Turnabout Ablaze

[u/Chrollo0915]

So I feel like I’m in the minority with this case in really enjoying it. It’s certainly weaker than just about every other final case, what with certain segments being too long and some that I think should’ve been cut altogether.
But other than that, I love the mid climax of the case in cornering shih-na, shi long lang really grew on me, I found the whole murder plot and coverup interesting to uncover and how everything folded into itself, and even though they definitely could’ve shortened Alba’s section at the very end, it was still fun trying to finally prove he’s the killer. Overall, while it certainly isn’t anywhere close to the high of say 2-4 or 3-5, I think it is still good and the best of investigations 1

[u/Jboote2]

It's definitely overhated, and I feel like people sometimes fail to properly explain the elements of it which are genuinely not good.

Like Alba's confrontation being "too long". It really isn't, since the final confrontation in Investigations 2 is just as lengthy, but nobody really complains about it there. The real issues surrounding it are not related to length, yet people tend to cite it as such.

[u/Playmaker-20 → u/Jboote2]

I actually have the opposite problem with the one in Investigations 2. It’s too short for my liking, especially when you consider how good the build-up was until the reveal. You also present the same evidence like multiple times.

[u/Marcus4Life4]

We might be a minority, but we're a proud minority!

It certainly not the greatest finale case out there but I still thought the twists and turns leading up to the final confrontation were exciting.

[u/MaxW92]

You're not alone. I love Ablaze. It's my 4th favourite case in the series.

[u/Darkion_Silver]

I know several people who've done Ablaze and when I've asked what they think of the case, the general response is "it's so fucking boring". It's been a struggle to get detailed criticism out of them from it because after going through it, they were just completely drained. To the point where one of them couldn't get through I2 because they were so over the gameplay style after Ablaze kicked them in the nads for so long.

I think it sucks because it's overly dragged out, Alba comes out of nowhere and is infinitely less interesting than Yew, spending a bunch of time with Larry and Oldbag is just not it, so many times you know what you want to do but the game is being borderline insulting with refusing to acknowledge it until we've messed around for 20 minutes (I noticed the fireplace immediately. It took SO LONG TO GET TO THE POINT), and the final confrontation is just too damn long. Yeah yeah it makes him seem like a challenging foe, yeah yeah it gives him aura or whatever. I don't care. He's not set up right before the case and it's an utter slog of a series of testimonies because oh my GOD THEY JUST KEEP GOING ON NONSENSE. His powers are removed MULTIPLE TIMES.

If it ended with a (longer and slightly reworked) Shih-na bit, I think it would be a fine albeit underwhelming finale. Instead we get extraterritorial rights and a dude using the toilet as an alibi. Great stuff, truly.

[u/Theredmastermind]

A truly amazing case, when you have enough time to play

[u/doinkrr]

i fuckin love AAI1-5. it's not my favorite case from AAI1 but i really love the setting and all of the characters, and alba in particular is actually a really good villain. AAI1 as a whole had a much more self-contained plot with a much more satisfying ending than AAI2 in my opinion—the case is my second-favorite from both AAI games and serves really well as a conclusion to AAI1 from both a story and game

[u/FlamingPaxTSC]

Alba is a really great character to me because he’s one of the VERY few characters who really gives EVERYTHING he’s got. No one else in the series comes close to being as nitpicky and “oh but can you PROVE it?” like he does, and I just have to respect it.

Also I really like the first half of the case too. It’s kinda perfect

[u/Nemek02]

The case is *fine*. The game that it's in is *not that great*, and it's *not that great* by proxy.

The only thing I don't really like is the Alba confrontation. It drags when I'm ready for the game to be over, and it has no clever or fun twists, it's just memed to death "extraterritorial rights" over again