Reviews from

in the past


This game had all the makings to be my favourite Ace Attorney game. No psychic shenanigans. The music being the best the series has ever produced (in the four games I've played thus far). Some absolute bangers are finding them straight into a spotify playlist ASAP. This game also has my favourite supporting character in an Ace Attorney game, a Mr. Herlock Sholmes. He is fucking hilarious and grew on me far more than I initially expected. By the end of the third case I was convinced that this would top Trials and Tribulations as my favourite game in the series. However it loses a lot of enjoyment in one place in particular; very slow pacing.

Thankfully once each case gets going my grievances tend to fade away, but there are some parts in the investigation periods particularly where I just wanted things to hurry along. Also during trials some of the solutions would be glaringly obvious but you had to spend 3 minutes to let the in game characters to come to very obvious conclusions. However when this game gets good, the case is in its final stretches, the music is blaring, objections reigning out from each side, the game really scratches that Ace Attorney itch.

Gameplay wise this game also felt a lot more engaging, being able to interact and spin around pieces of evidence to discover clues that actively would be used to turn trials around, most notably an ENTIRE FUCKIN' BUS being evidence in which you can explore. My only real grievance with the mechanic would be that you don't get an indicator to show you've examined a particular area when dealing with evidence. This means that at times during trials I would miss a clue thinking I'd already pressed on that particular prompt. There is also the deductions of Herlock Sholmes which conceptually interested me but often went on longer than I wanted them too. The jury system also was a surprising addition but one that added to the gameplay. Summation soundtrack SLAPPING also helped.

Overall I really liked the game. The music is really freaking good. If you can tolerate some pacing issues here and this game is well worth playing.

Nunca pensei que um dia eu me apaixonaria tanto por visual novels, ou jogos totalmente focados em história, sempre fui mais cativado pela gameplay, mas não tem jeito, quando algo emana tanto carisma, tanto charme, tem personagens tão carinhosamente bem feitos, eu me invisto e fico complemente imerso no jogo, e por isso eu amei o conceito de Ace Attorney e vou continuar a saga na medida do possível, foi uma experiência incrível.

Música favorita: The Great Cross Examination: Allegro
Personagem favorito: Susato Mikotoba

the best ace attorney game by far hands down. the only thing that can come close is aa3 or aai2. best mc with an amazing story, soundtrack, and a feel to the game that makes me so happy

Played: July - August 2023

Ace Attorney is my most reliable game series. Even during Case 2-3 Turnabout Big Top -- perhaps the franchise nadir -- I'm still pixel hunting for clues, and I'm still trying to convince a goofy detective to share investigation details, and I'm still snatching victory in court from the jaws of defeat. I'm still playing Phoenix Wright. Apollo, Athena, Edgeworth, Phoenix himself, and now Ryunosuke Naruhodo. We're all Phoenix Wright, baby.

In its pacing and intrigue, the highs and lows of Great Ace Attorney: Adventures rank right next to the highs and lows of the rest. What really sets it apart, however, is its comfort with the unease. As a prequel, the narrative takes place at the end of the 19th century with Japan broadening its legal horizons to the West. Thanks to surprisingly tragic circumstances, you find yourself as the first young lawyer from the East stranded by choice in Great Britain. Ready to learn and take home all that the allegedly greatest legal system of the world has to offer. In a series first move, not only is the concept of race recognized, but racism is pointedly overt and inevitable. You are talked down to at every turn. Treated as a curiosity. And even the more spineless of the Japanese characters are shown to internalize insecurities and worship whiteness. The reality of orientalism looms from the word go.

That said, the game never forgets to be funny. Because this is also Ace Attorney's adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, reimagined as Herlock Sholmes. "Emotionally intelligent, but logically stupid" is a class-A take on the character, and it's downright hilarious at times.

