Was immediately sold on the game after hearing about a visual novel where choices actually matter a lot, but the overall result was a bit lackluster.

The art style, voice acting and writing were all great, and the idea of repeating the same story sequence with different voices in your head and a different princess is very well executed and (mostly) fresh the whole way through. My problem comes with the repetition of the runs. Every run ends pretty much the same way before the big climactic ending, which made it predictable and really grading after a while, to the point that I was almost unable to get to the finale because I was so bored. Still, when you do, the finale does comment on some interesting themes and ties together the game quite well.

Turns out the motherfuckers who repped this game above everything else were right.

This is Shu Takumi at his absolute best - from Ace Attorney we already knew he could weave an intricate and compelling mystery, but in Ghost Trick that mystery is both expanded and made more intimate as every character matters until the end (unlike most AA cases where characters appear for only one case). Ace Attorney's cost-effective writing that makes even the minor characters pop is on full display here. Every character is instantly memorable and goes through an arc that usually revealed them to be far more likable or interesting, especially the main characters, which are all very easy to get attached to. The story sometimes went into cartoon logic, but it was never unforgivably bad like a lot of Ace Attorney cases.

The gameplay and concept is also incredibly innovative, and every puzzle felt very satisfying and brain-expanding to solve. I had to consult a guide a few times, but it was very clear that just with enough experimenting all of the answers were in front of me, it's just that I couldn't bother sitting through the incredibly long and unskippable animations throughout the level, which is pretty much my only complaint (it's a DS game though, so it makes sense).

OH AND DID I FORGET TO MENTION THE FUCKING MUSIC AAAAA ACE ATTORNEY 1'S COMPOSER RETURNS AAAAAA THATS WHY HES THE GOAAAAAAT