Board 8 > Ace Attorney Investigations 2 beated (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

People told me that this is like the best game in the franchise. Gotta disagree. It's fine. I enjoyed it well enough, and there aren't any especially bad cases, and it felt like it had more of a point than AAI1, but none of the cases really wowed me compared to the best of the other games. Thoughts:

• Franziska barging into the courtroom to proudly announce that she'd learned the head wound came first after Edgeworth figured it out half an hour before made me laugh.
• I'd heard people claim this game redeems von Karma and makes him not evil? He's still clearly evil, he's just tricked into taking a bad case this one time, but he still knowingly uses forged evidence. And that's just in this game, not even considering AA1.
• The logic mechanic is really good, even if it's sometimes misused, like having to connect "locked door" and "key." Logic chess was... weird. I don't hate it, but I don't want to play it again.
• I enjoyed Gregory Edgeworth. I love how the first game established him as looking like just a normal guy, so they had to incorporate lots of "normal guy" movements into his sprite, like adjusting his tie. That guy loves waving his hand around as he talks so much.
• Patricia Roland has probably my favorite breakdown so far in the series, her coat revealing itself to be made of animals and them all exploding off her is great.
• Penny Nichols being pointless was surprising, I expected her to do something if they went to the trouble of giving her unique sprites, but I guess that fits with her original version.
• Sebastian's little arc is fine.
• Maya > Trucy > Pearl > Kay

Generally, as I played, I kept thinking about how much wackier the series has gotten since the first game. In the first game, Blaise would have just been an evil guy in a business suit, but he's a biker with goggles filled with tears. In the first game, the wackiest thing is a samurai-themed kid's show, here we have like a prison full of animals used animal therapy, and it just goes up from there. Just really bizarre. Like, I never got the impression in the first game that Gregory Edgeworth's final case was particularly wacky, but here it involves candy sculptures and astrology ice cream and I'm just thinking "man, remember when the series was about a guy breaking into an office and clubbing a woman over the head?" I'm not complaining about this, just to be clear, I'm commenting on how much the series has changed from 'a little bit wacky' to 'everything is insane.'

And because Board 8 loves lists, here we go.

Top Tier
3-5
2-4
1-4
3-4

High Tier
1-5
4-1
1-2
3-1
E2-3
E2-4
2-2
E2-5

Average Tier
4-4
E2-1
1-3
E2-2
E1-4
3-2
E1-2
E1-1

Low Tier
E1-1
E1-5
3-3
2-3

Bad Tier
2-1
E1-3
4-2
4-3

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Not many people claim this is the best game in the series. Not sure who you heard that about von Karma from though! People complain that it makes him less fearsome and shatters that invincible mystique the first game gives him more than anything.

Penny Nichols will always be pointless. That's the point.

Correct assistant rating.

E2-3 is the best case in the game, but I'd wanted a flashback case that flashes out Gregory Edgeworth for forever, and it delivered.

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Actually the best game in the franchise is DGS2. You can tell because it hasn't been fully translated yet. That's the tip-off.

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Leonhart4 posted...

E2-3 is the best case in the game, but I'd wanted a flashback case that flashes out Gregory Edgeworth for forever, and it delivered.

I actually meant to rank it highest, that's a typo. Gregory Edgeworth is great, it's too bad we didn't get a full case with him, Mia-style.

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I watched an early English-translation of GK2 on Youtube before the popular fan-translated AAI2 came out. The names in that translation were of course different (for example, Simeon Trail instead of Simon Keyes). I definitely intend to play the newer translation sometime, especially since I know the experience is getting to be a bit different with the translation being improved!

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Speaking of YouTube translations, what happened to the DGS2 translation? The channel deleted everything without a word.

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Haste_2 posted...

I watched an early English-translation of GK2 on Youtube before the popular fan-translated AAI2 came out. The names in that translation were of course different (for example, Simeon Trail instead of Simon Keyes). I definitely intend to play the newer translation sometime, especially since I know the experience is getting to be a bit different with the translation being improved!

That version was done by our very own dowolf! I liked some of his name choices.

Mewtwo59 posted...

Speaking of YouTube translations, what happened to the DGS2 translation? The channel deleted everything without a word.