Beyond contending with race, I loved how much the story mucks up everyone's scruples. You are placed in gray areas that remain so til the end. There are accidents, not just calculated murder. The "infallibility" of Great Britain's court system is immediately challenged and always seems to be in air quotes. There's an ever-present air of compromise not just around high society, or even the police, but the justice system itself. And even our new equally-clever-and-hapless protagonist Ryunosuke comes to have his morals unintentionally jeopardized. Since Adventures is just a part one, I don't know yet where the ambiguity will take us.

There are some relative lowlights. Turning Sherlock Holme's Watson equivalent into a genius ten year old girl inventor is just not for me. I hate thinking in tropes, but she comes off to me as an anime prerequisite. A couple witnesses threaten to outstay their welcome. I also have to admit that the occasional downside of eschewing easy answers is that some of the big moments can come off unsatisfying. Still, I would not trade what this game is ultimately doing to avoid a minor blemish here or there. Susato is an all-timer assistant. For maybe the first time ever, I only got frustrated enough to consult a walkthrough once. The creatives behind AA have gotten very good at predicting the player's intuition, or at least mine. The Jury system is refreshing. The first time I realized what the Dance of Deduction was, I was straight up giddy.

Having now played the 2nd one and aware of how the story both improves and declines, Adventures remains a worthwhile first half.

naruhodo and sholmes and the case of the unfortunately born british


Sem duvida um jogo feito como precursor para o próximo da linha. Não que isso seja ruim, mas fica facil de entender o desespero de quem teve se emocionar com uma história que ficou em aberto, e incerta, por 2 anos.

Shu Takumi tem claramente grandes planos para o segundo jogo, e o fato dele sempre vir junto com o primeiro em toda novo relançamento deixa isso bem claro. Todos os temas que esse jogo toca, como xenofobia, corrupção, o limite da lei, etc são bem claros, mas não possuem resolução. O que é de bom grado, nem toda história tem que terminar nela mesma.

Mas num geral, é Ace Attorney, a história é bonita e é sempre a série que eu mais passo mal de rir num geral. Sempre perfeitamente sério e leve, lavador de alma. Só queria que ele não ficasse com essa sensação de ser um tutorial até o quarto caso, e que desse menos dicas do que fazer. Mas isso importa pouco.

A base de uma história não deixa de ser tão cativante quanto seu clímax.

Exists entirely to set up the sequel, but since that sequel is included with this game in the states that's ok :)

ace attorney if it was even fucking better holy shit

it was crazy how theres an entire game before the great ace attorney 2 that is AS good

if u play this one you NEED to play the second one
this game made me so insane

Just because the 2nd game justifies every case in this game doesn't make them actually good. Well, case 3 is still fantastic, so that's something at least.

amazing game that fed my starving love for mysteries. the great ace attorney chronicles is currently in my list to play therefore i haven't touched the sequel but this game definitely set up a very good basis for one

Seeing Shu Takumi's charming character writing after several dull Yamazaki games is a complete joy, and it's accompanied by some astounding character designs and animations that left a big impression on me, but my praise ends there.

Agonizingly slow pacing, some of the most nonsensical and boring murder mysteries I have ever experienced, a duo of main characters structurally broken, critical plot points that go absolutely nowhere and some of the easiest and dullest gameplay sections of the series makes this an overall dreadful experience. All leading to an ending that resolves nothing and prompts you to play/buy a sequel that promises something truly interesting will 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 happen.

Lord knows I would have thrown my 3DS out the window if this game was sold on it's own like in the original release. I guess now I know what happens when Shu doesn't have a stricter editing process holding him back.

