Lurker > GiftedACIII

From the Ace Attorney Facebook page:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/0/AAN4AOAADIss.jpg

https://youtu.be/YZoPWi5GBk8

If anyone likes GAA streams, a streamer that I like has been going through the series for the first time blind on stream. It's a silly time, but it's a lot of fun, and I always enjoy seeing people experience the games for the first time.

No, I think that user mean SoJ-3, which I remember had to do with a shrine on top of a mountain? And I think Maya was channeling someone? And the guy ran up to Maya holding a knife so that he could commit suicide while making it seem that Maya killed him?

I just found that mountain top case so boring!

I wish but I doubt it. Probably SFVI related (which is also hype for me lol)

Finally just finished the 2nd game (havent touched Escapades yet). A few of my thoughts

I think both games are kinda middle of the pack in the Ace Attorney series for the most part, but I think the 2nd half of 2-5 might be the best the series has to offer. It was a great climax and resolution. Id need to think about it the only things that rival it IMO are 1-4 in the original Ace Attorney game and 1-5 in Trials & Tribulations.

I was really surprised that they killed off Gregson like that. Has any prominent character ever died that late into a game like that before? I cant recall it happening for the life of me. Obviously, Mia dying so sooon in the original game is comparable, but that happened too soon to really compare.

One thing that really bugged me about both games there was too much needless dialogue way too often. I felt like characters would just rattle on forever at times without really adding anything of value. Like, you know how you hit points in these games where you sorta need to present items to people during non-trial conversations, just to see if something might provide additional info that you need? There are certain Nope, this is a dead end responses that youd get from characters that could take nearly 20 seconds, due to animations and pauses in dialogue. And you would need to put up with it every time youd try presenting a new item. Thought that was a fault of the game.

Maybe Im forgetting something, but did they ever say why Iris goes by the last name of Wilson? Or is it merely just a giant 2-game long red herring?

I genuinely was wondering if they were gonna make Ryunosuke & Susato an item at the end. There were parts of dialogue from Susato that seemed like very light flirting, and the two seemed to have a genuine I care for you relationship that is quite different from Phoenix & Maya. The P&M 100% came across as big brother and troublesome little sister. I got different vibes from R&S, and wasnt sure how the game was gonna finish their story.

I felt like compared to all of the rival prosecutors you face throughout the series, Lord van Zieks seems like one of the least worthy rivals, but Kazuma seemed like one of the more imposing in the series. Also, Taketsuchi Auchi put up a much better fight in the intro cases than his predecessors ever did.

The Dance of Deduction is one of the better mini-games during investigations in the whole series. I really liked those.

Every now and then, I see this after someone bumps it. At over 13 months old, its gotta be it

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/79240226

One thing to consider *Major spoilers*

Phoenix being such a great natural detective makes a ton of sense because he has fucking Mikotba/Watson's blood in his genes lol

Okay. I finished the game a while back. A bit after my last post in this topic. I needed some time to compose my thoughts and then Christmas happened.

Overall, the final case of Resolve started out really annoying me, but like most other cases that start out "bad" it pulled it back towards the end. Essentially I think everything involving Jigoku in the case is absolute garbage. He's a completely annoying character whose role is a giant timesink before we get to the actual case. The way he is setup at the start of the game makes it seem like he's going to be significant as a character, but it was just so they could have this minor villain mentioned rather than popping out of complete nowhere. More overarchingly I think the whole assassin exchange program is beyond stupid and a really silly conclusion to the setup of the telegram and Jezaille Brett's whole character. I don't know what to say about it other than it's overengineered and dumb and very unsatisfying.

I absolutely despised what the case did with Kazuma. At the start at least. By the end of it I kind of accepted it and I think it managed to rein in it by the end where it wasn't that bad and his characterization came through in a kind of positive way, but that doesn't redeem how stupid the whole thing is and I still wish they hadn't gone that way with his character. Should they have brought him back at all? I don't know. I'm leaning towards no, but overall I'm okay with it.

