I mentioned that I’d started Ace Attorney Investigations 2 while waiting for a new 3DS charger to arrive. When it did arrive I shunted it aside and went back to Spirit of Justice. Now that I’m done SoJ I thought I’d just clear up the remaining AA game I hadn’t played yet and see the story of Edgeworth through to the end. Unfortunately I underestimated just how wordy the Investigations games in particular are. That, and the last case of Spirit of Justice did a number on my tolerance for lengthy cases. Case 2 of Investigations 2 is also a spectacularly bad one, so put all those factors together and I just can’t keep playing this game right now.
It’s not 100% dropped, but I need to put some action and RPG’ing in between to preserve my sanity. I have to get to the point where I miss going round and round in circles debating the same stupid, irrelevant points again. I have to miss jumping blindly to the defence of random strangers who could very well have committed the crimes they’re accused of but somehow I just “know” they’re innocent. And I have to miss the massive tooth-grinding frustration that comes from the “guilty until proven innocent” approach the Ace Attorney series takes to justice. At least this game is honest about the ‘truth’ being only tangentially relevant to a case’s prosecution. Since later games have spoiled the fact that Edgeworth becomes chief prosecutor in this game, maybe he actually does something about this later on (spoiler: actually no, no he doesn’t).
Btw, since I haven’t finished the game, the title “Long, gory and depressing” only refers to the first two cases I played. I’m all but certain the theme will continue throughout the rest of the game, but if something changes and the game suddenly becomes all rainbows and light, I’ll let you know. As it is, the first case dealt with the senseless death of what seems to have been a very decent and competent person. The victim in the second case is not decent or competent but still, what a way to go.
This is a series that almost always deals with murder, but at least they’re kind enough to put the bodies away first in most cases, but not in Investigations 2. This time you’re a first responder of sorts, so you’re always confronted with the dead body up close and personal, which I really don’t enjoy. I get it, really I do, but I could still do without all those lengthy, loving descriptions of the stab wound and exactly how many times they were stabbed in that particular spot, etc etc. Do you mind? I’m trying to eat here. Plus the series’ trademark humorous banter falls flat when THERE’S A DEAD BODY RIGHT THERE! Someone you know! Would it kill you to show a little respect?
I say all that, but I’ll be back eventually, just as soon as I’ve gotten all the death and despair out of my system by playing happier and cheerier games, preferably with rainbows and puppies and not too much bad stuff. In the meantime Finish Up or Firmly Drop Everything You Started This Year continues. For the record Mind Zero, Ray Gigant and Shiren 5 are all firmly dropped, with faint possibility of revival for RG. On to better things!
