Board 8 > Finally playing Edgeworth 2 (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

well instead what you're getting is the price of postage going up next month

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If the system needed it to work better an argument can be made, but he's also slowing the mail down now so...

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He hasn't slowed the mail down. He wanted to but got shot down on it.

Of course, there used to be a day when the mail got there when it got there, but then Amazon changed the game and USPS has been struggling to keep up ever since.

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If you're going to have a debate about the post office in my playthrough thread, I INSIST you use some AA soundbites, including NOT SO FAST (which can be applied to mail delivery speed).

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edgeworth giving gumshoe a raise is soooo good

simon killing the body double mostly in self-defense is pretty interesting

the assassin standoff unfortunately is by far my least favorite part about the ending to this case. so bad.
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Dogen was a totally wasted character. I didn't really like him at all.

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SeabassDebeste posted...

edgeworth giving gumshoe a raise is soooo good

simon killing the body double mostly in self-defense is pretty interesting

the assassin standoff unfortunately is by far my least favorite part about the ending to this case. so bad.

Basically all of this. Dogen is fine in theory, but in practice, I didnt like him at all. The weird plot armor surrounding the assassins was not that weird in 2-4, but it really stands out in AAI2.

I love Keyes, but I guess I just tend to like troll/clown villains in general. The entire games plot about fatherhood and the rippling effects are really pronounced through Keyes and Marsh.

The actual murder itself is pretty entertaining. I totally agree with you that the standing Huang in the shadows is totally an ass-pull with the fuller context of the murder.

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Here's a quick tier list to tide you over for more detailed character rankings. I plan to write-up the AAI2 original characters only, plus Gregory.

Note: in the image above, 1) characters are not ranked within their tiers and 2) placement is determined by their AAI2 characterization only.

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I was mad about Ema and Will until I read that last bit you posted. OK, I guess that's acceptable then.

That sure is giving Larry a whole lot of credit, though.

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Delicia is great

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This is probably Larry's best appearance outside of AA1 and 3-5, but that's still pretty high...! I do actually like his series-wide arc that art seems to be his calling, though.

I generally agree with the rest, but I'd put Sebastian and Keyes higher. He's an entertaining character and his E2-5 portrayal is pretty great all around.

I always liked Elbird. I thought he's pretty much ideal of a witness as you can get. Plays a reasonable part in the murder, suspicious enough to not be ruled out as the actual culprit, entertaining animations.

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I'm a self-professed Larry fan, I think he's almost always good

(he wasn't good in the first investigations admittedly)

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Yeah, AAI1 is definitely Larry's worst appearance.

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I actually completely wiped Oldbag and Larry from my memory of E-5 until just now.

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SSBM_Guy posted...

I actually completely wiped Oldbag and Larry from my memory of E-5 until just now.

As you should. I generally don't mind Oldbag, but my word is she a disaster in that case.

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Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Path: Power Rankings

There are a lot of characters in this game, some new, some old. Let's rank them, because that's what Ace Attorney fans do.

35- The Victims
I'm cheating by including four characters in one entry, but a list of "35" sounds better than "34" in my opinion. One of this game's strengths is that all of the victims have relevance to the overall plot. Di-Jun Huang (the real one) is the President of an entire country, father to a suspect/defendant, and icon to Lang. Even as a victim, Dover is an antagonistic and mysterious figure in the game's most interesting case. Even the case one victim, Rooke, is apparently principled and dangerous enough to impress De Killer. We'll talk more about Knightley later, but I just wanted to start off by giving credit where credit's due. They're all pretty good by victim standards... but they're still just victims and as such don't contribute much (again, except for Knightley-boy).

34- Regina
I have no words. One of my least favorite AA characters, in this game and in her original case.

33- Penny Nichols
Gotta say, I was actually looking forward to the return of Penny Nichols. In 1-3, her relative "normality" really helped center the case when dealing with a bunch of crazy folk (at least until you brought up collectible cards). Here though she just comes across as bland; also surprisingly dumb, as she mistakes a covered camera crane for Gourdy. Maybe she realized she was boring so she decided to take a page from Lotta's book.

