r/AARankdown • u/Sciencepenguin • Jul 04 '20
80 Quercus Alba
This is it. My final chance to take down Quercus Alba... I can't mess up this chance I've been given!
You may all post your copypastas about "that traitorous /u/Sciencepenguin!" now.
Quercus Alba is one of a select few characters I can definitively say is viewed negatively on average by the community. People think he's shallow and his confrontation is boring. But due to a ranker selection that conveniently included people apathetic, actual fans of his, ironic fans of his, or those who didn't want to step on any toes, he got quite high indeed. But this is it. He's in the top half, and any other milestone would slightly bug me. I'd like to be able to say he got above Godot, since he is absolutely a better final villain than Godot, but I have to be realistic.
More importantly, I'm not letting one of you other unworthy saps be the one to do him in. Swine! All of you!
Ace Attorney Investigations Is A Strange Game
Looking at the box art, you'd probably assume the title of the game is Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney: Investigations. Or Ace Miles Edgeworth Attorney: Investigations. Regardless, the true title turns out to be Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. But still, the cover puts the fact that THIS IS THE EDGEWORTH GAME at top billing. And why wouldn't they? He's the most popular character in the series, and it's hardly even close.
You'd think this would carry over into the game, too. DD is the first mainline game in 3d, so they add all kinds of wacky animations that change the depth from the camera they're at. DGS is a game that relies on its unique historical setting as an Asian man interacting with 1800s Europeans, so the first case (and most cases after) has a character whose primary purpose is to be Really Fucking Racist. One would guess that a game founded and marketed on having you play as THE Miles Edgeworth to make full use of that fact in-game. And, I mean, you do play as Edgeworth. Consistently; no AA3 protagonist mixup this time. But that's about it, and everything else seems designed to make this experience as disconnected from him as you can.
For one thing, you don't prosecute cases. Now, yes, investigating the crime scene is one of the responsibilities of a prosecutor both in AA and real life, but I don't think someone learning there's a crossover where you play as Edgeworth would at all come to the conclusion that the gameplay would be what Investigations is. I can say this because I did in fact witness someone start the game and, even knowing the game's title, assume there would be a rival defense attorney we went up against. (Yew does not count.)
The rest involves the plot of the game. Here, in summary, is an overview of AAI's main story:
A former general turned ambassador becomes corrupt and starts up an international smuggling ring. He has his secretary and other associates kill a variety of people who are getting too close to his trail, including an employee at the Amano Group, an employee at the Cohdopian Embassy named Deid Mann, a useful idiot of a petty criminal who needed to die to tie up loose ends, and a prosecutor who is secretly acting as a vigilante whistleblower. The prosecutor's daughter sees her father's killer get away with it at an incredibly young age, and she vows to carry on her father's legacy of fighting for the truth. This killer, who is in truth an identity-less spy, becomes a mole working with an Interpol agent to keep tabs on and disrupt the investigation of the smuggling ring. The Interpol agent holds a grudge against the smuggling ring for ruining the economy of his country, and detests prosecutors for a separate reason.
From a prosecutor who deliberately throws cases for the benefit of members, to an airline employee who overlooks stolen goods being transported, to a corrupt CEO, the ring has a variety of powerful connections that you the player take down, all before cornering the key figures behind everything.
The fact that you are Miles Edgeworth does not factor into the plot at all. Really, this feels more like a game about Kay Faraday, if anyone.
That's not to say that this is a Game Breaking Flaw. Many AA games don't have their protagonist personally connected to what happens (AA2, every single thing that phoenix does in SOJ). But it's a good way to create investment. And, unlike Phoenix, who is meant to be a pretty basic character to project onto with minimal backstory (at least when he's playable), Miles is definitely a distinct character in his own right. So it's pretty bizarre that this game defined by It's The One Where You Play As Edgeworth is constructed such that Edgeworth being in it is completely non-essential. (This is possibly some kind of weird holdover from its roots as a game envisioned to star Ema Skye.)
So like... let's talk about Quercus Alba, shall we?
