Happy Maria
Gender: None specified
Rank: Ace Attorney
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:42 am
Posts: 4741
After replaying 4-1 recently, I just have to gush on this case as a certain somene in it. This is going to be mostly on 4-1, but I'm also going to add a little on 4-4.
Right, 4-1. Where do I start? This is one of the best first cases in the series, and maybe cases, period. This was a bloody amazing introduction to the game in general. You start off as somene you don't know with some mentor you don't know. Let me talk about Kristoph's sprites for a moment.
He appears very pleasant initially, and you can definitely see the resemblance to Mia's sprites here. He acts very much like the normal mentor figure to Apollo and helps ease him in. Then the trial starts, you see the good old judge and Payne's new hairdo (which actually looks great btw) and then the defendant is pulled in. Oh, and he's also Phoenix Wright.
This is one of my favourite parts about AJ, just the general dissonance created with the player. Just the way he looks and acts is so weird, so uncharacteristic of him but yet so intriguing. Then the testimony starts. Can I just say I love the cross examination theme of this game? It perfectly sets the mood of the game, especially this case, which takes place in a dark room deep underground with a shady past where a man was killing during a game of cards. I think it's perfect to play this in a cold air conditioned room to perfectly recreate the general atmosphere of this case.
Another thing I really love are the contradictions here. You really have to keep your eyes out for them, especially in this case. The first one is admittedly simple, but the second one needs you to point out two things in quick succession for the game to progress. Olga Orly is also a good witness and an even better red herring. She pretty much fits the bill of the average first killer, too.
But yes, the contradictions. The second one is also neat since it's math-involved and needs you to look at the chips carefully. The later ones are great though. Things like 'Wait, how did you see the blood on the victim's forehead if his hat was on?', and the contradiction involving the victim's hand. My personal favourite is the one involving the fingerprints on the grape juice bottle just because of how subtle it is. The reasoning with the bloody ace is also great because of just how much you could deduce from that. Plus, it was never really presented as evidence in the first place so its legality is certainly never brought up again.
I think this case really elevates itself at its second half, when the fourth person is revealed and Orly's innocence is established. Then when Kristoph is accused, all hell breaks loose. It's something you'd never expect, since you'd think he would just be Apollo's Mia the whole way through. Heck, he's even on the cover art. You'd never suspect him of being the tutorial villain.
I like Phoenix's second testimony just because of the
sexual tension between the two during the entire thing. Kristoph being brought to the stand is also great because of the extremely tiny clues provided to it that you'd never notice on your first playthrough. I like how what brought him there in the first place is just him being a dumbass and waxing poetic about the back of the cards and the victim's head. Goddammit, Kristoph. But yeah, his actual testimony is pretty solid, seeing as the only 'contradiction' we manage to point out is involving just a hypothetical scenario that was just made by Phoenix. If it weren't not for that, the case would've ended right then and there.
Look at how Kristoph's expressions have changed, too.
No longer the nice and wise mentor from the first part of the case, eh? But when he breaks down, you can really tell that he's stifling a lot of anger within. And when he just admits it and is escorted out, we're just left wondering what his motive was, who the victim was to him, what the locket means, and why Phoenix is as he is. It's absolutely jarring to the player and I love it.
And yeah, those are my feelings on the case, but I have to speak on Kristoph more.
The popular consensus is that he's a terrible villain because his motive for everything is just because he lost at poker. I vehemently disagree with that sentiment. Hell, I think that's what cements him as a solid villain in the first place. It's no more petty. to him than the penalty to Manfred was in DL-6. Think about it from his perspective. It all really started when Zak fired him as his Defense Attorney because he lost at poker.
The game tries pretty hard to justify this, but I think we all can agree that playing poker to determine who your lawyer will be is a pretty crappy idea, and you probably shouldn't do it if you want to have a chance at living. But then instead Zak- a world famous, extremely popular magician- instead foregoes Kristoph- who is seen as one of the best DAs of his time- for Phoenix Wright- who is seen as someone who uses just bluffs and guesses to win by many. In light of this, Kristoph (who had already forged some evidence, determined to win the case at first) goes to his brother and warns him not to trust Phoenix.
Then he spends years and years in paranoia that his forgery could be revealed, which really fits his character. At the end of it, Kristoph is- as Vera describes him- a devil. It's damn startling how his tone changes throughout the trial.
These are his initial expressions, similar to those from 4-1.
These are his later expressions, where he starts to get annoyed.
And these are what I've eloquently termed the 'loosing his shit' expressions. Name says it all, really.
It's wonderful how you slowly but surely manage to break his façade to reveal the monster he truly is inside. Look at this:
This is his 'confident' expression according to AA wiki, which he uses a bit in 4-1. But add a few lighting effects and KABOOM!
It's downright frightening how such subtle a change can change his overall demeanour so much.
Admittedly, I will say that the final trial in 4-4 was a little bit short, but I don't think it really needed to be any longer, since a good deal of the plot was made pretty clear on the MASON system segment. But I love the way he's caught in the end- by the Jury System, something Phoenix orchestrated to catch him, as sweet sweet payback.
But yeah, that's all. I've rambled on a lot here, admittedly, but I really do love this case as well as its villain so ****ing much that I had to just gush about it. This game as well. AJ might as well be one of the best games in the series and it is a goddamn shame how underappreciated it is within the community. Maybe I should talk about it's later cases Moreno too, because I think they're also great. But that's really all that I have to say here, so…g'day!