Board 8 > great ace attorney playthrough topic

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transience
08/02/21 10:14:47 AM
#101:


okay, I finished the investigation. there wasn't too much more - I met a couple of oddballs in the street that, given how few actual characters this game has, means they're probably going to be a pretty big deal. we don't have a good suspect yet so I'm glad to at least see another person get into the picture. I also chatted with Natsume and Sholmes a bit and agreed to defend him.

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xyzzy
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GiftedACIII
08/02/21 12:57:32 PM
#102:


Holy shit at the ending of case 3. Another ridiculously anti-climatic and unsatisfying ending but the ride was insane. Had me at the edge of my seat at times. I'm noticing the trend of all 3 cases having unsatisfying ends with the culprits getting (or seeming to get away) though. I heard this trend goes on in case 4 too. Is case 5 going to be able to wrap this up? I do like how AA is allegedly a commentary on the former judge based Japanese legal system but this game is showing the Jury system and a legal system that allows guilty parties to get away on technicalities to almost be worse.
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transience
08/03/21 11:52:13 PM
#103:


case 4, trial beginning

sorry for the delay, life has been busy. I only played a few minutes today - just Gregson's testimony and the summation that followed.

first of all, can I say how dumb it is that I don't even get to learn who the victim is until they give it to me at the trial? I thought I was in a rough spot when I walked into McGilded's trial empty handed, but in reality, this isn't much different! I don't feel like this game even cares about investigating, it just wants to tell some kind of story. it feels more visual novel than the past games, I guess, because there's no piecing anything together. recent games haven't been much about investigating either, but at least you found out who was killed! (or not killed!)

the jury here seems more contrived than the last one, with my boy Bruce as one of our jurors and GOD DAMMIT JOAN WHAT THE HELL ARE YA DOIN another. these guys need only the slightest of breezes to blow their votes in one direction or another. here the prosecutor says he has witnesses and the jury's like oh that's cool sure would be nice to se--GUILTY. we change their minds over, like, a hole in the ground and a guy who fell on a street. sure, that could be convincing. van Zieks calls them all idiots and I couldn't agree more.

I stopped here, but not before seeing my next set of witnesses - a sleepyhead named Roly and his wife. really not feeling anything going on in this game right now, but I'm sure pushing through will make it interesting by the end of the trial.

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LeonhartFour
08/03/21 11:57:39 PM
#104:


transience posted...
I don't feel like this game even cares about investigating, it just wants to tell some kind of story.

This is pretty much it. Takumi is writing a mystery novel, and we're just along for the ride at times, it feels like.

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transience
08/03/21 11:58:46 PM
#105:


I see half the topics here are playthrough topics now!

I'm not reading them until I've seen at least the first game through, just in case

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Mewtwo59
08/04/21 2:18:57 AM
#106:


I mean, the victim may be even more irrelevant than even Kane Bullard, so I don't think it really matters that we didn't even learn who she is until the trial. She's literally just some random woman.
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transience
08/04/21 8:19:47 AM
#107:


sure, but I'm talking about the whole package here - the crime scene, the autopsy report, any case evidence.. I think we walked into the trial with maybe 5 things in our inventory. weird for it to just not matter!

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xyzzy
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transience
08/04/21 8:20:53 AM
#108:


thinking about it a sec -- I can only think of one time where we've had to present a piece of evidence to someone during an investigation and it was the letter from Iris to Gregson. there's probably 1 or 2 more than that, but it's not many!

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xyzzy
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MrSmartGuy
08/04/21 9:42:59 AM
#109:


I was keeping track during that case, cuz man did it feel like I didn't accomplish jack shit in that investigation. Before I started the trial, I made sure to check the Court Record. You managed to guess too high even. You start the trial with THREE items in there. One of them is your armband and one is a town map. You obtain one actually relevant piece of evidence the entire time: the receipt that lists the books on it.

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transience
08/04/21 11:28:09 PM
#110:


Case 4, trial - the Beates

I'm back in on this game! I really, really enjoyed the cross examination of Roly and Pat Beate. all too often, a witness gets up on the stand and you rip out the truth while tearing them apart. that... technically happens here, but in a much more subtle, nuanced way.

when I first started this cross examination, I expected to use the pursue mechanic to divide these two overly sappy lovebirds. Pat does I think the entirety of the testifying in the first section, and is clearly the dominant one in the relationship. Roly sleeps through most of it due to what is apparently nonstop crunch. sucks to be an officer of the Yard back in 1906 or whatever it is here.

their testimony is convincing, and it triggers the jury to all vote me guilty. I audibly groaned here -- how many times can you put me on the brink like this? -- but I actually like what they did here. for the first time in the game, this felt like a true puzzle, dragging out the right dialogue, matching it with another statement and then taking that information to a new person. it wasn't *hard*, but it was fun to puzzle out the right solution. I still think the jury is kind of unnecessary and bogs things down, but it worked well here, mostly because our girl Joan is one of the jurors. it's an interesting wrinkle to have a character in the courtroom who is clearly suspicious, but not be there for witness purposes.