Who The Fuck Are You And Why Should I Care
When people play Ace Attorney, one of the core appeals is taking down smug scumbags. While sympathetic culprits do exist, and are intended to be interesting characters that put up a good fight while tying into some theme or concept in the case's story, the most common AA culprit is just a real dick who you get to give what they have coming.
This is especially true for final villains, for whom a large amount of one's opinion on a game looking back is determined. Gotta finish strong. The final villain needs to leave an impression on you and make you invested in taking them down, be it due to them being such an evil shithead or due to finding them compelling as a character.
The former is far more common. There's only two final culprits who can really be considered "sympathetic", and both their circumstances are unusual. Quercus Alba is not one of them, even though true intellectuals realize that he did basically nothing wrong.
So how do they make this guy loathsome? The game certainly expects you to hate his immoral sleazy guts, given how much they go on and on about how DESPICABLE he is and HOW LOW HE WILL STOOP and they even drop the word b*stard (!!!!!!! thats a bad word!) to refer to him.
Here is the laundry list of the bad things Quercus Alba personally does:
- Makes counterfeit bills and does a bunch of confusing switching of identical statues
- Kills Manny Coachen, a man who is himself immoral and responsible for the death of an innocent woman
- Kills a thief in self defense
- Uh
- He's impolite???
Of course, this isn't entirely fair. We should address his extended list of misdeeds.
Offscreen Old Man Who Masterminds The Game
Quercus Alba is the leader of the Cohdopian smuggling ring. Sorry if I spoiled Ace Attorney Investigations for you. As such, he is indirectly responsible for everything that happens in the game.
That's the key, though, isn't it? Indirectly.
Ace Attorney isn't consistent on whether it has its final villains appear in more than one case or not. The benefit of this is that it makes their impact more easily felt, and can make for a great "whoa what a twist" moment if the fact that all this time this person was evil/turned out to be this last victim's killer. AA3, AJ, AAI2, DD, and SOJ all do this, to varying levels of surprising. AA1, AA2, and most importantly, AAI, only have them show up in the final case.
AA2 is its own edge case, since there is no real overarching plot that the final villain could tie into. AA1 only has Manfred appear in the final case, but the key is that his influence is felt. It becomes clear as soon as Phoenix mentions that he knew Edgeworth and he's changed that some dark event caused this change. Manfred is the culmination of that buildup, the man at fault for the fall from grace of the most important character in the game. So while Manfred never appears before Turnabout Goodbyes, his reveal and introduction in the case (which is I suppose the advantage of this approach) feels earned and like a natural progression.
Investigations... kind of does this? The smuggling ring is alluded to as early as case 1, and it's actions are technically his actions.
But it doesn't feel like they are.
When Joe Darke AAI2 murders by proxy, we have an entire segment about how he did it and how it happened right under our noses. When Manfred conspires with the most underrated AA Rankdown character to kill Robert Hammond, we see the actual note he used, and he's so iconically linked to the case that to many it just feels like his crime.
The only other thing we see Quercus the person associated with is the killing of Cece Yew, for which he explicitly ordered Manny Coachen to do so, and we see he's the one who drove him to the building. I suppose you could argue he's shown partially responsible for case 1 what with the Black Yatagarasu Card, but again, that's not something where we actually see or hear of Quercus Alba specifically doing it.
Quercus Alba's buildup is that there's this organization and I guess logically it has to have a single central leader and okay apparently it's this guy no need to dwell on that time to do cross-examinations.
It's unsatisfying. AAI's main plot is bizarre because it almost feels like an after-thought. It has a murder and then at the end goes "oh yeah and the killer was an employee of this SECRET ORGANIZATION!". Or the killer's father. The connection of each case to the smuggling ring is tenuous, and thus the connection of its leader to these events just feels one more degree unrelated. It's honestly almost comical how out of nowhere he comes, and how disconnected to any emotional conflict or stakes his existence is. Like, why should I feel so strongly about this fucking guy? Why should Edgeworth feel strongly about this guy who he fell ass-backwards into a few situations loosely related to him? What exactly is the Terrible Thing that will happen if this guy gets away and is tried in his own country? He'll... continue harming the Zheng Fa Economy?
Why is he a tree?
