end where they have you examine a piece of evidence to find out it’s got marks on it, but instead of connecting that to another piece of evidence when you find the marks, you have to present that evidence to the first statement in the testimony. For... some friggin’ reason. I definitely remember savescumming a few times outside of that, which makes me think it was a pretty consistent problem rather than a one-off issue.

So yeah, definitely a fun time, but it was a little unnecessarily frustrating a few too many times on the game front. I probably would’ve enjoyed watching somebody else play through it more than I enjoyed playing it myself.

The main game was good at making it clear where to present the evidence when you found the contradiction. This case really isn't and suffers a lot for it. In one testimony the lie is in three different statements and can be proved with two pieces of evidence, but the game only accepts one combination.

ALSO all the evidence is hilariously absurdly detailed, almost like the aquarium's marketing department knew their poster would be used in a murder trial.

ALSO..... there's no way the orca is happy in a tank that small, come on.

I feel so sorry for this case and how it is bunched up with the rest of the cases from Dual Destinies because this one is actually good. It actually baffles me how the how the goofy Orca case is somehow more interesting and emotional than the Final case in the game. The characters were actually entertaining and funny and the locations were quite beautiful. If you want to play Dual Densities my recommendation is just to play this case and then move onto Spirit of Justice because Dual Densities sucks.

Beat Turnabout Reclaimed the dlc Case. And it was a whole lot of fun it's insane how enjoyable this case is. Tone wise it's probably the most light hearted in the series but I would still put it in the upper echelon of cases cause it's just so fun and weird with a good mystery. Two notes tho. 1. The length of these cases are starting to get to me feels like they are getting long as shit for no good reason but maybe it's cause I've been binging all this. 2. Sasha buckler is hot as shit. Alright that's all