32- Ema
Look - Ema's great. We all love Ema. She's #9 best board 8 waifu. But she's barely a character in this game. She is literally here so we can borrow her luminol and fingerprint powder. The brief cameo of Ron DeLite in E2-3 has more character than she does.

31- Will Powers
I liked his interactions with Edgeworth, but does this guy even do anything in E2-5? I honestly can't remember and I just played this case a few days ago. He lets us investigate the trailer where we find John's rehearsal tape. Nice seeing him, but give the man more to do.

30 - Jay Elbird
This character - our first real AAI2 original character - just doesn't click with me. One, the series has already done a prisoner gimmick. His name was Terry Fawles, and he ends up being one of the more memorable characters in the series, (admittedly, only because he dies on the stand). You say "It's unfair to compare Elbird to Fawles" - ok fine. If that's the case then Elbird is still a pretty generic tough guy character.

Two, this game's weird "animal" obsession kind of bothers me because the animals themselves are too cartoony for the game's existing artstyle (this problem extends beyond how the animals are depicted to other human characters on this list, as we shall see). Elbird's Koala, Simon's animal tower... it's like a different world compared to Polly and even the whale from DD's DLC case (Orla?). I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but it just feels "off." Like the animals are here to be funny, but they're the laziest, most obvious visual gags they could think of.

Overall, I just don't find him very interesting. He's just a prisoner who was attempting to escape at the same time as the murder was happening. Good pun though.


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29 - Frank Sahwit
Our toupee-throwing phenomenon is back. He's still a really bad liar. Kind of a fun cameo, but imagine if this game played E2-2 a bit more seriously and had someone important to the lore fill this role like... Von Karma or something.

28 - John Marsh
I've already talked about this character's bad name. It's possible to have a bad/forgettable name and still be a decent character (see: Kate). But John is so boring. People give kid characters flack for being super annoying, but maybe annoying is preferable to the vast vacuum of space that is this kid's personality. There's just a lot left on the table here, I think. And his big moment at the end (where he has the chance to take revenge for his father) doesn't land because never for a second do we, as the player, think this kid has the guts to take on Dogen. In the end he comes across as more of a plot device/motive creator than an actual character.

27 - Delicia Scones (nee Crepes)
I honestly have no idea where I got "crepes" earlier. I wasn't trying to do a funny bit. Maybe I was just hungry for crepes. Delicia's a weird one. She's clearly meant to be a wacky character, but she's also like a pharmacist/spy who's apparently very capable.

I absolutely cannot abide her character design though - totally out of place in the Ace Attorney verse. I know the game has always had these weird mutants who occasionally spring up who are super cartoony compared to the rest of the cast, but AAI is bad in this regard. I don't think the franchise needs to go all "Days of Ruin" on us (buy the Advance Wars remake) and have hyper realistic characters all the time, but a little consistency would be nice.

I did come to appreciate her unique vocal characteristics, yessie. I was a little surprised she didn't show up in the final case, once "Sleepytime zZz" was introduced.

26 and 25 - Bonnie and Karin
They're a package deal. If I had to choose one over the other, I'd choose Karin for being able to actually talk. I love the idea of AA having a recurring coroner/morgue character, but please let's not have it be Bonnie. We can do better. We must do better. Not much to say here.

We'll start talking about characters I actually kind of like next time, I promise.


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colliding posted...

Our toupee-throwing phenomenon is back. He's still a really bad liar. Kind of a fun cameo, but imagine if this game played E2-2 a bit more seriously and had someone important to the lore fill this role like... Von Karma or something.

the game hyped up dogen so much, but if that had been von karma instead of him, e2-2 would have been so amazing

that aside, so far i think i'd have knightley and body double much higher. elbird would be higher too, guy was pretty decent!
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Leonhart4 posted...

As you should. I generally don't mind Oldbag, but my word is she a disaster in that case.

as for this - yeah, e1-5 is kind of a disaster for everyone involved except for maybe kay, edgeworth, and shih-na

oh and the incredibly suspicious but actually completely innocent ambassador
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I was about to say, Palaeno is legitimately the best non-main character AAI1 introduces. Outside of the Shih-na aside, he does his very best to carry that case.

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Palaeno is fantastic because he might be the most genuinely helpful character in the series. He never lies to you and you never have to twist his arm to get him to tell you something.

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colliding posted...