It's back up and fully complete now! Not sure what happened to it either, but I was finally able to complete case 3 after the translation stopped partway through!

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Bought the first episode of Dual Destinies, but there's a sound problem with the game on my ipad. There's no sound at all, even though there is on my other apps.

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Leonhart4 posted...

It's back up and fully complete now! Not sure what happened to it either, but I was finally able to complete case 3 after the translation stopped partway through!

Where? The channel is still empty for me.

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Mewtwo59 posted...

Where? The channel is still empty for me.

Maybe it's on a different channel. Just search for DGS2 LP. Pretty sure it's the same group of people.

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I should also say this: the only part of the game I thought was really cool was Gregory Edgeworth. I can't think of any other moments that really wowed me.

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hot take: case 1 is the best case in the game

I have hard time deciding between case 4 and 5 being the best, but leaning more to case 4

Also my favorite moment was this -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHn97dBIfgg&list=PLhq7N9JLM_oNc2Xs2tdXix6z_iCHuz5YK&feature=player_detailpage#t=1
First 5 minutes

Best music-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1e1EFqVIj4&list=PL3EDBB8487C9EB794&index=36&t=0s
It just screams SOUL

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I'm not sure I've seen too many people say it's the best game in the franchise, just that it's miles ahead of AAI1 (which you definitely seem to agree with lol), and that it's nearly as good as the original trilogy. I definitely liked it a lot - it definitely had a way more coherent and interesting story than AAI1 with more interesting twists, I really liked how every case tied together and why, and it had a lot of fun characters.

How did you like Simon?

A thing I thought was neat about AAI2 was how the cases interconnect to each other. They kinda tried it with the first game as well but it was kinda...bad.

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Dels posted...

hot take: case 1 is the best case in the game

It's this or case 3 IMO; I learn towards 3 but I can respect saying 1. That said I don't use this to throw shade at the game, case 1 is very good! (I also think this community tends to slightly overrate final cases on average and this game is perhaps the biggest example, I wasn't a fan... except for the showdown with the mastermind, which is indeed great.)

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I'm a big fan of case 5 and not much of a fan of case 3. I think I put case 3 as the bottom one in this game actually, which is an unpopular opinion but oh well. case 1 is good.

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Paratroopa1 posted...

I'm not sure I've seen too many people say it's the best game in the franchise, just that it's miles ahead of AAI1 (which you definitely seem to agree with lol), and that it's nearly as good as the original trilogy. I definitely liked it a lot - it definitely had a way more coherent and interesting story than AAI1 with more interesting twists, I really liked how every case tied together and why, and it had a lot of fun characters.

Raka_Putra posted...

How did you like Simon?

A thing I thought was neat about AAI2 was how the cases interconnect to each other. They kinda tried it with the first game as well but it was kinda...bad.

Everything being tied together was fine. At least they provided an explanation for it, which is good. I wasn't sure we were going to get one. As for Sebastian, if that's who you mean, he's also fine. A lot of the game is about his arc and redemption, but I wasn't feeling him as much as Edgeworth and Shields. Kay also seemed mostly pointless in this game, with the fourth case being the only one where she really matters.

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I think E2-5 is very overrated. The first half of the case drags so badly, which is compounded by this being a 10 hour monster. The second half is very good but it can't entirely cancel out how rough the first half is.

Also, he was asking what you thought of Simon Keyes.

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Leonhart4 posted...

I think E2-5 is very overrated. The first half of the case drags so badly, which is compounded by this being a 10 hour monster. The second half is very good but it can't entirely cancel out how rough the first half is.

Also, he was asking what you thought of Simon Keyes.

Oh jesus, I just read that name in my head, it took this long to get the pun of his name. Ouch.

Simon is interesting. He's definitely better than the ambassador from the first game. I don't think we needed him to turn obviously evil and waggle his tongue and laugh, though. Like, the situation presented was interesting enough: he wants revenge, the police are corrupt, what else can he do except manipulate the situation? Making him cacklingly evil does nothing except justify Edgeworth fighting him. It would have been more interesting if he'd been more like (I can't believe I'm saying this) Acro from the second game, and felt no particular hate toward anyone but still felt the need to avenge his (perceived) family member. I do like the idea of a mastermind manipulator, but, speaking of which, didn't he kill the body double in self-defense? Like it's clearly established that he went to the roof with no intention of killing anyone, the body double fired at him, and then he killed the guy, but everyone acts like he's going away forever.

