Operation Backlog Completion 2025

The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve is a Truly Epic Conclusion

 Reviews, Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , ,
Dec 172021
 

I’ve now finished The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve, the second half of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, and it seems safe to say my GOTY is now set in stone.

When I finished The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures back in August, I suggested Chronicles should be instead viewed as one big Ace Attorney game.

I still feel that way, but what I didn’t expect was how much better Resolve would be.

Not only does it follow up on the numerous loose ends left by the first game, but it had me constantly re-evaluating hints and coming up with new theories.

The pacing and stakes are excellent; if Adventures felt like it had three tutorials, Resolve balances that by making every case important and memorable.

And while it’s a small thing, I greatly missed having multiple investigation days in the first game, so I was thrilled to see multi-day investigations return. I still would have liked more, but that’s only because I wanted this already-long game to last even longer.

I liked the cast when I played the first game, but the second left me wanting to stay in this era with these characters to the point where I dragged out my playthrough solely because I didn’t want to finish.

It has so many incredible moments, and more plot twists than I ever expected. It hit me with so many revelations that shook up what I expected, even once I thought I had everything figured out.

Click for major Great Ace Attorney 2 spoilers
KAZUMA! Everything about Kazuma is wonderful, and he also has one of the best prosecutor themes in the series. Van Zieks was already rising to be one of my favorite prosecutors, but then to give me Kazuma on top of that? And then with van Zieks as the defendant???

Speaking of which, Gregson being a victim stunned me. They’ve never killed a supporting character who was around for multiple cases–and a whole game!–like that. And then, of course, I found out the truth about his involvement with “the Reaper.”

(Oh boy did I keep going over and over those four names from the Morse code message every time I found out something new about them.)

Then there was learning the Professor’s true identity, at which point I needed to take a short walk before I could resume playing.

And these aren’t even all of the plot twists that made me say, “Wait, WHAT?” but I’ll be typing all day if I try to list them all.

(Also, I was quite surprised to see many people dislike Stronghart as a villain. He was obvious, yes, but that enhanced my playthrough instead of detracting from it. When I saw him as the judge, it was way more intimidating because I already suspected him of being up to no good. He’s also pretty much the embodiment of “the ends justify the means.”)

It’s not perfect, of course, but most of my quibbles are minor things. Is it just me, or do these games always have exactly 5 points in each testimony/cross-examination, when the number used to vary more? And one critical moment stretched my suspension of disbelief a bit… but look, I’ll take it in exchange for everything else this game gave me.

There is so much to love, from the characters to the music to the plot twists and the way it brings everything together. I am seriously considering the possibility that it might have dethroned Trials & Tribulations as my favorite Ace Attorney game.

I want another Great Ace Attorney game, be it a Great Ace Attorney 3, a Great Ace Attorney Investigations, or some other spin-off.

Click for major Great Ace Attorney 2 spoilers
An Investigations spin-off set in this era has potential for so many different ideas, too!

Would we play as Barok? Or play as Kazuma? Both?? Gina as the main detective and/or assistant? Or maybe we’d play as Mikotoba working together with Sholmes again?? Flashback case playing as Sholmes and Mikotoba again?? Flashback case playing as Klint before crossing his despair event horizon?????

Or, you know, we could have a Great Ace Attorney 3 starring Ryunosuke and Susato again. I’ll take it!

But whatever it is, please, let Barok van Zieks smile. Please!

In a year filled with incredible games, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles will most likely end up being my favorite game of the year. While the first game set up a good story, The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve went above and beyond and ended up being one of the best – if not the best – games in the series.

Yomawari 3 Has Been Announced!

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,
Dec 152021
 

It’s time for another sequel announcement I’ve been hoping for, this time in the horror genre!

Ever since I finished the Yomawari games, I’ve been hoping NIS would make another.

And now, Yomawari 3 has been officially announced.

Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows feel very different from one another in some respects. The first focuses more on exploration, putting you in the town at night to search for clues and find the next place to visit, while the second is more linear and also more story-driven.

You can check out my thoughts on Yomawari: Night Alone here, but I don’t think I ever covered Midnight Shadows on my blog. I enjoyed both of them, though, so I’m thrilled we’re getting a third.

(This time I will be prepared for the tutorial to do something horrible.)

The short teaser trailer doesn’t show much, but its style looks in line with the previous games.

The third Yomawari game will be out on April 21 in Japan for the Switch and PS4. No localization has been announced yet, so I’ll go into every potential NISA announcement with the hopes that it will be this until it’s finally revealed.

Are you interested in Yomawari 3?

But When Will We Get a Rhythm Thief Sequel?

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with:
Dec 132021
 

2021 has been the year of niche games I love getting unexpected sequels, to the point where I haven’t even been able to play them all.

On top of all of the sequels that came out this year, Bayonetta 3 and Alan Wake 2 are on the horizon, as well.

But you know what’s one game that still needs a sequel? Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure.

It’s been five years since I played and reviewed this unusual rhythm game (and nine years since it came out), a game I always describe as being similar to Professor Layton in structure, except with rhythm games instead of puzzles.

I’m not the world’s biggest fan of rhythm games, but Rhythm Thief pulled me in with its cast of characters and entertaining story. But as I griped about five years ago, it ends on an overt sequel hook, yet no sequel is anywhere in sight.

Rhythm Thief was published by Sega, but it was developed by a company called Xeen. I wasn’t familiar with the name, but Xeen is still around, since they developed last year’s Trials of Mana remake, as well as a mobile game and an arcade game this year. So it seems there’s nothing that would prevent a Rhythm Thief sequel from being made.

I’m not the only one still waiting for this sequel. In fact, I found a blog devoted to counting the days until a sequel is made, so that person clearly wants a sequel even more than I do.

So in this time of niche games getting sequels… how about it, Sega? Sequel? Maybe a Switch port of the original to test the waters? Here’s hoping we can eventually see a second game in this series.

Would you play a Rhythm Thief sequel?

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