What are you playing on your 3DS/DS right now?

Oh look, it's a Balladeer post I agree with without any qualms!

I didn't really plan to, but I've continued my re-playthrough of the Ace Attorney series, finishing Justice for All tonight. This is actually the third time I've beaten this game. And of course it was my third time beating AA1 as well (though I left the fifth case for now; since it was made after the original trilogy, that's when I'll play it).

It was really good. I can't say it never dragged at times, but it was better than I remembered and gave it credit for. I was not too alone in my opinion though, as while this game is held in a high regard alongside the rest of the original trilogy, it's generally considered to be the weakest of that trilogy. Comparing it now to the first game's four original cases though, I think it compares pretty favourably.

First of all, there is a lot more content in Justice for All (again, discounting 1's whopper of a 5th case). The 1st case in AA1 is fine for what it's meant to be - a tutorial - but that's really all it is. The first case in Justice for All meanwhile, while nothing special, is obviously more substantial and has some emotional beats. Case 2 is solid.

Case 3 is a contentious one and I frequently hear it being mentioned as one of the worst AA cases, but I really didn't find it to be bad. Granted, since I beat the game before I could make all the annoying text (largely from the clown) faster. But otherwise the content of the case is just good. Intriguing murder setup and some powerful emotional beats. And then case 4 is a great finale. I think the Edgeworth saga is a bit hamfisted, but it is satisfying seeing how the character has developed and where it leads.

Of course, I've got Trials and Tribulations next to play. A game I've actually only beaten once. Unfortunately whenever I've gotten to this game I've felt a bit burnt out from Ace Attorney. I'm in a better place going into it now, but I will probably take a break before starting it anyway. There was a lot I enjoyed about this game, but I remember it did irritate me at times because I felt it hadn't fixed some problems the series had (and in fact felt it had done some stuff worse), so I'm looking forward to playing it again.

I'm actually playing JfA again at the moment too! I have just hit the circus case and frankly it's as bad as I remember it being, even with fast-forwarding the text.

I think it's the sheer number of irritating characters that ruin JfA for me - not ruin ruin, but make it a lot worse than the others in the trilogy. Ini Miney in case two is a big one: the all-American valley-girl airhead trope does my noggin in, even if she does get some interesting development. Then I'm not sure there's a single good character in case 3. Galactica, Regina, Moe, Woodman... all tripe. Maybe Acro? But by that point the case is already doomed, and that's before we consider the back-and-forth.

Anyway, we're playing it with a walkthrough to get through it and onto the sublime case four - and then the sublime T&T. I hope you do give it the chance it deserves Kriken, it's one of my very favourites of all time.

Thinking about the fourth case in JfA and *that* moment makes me want to replay the original trilogy too. Has your other half played the Ace Attorney games before Balla?

Yes!  I think I've said before, either in the 'Five Games That Mean A Lot To You' thread or in Vs. Mode, that it was one of the series we initially bonded over.  It's not much of an exaggeration to say that playing Ace Attorney got me a girl.

Continuing my AA replaythrough, I beat Trials and Tribulations. It's definitely the most well-rounded game in the series. There aren't many bits that are too annoying, and compared to AA1 - another well-rounded game - it's much more content-rich. Does anyone not feel that Godot's role in the last case was kind of bad though? The whole thing is the fault of his terrible plan. It's an otherwise good case with Edgeworth's well-written section and Franciska's involvement with the subtle signs of character growth, but yeah. Farewell my Turnabout was more enjoyable for me on the replaythrough.

Now I'm playing Apollo Justice. The first case is by far the best opening case in an AA game and it creates a lot of intrigue for the story to come. Now I've finished the second case and, while I did enjoy it, it was in part because I had forgotten almost everything about it - so it felt like a fresh case to me, which was exciting. I didn't remember who the culprit was, and for a while I was unsure as to who it could be. I'm already seeing the stuff I was worried about start to manifest though, such as Apollo's weak involvement and Gavin already being a woke good-guy prosecutor (boring). It's bad when in a couple of occasions, Apollo is being upstaged by 15-year-old Trucy. But it's not that bad. I guess.

I'm going to have to get back to you on Godot's plan when I replay T&T (right at the end of JfA now), but I will say: he's so cool I will basically let him get away with everything.

I will not be replaying AJ.

Kriken wrote:

Now I'm playing Apollo Justice. The first case is by far the best opening case in an AA game and it creates a lot of intrigue for the story to come.

I love that case - I actually ranked it as my fourth favourite case in the series. Like you said, it really does a great job of building an interesting foundation for the game ahead, but sadly I don't think the game builds upon it very well in the end.

Great villain for the case at least.

I just did a search for the villain of that case to find a .gif of him to use, but I was stopped in my tracks by what the search also brought up...

Spoiler:

Oh God that's absolutely brilliant.

Picked up Hotel Dusk for £6, which I thought was cheap looking at DS prices, as seen it mentioned a few times recently.

Not played much at all, just some brief thoughts on the game I like the art style and I know some of it is in 3D like the lobby I was walking around, but the DS is a few years old now and have to say this holds up in that regard.

The main character seems like he'd be the cool Deckard type. The holding the DS like a book is a bit of a novelty, not sure if I'd want to play to many games like that.

I don't know if I will continue, as the DS/3DS isn't a system I go back to often nowadays however does make me kinda want to get another Cing game Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories out for the Wii as I think I'm more likely to play that of the two also I liked Another Code on DS.

Mate, stop being a fanny and play Hotel Dusk, you'll love it!

But I've got so many other games to play though

Don't play Another Code R - it's terrible. Such a shame as it just went in the wrong direction.

So what you're saying it's actually really good

I liked Another Code R, but it wasn't as good as its prequel.

That's what I heard, and the prequel wasn't as good as HD anyway.

Buskalilly wrote:

Mate, stop being a fanny and play Hotel Dusk, you'll love it!

This. Not only is it really good, it's also artsy in style, not to mention being heckin' wordy. It's a true 'Mas game' and well worthy keeping your DS out for a bit.

Prior experience tells me that it absolutely doesn't matter what we all say though...

I've been meaning to go back and replay Hotel Dusk for ages now and have it lead into my first playthrough of Last Window which I've had sitting unplayed also for ages. Did you stick with Dusk, Mas?

JayMoyles wrote:

I've been meaning to go back and replay Hotel Dusk for ages now and have it lead into my first playthrough of Last Window which I've had sitting unplayed also for ages.

I had this for ages. I wanted to play Last Window over Christmas, but then I'd always forget to play Hotel Dusk in time. I finally played through HD last year (or possibly the year before?) and I'm all set for a Christmas with Kyle Hyde!

Ooh, I didn't know it was set at Christmas! That'd be a very nice idea indeed if I didn't have the impending threat of a FFXIV expansion coming out at the end of November to scupper any potential playthrough of HD.

My 3DS has had a lot of hammer lately, with me recently finishing Fantasy Life, Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning and... er... Disney Magical World 2.

Right now I'm at the final boss in Metroid: Samus Returns, and I've thoroughly (and expectedly) enjoyed this one, though I have beef with the boss battles tied to QTEs.

I played Flower, Sun, and Rain again recently (and completed it for the first time) after playing the game it is actually a sequel to, The Silver Case, on Switch. One of the best DS games for sure!

As Cappa was describing elsewhere, that's one of those games that GNamer raved about but is a bit of a damp squib to unwrap for Christmas as a teenager

Maybe I'd enjoy it more now. What kind of prices does it go for on DS back in that there decadent west?