I have now finished The Great Ace Attorney 2, and thus The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles 2 as a whole, minus the eight "Escapades". I would now like to present my thoughts on the second game.
I'm still not exactly a fan of Episode 1, The Adventure of the Blossoming Attorney, for reasons I stated in a comment on my previous blog entry; namely, the fact that Susato had to crossdress. That's just simply something I don't find palatable. Also, Reiten Menimemo's breakdown is similarly irksome, because unlike every other breakdown in the series, this one involves both Susato and Rei (the defendant) physically assaulting the culprit - why is female-on-male violence acceptable, again?
Apart from those two details, the first Episode is a decent starter case; it's certainly better than the starter cases of the original Ace Attorney and Justice For All, due to the events in question being far more interesting and the witnesses being more engaging, but it's outdone by Trials and Tribulations and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - plus, well, considering this is a duology, the tutorials were kinda needless; those could've been removed just fine.
The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro was a brilliant follow-up to the previous Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro, in that it's nowhere near as insulting and much more entertaining. Soseki's back as the defendant, but the two "mystery characters" that only appeared for a minute in Adventure are now fleshed out, as Metermann and Shamspeare; the latter of whom has such ridiculous animations, and it definitely made me smile.
As for Episode 4, Twisted Karma and His Last Bow, two premises in it aren't exactly "original"; for one, fireworks being used to simulate a gunshot in a locked room containing only the accused and the victim...this concept is ripped from Turnabout Serenade from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. For two, the accused is a prosecutor, who happens to pick up a dropped gun near a dead body, and is discovered in this act; yeah, Turnabout Goodbyes, from the original Ace Attorney.
Apart from those details, the case is incredibly solid, and the rest of it stands out as its own unique experience; it's also shocking to see a main supporting character be an actual murder victim for once in this series.
When it comes to game mechanics, the Dance of Deduction is much improved from the first game in this duology; it now has much fewer repetitive responses from Sholmes whenever Naruhodo screws up and presents the wrong answer. No, instead Sholmes' responses are tailored to whatever was presented, except for when Naruhodo presents the same thing Sholmes originally did, which still has a copy/paste response.
As a whole, though, Dance of Deduction is so much more enjoyable here; well done, Capcom!
Another topic I originally wrote about in my previous blog post was how I disliked Iris Wilson due to how bizarrely skilled she is, despite being a ten-year-old child, and how she pretty much never acted her age. This is yet another thing Resolve does better than Adventures, in that she FINALLY acts like a young girl at the end of Episode 4! She knows she's in trouble, tries to hide it like a kid would, gets childishly upset, and cries when she's found out - like a normal ten-year-old girl!
This makes Iris a more realistic girl, and thus makes me like her as a character quite a bit more, compared to how she was characterised in Adventures. An incredibly pleasing improvement.
However, even after her true father is revealed at the very end of Episode 5, The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, she never really does get to have an actual conversation with her uncle, nor is she aware of her lineage. This is very disappointing, since it brings to mind another familial relationship that the characters (half-siblings, in this case) have never been informed of - namely, that of Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright. This is an unwelcome trend I'm noticing, and if there's ever a third Great Ace Attorney game - or a seventh Ace Attorney - my dearest wish is that these characters get to actually know their goddamn families. Also, Lamiroir hasn't appeared since Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, which...sigh. Neither has Gumshoe, who only appeared in a flashback in said game, come to think of it.
Capcom...do better, please.
Overall, though, this game is a brilliant follow-up to The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures, following up on the mysteries that game left unresolved and improving on it in some very crucial ways.
As for Chronicles as a whole, it's definitely the best Ace Attorney purchase one could make right now, and I hope this becomes the quality standard for future games in this wonderfully wacky series.
I'm still not exactly a fan of Episode 1, The Adventure of the Blossoming Attorney, for reasons I stated in a comment on my previous blog entry; namely, the fact that Susato had to crossdress. That's just simply something I don't find palatable. Also, Reiten Menimemo's breakdown is similarly irksome, because unlike every other breakdown in the series, this one involves both Susato and Rei (the defendant) physically assaulting the culprit - why is female-on-male violence acceptable, again?
Apart from those two details, the first Episode is a decent starter case; it's certainly better than the starter cases of the original Ace Attorney and Justice For All, due to the events in question being far more interesting and the witnesses being more engaging, but it's outdone by Trials and Tribulations and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - plus, well, considering this is a duology, the tutorials were kinda needless; those could've been removed just fine.
The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro was a brilliant follow-up to the previous Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro, in that it's nowhere near as insulting and much more entertaining. Soseki's back as the defendant, but the two "mystery characters" that only appeared for a minute in Adventure are now fleshed out, as Metermann and Shamspeare; the latter of whom has such ridiculous animations, and it definitely made me smile.
As for Episode 4, Twisted Karma and His Last Bow, two premises in it aren't exactly "original"; for one, fireworks being used to simulate a gunshot in a locked room containing only the accused and the victim...this concept is ripped from Turnabout Serenade from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. For two, the accused is a prosecutor, who happens to pick up a dropped gun near a dead body, and is discovered in this act; yeah, Turnabout Goodbyes, from the original Ace Attorney.
Apart from those details, the case is incredibly solid, and the rest of it stands out as its own unique experience; it's also shocking to see a main supporting character be an actual murder victim for once in this series.
When it comes to game mechanics, the Dance of Deduction is much improved from the first game in this duology; it now has much fewer repetitive responses from Sholmes whenever Naruhodo screws up and presents the wrong answer. No, instead Sholmes' responses are tailored to whatever was presented, except for when Naruhodo presents the same thing Sholmes originally did, which still has a copy/paste response.
As a whole, though, Dance of Deduction is so much more enjoyable here; well done, Capcom!
Another topic I originally wrote about in my previous blog post was how I disliked Iris Wilson due to how bizarrely skilled she is, despite being a ten-year-old child, and how she pretty much never acted her age. This is yet another thing Resolve does better than Adventures, in that she FINALLY acts like a young girl at the end of Episode 4! She knows she's in trouble, tries to hide it like a kid would, gets childishly upset, and cries when she's found out - like a normal ten-year-old girl!
This makes Iris a more realistic girl, and thus makes me like her as a character quite a bit more, compared to how she was characterised in Adventures. An incredibly pleasing improvement.
However, even after her true father is revealed at the very end of Episode 5, The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, she never really does get to have an actual conversation with her uncle, nor is she aware of her lineage. This is very disappointing, since it brings to mind another familial relationship that the characters (half-siblings, in this case) have never been informed of - namely, that of Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright. This is an unwelcome trend I'm noticing, and if there's ever a third Great Ace Attorney game - or a seventh Ace Attorney - my dearest wish is that these characters get to actually know their goddamn families. Also, Lamiroir hasn't appeared since Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, which...sigh. Neither has Gumshoe, who only appeared in a flashback in said game, come to think of it.
Capcom...do better, please.
Overall, though, this game is a brilliant follow-up to The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures, following up on the mysteries that game left unresolved and improving on it in some very crucial ways.
As for Chronicles as a whole, it's definitely the best Ace Attorney purchase one could make right now, and I hope this becomes the quality standard for future games in this wonderfully wacky series.
