Very odd this wasn't at the last Nintendo direct, especially since it's coming out at the very end of August but I get it, "VNs are niche".

Still have yet to play the 1st 2 Famicom Detective remakes so probably will play this down the road but this looks like a nice one for the halloween time as far as VNs go.

Jul 23, 2024 19:45:03 GMT Blindy said:

You two are in for a ride. And Empress getting you a Nintendo Switch means you got access to the ENTIRE catalog of games with the upcoming Miles Edgeworth(Which if you haven't seen him yet already is a GOAT of visual novel characters) games, AA fans are eating.

Looking up a guide for what to do isn't the end of the world but you gotta stay far, far, far away from the spoilers. Some of the twists in the trilogy are insane. There are a few dud cases here and there but for me the cast of characters are just amazing in this. Even the antagonists are memorable, some you even love to hate. 

Episode 4, the case with von Karma, is a real doozy. Incredible how the writing continues to raise the stakes, make the cases even more apparently impossible than they were before, and the amazing twists. What a thrillride. My only disappointment is that they don't mention anything about von Karma's fate after he confessed to murder. Just Edgeworth is Not Guilty, roll credits.

In the PC Remaster there's a Chapter 5. Was this in the original game? It comes after what looks like a convincing credits sequence and appears to have much better graphics.

Yep there's a side chapter(Rise from the Ashes), I had it when I played it on the 3DS. The Ace Attorney trilogy doesn't have this for the Switch?

It was a DS exclusive which is where the 1st game was released but I had it when I played it digitally for the 3DS. You'd think the Trilogy has this one?

It was DLC IIRC in the DS so it was made later so yeah it has better production than the 1st 4 cases. 

I finished Emio: The Smiling Man last night and that final epilogue and really the last chapter, I can't believe that Nintendo is a 1st party to this. Without spoiling anything, that was some of the most wicked and crazy shit I have ever seen in a Nintendo game.

SPOILER: Click to show

Strangulation of a victim, a child dying in an unfortunate circumstance, suicide, child abuse, self-harm with a weapon to disconfigure their appearance/self mutilation, all in animation form too no less. That was the equivalent to trying to make you emphasize and understand the mind of a serial killer/monster ala Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees. I can't believe this happened under the Nintendo umbrella. I've never seen that much blood in a game by them like ever, maybe since what? Conker's Bad Fur Day?

Game was an overall 8/10 and might talk more about in the near future but that was insane last night.


x.com/KirbyCheatFurby/status/1830875261887218054

What a shocker Sakamoto has to be in such a high up spot in the Nintendo totem pole to get away with that crazy shit. Not even Sony would put that in their 1st party shit, well maybe Naughty Dog with Last of Us but this involved children dying tragically which minus the opening scene of TLOU1, not even sure TLOU1 touches Emio's Epilogue. This being full fledged animation was crazy too, nothing for the player to do but sit back and watch it. 

Emio: The Smiling Man....

Positives:
1) The epilogue is so good and again it's grim/grotesque/violent but nothing offputting for me personally as someone who is a horror/horror VN sucker but I am shocked this was allowed in a Nintendo first party game. See above for why this is a pretty gruesome finale to the game. It also plays such a pivotal role towards explaining any loose ends the original campaign had. The final chapter is admittedly rushed but the epilogue does save the day and explain why the order that events happen....happen the way they do. I was wondering why this game got the MA rating and thought the game was extremely tame for like 80% of the way through....until the final chapter and epilogue. Stick with the game if you're looking for something that pushes the traditional envelope. Murder mystery/horror fiction fans will enjoy this.

This isn't shock horror or gore for the sake of BTW, the game does try and make you have empathy and understand why the culprit is the way they are. Now whether you agree or disagree with how they go about business is up for discussion(Well not for me but surely others) and same with some of the actions other main characters take throughout the journey(This could be a little less black/white). Makes things more interesting that way rather than having Freddy Kreuger or Pennywise 2.0 where there's zero room for interpretation.

