Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 61
January 3, 2022
Operation Backlog Completion 2022
My backlog completion progress got dealt a harsh blow last year due to the PlayStation Store shutdown news, which prompted me to pick up a significant number of PSP, Vita, and PlayStation Classics titles before they changed their minds.
But this year will be the year to make a significant dent! Right? Right??
Although it was close, with me playing two short games on New Year’s Eve to hit the goal, I did beat 100 games last year, so let’s aim for that again.
Operation Backlog Completion 2022Last year, my game completion goals also included 17 specific games, of which one was delayed and I beat 6.
So for this year’s list, we will carry over the remaining titles from last year’s, along with my most-anticipated games of 2022 and a couple new additions I want to be sure to play this year.
Last year also saw the release of a game I backed on Kickstarter, The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, but I played that in October (and played the first bonus case last week). Meanwhile, I’ve added AI: The Somnium Files to the list because I want to play it ahead of its sequel!
You know, this list has looked pretty similar for… several years now. Maybe this will be the year I finally cut it down!
Do you have any gaming-related goals for 2022?
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January 1, 2022
Top 5 Most-Anticipated Games of 2022
2022 is upon us!
Last year saw the release of an incredible number of amazing games, some of which were among my top favorites I played all year. I doubt this year will be able to surpass it. However, we still have a lot of great titles to look forward to… and after all this time, a certain game finally has a release year and qualifies for this list!
With that in mind, the following titles are my top 5 most-anticipated games of 2022.
5. The Cruel King and the Great HeroIf there’s any game on this list that you haven’t heard of, it’s probably this one, but The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a game I was hoping for localization news about ever since it was first announced, and then it finally came. Due out on March 1 for the Switch and PS4, The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a JRPG about a girl on a quest to become a hero.
Judging by the trailer, it might get… emotional.
“This is the story of how one day… you will defeat me.” My heart!
It’s from the same team that made The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, which also had its share of emotional moments and is the main reason this game caught my eye immediately.
4. Trails from Zero
Last year’s surprise announcements included official localization for the Crossbell arc of the Trails series at long last! Trails from Zero is due out sometime next fall for PC, Switch, and PS4.
As someone who is still a newcomer to the Trails series, I’m nowhere near ready to play Trails from Zero yet. However, I enjoyed Trails in the Sky FC so much that I’m thrilled about this upcoming release anyway!
A fall release date should give me enough time to finish Trails in the Sky SC and Trails in the Sky the 3rd, which will put me right where I need to be when Trails from Zero comes out.
3. Triangle StrategyI can’t believe that’s the actual title I have to write here… Ahem! Despite its dubious name, Square Enix’s upcoming strategy RPG Triangle Strategy is one of the games I’m looking forward to the most.
The game looks beautiful, and the demo showed a lot of promise – including the sheer amount of story content in the demo, which convinced me that I don’t have to worry about Triangle Strategy not being story-driven. Will the story be good? We’ll see, but it certainly has some intriguing hooks so far.
With the promise of multiple paths (which also was demonstrated in the demo) and decisions that matter, it could be quite the interesting experience indeed. Triangle Strategy will be out on March 4 for the Switch, and I can’t wait to see what it’s like.
…But why did they go with that as the official title?
2. God of War RagnarokIt was on last year’s list, and now it’s on this year’s as well, but now I can actually call it God of War: Ragnarok instead of “untitled God of War sequel.” As expected, that turned out to be its official name after all. Although it was delayed from this year to next, we finally got our first real look at it this year at the PlayStation Showcase in September.
God of War (2018) was fantastic, so I can’t wait to see where the follow-up goes. The only thing that concerns me is that they’ve made comments suggesting the Norse saga ends with this game, and that sounds like a lot of content to cover in single game.
(I still think there’s a chance it’s just tricky wording and it won’t end here after all, but we’ll see.)
Ragnarok is due out for the PS4 and PS5 sometime in 2022, with no specific release window yet. Despite what I said last year, I did not, in fact, play Ascension while waiting, so… maybe this year, who knows?
