Professor Layton

Was going to make myself finish Trials & Tribulations first, but caved and got this at Best Buy today with a (well-timed) $5 Reward Zone cert. and (well-timed) 10% off coupon for $23 out the door. All of the great word of mouth has me so excited to play this. Somehow it's exactly what I'm looking for at this moment.
 
Bah, been way too busy from work to go get it yet.. :cry:

[quote name='judyjudyjudy'] It's a good bedtime play-until-I-pass-out game so far. [/QUOTE]

Exactly how I plan to play, if I can get my non-gaming S.O. interested.

[quote name='Tybee']Was going to make myself finish Trials & Tribulations first, but caved and got this at Best Buy today with a (well-timed) $5 Reward Zone cert. and (well-timed) 10% off coupon for $23 out the door. All of the great word of mouth has me so excited to play this. Somehow it's exactly what I'm looking for at this moment.[/QUOTE]

Yep, that's what I plan on doing.
 
Does the game support multiple saves? I want to get this game and I think my wife will like it as well, but I'll probably play more than she does. It would be great if she had her own save game so she could still see the story play out as she plays the game.
 
[quote name='vgossain']Does the game support multiple saves? I want to get this game and I think my wife will like it as well, but I'll probably play more than she does. It would be great if she had her own save game so she could still see the story play out as she plays the game.[/QUOTE]

Yes, the game allows for 3 save files.
 
I bought this game last Sunday (when it came out) and today I finished it, more or less. I found all the puzzles in the main game (not including Layton's challenges under the bonus section). I solved all but 1 of them (i.e. 119 of 120 finished). I think I had something like 108 solved of 110 by the time I got to the end of the game, then went back and found the others and solved them. The only one I didn't finish was 107, a sliding picture puzzle. Those are the bane of my puzzle solving, really.

I really enjoyed the story in this game. Some of the puzzles really did feel more tedious than fun, but all in all, it wasn't bad. I imagine that at some point I'll try to figure out that last puzzle and finish all the bonus puzzles, but for now, I feel pretty done with Layton until the 2nd one comes out...

/tk
 
Got this for Valentine's Day (yes my wife rocks) and started playing it Friday night. I can't put it down. I love it. So far I'm about 60-odd puzzles in, plus 7 or 8 hidden puzzles that I've found.

The puzzles aren't too too easy (mostly) but they're also not so hard that they're frustrating. There's only been one so far I haven't solved, and that's just cause I don't want to do the math (the multiplying mice puzzle).
 
Finally picked this up today. Cost $23 after coupons. So far it's working great to get my girlfriend into some gaming! :D
 
[quote name='Backlash']There's only been one so far I haven't solved, and that's just cause I don't want to do the math (the multiplying mice puzzle).[/quote]If it's the puzzle I'm thinking of (surely there's only one multiplying mice puzzle?...I'm only 50 puzzles in so far)...
boy, won't you feel silly.
 
[quote name='eugaet']If it's the puzzle I'm thinking of (surely there's only one multiplying mice puzzle?...I'm only 50 puzzles in so far)...
boy, won't you feel silly.
[/QUOTE]

ugh... I got out scratch paper and did that entire thing before I realized what the answer was.
 
[quote name='Sockey']ugh... I got out scratch paper and did that entire thing before I realized what the answer was.[/quote]

Don't feel bad, this is what I did...
I wondered how I could figure out how many girl mice and boy mice there were in each litter....until I realized that with 1, it was a moot point. Damn did I feel stupid

/tk
 
[quote name='keithp']Finally picked this up today. Cost $23 after coupons. So far it's working great to get my girlfriend into some gaming! :D[/QUOTE]

Like reward zone or some other coupons?
 
[quote name='keithp']Finally picked this up today. Cost $23 after coupons. So far it's working great to get my girlfriend into some gaming! :D[/quote]

Where did you get it, and what coupons did you use? I'm planning to pick it up today from Best Buy with a 10% off coupon, but I'd like to get it cheaper if possible.

Edit: NVM, just saw your previous post. 10% off coupon and $5 reward zone cert. Oh well.
 
[quote name='Snake2715']Like reward zone or some other coupons?[/quote]
10% email coupon floating around. I used that with $10 in RZ certs and $13.31 in store credit for a balance of exactly $5.00.
 
