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

GSR

Member
I was watching the reveal trailer and Luke and the Storyteller are different. Luke is the version of miracle of mask and the storyteller seems like a tipical rich guy from the time. I like the new design better.

Yeah, that was a pretty early trailer (development started around April 2010 and that trailer was October 2010, if memory serves) so they hadn't pinned down a lot of details yet. For instance, they were considering having Emmy come along as well, so that's part of the reason they put Luke in his prequel trilogy outfit.

(They also considered having Edgeworth and Larry get zapped to Labyrinthia as well, but no go.)
 

mrmickfran

Member
I was going to wait until next paycheck to buy it, but after hearing all this stuff about a low print run, I ordered it immediately. I don't want to have another Xenoblade scenario.

#YOLO
 

Kusagari

Member
I'm not asking for an accurate legal game. If it was, then you would win less than 1% of your cases since Japan has like a 99%+ conviction rate. Cases aren't brought to trial unless they are assured ahead of time that they will win. And of course the lawyers don't do the criminal investigation, cases aren't brought 1-2 days after the murder, etc...

The point I was trying to make is how ridiculous it is for the judge and prosecutor to 100% believe the new lies the witnesses make and the Judge is ready to give a Guilty Verdict when the Witness was previously been shown to be constantly lying. A better take would just to have more witnesses once you destroy the credibility of an initial witness.

It makes more sense in this game than the regular AA series since here
they really are only concerned with getting a guilty verdict for those accused of witchcraft. The bias in this court system is made obvious from the get go. Plus here the judge and Barnham come up with multiple excuses like magic messing with their memories and whatnot.
 
Finished the game.

I was bracing myself for the Layton ultimate-Scooby-Doo ending, except this time it was combined with the Phoenix Wright ultra-schmaltzy ending. It was hard to take.

Is it just me or is there a lot of music in this game? There are 68 tracks on the sound test.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Just beat the game a little while ago myself. It was quite fun to play, I'm glad I stopped playing the import when the English release was announced; gave me a few surprises to play through. :D
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
So I never played any Layton game before but I am a HUGE fan of Phoenix. And we have Maya too in here... <3

I wonder if my total absence of knowledge regarding Layton will hugely impact my enjoyment of this game if I buy it.
 
So I never played any Layton game before but I am a HUGE fan of Phoenix. And we have Maya too in here... <3

I wonder if my total absence of knowledge regarding Layton will hugely impact my enjoyment of this game if I buy it.

Nope, there is zero continuity. You just need to know that Layton, Luke, Maya, and Phoenix are established characters.

It's explained in the game, but

Layton is an archaeologist that solves puzzles and mysteries
Luke is Layton's apprentice, and he can talk to animals

That's about it.
 

Tohsaka

Member
Amazon's "release date delivery" failed me, so I should have my copy today. I probably won't play it yet, though, since I also have Danganronpa 2 coming at the same time.
 

duckroll

Member
So I never played any Layton game before but I am a HUGE fan of Phoenix. And we have Maya too in here... <3

I wonder if my total absence of knowledge regarding Layton will hugely impact my enjoyment of this game if I buy it.

I wouldn't really worry about knowledge about characters with regards to plot. But I do think that not being familiar with the existing quirks of characters in a crossover fanservice thing generally does impact enjoyment. The question is how much. I don't really know that much about Phoenix Wright or the characters, other than the iconic stuff like him pointing and posing a lot in trials. I've finished every single Layton game though. I'm enjoying the game well enough, and I find the trial segments with Wright to have better gameplay than the Layton investigation/puzzle segments. If you know one side of the crossover and you don't outright hate the other side, it should be fine for you too.
 
Ending spoiler

I thought they were going to resolve this but they never did. What happened in Judge's life that made him willing to sign up for a long term brainwashing experiment?

And he doesn't leave Labryinthia at the end of the game, which kind of messes up continuity for PW 4 and on.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Nope, there is zero continuity. You just need to know that Layton, Luke, Maya, and Phoenix are established characters.

It's explained in the game, but

Layton is an archaeologist that solves puzzles and mysteries
Luke is Layton's apprentice, and he can talk to animals

That's about it.

I wouldn't really worry about knowledge about characters with regards to plot. But I do think that not being familiar with the existing quirks of characters in a crossover fanservice thing generally does impact enjoyment. The question is how much. I don't really know that much about Phoenix Wright or the characters, other than the iconic stuff like him pointing and posing a lot in trials. I've finished every single Layton game though. I'm enjoying the game well enough, and I find the trial segments with Wright to have better gameplay than the Layton investigation/puzzle segments. If you know one side of the crossover and you don't outright hate the other side, it should be fine for you too.

Well, I ordered it already, so it should arrive at my house tomorrow.

The allure of Phoenix x Maya is just too strong to ignore, hahaha.

Hopefully this'll be a good game!
 

GSR

Member
Ending spoiler

I thought they were going to resolve this but they never did. What happened in Judge's life that made him willing to sign up for a long term brainwashing experiment?

And he doesn't leave Labryinthia at the end of the game, which kind of messes up continuity for PW 4 and on.

Not the same judge, I don't think.

Also, I made a spoiler thread a while back if people would like to use that for postgame discussion.
 
OMG these special episodes!

Breaking the 4th wall! i can't wait to see em all! Is it like the previous layton's that we will be getting these every week till all 12 are out?
 

Arclaid

Member
OMG these special episodes!

