@WoomyNNYes Nah, I'm not really a completionist guy. I ended up skipping a majority of the last couple of areas to quickly get to the final Deep Cut boss fight because I was getting frustrated with one kettle and decided to speed through.
Super Mario Sunshine (Switch/SM3DAS) - I reached the end credits a couple nights ago. This was the only 3D Mario I hadn't played and...I think it's a mixed bag to be honest. I like the general atmosphere and unique characters/enemies on Isle Delfino, and I believe this is the first series game that gave us the amazing Bowser Jr. FLUDD is quite fun to use once one gets the controls down and makes for some fun platforming.
However, the game was FAR more difficult than I suspected. I expect to find some gradual difficulty and challenge in Mario titles, especially in side stuff for completionists. But during forced sections of the main campaign?! Many of the non-FLUDD sections were a difficult mess - I kept getting hosed by the controls, the rare glitch (I've clipped THROUGH things), having to sit through cutscenes after getting booted out of stages repeatedly, and why is there no long jump in this game? The required secret Shines in Noki Bay and Sirena Beach (the first one) nearly made me stop playing. The final boss fight was a cakewalk compared to half the levels I dealt with on the way.
Sooo...Yeah, I now understand why some say this one was rushed back in the day. The sad thing is this game was ripe for some QoL improvements and cleanup when it was ported to the Switch with the rest of the collection, but it feels like Nintendo did the bare minimum here. I can still recommend this one to any Mario fans, but I do not recommend going into this one as a first game or if they're unprepared.
Bird & Beans (DSiWare) - Pyoro for those outside of North America. This was a very short nostalgic throwback that I picked up on a whim. They're two mini games that stem from the Warioware series. It's mostly a score chaser, but I consider it beaten since I've unlocked Pyoro 2 lol. Nice for some pick up and play entertainment.
I think playing it now is good because now I have lowered expectations but am slightly optimistic the sequel can be good after the 2D game got great reviews. But this game...does not live up to Banjo Kazooie, to say the least. It's not bad by any means, but its a bit all over the place. I was honestly a bit bummed at the first world for how much it didn't get a lot of what made Banjo Kazooie work. But the more it added movement abilities (to some extent abilities in general), the better it got...kinda. I think by the end my feelings were generally that when its a collectathon, its a good one. When it over-relies on minigames and platforming challenges, its just not there. It's so awkwardly made, in only the ways a 3D indie game like this could be. There's too much that's just a bit off, with movement and level design. Which is why its often better when those become less of an obstacle. But I didn't...dislike it as a whole. I think if they had some more time to tweak a few things, it would've at least lived up to DK64, and maybe even surpassed it (which despite its issues, is pretty fun before its levels refuse to end). Though the sad thing is apparently, on Switch, I'm playing the better version of this game. At least at first, I dunno how different the versions are in 2023 vs. launch.
I am glad I decided to not play Hat in Time before this, which I think would've made me harsher on it.
BTW: The credits started 2+ hours ago. Kickstarter!!!!!!
Welp, I complained about Bravely Default’s length/latter half of the game and AA Spirit of Justice’s abrasive insults and then didn’t even post again when I finished them, haha.
Played Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice to break from Bravely, and it was a good game. Not my favorite in the series, but I really liked what they did with the main characters and there were a lot of cool moments. I enjoyed all the cases, even if some had some clumsy handling in hindsight. Some of the music was really good, too. I especially liked two of the serious tracks.
