Epic story telling, but incredibly difficult
posted by Kenkaku (LIVONIA, MI) May 8, 2009
Member since May 2009
Anyone who loves great, in depth stories with complex characters and detailed plots would love the Ace Attorney series. After the original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, I was looking forward to this with pretty lofty expectations. Some were met, others weren't.
To get the stink out of the way, I found this to be almost needlessly complex and difficult compared to other titles. Expanding on the evidence system from the last game, you now can present people's profiles, not just tangible evidence. This is a good idea in theory, but just makes managing all the little details in your head even more demanding than before.
The series has also been known for its subtlety; you have to wrap your head around items in ways you never thought of to find holes in witnesses' testimonies. Here, however, I found myself looking up walkthroughs not only on dozens of occasions, but only to be baffled by some reasoning behind the evidence. You really have to absorb what people said to you earlier on in the chapters in order to win without any help. There was one particular segment near the end of the game where I had to recall what my client said to me halfway through the chapter. Checking evidence in the court record just doesn't do you justice anymore (no pun intended).
But I can forgive this crazy difficulty curve for one particular reason: although I found myself reading walkthroughs just as much as character dialogue, I still loved the experience this game offers. The stories are so well crafted that I can't believe the series is not as well known as it should be. It's different, yes, but words can't describe how satisfying it is nonetheless. I am about to order the final Ace Attorney game and still hold lofty expectations while expecting them to be met.
One thing I should note is that I'm not a very patient person; if I took the time, the game probably would not be as difficult as I make it out to be. I'm sure your experience will be drastically different than mine.
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