As far as final bosses go,
Godot > von Karma > Matt Engarde > Simon > Ambassador Whatever

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Leonhart4 posted...

That version was done by our very own dowolf! I liked some of his name choices.

Ah, that's good to know!

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Well, nothing will ever beat Deid Mann.

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I do like a few of dowolf's choices better (Clara Harkens >>>> Nicole Swift) but unfortunately his translation doesn't have Sebastian Debeste, which is one of my favorite name choices in the whole series, official or unofficial

Yeah, Sebastian Debeste is, well, the best. I feel like the "official" fan translation got kinda lazy toward the end with some of its name choices (John Marsh in particular is not good), but it does knock a few of them out of the park.
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If I'm not mistaken, John Marsh was a bad localization of the original Japanese name that completely lost whatever pun they were going for

Leonhart4 posted...

Correct assistant rating.

Kay > Pearl

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Anagram posted...

It would have been more interesting if he'd been more like (I can't believe I'm saying this) Acro from the second game

But Acro is the only thing that redeems 2-3

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Nanis23 posted...

But Acro is the only thing that redeems 2-3

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Kay > Pearl

nay
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Nanis23 posted...

But Acro is the only thing that redeems 2-3

Nothing redeems 2-3.

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2-3 is a fine case.

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Anagram posted...

Oh jesus, I just read that name in my head, it took this long to get the pun of his name. Ouch.

Simon is interesting. He's definitely better than the ambassador from the first game. I don't think we needed him to turn obviously evil and waggle his tongue and laugh, though. Like, the situation presented was interesting enough: he wants revenge, the police are corrupt, what else can he do except manipulate the situation? Making him cacklingly evil does nothing except justify Edgeworth fighting him. It would have been more interesting if he'd been more like (I can't believe I'm saying this) Acro from the second game, and felt no particular hate toward anyone but still felt the need to avenge his (perceived) family member. I do like the idea of a mastermind manipulator, but, speaking of which, didn't he kill the body double in self-defense? Like it's clearly established that he went to the roof with no intention of killing anyone, the body double fired at him, and then he killed the guy, but everyone acts like he's going away forever.

As far as final bosses go,
Godot > von Karma > Matt Engarde > Simon > Ambassador Whatever

Yeah, I think that's a pretty good take. If he were more subdued he might end up better.

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Anagram posted...

People told me that this is like the best game in the franchise. Gotta disagree. It's fine. I enjoyed it well enough, and there aren't any especially bad cases, and it felt like it had more of a point than AAI1, but none of the cases really wowed me compared to the best of the other games.

Finally someone else who has the same opinion on it as me.

It's a 8/10 ish game but not the 10/10 the Original Trilogy has.

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NowItsAngeTime posted...

Finally someone else who has the same opinion on it as me.

It's a 8/10 ish game but not the 10/10 the Original Trilogy has.

i'm pretty sure that's, like, the majority opinion. that's what everyone in the thread has been saying.

Ange likes to believe all his opinions are hipster.

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The thing I would say about AAI2 is that I think it's, like, in the category of "good" AA games that AAI1 and AA4 notably did not belong to, like it's a lot CLOSER to capturing the greatness of the original trilogy

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to fix this sound issue with AA5.

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Anagram posted...

none of the cases really wowed me compared to the best of the other games.

Facing down the entire PIC with Edgey's career and life on the line really didn't wow you?

Although I consider AAI2 the best single game in the series (the OT needs all three games to be stellar, and everything after the OT except for AAI2 has been middling-bad imo), so perhaps I'm biased toward it.

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snake_5036 posted...

Facing down the entire PIC with Edgey's career and life on the line really didn't wow you?

Although I consider AAI2 the best single game in the series (the OT needs all three games to be stellar, and everything after the OT except for AAI2 has been middling-bad imo), so perhaps I'm biased toward it.

Eh, it's kind of hard to feel the pressure of the stakes on that one when you already know the outcome. It's a cool moment though.

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My main problem with the game was how long the cases were. They all dragged for me. 6 had the same problem.
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