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Professor Layton and [the Diabolical/Pandora's] Box Official Thread

C

Captain N

Junior Member
pldbbox.jpg

Launch Date l 08/24/09
ESRB l E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older): Alcohol Reference and Mild Violence
Game Type l Puzzle Adventure
Players l 1
Developer l LEVEL-5 Inc.


bg-headline-story.jpg

The Story
Meet Professor Layton, world-renowned archeologist and puzzle enthusiast. His friend and mentor, Dr. Andrew Schrader, has mysteriously passed away upon taking possession of the mysterious Elysian Box. The only clue is a train ticket to the Molentary Express, found at Dr. Schrader's home. With his trusty assistant Luke in tow, Professor Layton must board the Molentary Express—unaware of the secrets that await.

bg-headline-puzzles.jpg

Ponder the Puzzles
Over 150 unique puzzles await gamers both young and old. Each puzzle is carefully woven into the story—just one small piece of the epic mystery. You'll find yourself all wrapped up in Professor Layton and Luke's adventures!

bg-headline-wi-fi.jpg

Downloadable Puzzles
The fun doesn't stop when you've solved the case! For a limited time, you can also download brand new puzzles each week through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.


FEATURES:

• Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box features a riveting new mystery and more than 150 new brain teasers, riddles and logic puzzles to challenge and delight players.

• Beyond the puzzles found in the game, players with a broadband Internet connection who connect their Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi™ systems to Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection will get access to downloadable bonus puzzles after the game launches.

• The new game includes a significantly greater amount of voice work and animated movie scenes compared to the original.

Screens

pldb1.jpg
pldb2.jpg
pldb3.jpg
pldb4.jpg
pldb5.jpg
pldb6.jpg
pldb7.jpg
 
HUELEN10

HUELEN10

Member
Can't afford it at launch, but will join you all very soon after!
Also have to beat the first one, fuck my backlog. :(
Still, I am very happy that it's finally here! Props for localization, even if a tad tardy.
 
D

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
Oh, I can hardly wait, I'll buy this as soon as Bestbuy or Target gets it. Not paying gamestop an extra $5, nor waiting for Amazon to ship it.
 
D

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
Also, I am awaiting the Layton Movies. All of them. I know there are 4 being made already (3 Animated, and a live action one!), and I can see them making far more, the art is so nice.
 
O

ohhthegore

Member
My gf has been bugging me forever about getting this game for her when it comes out, the first one was a blast to play with her so I'm really excited to pick this one up
 
D

duckroll

Member
Drkirby said:
Also, I am awaiting the Layton Movies. All of them. I know there are 4 being made already (3 Animated, and a live action one!), and I can see them making far more, the art is so nice.
Click to expand...

Huh? There's only one movie being made right now, and it's an anime film. It's supposed to be set between the 4th and 5th games. Since games 4 to 6 are prequels, like Star Wars Episode 1-3, the movie takes place before the first Layton game. Layton 1-3 are officially Episodes 4-6 now.
 
V

vocab

Member
I bought the first one day one, beat it, and sold it. Don't get me wrong, I thought the first game was great, and the story was very good. I just didn't feel that game had any re playability, so I decided I would get rid of it. My only problem with the first game is that most of the puzzles were giving to you for no reason. I understand that's apart of the story, but you question the games reason way before you hit the
oh shit moment
. It felt that puzzles were more of the focus, instead of the story when it should be the other way around.

I may give this one a buy, but I just hope the way puzzles are given to you are much more practical and possibly used to only progress the story (kinda like an adventure game) instead of giving puzzles because it's a puzzle game.
 
D

DogWelder

Member
vocab said:
I bought the first one day one, beat it, and sold it. Don't get me wrong, I thought the first game was great, and the story was very good. I just didn't feel that game had any re playability, so I decided I would get rid of it. My only problem with the first game is that most of the puzzles were giving to you for no reason. I understand that's apart of the story, but you are question the games reason way before you hit the twist. It felt that puzzles were more of the focus, instead of the story when it should be the other way around.

