LogFAQs > #956631032

Case 2, Part 2 & 3

so, I finished case 2. I have so many thoughts, all of them strong and most of them very negative. I don't think I have it in me to sum it all up tonight, but the mere idea that my best friend was killed by tripping over a cat is just unfathomable. imagine if this were Mia! imagine if, with Maya grieving, Phoenix was out there trying to piece some ink, shoe polish, russian text and jam it all together with an accident involving a cat. it's so dumb!

the only thing keeping me going was the thought that maybe Kazuma wasn't dead, that this whole thing is some elaborate gotcha, but nope, we just kept peeling layers from Pavlova and the russian dude. the pieces actually fit together fairly well given how bland the locked box room was, although some of them fit together a little too well. picking up the bookshelf, the door locking after the button was pressed, the ship's log -- it just felt entirely too clean. but, it was a satisfying conclusion to an awful premise and case.

I will say, though, that case 2's ending serves as one hell of an origin story: Ryunosuke and Susato coming together to be the lawyer that Kazuma was going to be. taking his sword, cramming to be a lawyer, and living for that dude.

I kinda wish that Kazuma had stolen the show a little more in case 1 because it would have made for a big shadow the rest of the game. Ryu was already outperforming Kazuma just on natural ability by the end of case 1 and it almost feels like a faulty premise that we're trying to march on in his legacy. there probably could have been a way to play this where Kazuma is the playable character in case 1, defending his best friend Ryunosuke, only to end up dead to start case 2. and then, at the end of case 2 when you find the killer, the game reveals that Ryu's last name is Naruhodo. hmm. it's never good when you have to theorycraft better fictions to make the stakes feel worth it, but I do think that the origin story did end up feeling pretty strong anyway. while case 2 is probably somewhere around a 2/10 in my eyes, down there with the 4-3's and 2-3's of the world, I can't deny that the ending rescues the case in the last minutes.

okay, maybe I said more than I meant to tonight. did they really tie a snake around strogenov's head as a red herring? kazuma died because of a scared push from a girl that weighs like 72 pounds and a stupid cat? seriously?

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xyzzy