Now, basically everything after we get done with the Jigoku prologue is really freaking good. Stronghart is well-utilized. I feel like it's kind of too obvious to make him the big bad, but I guess it's a genre thing and it's fine. He's very well used in the case. Very intimidating in the role of judge. I've heard people say he reminds them of Damon Gant, and I kind of see it, but I fucking hate Damon Gant and Rise from the Ashes as a whole. I think he's a much better version of Damon Gant. No doubt it helps that he's had 2 games of build up rather than just being plopped into a DLC case. In some sense the conclusion kind of seems like an asspull, but I don't really think so. Stronghart plays up his authority and it makes sense to tear it down by simply showing his shenanigans to someone with more authority. The case does a lot of things with technology that seem kind of awkward, but I do think it utilizes them well, or at least for good purposes. That investigative segment on the ship was amazing. Overall I think the story revelations regarding Mikotoba and Iris in the case was some of the best non-trial writing an Ace Attorney game has ever had. Holmes really comes together as a character in these last two cases when the depth of machinations and foresight is revealed. It really shines a different light on his appearances in the rest of the game(s). All that at least makes up somewhat for the early trial part of the case. Or I guess the middle trial part, technically. Honestly, the part before Jigoku is kind of a blur to me.

The ending was really good. I legit teared up when Iris called Sholmes daddy. ;_;. The story concluded the only way I really think it was reasonable to conclude it. It felt really well earned. It was bittersweet but also kind of you know, hopeful for the future. I'm sure they visit Iris and Holmes again. It's kind of weird with the Ace Attorney localization, because it's obviously setting up for Naruhodo returning to Japan and revitalizing the country's legal system and then 100 years in the future we follow his descendant traversing that same legal system. But it doesn't really work when those games take place in America. Also the whole "dark age of the law" dumbfuck plot in Dual Destinies seem out of place with that ending.

Overall I do think it stumbles a bit on the last leg, but it does succeed mostly in righting itself and getting across the goal line in a reasonably great fashion.

These games have been fucking wonderful to play. They work significantly enough different from the standard meandering faire the main series has turned into of late to be great in their own right, but they do also go beyond with thoughtful ways to do cases, especially in the first game with case 2 and 3. I do think I like the first one more than the second but it's kind of hard to separate because most of the first game's setups are resolved until Resolve (see what I did there?).

I'll definitely replay them sometime in 2022, probably the later half. I really can't wait to re-experience them with a fuller understanding of the setups I'm watching. Great series.

Edit: I also did the escapades. They're pretty fun, but not really memorable.

Also some thoughts about the games overall. I think the localization is absolutely amazing. The dialogue feels genuine and authentic. I like how they didn't shy away from archaicisms. There were quite a number of times I had to Merriam Webster terms and words. The accenting of Gina's dialogue is really good. It did a wonderful job transporting you to that era and world. Which is weird considering the old games literally changed the entire setting to avoid that. Really good.

Overall I think the only bad case in the series is the first one in the first game. Some of the others start out rough for me, but they all manage to salvage themselves by the end other than that one. It was just so long and it didn't manage to justify its length via case intrigue interesting characters. The two restaurant witnesses were incredibly boring. And they didn't really utilize the dual witness mechanicsm. I think the case did it once or so. It works well for establishing Kazuma and Naruhodo. Especially developing Naruhodo through his amazing animations. But that does not justify the overall length. I would have liked it to be 90 minutes shorter. Maybe 2 hours, but that might be too much.

I really like how the series rethinks concepts that are common to the franchise. I like how Van Zieks is not this undisputed prodigy. He loses cases and didn't start prosecuting at age 11. He remains a thoroughly intimidating presence through the Reaper narrative. And the way Naruhodo views the whole "believe in your client" concept is just so much more appealing than usual. It's not treated like a dumb lawyer's maxim, or statement of belief, but rather how Naruhodo finds his personal strength to go on when it looks bleak. I believe my client, so there's a way forward, vs I have to believe my client because I'm a lawyer. It's much better.

Okay, for what reasons. I thought it was pretty good. The only thing I could really see is that it feels fairly incomplete on its own. Or maybe the racism directed towards Japanese people would be upsetting.

What this mean?

Oh boy. That was... really long. In general there's a theme going on in these games that cases I think start off weak generally end strong