Def. feels like tale of the The Bagmen meets Copypasta with some murder mystery involved so if that catches your eye, you might like Emio: The Smiling Man.

2) Great thing with this one that any good VN nails is making sure you are never lost with the plot. The little things like a really useful and detailed notebook, an optional offer for any recap prior to resuming the game, a major focus of like 8-10 characters primarily and most importantly, a ending chapter recap/get together between the 2 major protagonist detectives really helps keep you on top of all that is going on. Even if you get a recap/pop quiz wrong, your not penalized or faulted for it which is cool. There's no game over for missing anything or any bad ending so there's zero shame with this one.

Negatives:

1) Gameplay won't be for everyone. Forget this being a visual novel, a lot of these Famicom Detective Games(This is my 1st one but I get the gist of the other 2 which I have on my Switch waiting to be played) require patience and having to exhaust a lot of menu options. "Think" or "Look/exmaine" or "Call phone" are just some of the features that you have to get. It can be somewhat frustrating having to exhaust everything and there were 2-3 instances I had to look up on a Youtube video to see what I needed to click on. For example, in a later chapter, I had to click on a character's face instead of the arm or body that I was clicking on and getting no response on......and there's a bus stop that requires you to click on the littlest detail to progress that was kind of wacky.

2) A lot of highs and lows, some chapters felt very filler-ish. Later chapters had you exhaust the sketch option where you had to ask every character you interact with if they recognize this face or the name. I'd say the beginning 1-2 chapters of Emio: The Smiling Man were stellar as well as the aforementioned finale but there is some pretty forgettable chapters. One chapter had you half the time joking around with the comic relief character of the game in a car with like 1-2 important details being mentioned throughout that had any sticking to the plot.

Each chapter runs about an hour give or take depending on reading speed so there's a pace to the game but there's no real cliffhangers involved excluding like 1-2 times. I was thinking the demo that lets you play this game for free with carryover save data would leave you on a huge cliffhanger to get you to buy the full game but alas, I thought Chapter 3 was pretty weak.

Overall: 8/10. It's really hard for me to discuss plot or anything without ruining the game but there were absolutely questions I still had and some plot holes if you really dig deep into it(One character who did something very vile got no punishment which is absurd for instance. No way in hell in real life would they get away with any of that :lol:) and I get some people hate the way that certain major characters mattered very little to the overall outcome. But without fully nitpicking every little nook & cranny of this game, I had a good 13 or so hour venture with Emio: The Smiling Man. Whether it is up to the $50 dollar price tag is up to you but it's a Nintendo 1st party game and the previous Famicom Detective games rarely if at all ever go on sale so it's take it or leave it. But it's a decent little murder mystery that tries to shake things up where "Whodunit"(As Monokuma of Danganronpa lore says best) isn't some dead obvious giveaway.

In a week's worth of time I finished:

Raging Loop
Famicom Detective Series: The Missing Heir
Famicom Detective Series: The Girl Who Stands Behind

All thanks to a deep Yankee WS run and NFL.

Might go into each of the 3 first but yeah Aaron wherever he is nailed it, the Famicom Detective Series games are such great entry way points for someone trying visual novels for the 1st time and doesn't want something convoluted and really tough to follow. Raging Loop on the other hand is just that but the good parts of Raging Loop are quite good, it's just such an up & down experience. It took me about 20-25 hours to really get into the story where at one point, I just could not put the game down. The ending is a bit overblown with how much of a dud it really is(I thought Danganronpa V3 was a worst culprit) and it is def. rushed but it's a solid 45 hour experience and there's a 2nd run where you get additional thoughts of characters and their motives which if you are a pure diehard of Raging Loop, gives you even more content.

Me? I played the main campaign and the 5 extra couple of hour(Or sometimes just 1 hour!) additional content postgame.

8 VN's down this year albeit some short ones(TRON: Identity I played middle of October and it was pretty bad, might not even discuss that one. I beat it in one night and during a Yankee postseason game where the Yankee game outlasted the story. Granted you are meant to get different endings but the 1st time through, it just did absolutely nothing for me).