And so finally, the game you knew would be on this list…
1. Bayonetta 3
We have a release date, ladies and gentlemen; this is not a drill! After being the elusive unseen game for years after that tiny teaser back in 2017, Bayonetta 3 finally got a trailer this year and a 2022 release window!
Some things look different enough to have me slightly concerned… but not enough for it not to be my most-anticipated title of the year, because this is Bayonetta 3 we’re talking about! I have my own suspicions about the trailer, but I half-hope the story is something none of us have predicted yet. I want it to keep me guessing and bless us with another dazzling spectacle of over-the-top action and pure fun like its predecessors did!
I spent so long waiting for Bayonetta 3 news every game event that it’s hard to believe it’s actually coming out this year. Will it live up to our hopes and dreams? Only time will tell…
Conclusion(Where’s Elden Ring–hush, I have too many mixed feelings about open world games for Elden Ring to actually make this list, even though it does interest me.)
It might not be as stacked as last year, but The Cruel King and the Great Hero, Trails from Zero, Triangle Strategy, God of War Ragnarok, and Bayonetta 3 promise to make it a great year for gaming nevertheless!
Many more great games are on their way, including several that almost made this list, so which games are looking forward to the most in 2022?
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December 31, 2021
Top 5 Games I Played in 2021
2021 is coming to a close, and what a year it was for video games!
Some people think this was a slow year for games, but for me, it saw the release of so many games I was looking forward to and unexpected sequels I never thought we’d see.
I played an incredible number of fantastic games, some that came out this year (and were among my most-anticipated titles) and some from years past. It was tough narrowing it down to my favorites, but here are the top 5 games I played this year!
This year’s honorable mentions go to Blue Reflection: Second Light for being an unexpected sequel that massively improved upon the original, Persona 5 Strikers for providing a fantastic Persona-like experience as a sequel story, Tales of the Abyss for being an excellent JRPG and a new favorite in the series, and Bug Fables for filling that Paper Mario void while also standing on its own.
So, which dazzling titles pushed those four into the honorable mentions category?
Graduating from last year’s list of honorable mentions is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, the 2020 sci-fi game from Vanillaware that might be difficult to describe in terms of genre but deserves to be played for its story.
As I discussed in my review, 13 Sentinels has a complicated narrative presented in a nonlinear format with so many twists and turns that it continually took me by surprise.
The most incredible part is that despite how convoluted it might seem at first, everything comes together in the end in a way that makes sense.
Have you ever liked a science fiction story? Well, it’s probably in there somewhere as part of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim’s fascinating story. I absolutely loved it, and even though I finished it near the very start of the year, looking back at it made me realize it had to be included here.
4. BloodborneAnd now for something completely different, Bloodborne also made it from last year’s honorable mentions onto this year’s list proper. In my review, I described it as a “beautiful, wonderful nightmare,” and that’s why it lives on so strongly in my thoughts.
The gothic horror aesthetic, the spiraling descent into cosmic horror, the terror of death lurking around every corner… it was a difficult experience, but an incredible one that I’m so happy I played.
Thanks to The Old Hunters, Bloodborne also introduced me to the wonder that is Ludwig’s theme, so it almost deserves a spot for that alone.
(Actually, if we were doing a ranking based on soundtracks, the next three entries might still all make the list.)
Coming into this year, my most-anticipated game of 2021 was NEO: The World Ends With You, the long-awaited sequel to one of my favorite JRPGs.
I was still reeling from the shock that we were actually getting a sequel to The World Ends With You. Actually, I still can’t believe it. Did this year really happen??
Any worries I might have had about NEO were quickly banished once I started playing. As I said in my review, it truly feels like a TWEWY game, and while it might not hit the same highs as the original, it’s still a fantastic game all around.
The soundtrack is wonderful, with so many varied tracks that won me over as I played. One of my favorites is Insomnia, but the soundtrack has such a range beyond that!
With a solid story and a great cast, it gave me everything I wanted from a TWEWY sequel. I can easily say NEO: The World Ends With You is my favorite RPG of 2021, and I hope more people will give it a try.
2. The House in Fata MorganaOnly a year ago, I had no idea how incredible The House in Fata Morgana was. Now it’s among my all-time favorite visual novels. This story brings more gothic tragedy onto this list with its tale of a strange mansion… and many, many things that I can’t write here due to spoilers.
