Professor Layton and the Unwound Future.

azith28

Are you looking for a game that tests your puzzle solving ability, as well as the amount of frustration you can handle before tossing your DS in the trash? Well Professor Layton is for you.


I played the first two games and they ranged widely in difficulty, I did pretty well without cheating...but this one...damn im only about 15 puzzles in and some of them practically REQUIRE the hint coins just so you understand what they want you to do.

For instance. "A doctor needs to visit nine different hospital rooms. After studying the room numbers she notices that she can visit all the rooms in one round. In order to do so she must go into a room that has at least one shared digit with the room she's currently in.

Using this method, which room will she visit 5th?

Room numbers:
18 38 63
29 49 65
33 54 71

Buwah?

Sure there are some easy ones...but I have to say that so far ive found alot more puzzles that were questionable in the initial presentation then ones that seemed clear.

Answer in the spoiled space:

You have to count up the number of times each digit is used in the room numbers... which is :
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Numbers
2 1 4 2 2 2 1 2 2 Number of times they appear

Since 2 and 7 only appear once, they have to be either the start or end of your run. Then you need to go forward and backward (Both ways will yield the same number as the 5th step)
So the run goes 29 49 54 65 63 33 38 18 71 (or the reverse). With 63 being the 5th step.

Maybe i just havent wrapped my brain about how abstract these puzzles are yet. Don't be fooled by its story and presentation...this one will have you scratching your head and cursing at the screen.

edit: Fixed solution, i left out a number.

EvilMonkey

The 2nd Layton game is still in my backlog. My current work commute doesn't lend itself to portable gaming so my DS goes unloved. As for your solution...errr

Doesn't your solution miss room 33? Meaning the route is...
29, 49, 54, 65, 63, 33, 38, 18, 71
Making room 63 the answer?

Edit: Actually even in your order the 5th stop is 63 since 33 would be the 6th stop.

Raijin Quickfoot

I still haven't played The Diabolical Box. I need to remedy this.

HallowedFaith

I *LOVE* these games.

Although they make me feel stupid because I suck at math.

Brainiac 8

I personally don't own any Layton, although I have beaten the first one.

Some time at the end of the year, I have a small bonus coming to me. I'll be buying all three to make up for it.

Jam Warrior

Holy hell, this is out? That one crept under my radar.

AshtonDragon

Playing this game, probably getting close to the end. Loving it as usual.

I didn't have any trouble with the puzzle in the OP, but there's been a couple that completely stumped me. I burned five hint coins on one puzzle and still had to think about it before it finally clicked.

The Wolfman

Yup, played it, marathoned it, beat it. Fantastic game. I didn't have any problems with the OP puzzle, it seemed pretty straightforward. I think there was one puzzle where I was completely baffled by the text, as I had no clue what the hell they were trying to ask. But otherwise, there was no repeat of the first game's "chocolate texting" puzzle.

As for the story, it was pretty great for the most part. It's more fantastical than PL1 and its:

clockwork androids

but not as retarded as PL2 and its:

shared delusion caused by hallucinogenic gas.

There was one bit at the very end thought that nearly caused me to facepalm. But they kind of trick you by mingling it into the most emotional ending ever. "Weeping like a baby" does not do it justice.

Hedgethorn

I only found out this was coming out because I saw it in the ads in the Sunday paper. Still haven't had a chance to get to a store and pick it up yet, though.

Sorenson

I've been playing it from full to red battery inbetween bouts of Terran Conflict, and I've gotta' say the story is certainely makin' me wonder what's going on and what'll happen next (Chapter 2 or 3 or so):

Man, Layton, you were a pimp back then. A very gaudily and frenchly-dressed pimp, but a pimp nevertheless.

Although I get the feeling that the writers at this point are reeeeeally starting to regret their decision for the end of Curious Village (Chapter 5 or 6 or thereabouts):

Oh great, it's Flora. Flora with an annoying and bland VA who whines about how Layton and Luke don't let her come along on anything, and's been relegated to the task of whipping up tea and sandwhiches. At this point I wonder if Layton didn't bring her along simply because he needed a servent girl and was too much a cheap dick to pay for a maid (it is Christie Time-inspired, after all, ).

The puzzles are kinda' so-so, a few good ones that get me excited but it seems the devs are starting to rely way too much on stuff that basically calls for you to strain your eyes for about 10 minutes to spot some minor detail or trace a path through a winding maze:

One plot-mandated puzzle shows you a picture of two dudes playing cards and asks you to find the dude who apparently has no idea what the fuck he's doing:

It's the dude holding his cards in a clockwise-going fan position, because the way he's got his cards positioned causes the two numbers in the corners to be covered up by the overlapping cards. Yech.