Case Ranking
----------------------
Great:
Case 2

Good:
Case 5

Weak:
Case 3 and Case 4

Awful:
Case 1

I loved this game, and was very happy to finish it. The final case had a very satisfying conclusion that pulled a lot together from the rest of the game, as expected from this franchise. It was also a nice reprieve from the main series characters in modern times since we got to see new characters and new times and places. The music and fonts and stylized Victorian-looking graphics were also very fun. I'm glad they finally made an official English release of this game, but kudos to the fans before who had done their own translation. I had the original release and patched it properly on a Japanese 3DS before it was put on Switch, so your efforts were still appreciated!

idk i really didn't vibe with this one after all the hyping it got for years when it was unreleased/fan-translated. the pacing is awful, the cases aren't interesting 80% of the time, and the characterization and arcs throughout are confusing.
some plotlines are just dropped randomly to (presumably) be picked up game 2. i just wish this game was better. like it was better than aa5 and aa6 but what a depressingly low bar

Ace Attorney es sobre unos casos criminales que casualmente incluyen al mismo abogado. The Great Ace Attorney, al contrario, es la historia de crecimiento personal de Ryunosuke Naruhodo, en la que se ve involucrado en una serie de crímenes durante el proceso de convertirse en un abogado defensor. Este enfoque renovado en esta saga se siente mucho, todos los arcos argumentales principales se resuelven de forma satisfactoria y todo lo que ocurre le afecta directamente al protagonista y los infinitamente carismáticos personajes principales Susato Mikotoba, Herlock Sholmes y Iris Wilson, entre varios otros de sus aliados. La trama y los personajes son manejados de forma magistral y uno constantemente no se imagina lo que se viene ya que este juego rompe varias tradiciones de los anteriores.

Al tomar lugar en el Imperio Británico en los últimos años del siglo XIX y primeros del XX, los protagonistas japoneses son frecuentemente discriminados por venir del "lejano oriente", y me gusta muchísimo la inclusión de temas más maduros como el racismo, las tensiones políticas, las diferencias culturales y las novedades tecnológicas aún sin perder el característico humor absurdo de esta entretenida franquicia.

En esta novela visual ejemplar se tiene un cuidado extremo en cada escenario tridimensional, en cada diseño de personaje, en cada uno de sus movimientos y animaciones tan vívidas y coloridas, y todo esto sumado a la magnífica, pegadiza y simplemente excelente banda sonora (por lejos la mejor de la saga) es imposible no disfrutar del contenido audiovisual que te ofrece Adventures. Se añaden además un par de mecánicas nuevas que son muy bienvenidas y hacen más llevaderas tanto las secciones de investigación como las de los juicios en tribunales.

En resumen, así es como se hace una novela visual en todo sentido. Hace mucho que un juego no me tenía diciendo "puta la wea buena".

The first Great Ace Attorney is an entertaining and interesting shakeup to the Ace Attorney series with charming characters and an excellent new setting. It’s an endearing adventure that takes a rather unique look at the historical period of the late 1800s for both Britain and Japan.

Each episode’s writing quality is generally pretty good, even if they can get a little slow at times. Episode 3 is definitely this game’s highlight, which is funny because the third Episode in an Ace Attorney game is typically the weak “filler” episode. However, this game’s third episode manages to be one of the most suspenseful and captivating ones in the series. It is then followed by Episode 4, which is this game’s low point, but still wasn’t necessarily terrible. I greatly enjoyed all of the characters in this one too, especially their extensive character animations. These animations are really well done, and do a great job of establishing the unique quirks and personalities of each character. Herlock Sholmes is by far the best example of this. His eccentricity is infectious, and you can tell that they had an immense amount of fun animating him.

Despite the overall writing quality of this game, it does feel like a large amount of it was written as a build up to its sequel. There’s a number of plot points that aren’t addressed, and while the game does end on a really good note, there’s a hefty amount of plot elements that are left unresolved, especially after the final trial. Assuming that everything left unanswered will end up being addressed in the sequel, I think I’m glad this game didn’t come overseas for so long, as I feel like playing this game without playing the sequel soon after might’ve left me with some overall harsher negative feelings.

The new additions to the trials and investigations are neat. Having a jury as well as cross-examining multiple witnesses on the witness stand offers the opportunity to feature even more of the colorful characters the Ace Attorney series is known for, and I quite enjoyed the summation examinations as well for the same reason. I also enjoyed the new Dance of Deduction sequences, but I do think that sitting through them twice, much like how you listen to a witnesses’ statement twice during a cross-examination, gets a tad tiresome. The cinematics of Herlock Sholmes confidently missing the point with his deductions are quite fun, but I think they’d be paced better if Naruhodo interjected the first time Sholmes gets something wrong as opposed to letting the whole cinematic play out before Naruhodo makes his corrections.