we appeal to the judge to cross examine the clearly suspicious juror, but he denies it. we're stuck with the Beales again. slowly, we bring out more and more evidence, something that's sorely lacking in this case. Roly's handbook, information on each officer's 'beat', and the rose. each piece of evidence drew a good picture of what happened here, and it was satisfying to figure out the major inconsistency in the case: how the body ended up with all the stuff from Joan's house.

it isn't hard to figure out, but like the Ini/Mimi twist, it's a satisfying way to solve a major riddle: Roly moved the body to the other side of the road so he could finally take a goddamn day off to celebrate his anniversary. if he can't get a day off for that, I'd like to know how he got married! but still, I thought it was a nice mini-twist that it isn't the crazy wife that caused the commotion, but the guy who just wanted to make her happy. hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn, and in this case, the dude totally screwed things up by just wanting to appease her.

van Zieks comes to the rational side here, calls out the dude for tampering with a crime scene, and joins me in demanding the maid's testimony. she blurts out that the knife came from her house in a panic. she can't run now! taking this awful domestic abuser down better be as good as mind tells me it is!

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xyzzy
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Leonhart4
08/04/21 11:48:41 PM
#111:


I like how we got a patrol pun in back to back games

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transience
08/05/21 11:32:52 PM
#112:


Case 4, conclusion

I have to say, Joan's conclusion wasn't as good as I had hoped. it was... fine. but I wanted to really dig in the screws. instead, John Garrideb -- who I like a lot! -- shows up to be her witness partner. it seems like both of them are a little more remorseful than I would have expected from the lady who was abusing her husband not two days prior. apparently it's just that kind of relationship?

we prod John, find a piece of a blade and eventually tie it to the weapon. it's pretty much over there. the last piece of evidence - the book in the victim's hand -- didn't even really make sense to me. I got it fairly quickly, because you don't have much evidence, but I didn't really get how that was the big piece of evidence that put the case away. instead of Joan going down with a bang, she... faints, and John catches her, and probably hurts himself more in the process? I don't know. like most things with this game, it's unfulfilling.

we reach the end of the case and take up residence in Sholmes's attic. this is to be our law office, I guess. the game loudly hints at some Bad Stuff coming in the near future, much like it did with Kazuma. case 4 feels more like a case 3, very middle of the road, and it's weird to think that this might be the conclusion.

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xyzzy
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GiftedACIII
08/06/21 3:31:33 AM
#113:


transience posted...
Case 4, conclusion

I have to say, Joan's conclusion wasn't as good as I had hoped. it was... fine. but I wanted to really dig in the screws. instead, John Garrideb -- who I like a lot! -- shows up to be her witness partner. it seems like both of them are a little more remorseful than I would have expected from the lady who was abusing her husband not two days prior. apparently it's just that kind of relationship?

we prod John, find a piece of a blade and eventually tie it to the weapon. it's pretty much over there. the last piece of evidence - the book in the victim's hand -- didn't even really make sense to me. I got it fairly quickly, because you don't have much evidence, but I didn't really get how that was the big piece of evidence that put the case away. instead of Joan going down with a bang, she... faints, and John catches her, and probably hurts himself more in the process? I don't know. like most things with this game, it's unfulfilling.

we reach the end of the case and take up residence in Sholmes's attic. this is to be our law office, I guess. the game loudly hints at some Bad Stuff coming in the near future, much like it did with Kazuma. case 4 feels more like a case 3, very middle of the road, and it's weird to think that this might be the conclusion.


The funny thing is that while in-universe it looks like John comes in for support, its actual purpose in the cross-examination to the player is to provide his pipe as evidence as without him you wouldn't be able to conclusively link the knife to them. Although by that point there's already much more evidence linking Joan than Soseki.
Anyway, case 5 is way better than all the previous cases thankfully.
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transience
08/06/21 9:58:50 AM
#114:


it's weird - they make such a big deal of the victim not being dead and then nothing comes of it! maybe she shows up later. if she doesn't, boy, this game is the ultimate wet fart.

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xyzzy
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Leonhart4
08/06/21 12:29:02 PM
#115:


Case 4 feels like a whole lot of nothing despite the fact that I do like a few of the characters involved.

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Mewtwo59
08/06/21 1:05:04 PM
#116:


Don't forget those two guys who showed up late into the investigation and then never showed up again.

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transcience
08/06/21 1:07:27 PM
#117:


oh god i forgot all about them

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iphonesience
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transience
08/07/21 11:42:01 PM
#118:


well, I finished investigation 1 of case 5. I think I'm going to call this topic here - I'm playing this really slowly and I probably will just poke at it on days when I'm bored, and take a break inbetween the two games because I'm just not very interested in it. day 1 investigation was I guess fine but I was yawning the whole time, going through Holmes's diva routine and then this deduction with whoever this guy is. he looks like he fell out of FF8 or something.