And I'm pretty certain some of these puzzles were lifted almost directly from the first 2 games:

The board cutting puzzles, particularly the 2nd one: you know, you have a funky-shaped piece of wood that you have to cut in a certain way so that the two pieces form a perfect square when combined.

I'm loving where the music went, though, and I looooove all the puzzle-screen art and all the stupid little details they've got (Spoiler 3 or so, end-of-chapter):

One puzzle has you assembling a makeshift machinegun from various bits and bobs that have to be moved and rotated to fit into a pre-defined space, and in the puzzle-solved image Layton's face is only shown from the nose up but you can see the corners of his mouth as he's thinking of his creation, and you can tell he has the most devious grin plastered all over his face while Luke and Future Luke look on with combined curiosity (and perhaps fear?).

Also, for whatever horrible fucked-up reason I keep

mentally referring to Future Luke as Legal Luke. Here's a puzzle for you: why would an ordinary dude with no pedo and shotacon tendencies think of the future, older-version of a pre-pubescent character in terms of whether they're legal to get caught screwing?

Because people with genuine pedo and shotacon tendencies think of the future, older version of a pre-pubescent character in terms of whether they're legal to get caught screwing, and some dick on TVTropes felt the need to mention that on the Layton page. God fucking damn it. :x

EDIT: Oh yeah, while I've been able to solve almost every puzzle I've found with liberal use of hint coin splurging and reloading, there's one puzzle that's got be completily stumped (Chapter 4):

It's 149 or so, the one you find in the back room of the casino in the locker after you get kicked out and find the hidden way back in while headed to chinatown.

It's the one with the three "numbers" that're bars of varying lengths arranged vertically in pairs, where you have to find the third number if the first number is 63 and the second is 89. I've done as the hints said to do, and I can sorta see where this might come in for the second number, and no matter how much I draw and tilt and squint and shit I just can't descern any pattern (EG: the colored bars represent open areas in numbers, which works for 2 since both have gaps in the middle in the right places but fails for 1 since the first bar doesn't have a gap to form the bottom part of the 6).

Zython

Got this game Tuesday, been chugging along.

One problem I have with the game: Chapter 5/6?

Why did the bee have to die? He was cool. What the hell?

Can't wait to see where the story goes.

The Wolfman

Sorenson: About puzzle 149:

I got stuck on this too, even with using all the hints. But as it turns out, I misread one of the hints. I quite literally solved this one in my sleep. As I was starting to drift off, I ended up thinking of the puzzle, and literally got a "eureka" moment!

In case you're also misreading it...

Draw a horizontal line down the middle through all 3 blocks. Black line is best, and you shouldn't need to fill in the spaces like the hint says. I screwed up and did a vertical one. Then, tilt it 90 degrees to the right. You should be able to see what's going on after that.

Ganluan

I can't believe they made a TV commercial for this. I am excited, I completed every puzzle in the other two.

Fleck0

Zython wrote: »

Got this game Tuesday, been chugging along.

One problem I have with the game: Chapter 5/6?

Why did the bee have to die? He was cool. What the hell?

Can't wait to see where the story goes.

That was a serious :shock: moment.

At first I figured "Haha, wacky slapstick. She's gonna lift the swatter and he'll have stars floating around his head and say some funny cockney one-liner"

but....

Undead Scottsman

In regards to the OP puzzle, I really REALLY didn't find it to hard.

I just started with the upper left and kept finding one to stick next to it. It almost solved itself.

18-38-63-65 did it themselves, and from there I jumped in the square and did 54-49-29, leaving 33 and 71 as the odd men out. 71 I noticed only shared a digit with 18 so it had to go in the front of the line, and 33 fit inbetween 38 and 63, giving me 71-18-38-33-63-65-54-49-29 and hte answer is 63 in position #5.

Xagarath

Need to import this, as I prefer the cover art on the US editions.
Weird it came out in the same week as Last Window.

BlueBlue

N-no! This can't be out! My backlog can't take the added strain!

Sorenson

Undead Scottsman wrote: »

In regards to the OP puzzle, I really REALLY didn't find it to hard.

I just started with the upper left and kept finding one to stick next to it. It almost solved itself.

18-38-63-65 did it themselves, and from there I jumped in the square and did 54-49-29, leaving 33 and 71 as the odd men out. 71 I noticed only shared a digit with 18 so it had to go in the front of the line, and 33 fit inbetween 38 and 63, giving me 71-18-38-33-63-65-54-49-29 and hte answer is 63 in position #5.