[quote name='bjkrautk']Now, I'm most curious about how the downloadable puzzles are going to work. If I go 3 months without touching the game....will I be able to d/l 3 months worth of puzzles, or can it only store something like 5-6 at a time?[/quote]

I'm not sure how many you can store or how long they'll keep puzzles available, but the manual states that the first time you connect you'll download all available puzzles. Yes, it states "the first time you connect" so I don't know if that applies to EVERY time you connect.
 
Question/slight annoyance:
When you're climbing the tower and going through all the doors, the ...oh I guess it's the seventh one. It shows a pegboard and asks you to make seven squares, but can only use each peg once.

DO NOT GIVE ME HINTS.

All I wanted to complain about was that the square-detection/conditions for victory sort of annoy me. Cuz I found a way to make seven using overlap. I.e., I had these two big squares, and their corners overlapped each other, forming a third square. In my mind, that counts, but the game didn't count it. So now I've got to look for a way to do it where I'm making all the squares, but I think that shows more creativity on my own part than the game's.

There's been a few other puzzles where my thinking leads me to believe that I've got the correct solution (and I'm not talking about the trick questions or anything), but the game isn't seeing something the way I am. This isn't one of those situations where I thought I was right, it's one where I could easily prove something satisfies the conditions of the puzzle, but the game just isn't built to recognize it.

Dunno if anyone else agrees. Game is still fantastic. This is one of the best games for the DS, easily.
 
I bought this on sunday and I've been having alot of fun with this game and the puzzles are very good so far only the mouse one gave me a bit of trouble till I read it better.. :lol:

The animation and voices are very nice I really like the feel of the game the tower reminds me of spirited away or something.
 
[quote name='Strell']There's been a few other puzzles where my thinking leads me to believe that I've got the correct solution (and I'm not talking about the trick questions or anything), but the game isn't seeing something the way I am. This isn't one of those situations where I thought I was right, it's one where I could easily prove something satisfies the conditions of the puzzle, but the game just isn't built to recognize it.[/QUOTE]
Examples?
 
don't know if this is a glitch or something but I found a way that if you happen to fail a puzzle the first time, it doesn't subtract points from how much the puzzle is worth. In the screen where it subtracts points from the total worth, tap the button really quick and it skips it.

Puzzle 6 (the one with the clock) kicked my ass so many times :bomb:
 
[quote name='pete5883']Examples?[/QUOTE]

Can't think of 'em off hand. After you do 100+, you start to forget. I'll try to cycle through and see what I was referring to.
 
this game is pretty awesome, i'm an hour in and i've solved 12 puzzles.

the one with the dog that gets run over kicked my ass really hard though.. i had to cheat on it hardcore :X
 
Well, so much for making this game my next bedtime game. I got addicted and stormed through the entire game this weekend. I got sloppy and even made a few mistakes (btw, reading the problem is apparently very important :p). As throwaway as it kinda is, I think the story made me keep going. I can't think of a better word, but as Strell said, it's just so charming. I'm still missing one stinking hidden puzzle, so I hope the search for that, along with the downloadable stuff, can put me to sleep. At least now my fiance can stop harassing me and play his own game.

[quote name='Strell']
All I wanted to complain about was that the square-detection/conditions for victory sort of annoy me. Cuz I found a way to make seven using overlap. I.e., I had these two big squares, and their corners overlapped each other, forming a third square. In my mind, that counts, but the game didn't count it. So now I've got to look for a way to do it where I'm making all the squares, but I think that shows more creativity on my own part than the game's.
[/QUOTE]
I don't know if it was my incompetent reading, but I totally didn't understand the directions for this one. At first I thought we could only use each peg once, like, only one line can start from it. Using hints, I realized I interpreted that wrong. I thought I had a viable solution (mine also involved overlapping squares), but apparently it didn't like that either. Eventually I used all the hints, and the last hint pretty much tells you how to draw two of the squares. When I got the solution, I think there was one aspect of the directions that was unclear, and IIRC that was (maybe read this after you beat it)
every peg had to be used once
. Ugh, I was so annoyed.