The humor was pretty great sometimes, although again, there were instances of abrasive insults which were, at its best, mildly annoying and a little funny, but at its worst, it was a killjoy. I also hated the prosecutor for the majority of the game. Like, I really hated him. It wasn’t in the typical “you love to hate” way, either. Just hate, and it wasn’t fun. XD
I also played the DLC level; the humor was great and I really liked the story and the characters by the end. Although I’m a little surprised NintendoLife keeps referring to this case as being one of the best (in the eshop DLC article and the top AA cases article), because my sister and I both thought a lot of it was predictable and there weren’t many surprises, and we played it apart from each other. It was a good level, it was just underwhelming in the twists department. Or maybe we've just learned the system too well after 8 AA games. Lol And can we finally retire Miles Edgeworth as a rival? After the Investigations games, I just can’t take him that seriously when he’s being adamant and kinda a jerk about blaming a crying woman, even though he’s convinced she killed someone in <i>self-defense</i>. Or when he says things like “it doesn’t matter the flower petals are different.” He’s just… way too good for all that now. lol
Afterwards, I went back to get Bravely Default’s true ending, and oh my gosh, it wasn’t nearly as stressful as last time since I didn’t feel so rushed to finish it and took my time instead. Let it be said, this game is a nightmare to try and finish quickly, at least on the first play. It also helped they started giving me new cutscenes, some of which were very good. Lol
Personally, I think the false ending did some things better than the true ending, so I would say it’s still worth doing, specifically before the true one. I ended up getting the false ending right before they really started to reveal the big plot twist, so even though I had my suspicions, the reveal was a lot more dramatic and unreal to me, and it was one of the most memorable moments in the game, haha.
Regardless, it was a good game, had good characters, good music, and a good FFV-esque job system, and plenty of QoL improvements in its pseudo-retro system (although I still don’t understand why you have to scan each enemy individually and why it doesn’t carry over between battles?). I also want to praise its voice acting. I mean, I’m not picky; I’ve played a lot of JRPG’s and I hardly ever find the anime-ish voices bad or annoying. But I thought the voice directing was particularly good here, like it had more inflection? (Mephilia and Qada come to mind) And boy, do some of them yell. Especially Agnes, she could shriek like a Japanese VA. lol
I bought the rest of its Theatrhythm Curtain Call DLC tracks, too. (why no Bravely DLC, Final Bar Line?? ….Actually, give us a Theatrhythm Bravely Default instead. And let me put Barras and Holly on my team. XD) I also bought Bravely Second, so I’ll see how that goes. lol
My sister and I slowly played through The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time on the Expansion Pass last year. Despite growing up knowing the game and watching other family members play it, we never actually played it ourselves, excluding goofing off when we were younger and doing things like jumping off the bridge to Gerudo Valley. It’s definitely dated in some ways, like being obtuse when it comes to directions, but it was still a good game with a lot of cool moments and mechanics. I didn’t really remember much of the story, so it was cool to experience it, and playing an old game where you half remember some things and have completely forgotten other things is always interesting. XD
I also started GRIS and finished it a while ago. It was good! Felt more like an atmospheric experience with light platforming and light puzzle elements than anything deep or challenging. The art and animation were beautiful, and the music really added an emotional and intense feel to the game (the intense music and sound effects can get loud in your earphones!).
It was a bit shorter than I ended up expecting; it probably took me 3-4 hours to finish it. Had I bought it at full price, I might be a little disappointed with the length. But in hindsight, I’m pretty glad it wasn’t padded out with any repetitive puzzles or weak mechanics or anything. The controls felt smooth and pretty fluid. New puzzle mechanics were introduced frequently enough to keep it interesting, and I found them pretty intuitive; sometimes it’d make you stop and think for a minute to figure it out, but nothing was challenging enough to cause frustration.
And I finished Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy on the 3DS. Admittedly, I went in with low expectations, since everyone only seems to have bad things to say about it, but I actually liked it! I’m not a Layton superfan or anything, I’m only familiar with the original trilogy, but I don’t think this game was bad at all!
If you go in expecting something like the other games, then I think you’ll be disappointed with its heavily casual tone and episodic format, as well as the mysteries themselves being less interesting. But when you know what not to expect, it’s a good time.
The humor was pretty good and the characters grew on me quickly. I really enjoyed the different settings the cases had, and I’m glad each case was only a few hours long, so they didn’t overstay their welcome. I also think the last case was closer to the style of the original Layton trilogy in terms of somber tone and twistiness, although I personally enjoyed the penultimate one, too.