The way I got it was

to work my way back through the rooms based on how frequently the shared numbers cropped up, starting with 71 because it was the only 7 room available and then moving onto the 1 numbers and so on and so on until I made a full round of the rooms. Lucked out a bit, I suppose.

The Wolfman wrote: »

Sorenson: About puzzle 149:

I got stuck on this too, even with using all the hints. But as it turns out, I misread one of the hints. I quite literally solved this one in my sleep. As I was starting to drift off, I ended up thinking of the puzzle, and literally got a "eureka" moment!

In case you're also misreading it...

Draw a horizontal line down the middle through all 3 blocks. Black line is best, and you shouldn't need to fill in the spaces like the hint says. I screwed up and did a vertical one. Then, tilt it 90 degrees to the right. You should be able to see what's going on after that.

UGH![/Charlie Brown]

Stupid visual interference dyslexia

EDIT: you know, I've got a sad sneaking suspiscion that you could use the puzzles in this game as screening tools for perception and analysis disorders and dysfunction. Puzzle 57, "Misprinted Plates":

my first three answers were none, plate 6 and plate 9 respectively before I finally wised up to the answer. Thing is, I did rotate and flip all the plates to get my answers (literily by holding the DS upside-down) so I saw that 6 and 9 in that particular type-face couldn't be used. So why did I skip over them? I'm guessing that because while in that particular font they're legible, in other fonts and styles of handwriting the shapes they make do form fairly-acceptable letters, which my brain processed across all forms of recognised typing and writing it knows off and simply ignored them because they didn't raise any red flags.

This is some pretty damn depressing shit to learn about yourself.

Also, the second minigame in the bottom row of the suitcase:

Holy shit, while working on one stage I was lamenting how the bird's unable to pass upwards through ropes like you can some of those special platforms in various Mario games.

And then I let time runs out and he does the whole fucking Mario "face the player, jump up, and fall off the bottom of the screen" bit.

EDIT: And two last thoughts (Chapter...6 I think?):

At the hotel after Flora tails you back to Future London:

A) Flora is a little bitch. "Oh, Luke can sleep on a chair while I take his bed". I can only imagine just how bad domestic life between the three of them must be with her.

Pure speculation, but OH GOD LAYTON'S BEEN GETTING FLUSTERED OVER FUTURE FLORA EW EW EW EW EWWWWW

Sorenson

Been working a bit more on this, but nothing earth-shattering yet (though I've got a good idea where things are headed - the

light house has to be where Future Layton is keeping all those researchers held, which explains their soggy clothes - it seemed rather weird that Luke and Layton made such a point on commenting on the thing on the first trip to Chinatown.)

Also, listening to the soundtrack on Youtube, and discovered something rather interesting (and was the main reason I posted, actually):

Have a listen to this for about 20 seconds
I'm betting that some of you people are spazzin' out trying to wonder where the hell you've heard this before, and indeed it weirded me the fuck out when this started playing in the background. And then it hit me:

We HAVE heard this before, and it's pretty damn famous, to boot (30s mark)

There's somethin' to get the little grey cells sparkin' a bit.

EDIT:Oh yeah, and this is crazy-awesome, too

MarioG

Just got the game and I really must profess my love for this series.

Zython

Sorenson wrote: »

Been working a bit more on this, but nothing earth-shattering yet (though I've got a good idea where things are headed - the

light house has to be where Future Layton is keeping all those researchers held, which explains their soggy clothes - it seemed rather weird that Luke and Layton made such a point on commenting on the thing on the first trip to Chinatown.)

Close, but way off.

Beat the game yesterday (I know, I work fast). I won't spoil the ending, but it's some crazy shit.

carmofin

is it the same kind of end as pandoras box? (spoiler for that game)

everything was a dream kthxbye

LewieP

Heads up to UK folk, the USA version is available to buy for £24.85 from import retailer MovieTyme (that I can vouch for), which is only 14p more than the cheapest price from a UK retailer, if you don't want to have to wait till it comes out next month.

Details here.

EdS25

Finished this. Loved it as usual. Faqed the sliding block BS at the end as usual. Seriously these games are so good you just start taking them for granted. And while they do need to start switching it up a bit, if they keep makin' 'em I'll keep buyin' 'em (and keep faqin' the sliding blocks hehe). One thing I do appreciate is at least they keep the worst of those as the bonus material.

One puzzle that really annoyed me was No 41 about the waiter carrying the glasses.