[quote name='Strell']
There's been a few other puzzles where my thinking leads me to believe that I've got the correct solution (and I'm not talking about the trick questions or anything), but the game isn't seeing something the way I am. This isn't one of those situations where I thought I was right, it's one where I could easily prove something satisfies the conditions of the puzzle, but the game just isn't built to recognize it.
[/QUOTE]No, I definitely had this issue. I don't remember all the cases, but one I do remember. I think it was about 4 guys and somebody eating fish.
You're supposed to find out which guys are lying. B says something like "I saw A eat it!" I thought he could have lied about seeing it (like, he didn't see anything, but A could have still eaten it). His statement should be interpreted as "A ate it.", which would change my answer. Anyway, that's probably a silly example.

Edited to add: My fiance just got the exact same problem wrong for the exact same reason. And apparently, it's about 3 guys, not 4.

Ending comment:
I like how the ridiculousness of everybody shoving puzzles in Professor Layton's face is somewhat explained, even if explanation is totally out there. I don't know how it's going to fly in the next game. I also liked how Professor Layton went all-out MacGuyver at the end. Very sexy.

Luke is a little snot though.
 
I get what you're saying, Strell. The most annoying puzzle for me so far is the matchsticks arranged in the shape of a dog. I had it right, I knew exactly what it wanted me to do, but you have to arrange it EXACTLY the way IT wants you to, even if your arrangement makes just as much sense.

Phoenix Wright has the same issue.
 
CoD4 and Catan kept me from my now 4-5 night routine, but I think I'm going to try a few more before I hit the sack (as I love the game that much).

JJJ - Definitely. I've always been bad at those types of puzzles (the "liar" ones), but after the second or third, I sort of learned the trick to doing them. But it's like you said - originally I was reading the comments and thinking "Well is he lying because of X or because of Y?" and then I'd collapse into a fetal ball because part of my universe was torn asunder. It's like...you have to take the comments completely at face value, and understand that what they say is what they say. I.e., there's an element of truth to them, so much so that you have to just assume very simple if->then relationships. It's like...there's arbitrary boundaries to all the statements. You just have to sort them out according to those rules, and then set up a bunch of theoretical outcomes, and determine which ones ends up satisfying the conditions of the answer ("X number of people are lying" for example).

Which reminds me of a few of the ones I thought were ambiguous on the answer (#113, 88, and 55 in case you don't want them spoiled). Pete, these were some of the ones I was talking about.

#113 - "The Pet Hotel" (DON'T READ BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ANSWER)

You have to move matchsticks and spell out "cat." You start with OA|, and the idea is that you move the two right-most vertical matchsticks over the farther letter. See below:
._...._.._
|..|..|.|..|
|_|...-|..|

which becomes (you remove two from the O, put one in the middle to make an A, and then the other above on the right to make a T)

._...._..__
|.....|.|..|
|_...|-|..|

But I kept making it

._....._..__
|......|.|..|
|_|...|-|..|

See, you could move two matches. So what I kept doing was moving one from the O into the A, and then I moved the already-existing top part of the T. I kept thinking "Well, will the game recognize the C?" After that failed, I tried it again by using the bottom part of it, but that didn't work either.

#55 - "The Odd Sandwich"

I solved this one completely by accident. You're supposed to make a horizontal cut, which makes a shape like a house with a pointy top, and then a side with an indention, which ends up making a full rectangle. But I reasoned that you could make a vertical cut on the right side. This would chop off the tips, forming small triangles. Then you could put them in the bottom right corner of the sandwich and in the top indention, which would also form a rectangle. The bottom tip ends up being a right triangle, so it fits neatly in the corner. The top part does the same. I don't actually know if it would work, but the answer was only the number of cuts, not how they were oriented. Besides, it was hard to visualize since you can't get a real feel for how large the sandwich is versus the box it's going in.

#88 - "In a Hole"

This is a simple one about how to get a ball out of a hole. The answer is a word - you type out "water." The idea is that you flood the hole, forcing the ball upward, as it will float.

But see, the condition for the answer is "a five letter word for something that's all around you and very common." I don't know if anyone has ever heard of Mindtrap, but it's a boardgame full of these kinds of question (some of them probably overlap between Layton). Anyway, there is a variation of this problem about a ping-pong ball in a PVC pipe, and it says "A six year old figured out how to retrieve it. What did he do?" The answer is that he pees into the pipe, which causes the ball to float.

