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Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (NA) |OT| A puzzling delay

MattyG

Banned
Use the hint coins if you want. They only penalty is your save screen will show how many you've used. The game is overly generous with hint coins so I wouldn't worry about running out.

Picarats aren't used for anything in this game. It's just a score.



I played Miracle Mask after skipping two intervening PL games and was really confused. I wouldn't recommend it.

I've heard people say you can play the second trilogy without playing the first so I would probably go that route. If I had to play the first three games again I'd be puzzled out by the time I got to the 3DS ones.
Ok, so I should just start with The Last Spectre and move up from there?
 

MrBadger

Member
Ok, so I should just start with The Last Spectre and move up from there?

Last Spector would be an ideal starting point. While Miracle Mask's story is pretty standalone, Last Spector introduces the new cast and overarching storyline. The correct order for the prequels is Last Spector - Eternal Diva (movie) - Miracle Mask - Azran Legacy
 

Christian

Member
So, this game is great. Why were people criticizing the engine? I think it looks pretty darn nice on my 3DS. Is it as good, visually, as Dual Destinies? No, but it's certainly not tough on the eyes, either. Am I missing something? Do I just have low standards??
 
I'm kind of upset at this game now. I had to use a hint coin on the very first AA section of the game, only to find out that the game lead me to the wrong conclusion more or less.

It was the section where Olivia testified about taking the PT Badger from Estella. You're supposed to present the Badger's chain on the first section of her testimony. The problem I ran into was that if you press this line, Phoenix says something along the lines of "I'm more concerned about another part of her testimony." In any other Ace Attorney game, that would've been a dead giveaway to ignore this line of reasoning. After that, I assumed it had to deal with Estella having the badger's chain even though the only part of it she should've had at that point is the leg she managed to rip off. I tried presenting it on the last two parts of her testimony, which were actually very similar to the first piece of the testimony.

As far as I'm concerned, it was a complete red herring. I don't remember ever having that issue before in a PW game. Did that testimony get anyone else?
 
As far as I'm concerned, it was a complete red herring. I don't remember ever having that issue before in a PW game. Did that testimony get anyone else?

yup, lol. Blew my hint coin on that one pretty quickly.

Anyways, I went into the game hoping for Maya antics and the game delivers thus far.

Spoilers through the Tutorial:
Maya delivering pipes to Phoenix's head like she's the mayor of Metro City. I appreciate the number of contextual animations this game has compared to AA5, even if it's not as much of a looker.
 

Christian

Member
So, apparently I missed puzzles while initially exploring
Labyrinthia
with Layton and Luke? I definitely talked to everyone multiple times and went back to areas after I finished the first time 'round. How the heck did that happen?
 

duckroll

Member
So, this game is great. Why were people criticizing the engine? I think it looks pretty darn nice on my 3DS. Is it as good, visually, as Dual Destinies? No, but it's certainly not tough on the eyes, either. Am I missing something? Do I just have low standards??

I've noticed actual slowdowns during the game, usually in the court sequences when characters are trying to be really expressive. It's pretty weird, but it definitely shows how dated the tech behind the game is. This was made before Layton 6 and AA5 after all.
 

Verelios

Member
So, apparently I missed puzzles while initially exploring
Labyrinthia
with Layton and Luke? I definitely talked to everyone multiple times and went back to areas after I finished the first time 'round. How the heck did that happen?
There are puzzles hidden in objects you have to click on. And different places will have different people at times so you may have to revisit them.

I'm honestly pretty annoyed by the hidden puzzles so I stoppled looking.
 

Durden77

Member
Finally got my copy!
So weird having this physical but not DD.

Yes. Very weird. Makes me bummed that I'll never have the full AA physical collection. Especially when a game as crazy as this releases on physical, there's not much excuse for AA5 missing it.