The game is a comfy and enjoyable time. It definitely does feel a little lacking without playing the sequel, but if the sequel lives up to the promise this game has, then I think it’ll be worth it in the end. Adventures doesn’t quite hit the ground running, but by the end, it definitely starts to pick up steam, and I’m very excited to play the sequel.

if herlock sholmes has 100 fans i’m one of them. if herlock sholmes has 1 fan it’s me. if herlock sholmes has no fans then i no longer exist

cases range from "eh" to "eh pretty good", but the characters and the top tier visual work make up for it. this game is very much a "part 1 of 2", approach it under the pretense of "let them cook" and you'll get it

"Meet Baron Van Zieks the loveable prosecutor of the game!

We regret to inform you Van Zieks is racist."

dance of deduction made investigating in this game worth it each and every time

i hear a lot of reviews that say tgaa 2 is the Real good one of the dgs games, while tgaa 1 is really just a set up for it. so as i have just finished tgaa 1 and have no clue what happens in tgaa 2, i want to leave a review with my blind opinion before playing the second game.

this game is just fucking Fantastic. it approaches ace attorney differently than the phoenix wright trilogy. in the pw:aa trilogy, the hook of each game focuses a lot on interpersonal relationships phoenix has: edgeworth, maya, dahlia, etc. and develops the bonds and history between the different characters.

this game does it different. i find that it focuses much more on ryunosuke's personal development, and how each of the people he meets and helps along the way contribute to who he is as a person, and ultimately becoming a fulfillment of what asougi embodied at the start of the game. it was truly wonderful to watch ryuunosuke grow, and the 5th case was especially fulfilling. his dialogue was so wonderful to read i genuinely felt so moved

i am personally much more of a fan of games that focus on interpersonal relationships (hence being an ace attorney fan in the first place) so i was really surprised this game got me so bad despite not being the kind of story i usually look for.

it was a pleasure meeting naruhodo ryuunosuke, i can't wait to play the next one :DD

the second game definitely is what makes this game better but even by itself it’s just so fantastically done


i knew that the Great Ace Attorney games were supposed to be good, but the general consensus for Adventures appeared to almost just be "it's the one before the good one" and i loved my time with this one. probably my favourite of the Ace Attorney games ive played (1-3).

rather than just following the general shenanigans of Phoenix Wright and his merry band of friends, GAA feels like it has an overarching, worldly point to it. It's not a personal story as much as it is a story about grand empires in the early 1900s and the circumstances surrounding the characters in them. racism is a very central topic in the game which, i mean, yeah it makes complete sense but i didnt expect it to pop up in a fucking Ace Attorney game

the high points of the game are definitely the 3rd and 5th case, those being the "central plot points", with the 4th case being the notable "filler" case that most of the AA games have, like Turnabout Big Top or Turnabout Samurai.

ive gotta say the 3rd case is probably my second favourite in the series i think behind 2-4. but probably only in part because GAA1-5 retroactively makes it better. only misstep in the game is the 2nd case, solely because it almost feels like a tutorial for the Herlock investigation sequences.

Sympa , l'ambiance époque 19eme siècle est belle et Kazuya Nuri est clairement le meilleur chara-designer de la licence y'a pas photo .
Il sert surtout a poser les bases de la vraie intrigue et des persos pour le second jeu sinon en soi le jeu cool mais pas ce qui s'est fait de mieux dans la licence

This game great from start to finish, graphics, characters, music, cases and all were great and are a vast improvement over AA5 which was the game that came before this one.
If you like visual novels and Ace Attorney you definitely should check this one out, and both thr 3DS and Chronicles release are in English so pick whatever version is more accessible to you!!