i feel weird about rating this 5 stars. ill start with the bad. i really do not like turnabout big top. i don't think its irredeemably bad and i quite like acro and moe as characters, but the Pedophilic Love Triangle really just. dampens the whole thing for me and makes me not want to think about it.
the good absolutely outweighs this for me though. farewell, my turnabout is one of the best things i've ever had the pleasure of playing through. its genuinely peak fiction, no game has ever made me feel the sense of urgency it made me feel. the entire case feels like one long moral dilemma that culminated in my favorite climax of any case so far and made for one of the most satisfying endings i've ever experienced in a game. the 5 stars is basically for 2-4 alone. i do like the rest of the game, especially 2-2 which i think is also fantastic, but 2-4 is just on another level of storytelling.

favorite osts: this game somehow tops the first games ost in my opinion, again just dropping banger after banger. my personal favorites this time around are pressing pursuit variation and investigation core 2002.

i already knew what to expect gameplay wise going into this game straight off of playing PLvsAA, but i didn't expect it to be this good. i thought losing the layton style investigations would be a huge hit to the experience for me and that i wouldnt be able to get into the series. thankfully i was wrong. it did take me a month and a half to finish due to poor pacing in the back half of the game, mostly in rise from the ashes (and also the release of tears of the kingdom, which caused me to forget every other game i was playing at the time). of course, the writing is on point. it's an absolute joy to press every witness as much as possible and examine every little thing to see all the possible dialogue, which i did through the whole game. i did like rise from the ashes its just easily the weakest part of the game to me due to the first investigation day and trial day being an absolute slog to get through, and ends up being my only real problem with this game. the main overarching story from 1-1 to 1-4 is absolutely phenomenal, and so is day 2 and onwards of rise from the ashes. edgeworth going from the guy i hate to my favorite character is genuinely unmatched character writing and development. overall i fucking love this game its a masterpiece and an absolute classic.

favorite osts: this game literally doesnt have a bad song. the whole ost is just banger after banger it doesnt stop once. i think my personal favorite is the courtroom lobby theme though. it really captures the essence of the entire game to me.

i came into this game a professor layton fan and left an ace attorney fan. the ace attorney segments absolutely blew me away as a first time player, alongside more layton that i so desperately craved. i do have some problems with the conclusion, namely the end of espella's story and the twist surrounding her. but the ride up until that point, the character writing, and the soundtrack especially more than make up for it. i absolutely love this game, and would highly recommend it to a fan of either series looking to get into the other.

favorite ost's: the entire english court suite, casting magic, about town vs arrange, and puzzles 6 vs arrange. the whole thing is gold though really