LogFAQs > #979778374

Interesting to read the comments here; every second rating is essentially "this case is mostly pretty good but I still hate it, 1/10". That's actually closer to my opinion than I would have expected - I guess I just don't hate it!

Everyone's points about the 4.0 backstory being ludicrously harsh on Phoenix is true, and that is a genuine black mark on the case. But I never really agreed that everyone is "out of character" there, especially given that what we see is based on one man's recollections seven years on.

And the case itself is great! There's a real ominous atmosphere to it that almost recalls 2-4, and the supporting cast (The Mishams and Valant particularly) is one of the best in the series. There are definitely flaws with the writing in this part too - that painting cliffhanger is very lamely resolved, Zak is famously ridiculous, and taking down Christoph is less impactful than it should be considering we caught him already (though this isn't intrinsically a bad idea - Dahlia in 3-5 is conceptually the same, and that's great).

But I have been mostly grading these cases on the way they make me feel, and those minor details don't hold this back much. Unless you hold the backstory against 4-4 (which clearly many of you do), I really don't see how this is significantly worse than the other main game final cases. For me, 4-4 is one of the most ambitious, atmospheric and straight up interesting cases in the series. It's a shame that they slightly botched the execution, but this doesn't feel out of place among the other epic cases for me, and that's a very high compliment.

8/10