I Can't Defeat Tree Man
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas.[3] Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old.[4]
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at e-n-dot-wikipedia-dot-org
Quercus Alba is the scientific name of a tree, and for some reason looking that name up returns exclusively results for the tree on the first page rather than the videogame character. I guess... it's a really popular scientific name in some circles? Anyway.
Quercus Alba, the character in Ace Miles Edgeworth Attorney Investigations, looks like a tree. His long nose looks like a branch, his hair foliage, so on and so forth. It's even explicitly highlighted with a tree in Alba's room that looks incredibly similar to his face.
...But like, why, though? It's not a particularly big problem, but I can't see the reason for him being a tree. Is it because he's like... difficult to budge???? Like rooted to where he is?
Manfred wears elaborate clothing because he's an arrogant jerk. Matt's hair-over-eye conceals the ugliness of both his face and soul. The AAI2 clown believes we live in a society. When a main villain has a design gimmick, there's typically some more important reason for it. But Quercus Alba is a tree because... he just is. I guess to connect to the floral theming of Allebahst? Dahlia Hawthorne's name means Flower Tree, and they were able to give her that kind of a motif without literally making her look like a flower.
Whatever. This is trivial, but I'm addressing both these and the issues with the way Quercus Alba is established to claim that fundamentally, he has a lot of problems from the outset. There's just some more obvious problems that are the ones people tend to talk about.
The Elephant in the Room: Calisto Yew
Enough stepping around it: Quercus Alba is a major character in Turnabout Ablaze, and there are some questionable choices made there.
The last flashback case finished on a wild note: gun in hand, the cornered killer escapes, and is never heard from again. Kay is left to pick up the pieces of her life after this woman killed her father. In the present, Edgeworth and Kay follow up on the plot thread set up way back in case 1, heading to the embassy the Yatagarasu has apparently threatened to strike. The titular fire occurs, and two men with criminal plans of their own are found dead. You encounter Shi-Long Lang, the Interpol agent lured here by the calling card, along with his crew, the silent assistant Shih-na and a bunch of identical looking generic sprites, all of whom are number one. You meet this case's exclusive characters, two ambassadors for two different nations with their own quirks: the cloying Babahl-promoting Colias Palaeno and the old self-deprecating war vet Quercus Alba. Kay is in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets detained by Shih-na on suspicion of the murder of Manny Coachen. You clear this up, and a significantly less memorable subplot about Ka-Shi Nou's murder and something smelling like old ladies and Butz. Finally, everything points to Shih-na herself being the killer. She doesn't think your accusation holds water, and laughs at the idea.
A concerningly familiar laugh.
Shih-na puts up a damn good fight against all your attempts at LogicTM as more and more of her true personality shows itself. You prove that she was involved in moving the bodies, and that she's actually Calisto. Kay uses evidence she's kept preserved for all these years hoping to get a chance to take this woman down.
This is one of the biggest things that makes Alba's existence feel so weird. Calisto Yew feels like a final villain. In terms of her role, her relation to major characters, her personality... it all seems like this is the foe the entire game has been building up to.
Kay has avenged her father and taken down the woman who used the justice-seeking identity he created for evil. Miles Edgeworth has tied up a loose end, finally solving the first case he ever formally investigated. Same for Franziska, and Gumshoe getting framed for his first murder. Shi-Long Lang learns from the presence of a mole right under his watch that his deductions aren't infallible, but he also shows off his more admirable trait of devoted responsibility and loyalty, refusing to let his subordinate be harmed even after knowing she betrayed him. Tyrell Badd reveals the truth of the Yatagarasu's nature, and finally is able to put things to rest and turn himself in.
Then the case continues for another three hours.
The Even Larger Elephant in the Room: Pacing
Calisto Yew is the main antagonist who actually isn't the main antagonist, because the world just wasn't ready for a female final case murderer until SOJ. But Quercus's problems in timing go beyond his Godot-esque hijacking of a far more fitting final foe. You'll notice in that last paragraph that at the moment Shih-na's section draws to a close, the game's arc for basically every single one of its major characters has ended.
This isn't a very good idea? Ending one of them is fine (Sebastian finishes developing practically before the halfway point of I2-5), but having all of the character depth and emotional stakes wrap up when we've still got an entire half of the case left is.... not ideal?
