I'm looking forward to picking this game up down the line. I enjoy the Layton series and have curiosities about the Ace Attorney series. I figure this might be a nice way to tackle both.

Let us know your continued thoughts, and nice job with the Doctor Who .gif. (well, that's where I recognize the actor anyway)

There wasn't an official thread, but Shadowlink's review thread at the top of the second page has some discussion within.
There's nothing wrong with an official thread though.

It's too bad you haven't played the original games first, since that particular "OMG THEY JUST MET!" enjoyment won't be there.
BUT, I think it works well on its own since it doesn't really rely on each particular series' stories or recurring characters.... Just the protagonists.

I should get back to this!

@ploot

Also my 'Eep it's here!' thread.

In hindisght I should have just bstarted an official thread back then, but eh. It's Zero's fault. Somehow.

I probably wouldn't mention anything if it weren't for the game being out in Europe for the past 7 months I believe.

@Shadowlink you snooze you lose

@pokepal148

Well my original thread was because of the PAL release . ...Although I didn't actually get around to playing the game for a few months.

I only just put up the review now because it was finally relevant. I think I was the only one here with the game for ages.

Emeer for Smash. Emeer for smash.

@pokepal148

No.

Barnham!, Barnham!, Barnham!

@DrFinkelsteinAre you on an iphone or Android? I think on both, the Ace attorney Trilogy is on there. The first case I think is free.

@PogueSquadron

Android. Really now? I feel like someone told me that before but I must have forgotten. Was it you?

I can't find it in the Play Store though.

Hmm I think the Android version looks like it was planned but I think it was cancelled. Sorry! If you have an iphone or iPod touch around you could use that.

This is on my "to play next" list. Gotta finish up Dual Destinies first though!

@Hero_Of_Hyrule the entire ending is just the Professor sitting in the corner going "I know who it is" like a little kid taunting you on the playground.

I love it.

@pokepal148

Who else but the professor could have predicted such a typical Prof Layton-style left field ending like that though? IMO, the story twists/endings in the Ace Attorney series are a bit more grounded and satisfying.

Layton endings kind of remind me of a substitute teacher we used to have back in high school. He'd spend the lesson peppering us with 'brainteasers' that no amount of logic could actually solve. Like there'd be a 10 minute rambling story about a plane flight, and at the end we'd have to figure out the name of the airline. The answer was always something completely ridiculous that had nothing to do with the story and would invariably come with another 10 minutes of ridiculous backstory to explain.

On the plus side, we didn't do any actual work during those periods, so that was nice.

I finally beat the game and unlocked the Bonus Episodes.

Has anyone else played these episodes? They are very self-aware and often hilarious. I particularly like the discussion when some of the characters complain about the silly names the developers gave them.

Each has one bonus puzzle as well!

So, I'm not really digging this game.

A bit of quick backstory: I love the Ace Attorney series, and in 2007, I joined a message board that wanted to make an Ace Attorney musical. I wrote about 10 original songs for it throughout the course of a couple years, made lots of new online friends (several of whom I keep in touch with today), went to multiple conventions with these people...and, oh yeah, I met my wife through it. She played the part of Mia.

I'd only played a little of Layton prior to this game, maybe 3 hours of the first game. I liked the puzzles more than the story. So as part of my wife's birthday present, I got her this game (since we'd both played through and loved all prior Ace Attorney titles). But I'm about 10 hours in and I've got quite a few issues with this game.

*minor spoilers ahead, nothing too revealing though except for the blacked-out stuff*

For starters, Luke and Layton are honestly pretty dull characters. Layton is this perfect gentleman that always has the answers, and Luke is like the slightly more naive version of Layton. They never disagree, they never have any conflict between them. And there's so much repetitive dialogue! "Luke, it would seem that this town is most peculiar." "That's right, Professor! Most peculiar indeed!" "It reminds me of a puzzle..." Exploring with these guys is like having two butlers narrate everything. Phoenix and Maya make a far more dynamic and entertaining duo. Even when the AA games were at their dullest in the investigation sections, you could always rely on Maya's crazy non-sequiturs and Phoenix's snarky inner monologue to deliver the laughs. Thankfully, they've at least kept that element of their personalities intact, but it makes the Layton/Luke bits seem all the dryer in comparison.

Secondly, the puzzles are pretty underwhelming so far, for the most part. I loved the riddle-style stuff in the first game, thought it was really clever. Most of PLAA's puzzles boil down to these visual maze-type things that mostly require a lot of trial-and-error manipulation. I liked the clever "think outside the box" word problems of the first game a lot more.

Third, I'm not digging the setting. Having the game take place in a universe separate from both Layton and Wright isn't a bad idea, but it kinda makes all the logic stuff pretty moot when you have magic involved, and any mysterious thing can literally be attributed to "a wizard did it." For instance, there's a mystery somewhat early on where a big giant tower appears in a pillar of flame. In a normal Ace Attorney game, this would be a moment where the player would think, "Whoa, that was crazy! I wonder how they managed to make that happen!" In this game, though, it's obviously just from some friggin' spell we've never seen yet. It removes a huge amount of the mystery and intrigue when any illogical thing can simply be attributed to magic.

Fourrrrrth, what is with Layton barging in on Phoenix's court case and having all the answers? This annoyed me. I like the idea of these two guys working together, but I don't like how Phoenix seems dumber than before compared to Layton. Layton's a smart guy, but he shouldn't be automatically able to bust into the courtroom and do Phoenix's job for him. It seems detrimental to Nick's character.