My only complaints are that I would have preferred the mysteries to be a little deeper and more plot twisty. Honestly, I even over-thought several of them and expected deeper conclusions. Although, that’s probably Ace Attorney’s fault. XD Some of the puzzles were pretty dumb and abstract, too. Unwound Future had quite a few trick puzzles, but some of these felt ridiculous. But there were still plenty of good ones, too.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty cute and feelgood game. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m pretty pleased with how much I enjoyed it, despite its reputation.
I was able to download the 365 free puzzles, but it seems the DLC shop is empty now? I’m not disappointed, though; it saves me some money to use on something else. lol
Afterwards, I went back to get Bravely Default’s true ending, and oh my gosh, it wasn’t nearly as stressful as last time since I didn’t feel so rushed to finish it and took my time instead. Let it be said, this game is a nightmare to try and finish quickly, at least on the first play. It also helped they started giving me new cutscenes, some of which were very good. Lol
Personally, I think the false ending did some things better than the true ending, so I would say it’s still worth doing, specifically before the true one. I ended up getting the false ending right before they really started to reveal the big plot twist, so even though I had my suspicions, the reveal was a lot more dramatic and unreal to me, and it was one of the most memorable moments in the game, haha.
Regardless, it was a good game, had good characters, good music, and a good FFV-esque job system, and plenty of QoL improvements in its pseudo-retro system (although I still don’t understand why you have to scan each enemy individually and why it doesn’t carry over between battles?). I also want to praise its voice acting. I mean, I’m not picky; I’ve played a lot of JRPG’s and I hardly ever find the anime-ish voices bad or annoying. But I thought the voice directing was particularly good here, like it had more inflection? (Mephilia and Qada come to mind) And boy, do some of them yell. Especially Agnes, she could shriek like a Japanese VA. lol
Bravely Default's true ending was insanely disappointing to me tbh. I actually felt way more invested in the false ending: the scene where the entire cast is cheering Agnès on to destroy the crystal while Airy is slowly having a breakdown is actually amazing, it's super memorable and I actually got emotional watching it. And what a twist! Having the crystal-awakening minigame be used as a way to make the player destroy it was so clever. In comparison, in the true ending, the entire cast just feels really dumb, blindly following Airy even though they're clearly aware that Agnès is being delusional with her trust. Also, hot take alert, I don't like the final boss music that much, maybe because it was so hyped up to me, but it has one cool moment of mixing the character themes and that's it, I wish the entire track was like that.
The game has so many great aspects but the pacing feels like it wasn't designed by a human being. I really wish they merged the endings together: Have the ending be, after three cycles, the player can destroy a crystal, Airy has a meltdown, and she's the actual villain, not just a pawn. That would have been way more memorable and impactful in my opinion, like at the end of the day, Uroboros who? He really comes out of nowhere. Oh and replace the sidequests with the later cycles' ones, and stop the repeating dialogue I am begging you.😂 .
I actually 100%ed the game last year and I had fun but that pacing ruins the game for me. It took me 130 hours and I feel like 50 of these could have been cut.
At least I heard Bravely Second fixed the pacing, so I'll play it in a few months. I decided to wait a year before jumping into the sequel and I'm really looking forward to it!
Beat Dragon Quest XI after 75 hours, fantastic RPG and highly recommended. Went a bit OTT on the final boss, I was lv99 and over geared so it didn't pose too much of a challenge by that point. I can also honestly say that every member of the party is likeable and well voiced, normally it's easy to pick your team and be done with it but there were reasons to use each party member.
@Tounushi There are trials that you can do which are challenging, I never did go back and do the final one, that's supposed to be difficult.
I believe there is a super boss, but you have to finish all of the 'Tickington' quests. These play like the old school NES/Famicom Dragon Quest games,I didn't finish them as they were a bit too sluggish for my liking.
Beat Metroid Fusion for the very first time last Saturday. WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
If you've known me and my presence here on NLife for the past while, you'll probably be well aware of how lukewarm I've been on the 2D Metroid games I've played (specifically the original and Super). Whilst the start of them would be very enjoyable, they'd always start to feel really unwieldy to control (especially in Super's case where it felt like just moving could be a hassle). This combined with having no idea on where to go and dying leading to a ton of repetition of the same scenarios put me off the series for the longest while. However, I had always said that I would give ONE specific game a go regardless of my thoughts on the rest of them: Metroid Fusion. As an onlooker, the idea of being constantly hunted by a being powerful enough to murder you in a single hit fascinated me and, between me loving the Fusion Suit and being juuuust interested enough despite my previous experiences, I tried it the day after it came out on NSO.
