turnaboutancestor · 7 years ago
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DGS2 Case 5: Review and Thoughts
this case was, in a few words, “the many solutions to the many puzzles” presented in the series thus far. as SUCH.....i’m gonna split things up by puzzle
By the very nature of this game, much of the information here is going to build on previous cases, especially Case 3 and Case 4. As such, rather than repeating all that here, I’d like you to take a look at those posts if you somehow managed to come across this one first.
Review
The Professor: Klimt van Zieks, Hart Vortex, Jigoku Seishirou, and Asougi Genshin
Klimt van Zieks was a very pure, extremely righteous prosecutor. When it came out that a fellow noble was victimizing the rest of England to make himself more well off, he felt a deep sense of regret and frustration at being unable to do anything about it exactly because the perpetrator was a noble.
And so Klimt took his large hound, Balmung, and decided to go on a hunt.
That was the Professor’s first victim, and though the “weapon” was an interesting choice and made it more difficult to follow, Klimt was still an amateur and eventually got caught by Hart Vortex.
Vortex decided to use the Professor to create his perfect society. This eventually led to Klimt having to take the life of his mentor and benefactor, the current Chief Justice, to pave the way for Vortex rising to the top.
In the midst of this, Asougi Genshin, who had been studying abroad as a detective, started to piece together the Professor’s true identity. He approached Vortex about it, begging him to move the police force into action, but Vortex wouldn’t have any of it without “decisive evidence” (not to mention he had his own stakes in the Professor remaining active).
Incensed by this, Genshin snuck into the van Zieks mansion one night, cornering Klimt.  He proposed that they duel, and Klimt agreed on two conditions: that he be allowed to write a will, confessing his sins; and that Klimt agree to help his wife (which will be addressed later).  They dueled, and Genshin won, leaving Klimt for dead as he ran out of the mansion.
Unfortunately, a number of the servants spotted Genshin running. This was the most concrete thing they had, however, as there wasn’t enough evidence. Wanting to tie this up and protect Klimt’s secret to keep the law running as smoothly as possible, Vortex roped Detective Tobias Gregson and Doctor John H. Watson into a forging scheme.
First, Gregson would collect a group of thugs together and attack Genshin, stealing his trademark ring.  Second, Gregson would argue for Klimt’s autopsy--something which would otherwise not be done to a noble--with the House of Lords, with Vortex’s help.  Third, Watson would keep his assistants (Courtney Sithe and Mikotoba Yuujin) busy during the dissection and pretend at finding this ring in Klimt’s stomach, coming to the conclusion that Klimt had swallowed it to provide proof for his killer.
Despite the discrepancies in Klimt’s death--dying of a stab wound to the heart, rather than having a throat torn apart by a hound--he was treated as the last of the Professor’s victims, and Genshin was arrested and tried as the Professor.
However, Genshin had a very important weapon: Klimt’s will, which not only admitted his identity as the Professor but also pointed to Vortex as the one who threatened him to continue killing.  Vortex realized this must exist, so he approached Genshin for a deal: keep the will secret and accept a Guilty verdict at the trial, and he would arrange for Genshins’ escape from prison. Genshin refused to agree until Vortex brought up the prospect of never seeing his family again, and then caved.
Genshin did one last thing, however: he wrote his own will, asking that all his personal affects be sent overseas to his son. He also hid Klimt’s will in the hilt of Karuma, hoping that it could one day be found and reveal the truth.
Vortex involved Courtney Sithe, as the coroner that confirmed Genshin’s death after execution; and Harry Barricade, the prison warden, to aid in Genshin’s escape. Then, once Genshin was burried Vortex and Jigoku--who jumped on board after Vortex promised him the Minister of Foreign Affairs position back in Japan--would head to Lowgate Cemetary to help dig him out and begin his journey back to Japan.
There was a problem, however: Enoch Drebber had appeared in the cemetery that night and saw the figure only known to the wider world as “The Professor” rise from his grave. Vortex told Jigoku the plan was over, and they had no choice but to shoot Genshin to keep him dead for real. Jigoku hesitated, but he eventually shot Genshin, killing him.
The Death Bringer: Vortex’s ambition
The true “moving force” behind the Death Bringer is Vortex. In his desire to create a world of order and safety for the people of London, he created an organization that go after those that managed to escape guilty verdicts.