Our toupee-throwing phenomenon is back. He's still a really bad liar. Kind of a fun cameo, but imagine if this game played E2-2 a bit more seriously and had someone important to the lore fill this role like... Von Karma or something.

Not sure if I want von Karma to be a lackey to Roland! I liked Sahwit. It was honestly a really fitting cameo. I guess the worst thing about Sahwit's cameo is that it preps you to believe the locked down prisoner to also be a former AA character.

SeabassDebeste posted...

as for this - yeah, e1-5 is kind of a disaster for everyone involved except for maybe kay, edgeworth, and shih-na

oh and the incredibly suspicious but actually completely innocent ambassador

E1-5 has Lang at his best. I really wish AAI2 used Lang more, because he's pretty underused in both games. Then again, AAI2 already suffers from a really bloated cast.

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SSBM_Guy posted...

Not sure if I want von Karma to be a lackey to Roland! I liked Sahwit. It was honestly a really fitting cameo. I guess the worst thing about Sahwit's cameo is that it preps you to believe the locked down prisoner to also be a former AA character.

Absolutely; there would be some serious re-writing needing to happen, but I honestly think Edgeworth confronting Von Karma post 1-4 is a story that should be told.

Which sort of brings up Investigations 3. Probably will never happen, but there's lots of places they could go.

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I think Edgeworth has already made his peace with von Karma. I don't know that it needs to be explicitly shown. I feel like AAI2 was his resolve to break permanently from that school of thought and align himself with his father despite remaining a prosecutor.

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the one part of sahwit in e2-2 that i really liked was the haunted look in his eyes when he started describing the dog. which again kinda just underscores how much the game wanted e2-2 to be epic
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Personally, I think the only Edgeworth story from that era that needs to be told is where the heck he was when Phoenix lost his badge. I don't know if they could tell that story well (I guess they could do something along the lines of Edgeworth being overseas and somehow getting taken hostage for a period of time), but it might be better than just he "couldn't do anything" like he says in DD.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Personally, I think the only Edgeworth story from that era that needs to be told is where the heck he was when Phoenix lost his badge. I don't know if they could tell that story well (I guess they could do something along the lines of Edgeworth being overseas and somehow getting taken hostage for a period of time), but it might be better than just he "couldn't do anything" like he says in DD.

I think I said this earlier, but if this game had ended with Edgeworth not getting his badge back or remaining disbarred and him making the decision to go overseas and "do it all over again" (go back to law school, learn to prosecute the "right way" etc) this would've made a lot of sense to me. He could've taken Gumshoe and Kay with him and we could've had an Investigations 3 set in Europe or something.

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Power Rankings, cont.

24- Body Double (aka President of Zheng Fa "Di-Jung Huang")
For such an important character, we don't really get to know or see the Body Double in action. In E2-1 he's played as a joke. We know he's supposedly an isolationist/strong military/ dictator type. We then later learn he's the head of this big conspiracy to overthrow the government of Zheng Fa. On its own this is kind of interesting, but I wanted more. I never really got a sense of his motivation beyond wanting to get out of the real President's shadow. I think we needed a little more explanation about how and why the power trio got together. His character design doesn't do him any favors.

23 - Sirhan Dogen
Dogen is such a whiff / missed opportunity, and that's why he's below other characters on this list. There's so much to like about him: one of Edgeworth's earliest convictions, an assassin to play foil to De Killer, lots of gimmicks to play with (dogs, chess, his vision). However, he never really comes into his own as a character, and this is because the game largely just treats him as a red herring. He's somewhat mishandled in E2-2, where we are told that Edgeworth finds him suspicious and that Roland is afraid of him, but we aren't shown anything to warrant this. In 2-4, De Killer radiated an aura of cunning malice: that just isn't here with Dogen. A strange mix of trying too hard and not trying hard enough.

22 - Patricia Roland
There's stuff I like about Roland. Out of the three conspirators, I feel like she is also a victim. Like Blaise and the Body Double had this plan, and they wanted to use the orphanage. In my head canon she reluctantly goes along because they were going to pay her/provide for her kids/family. That's the only way she really makes sense to me. I appreciate how her obsession with running the prison like a "family" is connected to her past in running an orphanage. She's such an obvious culprit in E2-2 though that she kind of ruins the case; that's not really her fault so much as the writers/character designers though.

