Amazing game all around.
Music, characters, story, graphics, everything about this is excellent.
It's crazy how much it improves over the first game and ties up all loose ends very nicely.
Though some story bits were kinda weird they didn't detract from the overall experience.
All in all I wish I could play this all over again, it's that good.

You know what since this will probably be my last new AA experience for a while, I'll make this review more serious than usual and also write a little reflection on my relationship with this series in general

I've been following Ace Attorney for 10+ years now and it was honestly love at first sight. When I first played AA1, I had no clue what a visual novel even was, and the idea of a "courtroom simulator" where you play as a defense attorney intrigued me. And I was hooked all the way once I started playing. The original trilogy, Apollo Justice and Investigations all made a massive impression on me, and while the games were of varying quality, I could still say even the weakest games were at the very least good, and the best of the series still stand among my favorites.

And my love for the series only amplified once the series hit the 3DS. Dual Destinies was the first game I ever played on the day of its release, the localization of the Layton crossover got me insanely hyped, and I went even as far as playing the fan translation of AAI2 back when it was fully completed. However, over the years, I became more and more cynical about discussing the series. Not because I thought the games were bad, but the opposite; every AA game was at least good in my eyes. And I felt that with most fans being very vocal about which games they disliked, I felt discouraged to start any discussion about the games "targeted by the masses", and eventually I started to become less and less passionate about the series in general, to the point where I convinced myself I had fallen out of love with it.

That brings us to present day, and the release of TGAA Chronicles. When it was announced, I could feel myself getting actually really excited, even though I had already played the fan tl of TGAA1. It was mostly because the second game, which was still untranslated, was also included in the package, but also because it felt amazing to have these long-time Japan-only titles come to the west OFFICIALLY. It made me feel downright giddy, and at some point, I found myself replaying some earlier AA game "in preparation" for the Chronicles release. And when I started playing my way through, that old flame started burn brightly again. I realized that even though this series has had its ups and downs, no matter what anyone else has to say about the games I love, I will always love Ace Attorney.

And The Great Ace Attorney 2 was just the game I needed to truly solidify that realization. Like AAI2, it improves on pretty much everything the first game set out to do, and seeing all the cliffhangers from the first game solved and laid out in satisfying way made me feel alive like few other game series do. And by the time I witnessed the breakdown of the final culprit, I was absolutely enveloped by the magic that captured me about the series in the first place.

In conclusion, The Great Ace Attorney 2 is one of the best games in the series, and I'd like to thank Shu Takumi and everyone at Capcom who worked on this franchise for giving life to one of my favorite pieces of media out there.

I love Ace Attorney so fucking much.

Although not quite a jump in quality on par with Investigations 2 or Spirit of Justice, GAA2 is certainly an improvement over the first game with more consistently compelling cases and a far more conclusive and satisfying ending. It feels more like a continuation of the first game than the other sequels in the series which I found pretty interesting and resulted in some great payoff with the later cases regarding the overarching mystery though it did kind of hurt the first game for me since it relegated the story to buildup. The positives from the first game remain strong in the sequel such as the colorful and likable cast, excellent presentation and distinct setting. Unfortunately the AA tradition of frequently coming upon gameplay decisions that require fairly large leaps in logic on the player's part remains strong but it is made considerably less frustrating with the inclusion of the "story mode" that is easily toggled to take the place of looking up a walkthrough. I also quite liked the voice acting, particularly how they got VAs who sound distinctly japanese and british to match the characters' nationalities. Though it did make me pretty disappointed that they still aren't doing full voice acting, only for a select few cutscenes.

It doesn't tie its plot threads as successfully as I hoped, and the last case doesn't manage to wow with yet another terrific layer of mystery to end the whole deal on an exclamation mark, but I'd be lying if I said that this game wasn't a joyous satisfying ride. It's beaming with personality and jovial moments, the cast of characters might be the best the series has seen, and being the second game writers were allowed to subvert them in exciting ways. The plot is good, and even more so than the first game it pulls off a story well-informed by the time period, thus being the Ace Attorney that's so refreshingly aware of the real life and the issues and challenges real people face. Best Takumi game since the Trials and Tribulations for sure, even if on the mystery side of things I'm not as over the moon as others seem to be.

PROS:
- case quality-wise, easily the best in the series alongside AAI2. case 2 in particular has to be my favourite filler case in the series
- everything good about dgs1 is also good here (the cast, the presentation, just the overall feel of 19th century Ace Attorney)
- fully delivers on the amazing set-up of dgs1, making this duology the peak of the series, and very accessible for people who have never played ace attorney before (while also offering a lot of twists and subversions on the usual formula for those who have!)
- contender for funniest game in the series, every sholmes deduction section had me dying, and van zieks' reactions to the shit you pull out of your ass are still gold. even the throwaway witnesses are all great here. 90% of my playtime was spent smiling
- the port and localisation quality is very good. though there's a couple mods i recommend playing with (one allowing animations to be 60fps, another improving music quality)

CONS:
- much like dgs1, DO NOT GO IN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. i made this mistake and ended up dining with my husbando, gregson, unexpectedly. so the price of this game may be deceptive.
- goes hard on the asset reuse. which is fine since it does it well, but it also makes it the only ace attorney game that heavily reuses the soundtrack of another. which is also fine because DGS has one of the best OSTs in the series. but damn it i want more. (EDIT: actually upon checking, this game had like 2 hours of new music which is more than i remembered. still wouldve liked a different cross examination theme or something tho)
- pacing not the smoothest. i think Scarlet Study (the fan TL people) said that these were meant to be 3 games, but budget issues and lack of popularity meant we only got 2. dont remember what their basis for this was but it does kinda feel like there should've been more.
- upon finishing this, you will immediately begin to despair at the thought of ryunosuke, sustato, sholmes, van zieks and the rest of the cast never appearing in an ace attorney game again.

FINAL VERDICT:
Guilty... of being a sick ass game and miniseries that everyone should play. i still cant believe i actually finally got to play this and it didn't let me down at all

I don't even know what to say, Ace Attorney has a knack for surprising me with its tenacity of somehow consistently creating stories and games that somehow match and now often can surpass the feelings that the original trilogy ends on. And with that, I can say that this is the best Ace Attorney, I'm almost at a loss for words for what is pulled off in this game, and all I can do is urge every fellow fan of the series to check into it and its previous game as soon as possible.

I will say though, despite the game tying all its loose ends, and arguably not warranting it, I have an inkling this isn't the last time we'll be seeing this gang. And if that fateful day is to come, I'll be welcoming it with open arms.

PREQUEL PERFECT PAYOFF PERFORMED
COOL CHARISMATIC CHARACTER CAST
THEATER TALE OF TRUE TEARJERKING
RYUNOSUKE'S RESOLVE OF RAW RESOURCING
SO
SEKI
NAT
SUME