I may give this one a buy, but I just hope the way puzzles are given to you are much more practical and possibly used to only progress the story instead of giving puzzles because it's a puzzle game.
Click to expand...
I can't see how they would do this without making it seem incredibly forced. There are over 150 puzzles...
 
HUELEN10

HUELEN10

Member
Dragona Akehi said:
One thing: why on earth is the English name the "Diabolical" box? Why isn't it "Pandora's" box?
Click to expand...
Darker/edgier sells better in the states? Case in point, NOA's take on Kirby. Surely there's some truth to this, right?
 
D

duckroll

Member
Dragona Akehi said:
One thing: why on earth is the English name the "Diabolical" box? Why isn't it "Pandora's" box?
Click to expand...

Because the Japanese title is "The devil's box" and does not refer specifically to Pandora or the myth itself. It is merely implied that the context is similar. The US title chooses to stay faithful to this title, while the Euro title decides to do the "obvious" and rename it to Pandora's Box.
 
I

I AM JOHN!

Banned
Dragona Akehi said:
One thing: why on earth is the English name the "Diabolical" box? Why isn't it "Pandora's" box?
Click to expand...
Diabolical sounds cooler and more mysterious, duh. You say "Pandora's Box," and everyone knows what that is; you say "Diabolical Box," people go: "I don't know what's with that box, but it sure sounds evil!" :p
 
V

vocab

Member
Dragona Akehi said:
One thing: why on earth is the English name the "Diabolical" box? Why isn't it "Pandora's" box?
Click to expand...

Kids in North America don't know who the hell Pandora is. Diabolical sounds better I guess.
 
D

Dragona Akehi

Retired
duckroll said:
Because the Japanese title is "The devil's box" and does not refer specifically to Pandora or the myth itself. It is merely implied that the context is similar. The US title chooses to stay faithful to this title, while the Euro title decides to do the "obvious" and rename it to Pandora's Box.
Click to expand...

That's no fun.
 
M

MirageDwarf

Member
Awesome. Can't wait. How long they keep releasing weekly puzzle DLC?

Puzzles shown in cover art should have been on back side of game case. It kind of ruins cover art.
 
V

vocab

Member
MirageDwarf said:
Awesome. Can't wait. How long they keep releasing weekly puzzle DLC?
Click to expand...

Wasn't most of the puzzles that were released weekly for the original game already on the cart to begin with?
 
D

duckroll

Member
vocab said:
Wasn't most of the puzzles that were released weekly for the original game already on the cart to begin with?
Click to expand...

The method of delivery doesn't really matter when it's all free anyway. :p
 
V

Vard

Member
Day 1! So glad it's finally here. I should try to beat Phantom Hourglass before I pick it up but that's probably not going to happen. That just means Hourglass will be put back on the shelf temporarily. This is Layton we're talking about.

Dragona Akehi said:
One thing: why on earth is the English name the "Diabolical" box? Why isn't it "Pandora's" box?
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's interesting.

Japan -> Devil's
Europe -> Pandora's
NA -> Diabolical
 
G

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
FACT: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the first game I have preordered since Halo 3.

SO EXCITED.

Layton 1 isn't one of my favorite games, but if there were a way I could chart my expectations for a game plotted against how much I ended up enjoying a game... Layton 1 would blow away just about anything else I've ever played. I mean, I love Zelda, I love Halo, I enjoyed Gears 2... but all those games I expected to love.

Layton, on the other hand, came out of nowhere. The music, the charm of the village, the fact that the central mystery was pretty darn interesting... it just came together as a superb and surprising little package.
 
C

Captain N

Junior Member
GDJustin said:
FACT: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the first game I have preordered since Halo 3.

SO EXCITED.