The first victim was a head of a criminal organization in a trial that Barok headed; rumors began to spread that this “Death Bringer” was actually Klimt’s ghost attached to Barok, bringing down justice where the latter could not. These rumors were...likely spread by Vortex, as he knew Barok would cling to that moniker to hold onto something of his brother’s.
Vortex involved people like Gregson, who would carefully investigate the targets and come up with the best way to eliminate them. Ann Sasha, otherwise known to us as Jezail Brett, was the primary assassin.  It’s likely Watson was involved as well, after his first role in Klimt’s autopsy. When Watson was invited overseas, Vortex turned to his understudy, Sithe.
The Four Names: Asougi, Gregson, Sasha, Watson
Slowly, Vortex began to realize being Chief Justice wasn’t enough to fulfill his desires of an orderly, crime-free London--he had to become Attorney General no matter the cost.
But to do that, he would need to cut off a few loose ends--those of Gregson and Watson specifically, as they were the only remaining individuals that knew the truth about Klimt’s autopsy.  To do this, he blackmailed Jigoku with the truth of Genshin’s death, and created a “Target Switch” assassin program. Using the recently established treaty that allowed criminals in a foreign country to be extradited to their consulate, England and Japan would switch assassins.
First, England would send Sasha, disguised as exchange student Jezail Brett, to murder Watson.  Once that was established, Japan would send Asougi Kazuma to murder Gregson.
To solidify this deal, and to prove as a kind of contract, a transmission was sent from England to Japan containing these four names.
This assassination was a condition of Asougi’s study abroad, and he readily accepted it.
Asougi’s “Death” and Sherlock’s Resolve
Sherlock had a habit of listening in on transmissions between England and Japan, and that was how he found out about the four names. Given notorious assassin Ann Sasha had been missing for months and he heard news of Watson’s death, he was afraid that the four names on this list were the names of victims.
Having heard about Asougi and his upcoming study abroad trip from Yuujin’s letters, Sherlock resolved to prevent Asougi’s stdy abroad by any means possible.  Sherlock took his chance when Asougi passed out on the Alaclair, intending to leave him in Hong Kong as a “corpse” and have him sent back to Japan.  He then convinced Ryuu to take up Asougi’s place as the transfer attorney, knowing that this meant Asougi wouldn’t be able to come to England for at least a few years.
He also convinced Gregson to transfer to France and take Gina with him, hoping to protect him this way.
It wasn’t until he overheard Yuujin, Ryuunosuke, and Susato talking that he realized that Sasha hadn’t disappeared and had actually killed Watson, making him realize that Asougi and Gregson’s relationship was likely the same.
Gregson’s Death
Gregson was given a “Death Bringer” mission for 10/31, aboard the Balabrock as it head for France. The target was Jigoku, and in a twist of fate, the assassin sent with him was Asougi.
Asougi grew incensed after hearing the truth about Genshin’s trial from Gregson and attacked him, chipping Karuma’s blade in the process. However, Asougi decided to leave it at that, disembarking in France and staying the night.
On Jigoku’s end, however, he had no idea Asougi was still alive at this point, and was determined to complete Japan’s end of the target switch agreement with his own hands.
When he returned to his room, he found Gregson there. He body slammed Gregson, knocking him unconscious, but as first class cabins are surrounded by guards, he decided to wait until the emergency drill later that evening to do the final deed. Unfortunately, just as that time arrived, Gregson woke up and started attacking Jigoku in a frenzy. In a moment of panic, Jigoku used the gun the English government had given him in his exchange program 16 year ago and shot Gregson.
He took Gregson’s coat off and hid his body in the freezer, trying to buy some time and fake Gregson’s time of death. He then put Gregson’s body in his own suitcase and took him off the boat and to the hotel, as there was no chance to throw the body overboard due to all the guards.
He had heard about Gregson’s secret room with Mitermont from Vortex, and went to drop the body off there. He set up some firecrackers he bought from Venus and used the candles as a makeshift timer so that, when Mitermont came to visit, he could be framed. Unfortunately for him, it was Barok that showed up instead, on his investigation of Gregson.
Iris’s Father
Flash back to the two promises Genshin made to Klimt: to allow Klimt to write his will, and to help Klimt’s wife.
Klimt told his secret to his wife, figuring that if he died, she’d know what to do.  When Klimt died, she went into hiding in the Baskerville manor--she was a member of the Baskerville family, and the dog collar Balmung always wore was the treasure found at the end of case 2. It had been stolen a few years back by Selden.
