I've been sitting on writing about this for over a week now, struggling to put my thoughts together cohesively, and honestly just dreading elaborating on what is, at the end of the day, a very short and sweet take on this duology, so I'll just say it and not care if I sound mean.
Adventures sucks. It takes until CASE 4 before you have a case with both a trial segment and an investigation segment, and even when you do get to the last two cases, it's only one chunk of each. Unprecedented, and while I guess I can appreciate a different approach, what it means is that the pacing drags for the whole game, not to mention inherently limits the stories of each case. Without multiple days for each case to build in complexity, the characters have to make the necessary revelations in a much more condensed time frame than any other Ace Attorney game has had to deal with, meaning that thing can't go as balls to the wall as its predecessors did, which, needless to say, is really disappointing. I haven't played Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney or... Dino Crisis... but those notwithstanding, this is the weakest game out of everything Shu Takumi's had significant contributions in.
Resolve is much more interesting. It often feels like it's trying a lot harder than the first game did to craft an interesting story. Thankfully the pacing is no longer an issue; every case after the intro has both a trial and an investigation, usually multiple of each. And in general the cases are a clear caliber above the first game, and a lot of the first game is recontextualized to make the story work.
But another issue rears its ugly head in this game: it's so AGONIZINGLY predictable! Every twist falls so flat and this game is never going to surprise you, making it a slog to get through, even though the cases are much more interesting this time around. This is almost worse than Adventures' pacing because all of Shu Takumi's works laugh in the face of predictability.
And most egregious of all, across both games, the characters suck. Ryunosuke is just Phoenix with less snark, no backstory, and the most generic character design I've ever seen. Susato is boring, and the takedown thing she does is obnoxious every time. I have never seen a duo with less chemistry than Ryunosuke and Kazuma, and the relationship they try and paint between these two is embarrassing. There is not a soul in either game who has as much life and personality as the parrot from the first Ace Attorney.
Resolve does a better job in this department. It doesn't have to do the heavy lifting of introducing the main cast, and its side characters are more entertaining. There's a decent selection of nutheads here, like Shamspeare, Harebrayne, Madam Tusspells, and the Redheads (side note I also really like the Eggert guy from the first game). But the best of these games can't come close to the original trilogy's cast in terms of zaniness, personality, or likability.
What's more disappointing is the main characters. The OG trilogy did such a good job of balancing its oddball ensemble with a main cast who were all very layered and developed. In The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, the only character who has any development is Gina. I mean, Van Zieks learns how to not be racist I guess. But everyone else is alarmingly static. I don't dislike these characters, but it's so disappointing that there is not a single identifiable character arc for our MAIN CHARACTERS (that isn't Gina).
That's it. Adventures sucks because of its terrible pacing, Resolve is much better and is definitely a worthwhile time but suffers from predictability, and both games have an underwhelming group of characters. Rapid fire good stuff time:
- Both games work great in 3D. Not sure what DD or SoJ did well since I never played those but 3D looks good in these games at least
- The Summation Examinations and "Herlock Sholmes Deduction Spectaular" sequences are both the best parts of the games. Sholmes brings so much style that is always a blast
- More period pieces in video games that aren't Assassin's Creed, please
- The soundtrack is sadly lacking in classic Ace Attorney energeticness, but makes up for it by making the harpsichord SUPER sexy
- The scope of these two games, building an international conspiracy across TEN cases, is laudable, and in spite of the predictability of its "what," the "how" of the final case is extremely satisfying.
- That final breakdown, wow!
- The whole aesthetic is superb. The courtrooms feel so grand, the watercolor palette is exquisite in every area, I don't like Ryunosuke's basic design but every other character looks great, the game contrasts the look of Japan and Britain so well.
- I like the funny accents everyone talks in.
Adventures sucks. It takes until CASE 4 before you have a case with both a trial segment and an investigation segment, and even when you do get to the last two cases, it's only one chunk of each. Unprecedented, and while I guess I can appreciate a different approach, what it means is that the pacing drags for the whole game, not to mention inherently limits the stories of each case. Without multiple days for each case to build in complexity, the characters have to make the necessary revelations in a much more condensed time frame than any other Ace Attorney game has had to deal with, meaning that thing can't go as balls to the wall as its predecessors did, which, needless to say, is really disappointing. I haven't played Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney or... Dino Crisis... but those notwithstanding, this is the weakest game out of everything Shu Takumi's had significant contributions in.
Resolve is much more interesting. It often feels like it's trying a lot harder than the first game did to craft an interesting story. Thankfully the pacing is no longer an issue; every case after the intro has both a trial and an investigation, usually multiple of each. And in general the cases are a clear caliber above the first game, and a lot of the first game is recontextualized to make the story work.
But another issue rears its ugly head in this game: it's so AGONIZINGLY predictable! Every twist falls so flat and this game is never going to surprise you, making it a slog to get through, even though the cases are much more interesting this time around. This is almost worse than Adventures' pacing because all of Shu Takumi's works laugh in the face of predictability.
And most egregious of all, across both games, the characters suck. Ryunosuke is just Phoenix with less snark, no backstory, and the most generic character design I've ever seen. Susato is boring, and the takedown thing she does is obnoxious every time. I have never seen a duo with less chemistry than Ryunosuke and Kazuma, and the relationship they try and paint between these two is embarrassing. There is not a soul in either game who has as much life and personality as the parrot from the first Ace Attorney.
Resolve does a better job in this department. It doesn't have to do the heavy lifting of introducing the main cast, and its side characters are more entertaining. There's a decent selection of nutheads here, like Shamspeare, Harebrayne, Madam Tusspells, and the Redheads (side note I also really like the Eggert guy from the first game). But the best of these games can't come close to the original trilogy's cast in terms of zaniness, personality, or likability.
What's more disappointing is the main characters. The OG trilogy did such a good job of balancing its oddball ensemble with a main cast who were all very layered and developed. In The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, the only character who has any development is Gina. I mean, Van Zieks learns how to not be racist I guess. But everyone else is alarmingly static. I don't dislike these characters, but it's so disappointing that there is not a single identifiable character arc for our MAIN CHARACTERS (that isn't Gina).
That's it. Adventures sucks because of its terrible pacing, Resolve is much better and is definitely a worthwhile time but suffers from predictability, and both games have an underwhelming group of characters. Rapid fire good stuff time:
- Both games work great in 3D. Not sure what DD or SoJ did well since I never played those but 3D looks good in these games at least
- The Summation Examinations and "Herlock Sholmes Deduction Spectaular" sequences are both the best parts of the games. Sholmes brings so much style that is always a blast
- More period pieces in video games that aren't Assassin's Creed, please
- The soundtrack is sadly lacking in classic Ace Attorney energeticness, but makes up for it by making the harpsichord SUPER sexy
- The scope of these two games, building an international conspiracy across TEN cases, is laudable, and in spite of the predictability of its "what," the "how" of the final case is extremely satisfying.
- That final breakdown, wow!
- The whole aesthetic is superb. The courtrooms feel so grand, the watercolor palette is exquisite in every area, I don't like Ryunosuke's basic design but every other character looks great, the game contrasts the look of Japan and Britain so well.
- I like the funny accents everyone talks in.
MisterProject
4 months ago
I know this essentially boils down to subjective preference, but I find it interesting how dissonant our experiences were. TGAA is probably my favorite entry in the series, so seeing this mixed review somewhat made me rethink the way I see this game.