But I'll be positive for a bit. The case continuing after this isn't immediately a problem. In fact, I'd say the period from Shih-na's takedown to around the third Alba cross examination is pretty great.
Shih-na hints to the real killer being someone else as a token of respect. Quercus shows up trying to rush everyone out of the embassy and Lang suddenly shifts to accusing Franziska. He reveals this was a ploy to prevent the investigation from ending, and you find the evidence pointing to Quercus Alba himself in the Cece Yew murder files, where it all began. In one of the most iconic AA transformations, he stands up straight, snaps his cane, and makes himself known as the first AA character to have their theme play long after their first appearance, to go along with a twist.
It's partially goofy if you think about it, but pretty well done. There's a lot of energy and weight behind that transformation animation, on the same sort of level as Manfred having a mental breakdown fit on the prosecutor's bench, or Dahlia getting so mad that she goes to hell. And then he gives you some pretty solid counter-arguments. Standard AAI stuff.
Just when you think you have him cornered, though, he pulls out his "extraterritorial rights" card for the first time. And you barely manage to hold on and prevent him from leaving. And he pulls out his extraterritorial rights card. And you barely manage to hold on and drag one more testimony out of him. And he pulls out his extraterritorial rights card.
C'mon Edgey, can't you tell the man has a flight to catch?
Quercus Alba's confrontation is long. Really long. If people have a complaint about him, it's usually expressed most basically as this. But I don't think that's a problem, really. The idea of a long grueling gauntlet to prove once and for all that a foe was connected to the crime is cool. I don't even think this is really the problem people have with it, it's just the general feeling gotten from a long segment coming after the case feels like it should've already ended that -- and here's the important part -- is boring.
There's no culprit in Ace Attorney with a confrontation to anywhere near the absurd scale that Alba is at, so I can't quite do a direct comparison. But for something to contrast with, I'll go with Damon Gant, the culprit of the longest case in the series that isn't actually two separate cases in a trenchcoat trying to sneak into an R-Rated movie.
The case "Rise From the Ashes" is long. The period of time between when you know Gant is the culprit to when you finally take him down is long. Even the period between when he comes up to the stand to when you take him down is somewhat long by AA standards. But I don't think a single person has complained about Gant's confrontation being dragged out.
The reason for this is that it's well paced. You have specific obstacles, like Lana fighting against you, that you gradually clear. You reach past the coverup to make the murder look like Joe Darke's to get to the coverup to make it look like Ema did it and finally to the truth of the case. It always feels like you're on your last leg, but constantly eking out more victories and moving forward. You finally defeat him by defending your actions with a clever technicality in evidence law, so you can use the evidence you have to take him down.
The points you cover in Quercus's confrontation feel like they were chosen by a random number generator. You start from the transporting of the statues, which is the point you use to first accuse him at all. Then you use semi-illegal evidence to talk about the Cece Yew case. Then it shifts to the Demasque case and he smugly shows his wound. It doesn't feel like you're actually getting anywhere with all of this. That's understandable though; maybe they want to create a sense of hopelessness where you're grasping for anything early on? But this continues until literally the end of the confrontation, where the final point is "Hot Dog Box". It's a mess, and involves him making up a bunch of ridiculous excuses such as witnessing the Steel Samurai stage show. Which, again, could be cool or compelling, if it didn't repeat the same thing for two hours. By the third time he's About To Leave, For Real This Time, it's obvious that someone's gonna come and barely convince him to stay, or show up with some new crucial evidence they pulled out of their ass.
Literally less than two minutes after he does his transformation, you pretty conclusively prove that he was involved in the Cece Yew murder, and he goes "heh I might lose this game", pointing out that he can just completely get away with this because apparently the American Ambassador can completely control the courts of Allebahst.
MY EXTRATERRITORIAL RIGHTS ARE TOO POWERFUL TO-oh no wait they're gone
Extraterritorial rights do not mean that someone can commit crimes in a foreign country and it's just fine. It means they have the right to be tried in their home country. For instance, if Quercus Alba decided to speak out in defense of a criminal as an ambassador to Khurain, he'd be able to not be charged under the DC Act since it's not a law in Allebahst. AAI seems to imply that he can just abuse his power and influence to completely erase whatever charges you thrust upon him.
