Despite being so much more ambitious than its predecessor in the scope of its ideas, this game's incessant reluctance to meaningfully explore them combined with an absolutely abysmal resolution makes it another disappointment. It's interesting— the way TGAA2 disappoints is very different from TGAA1. With the prior game, I just didn't feel it had a lot of compelling ideas at all. But its sequel is the opposite: the amount of unrealized potential this game contains is absolutely immense.
Susato has great setup in case 1. She seemingly has to confront that her society's restrictions on her gender and occupation prevent her from making meaningful change, fighting back against this by shedding both those perceived roles and proving her worth in court. In the end? She stays resigned to her assistant role forever, with a line in the epilogue suggesting she still ties her self-worth entirely to how well she can perform her societally expected role. Anything resembling setup for her never actually mattered.
Sholmes has great setup all throughout the game. He's frequently invasive and manipulative of other people, with this seemingly being built up as a conflict between him and the protagonists over how irreverently he treats the cases he's involved with. In the end? The conflict is solved by Sholmes telling them he was doing it all for the greater good, and it never gets brought up again, even if the logic he uses to justify himself borders on absurd and completely glosses over half the things he does. No character flaw for you!
Yujin has great setup in case 4. He fully admits to Ryunosuke that he's been a neglectful father, not paying enough attention to the emotional needs of either of his children, and merely distracting himself by going on adventures in London. He promises he'll explain everything. In the end? He explains nothing, and the game basically forgets this was ever a problem past the one time he spoke about it. The last case simply has him going on more wild London adventures with Sholmes, while Ryunosuke affirms he has "the most wonderful family in the world".
Stronghart has great setup in case 5. He explains his entire ideology. It's incredibly morally complex, it ties into the game's criticisms of nationalism, racism, and the media's desire for public spectacle, and it sets up a truly fantastic dilemma that Ryunosuke has to face. In the end? Ryunosuke refuses to even engage the tiniest bit with it. He proclaims that the TRUTH is the most important thing, that Stronghart has no ground to stand on because he's hiding from the TRUTH, and utterly ignores all nuance in the dilemma through arbitrary moralizing.
Every single one of the game's potential deeper meanings are sidestepped in favor of an agonizingly basic 'good vs evil' plot. And nothing exemplifies that more than the deus ex machina at the end of case 5, when Ryunosuke's saved by the same higher power he was just criticizing. It feels completely arbitrary what the game decides is good or bad.
TGAA2's best characters are almost exclusively the side characters in the earlier cases, who aren't propped up to serve a grand moral point, and instead feel like real humans with interesting and layered personalities. Case 2 is the game's best for that very reason. My opinion on this game is similar to my opinion on T&T: full of ideas that could make for an excellent story, but too afraid to ever meaningfully commit to those ideas. It feels like an unfortunate trend with Takumi's Ace Attorney games.
Susato has great setup in case 1. She seemingly has to confront that her society's restrictions on her gender and occupation prevent her from making meaningful change, fighting back against this by shedding both those perceived roles and proving her worth in court. In the end? She stays resigned to her assistant role forever, with a line in the epilogue suggesting she still ties her self-worth entirely to how well she can perform her societally expected role. Anything resembling setup for her never actually mattered.
Sholmes has great setup all throughout the game. He's frequently invasive and manipulative of other people, with this seemingly being built up as a conflict between him and the protagonists over how irreverently he treats the cases he's involved with. In the end? The conflict is solved by Sholmes telling them he was doing it all for the greater good, and it never gets brought up again, even if the logic he uses to justify himself borders on absurd and completely glosses over half the things he does. No character flaw for you!
Yujin has great setup in case 4. He fully admits to Ryunosuke that he's been a neglectful father, not paying enough attention to the emotional needs of either of his children, and merely distracting himself by going on adventures in London. He promises he'll explain everything. In the end? He explains nothing, and the game basically forgets this was ever a problem past the one time he spoke about it. The last case simply has him going on more wild London adventures with Sholmes, while Ryunosuke affirms he has "the most wonderful family in the world".
Stronghart has great setup in case 5. He explains his entire ideology. It's incredibly morally complex, it ties into the game's criticisms of nationalism, racism, and the media's desire for public spectacle, and it sets up a truly fantastic dilemma that Ryunosuke has to face. In the end? Ryunosuke refuses to even engage the tiniest bit with it. He proclaims that the TRUTH is the most important thing, that Stronghart has no ground to stand on because he's hiding from the TRUTH, and utterly ignores all nuance in the dilemma through arbitrary moralizing.
Every single one of the game's potential deeper meanings are sidestepped in favor of an agonizingly basic 'good vs evil' plot. And nothing exemplifies that more than the deus ex machina at the end of case 5, when Ryunosuke's saved by the same higher power he was just criticizing. It feels completely arbitrary what the game decides is good or bad.
TGAA2's best characters are almost exclusively the side characters in the earlier cases, who aren't propped up to serve a grand moral point, and instead feel like real humans with interesting and layered personalities. Case 2 is the game's best for that very reason. My opinion on this game is similar to my opinion on T&T: full of ideas that could make for an excellent story, but too afraid to ever meaningfully commit to those ideas. It feels like an unfortunate trend with Takumi's Ace Attorney games.
2 Comments
very based. the way stronghart's arguments are just steamrolled by ryonosuke's ideals is so uninteresting because like.. stronghart IS wrong, but it doesn't feel like anyone actually takes the time to take him down in a sensical manner. especially with the deus ex machina.. ugh
"Sholmes has great setup all throughout the game. He's frequently invasive and manipulative of other people, with this seemingly being built up as a conflict between him and the protagonists over how irreverently he treats the cases he's involved with. In the end? The conflict is solved by Sholmes telling them he was doing it all for the greater good..."
SO true, this is literally the exact same character trajectory as Phoenix in AA4, yet in Apollo Justice, Phoenix actually does butt heads with Apollo, and you can see how his past as a con man and his philosophies on the court system actively create tensions between the two (e.g. Apollo punching Phoenix, Apollo commenting on how he doesn't like how Phoenix raises Trucy, even the differing flavor text when they inspect the nail polish foil each other...).
I find the deus ex machina in AA4 to be interesting due to the questionable moral implications it has for the justice system and characters involved. Sholmes appealing to the queen of england was nothing short of insensitive and spineless towards the game's intended themes, and no character seemed to care.
Iris by proxy feels like a shoddy copy of Trucy. While I like Iris a fair bit more and though she does have some uniqueness to her, their proximity to the story both lie in their family history but Iris is coddled and never told the truth about her family while Trucy is forced to grapple with it head on.
SO true, this is literally the exact same character trajectory as Phoenix in AA4, yet in Apollo Justice, Phoenix actually does butt heads with Apollo, and you can see how his past as a con man and his philosophies on the court system actively create tensions between the two (e.g. Apollo punching Phoenix, Apollo commenting on how he doesn't like how Phoenix raises Trucy, even the differing flavor text when they inspect the nail polish foil each other...).
I find the deus ex machina in AA4 to be interesting due to the questionable moral implications it has for the justice system and characters involved. Sholmes appealing to the queen of england was nothing short of insensitive and spineless towards the game's intended themes, and no character seemed to care.
Iris by proxy feels like a shoddy copy of Trucy. While I like Iris a fair bit more and though she does have some uniqueness to her, their proximity to the story both lie in their family history but Iris is coddled and never told the truth about her family while Trucy is forced to grapple with it head on.
skylights
1 year ago