Played: August 2023
Higher highs than Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and lower lows.
On pure drama, it's through the roof. I'm obsessed with the decision to split up "Pursuit" as two separate tracks in the score. What a surge of amplitude. When you get on that dog-on-a-bone thread with a penultimate line of questioning, and then the track shifts from Prelude to the main Pursuit theme, you will feel as if you're marshaling all the forces of truth in the world to rain down justice on a corrupt influence. A single katana slash in music form.
The characters remained endearing, and Ryunosuke Naruhodo is cemented as a protagonist for the Ace Attorney history books. 90% of the core mystery was a thrill to seek through and resolve.
Yet, I also can't hide some disappointment. The difficulty couldn't make up its mind if I should be thinking only a half step or a whole 2 steps ahead, often within the same case, which is all around a step back from the intuition honed in the previous game. Iris as a character never clicked with me. A couple of the secondary narrative resolutions also weren't as satisfying as could be.
THEMATIC SPOILER (no plot details): The biggest letdown, however, was the story's choice to pull back on indicting the structural forces of Western hegemony that these two games spent so many combined trials and tribulations to pursue. In the end, the villainry is reduced to powerful individuals. And while it doesn't negate the critical eye that came before, the status quo is unjustly glorified. I had such high hopes as this duology bared its fangs for 90% of the way only to sand things down at the end. Your tolerance may vary at certain gimmicky plot copouts, but the heart of my issue lies with the story poising itself to be something sharper than its gift-wrapped ending turned out to be. END THEMATIC SPOILER.
Still, these are a pair of series high marks. No assistant quite hits like Susato, including her role in the killer opening case of the second game. All in all, extremely worth anyone's time, Ace Attorney veteran or not.
Higher highs than Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and lower lows.
On pure drama, it's through the roof. I'm obsessed with the decision to split up "Pursuit" as two separate tracks in the score. What a surge of amplitude. When you get on that dog-on-a-bone thread with a penultimate line of questioning, and then the track shifts from Prelude to the main Pursuit theme, you will feel as if you're marshaling all the forces of truth in the world to rain down justice on a corrupt influence. A single katana slash in music form.
The characters remained endearing, and Ryunosuke Naruhodo is cemented as a protagonist for the Ace Attorney history books. 90% of the core mystery was a thrill to seek through and resolve.
Yet, I also can't hide some disappointment. The difficulty couldn't make up its mind if I should be thinking only a half step or a whole 2 steps ahead, often within the same case, which is all around a step back from the intuition honed in the previous game. Iris as a character never clicked with me. A couple of the secondary narrative resolutions also weren't as satisfying as could be.
THEMATIC SPOILER (no plot details): The biggest letdown, however, was the story's choice to pull back on indicting the structural forces of Western hegemony that these two games spent so many combined trials and tribulations to pursue. In the end, the villainry is reduced to powerful individuals. And while it doesn't negate the critical eye that came before, the status quo is unjustly glorified. I had such high hopes as this duology bared its fangs for 90% of the way only to sand things down at the end. Your tolerance may vary at certain gimmicky plot copouts, but the heart of my issue lies with the story poising itself to be something sharper than its gift-wrapped ending turned out to be. END THEMATIC SPOILER.
Still, these are a pair of series high marks. No assistant quite hits like Susato, including her role in the killer opening case of the second game. All in all, extremely worth anyone's time, Ace Attorney veteran or not.