| AlphaCielago said: I agree with that the streamlining is a welcome thing, no more bullshit. How far has everyone else come? I'm at investigation 2 in Case 3 at art room. I'll resume tomorrow. I hear the credits sequence is 10min long, is that true? Is the theme any good? |
The credits theme is legitimately ten minutes long, yes. And it's actually pretty good in my opinion. I still think T&T takes the cake for best ending theme, but this one is probably second best. It's much longer because there's actually a decent section dedicated to localization this time around, and of course there's a whole other section dedicated to the Bones team that worked on the anime cutscenes.
Speaking of which, now that I finished the game, I can say without question that the music in DD is my favorite in the entire series. There's so many memorable original tracks and more than a few great remixes (almost all of which are better than the original version). I didn't think anything would ever replace 2001 as my favorite Objection theme, but Phoenix's 2013 theme and the version thereof that's incorporated into the credits sequence may very well both be better than it.
Here's my condensed thoughts on the game, spoiler free (except for the blacked out bit, which details some Case 5 spoilers):
Pros: Excellent character dynamic between the three lawyers in the Wright Anything Agency, great backstories for the two main new characters, Apollo somehow has managed to become an interesting, well developed character with relatable motives after being an almost blank slate at the end of AJ. The story is great, as per the course in Ace Attorney games, with arguably the most shocking "twists" out of any game so far. Minor characters are very memorable as well, usually without being too annoying (nudgenudgeIniMiney). The unique gameplay elements and personality of each lawyer do a good job of making playing as different characters feel very distinct without ever feeling like any character swap or special ability was shoehorned in. Gameplay in and of itself is still top notch, investigation sequences no longer require presenting random evidence to random people until you find the one thing to progress, court segments do an excellent job of retaining the old Phoenix Wright style while making good use of the Mood Matrix, and there's a lot less of multiple explanations for a given problem of which the game will accept only one. Also, perhaps this is a personal win for me and not many other people, but I was delighted that DD makes it abundantly clear that Phoenix kept in touch with his old friends during his disbarment, as opposed to just ignoring them like AJ did. The game also doesn't really have any one weak case; won't find any Turnabout Serenades here.
Cons: Getting rid of being able to examine anything and everything at any scene kind of sucks, game is hit or miss on answering the big mysteries left by AJ, game kind of bludgeons players with the idea of "the dark age of the law" without ever extrapolating on it, the final boss's motivation, employer, and reasoning are almost entirely left out.
At the end of the day, Dual Destinies is a fantastic game, and it will certainly be a contender for GoTY in my opinion. I think T&T is still the best in the franchise, but DD is up there with the original Ace Attorney for second best. One thing that DD has going for it which the original game doesn't is DD's lack of any weak case, whereas the original game's 3rd case was a bit of a letdown in my opinion (especially from a logical standpoint).
