#correct opinion does not exist but also i dont wanna seem like a complete dumbass yknow

[worriesndoodles]

ok crossover final thoughts, spoiler warnings and potentially bad opinions ahead

soooooo i want to correct one things first, i said darklaw cases boredom in me but thats not entirely true; i actually like her concept and design and themes a lot, i just feel like she barely shined through in all of this outside a very tiny part at the end (not even the whole trial! she was a placeholder prosecutor for a bit there imo)

next im going to say absolutely preposterous thing, i think they went overboard with plot twists here for the sake of plot twists...it might explain layton's sudden character variation and also i think since they stacked so many shocking twists only to the end (MUCH more than usual i think) i had a hard time keeping up even though i played through once and knew the general idea

its simultaneously doing a lot and glossing over cantabella being a horrible human who somehow gets a father of the year title at the end??? i guess its the same as bill hawks plot point except cantabella is barelly condemned even by the professor and phoenix...

*more on layton as a prosecutor, i think the role of prosecutor in ace attorney itself kinda constrained him and made him less like himself as a character. he kinda became an older edgeworth copy there at some points and i dont think they would behave that similarly at all...i guess it makes sense since shu takumi wrote the game but still. it wasnt as bad as i remember but he definitely wasnt hershel layton that he seemed like even the rest of the game. still not a big fan for sure and also i dont think professor was ever that big pursuer of the truth, at least not at the expense of others. i dont know what alternative there could be but pushing like that is still not hershel-like, at the very least

the music was bomb though, ill miss the best of two worlds in one with sick medieval vibe (and the knight/witch aesthetic too....that was so fun)

considering this is the second time i play this game i enjoyed it very much both times, puzzles were kinda easier than other layton games for me (but trials were probably harder than average aa game)

i lowkey wish some themes were clearer in execution since they mostly come up only at the last trial with very minimal setup but im hesitant to say anything about writing overall because i, as it stands, know barely anything about writing and have zero brain cells to adequately judge it (that being said, something about portrayal of trauma there rubs me the wrong way but it might be just general discomfort around a heavy topic)