I knew out-of-print, obscure and/or unlocalized games tended to get hyped up beyond what they deserve and it always leads to disappointment once people actually get their hands on it. I took the things people said about it with a grain of salt and fully expected it to be good, but not the masterpiece people said it was, and even if I did end up liking it a lot, I didn't want to get carried away and end up continuing the cycle of overhype.
It didn't work. Ace Attorney Investigations 2 is my new favorite 2D-era Ace Attorney game.
The first Investigations was the weakest one I've played so far so I didn't really have high expectations for the sequel, but 2 does literally everything better. The addition of Logic Chess adds more variety to the gameplay and helps the game feel more distinct from the mainline series. There's a much greater exploration of who Edgeworth actually is as a character and the path he chooses to walk, and not only are the new characters a lot better, the returning characters from I1 get fleshed out in a great way as well. The cases are a lot stronger overall, they're actually connected to each other in a meaningful and interesting way and build to a much more satisfying climax, and while they're quite long (The Grand Turnabout can easily take an entire day to finish) they use their length much, much better than the first game's attempt at a long, epic case. It feels like what Investigations 1 should have been to begin with. My only real major complaint was with the amount of fanservice- it's not as bad as the first game, since the cases are built around the returning characters a lot better than "oh look! here's the funny character from the original trilogy! laugh!", but it still feels a bit excessive? I know it was released around the 10th anniversary of the original game but especially considering the context of a controversial new cast four years before this game's release it kind of feels desperate.
Either way, this is again my favorite AA game so far- Apollo Justice comes really close, but Turnabout Corner drags it down. There's not a single bad or even mediocre case in this game, and while sad dad Phoenix is still the most interesting character the character stuff in this game is really good as well. It's a real shame this didn't get localized officially- the fan translation is really good and fits in very well with the official team's work, and if there's ever an official localization I hope Capcom is willing to use it as a base, but it's less accessible and less polished than an official release would be.
It didn't work. Ace Attorney Investigations 2 is my new favorite 2D-era Ace Attorney game.
The first Investigations was the weakest one I've played so far so I didn't really have high expectations for the sequel, but 2 does literally everything better. The addition of Logic Chess adds more variety to the gameplay and helps the game feel more distinct from the mainline series. There's a much greater exploration of who Edgeworth actually is as a character and the path he chooses to walk, and not only are the new characters a lot better, the returning characters from I1 get fleshed out in a great way as well. The cases are a lot stronger overall, they're actually connected to each other in a meaningful and interesting way and build to a much more satisfying climax, and while they're quite long (The Grand Turnabout can easily take an entire day to finish) they use their length much, much better than the first game's attempt at a long, epic case. It feels like what Investigations 1 should have been to begin with. My only real major complaint was with the amount of fanservice- it's not as bad as the first game, since the cases are built around the returning characters a lot better than "oh look! here's the funny character from the original trilogy! laugh!", but it still feels a bit excessive? I know it was released around the 10th anniversary of the original game but especially considering the context of a controversial new cast four years before this game's release it kind of feels desperate.
Either way, this is again my favorite AA game so far- Apollo Justice comes really close, but Turnabout Corner drags it down. There's not a single bad or even mediocre case in this game, and while sad dad Phoenix is still the most interesting character the character stuff in this game is really good as well. It's a real shame this didn't get localized officially- the fan translation is really good and fits in very well with the official team's work, and if there's ever an official localization I hope Capcom is willing to use it as a base, but it's less accessible and less polished than an official release would be.