I would have picked any one but B. I've never heard of a waiter or busboy who complained something was too heavy (and who the fuck is gonna stack em like in the solution drawing?) Waiters care if they are breakable or you can't fit 'em in your box. Glass A doesn't fit inside each other which is a pain in the ass (and what I thought they were originally going for), kinda the same for B (although they would still fit more side by side) and Glass D would be fancy and breakable. If you just put in some normal fucking stacks of Glass B, or lay them in the bottom of the tray, I'm sure that's the type of glass every waiter would prefer. And, gee, the type 99% of the restaurants I go to use, probably for that reason. Yes, I am bitter (because instead of getting any hints I kept guessing and got the "wtf is wrong with you?" value of Picarats for it.

The other one I thought was set up poorly was the Round Table one. Which, these two wouldn't bother me as much except for the fact that the game was all "Luke, this is how you explain a puzzle perfectly and with no unintentional ambiguity, etc."

Still love the game though. Was very Layton-esque in its epic scope toward the end, and I very nearly cried.

Houn

This thread deserves a bumping, because I'm in chapter three and already loving this game.

Early Spoilers:

Layton is a PIMP. Tell me you didn't D'awwwwwww at the first two Claire flashbacks.

The Wolfman

Houn wrote: »

This thread deserves a bumping, because I'm in chapter three and already loving this game.

Early Spoilers:

Layton is a PIMP. Tell me you didn't D'awwwwwww at the first two Claire flashbacks.

It makes you question the relationship between Layton and Luke after seeing them.

Did Luke just coincidentally choose to wear the same style hat as young Layton, or is Layton dressing Luke up so he looks like himself? 'Cuz that would just be weird.

Sorenson

The Wolfman wrote: »

Houn wrote: »

This thread deserves a bumping, because I'm in chapter three and already loving this game.

Early Spoilers:

Layton is a PIMP. Tell me you didn't D'awwwwwww at the first two Claire flashbacks.

It makes you question the relationship between Layton and Luke after seeing them.

Did Luke just coincidentally choose to wear the same style hat as young Layton, or is Layton dressing Luke up so he looks like himself? 'Cuz that would just be weird.

I'd say it's more that

The Layton series really sort of draws upon Agatha Christie-an imagery and stylings for its settings, and that was a pretty common hat style amongst youngsters in the day: it's particularly apparent for the cover of the fourth game, where Luke looks like he'd fit right in with the Little Rascals. Besides, Layton doesn't really have that much influence over Luke's lifestyle (Spoilers from...7-8-9? I dunno, they all sort of blend together after a while:

Luke talks about how his dad is thinking of packing up the family and moving to get a better job, and Luke and Layton have a quick heart-to-heart about friendship and how it can endure even when two people are seperated as long as they're truly excellent counterparts.

Sorenson

Finally finished it off from about chapter 10 or so, and wow.

Holy shit did things suddenly get heavy as fuck. First game, it's a town of clockwork robots made as an extended family to a rich widower's daughter. Second game, fake town filled with hallucinogenic gas ruled over by elderly count who thought himself jilted by his lover who in reality had an illegitimate child with him and fled for the kid's safety. Here? Morally bankrupt researcher stages a flawed experiment that causes the deaths of several people to demonstrate a power source that makes him a rich fucker, and one of his victims sets out to orchestrate a spree of mass destruction in a giant gun-bristling steamwork mobile fortress. So what, does Devil's Flute lead up to the bad guy essentially summoning Saten and making a ritual sacrifice of everybody in England for eternal youth or some shit?

Definetily my favorite of the bunch, story-wise. Except for Flora, seriously, fuck her and the VA she rode in on.

And now that Luke's apparently moved from England she's now going to be Layton's companion full-time, ugh.

EDIT: AGH FUCK

Don't go into the PL thread on Something Awful, some shithead just spoiled the twists of every fucking game and Eternal Diva towards the bottom of page 2.

Zython

Sorenson wrote: »

Finally finished it off from about chapter 10 or so, and wow.

Holy shit did things suddenly get heavy as fuck. First game, it's a town of clockwork robots made as an extended family to a rich widower's daughter. Second game, fake town filled with hallucinogenic gas ruled over by elderly count who thought himself jilted by his lover who in reality had an illegitimate child with him and fled for the kid's safety. Here? Morally bankrupt researcher stages a flawed experiment that causes the deaths of several people to demonstrate a power source that makes him a rich fucker, and one of his victims sets out to orchestrate a spree of mass destruction in a giant gun-bristling steamwork mobile fortress. So what, does Devil's Flute lead up to the bad guy essentially summoning Saten and making a ritual sacrifice of everybody in England for eternal youth or some shit?