I've noticed actual slowdowns during the game, usually in the court sequences when characters are trying to be really expressive. It's pretty weird, but it definitely shows how dated the tech behind the game is. This was made before Layton 6 and AA5 after all.

Yeh,.. near the end of chapter one....
when the knights invaded the bakery and informed everyone of Estabella's crime,
I noticed some serious slowdown. Very weird. I did have it in 3D though.
 

Tenck

Member
Yeh,.. near the end of chapter one....
when the knights invaded the bakery and informed everyone of Estabella's crime,
I noticed some serious slowdown. Very weird. I did have it in 3D though.

Happened on my 2DS, so it's not entirely 3D related.

Also, I feel like I'm enjoying the Phoenix Wright parts more. Before I got the game I was asking myself which series I loved more. Guess I got my answer :p
 

duckroll

Member
Beat the game. It ended up being better than I expected, despite some serious reservations about some aspects of the game. The Witch Trials were really fun, the story was about as crazy as a typical Layton story, and the conclusion is as convoluted and eyerolling as well. The music was pretty fantastic, the animated sequences were awesome all the way to the very end, and even some of the puzzles got better.

What didn't work for me? Most of the puzzles are simplistic trash. I expect better brain teasers than this in a typical Layton game. There's a really small variety of them too. Most felt like puzzles pulled out of a rejected pile from the other Layton games. The exploration also wasn't very interesting to me. The areas seem smaller than a normal Layton game and the progression much more linear. I think the integration of the puzzles and the exploration got much better from midway in the game though.

It was a pretty enjoyable game overall, and I think the way the crossover aspects were handled were done better than most games of this sort. More cohesive, more thought put into it, and it came together well. The best part about finally beating the game is that I've unlocked the movie gallery so now I can watch all the amazing animated movies over and over again! Yay! :D
 
Yes. Very weird. Makes me bummed that I'll never have the full AA physical collection. Especially when a game as crazy as this releases on physical, there's not much excuse for AA5 missing it.



Yeh,.. near the end of chapter one....
when the knights invaded the bakery and informed everyone of Estabella's crime,
I noticed some serious slowdown. Very weird. I did have it in 3D though.

Well, doesn't Layton sell much better than AA?
 

Jamix012

Member
Ok so having finished the game, i too wanted to weigh in on it.

The first hour or so felt a little slow for me, maybe it's because I'm coming from the background of someone who's played every AA but only about an hour of Layton prior, the Layton segment at the beginning needlessly dragged on for me. The game really hit it's stride during the first Ace Attorney segment IMO.

The Middle of the game was great. It was truly one of the best AA games and the puzzles, hint coins and Layton style of investigation blended perfectly with the cases. Much better than the typical point and click style investigation of AA. The only real problem I had was that everything was too easy. There were some head scratchers during the trials, but easily overcome with a hint coin (Which btw, there were way too many given out during the game.) The Layton Puzzles were overall just really easy. I barely struggled, and this is as someone who's barely touched a Layton game.

Following the 3rd AA court case in the game, I feel the game took a sharp downturn. The "big reveal" and everything leading up to it was incredibly stupid IMO. I'd honestly rather they pull the "It was all a dream" thing than do what they did. The whole thing is full of plot holes and frankly I recommend not playing past the 3rd case. Speaking of the ending, it dragged on IMMENSELY. It should have been like an hour shorter at least, it felt like needless fluff. Like others, I also noticed slowdowns throughout the game, however in this kind of game it doesn't bother me at all.