21 - Lotta Harte
Good ol' Lotta. You can always count on her to be fun; for a few minutes, and then she runs out her welcome. Lotta is fine in E2-4, although I don't quite buy her transition from paranormal photographer to investigative reporter. She's less good in E2-5, where she exists to bring Nicole back in to the narrative and to make some dubious claims about Moozilla.

20 - Dane Gustavia
Bad dad. Really bad dad. This baker from hell is an interesting character, but to be fair he was in a coma for most of the only case he was in (E2-3), so we don't get much time with him. In the short time we have, we get a sense of how self-centered he is. I like how he's also a killer who, for the most part, gets away with it (barring some statute of limitations technicalities).

I don't really like how hackneyed "can't taste disease" is, but this is the kind of ridiculous nonsense that I expect from AA and DR. If ridiculous nonsense is handled well, like it is in 2-3, it's fine. I don't really know what else to say except he's a bad dad. Given the events of the entire game, he might be worse than Zak, but I don't know.

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Lotta was already a tabloid reporter in 2-4!

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Also Zak is worse than Gustavia because at least Gustavia is honest about not caring while Zak is somehow presented as a good guy who had no choice but to abandon his daughter.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Lotta was already a tabloid reporter in 2-4!

oh yeah, I guess that's right. I kind of forgot about Lotta in 2-4. Which is weird considering this whole game is like a sequel to 2-4 in a lot of ways.

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colliding posted...

I don't really like how hackneyed "can't taste disease" is, but this is the kind of ridiculous nonsense that I expect from AA and DR. If ridiculous nonsense is handled well, like it is in 2-3, it's fine. I don't really know what else to say except he's a bad dad. Given the events of the entire game, he might be worse than Zak, but I don't know.

What do you mean by this? Losing the ability to taste isn't common but it's a real illness.
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yeah this isn't something dumb and obviously made up like Incuritis

or whatever those weird chemicals are in AAI2 like Normallium and Fatallium

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Sure, it's real but it's unlikely that two master chefs both get it and it serves as a motive for a murder. It's a little on the nose.

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Power Rankings cont. cont.

19 - Nicole Swift
I'm as surprised as the rest of you that she's this high. She's mostly here for her role in E2-1, which in hindsight ended up being one of the game's best cases - wish I'd spent a bit more time on it at the beginning of this topic. She's a classic AA damsel in distress mixed with a healthy dose of Lotta-inspired witness nonsense. I still don't quite get her gimmicks: I guess she's meant to be like a hiker or something, which explains her off-brand North Face gear and her bear trap. She's less good in E2-5, but we can blame that on Lotta's negative influence. Decent character design; very colorful, though her character portrait is ugly af.

18- Lang
A disappointing showing. Lang was one of my favorite parts of AAI. He has some decent moments in AAI2, but for the most part he's just kind of there. I was waiting for his big moment in E2-5, but it never really arrived. Probably the character most harmed by the game's bloated cast.

17 - Shelly De Killer
If you read comics, you know the Joker was originally like a normal guy who did bad things, and he eventually became something... different. Like writers gave him a supernatural quality. That's kind of what has happened to De Killer. So they went a little overboard with his character is what I'm saying. I dig the idea of him being a creepy ice cream salesman. Also,he is able to retain a lot of what made him good in 2-4. But he also is a bit fan-fictiony.

16- Simon Keyes
Speaking of the Joker, Simon was almost certainly going to be third from last on this list until a third of the way into E2-5, when it became obvious he was the mastermind. The twist here certainly makes him more interesting, but I don't love him as a "final boss." An Ace Attorney final boss needs to feel threatening in some way: you either need to hate them or fear them. With the best Ace Attorney final bosses, after you beat them you also pity them. He never feels threatening, nor do I ever feel sorry for him. At most, I am annoyed.

Like it's all well and good that he's the son of Gustavia and did a lot of manipulating behind the scenes. That's great. I like how even as early as E2-2 he was playing mind games. Part of Simon's intended character is that he's meant to come across as meek and boring - I get that. But I can't help but compare him to Engarde, where I actually liked his "fake" persona, which made his reveal all the more powerful.