Which means I wanted to write in "urine" for the answer for that puzzle. I didn't, but I tried it just now while writing this post, and it didn't work. Besides, I guess they didn't have artwork to depict that. :p

I have trouble with the probability ones the most (which I'm dreading sitting down to answer). For all the age questions, I resorted to algebraic equations. I remember doing those questions on tests in middle/high school and failing them EVERY time. I finally had to force myself to sit down and just stare at practice problems until they clicked (kind of like the "liar" problems in here).

Game is still amazing. I wish I could give the developers more money for how much I've enjoyed it.

And I need to finish it! Apollo Justice is on the way! And I need to finish both Touch Detectives!

I'm so happy the adventure genre is somewhat alive thanks to the DS. It makes me so happeeeee.
 
Bah, didn't get past the seven squares puzzle.

After a while, I just started fooling around with it to see if I could trick it. That didn't work, so then I started to see how many squares I could make counting overlapping lines, but safely avoiding any X'd out pegs (meaning that, in all reality, I was solving the puzzle completely according to the rules set in place).

It's late and I'm tired, so I probably miscounted, but I got up to 37 squares or so at some point. There might be a way to eke out a few more, or maybe I missed a few, etc.

I laugh at seven, except that those seven have to be done in such a specific way that I haven't gotten around the puzzle yet.

Oh well.
 
The most annoying puzzle so far is the cake with GECY NW. I used all the hints and still unable to decode the message. I had to use google to figure this one out.
 
I kinda found an error with the birthday puzzle about the 19 last year and 22 this year or whatever.

Since I'm so used to filling out forms on the internet, I put the month as 01 and the day as 02 and the game didn't register it. So I had a hell of a time trying to figure out what it really was 'till I figured out you had to put just 1 and 2.

[quote name='sqyxzylyx']The most annoying puzzle so far is the cake with GECY NW. I used all the hints and still unable to decode the message. I had to use google to figure this one out.[/quote]
That second hint made it even more confusing, since I started looking at my phone after that. I solved it by putting the NW together, then somehow I solved the CY part and everything fell into place.
 
[quote name='Vegan']I get what you're saying, Strell. The most annoying puzzle for me so far is the matchsticks arranged in the shape of a dog. I had it right, I knew exactly what it wanted me to do, but you have to arrange it EXACTLY the way IT wants you to, even if your arrangement makes just as much sense.

Phoenix Wright has the same issue.[/quote]

I got that the first time with no hints. Seemed really easy, actually. In general, the matchstick puzzles are some of my favorites. But there are probably others that kicked my ass that you have had no problem with, I'm sure.

For instance, I hate, hate, HATE slider puzzles.

About 55 puzzles in at this point. Such love for this game.
 
[quote name='kainzero']That second hint made it even more confusing, since I started looking at my phone after that. I solved it by putting the NW together, then somehow I solved the CY part and everything fell into place.[/QUOTE]Yeah, the second hint threw me off too! It wasn't until the third hint that I had any clue what they were talking about.

I also found the Puzzled Aliens one really obscure.
 
[quote name='Tybee']I got that the first time with no hints. Seemed really easy, actually. In general, the matchstick puzzles are some of my favorites. But there are probably others that kicked my ass that you have had no problem with, I'm sure.

For instance, I hate, hate, HATE slider puzzles.

About 55 puzzles in at this point. Such love for this game.[/quote]
Yes.

This game has actually allowed me to solve some puzzles that usually cause me trouble, but sliders destroy me.
 
[quote name='Strell']

Which reminds me of a few of the ones I thought were ambiguous on the answer (#113, 88, and 55 in case you don't want them spoiled). Pete, these were some of the ones I was talking about.

