Not quite as consistently good throughout as the first one but has a few great new ideas that keep it from being inferior. The psyche-lock mechanic helps the flow of the game, preventing from feeling too stagnant. The new characters were all delightful, as expected. I feel the most notable thing about this game is the final chapter, or more specifically the gimmick revolving around it. It uses it own gameplay in a way that recontextualizes the familiar mechanics in a very interesting way. I would say the biggest knock against this game is the lateral thinking you need to do in order to progress. It's not uncommon that you would need to think outside the box, but more often than ever did it feel like I would never have figured things out without some help. That said the punishment is never severe enough to be too much of a bother.

this game is a wild ride i cannot believe how much of it is dedicated to a bunch of obnoxious yayhoos trying to fuck a sixteen year old and i ESPECIALLY cannot believe that that is also the case that solidified this game’s theme of the law and its systems being designed to enforce the law and prop up the social order it protects rather than see justice done, which is good shit that gets explored throughout a bunch of cases that i simply did not have nearly as much fun with as the first game.

i was baffled by the choices of returning supporting characters; generally hated all of the new characters (bar Pearl who is fine but also mostly a blank slate here and clearly only exists because Maya is written out of the aide role for two cases); find Franzisca Von Karma to be a very shallow replacement for Edgeworth with an obnoxious gimmick whose ultimate development that could have been is denied when she’s unceremoniously ejected from most of the last third of the game with little fanfare; and to top everything off the music is notably worse which is highlighted whenever a banger from the original game gets reused back to back with a new track.

AND YET the part where you PLAY IT is much improved! The trials are as fun as ever even when their subject matter sucks ass, which is a blessing; the investigation sections are better paced in general even though a few of them still feel obnoxiously aimless and drawn out with too much walking around and a lot of arbitrary triggers; no case goes for more than a couple days which doesn’t actually lead to shorter cases because instead everything is just structured to flow a little better.

So it’s a real mixed bag. Some absolutely dogpiss writing in this one, and three of the four cases are mediocre to “wow this better be the worst thing this series ever does because holy shit” but that fourth one?? Pretty good. Preeeeeetty good. And I just enjoy the moment to moment play of this game, and I like Phoenix and Maya they’re just fun to hang out with. I hope the next game is more consistent and generally better.

no matter what though this will always be the game where Maya said “that monkey doesn’t fake the funk on a nasty dunk.” and that’s maybe the funniest sentence i’ve ever read, so i’ll always have that

O segundo jogo da série Ace Attorney traz algumas mudanças em relação ao sistema de erros, e novos casos a serem resolvidos, junto de novas mecânicas.

Entretanto não há uma tanta ligação com eventos transcorridos no jogo anterior, nem um grande arco que envolva os casos, tornando o título bem independente do jogo anterior, com exceção das referências aos personagens já falecidos.

A introdução de novos e mirabolantes personagens continua sendo um charme especial da série.

(Played via Ace Attorney Trilogy on PS4)
HOLY SHIT THAT LAST CASE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!.......... and the rest of the game wasn't that great.

Justice for All simultaneously feels like a step up and a step down from the original. It has neat new mechanics that expand the very concept of Ace Attorney's gameplay, but it also drops the ball with the pacing in a lot of areas making some investigation segments a bit of a slog to get through.
With that said, I still enjoyed playing through all the cases. I thought the stories were pretty enjoyable, I liked the little callbacks to the first game, I thought the murderers (aside from the first case) were really great and well thought-out, Pearl and Franziska are great new characters, the soundtrack quite slaps and it's just a really really good game that still has a lot of what I love about the original. And man, Farewell, My Turnabout is an absolutely sensational way to end this game. They really went hard with this final case, it's tense, it's exciting, the trials are great, the investigation bits don't drag, the twists are awesome, the unfolding of the story is amazing. The ending, man, oh my god it's just phenomenal. This is my new favorite case in the series and honestly it alone was the reason I gave the game an 8 instead of a 7.
So yeah, I still adore Justice for All and I think it's still a really solid entry in the series despite all issues. I'm definitely replaying this at some point in time, I do have a soft spot for it.

2-1 is mostly fluff and forgettable, 2-2 is pretty good, 2-3 is bad, and 2-4 is fantastic. A step down from the first, but the high (2-4) is higher than the first game ever got. Franziska Von Karma is a very annoying new character, the whip gimmick gets old quickly, and I think she's just not as fun to go up against as Edgeworth, which makes his late game return a welcome one. Pearl is a much more likable and funny addition to the series.

As for gameplay, I felt this game had more frustrating moments than the first, both in terms of pacing and in how unravelling the cases seemed overall less logical than the first. A lot of moments where you have to present a specific piece of evidence where another one should have led down the same line of thinking, or the game wants something out of you that isn't very clear. Overall, I had fun, but it could definitely be tedious in parts.