Layton 1 isn't one of my favorite games, but if there were a way I could chart my expectations for a game plotted against how much I ended up enjoying a game... Layton 1 would blow away just about anything else I've ever played. I mean, I love Zelda, I love Halo, I enjoyed Gears 2... but all those games I expected to love.

Layton, on the other hand, came out of nowhere. The music, the charm of the village, the fact that the central mystery was pretty darn interesting... it just came together as a superb and surprising little package.
Click to expand...

I remember reading all of the reviews and about the Japanese version, but still didn't expect to love it when it came out. It's probably in my top 7 games for the DS.
 
L

LevityNYC

Banned
My wife of all people is super excited about it. When she saw the Lisa Kudrow commercial for the first one she made me go out and get the first game. She played it almost nonstop for 3 days after I got it and beat it and she's been asking me about a sequel ever since.

She's not a gamer AT ALL too.
 
B

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
The Layton franchise is probably going to stand out for me as one that's always solid and dependable. I know exactly what I'm going to get from it, and it's going to be great, but it's never going to blow me away. I don't mind that too much.
 
C

Captain N

Junior Member
LevityNYC said:
My wife of all people is super excited about it. When she saw the Lisa Kudrow commercial for the first one she made me go out and get the first game. She played it almost nonstop for 3 days after I got it and beat it and she's been asking me about a sequel ever since.

She's not a gamer AT ALL too.
Click to expand...

My wife is the same way! Well..she knew about it on day 1, but that's only because I bought the game and showed it to her.
 
D

DDayton

(more a nerd than a geek)
While I'm glad this is finally getting released, I must admit to having mixed feelings about the game... even with all the impressions and info before the release of the first game in North America, I was surprised to find that it was essentially a slightly-interactive puzzle book, as opposed to a puzzle-based adventure. It irked me as it never really went beyond simply being a collection of puzzles with an almost-entirely unconnected story attached to them.

Yes, I know, that's the -point-, but I'm still not sure it makes for a good -game-. It's a unique and cute presentation of brain teasers and puzzles, but I don't think the first game was really packaged/marketed as that, and that it came across as being a mystery / adventure title.
 
R

Ramenman

Member
GDJustin said:
Layton, on the other hand, came out of nowhere. The music, the charm of the village, the fact that the central mystery was pretty darn interesting... it just came together as a superb and surprising little package.
Click to expand...

Yep yep yep.

I certainly didn't expect it to be this way. The production values were incredible for a game of that genre.

Wondering how they'll
get away with bumping into random puzzles this time, since it was actually justified at some point in the first game. Maybe the Pandora Box is so Evil that it sends riddled letters to Layton so that he can't continue investigating unless he has moved only one matchstick to change the dustpan into a trumpetting dodo on a circus ball. Or something.
 
M

meme

Banned
Oh come to me my little baby :D
I Finished The Curious Village for the second time last week, amazing game. Can't wait to see what that hidden door thing does.
 
M

Mr. Wonderful

Member
I can't wait for this. Professor Layton was the most fun that I've had with a game since Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door. I say YES to videogames that make me feel like I'm having as much fun as I had in my childhood.
 
D

duckroll

Member
shykyoichi said:
I think there are only two other: the The Last Time Travel and The Devil's Flute .
Click to expand...

The Devil's Flute is the start of a new prequel trilogy. Layton 1-3 = Episode 4-6. Layton 4-6 = Episode 1-3.
 
S

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
More Layton is a good thing!

Also the theme song for Pandora's Box > Curious Village theme song!
 
J

Jonnyram

Member
I finished this a little over a month ago (Japanese version). The story's a treat, and quite emotional. I preferred the story to the first game, but the puzzles weren't as good imho.
 
R

Ramenman

Member
duckroll said:
The Devil's Flute is the start of a new prequel trilogy. Layton 1-3 = Episode 4-6. Layton 4-6 = Episode 1-3.
Click to expand...

So basically it's Star Wars except the main character is badass.
 
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