There was one problem, though: she was pregnant, and was due very soon.
In Genshin’s last meeting with Yuujin while the former was in solitary, he asked that Yuujin help her in his stead, as a doctor. He also insisted that ONLY Yuujin go, and that Jigoku be left in the dark.
Yuujin arrived in Dartmoor and found her in pain and in labor. He did all he could to help her, and while the baby girl was born safely, the young woman passed away.  Yuujin realized, however, that she had probably gone into hiding and Klimt had kept this a secret so that his child wouldn’t have to live their life as “the child of a serial killer.”
Not even a month passed when Yuujin was told he had to return to Japan, and unfortunately he couldn’t take a child with him from an unknown (or not allowed to be known) background. So, after some worrying, he left her with his friend: Sherlock. And, having come to Japan to escape the grief of losing his own wife, Ayame,  to childbirth, he decided to give her name to this baby girl: Iris.
Iris as of yet doesn’t know about where she comes from, and Yuujin wanted to keep it that way; it was the main reason he pulled Susato back to Japan after seeing the Baskerville collar show up in Natsume’s records, as he remembered Susato had spotted the story Iris wrote.  He didn’t want Susato opening a path that would lead to Iris discovering her origins.
As of now, though, he wonders if maybe she’ll be able to properly accept it, someday.  Everyone else, including Barok, has now been made aware of who her father is.
Where they are now
Ryuunosuke has decided to return to Japan to properly pursue the path of a lawyer, and Susato is going along with him, saying she wants to see where that path leads.
Asougi is remaining in England and studying to be a prosecutor under Barok. He handed Karuma over to Ryuu, asking that he hold onto it until he can properly quell and deal with the urge to kill that he felt when facing Gregson.  Barok has decided to let go of Klimt’s ghost for good, and move on like his “Japanese friend” told him to.
Iris has decided that finding out who her real father is doesn’t matter for now, as she feels Sherlock is her papa.
There seems to be an implication hat they’ll all see each other again, though...Sherlock muses going to Japan after people keep bugging him about the stunt he pulled with image transmission in the final trial.
Thoughts
That....is a lot of text. Too many text.  I hope I’ve managed to cover everything important.
There was a LOOOOT happening in the final trial segment, and it was one of the few places I feel like the pacing really suffered. It basically followed the flow of “witness - something important - we need to know about XYZ now - new witness that sherlock managed to call in knowing we’d need them” for at least 3-4 times, I believe....
The only investigation was a side thing as Sherlock and Yuujin investigated the Balabrook, which they knew was the real crime scene. It was definitely FUN, but it being the only bit was a little disappointing, though I’m fully aware that cases 4 and 5 are so connected that they may as well be one case, which means I got plenty of investigation done.
I am OBSCENELY pleased at Barok actually being the awkward uncle. All my dream come tru.
Also, I’m generally pretty pleased at how Barok and Asougi’s stories were brought to a close. I was previously worried that I wanted both of them to get closure, because we were fighting between “friend’s dad was convicted wrongly and was totally innocent” and “rival prosecutor is the defendant and did nothing wrong.”, when in reality they were both really middle ground: Genshin wasn’t the Professor, but he did kill Klimt; Klimt WAS the Professor, but he was also being used by Vortex.
Speaking of Vortex: he had a LONG takedown, but it was different from someone like AAI’s piece of shit final villain because there was something about Vortex that was weirdly amicable and also charismatic. He wasn’t out to kill someone out of revenge, or do someone in out of some petty reason--he very, legitimately thought that what he was doing was for the good of the citizenry, the good of the law. And you could see the audience in this case, made up entirely of people related to government, almost BELIEVE him. Sure, he did some reprehensible things, but their RESULTS actually did wind up benefiting the greater good. I’m curious about how that information getting revealed to the general public will affect things from now on, but unfortunately we don’t get to see it.
I got so overwhelmed emotionally that I bawled nearly straight through the credits at the end. It didn’t help that Watson’s usual narration faded into Iris being the one speaking: a line about how if you miss your friends, just close your eyes and they will be there. And it was just, alot, because the characters in this game really feel like my friends, and Ryuu referring to them all as his family really made them more so for me.
In the end, this was a really......really good game. I’m so glad to finally see an ace attorney game that can capitalize on being able to be a proper sequel, and I think the DGS duology as a whole is better for it.
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