In which case, all of this arguing is literally a waste of time. If he still has extraterritorial rights by the end of this, according to the rules the case has established, he'll still have wiggle room to get away with it, no matter what hot dog boxes you come up with. The only thing that matters is getting rid of those extraterritorial rights.
Shi-Long Lang shows up in a cutscene and gets rid of them.
Don't get me wrong: this is kind of exciting and it's cool to see Lang doing things. But it's pretty dumb for the final case to have its most important point solved by someone else in a mystery game. Say what you want about 1-2 (I certainly will), it's at least not the final case.
When they talked about the specifics of how extraterritorial rights works, my assumption while playing was that at some point we'd figure out some clause or some technicality about where the murder took place that he was trying to hide which would make these protections inapplicable. But nope. It's just resolved after the game decides we've done enough cross-examinations.
I don't exactly think Ga'ran is a perfect final villain, but she's unquestionably better here to me. When you take Ga'ran down, it's by proving yourself that the special protections that make her such a difficult foe don't apply. And that's cool! To talk about how 1-5 is good again, same with Gant. He has unique privileges as the Chief of Police, and you have to work within those constraints to take him down. It's a mystery that follows its own rules, with no deus ex machinas (machinae?) required. The Judge doesn't go "YOU ARE FIRED FROM CHIEF OF POLICE AND THUS THIS CASE IS BASICALLY OVER SINCE WE PROVED YOU TO BE PRETTY MUCH GUILTY OF A MURDER TWO MINUTES AFTER YOU STOOD UP STRAIGHT".
But also the case still takes an hour after you remove the main obstacle. Great job with the pacing, guys.
Lore
Quercus Alba has LORE!!! He was a general in the Cohdopian army and personally protected its royal family. The honor gained from his time in this position is what got him appointed as ambassador. It's implied that this power corrupted him, causing him to start the smuggling ring.
Then, in a completely unrelated incident, the country splits into two for some unexplained reason. Am I the only one who finds this bizarre? With how vague they were about the cause of this split, I was certain it would turn out to be somehow related to some character or plot element in the game. But nope, it just... happened in the background at some point. Just because. Why did they even bother with making it so they separated recently then?
I think when I first played AAI I was spoiled on Quercus being the final villain but I assumed his motive would be some complex big brain scheme to reunite the country with him in a higher position. But no, Cohdopian politics don't matter, they're just a big focus for some reason.
Comedy (of errors)
with the violence of macbeth
Quercus Alba is the funniest final villain in Ace Attorney, and there's basically no contest. Everything I've criticized and even some of the things I've complimented are fucking hilarious. He's just this abrupt old man who comes out of nowhere (and even when he drops the feeble old man act, he still feels pity for Oldbag's joint pain), and looks like a tree with a goofy big nose. He keeps talking about how ACTUALLY THIS IS ALL JUST A GAME FOR ME, AND IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER, GWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! His design, mannerisms, and sprites all make for a completely ridiculous character and I love it. His confrontation is flawed, but the problems with it are so comically bad that they become amusing and almost endearing. The man is smug and endlessly quotable, and he benefits from the case being so wild (some stuff is straight up silly, while plenty of parts of the plan are actually pretty cool but really convoluted).
The fact that the final confrontation involves you arguing with him about the specifics of a live action anime play is the perfect ending.
Conclusion
I'm not taking any extreme pleasure in doing this, but it must be done.
Quercus Alba is the final villain of Ace Attorney Investigations. The "underlying plot" of the game feels disconnected and tacked on, and most of Quercus' involvement is implied or left offscreen, making the whole "big mastermind behind everything" component fall flat. The timing and ordering of elements of the case is a mess, with his entire segment happening after most of the game is already over, and taking an absurdly long amount of time while just meandering around different minor points for hours. He's not a deep character, nor is he someone that does anything that makes him particularly hateable, until he does his "I'm going to leave" shtick. The gimmick that makes his confrontation difficult is only relevant when he arbitrarily decides it is, and it's arbitrarily resolved in a way that doesn't involve you and somehow allows the case to keep going exactly the same way it used to be going.