It’s dark, tragic, emotional, beautiful, and wonderful. I mentioned back in my review that it’s a slow burn and takes a while to reveal what its true story is, but it’s well worth putting in the time to read it.
The characters, their tragedies, the way the story unfolds… it’s incredible.
There is no way to express how much I loved this story, aside from its prominent position on this list. The House in Fata Morgana is absolutely wonderful and needs to be experienced by more people.
It also has an exceptional soundtrack, but if I attempted to link my favorite songs as I did with Bloodborne and NEO, I would simply be here all day, linking to every song on the soundtrack.
So what could possibly beat out such an amazing story for my #1 spot? Okay, it’s no mystery; if you’ve crossed paths with me at all over the past couple of weeks, my #1 pick was probably a foregone conclusion…
Are you telling me that we not only got a TWEWY sequel this year, but we also got an official Dai Gyakuten Saiban localization? YES WE DID! (On the same day, no less!) The official announcement of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles made me scream for joy, but would it live up to my hype???
(Its placement on this list should answer that.)
Maybe I had some mixed feelings at first, as my review of The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures will show that while I loved parts of it, it had odd pacing and was clearly a setup for its sequel. But even with a weaker first half, Chronicles hurtled to the top of this list once I played the second half.
You can read more of my thoughts on The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve in my review, but I’ll say again that it might be my new favorite game in the series.
Has Trials & Tribulations been dethroned after all these years? Distancing myself from the immediate aftermath of finishing Resolve might help me decide, but right now I’d say yes.
In fact, the more I think about Resolve, the more I love it. My thoughts right after finishing were mainly related to twists and turns and character arcs, but taking the time to think about it and read other fans’ comments made me fall even more in love with the story’s themes, parallels, and other little details.
So with Resolve proving to be so amazing, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles easily claimed the top spot as my #1 top game I played this year.
…It also has an exceptional soundtrack, but if I attempted to link my favorite songs as I did with Bloodborne and NEO, I would be unable to do so without spoilers.
ConclusionWhat a year for games… and there are so many more excellent games I played this year that didn’t make the list (like Psychonauts 2 and Tales of Arise). Despite my comment last year, neither Yakuza game I played this year made it onto my list. I considered including Yakuza 3, but I guess ultimately I just like [REDACTED] better than [REDACTED].
(You can fill in whatever spoiler names you want, because my actual thought process when I wrote that sentence was dubious.)
Will next year’s games be just as exciting as these? I find it hard to believe, but come back tomorrow to see what 2022 games I’m looking forward to the most! What are the best games that you played this year?
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December 29, 2021
Muv-Luv Unlimited: The Day After – The Darkest Muv-Luv Timeline
Muv-Luv Unlimited: The Day After was translated this year, and after picking up the bundle in a sale, I’ve now finished it.
(It will be impossible to discuss The Day After without alluding to Muv-Luv Unlimited spoilers, so keep that in mind if you haven’t played.)
The Day After is an episodic release currently consisting of Episode 00, which serves as a prologue to the main story, and then a main story split into Episodes 01-03.
Instead of being set in the Alternative timeline, it takes place after Muv-Luv Unlimited, following the aftermath of Alternative V. This plan proves disastrous and results in catastrophic changes to the Earth, leaving the survivors to struggle to adapt to life in this bleak new world.
It is the darkest Muv-Luv timeline. Only four nations have survived, and they begin fighting amongst themselves and vying for power, while everyone suffers from food shortages and uninhabitable land.
Click for The Day After Episode 00 spoilersAnd surprise! It didn’t even wipe out the BETA completely. They’re still around!The main story follows Hibiki, a TSF pilot who survived a trek across the ravaged continent and now finds himself the leader of a new team trying to help Japan (and humanity) survive.
It’s a kinetic novel, so there aren’t any choices to make. Each episode is of moderate length; I’d say the main three episodes are each around 5-10 hours long depending on how fast you read, with Episode 00 being a little shorter. All together, therefore, The Day After ends up being a moderate length.