#113 - "The Pet Hotel" (DON'T READ BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ANSWER)

You have to move matchsticks and spell out "cat." You start with OA|, and the idea is that you move the two right-most vertical matchsticks over the farther letter. See below:
._...._.._
|..|..|.|..|
|_|...-|..|

which becomes (you remove two from the O, put one in the middle to make an A, and then the other above on the right to make a T)

._...._..__
|.....|.|..|
|_...|-|..|

But I kept making it

._....._..__
|......|.|..|
|_|...|-|..|

See, you could move two matches. So what I kept doing was moving one from the O into the A, and then I moved the already-existing top part of the T. I kept thinking "Well, will the game recognize the C?" After that failed, I tried it again by using the bottom part of it, but that didn't work either.

#55 - "The Odd Sandwich"

I solved this one completely by accident. You're supposed to make a horizontal cut, which makes a shape like a house with a pointy top, and then a side with an indention, which ends up making a full rectangle. But I reasoned that you could make a vertical cut on the right side. This would chop off the tips, forming small triangles. Then you could put them in the bottom right corner of the sandwich and in the top indention, which would also form a rectangle. The bottom tip ends up being a right triangle, so it fits neatly in the corner. The top part does the same. I don't actually know if it would work, but the answer was only the number of cuts, not how they were oriented. Besides, it was hard to visualize since you can't get a real feel for how large the sandwich is versus the box it's going in.

[/QUOTE]

113: But it's not really a C if it was a vertical part at the bottom. It's almost a G. You could argue that a C is kind of curved around on the right side, but then it would need a vertical part at the top and bottom both, making it an O.

55: I thought of your method, too. But really that's 2 cuts, not 1 (even though you only move the knife once, you are cutting two distinct parts of the sandwich). In fact, I first put 2 before I put 1. you are totally right though: it was way too hard to figure out the relative width of the sandwich vs the box.
 
To Backlash:
This is going to sound like splitting hairs.

#113: Your point is taken, but since there's no curved matches, it's really all about visual representation. It's not really a C if all the parts are vertical/horizontal at 90 degree right angles either. And if you put the match at the top (like I said I did) then it stops looking like a G, which was my line of thinking. C's are curved up somewhat on both the top and bottom ends - just look at this font I'm using. And I still think that it was smarter thinking on my part to just move the top mark of the T over in order to turn it into a T. But again, no big deal. I knew what the answer was, it just took 3 tries since the game is looking for one specific answer.

#55: We're kind of looking at "cut" differently. To me, it's not cuts in noun form, such as "two cuts of beef." It's cut in verb form - "make one cut." Assuming the knife is big enough, it could have stretched the entire length of the sandwich (think of one of those giant blades on a paper cutter, or just a large butcher's knife), and then you just make one motion and end up cutting off the tips.

Now, I guess what I'm supposed to assume is that the knife has a short blade and thus couldn't stretch the entire vertical length of the sandwich. In which case, I think you're closer to being right. Even if I took a short knife and made one swift motion (and thus, one cut), you could argue that the knife would leave the bread entirely, drag across the plate/cutting board, and then slice off the second tip, which is indeed two different cuts. (But again, if the blade is big enough and you hold it entirely level, then you're making one cut all at once, but it ends up with two pieces.)

The game's logic is sort of pitting a noun versus verb thing and how you interpret it, as well as the length of the knife. If I had been shown a small little simple butter knife or something, then maybe I'd have come to the game's conclusion. And this is all pretty much due to the face that there wasn't a valid size representation.

I guess in the end I still solved it and I don't really care that my method of thought differed with the game's internal logic for both of these puzzles.
 
[quote name='Vegan']The most annoying puzzle for me so far is the matchsticks arranged in the shape of a dog. I had it right, I knew exactly what it wanted me to do, but you have to arrange it EXACTLY the way IT wants you to, even if your arrangement makes just as much sense.
[/QUOTE]

Didn't have any trouble with that one. Wish I could say the same about the weekly download! I've stared at that thing for ages and it still hasn't clicked with me. :bomb:

I'm loving this game though! I'm really FORCING myself to only play it before bedtime so my girlfriend can solve some puzzles too. Such a great game...want...to...play...more...puzzles...
 
Beat the game.

Absolutely exquisite.

Layton is a badass. A total badass. JJJ was right. I am thinking he could take Guybrush Threepwood, Phoenix Wright, and Bernard Bernoulli all at once.

But he can not take on Kyle Hyde. Because no one can take on Kyle Hyde. But I'd wager they'd come to a draw.