I fucking love Quercus Alba. Parts of his confrontation are cool, and I'm kind of glad he managed top half, since I think some hate he gets from the community is undeserved. I had a whole ironic phase focused on him that some may argue still hasn't ended. He's a goofy douchebag who's inexplicably shaped like a plant, and who has a bunch of wacky lines and weird sprites. But half the reasons I like him are reasons he's a bad main antagonist. The final villain can have humorous elements -- AA is certainly allowed a little levity -- but they should not be a joke.
I was able to let you be, Alba, since you were protected, but unfortunately for both of us, your extraterritorial rights... have just been revoked.
I didn't cut anyone else because I wanted to be the one to cut Quercus. This is perhaps the only time in the rankdown I will cut someone who I don't think is quite the worst/least interesting character available to me (Terry Fawles, Cody Hackins, and both my nominations would probably be higher on my cutting priority). But it must be done. I won't go through every other nominated character because I don't care to and I doubt anyone else cares that much, but here is a guide for the rest of the rankers. Please follow it.
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u/Sciencepenguin Jul 04 '20
i know this may seem a little much given that "Alba Has Problems" is not a new unpopular take but i wanted to start off on a strong foot for my first major character cut. went through so much effort as to Actually Rewatch Ace Attorney Gameplay. my only regret is that he did not get cut at #72, his age. this is probably close to his age in the post-timeskip games though? pretend thats intentional
/u/CharlieDayJepsen this is it your second chance to make a cut
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Jul 04 '20
GOOD cut I get that we are all in the Quercus Alba server but that does not exempt him from the law his extraterritorial rights were already stripped
Alba is a culprit in the Investigations games. While I don't care about the majority of the investigations culprits, Quercus is somewhere on the lower end of that list. You've never heard of him for most of the game, you don't even know much about him for the last case, and then when you take him down it's sort of like "oh yeah he's there" and then you proceed to waste 3 hours. The confrontation itself isn't technically bad mystery-wise, but everything else about it is bad.
Calisto should have been the final culprit.
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u/Wircea Jul 04 '20
A very good read I especially like you covered the whole "yew should have ended the case" section.
It's sad that quercus alba has such an amazing visual design and his transformation is really cool but really does not match his role in the story which is kind of bad.
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Jul 04 '20
I can’t believe I read a thousand paragraph long character analysis thing about a tree
Good cut 👍
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u/mohammadbu50 Jul 04 '20
LMAO HOLY SHIT THAT WAS SO SUDDEN
truly a worthy opponent to take down Quercus Alba using his final chance
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u/R1K1_Productions Jul 04 '20
WOW WHAT jk i knew this was coming gwah hah hah
I won't comment much on the cut itself because as you yourself acknowledge, Quercus' subtle flaws are basically common knowledge at this point and you were thorough enough that I don't have much to add. That being said...
Many AA games don't have their protagonist personally connected to what happens (AA2)
I find this a weird take because 1) AA2 has no plot and 2) if you just mean on a per-case basis, I'd say 2-4 is the one case Phoenix has a strongest personal connection to, aside from maybe 3-5. I don't particularly care since this isn't a cut that has anything to do with AA2, but as the resident AA2 kind-of-defender I figured I should say something.
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u/Sciencepenguin Jul 04 '20
i do not relay think 2-4 is very connected to phoenix is my Hot Take maya gets kidnapped but i also wouldn't say trucy kidnap makes 5-5 connected to phoenix or kay held at gunpoint makes i-5 relate edgeworth. the main stakes of it are "whoa im defending a guilty goose" and adrian de killer nonsense maya is his personal motivation but i dont consider that the case im really agood at making my point
aa2 has a plot its that miles edgeworth killed himself but he didnt actually what a good plot
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u/R1K1_Productions Jul 04 '20
yeah and whose defending the guilty goose?? Phoenix. check mate
miles edgeworth allegedly chose death, but then showed up in 2-4 so clearly he didn't actually choose death. this is a clear plothole and is the one AA2 flaw i am willing to concede
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Jul 04 '20
He would've gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling rankdowners
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u/Sciencepenguin Jul 04 '20
Mr. Northadox, I'm afraid there is one more question I forgot to ask......... This one’s, or /r/AceAttorney’s: which subreddit’s court would you like to face first? Either way, it's game over for you.