Despite that, the middle of the game was really something special and as a result the ending doesn't completely dampen my passion for this game. The music was superb (though not as good as Dual Destinies) and I liked the art style and the animations. Voice acting was overall done well and presentation was generally top notch. If I were to give a score, it'd probably be an 8/10. If I was rating the game up to the end of the 3rd case, i could really see myself giving it a 10/10. Overall, definitely worth checking out if you like the AA series (and probably the PL series.)
 

duckroll

Member
The ending is very typical Layton. Yes, it drags on forever, and the last 2-3 hours of the game felt like it was "ending" at any moment, but just kept going and going with more and more "reveals" and "twists". That's just how Layton games are, for better or for worse. The narrative format of the game follows Layton scenario design to a tee - it starts with showing the player a totally implausible series of events, and then it drops hints throughout the entire game that things are "more than what they seem", so you expect some sort of logical explanation, but at the very end the actual explanation is usually even more ridiculous than the actual implausible events to begin with. It's just super over the top young adult scifi stuff. Lol.
 
Ending talk is verging on spoiler territory, I think.

While I was playing the game, I was wondering if they would go the typical Layton approach of rationalizing everything with a ridiculous "scientific" explanation or maybe there really was magic, since some supernatural elements do actually exist in the Phoenix Wright world. So confirming the direction of the ending is a bit of a spoiler.

Having finished the game, I really wished they went the Phoenix Wright direction instead of ending it the way they did.
 

duckroll

Member
The game was initiated by Level-5 and Hino is the chief producer for the project. He loves this sort of shit, there's no way it wasn't going to be a Layton story featuring Phoenix Wright, instead of the other way round. The consolation is that the gameplay felt more like Phoenix Wright featuring Layton imo. But that's probably because Hino doesn't give a shit about gameplay, and Takumi does. Lol.
 
I'm about to start the second witch trial. What I really like about this game as opposed to other crossover games is that so far this game feels like it could be it's own entity without Layton or Wright but adding them both into only enhances the base game. Even though gameplay is pretty much split down the middle of not blending both series's elements together, every other facet of the game truly feels like a blend of both franchises into another world.
 

ohlawd

Member
I just finished the game earlier too

really enjoyable. so glad we got this. I'd say only the prologue dragged and it got way better soon. ranking-wise, I think I'll leave that for another time.

about the extra content, is it possible we're getting these once a week? I'm planning on shelving the game as is and wait until everything's out.
 
They NEED to bring back multiple witnesses for a phoenix wright game. Unlike AA games where the comic witnesses just kind of annoy you and get on your nerves, here having the crazy people contrast with all the regular people makes it work a whole lot better. I came into this game expecting my favorite character to be one of the main characters, but I ended up loving all the witnesses.
 

emb

Member
Finally got mine a day or two ago. Enjoying it so far.

I haven't really played a Professor Layton or Ace Attorney since the DS games, so a lot of the little additions here and there seem pretty cool. Visually the Layton characters seem really weak, but the Phoenix Wright sections made a fantastic transition to 3D. Story seems interesting enough at the start, we'll see how it turns out.
 

Dominator

Member
Just finished chapter 4 and logged about 12 hours. I have no clue how long this is but hopefully I'm about halfway. I'm enjoying it a lot but Danganronpa 2 is calling my name.
 

rekameohs

Banned
Finally got mine a day or two ago. Enjoying it so far.

I haven't really played a Professor Layton or Ace Attorney since the DS games, so a lot of the little additions here and there seem pretty cool. Visually the Layton characters seem really weak, but the Phoenix right people made a fantastic transition to 3D. Story seems interesting enough at the start, we'll see how it turns out.
You should try Dual Destinies if you like 3D models for Phoenix Wright. They're incredibly high quality, much better than this game even.
 

JRBechard

Member
Early in the game right after the bridge wall puzzle
why was Espella on the ground? the witches dropped her? They had her and then they just left her there?
 

Totakeke

Member
Still quite early in the game and all I can think of is...

ngldCDD.jpg
 

Alastor3

Member
is there a difference between the eshop version and the physical version here in Canada ?

It's been so long since I played a AA game, last one was Apollo justice and I never finish it because my DS was stolen. And I always wanted to get into Prof layton
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
I don't really care for the puzzles, I am only here 99% for Phoenix and Maya.

