case by case: AAI 2-3: bound for the grave
Welcome back once again to Case by Case, where we're currently going through the second Ace Attorney Investigations game. Last time we went to jail; this time, it's time for a cake-baking contest! Spoilers below.
This one is slick. You are by now familiar with the trope of the case from All Those Years Ago. Sometimes, as in its earliest appearance, they just give you an evidence file with details from way back when along with an infodump, which works but isn't particularly elegant. Other times, they have us play through a flashback case beforehand. This one, though, weaves together a case from eighteen years ago--the case which ultimately led to Manfred von Karma murdering Gregory Edgeworth--with a current case. It's reminiscent of the final case in Apollo Justice, but in this case traveling between the two cases is more structured (and doesn't involve any "I need information from the future to solve a problem in the past" shenanigans like that one). The structure of this one has us playing as Gregory Edgeworth in the past, and we get to meet young Eddie Fender, and face off against von Karma a little bit.
I have said it before, but I think these personal stories are where Ace Attorney really shines, and this case is a great example of that. So many great character moments from so many characters, and it's still putting in the work of furthering both our thematic and narrative arcs (Edgeworth's relationship to his role as a prosecutor, the Committee for Prosecutorial Excellence's evident corruption).
On at least one occasion in this one, Edgeworth unreservedly praised Gumshoe's investigation as being very useful; that's the first time I recall him doing that and it genuinely feels like some fairly significant character growth. This one has a fair amount of things like that for our boyfriend Miles, actually: he doesn't seem reluctant to accept help from others, he doesn't seem to mind subordinating himself to Eustace Winner to conduct his investigation . . . he's even fairly nice to Larry. Is Miles Edgeworth learning the redemptive power of friendship?
An interesting narrative side-effect of this particular case, and the way the arcs run in parallel, is that the Committee's ongoing threat to take away Edgeworth's badge for his interference also ends up feeling a bit more toothless, because we know that Fender will welcome him as a defense attorney at his law office. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing--given that we know (because Edgeworth is still a prosecutor later on, if nothing else) that Edgeworth chooses to remain as a prosecutor, I think the fact that "become a defense attorney" was a serious option that he could have very easily chosen to save himself some trouble ends up giving that decision more weight than it would have had if that option were never really there in the first place.
And besides, ultimately Edgeworth is driven primarily by his desire to uncover the truth, and the Committee stands in opposition to that. Their threats could never have meaning for someone like him, because Edgeworth at this point in his life would never let the truth be buried simply to protect himself.
There were one or two points when the information gleaned from logical deductions felt like it came from out of nowhere; it was less moon logic and more "we made a deduction and that prompted someone else to remind us of some unrelated information", so it wasn't so much frustrating as it was simply a little odd. Other than that I felt like the information flow of this one was pretty well done, with good balance of investigation and mind chess and argument/rebuttals.
Anyway. This case rules; it feels like it's simultaneously showing off the best of Ace Attorney as a series and the best of what Investigations is capable of. But that's all I have for you today; I'll be back tomorrow, if I have done my mind chess right, where it looks like Edgeworth is getting his badge taken away and also Kay is being thrown off a clock tower? I know I can't wait. I'll see you then, friends.