So let me be the first to tell you that this game is an absolute masterpiece.
So....where to begin. I may as well start off with Fusion's strongest aspect: it's atmosphere. So many moments in Fusion feel hand-crafted to instill the most amount of dread in you as is humanly possible: the eerie silence in the starting area, the feeling of shock and panic when Sector 3 begins melting down out of nowhere, seeing Nightmare's silhouette flying in the background of ARC, the elevator losing power midway through riding it and OH GOD THE SA-X. Those footsteps....the bit where they use an entire Power Bomb to get past a wall....the parts where you have to encounter them....they scare me.
The setting of the BSL Station also makes for a thoroughly unnerving adventure: whereas in previous games you saw tons of natural landmarks such as plants and rocks, every location in Fusion is surrounded by metal and machinery. From the SR388 callback of SRX to the chilling (in more ways than one) of ARC, everywhere you go is trying to emulate an environment without actually being said environment; a clever tie-in to the theme of parasites that permeates throughout Fusion's narrative.
And on the topic, good lord the STORY. I wasn't expecting it to be anything particularly note-worthy after the admittedly extremely cool intro as it seemed to take a backseat throughout most of the game. AND THEN YOU GET TO THE METROID FACILITY AND GOOD F***** LORD EVERYTHING JUST GETS COMPLETELY CRANKED TO THE MAX. The conversation between Samus and AI-dam afterwards especially is genuinely one of the most powerful pieces of dialogue I've ever witnessed in a game like oh my GOD 😭
All of this praise and I haven't even touched on the gameplay which, in my opinion, is leaps and bounds more fun and refined than any of the previous games. Samus feels fantastic to control, feeling incredibly snappy compared to Super and additions like the ledge grab make everything flow so much smoother (particularly during the SA-X chase sequences). All the weapon upgrades also feel incredibly substantial to pick up: from piercing beams to screen-wide nukes, you feel utterly unstoppable come the end of the game and especially in the final boss fight against the SA-X/Omega Metroid? It never felt better to finally get the jump on something that had haunted me throughout the entire adventure.
I wouldn't call Fusion perfect: later bosses like Nightmare and Neo-Ridley are absurdly difficult compared to most others in the game, there's some annoying crypticness in areas like AQA and, despite the linear structure working fantastic for the most part, you do get interrupted a bit too often at points by AI-dam (particularly around the midway point). However, it did what I thought was impossible and not only made me love a 2D Metroid game, but love it so much to point where I want to play every single one released afterwards now as a result. An easy recommendation to anyone with a means to play GBA games, 9/10, I still can't believe I love a 2D Metroid.
@Fizza Dude, I'm so happy you loved Fusion! You nailed the point of atmosphere on its head, this is easily one of the creepiest and most atmospheric games in the series, right up there with Prime 2 for me personally. The one thing that holds this game back from being on the top of my Metroid games list is just how linear it really is compared to other entries. That's just sort of a side effect of having a much more story-focused Metroid game, though. And as you said, the story here is amazing, even if it can interrupt the pacing of gameplay from time to time.
If you loved Fusion, I really think you'll love Zero Mission and Dread as well. Zero Mission practically ports over Samus' controls from Fusion and puts them in a remastered world of the first-ever Metroid, and it's amazing. And what is there to say about Dread that really hasn't been said already? Easily one of the best Metroid games out there, and I could see an argument for it to be the best 2D game in the series. I really hope Zero Mission comes to the service soon, as more people definitely need to experience that as well.
"Science compels us to explode the sun!"
