Operation Backlog Completion 2024

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.

Fill Out Capcom’s Official Ace Attorney Survey!

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , ,
Aug 022021
 

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is out now, and Capcom followed its release with an official survey about interest in the Ace Attorney series.

Although the survey is from asia.capcom.com, it is entirely in English.

The survey seems designed to gauge general interest in the Ace Attorney series and in The Great Ace Attorney in particular. Curiously, it specifically asks if you’d be interested in another Great Ace Attorney game.

Later on in the survey, it also asks you to list every Ace Attorney game you’ve played. This includes Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (with the title written in English), but I wouldn’t read too much into that, since it also allows you to say you played The Great Ace Attorney and its sequel on the 3DS before they were localized.

However, if Capcom is gauging interest in future Ace Attorney games, this is the perfect time to show how much we love the series.

There is some belief that if The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles sells well, they will also release a collection of Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies, and Spirit of Justice. I also have renewed hope that we might someday see an Investigations collection, bringing us an official release of Investigations 2 in the west.

Everyone is still hoping for Ace Attorney 7 news, too. When will that announcement come?

This is the most enthusiastic I’ve felt about Ace Attorney’s future in a while, so be sure to take the survey and let Capcom know your thoughts! According to the survey page, the survey will be open up through the end of September.

Tales of Arise Release Date, Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Confirmed

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Apr 212021
 

I’d intended to blog today about Sony reversing its decision to shut down the PS3 and Vita stores, but we have some exciting announcements to discuss instead!

Tales of Arise got a new trailer today, as well as a release date!

Yes, it’s still coming out this year, on September 9 in Japan and September 10 worldwide.

It will be released for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC (Steam).

The new trailer revealed two of the game’s party members, one of whom is accompanied by an owl that appears to be this game’s mascot character.

(I tend to find mascots annoying, but the owl is cute enough that I might like it. Maybe. We’ll see.)

A Famitsu interview, translated by Gematsu, confirmed that there are still unannounced party members as well. It also confirmed that there is no more victory screen after battles, which means no more victory screen banter, but there will be post-battle party banter on the field.

That’s not all! In addition to the trailer, we also have a 7-minute gameplay footage video!

Some fans were concerned the combat system would be completely different from past Tales games, but the gameplay footage gives a good look at some basic battles and it seems pretty Tales-like after all.

Tales of Arise looks fantastic! I’m so excited to play this on September 10…

…but even as I was still reeling from the thrill of Arise getting a release date at last, what popped up on my Twitter feed but a casual announcement of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles!

That’s right, it’s really happening!

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles includes both The Great Ace Attorney and its sequel, and it will be out on July 27 for the Switch, PS4, and PC (Steam) for $39.99.

It also includes bonus content, including 8 mini-episodes, that was originally DLC.

I was worried it would be digital-only, but the Switch version is actually getting a physical release in the west. There is also a $59.99 “Turnabout Collection” that bundles The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles together with the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. That is digital-only in the west.

(I would have expected it to be the other way around, but okay.)

The official announcement has also introduced many more people to the wonder that is Herlock Sholmes. Please, please stop blaming (or praising) Capcom for that name. As goofy as it is, it’s been a time-honored tradition for avoiding Sherlock Holmes copyright issues for over 100 years.

Since The Great Ace Attorney comes out on the same day as Neo: The World Ends With You, yet another game I’m still stunned about, I’ll need to decide which to play first! If you told me a year ago I’d be trying to decide whether I wanted to play the TWEWY sequel or Dai Gyakuten Saiban in English first, I’d have laughed. And then cried.

I’m ecstatic that we’re finally getting The Great Ace Attorney and its sequel in English! And I can hardly believe we got that announcement and the Tales of Arise release date in the same morning!

Are you excited for either or both of these games? Let me know in the comments!

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