LogFAQs > #979943803

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't care for the hologram queen stuff.

MacArrowny posted...

(I thought Kazuma was great in GAA1 but hated him in GAA2)

Dels posted...

Yeah I thought his newfound edginess was annoying lol but andy was tripping over himself making excuses for it ("well he's just pasionate! it's understandable!") but that's okay, your unconditional love of kazuma is cute

SeabassDebeste posted...

i didn't enjoy kazuma in gaa2 as much as you but i do agree that his character felt consistent and well-written - it's hard watching someone who seemed as pure and dogged as AA3 mia reveal such a twisted hidden side.

I really think Kazuma's characterisation made sense in this game! Of course it was a shame to see him go down that path, but they wouldn't have brought him back from the dead if he was just gonna remain our superhero best friend. We already have Sholmes for that!

Honestly I was expecting him to be Gregson's killer, so I'm happy with how things turned out for him. I think Ryunosuke and Susato were maybe idolising the man they thought they knew after he died, which is why they were so shocked, but in reality we only saw him pretty briefly back then (and he was still very aggressive in court at that time), and this was what he'd been training for for a decade. I like that they made him more flawed and human. Though him not talking to either of his friends after he gets his memory back is a bit annoying.

Leonhart4 posted...

I think it was an interesting twist to show someone with the determination of a defense attorney refusing to give up and believing they're right, except they're actually wrong.

yeah, agreed

Bitto posted...

What do you think of Stronghart as a main antagonist?

Good idea, but they didn't give him enough substance, the final takedown is weak for many reasons, and his plans seem to make less than zero sense. The Reaper only struck when van Zieks was prosecuting, but Barok quit the game five years ago. So he hadn't had anyone killed in all that time but suddenly decided to kill off all the loose ends connecting him to the past, including his loyal subordinate Gregson? ...But apparently not including his other loyal subordinate, Asa Shinn. And in the process he recruited another assassin to tie to his misdeeds, that one being the son of Genshin Asogi. Did he plan for Sithe to take the fall in the Harebrayne case, knowing it would tarnish his own team's image? If not, why'd he put Barok on the case, and if so, why didn't he also try to take down Yujin Mikotoba as a loose end?

LeonhartFour posted...

Engarde didn't directly kill anyone either.

Oh, of course!

I agree with several of Para's points. I haven't talked much about Susato this game because I already went through my thoughts on her and, sadly, this game didn't live up to its promise on giving her stuff to do. At the end of the first game and the start of this, I thought they were going somewhere interesting with her, but then she immediately reverts to being the contented impossibly perfect sidekick with little internal conflict or drive of her own.

Rei being on the boxart so prominently is really weird! She does nothing, is never mentioned before or after her one case, and there are several more important characters that don't get the spotlight that she does on that cover. Even in terms of single case characters, she hasn't got a patch on Shamspeare, Menimemo, Drebber, Daley, etc.

I had meant to note Iris. I like her as a character a lot, but in the second game she doesn't get given much. I think it hurts her that Susato comes back so quickly, so she can't fill the role she did in Gina's trial, and that Sholmes is heavily present from the get-go this time around.

I really like what they did with Mikotoba, but wish we'd gotten a more substantial dance of deduction with him. And I find it amusing that he watches a woman die in childbirth, and then immediately flees to the other side of the world. Twice!

If this really was meant to be a trilogy, and it does seem that way, I'd like to know what their plans were for everyone.

Gregson is a great character, but in a way I'm kinda sad that they killed him before revealing the Reaper stuff. His death definitely lands harder the way they did it, but it's a shame we didn't get to see him reaping. I always found him to be at his most interesting when he was being shady! Even the big reveal, which should be earth-shattering, doesn't get given much room to breathe, Barok just tells us in one of his convos.

No idea how I'd do a case ranking for the second game. The intro would be at the bottom by default with how little impact it winds up having and it being a relatively simple case. 2 and 3 are both really good, 3 has higher highs but also fumbles the climax, not sure which I'd put on top. And I've no idea how to even look at 4 and 5 as separate entities, but they're both strong.

I would like to note The Professor case, and how well the game handles it. AA is obviously in love with having unresolved past cases that involve several main characters, but instead of this one being another sterile cold case called DL-1 or something, it's introduced to us through a haunting stylish waxwork horror show in a separate case. The mood adds so much flair, and makes it all much more intriguing. There's some great plot work in this game, despite my minor gripes I'm overall very happy with it.

And it's worth repeating: the music in this duology is fantastic.