Board 8 > Convince me to keep going with Ace Attorney Investigations 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just did the first investigation of case 3 but the game's pacing is killing me.

Case 1 was interesting but dragged near the end.

Case 2 dragged the entire way through and it didn't help that everyone was being extra incompetent. Definitely Edgeworth at his dumbest. Also the premise was sooo stupid. Just kind of a disaster of a case all around.

I'm liking case 3 so far but god I hope the pacing improves.

The pacing doesn't improve, but case 2 is easily the worst case in the game, so you can take solace in knowing it only gets better from there.

It's verbose, but the finale (4 & 5) is pretty great from what I recall.

AAI2 as a whole gets kinda long at parts and that feeling continues with the other cases, but I echo that Case 2 is easily the worst of the game's cases. Case 3 is probably the game's best case, so if that doesn't click for you, I wouldn't recommend playing/watching the entirety of the remaining cases.

AA5 and 6 are also verbose. It's kind of the standard for the series after that point.

paperwarior posted...

AA5 and 6 are also verbose. It's kind of the standard for the series after that point.

Short games ended with Apollo Justice (although AAI1 is fairly tame compared to everything that came after).

AAI1 and Dual Destinies aren't exactly short games but they're only a few hours longer than, say, AA3. And it's important to keep in mind that part of what makes AA2 and AJ short is that they only have four cases. Per case Dual Destinies isn't much longer than AJ.

Spirit of Justice (and, seemingly, Investigations 2) just go off the deep end.

Back half of AAI2 is fantastic.

I do like them when they're long though. Spirit of Justice is the best game in the main series for me, and I adore how it's last case is so extensive.

How verbose are GAA games? Been meaning to play them but I'm heard very very mixed things.

paulg235 posted...

Case 3 is probably the game's best case, so if that doesn't click for you, I wouldn't recommend playing/watching the entirety of the remaining cases.

Pretty much this. I2-5 is like 3 hours longer than it needs to be IMO.

KamikazePotato posted...

How verbose are GAA games? Been meaning to play them but I'm heard very very mixed things.

It's mixed in that the first one is bad and that the second one is fantastic.

First one has a problem where the last couple cases stretch out like they're climactic cases, even though they're just regular cases built like they're from the middle of one big game that got split into two. It's a serious slog.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I do like them when they're long though. Spirit of Justice is the best game in the main series for me, and I adore how it's last case is so extensive.

The funny thing about Spirit of Justice is that its pacing actually does recover in the final case. The first four cases are paced horribly IMO but the final one is actually two cases so it feels pretty breezy compared to the rest of the game.

Kenri posted...

The funny thing about Spirit of Justice is that its pacing actually does recover in the final case. The first four cases are paced horribly IMO but the final one is actually two cases so it feels pretty breezy compared to the rest of the game.

Agreed. I'd say the earlier cases are all too long and slow paced, but despite 6-5 being way longer, its pacing works much better (though it'd be perfect if the last half hour of the trial was cut...)

And then 6-6 is just weird, like it's written by people trying to make a case paced like the earlier Ace Attorney games and not understand how it works.

Leon summed it perfectly - case 2 is the weakest in the game but the pacing doesn't improve
If pacing is your problem and it's a deal breaker - it wouldn't get any better

Ever since AA5/AAI2 I really hate the pacing of those games but I enjoy them anyway personally

KamikazePotato posted...

How verbose are GAA games? Been meaning to play them but I'm heard very very mixed things.

Also long, but they're good

echoing what everyone has said, the pacing doesn't really improve from here, but the content is very worthwhile. to me, e2-3 and e2-5 are arguably series-wide top 10 cases, with special love to the finale.

e2-4 is not on that level of quality but also is way more manageable length-wise

KamikazePotato posted...

How verbose are GAA games? Been meaning to play them but I'm heard very very mixed things.

extremely verbose, and the first game borders on bad because of it. (the quality of it covers from some humor and some very un-AA-ish themes and a great soundtrack)

second game has much better cases and imo justifies its length better; however its final two cases are a mess both plot-wise and structure-wiseal

i found them both too be extremely worthwhile plays, but don't know if i can recommend in good faith if the pacing is a guidance to the payoffs

Case 3 is the game's high point (imo), so if you're not locked-in here, I'm not sure you'll enjoy the rest.

The pacing of both AAI games is pretty rough I agree.

The GAA games are verbose, but I think the writing is much better and the characters are far more likeable.

colliding posted...

The pacing of both AAI games is pretty rough I agree.

I actually remember the first one being pretty snappy (with the notable exception that happens in case 5 that everyone knows about). Haven't played it since it came out though. I probably should have replayed it before starting AAI2 to get a refresher on the plot and a better point of comparison, but oh well.

The only thing from the first game you really need to remember is Kay is a Great Thief who steals nothing, as opposed to the usual kleptomaniac Ace Attorney assistant.

Leonhart4 posted...

The only thing from the first game you really need to remember is Kay is a Great Thief who steals nothing, as opposed to the usual kleptomaniac Ace Attorney assistant.

That's because she met Bahamut in the past and advanced to Ninja

Edgeworth does speculate at one point that it seems like she wants to be a ninja more than a thief, so that checks out.

All I remember about this game was that I came up with a really cool twist in my head after the first case, and then it never happened

AA2-3 felt SUPER long to me due to the way it's structured, but it's a fine case.

I'll say that even though AA2-4 and -5 are also long, they do have considerable pay off in the end, as they bring together the plotlines from throughout the game.

I've been spending a bunch of my free time lately making earrings but I finally got back into case 3. Man, normallium and fatallium sure are names right up there with incuritis from AJ.

I can't figure out Justine's deal yet. I assume a face turn is in the cards for her but right now she just feels superfluous. Antagonists need to be more than empty threats and catch phrases to be interesting, it turns out.