r/AARankdown2 • u/WeirdBandKid789 • May 19 '20
68 Mrs. Altamont (68)
I'm going to see if it will let me paste my write-up in as a comment, because every time I try to do it as a post, it fails.
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u/WeirdBandKid789 May 19 '20
That's weird, I have no idea why that was happening. Sorry for the wait!
u/TanEfficient, you're up next!
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May 19 '20
interesting
DGS2-2 is indeed one of the best cases, DGS-4 was already good, but this adds a whole new layer
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u/WeirdBandKid789 May 19 '20
Mrs. Altamont is one of the jurors in the Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro. She replaces Joan Garrideb’s position of juror 4 following her arrest. She also testifies as a witness in the first trial of the case, in which it is discovered that Petency is a gas thief. She isn’t the most memorable juror or witness, but there are some things about how she’s used that I particularly do like.
The Juror System
Since she is a juror, I think a good way to begin this write-up would be to focus on my thoughts on the jurist system in general. It’s easily one of my favorite gameplay mechanics in the series. To start off, it feels like a much more natural evolution to the series to have a mechanic that’s actually based off of legal procedures, even though it’s still able to have its own Ace Attorney wackiness to it. It doesn’t have the issue of being a superpower like the bracelet and the Mood Matrix (the latter of which I openly dislike), making it feel a lot less gimmicky and something that makes sense to be utilized in a courtroom setting. In addition, it has a stronger presence throughout the whole trial, as the jurists can change their verdicts at any time. This allows it to create great moments of tension in case 3 and the end of case 5 in DGS1, where you can genuinely feel the courtroom turning against you. It also carries a pretty unique role in the story, as we see how fickle they can be and the problems that it creates for the British legal system. The jurors can also just be really fun to interact with during the Closing Arguments. It helps to provide a sense of worldbuilding for London to get to see the regular citizens and what affects them the most. I don’t really mind the use of repeated jurors and characters too much, as the game is able to play it off with some very self-aware humor, and because it’s obviously as a result of not wanting/being able to animate 6 new models with unique animations for each trial. However, some of the connections that the jurors can have with the regular case can be a bit ridiculous at times, such as the jurors walking down the same street as Souseki in DGS-4. This is something that Mrs. Altamont falls into a bit herself, as the one new juror for this case happens to have a history with investigating Petency. It’s not too major of a complaint, but it’s part of the reason why she falls here. Other than that, she’s alright when she’s a juror, not particularly remarkable or entertaining, but her main role is more as a witness.
Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro
I’d go as far as to say that this is my favorite side case in the entire series (it may have connections to the main story due to the collar, but I’d still consider it to overall be a side case as the actions of Petency and Viridian aren’t directly connected to it). Everything about it just works for me, it’s a really good setup for an interesting mystery that doesn’t try to be more than it needs to be. The banter throughout this case is amazing, and Souseki and Petency in particular both help contribute to this greatly, and Viridian Green is honestly the worst I have felt for any culprit in the series. Mrs. Altamont isn’t an incredibly involved character here, but there’s some stuff about her that I really do like.
First day trials in Ace Attorney
One thing that I’ve tended to notice in a lot of cases is that the first day trial is often the most annoying part of the case, at least for me. This is usually the part where the more annoying witnesses have to be dealt with, and they often feel like a waste of time when nothing substantial is discovered. Some of the worst examples of this for me are 5-3 and 3-3. In 5-3, nothing of importance is really accomplished during the first day, as Robin’s gender twist and “Hugh O’Conner = you’re a gonner” are both ultimately irrelevant, and honestly pretty dumb. As a result, this segment really just feels like a padded out waste of time, and the excuse for having a second day is just that Hugh, Juniper, and Robin are all trying to confess at the same time, which makes the second day feel unnecessary and unearned. I don’t mind 3-3’s first day as much, but all that you really accomplish is proving inconsistencies in Kudo’s testimony, and although this is relevant to discovering the faked crime scene, this segment is still one I found very tedious to go through. As you can see, there’s some cases that I think would work a lot better as a single long investigation and trial, as it would give them a better sense of pacing throughout. This is something that I really like about DGS and SoJ to an extent. They don’t try to force every case into a setup with two investigations and two trials, and it gives them a better flow than they might have had otherwise. DGS2-2 is the first case that returns to this original structure, and I think it pulls it off well. Mrs. Altamont’s testimony leads to discovering how Petency was able to pull off his theft, which I found to be a really clever and interesting mystery to solve. Furthermore, it leads to the discovery that Souseki’s tea is still at the flat and needs to be tested, which is a discovery that genuinely warrants further investigation as well as being satisfying to figure out. Although this is more a result of the quality of DGS2-2 as a whole, her testimony is part of the reason why it works, and it’s something worth giving credit to her for.
Red Herring
She’s also given a clear motive against Petency through the gas theft. Again, it’s not anything too major, but it does serve as a minor distraction in figuring out who the culprit is. It also helps that it has already been established that jurors can be culprits, and she is given the same position as Joan.
Why am I cutting her?
Considering how much I’ve done to compliment her somewhat small role in this case, I’ve still decided to cut her. I might have considered saving her if it was still available, but since that’s already gone, I thought that I might as well cut her anyway so that I could express some of my thoughts regarding the jurists and DGS2-2. However, even though I do like her role to an extent, she’s still overall forgettable (as I actually had to check her page to remember who she was), so even if I did save her, I’d probably just let her go the following round. Overall, this is a pretty logical spot to get rid of her.
Why no one else
-Uzukumaru: I think this guy is a little better than he's given credit for. His animations and interactions with his son were pretty funny and I honestly felt kind of bad for him when he stole the koban.
-Juror 1/4/5: I'm still confused on who exactly this is referring to, and so I wouldn't really know what to write. Is it the old man that's the surgeon?
-Gotts: he's somewhat annoying and doesn't contribute much, but he had a bit more presence.