#this turned into like a full game review ghjsdahfs I'm sorry I just had a lot of Thoughts on the structure

[kingdomoftyto]

OKAY, done. Finally. I beat AAI.

I have too many thoughts so I'm putting it behind a cut

First, the negative stuff, because from a design standpoint this game bums me out.

Gotta say, I still had fun with it, but I also understand why Investigations hasn't gained as much traction as the main series. It's, uh, a bit of a slog, if I'm honest. I had high hopes for the "seamless transition" I'd seen touted between the Investigation phase and the Argument phase (this game's replacement for Trials), but in practice I think it actually hurts the pacing pretty badly. Instead of a long buildup of gathering evidence followed by a satisfying sequence of breaking down testimonies, and a single climactic moment where you finally land the baddie.... instead, it's a series of bite-sized sleuthing segments interspersed with smaller one-on-one arguments. The arguments are never as satisfying as the main series' cross examinations, and even the eventual breakdowns don't feel as dramatic or gratifying.

(And the Logic system had SO much potential but was mostly wasted on far-too-obvious deductions instead of the stuff that might have actually made you feel clever to piece together.)

This next point is super subjective but the cases themselves also feel kind of... boring in comparison? That might seem crazy because one of them involves kidnappers in mascot suits bashing Miles over the head in a haunted funhouse, but I honestly found untangling the crimes a lot less interesting than in the main series. Maybe it's because there's more focus on forensics than on testimony...? But I loved Rise from the Ashes in AA1 and that case was PACKED with forensics minutiae...

I think it honestly might be due to the lack of a trial as the driving force behind the narrative, because you're not doing things to save a defendant and you don't have a courtroom opponent to worry about, which changes the entire... idk, vibe of the story. You're just kind of solving murders because they happened in your proximity--which works perfectly well for other detective media but feels wrong for the AA formula, somehow? The writers for this game try to emulate the urgent feeling of protecting a defendant by having a character you know get accused of murder in every single chapter, but it feels lower stakes than, say, Maya getting arrested, because you're getting involved before any real case has been built against them. The only ones arguing against you tend to be detectives in this game, not lawyers (even Franziska is just assisting Interpol in this one), and Lang tells you right out that he doesn't care about actually proving anything as long as he gets a suspect--he wants the actual guilt of the accused to be dealt with later, at the eventual trial. It feels nothing like fighting for your defendant's life while the judge's verdict hangs over your head, to be decided at any moment.

... Also the text scrolls way too slowly and the music's not as good :(

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE, however:

Kay's awesome, Yatagarasu's a fantastic concept, and more Franziska and more Gumshoe are always welcome.

Speaking of, in a total reversal of the pattern established by the rest of the series, the last case was not the best and the penultimate case was easily my favorite. This is in no small part because it featured tween Franziska, the looming presence of Manfred, and the single most dramatic moment of the game--when the villain whips out a gun and nearly shoots Miles in the courtroom. (There's also more emotional payoff in this one with how he initially comforts little Kay than in anything that happens at the end of the game, imo.)

Btw, it's nowhere near as much as I expected from the memes, but Miles' occasional mentions of Phoenix are also really awesome every time (and, yes, really funny too). I was especially hype when he brought him up during the very last interrogation segment:

(It was undercut a bit by the solution he was struggling to find being blindingly obvious, but that's a me problem)

Of course the biggest appeal of the game is simply getting to see more of Miles in general, and I think it does a fair job of delivering on that. It's got lots of fun headcanon fuel (he's a flower snob!!), some great interactions with other characters (Franziska, Gummy, even Larry!!), and at least a tiiiiiny bit of character development for him, as he continues to work out what his goals/purpose are going to be and what he's willing to do to achieve them. It's cool to see where his headspace is at post-Trilogy, though the timeframe of the game being restricted to the span of less than an in-universe week kind of limits how much of a glimpse we actually get into how he's holding up.

This Youtube comment on the soundtrack really hits the nail on the head for the exquisite dramatic irony plaguing me throughout the game due to its placement in the timeline:

(AAI takes place about a month before Phoenix's disbarment, if I understand the timeline correctly... lmao feelings)

I expect the story to be more interesting in AAI2 and to hopefully expand on what this game started. Trying not to get my hopes up too high, but cautiously optimistic...!

Anyway, IN SUMMARY:

Weakest game in the series so far imo, mostly because the mechanics change the core formula in a way that doesn't do the pacing any favors. No regrets playing it because the characters are more than worth it, but bit of a letdown when it could have been a super cool idea for a spinoff.

At least we got some adorable sprites of this nerd out of it