Is It Always This Slow?

[Rephath]

I've played some other Phoenix Wright games. But this one seems to be less interactive than most. I just spent 4.5 hours on the first case, and it was excruciatingly boring. Make a point. Spend one minute blathering pointlessly. Spend 3 minutes discussing whether Miss Brett can leave (she can't). Spend 2 minutes getting back to the point I was trying to make. Make the point. Stunned reactions from everyone. Then explain the point in more detail. Then another minute of the prosecution not getting what I say, and the judge also mentioning that he doesn't understand it, so I take another few minutes and explain it. And then the prosecution says that even with this point made, I still haven't proven this case in its entirety, and the judge agrees and is about to dismiss the case, and then we spend a few minutes panicking and saying this is the end. And then after 15-20 minutes of this nonsense the game finally becomes interactive for 10 seconds as I point out the obvious clue. And then we repeat this entire process in its entirety for another 20 minutes of non-interactive cutscene?

Is it even worth continuing to play this game? Do they start blathering less and letting me play more? Or is it all this tedious?

[Jeck]

If you're expecting more game than story, quit now.

[Rephath]

It's not necessarily the story I'm complaining about. It's the pointless blathering where we repeat the same plot points over and over again. There were some really cool story moments in that first chapter. But they were buried under mountains of drivel. You could cut 80-90% of the text and not lose the smallest amount of story. In fact, you'd improve it.

[katabatic]

I can't answer your question-- I just completed the first case myself-- but I'm not sure how you spent 4.5 hours on it... I spent 3, and that was after a handful of restarts from it bugging out. Have you turned on Text Skip in the menu?

[PINGAS]

This is something i've felt both in this and in ace attorney investigations 2 (havent played 5 or 6). Too much repeating of the same thing. Maybe i just grew up since the last time i played the first 5 AA games, idk.

[ALDC]

Isn't this how AA games are played?
Investigation, click on everything talk to everyone. Trial, witness testimony, press, press, press, present. Cut scene.

[Rephath]

That's why I come to Ace Attorney, because I love all that stuff, the trial and pressing and presenting. The first case didn't involve much of that. That happened occasionally, sure. But as I said, that case took four and half hours and maybe twenty minutes of it was witness testimony. It was mostly asking if Miss Brett could leave, over and over and over. And the judge saying this trial is finished and no evidence is allowed to be presented. Which was a dramatic moment, the first time. But it got old the tenth time it happened. And Naruhudo had a breakdown almost every time there was a twist in the case. Again, once or twice that would have been a cool story point but it happened over and over and over again. And every single time I presented a piece of evidence the prosecution would say it's worthless and spend several minutes arguing with the judge about whether I should be allowed to continue.

All of these time wasters are kind of interesting the first time, almost worthwhile the second. But the fifth, seventh, twentieth times? Let me actually hear something that's relevant to the case, or that moves the story forward, or is a cool character moment. The first time Naruhudo shouts "Objection!" that was awesome. The fifteenth time his friend reassures him that he's a real lawyer doesn't really add anything on top of the first fourteen times it happened.

[Rephath]

To summarize, I know Ace Attorney has text, but in the rest of the series the text is at least moderately interesting. It moves the story forward or presents information that is important to the case. You could eradicate 80% of the dialogue in the first mission and lose not a single character moment, relevant fact to the case, red herring, or story bit.

[Hatless]

I had the same experience. It feels so much slower than previous games (which weren't fast, but they weren't this bad!)

[ALDC]

I think the crux is that this storyline is set in late 19th century Europe and Japan. It has less over-the-top (but there's still some) characters and witty humour. The first case is an introduction to the series and it does get better thereafter. And yes, the game does the "close to guilty verdict tug-of-war" many many times. To me, that's the gist of AA series (all the turnaround cases). But that's my 2 quid.

[Rephath]

Part of my problem was that I was reading all the dialogue. When I turned on text skipping things improved. I liked "Speckled Band" better. But I've played some of the other games and I've gotten a feel for when they're doing a fake-out on a guilty verdict and I know I didn't do anything wrong so I'm just waiting to present the next piece of evidence.

[No Longer A Demon Door]

First timer at this series, and it does feel excessively long-winded.

[ShinChuck]

I kind of agree, OP.

Big fan of the earlier games (never did 5/6 or Investigations 2), and recently replayed and still loved the original trilogy. Totally new to GAA. The first two cases felt like they took much longer and lacked some of the pacing of even the more infamously-long cases in the original trilogy, like Tournabout Samurai.

That said, while GAA Case 3 is still proving to be long-winded, I'm having quite a bit more fun than in the first two cases. It's definitely got that PW charm, and there have been some pretty exciting moments. Despite the padding, I'm expecting to really enjoy these when all is said and done.

[Rephath]

GAA 3 felt long-winded to me. But I actually spent a lot of time rereading witness statements and thinking things through carefully, so I ended up spending a lot more time actually playing. However, the whole jury mechanic seems like a pointless addition.

[ALDC]

The jury mechanic makes sense in Western setting as the Courts there are ruled by the Jurors. Only thing I didn't like in this series is that the text can't be instant loaded the first time. The rest are ok with me.

[Rephath]

Oh, yeah, they'd have to have a jury. I'm just saying they implemented the jury poorly. Instead of being a mechanic you can interact with, it's just a fake source of drama where they pretend like it matters in any way. The judge penalizes you when you make a mistake, and so if you make too many mistakes you lose. In case 3 at least, the jury just goes back and forth at the whims of the story and if the story requires you to get all jurors to vote guilty then that's what you do.