There are some little oddities (for example, the log wouldn’t work properly the first time I started an episode, only after I quit and reloaded once), but overall I found it to be a fine experience.
And the story is well worth reading.
The premise is bleak as can be, but The Day After isn’t without its lighter moments. Little moments of humor helped me grow to love the new cast of characters as I followed them through traumatic experiences, political scheming, and everything else we expect from a Muv-Luv story. There are some good twists and turns, too.
But it’s not over yet! Episode 03 doesn’t actually conclude the story, even though it’s been 8 years since it first came out in Japan. Muv-Luv Resonative, aka The Day After Episode 04, was announced around the same time they confirmed the localization of Episodes 00-03.
Resonative is intended to be the conclusion of The Day After, and there are enough mysteries that I’m looking forward to how it all wraps up – especially when it comes to certain returning characters.
Click for The Day After spoilersThey seem to be strongly implying that Yuuhi is really Meiya. And why is Takeru seemingly on Ikaruga’s side? He’s gotta be doing that for a reason, but what could it be? Is he a spy? Is he being coerced? I need answers!So the wait for Resonative begins! Muv-Luv news has been announced for December 30, so here’s hoping we get a release date. Meanwhile, if you enjoy the Muv-Luv series and want to see how things play out in the dark timeline following Unlimited’s ending, you definitely should check out Muv-Luv Unlimited: The Day After.
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December 27, 2021
NEO: The World Ends With You – A True Return to a Favorite Series
The World Ends With You is one of my favorite games, and I waited over a decade for a sequel.
Since this is the year of incredible unexpected sequels, NEO: The World Ends With You came out (on the same day as The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, no less) to finally return us to Shibuya and the UG.
I actually played the main game in between the two Great Ace Attorney games, then came back afterwards to finish up the post-game content.
(…or rather, some of the post-game content, since I decided not to grind as much as I’d need to finish everything.)
NEO: The World Ends With You is a sequel following a largely new cast of characters who find themselves caught up in the Reaper’s Game. It’s quickly apparent that things are different this time around, with Players split into teams to compete against each other, and my knowledge of the original really added to the sense of mystery for me.
Like I mentioned back when I played the demo, NEO does an impressive job of capturing the original’s feel despite being a 3D game with more standard combat controls. Controlling multiple characters at once by using their equipped pins, alternating attacks to build up the Groove meter to unleash a special attack, eating food to increase stats… it really does feel like TWEWY.
The soundtrack is incredible, too, just like in the original. There are a lot of great remixes, along with entirely new tracks, and so many of them are fantastic.
The story didn’t carry quite the same impact that the original did for me, but I still loved it. It had some good humor, too. My only regret is that some of the trailers spoiled major details I wish I hadn’t known ahead of time. I’ve learned my lesson. I will stop watching trailers earlier from now on.
Click for major NEO TWEWY spoilersThe most notable one is that I was getting near the end of the game when I suddenly said to myself, “Huh, I never saw that trailer scene of Kubo laughing…”PAIN.
It has a lot of cool twists, and I thought it found a nice balancing point between building on what the first game did and creating a new story. Of course, I don’t know how certain aspects of the story feel to someone who hadn’t played the first one, but as a returning fan, I was pleased with most parts.
Best of all, this universe is back. It’s not just a one-off game anymore. This could become a series.
Now, reports came out not too long ago that NEO didn’t sell well. That disappointed me, because it’s a great game and deserves to do well. A lack of marketing might be the culprit, since I saw a lot of people expressing surprise that the game existed – even some fans of the original who simply didn’t know a sequel had come out. That report ironically drew attention to it, so here’s hoping the sales situation improves enough to keep the series alive.
NEO: The World Ends With You is not as incredible as the original The World Ends With You, but it’s still a fantastic JRPG. For the sequel to one of my all-time favorites, that’s exactly what I’d hoped for.
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December 24, 2021
Mixed Feelings on Tales of Arise
It’s Christmas Eve (which, remember, means it isn’t Christmas), but we aren’t talking about a Christmas game today.
No, we’re going to talk about Tales of Arise.
Tales of Arise was one of my most-anticipated games of the year, and during the first few weeks after it came out, I played it nonstop and felt it had the potential to become one of my favorites in the series.