Finally, man, that ending to the second court case was super dark. *SPOILERS* Typically it feels fun or satisfying to catch the killer, even the sympathetic ones. But in this game, the guilty party is pleading for her life and is burned alive in front of everyone!! Whaaaaaat?? This world feels very primal and brutal to me, arguing with a bunch of regressive people with old-school witch trial mindsets, and it's both frustrating and super-dark. I thought that was a poor tonal decision for a game like this.

Anyway, the music's good and some of the court stuff is fun, but thus far, I'm not crazy about it. Even the NPC characters seem flat and uninteresting, a big change from the usual AA fare.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Yeah, I don't plan on quitting the adventure. There's still stuff I like, but I'm used to the AA games being extremely compelling.

I am glad to hear that you picked up the first AA since playing this and really like it. I'd recommend the original trilogy, in fact--they're all excellent stories (minus a dull case here or there), particularly the third game, which ends brilliantly.

How far are you into the original AA game?

@TriforceBun just wait till the Second Witch Trial. You thought Kira was likeable, ho boy...

The Second Witch Trial is quite literally the point where the the game really reaches it's... Shall I say, Golden Stride.

TriforceBun said:

They never disagree, they never have any conflict between them.

Fourrrrrth, what is with Layton barging in on Phoenix's court case and having all the answers?

Ho just you wait my young friend...

Good to know things pick up a bit--like I said, I'm not quitting or anything, but it's pretty different from past AA games.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

One of the nice things the AA series does regarding information is that you typically don't have to MEMORIZE too much stuff--for the trials, generally everything is all in place for you in your court record, so you can point out contradictions in testimony while at least having something to reference. For the most part, anyway. But you should generally try to do each case all at once, and maybe take breaks in-between cases if anything.

Rise From the Ashes is definitely worth playing, although it is placed a little strangely, IMO. The first four cases of AA1 make for a great, complete story, particularly the fourth case (which is just awesome). Case 5 (Ashes) is a solid case as well, but it's quite long and doesn't tie into the original cases all that much. I think as long as you go in knowing that Case 4 is the first game's "ending," and Case 5 is sort of an interim/"bonus" case that takes place between the first two games, you'll be good. It's definitely a good story with some fun characters, it's just best to view it as a big extra bonus case. A few people rank it among their favorites so don't miss out.

I'm eager to hear what you think of the big finale cases in each game though. The final cases of the second and third games are terrific. And I would recommend playing through the whole series if you like those, really.

Finished!

Okay, interestingly, the part right after my last post was when the game really started to pick up. The second witch trial had some interesting mechanics and stakes (Golden Layton, and Luke finally doing something interesting!) and it also had a good, well-developed witness and ended on a bang. The parts following that were solid, emotion-wise, and splitting up the group was a good choice to play with the character dynamics that paid off a bit.

In fact, much of the game was smooth sailing from there, with the story keeping my interest up through the end.

However, the last few revelations and twists were completely batty! I don't even know where to begin with the number of plot-holes that opens up!

HUGE WALL OF ENDGAME SPOILERS

How could Kira in the first trial see THROUGH her invisible cloak? Why would the Shades make Greyerl "turn" her goat gold, prompting a young child to suicide? Why even GIVE a young child the ability to do "magic"? Witches have horrible lives in this ill-thought-out town: they have to live in fear, and if they're caught, for all they know, they're sent to burn. And even though they DON'T die, they get their mind wiped and then have to work as Shades i.e. slaves?? All to make other people use "magic" and the cycle repeats?? The Storyteller has made the most miserable scenario possible!

How has nobody noticed any of this "pure black" machinery around town? How has no one walked into the giant friggin' bell tower? Even assuming they can't see that part of the color spectrum, why would they be able to see THROUGH it (like Kira with the invisible cloak)? What if someone walked behind the bell tower? What if birds landed on it? What if the cloaks got dirty like with the flour? Did no invisible cloak on any of the 24/7 Shades always hanging around ever get dirt on them? Why keep up the facade of witches when having just a few stories and spells would suffice? How do they determine who's a witch? Why can Maya and Layton see the Shades outside the village? Why can they NOT see the machinery while outside the village? Why does Kira get her memory wiped but not Maya, who went through the same thing? Why would the Shades allow Greyerl to MURDER someone with her bare hands right in front of them? How did Godoor even work--did they do intense construction on the wall then fix it right afterward? Why aren't there signs of a hole in the wall? Doesn't everyone find it odd that they so frequently wake up in the middle of the street or whatever with no recollection what just happened? Who made the giant golden Layton statue in the second witch trial? How? Didn't he just arrive in Labyrinthia a few days ago? How did they possibly transport that thing into the building in all the commotion? Why isn't Layton concerned about the huuuuge friggin' governmental conspiracy in his homeland going on? Why does the Storyteller get off scott-free for being responsible for hundreds of deaths? Didn't anyone investigate the massive town fire and find it weird? Why is Darklaw being responsible for ringing the bell any better than Espella being responsible? Why is everyone happy at the end even though Espella--for all intents and purposes--is still suicidal? Why were Robbs and Muggs sent to Eldwitch instead of killed or injured in the big fiery explosion? Why wasn't Eve the cat Bezella like I initially thought?

*pant pant*

THIS STORY MADE NO SENNNNNSE