I wonder if I should just consult a FAQ or something to brute-force the puzzles.
 

butman

Member
Guys my wallet can afford only 1 game.

This one or Azran Legacy?

*Already played all Phoenix Wright and previous Layton games.
 

Dominator

Member
Guys my wallet can afford only 1 game.

This one or Azran Legacy?

*Already played all Phoenix Wright and previous Layton games.
I'd go for this. Since you've played the games in each series I'm assuming you enjoy both, and if you do you will love this.
 
Just beat it. Took me about 23 hours missing a few puzzles.

Thought it was great! Ultimately, it was a little too easy, but it didn't impact my enjoyment very much.

The biggest accomplishment (to the point that I'm more than willing to overlook some goofy plot stuff) is that it manages to hit all the beats of both Layton and AA games without one series' themes and tropes compromising the other. The two meshed together very very well, and that's when you know you have a great crossover.

I'd recommend it to anyone that likes both series.
 
The ending is very typical Layton. Yes, it drags on forever, and the last 2-3 hours of the game felt like it was "ending" at any moment, but just kept going and going with more and more "reveals" and "twists". That's just how Layton games are, for better or for worse. The narrative format of the game follows Layton scenario design to a tee - it starts with showing the player a totally implausible series of events, and then it drops hints throughout the entire game that things are "more than what they seem", so you expect some sort of logical explanation, but at the very end the actual explanation is usually even more ridiculous than the actual implausible events to begin with. It's just super over the top young adult scifi stuff. Lol.

Why...would you say something like this? I can't imagine anything spoiling the intrigue of the plot as much as saying that it has a "typical Layton ending".
What if I don't want to think that its all explained by some crazy deus ex machina? You've basically just said that it is, so I don't even see the point now. It's like playing
Unwound Future
and knowing from the start that
Future Luke isn't future Luke.
You've just deflated any hope I had of the
witches being witches and the magic being real magic
.
 

Jamix012

Member
The ending is very typical Layton.

Well, as much as I enjoyed this game I think that'll put me off the series in general. That sort of ending is just not my cup of tea personally and with a game without the fantastic Ace Attorney segments an ending like that would've likely soured it completely.
 
Man I just got this game since Canada Post was holding it at their outlet for whatever reason, instead of actually delivering it to me. I'm loving the game though. So far it seems like the character models are all good except for Phoenix, doesn't he look a little malnourished or something?
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Alright I think my local Target has a copy, I'll pick it up now so I'm sure to get it and dive into this as soon as I finish Dual Destinies
 
Still not fully recovered from Danganronpa 2, but I did work up the motivation to finally order the game. Should be here Tuesday provided Amazon doesn't fuck things up.
 

kurahador

Member
Clocked close to 12 hours now and I'm entering chapter 4 part 2...damn, this game is long.
And I missed alot of the puzzles too.
 

duckroll

Member
Clocked close to 12 hours now and I'm entering chapter 4 part 2...damn, this game is long.
And I missed alot of the puzzles too.

Missing puzzles seems pretty normal for this game, since the way the narrative directs the player has a bit more urgency than a normal Layton game, so the urge to explore other areas doesn't seem logical to do. I missed a lot in the earlier chapters too. The game should be around 20 hours for most players I think. The length of chapters aren't really uniform.
 

kurahador

Member
Missing puzzles seems pretty normal for this game, since the way the narrative directs the player has a bit more urgency than a normal Layton game, so the urge to explore other areas doesn't seem logical to do. I missed a lot in the earlier chapters too. The game should be around 20 hours for most players I think. The length of chapters aren't really uniform.

Oh yeah. That's exactly my issue with the Layton/puzzle part of the game. Doesn't help that most of the characters you met are annoying as shit.

Finished Chapter 4-Part 2. Finally the story gets more interesting.
 

Tenck

Member
Thanks so much guys. I really love the game, so I was a little worried. Was going to finish it regardless if it was major or not, but this puts me more at ease now.
 
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