But now that I’m done, I find myself with mixed feelings.
Parts of the game were great, but later parts ended up feeling… just okay, to me. So let’s step back and take this one piece at a time.
Gameplay in Arise feels significantly different from past Tales games. Dodging is much more important in combat, and the combat overall is much tougher. Constantly being on the brink of using all my healing items was the norm for much of the game, especially since gald is hard to come by. Yet it walked a fine line where I always was able to get just enough to make it through.
Now, this is tarnished somewhat by the DLC practices. Arise’s DLC is slightly intrusive, with the camp menu reminding you that there’s DLC to buy. Some of the DLC providing exp boosts, gald boosts, additional abilities, etc. also makes it tempting to buy it when things get tough.
You do not need DLC to beat Tales of Arise. However, it sometimes feels like the difficulty was set to make you think you should.
Outside of combat, gameplay also involves things like gathering ingredients, fishing, and other little details that made it fun to explore. You can cook for buffs when you set up camp, and you eventually get a ranch as well (although I felt it was underutilized; it just gives you a supply of meat).
This game is also beautiful! The breathtaking environments are what stood out to me the most. Every area made me pause and look around to take in the sights.
Moving on to the story, this is another Tales game that involves two worlds, Dahna and Rena. Dahna has been invaded by people from Rena, who subsequently enslaved the Dahnans. You play as Alphen, an amnesiac slave who can’t feel pain, who ends up joining forces with a Renan woman named Shionne trying to overthrow the Renan lords for her own purposes.
Although I made a lot of joking Tales of Symphonia comparisons in the early hours (okay, for like half the game), I did enjoy the story for a while. The characters are likeable and have a good dynamic, and the story is pretty interesting. Aside from one point that made me pause the game in anger to RANT, the story was off to a great start.
Click for Tales of Arise spoilersThat point was, as you might guess, the Almeidrea scene with Law and Rinwell.Look, I get what it was going for. Revenge is bad. Perpetuating a cycle of revenge is bad. Killing someone out of hatred is bad.
But when we have spent the entire game so far on a mission specifically to kill the lords, Almeidrea is a clear and present danger and arguably the most evil of the lords we’ve seen at that point, and she is standing right there, Law turning his back on her to stop Rinwell from killing her because he doesn’t want her to be consumed by hatred and kill out of revenge (and Almeidrea just stands there waiting patiently for them to be done) comes across as borderline nonsensical.
Then they don’t even have to deal with the consequences of how to nonlethally stop someone as dangerous as Almeidrea, since she dies anyway.
But in the final arc, things just… I don’t want to say they fell apart, because they didn’t. This isn’t a Tales of Zestiria situation. Instead, it feels like the final arc is rushed.
So much story is crammed into such a short period of time that it loses its impact. Some parts of the plot just needed time to develop more gradually and immerse the player as much as earlier events did.
Click for Tales of Arise spoilersI thought the Red Woman twist was pretty neat. I’d been suspicious of her for most of the game, so I felt so vindicated that this silent background NPC I was paranoid over actually was someone important.But after that, it just hurtles through plot points and revelations so fast it’s hard to take them all in.
(I also think the Red Woman design is creepier than the Helganquil, so they became less intimidating once they started using their true forms.)
I wasn’t crazy about the Great Spirit and its motivations, either. I wish they would have gone all in on the ancient aliens angle instead of having the Helganquil be puppets of a planet’s will trying to save itself.
But no one suffered from this breakneck pacing more than Vholran. When he showed up at the end, I realized I barely knew more about him than I did at the start. He suffers from a severe lack of character development, especially for the important role he has. His design is cool and he has some cool scenes, but he’s pretty bad as a main villain.
(And I call him the main villain lightly, really only because he’s the final boss.)
Sometimes the dialogue and subtitles just didn’t match up, too, but that’s a minor complaint.
So in the end, I’m not sure how I feel about Tales of Arise. A significant portion of it is an excellent Tales game, and it’s definitely worth playing, but my final feelings toward it ended up being much more lackluster than I expected.