Plus, I hate clown/circus characters. This isn't a 2-3 thing, this is personal: I always have and I always will. I guess his "objection"/voice manipulation gimmick is cool, but like I said in the playthrough he should have done it more.

15 - Blaise Debeste
Speaking of final bosses, I still feel like Blaise is the actual final boss of this game. That's weird, right? Because it's clearly not true. But the game goes so far to make him feel like the big bad, I kept expecting him to make a final appearance at the end. On one hand, it's interesting that the game subverted expectations, but on the other that does leave me with a somewhat unsatisfied feeling. Unlike Simon - I do feel anger/hate/revulsion toward Blaise, for his philosophy about "truth," for his mistreatment of Sebastian, for his overall appearance. He even has a better "objection" than Simon!

In retrospect, Blaise is Damon Gant if Gant hated his kid. And had substantially worse hair.

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That's kinda why I don't like Blaise that much. He's built up to be Damon Gant, but he's really more like Redd White, except without a cool gimmick. Plus, at least White killed someone important.

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think i'd have blaise possibly even lower and simon at the top of this list

agree with de killer sucking here though
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I think de Killer is still great, if not a bit OP. He's the only guy neither Phoenix nor Edgeworth could catch, and maybe that's unsatisfying for some people.

I think Simon is largely overrated by the fanbase, although I'm not as hard on him as colliding is.

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de killer is great as the ice cream salesman, "okay" when he reveals himself mid-e2-1, and part of the most anticlimactic part of e2-5
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Eh, I don't think de Killer is the problem with that scene. It's Dogen. Him almost managing to hunt down and kill Simon is pretty great. Dogen is the buzzkill there.

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I kind of think Cases 4 and 5 should be switched somehow. I have no idea how that would work, but it makes more sense to me in terms of Simon vs. Blaise. I'll discuss this more in the eventual case write-ups, but E2-5 just feels weirdly anti-climactic to me (even beyond the De Killer/Dogen confrontation, which was a complete dud as seabass points out).

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Power Rankings (Even More)

Let's just speed through these, shall we

14 - Sebastian Debeste
A good idea on paper, with mixed results. Even though I made fun of him all the time, I liked him in the first four cases, because he was an assistant to Courtney, and I liked the idea of facing an adversary with an assistant, given that AA always has you paired with a plucky teenage girl (fair is fair, after all).

He is actually a bit too stupid I think. Even his big moment in E2-5 is basically still all Edgeworth. I wanted a bit more from him. I know this is to help us feel sorry for him, but it also kind of made me feel like I was bullying him sometimes. His stupidity does lead to some funny moments - they all escape me at the moment though. And once he was actually gone - the last part of E2-5 - I found myself missing him somewhat.

13 - Jeff Master and 12 - Kate Hannah
I feel like these two should be a package deal, considering how well the game does at pairing them together. The bond here is really interesting: it doesn't feel 100% romantic, but it isn't straight up familial either. It also doesn't feel creepy, which is a feat. Kate is a good example of how to make a witness character not annoying, and as far as female characters go she does a good job avoiding falling into cliche. Jeff is slightly less interesting, but he comes across a really earnest dude: a classic AA defendant who you can't help feeling protective of. One reason E2-3 is so strong is because you actually want to help these people - it's so weird that this fundamental aspect of AA is so often forgotten in the Investigations series with bland/forgettable defendants and witnesses.

11 - Tyrell Badd
Unlike Lang, Badd has a successful cameo in this game, mostly because he doesn't have such a huge stake in the case. You expect Lang to do a lot in E2-5, and he doesn't, so that's disappointing. Badd in E2-3 is playing with house money. Not only does he provide some fun investigation moments, but Badd does contribute to the overarching story too, what with his helping out Master and helping Gregory with his "trump card."

10 - Dick Gumshoe
When Gumshoe is here, he's great. He's sidelined for long stretches of this game though, which is a shame, because he has moments of real capability. A proficient Gumshoe who is still somewhat goofy is the best Gumshoe.


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colliding posted...

One reason E2-3 is so strong is because you actually want to help these people - it's so weird that this fundamental aspect of AA is so often forgotten in the Investigations series with bland/forgettable defendants and witnesses.

