Ace Attorney 6 - Final thoughts, at least before digging out the DLC.
Let's start with 6-5 part 2, which uh yeah really should have been a separate case from part 1.
The "Dhurke is dead plot" twist was great. It explains a lot of stuff and was emotionally impactful. Apollo's reaction was good stuff. Bonus points for addressing my concern with how the hell Dhurke got on an international flight, although it does make Inga's threats to Phoenix in day 1 weird. And doesn't explain Are'bal, but I think we're just not supposed to think about Are'bal.
The case made pretty good use of spirit channeling. I like spirit channeling because of the possibilities it makes me consider, for all that I know not everyone does. Once I realised that there were 2-3 spirit channelers I knew it was going to be a good time untangling what happened, and indeed it was. Seances were, once again, fun.
Amara had a great presence on the stand but her role in the plot is stupidly underused. There isn't a scene with her and Rayfa in the ending, what. I also think both she and Nahyuta come across as weak-willed for how easily they let Ga'ran manipulate them, even when it's becoming clear they have a chance to take her down. The whole "sins of the father" thing does make this work a bit better than it did with Lana Skye, but it's still not very satisfying. Also man, Nahyuta, that's it? That's why motivates you? What an underwhelming character. I did kinda like that they made him a depressive (the "let it go" commentary takes on a new meaning once you figure out his motivation) but that's really not enough.
Ga'ran! So fun fact, did anyone else notice that this is literally the first time in the series we've had a final confrontation with a woman? Dahlia was the main villain of AA3, but the game chose to end with a dick-measuring contest between Godot and Phoenix instead. Franziska and Courtney were the main rivals of AA2 and AAI2, but were shoved into non-confrontational roles at the end of their games. So I'm kinda glad that this game ended that particular questionable streak.
Ga'ran was pretty good, for all that I think she would have been better without the Seymouresque transformation (funny though it is). In general I think the new games go a bit too far with making a lot of their villain designs. It's extra weird because AA6 wants you to believe Amara might be the killer too, and it would be a lot more believable if Ga'ran wasn't wearing a big purple neon sign saying "final boss". That complaint aside... she's got good stage presence and really throws her weight around in court. I love when you accuse her of setting the fire 23 years ago and she's all "whatever, you're not proving it". The re-writing laws was pretty good too, for all that she does flirt with the "too strong a villain" thing where you have to wonder why they don't just call off the whole trial earlier, but I guess appearances are important. Would have liked it if the game sold me on it a bit more, but it's fine. So she's a solid, memorable final opponent, maybe not up there with the very best but certainly quite good even so and way better than Kristoph Gavin (or Gant if he counts), and a better prosecutorial foe than Nahyuta was.
Oh man there are a bunch of plot holes in this case. Most of them don't ultimately MATTER but yeah this is definitely one of those cases where you probably shouldn't think about the specifics too hard even if untangling it was fun. It reminds me a lot of 3-5 in a lot of ways, both its good and bad points.
Also to tie into my part 1 comments, I guess Atishon was a murderer after all? Weird that he didn't confess. And him being in the caves makes negative sense; if he was going to go all the way up there, why didn't he try to get the founder's orb? That scene is dumb. Day 1 investigation of this case is still stupid.
To speak about the game more broadly, hmm. Well, case ranking, first of all: 6-5 > 6-4 > 6-2 >> 6-3 >> 6-1. The first three are average to well above, if none in the all-time favourite bracket; the other two are kinda weak but not terrible.
It's one of the weaker Ace Attorney games, despite having three cases which are at least pretty good (2/4/5). I think a lot of that has to do with the cast.
The returning main cast isn't handled that well, I don't think; Phoenix and Athena both take strange steps back as characters, Apollo fares better but there's nothing as interesting about him as his doubts in Dual Destinies (his relationships with his father and brother are supposed to be that, but not adequately fleshed out, especially the latter). Maya is criminally underused, and I say that as someone who isn't even a big fan. Trucy probably fares the best and that's just one case!
The new main castmembers... well, Nahyuta isn't handled too well as per previous rants. Rayfa is certainly better; I thought she was pretty good (her sense of morality manages to shine through even as much as she talks big about enjoying thoughts of player characters being executed) and we see her develop a fair bit. But that's basically it, and 1/2 isn't really enough. Ace Attorney usually bats better. Case-specific characters are solid, though (except cases 1 and 3, but hey there's a reason those cases are weaker). So it's the opposite of Apollo Justice or something.
For new mechanics: seances are excellent (a fun way to find contradictions which still involves thinking about the case), fingerprinting terrible (I know it's not new, but the engine is, and it makes an already bad mechanic worse). I'm less of a fan of the decision to make investigations into larger blocks; they get pretty long and boring sometimes. I already consider the biggest disadvantage of the AA games compared to the Edgeworth spinoffs the way they divide investigation from actually interesting gameplay, this game arguably makes it worse.
7/10 or so? A step back from Dual Destinies and it's in the conversation for second worst game in the series, but all the games in that conversation are pretty good to me, so this isn't an insult.