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xyzzy
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Leonhart4
08/08/21 8:41:20 AM
#119:


If only we could get an FFVIII character in here

I think case 5 is quite good, but yeah, if you're not feeling it, can't blame you.

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SeabassDebeste
08/16/21 12:04:56 AM
#120:


figuring this playthrough is over, but still interedted to read thoughts later!
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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transience
08/16/21 11:50:33 PM
#121:


I did finish case 5! I liked it.

overall I'd say GAA1 is probably the weakest AA game, a little below AA4 and Investigations 1. but I liked parts of it.

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xyzzy
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LeonhartFour
08/16/21 11:55:14 PM
#122:


I think GAA2 will probably be more up your alley whenever you get around to it.

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Paratroopa1
08/16/21 11:59:21 PM
#123:


I'm glad you did finish G1-5, I think GAA1 finally finds itself near the end and the case starts to become pretty interesting - and it's VERY fortunate that you can move right onto GAA2 without being annoyed by all the loose threads, lol.

I rank GAA1 just a bit ahead of AA4 and AAI1 because I just ultimately found it more fun with the main cast and the setting and the overall presentation. It winds up a bit more than the sum of its parts, even though most of the murder mysteries are pretty lame. AAI1 has stronger murder mystery mechanics but the overarching plot is boring, and AA4 just makes me feel tired to think about. I felt more energetic playing GAA1 than those two so there's that.
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Janus5k
08/17/21 12:25:19 AM
#124:


I'd put the game above AJ and AAI1, but mostly because I really liked G1-5. Would put it in the upper half of epic cases to be sure.

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Dels
08/17/21 12:31:59 AM
#125:


i was sad you stopped at case 5 because that's where i started liking the game as well. but even the intro hooked me. i mean, the pawn shop isn't the most exciting thing ever but i was giving it the benefit of the doubt that this setup was finally going to go somewhere, and it did. mostly i really like the game's cast and case 5 finally gave them a real case to work with.

hopefully GAA2 keeps up like that and doesn't throw another 4 tutorial cases at you before you get to the good stuff
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transcience
08/17/21 12:34:44 AM
#126:


I can give some more solid thoughts tomorrow. I wouldnt call 5 an epic case though - by this games standards sure, but it didnt have the weight of the world on the protagonist like other finales have.

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iphonesience
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Dels
08/17/21 12:40:08 AM
#127:


This game's cases don't adhere to the usual format, so it's hard to compare them by number.

Case 1 is a case 1.

Case 2 is like, a prologue.

Case 3 is like a case 1 again. Maybe a case 4 like T&T's.

Case 4 is like a case 2.

And case 5 is like, a case 3 like AAI's or SoJ's where it's involved and has big plot relevance and stakes for the main characters, but not like an actual epic case.

I'm hoping GAA2 will have something that actually feels like we've reached cases 4 and 5!
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SSBM_Guy
08/17/21 12:41:00 AM
#128:


Glad to hear you liked Case 5! It really did save GAA1 for me. I'd probably put GAA1 a little above AJ and AAI1, possibly above DD too. A good finale case goes a loooong way, which is something those 3 games definitely lacked in.

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"[Freud] started his scientific career by trying to explain the sexuality of a fish. And he failed."
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SSBM_Guy
08/17/21 12:44:00 AM
#129:


Dels posted...
This game's cases don't adhere to the usual format, so it's hard to compare them by number.

Case 1 is a case 1.

Case 2 is like, a prologue.

Case 3 is like a case 1 again. Maybe a case 4 like T&T's.

Case 4 is like a case 2.

And case 5 is like, a case 3 like AAI's or SoJ's where it's involved and has big plot relevance and stakes for the main characters, but not like an actual epic case.

I'm hoping GAA2 will have something that actually feels like we've reached cases 4 and 5!
Yeah, treating GAA like any other Ace Attorney game where you rank it by case just feels like a fool's errand. It's technically right, but it's not really.

It definitely makes me want to do a character ranking, though, because I love the characters of GAA a ton! It's really what makes G1-5 sing. It's kinda like 2-4 in that it just sorta glues all the characters together and develops them: Phoenix, Maya, Gumshoe, Edgeworth, Franziska. I remember really loving the PW cast after 2-4. G1-5 is the same but for Ryunosuke, Susato, Sholmes, Iris, Gina, van Zieks, and Gregson.

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Dels
08/17/21 12:50:51 AM
#130:


I need to see more from van Zieks. I don't dislike him. He's kinda cool. There's just... not much there yet. They barely gave him a bit of a story at the end of the trial. The rest are all great though. Which is surprising because I shouldn't like Sholmes' and Iris' archtypes. And even Susato is a rare hit because most of the attempts at non-Maya sidekicks have felt pretty derivative. The writing in this game is excellent for the characters. At least for the important characters - the multi-witnesses and jury members were just annoying one-note gimmicks.
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LeonhartFour
08/17/21 4:06:29 AM
#131:


Well, character writing has always been Takumi's strength, and he's still good at that. The scenario writing has been a bit hit or miss since the OT, but hey.

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