Currently playing:
Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition (Switch)
Balatro (PC)
Afterwards, I went back to get Bravely Default’s true ending, and oh my gosh, it wasn’t nearly as stressful as last time since I didn’t feel so rushed to finish it and took my time instead. Let it be said, this game is a nightmare to try and finish quickly, at least on the first play. It also helped they started giving me new cutscenes, some of which were very good. Lol
Personally, I think the false ending did some things better than the true ending, so I would say it’s still worth doing, specifically before the true one. I ended up getting the false ending right before they really started to reveal the big plot twist, so even though I had my suspicions, the reveal was a lot more dramatic and unreal to me, and it was one of the most memorable moments in the game, haha.
Regardless, it was a good game, had good characters, good music, and a good FFV-esque job system, and plenty of QoL improvements in its pseudo-retro system (although I still don’t understand why you have to scan each enemy individually and why it doesn’t carry over between battles?). I also want to praise its voice acting. I mean, I’m not picky; I’ve played a lot of JRPG’s and I hardly ever find the anime-ish voices bad or annoying. But I thought the voice directing was particularly good here, like it had more inflection? (Mephilia and Qada come to mind) And boy, do some of them yell. Especially Agnes, she could shriek like a Japanese VA. lol
Bravely Default's true ending was insanely disappointing to me tbh. I actually felt way more invested in the false ending: the scene where the entire cast is cheering Agnès on to destroy the crystal while Airy is slowly having a breakdown is actually amazing, it's super memorable and I actually got emotional watching it. And what a twist! Having the crystal-awakening minigame be used as a way to make the player destroy it was so clever. In comparison, in the true ending, the entire cast just feels really dumb, blindly following Airy even though they're clearly aware that Agnès is being delusional with her trust. Also, hot take alert, I don't like the final boss music that much, maybe because it was so hyped up to me, but it has one cool moment of mixing the character themes and that's it, I wish the entire track was like that.
The game has so many great aspects but the pacing feels like it wasn't designed by a human being. I really wish they merged the endings together: Have the ending be, after three cycles, the player can destroy a crystal, Airy has a meltdown, and she's the actual villain, not just a pawn. That would have been way more memorable and impactful in my opinion, like at the end of the day, Uroboros who? He really comes out of nowhere. Oh and replace the sidequests with the later cycles' ones, and stop the repeating dialogue I am begging you.😂 .
I actually 100%ed the game last year and I had fun but that pacing ruins the game for me. It took me 130 hours and I feel like 50 of these could have been cut.
At least I heard Bravely Second fixed the pacing, so I'll play it in a few months. I decided to wait a year before jumping into the sequel and I'm really looking forward to it!
I agree, the sequence where you destroy the crystal is the true climax of the game and easily the best part of both endings. I was so stressed out at the time with all the repetitive looping that I just said forget it, I’m going to finally attempt to go past when Airy tells me to stop and see what happens, I don’t care if I get a game over or a bad ending! I legit felt bad when Airy was pleading for me to stop and I considered it several times, but then the rest of the party spoke up like “is this right? But we trust Agnes, so we’ll agree with her actions,” and I felt like I can’t stop now!! I had so many emotions during that entire sequence, and I think that speaks for how well done it was.
The true ending is kind of lackluster in comparison. The sequence where you’re fighting Oroboros is cool, if not a little long winded, with how they include more of the parallel universes and actually make the AU versions of your party members helpful and present, instead of being mysteriously absent throughout your trek through their world. lol It was also pretty cool how they made you rely on summoning your friends/spot pass allies’ characters during the battle, although I always found the summoning animation, where they hold Agnes’ pendant, to be really cool. XD Other than those two points, though, it was pretty okay, and the battle theme would have been a lot cooler if it was just the party themes, although the rest of the track’s grown on me after playing it several times in Curtain Call. Lol But the ending really would have worked just as well, if not better, to have Airy as the final boss, and they really should have cut down on the cycles and the repetitive dialogue and cutscenes.
LOL the pacing really doesn’t feel organically designed! I’m still trying to figure out how it lasted through to the final product. XD
Good work on 100%ing the game! I don’t know if I could ever do that. I forced myself to do nearly all the side quests during all the cycles, then gave up once they introduced those super hard, mixed up teams. Which is a little too bad, since I thought that exchange between Jackal and Einheria was hilarious. XD
Did you grab the Bravely Second demo yet? You’ve probably heard this already, but it has some exclusive story in it. I just got my copy of the game the other day and I’m going to be really tempted to start it once I finish my current games. lol I hope you enjoy the game!