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December 22, 2021
Psychonauts 2 is a Fun and Creative Sequel
The original Psychonauts is an absolutely fantastic game, and this year saw the release of its sequel at long last. So, how does Psychonauts 2 compare?
I was a little nervous going into Psychonauts 2, because whenever I love a game so much, I worry that a sequel won’t live up to it.
Fortunately, Psychonauts 2 is fantastic.
Set shortly after the events of the original game (and the VR game, which I watched a playthrough of), Psychonauts 2 sees Raz officially join the interns at Psychonauts HQ, only to learn of a plot to resurrect the Psychonauts’ nemesis Maligula, with the help of a mole within the organization.
Like in the first game, Raz’s quest to get to the bottom of these sinister happenings involves him traveling inside people’s minds (usually with permission this time).
These mental worlds you travel through are shaped by the person’s memories, dreams, fears, etc., each with its own unique twist. Now, I felt they weren’t quite as creative gameplay-wise as the original’s levels. That is to say, the themes might be unique and there are a couple levels with standout gimmicks, but everything comes down to platforming a lot more often.
Narrative-wise, however, they work wonderful to convey the character’s minds in a variety of entertaining and often heartfelt ways. In that sense, they might be more creative than ever before.
Speaking of which, Psychonauts 2 is filled with humor just like the first. Nothing reaches the heights of something like the Milkman Conspiracy, but there were a lot of lines and moments that made me laugh.
Meanwhile, I’d say the story itself is better than in the original, and it even had a couple of plot twists that took me by surprise. I do wonder if a few parts of the story could have been slowed down a little to let you get to know the characters better, but the pacing feels fine in general.
When it comes to the gameplay, Psychonauts 2 is a collect-a-thon platformer at heart, so there are a ton of things to collect. In the real world, you’ll be scouring the large hub areas for Psi Cards and other collectibles to rank up and improve your psychic powers, while the mental worlds will send you in search of figments, emotional baggage, and more. As someone who loves collect-a-thon gameplay, it was easy to lose myself in exploration.
You also have several psychic powers at your disposal, all your abilities from the first game plus some new ones learned here. It feels like the original in many ways, but smoother than ever.
Psychonauts is one of my favorite games, and Psychonauts 2 is a delightful sequel. I still have a few last collectibles to hunt for, but it was a great adventure through and through. If you enjoyed Psychonauts, I think it’s safe to say you’ll also enjoy Psychonauts 2.
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December 20, 2021
Layton Brothers: Mystery Room is Getting an Official Manga!
Even in this year of niche games getting unexpected sequels, I didn’t expect to be talking about Layton Brothers: Mystery Room.
While it might not have a sequel (yet), Level-5 is adapting the story of Layton Brothers: Mystery Room as a manga being released on their manga website Manga-5.
The manga follows the game’s story, but it seems as though it will have new story content as well. Two parts of the manga have already come out and can be read for free, with more parts being released each week. It’s only available in Japanese so far, but I hope they consider an official translation eventually.
(Manga Alfendi is absolutely adorable, too. I can’t wait to see how the manga handles “Potty Prof.”)
If you’re unfamiliar with it, Layton Brothers: Mystery Room is a Professor Layton spin-off starring the professor’s son, Alfendi Layton, who works as a detective for Scotland Yard solving particularly unusual cases, and his new assistant, Lucy Baker. It plays more like a streamlined Ace Attorney game than anything else, and I’ve been hoping for a sequel for quite some time.
Layton Brothers was only ever released for mobile devices, so I’d love to see them port the original game, too. For the first time in years, it actually seems possible.
From celebrating over the tiniest reference to Alfendi in Layton’s Mystery Journey to actually getting an official manga… things are looking up for sure!
Have you played Layton Brothers: Mystery Room? Would you play a port and/or sequel? Are you planning to read the manga, especially if it gets translated?
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December 17, 2021
The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve is a Truly Epic Conclusion
I’ve now finished The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve, the second half of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, and it seems safe to say my GOTY is now set in stone.
When I finished The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures back in August, I suggested Chronicles should be instead viewed as one big Ace Attorney game.
I still feel that way, but what I didn’t expect was how much better Resolve would be.