Definetily my favorite of the bunch, story-wise.

Told ya it was off the rails.

The Wolfman

After playing 1 and 2, I basically came to the conclusion that the whole general idea behind the Layton series is "fantastical believability".

End of all 3 games spoilers ahead!:

I mean yeah, clockwork androids is pretty out there, but you can still buy it. Same for 2 and the gas plot, although that really pushed it. Either way, it's a safe bet they'll never do something completely supernatural, like really summon Satan. There's always going to be a somewhat scientific explanation to everything, even if it does stretch the meaning of the word.

That's why when going into Unwound Future, I already had it in my head. "It's not going to be time travel, it's not going to be time travel, it's not going to be time travel...". They kept pitching it, but I was always waiting for the scientific explanation, and true enough, I got it. Granted, underground recreation of London coupled with giant robot fortress is pretty wacked out, but I just knew they were never going to go over the edge with "woop woop time travel".

Serious end of Unwound Future spoiler incoming:

And then they went and did woop woop time travel! Bloody hell. I don't know if that ranks worse than the shared hallucination of 2 on the WTFo'meter, but it's pretty close. Their saving grace is that they put it in with one of the most heartwrenching ending I've seen in a game, I was too busy weeping like a baby to be really ticked off. God damn what a beautiful ending.

As for Flora, I didn't think she was that bad... but I can totally see the issue. I'm pretty sure it was just Luke's VA doing a girly voice for her anyways. But I wouldn't worry about her being the de-facto assistant for a while, since the next 3 games they're making are a prequel to how Layton and Luke first met, so she won't be in them at all.

Sorenson

The Wolfman wrote: »

As for Flora, I didn't think she was that bad... but I can totally see the issue. I'm pretty sure it was just Luke's VA doing a girly voice for her anyways.

That's only the half of it: I dont know how much liberation the translators took with her dialogue, but she just comes off as a clingy moron. Hell, even Luke and Layton start lampshading it towards the end there when (last chapter spoilers)

they finally release her from the prison Clive tossed her in and the first thing she says is that she demands an apology from the man who's about to wipe out an entire city of millions to get revenge on one man.

Seriously, I get the feeling that the devs are really kicking themselves now for ending Curious Village the way they did, since it seems like they just didn't really know what to do with her and frankly didn't want anything to do with her.

Vyolynce

Huh. Missed this thread being made. I picked this up on launch and was 168/168 four days later, plus solving the extra puzzle from the Diabolical Box code (I still have yet to solve the actual "Diabolical Box" puzzle from that game...).

I loved all of the new features (colored memos, super hints for when you're absolutely stuck, balls-to-the-walls crazy storyline), but I did have one issue:

One puzzle asks you to make divisions that are "the same shape", and part of the trick to the solution is that

they don't have to be the same size.

However another puzzle (the one where you are cutting hole in a napkin) also asks you to make "the same shape"... but that same trick isn't valid this time. Inconsistencies like that are just infuriating.

Not that it really mattered. I still had well over the 5200 picarats you need to unlock everything.


EDIT: And to be fair to Flora, her upbringing redefines "latch-key kid".

TeaSpoon

I only played the first game. I liked the puzzles but I hated touching everything on every screen to get all the hint coins. My ocd prevents me from just ignoring them. And I could do without the story.

So, what I really want is just the puzzles... I wonder if they're online somewhere.

Brainiac 8

But the story is one of the reasons I love the Layton games.

I still need 2 & 3.

Jam Warrior

And there's a straight to DVD movie now? Which is being localised and is out next month?

Seriously guys. I ignore the news websites because I rely on the forum to tell me these things!

Edit: Oh, so maybe it's not actually anounced for America yet? In which case, hey I have news! 'Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva ' out on DVD in the UK next month. Set phasers to 'import'.

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2010/check_out_our_new_layton_hub_and_see_his_first_film_19196.html

Xenogears of Bore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBf5Hg9djy0

Lorahalo

Japanese Layton isn't nearly as classy.

Xagarath

Not sure about the film. Does puzzle-less Layton work at all?

LewieP

Because the puzzles are so well engrained into the story of the games.

I think I might even prefer puzzle-less Layton, assuming that they don't have batshit stories that don't make any sense whatsoever.

cooljammer00

I'd watch a movie without puzzles if the rest of the time was as charming as the non-game part of the games.

Jam Warrior

Looks like it has the charm to please cooljammer but also the nonsensical story to annoy Lewie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9qn56teC2o

Point being, Christmas present (or part thereof) for wife, sorted.