Is the game more challenging than AA5?

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Basically. For one the new mechanic introduced, Seance Divinations has penalties and is fairly more complex to use than Mood Matrix, but as for the cross-examination fare and all that, it all still rides on the writing and how the composition of a trial segment is, and it's still this problem as with DD where the evidence you get is mostly contrived and weird with proportions and descriptions that perfectly fit what the plot needs to create an artificial contradiction. Of course not all the time, but as in DD, where it just happens a lot where the writers use makeshift contradictions to move the plot along. There's still great twists and I personally really like case 2's scenario, but case 1's reeks of the thing I spoke of where everything feels too made up and artificial because the evidence serves no other purpose than to fit into a contradiction and so on.



Mood Matrix is without penalties still and the same goes for Psyche-locks, and upon losing you still just get a brief animation telling you you've lost the game before you press "retry" and you're back the exact same place you left with almost no time-penalty or sense of "DANG, I gotta think it through again!"

So yes, a little bit harder but overall I still think it's the way the cases are crafted that creates an ease of difficulty compared to the other games. It's a restriction that comes with the writers not being good enough at thinking outside the box with how they execute on their scenarios and not a flipswitch they deliberately pulled to say "let's make it easier", except I think they may have made more hints available after some dumb customers apparently couldn't figure out the demo, and Eshiro listens waaaay too much to feedback and only wants to please players instead of being daring or creative but that's producers for you.

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Errrm, no. That's simply wrong. They did two things:
1) They got feedback for AA5 that the game was too easy. As a result, they put back free investigation, wrote fewer hints in the main dialogue, and more behind the hint option which appears if you make several mistakes in a row (the keyword is optional here).

2) They got feedback on the TGS 2015 demo that the Divination Seances were difficult, because it was unclear in several section in ways the designers had not intended. The order for certain actions were not logical for example (forcing you to skip X, but do Y, but for no apparent good reason). So they redid that so it'd make more sense. That's improving on a game to make it more playable.

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Oh, okay. I assumed they had added more hints after the TGS feedback.

Thanks for clarifying.

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Most of the game's difficulty rests on the utility of the Seance due to its more complicated format, pretty much like presenting contradictions in a video playback.

The Mood Matrix and Psyche-lock segments are about as difficult as they were in DD; namely, not very much. Still, all it takes sometimes is overlooking or forgetting a certain detail and then a segment can get annoying. And like DD, there are very few Psyche-lock bits to crack through and by the time you meet them, you'd have all the evidence ready to beat them.

I agree on how many contradictions can feel "conveniently placed", but it's generally the case with AA games. Likewise, many of the multiple choice answers are painfully obvious. There's the correct answer, the silly answer, and the silliest answer that players may be tempted to take for the lols. There are a few notable exceptions in the DLC case where a silly answer is the correct one, but I'd say it's thanks to the silly premise of the case.

But one of the most "difficult" things in the game is during investigations: the lack of direction, that is. I sometimes have no idea where else to go after examining a place or interrogating someone. Perhaps this is what they intended by opening up free investigation, so one could easily ignore the current story and wander around aimlessly like in past games, but it's also like AJ and DD where it's pretty obvious when a place isn't related to what you're supposed to be doing. At least the characters may comment on how they're just wandering around when they should be elsewhere.

I think the Consultations have been somewhat improved, at least. Before, they could give you the answer outright. Here, they slip in hints more subtly... but other times, they say what you'd already know. I did notice that when Phoenix is consulting with himself, he much more easily points out what to do next; while Apollo and Athena suggest the more subtle hints. I guess this means playing as Phoenix is "easy mode", but it doesn't make the mysteries easier to solve; just the contradictions (or lack thereof) more obvious.

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If Phoenix is easy mode I take it as a nod to the fact that he's more experienced. That would be a nice touch.

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This game sounds like crap, I'm having second thoughts. My time and money are more valuable than this. I have better taste. I'm not going to waste my time on such a pointless and stupid venture. Who cares? The series has hit a brick wall.

*Walks away rambling.*

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Glad to see the unwavering support this fandom provides.

But seriously, if you're basing your judgment of how good it is on how "difficult" it is, I think you've kinda missed the point with all the AA games. They were never too difficult in the first place; just some areas that take a bit of workaround.

The Divination Seance segments are set at a reasonable difficulty level. If all else seems easy in comparison, it's because the new stuff has the most work put into it and there are some moments that are tricky when you underestimate it, and it's pretty darn easy to underestimate it. Sometimes, it is pretty finicky to find the right moment or spot, but usually the hitboxes (so to speak) are appropriate sizes.

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Were they playing the same version of DD that I did? I can completely blow through AA's 1-4 and Investigations without issue, but DD is far, far harder than all of those combined.



As someone who is, as of the time that this is posted, playing the AA6 Demo right now, the Divination Seances are still unclear.

Last edited by NinjaMonkey on Thu Aug 25, 2016 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

They're really not. They're extremely clear.

To you maybe.

It doesn't help that they don't really explain it all that well in the tutorial (something that also happened in DD with the Mood Matrix).

I have a sneaking suspicion that this game is going to be my least favourite game in the series, even more than Apollo Justice.

EDIT: I've beaten the demo by randomly guessing the answer. Turns out my first guess happened to be the correct one. Anyway, if I have to resort to random guesses to try and figure this thing out, it can't all that clear, can it?

How is it unclear?

Your mileage might vary, but on the whole, I think a lot of people did think that AA5 was a lot easier than previous games (including me), and Capcom obviously got a lot of feedback about that, or else they wouldn't have worked on it and mention it again and again in interviews they worked on the difficulty levels for AA6.



I had a bit of problems the first time too with the Seance mechanic in the demo, but I had no trouble at all with it in the full game. I do agree that the first time, it can be a bit overwhelming, as you need to combine the interpretation in the lower screen with 1) what you actually see and 2) the other senses, together with 3) timing. It's still about contradictions, but you need to mind a lot more things at the same time.

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I can't figure out of I think the seance visions are hard or just hard because the interface is obtuse and unintuitive until you start getting the concept under your skin.

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The Seances definitely have a bit of a learning curve, and I know even later in the game there was one point where I got penalized because I spotted the contradiction but forgot to select the right statement from Rayfa. To be honest, Rayfa's statements might have been a step too far, as sometimes it feels like the important contradictions are all between the imagery/text and the court record/established facts anyway.

That said, I did really like the seances overall.

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Having slept on it, I think I know what I think of it so far, and first off I agree that Rayfa's insight seems a tad over-designed but this extends to the aesthetics as well. Why does Rayfa's alternative witness testimony get all this extra music and special splash-animations? Mood Matrix was similar in some ways but they didn't create special testimonies with sci-fi themed UI except once you entered the analysis. I get this has to do with Rayfa's role and authority but I found it to be an odd use of the game's budget for what is essentially window dressing over a regular testimony. It's the start of this game's advertised feature creep.

Might have to do with, Takuro Fuse taking the helm for the game-direction.

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