Not only does it follow up on the numerous loose ends left by the first game, but it had me constantly re-evaluating hints and coming up with new theories.
The pacing and stakes are excellent; if Adventures felt like it had three tutorials, Resolve balances that by making every case important and memorable.
And while it’s a small thing, I greatly missed having multiple investigation days in the first game, so I was thrilled to see multi-day investigations return. I still would have liked more, but that’s only because I wanted this already-long game to last even longer.
I liked the cast when I played the first game, but the second left me wanting to stay in this era with these characters to the point where I dragged out my playthrough solely because I didn’t want to finish.
It has so many incredible moments, and more plot twists than I ever expected. It hit me with so many revelations that shook up what I expected, even once I thought I had everything figured out.
Click for major Great Ace Attorney 2 spoilersKAZUMA! Everything about Kazuma is wonderful, and he also has one of the best prosecutor themes in the series. Van Zieks was already rising to be one of my favorite prosecutors, but then to give me Kazuma on top of that? And then with van Zieks as the defendant???Speaking of which, Gregson being a victim stunned me. They’ve never killed a supporting character who was around for multiple cases–and a whole game!–like that. And then, of course, I found out the truth about his involvement with “the Reaper.”
(Oh boy did I keep going over and over those four names from the Morse code message every time I found out something new about them.)
Then there was learning the Professor’s true identity, at which point I needed to take a short walk before I could resume playing.
And these aren’t even all of the plot twists that made me say, “Wait, WHAT?” but I’ll be typing all day if I try to list them all.
(Also, I was quite surprised to see many people dislike Stronghart as a villain. He was obvious, yes, but that enhanced my playthrough instead of detracting from it. When I saw him as the judge, it was way more intimidating because I already suspected him of being up to no good. He’s also pretty much the embodiment of “the ends justify the means.”)
It’s not perfect, of course, but most of my quibbles are minor things. Is it just me, or do these games always have exactly 5 points in each testimony/cross-examination, when the number used to vary more? And one critical moment stretched my suspension of disbelief a bit… but look, I’ll take it in exchange for everything else this game gave me.
There is so much to love, from the characters to the music to the plot twists and the way it brings everything together. I am seriously considering the possibility that it might have dethroned Trials & Tribulations as my favorite Ace Attorney game.
I want another Great Ace Attorney game, be it a Great Ace Attorney 3, a Great Ace Attorney Investigations, or some other spin-off.
Click for major Great Ace Attorney 2 spoilersAn Investigations spin-off set in this era has potential for so many different ideas, too!Would we play as Barok? Or play as Kazuma? Both?? Gina as the main detective and/or assistant? Or maybe we’d play as Mikotoba working together with Sholmes again?? Flashback case playing as Sholmes and Mikotoba again?? Flashback case playing as Klint before crossing his despair event horizon?????
Or, you know, we could have a Great Ace Attorney 3 starring Ryunosuke and Susato again. I’ll take it!
But whatever it is, please, let Barok van Zieks smile. Please!
In a year filled with incredible games, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles will most likely end up being my favorite game of the year. While the first game set up a good story, The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve went above and beyond and ended up being one of the best – if not the best – games in the series.
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December 15, 2021
Yomawari 3 Has Been Announced!
It’s time for another sequel announcement I’ve been hoping for, this time in the horror genre!
Ever since I finished the Yomawari games, I’ve been hoping NIS would make another.
And now, Yomawari 3 has been officially announced.
Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows feel very different from one another in some respects. The first focuses more on exploration, putting you in the town at night to search for clues and find the next place to visit, while the second is more linear and also more story-driven.
You can check out my thoughts on Yomawari: Night Alone here, but I don’t think I ever covered Midnight Shadows on my blog. I enjoyed both of them, though, so I’m thrilled we’re getting a third.
(This time I will be prepared for the tutorial to do something horrible.)
The short teaser trailer doesn’t show much, but its style looks in line with the previous games.
The third Yomawari game will be out on April 21 in Japan for the Switch and PS4. No localization has been announced yet, so I’ll go into every potential NISA announcement with the hopes that it will be this until it’s finally revealed.
Are you interested in Yomawari 3?
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