I think this game is going to take a replay to give proper thoughts on, as while I did see the credits roll at the end of Turnabout Goodbyes a couple of years ago, I found Rise from the Ashes to be such a slog, that I didn't get around to finishing it off until now (in other words, I wasn't sure how or when to quantify this game as 'complete' because I was hearing conflicting reports on if Rise from the Ashes was actually canon?). And from what I recall (because my memory from then is rather hazy), that's not independent of this games... let's call it 'structure' for now. Damn shame, too, because the first two cases of this game were so strong as an introduction to the series... and then 1-3 was ultimately filler, and 1-4... look, I'm not out here about to write some dissertation on why 'Von Karma did nothing wrong' (I'm no longer a Smogon player, after all... I seem to have fallen out with all their asses), but something about how the Defence 'wins' via an only vaguely related case just didn't sit "wright" with me (pun only slightly intended).

I think the big thing that made PWAA1 such molasses to get through is that it's not really a game... it's an interactive novel, in a generation where transcripts and LPs aren't hard to come by. So it's more like you're playing alongside these resources rather than in spite of them, unlike... I dunno, the rest of the medium? And I can't count how many times the game turns around and asserts 'absolute, singular pieces of evidence', when 2/3/4 other objects of the case are just as damming, meaning that this game doesn't feel as nuanced as it should do (even if the humour is pretty respectable).

Looks like I'll be doing my own investigating for a bit, I guess.