Yeah, this is one of the reasons I appreciate E2-3 so much. It takes a huge risk by going back to perhaps the series' most famous case (DL-6) and trying to add to it, and it largely succeeds. Being able to finally free Master is a big emotional moment.

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I'm glad that you see that E2-1 is so good. AAI is kinda mediocre in all cases, while AAI2 tries to make every case epic. It definitely crumbles under its weight in E2-2 and E2-4. E2-1 is packed so tightly that it soars really well. Only 3-1 really rivals it for intro cases.

He never feels threatening, nor do I ever feel sorry for him. At most, I am annoyed.

I'd argue that's kind of Keyes' point! He's not really a final boss. He's basically the hero of his own story. But his story is so inherently flawed that Edgeworth exposes him for the villain that he is. I also like the fact that he's different than most of the final bosses.

I think her name is Katherine Hall? But yeah, Masters and Hall are both really great and add a lot to E2-3.

I really like Sebastian Debeste. I don't think I would like Courtney nearly as much if Debeste wasn't there. They're a really good rival duo to Edgeworth. Edgeworth conversations with Debeste are so good. I think his climax is pretty good even though it's the worst part of E2-5.

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Power Rankings, end.

9 - Horace Knightley
Knightley is an extremely well done villain for the series. He is overconfident, which I've criticized before, but the difference is Knightley is actually competent enough to cover for his pride. Also, he doesn't rub it in Edgeworth's face that he's obviously guilty. He's smart, cunning, and vicious. Honestly, it's amazing that he doesn't completely get away with it in E2-1. Him being the victim in Case 2 adds to his mystique. Ultimately, I find him much more compelling than Simon, his BFF. At first I thought his character design was too Luke Atmey-ish, but he does enough to stand out.

8 - Kay Faraday
Kay's back. I still wish the game did a better job re-introducing her, instead of basically just saying "Kay's back." She doesn't really do much except in case 4, where she has a central role as a victim/defendant/witness (a rare trifecta). I wish the game did more with the Yatagarasu / further her story, but I get that her game was AAI.

7 - Raymond Shields
I thought Ray was an amazing addition. He's probably the best thing about Case 2, and he's excellent both as his young paper-eating self and his current state in Case 3 (though everyone's awesome in that case). Then he kind of disappears. Which would be fine, except he doesn't actually disappear, he just arbitrarily hangs around and doesn't do anything. I really though the game was giving him major death flags, and on one hand I'm glad he's alive, but on the other... he really would've been more interesting if he had! At least then we could've had some real emotional stakes for Edgeworth in the last case. I also briefly thought he might be the mastermind, which in retrospect was really wrong, but again it would've been more interesting than what we got! Anyway, all negatives aside: a really great foil for Edgeworth, and a perfect assistant for Gregory.

6 - Justine Courtney
Part of me wants to rank her higher based on her presence in the first four cases alone. Courtney is such a good adversary for Edgeworth. Smart, capable, rigid yet not cold, and not a retreat of the old "perfection" chestnut. Her face turn in case 4 is a great moment; we get to see that she isn't some mindless slave to an ideology or just a pointlessly argumentative person. She has a solid sense of ethics. She also is a fun play on the "judge" persona, which helps expand the universe a bit; now we know there are more than two judges in the AA-verse.

Then Case 5 happens and kind of ruins her a bit for me. It's not that she's a mother; it's that she becomes cliche and tropey where she wasn't before. I really hate her "panicked" animation where she puts her hands up and breathes heavily. It's just so out of character for her to be that worried. And I know that mothers worry about their kids, I GET THAT. But they didn't have to make her weak.

Top 5 in the next post.

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5 - Larry Butz
Because you all wouldn't let me get away with me putting him higher on this list. I know he's a moron and annoying most of the time. Out of all his showings, I think his E2-3 presence is up there in terms of "Best Butz." Logic Chess with him was delightful. Anyway, they're my rankings and I'll stick by them.

4 - Manfred Von Karma
The story of Von Karma's penalty finally gets told. Even more so than his appearance in the first Investigations, E2-3 gives us some proper time with old Manny. He's just as cruel as you remember him. Spot-on characterization, pitch perfect testimonies, and those classic 1-4 animations. Yes please.