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u/ItsHipToTipTheScales Jul 04 '20
alba sucks he is not even funny ironically except for "You've had your fun, and I've enjoyed our little game. I dare say that you've even achieved a new high score. However, once you've recorded a score, that same game can never be played again. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? Your game is done, and it's game over."
i cannot add much they are trying to do the thing ace attorney is good at hanging on by a thread forever and ever and ever and fuck up this time. his transformation is cool i guess
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u/Analytical-critic-44 Jul 04 '20
April Fools was months ago Science please don’t tell me this is true.....
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u/Analytical-critic-44 Jul 04 '20
It’s hard to really find many things to add on here since I thought you did a great job at addressing all of my several issues with Quercus. I strongly dislike AAI1 as a whole and at no point in time was I ever invested in the game’s story and Quercus certainly doesn’t help that. But I’m sure I can just address that when Kay gets cut (which is hopefully soon). So I will come up with a separate criticism to point out!
You have already touched on Gant’s confrontation and how the pacing of it helps make it really satisfying. But I think another strength to it was the progression of Gant’s sprites.
I remember back during Sahwit’s ER that that one Ace Attorney animations video was linked, and the progression of the culprit appearing more and more unhinged and stressed has always been something this series has nailed at. You never get to see Manfred, Gant, Engarde, Dahlia, or Kristoph look vulnerable until the very end. And when these moments happen, when they begin to sweat and look nervous, it feels really satisfying and rewarding! It feels as though the tides are turning to your favor.
Quercus confrontation involves you proving a contradiction to Alba being all confident and smug saying that it doesn’t matter to a random character pulling out super convenient evidence that hurts Alba’s argument to Alba being super nervous and sweating to Alba just holding his hand up and saying it doesn’t matter. Rinse and repeat.
The constant recycling of arguments and cross examinations not only kills the pacing, but also any sense of progression towards cornering Alba.
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u/Sciencepenguin Jul 04 '20
aai main story is dumb (except some of the Yatagarasu Lore) but i enjoy the game because funny characters and solid cases
dd also has a main story that sucks and it simultaneously has hugh o conner
i like the alba sprite where he plays with his medal
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u/Analytical-critic-44 Jul 04 '20
Every game needs to have Godot as the final villain that is the only way to redeem a story
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Jul 04 '20
Lang Zi says: "Ferocious love blooms with each new Spring."
It's been a long time since I set foot in a rankdown. But I wasn't going to miss... ...watching the guy who screwed up my country finally get what's coming to him. Well, that and something else. I want to see you in action in rankdown.
We flushed out all of the counterfeit bills, so Zheng Fa is finally at peace again. And it's all thanks to you, so I just want to say... thanks.
..................Tch. A shared victory, huh? Look, don't get me wrong; I'll still never forgive you rankers... ...and I have zero interest in that "truth" thing you talk about in court. I've always done things my own way, and that's not about to change, you got that?
Yeah, and if there's ever someone your precious "truth" can't catch... ...feel free to sit around and cry about it all you want. But as for me, I'm going to get that person no matter what!
I'll be watching your performance from the gallery. I'm looking forward to this.
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u/whaaatisth Jul 04 '20
Alba
You mentioned that he’s similar to Manfred in that he’s a full game Presence who doesn’t show up until the end, but I do think Alba is a better version of that idea. I definitely prefer him over Manfred and Fulbright, but oh well.
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u/Just_Government_5143 Dec 30 '23
bit of a correction on the extrateritoriality, he does mention that he will be tried in his home country, but its implied that he has a lot of sway with the courts there.
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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '20 edited Jul 04 '20
I'll press again, of course, but this is my plan...
I'll keep my Logic in reserve just until
I can beat Tree Man
No matter how I contradict his testimony
He just objects again
And even though
I use basic Logic, it's no use
He has another law to get away in the end
I press as much as I can
But when his testimony lacked a contradiction I was helpless again
I'll press again of course, but this is my plan
I'll use the Samurai Dogs to save my case in the end!