As for that blasted seven-square puzzle:
You know it would have HELPED to clarify that you have to use all the pegs. I wouldn't have needed to use any hints if they'd just clarified that. I know all about tilting the squares, so I was already attempting that.

Had the pegs thing been clarified, I probably would have solved it quicker. The thing I know about these kinds of puzzles is that there's always a rule you can bend. So what I was doing was making "figure 8s" as I called them, where you could draw 45 degree tilted squares (as diamonds). But what you'd do is extend one set of the lines beyond the corner/intersection. Then, you'd make a square with the other half. So it was kind of like combo-ing the lines.

It'll be hard to reprsent here, but like this:
/\
\/
/\
\/

But imagine the two middle sections (the X) as two giant lines instead of four small ones. That way, you can use the essentially skip using the peg, which doesn't violate the rules of the puzzle.

But I've railed against this puzzle for a while now, so no use saying much more about it.

I think I've solved 107/8 or so puzzles, and found 115. So I need to go hunt down the remaining five, solve them, fix the painting, create the mechanical dog, and finally fix up their rooms. And then work on any bonus/downloadable content.

This is an extraordinary game. I know twitch hounds and big manly men who think every game needs guns won't like it, and that makes me happy, because I don't want to hear their useless, wrong whining about it.

So again I say that if you don't enjoy this game, I question you having a soul, lest it have been ripped to the abyss by ethereally-clawed monsters from before the universe was born.
 
Yeah, it really takes me back to my days of reading brain teaser books on the playground during recess. That's a warm and fuzzy feeling.

I can't wait for the other two installments.
 
[quote name='Strell']
You know it would have HELPED to clarify that you have to use all the pegs.
[/QUOTE]
There were 28 pegs. A square uses 4 pegs. You need to make 7 squares. 7 x 4 is 28. I think you were supposed to figure that part out for yourself.
 
So, I think we're not getting new DLC until next week. Just noticed that the first puzzle we got was dated 08.02.17 :whistle2:(. So I shall wait till the 24th with high hopes.
 
Dunno if anybody else pointed this out or not - but I really really like the story recap when you resume the game from save. That's a first for me - and definitely enough to launch this game into instant GotY consideration IMO.
 
[quote name='pete5883']
There were 28 pegs. A square uses 4 pegs. You need to make 7 squares. 7 x 4 is 28. I think you were supposed to figure that part out for yourself.
[/QUOTE]

That's how I figured it out. Start by making squares with the oddly-placed pegs, then work with whatever was left over.

And now for something completely different:

I really disliked the story pages....but mainly because I finished the game in a little over a week....and because they weren't skippable (that I could tell). If I had set the game down for two months, and then tried to remember what I was supposed to be doing next, it might have mattered more to me (but I kinda thought that was the whole point of the journal entries). IMO, the story pages at startup just served to hold up the gameplay.
 
[quote name='pete5883']
There were 28 pegs. A square uses 4 pegs. You need to make 7 squares. 7 x 4 is 28. I think you were supposed to figure that part out for yourself.
[/QUOTE]

Like I said earlier in the thread, I found ways that - according to the rules - were completely viable squares that didn't use all the pegs. There wouldn't be an X on the peg, the square didn't have incorrect angles, etc. I got up to 37 on the board at some point.

You can be an ass about it if you want, but that would have clarified it a lot, especially when no previous peg question had that as a requirement.
 
the puzzle on the 4th level of the tower is kicking my ass. No matter what I try, I just can't get the up and down piece to the right of the red piece to the opposite side
 
[quote name='guyjr']Dunno if anybody else pointed this out or not - but I really really like the story recap when you resume the game from save. That's a first for me - and definitely enough to launch this game into instant GotY consideration IMO.[/quote]Think the recap has been done before in other games. I distinctly remember it in one of the GBA Pokemon games and Minish Cap, I think.

So maybe not GotY for that one feature alone but, yes, it is very nice.
 
I'm loving this game even though I've only played for about 1.5 hours. Thank you for this thread. I cleverly disguised buying this game for myself by claiming it was my wife's b-day present (which I immediately snatched away from her after she opened it). Too bad she's several states away with the DS right now :cry:
 
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