3 - Franziska Von Karma
Franzy was really good in this game. One of JFA's great injustices is that Franzy kind of sucks as a prosecutor (plus she only prosecutes two cases, one of them being 2-3, which is not great). AAI kind of went in this direction of making her an international agent/prosecutor with interpol, and this game continues that here. They kind of make her a bit too "tsundere little sister" for my liking, but I can't deny I enjoyed it whenever she was on-screen and actually doing well.

2 - Gregory Edgeworth
The prospect of playing as Edgeworth's boring dad never seemed appealing to me, but E2-3 changed my mind and made me feel like an idiot. Gregory rules. Even his boring-ass character design is somehow endearing. I guess he's kind of like if Edgeworth and Phoenix DBZ fusioned into someone: he's Edgeworth's serious demeanor with Nick's "trust the client" philosophy. There's also of course this air of tragedy while playing him, because we know that it doesn't end well for him. Knowing this, Gregory's consistently positive and honorable demeanor make him even more a character to root for.

1 - Miles Edgeworth
Obviously Miles is number 1 of the power rankings. This game is all about him really, and this "will he/won't he" in terms of what it means to be a prosecutor versus a defense attorney. Unlike the first AAI, this game really plays to his strengths, and this truly does feel like "playing as Edgeworth." I can't say anything new about Edgeworth that you don't know already.

And that's it. Those are the characters from Prosecutor's Path ranked.

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I was clamoring for playable Gregory for years, so E2-3 felt like major vindication for me!

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Knightley is great. I love his Ocelot-esque revolver juggling as well. Just a really great one-case villain that ends up fitting in perfectly for AAI2's mastermind narrative. Kay definitely takes a backseat in this game, but her E2-4 appearance is so good that she deserves to be up here.

Ray's great, but definitely a casualty of the bloated cast. Out of all the AAI characters, I feel him and Lang really should get used in the main series.

I don't really care for Courtney in E2-5 either. Playable Gregory didn't occur to me at first but it makes so much sense. I love his film noir-esque look, which looks even more ridiculous in E2-3's setting.

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Here's my case rankings, and then I'm content to let the topic die

3 > 1 > 4 = 5 > 2

3 is very very good, definitely the best "third case" in the series (followed closely by 5-3, imo). Really sympathtic characters, plus you have the flashback angle. Add to this its importance to the overall AA mythos and you have what is truly an excellent epic case on the level of 3-2 or 6-5. It's not quite up there with 2-4, 3-5 or 1-4, but the next step down.

1 is also an excellent case by any standards, but particularly impressive for "first cases." Doesn't waste much time at all with teaching us the mechanics, because we don't need to. Knightley and Nicole are pretty good, and there are twists without it being cumbersome or confusing.

4 is a mixed bag with some great moments (Edgeworth turning in his badge, Franzy in general, presenting the badge to Kay, Courtney's reveal) ruined by an anticlimactic end (that doesn't really get adequately addressed in E2-5, even though it's super long). I get that "4=5" is kind of cheating, so I think 4 is slightly better, just because I actually feel something for Kay and want to help her, which is not a feeling I really got in 5.

5 is really disappointing in my opinion; there's a lack of motivation in this one. Courtney's "mom" turn is meant to make us feel concerned for John, but the transition feels abrupt and ooc, so that doesn't work. Sebastian is meant to have a big heroic moment: most of that is still Edgeworth. Whether or not Simon is a compelling character or not, the actual murder method is somewhat underwhelming (crushing him with the balloon). The first section drags and drags, and the payoff isn't quite worth it. Also there's that President of Zheng Fa "being lowered" asspull. Still an "okay" case

2 is the filler case. It's whatever.

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i totally disagree that e2-4 and e2-5 should have been switched fwiw. simon comes off as a true mastermind in part because he does succeed in iago'ing all 3 of his stated enemies. blaise always seemed like a chump. he had the trappings of a final boss, but he was worse at it. and it's actually mostly the bad luck with the body double shooting at him that he winds up becoming an actual murderer.

i also think that the back-and-forth between edgeworth and simon is cool because simon doesn't really have any authority to lean on, like blaise or alba or gant. he just has his wits, and i think he acquits himself really well in the final confrontation
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