And sorry my response is so late; I’m only on during Sunday right now.
Mortal Kombat on the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection. In all the years of playing this one, I finally figured out how to defeat Goro, beat Shang Tsung, and beat this game. I also beat it a second time in the GOG release, which is the DOS port, albeit I had free play turned on for that run.
I also beat Mortal Kombat 3, again the DOS port from GOG. Though I beat this one before, I think on Midway Arcade Treasures 2 on GameCube.
Star Wars Dark Forces, I bought this one during a Star Wars day sale on GOG years ago, and decided to play it recently, and beat the game. Feels good to finally complete this one.
The resident Trolls superfan! Saw Trolls Band Together via early access and absolutely loved it!
The last one I beat was Metroid Prime Remastered. I can't see myself not "beating" Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, though, and I should finish it off in the next few days.
Finally finished up Hi-Fi RUSH on PC, and man, this game was such a nice surprise. It had absolutely no marketing ahead of time, was developed by a very talented studio and producer, and came out fantastic. The idea of combining a rhythm game with a third-person action platformer is incredibly creative, and I'm surprised that this concept hasn't really been executed before. Along with that, a lot of the levels are very fun and unique, the story is pretty interesting, and the music is all around pretty catchy. I think my only issue with the game is that some of the levels tend to be a bit too long for my taste; some of them took up to 45 minutes for me. I sort of wish they could have done more levels that were shorter, instead of fewer, longer levels. Other than that, though, this game was a blast. I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't already. Anyways... onto the beginning of my write-up for Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice because oh boy... do I have a lot to say about that game. Mostly good things, mind you.
As for Hi-Fi Rush, though, I'll give it a well-deserved 9/10.
Crisis Core Reunion. Incredible how they managed to make one of the best FF Characters with Zack from the nothing burger he was in the original game. The ending left me a blubbering mess
Just recently reached 101% for the second or third time in Donkey Kong Country. That is always a good time. A few weeks back before that I beat Kuru Kuru Kururin, and Super Metroid. Those were both fun as well. Oh, and I also beat Minish Cap as well. So much fun was had on all of those games.
Gamertag: DeePullThree
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Apologies for the long post in advance. I just finished Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice and am now playing through the DLC case. Overall, I was extremely impressed by this game. I thought it was a fantastic culmination of everything that Capcom and the Ace Attorney team have learned since Takumi left the mainline series. But, I have a ton of things to talk about, both good and bad, so here we go.
Story: Overall, I think this game tells a fantastic isolated story. It successfully builds a believable, completely new world, filled with its own ridiculous issues and corrupted leaders. It gives us in-depth, original characters such as Rayfa and Dhurke that do great towards giving the world a sense of believability that this series is well-known for, despite its ultimate over-the-top nature. And it even expands on the personalities of fully established characters, like Maya, Phoenix, and especially Apollo. Holy cow, does his character go through some stuff in this game. And the cases themselves are all fantastically written. Pretty much every single one has a great twist that really surprises you. I just want to talk about a couple of them, but since they’re pretty major spoilers, I’ll be marking them. Please, do not read this part if you’ve never played the game before. First off, the true nature of Tah’rust’s death was absolutely shocking. For a series that consistently deals with straight-up murders for the most part, the twist in this case caught me completely off-guard. I thought it was incredibly creative and made perfect sense, and yet, I didn’t see it coming at all. Really great stuff. And then we get to what I believe to be one of the greatest twists in the series, and that’s Dhurke. I won’t specifically write his twist as I would hate to spoil it for someone, but my goodness, what an absolute bombshell that was. It was handled expertly as well, giving us little hints of foreshadowing throughout the case without being too conspicuous. And Apollo’s reaction to the twist is nothing short of phenomenal. It feels completely deserved considering his relationship with Dhurke and Sahdmahi. The one case that truly confused me for its inclusion, however, was Athena’s. It felt very shoed-in, like the writers just felt obligated to give Athena her own case. And throughout the entire episode, I was really wondering what part of the story it was going to play overall. And then… it just ends and doesn’t get mentioned again. That was pretty disappointing, because I definitely wanted to see more of Athena and Blackquill, especially after how fantastic both of them were in Dual Destinies. The case itself is great and highly entertaining, but I just really wish it would have felt more connected to the rest of the game overall. Now, onto some of the stuff that I think was less than great. The final big bad in this game was a little boring to me. Right when they revealed their “true form”, I was like, yeah this person did it. And I was hoping it would turn out that they actually didn’t do it. But then it turns out that it was them anyway. That was a little underwhelming, even though the final case overall is great. This game does fall into the same issues that the other two games in the second trilogy fall into, and that’s the lack of one real cohesive story, or theme. The first trilogy is a masterpiece in my book because, as a whole, it’s truly able to tell one slow, cohesive story and deliver consistent themes throughout its entire runtime. And while the second trilogy certainly has great themes and character moments, it’s something that really wasn’t able to be recreated completely. And it’s shame to think about that because this second trilogy had some truly stellar writing. DD and SoJ in particular had incredible isolated stories which led to some all-time great moments in the series. But, I really wish they could have recreated that same level of cohesion that the first trilogy and the GAA games had. This isn’t in fault of SoJ in particular; it’s a culmination of Takumi leaving, likely some decisions on Capcom’s part, and the writers probably being unsure where to take the story from where AJ:AA left off. I really do hope if AA7 ever gets made that the writers really strive to create a narrative that really feels connected and complete overall. The way the second trilogy does it is still great, and ends up having better stories than 99% of other games out there, but it just feels like an overall downgrade from what came before it.
Characters: Alright, that was a lot of complaining. Let’s talk about something that isn’t nearly as conflicting… the characters! Spirit of Justice easily has the strongest cast of characters in the second trilogy. Apollo finally gets some much-deserved development and is now one of my favorite characters in the series. Phoenix has some really cool moments that I was not expecting from him. Especially having to face him in court briefly, like what?!? Dhurke is a really strong character that has some really cool interactions with some other characters. Sahdmahi is also a pretty great prosecutor overall. He follows the standard trope of initially being mean to you, but eventually, we see some of his backstory and how certain other characters are related to him. He’s definitely not one of the all-time greats, but I’d say he deserves to be talked about on the same level as Franziska or Klavier, at the very least. I do really wish that Blackquill and Athena would have gotten more screen time, though. Outside of their own brief chapter, they really don’t do much in this game. Especially after Blackquill stole the show in DD, it’s disappointing to see him take such a backseat in this game. Ultimately, though, this game has some fantastic characters, both new and returning.
Music: It’s Ace Attorney. It’s Noriyuki Iwadare. It’s a phenomenal soundtrack. The blend of modern electronic music and ethnic acoustic music is extremely creative and makes a fantastic contrast. Pretty much every returning character has a remixed theme, and all of them are amazing. They feel much more high-adrenaline, have more creative instrument choices, and overall fit the tone of the game greatly. Honestly, I would be fine with Iwadare composing the Ace Attorney games to the end of time, because he has been killing it since Trials and Tribulations. Maybe a collaboration between him and Kitagawa? That would be incredible.
Conclusion: I don’t think I’ve ever had quite as much to say about an Ace Attorney game as I have with Spirit of Justice. This game easily has some of the highest highs in the entire series, and I cannot find that many lows with it. And yet, I can’t help but feel that this game didn’t quite live up to its full potential. Its lack of cohesion in the storytelling is probably its biggest fault overall, and I truly hope that a potential AA7 really gives the series the refresh it needs, like what TGAA did. Ultimately, though, I still had a ton of fun with this game. The quality is through the roof, the divination seances are a fun new courtroom mechanic, and at the end of the day, if it’s an Ace Attorney game, I’m going to have fun with it. And I think I should judge this game for what it is, rather than what it isn’t. It’s an awesome game, everyone should play it, yadda yadda Ace Attorney is one of the greatest game series out there.
9/10
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