Breaking the 4th wall! i can't wait to see em all! Is it like the previous layton's that we will be getting these every week till all 12 are out?

If it's like the JP/EU release schedule, it should alternate between a special episode and gallery entry every week for 24 weeks.
 
Midway through chapter 5. Game is a lot darker than I was expecting. It definitely feels more like an Ace Attorney game at this point.

I'm liking it a lot more than I thought I would. I'd easily put this above Apollo Justice and (most of) AA2, and depending on how this all wraps up it could be on par with dual destinies and AA1 if it keeps it this strong, which is no small praise. I think it might help that I am a fan of both series.

Both trials so far have kicked absolute ass, and the layton stuff started a bit easy but has picked up in difficulty a bit.
 

ramparter

Banned
So I never played any Layton game before but I am a HUGE fan of Phoenix. And we have Maya too in here... <3

I wonder if my total absence of knowledge regarding Layton will hugely impact my enjoyment of this game if I buy it.

There's a chance you may want to try the Layton games after playing this.
 

Durden77

Member
Starting this up now. I'm a huge AA fan, but I've never played a Layton game. If I'm interested in checking out the series, would it be a good idea to do so before starting this? Or is this a solid introduction to the series?
 

zroid

Banned
Starting this up now. I'm a huge AA fan, but I've never played a Layton game. If I'm interested in checking out the series, would it be a good idea to do so before starting this? Or is this a solid introduction to the series?

I guess it depends. Apparently the Layton sections of this game are simpler than in the others. On one hand, that might make it easier for you to get into as a first-timer. On the other hand, it might put you off from other Layton games if you find it lacking depth.

I would just jump in and give it a go! :p
 

Durden77

Member
I guess it depends. Apparently the Layton sections of this game are simpler than in the others. On one hand, that might make it easier for you to get into as a first-timer. On the other hand, it might put you off from other Layton games if you find it lacking depth.

I would just jump in and give it a go! :p

Did just that! I'm not too concerned about liking the gameplay. More concerned on just if there's character or story stuff involving Layton I wouldn't understand. But I just got to Wright's first section and it's awesome so far.
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
Did just that! I'm not too concerned about liking the gameplay. More concerned on just if there's character or story stuff involving Layton I wouldn't understand. But I just got to Wright's first section and it's awesome so far.

Anything about those characters that you need to know is explained again within the game, so you'll be fine.
 

Hikami

Member
Finally got this, I've been wanting more Ace Attorney.. AA5 + the DLC episode wasn't enough for me.

I only played the first Phoenix Wright game before Dual Destinies, waiting on the 3DS Trilogy to play the rest.

Haven't played any Layton games before though so this should be interesting..
 
Being an AA fan, I was trying to figure out when this game takes place in the AA universe (note that I haven't finished this game yet, I'm on Chapter 7.) At first I thought that it took place in between Reunion, And Turnabout and Farewell, My Turnabout, because (AA1, AA2 and minor PLvAA spoilers)
cross-examining a parrot was familiar to Phoenix, meaning that this is after Turnabout Goodbyes, but (obviously) also after Phoenix and Maya reunite. Phoenix makes a comment in PLvAA about how he's "always" gotten his client off the hook, and maybe I'm being too technical, but that indicates to me that he hasn't gotten Matt Engarde found guilty yet. However, I am starting to doubt this because Maya has started to use Luke Atmey's catchphrase, which she would not have been exposed to until after the range I'd pointed out.

Any thoughts? (Also, let me know if I need to finish the game before thinking about this!)
 

Durden77

Member
I've only just now started getting into chapter 1,
arriving at Labyrinthia
, but wow! So far I'm incredibly impressed with this game! Once again I've never played a Layton game, so I didn't know quite what to expect, but it seems they've really gone out of their way to make this feel like a true cross-over.

For instance, during the prologue section with Layton, I noticed how the text and such was presented, and I was worried that the Ace Attorney sections would be missing the screen flashes, shakes, ect. that give it's presentation a unique style. I was incredibly pleased to see all of that stuff completely intact when switching over to Nick. Not only that, the witness animations and such, all the things that make an AA game exciting, were spot on and wonderful. It really felt like I was playing an AA game!

And so far, I'm loving Layton and Luke. Layton just seems very genuine and respectful, and diving into their world and it's presentation has been very interesting and exciting. I see myself probably digging into that series after this.

God bless the video game gods that this happened. It just seems like a match made in heaven not only for the two worlds, but the developers themselves.
 
I'm happy that you guys liked it so much! I should give the game another chance but I don't want to hate Layton again. Or the shitty save mechanic.
 
I've only just now started getting into chapter 1,
arriving at Labyrinthia
, but wow! So far I'm incredibly impressed with this game! Once again I've never played a Layton game, so I didn't know quite what to expect, but it seems they've really gone out of their way to make this feel like a true cross-over.

For instance, during the prologue section with Layton, I noticed how the text and such was presented, and I was worried that the Ace Attorney sections would be missing the screen flashes, shakes, ect. that give it's presentation a unique style. I was incredibly pleased to see all of that stuff completely intact when switching over to Nick. Not only that, the witness animations and such, all the things that make an AA game exciting, were spot on and wonderful. It really felt like I was playing an AA game!

A lot of the characters use the AA voice beeps, and there's a lot of AA sound effects even during the Layton sections.
 
I'm happy that you guys liked it so much! I should give the game another chance but I don't want to hate Layton again. Or the shitty save mechanic.

Ok, I have to ask: how is "save anywhere, anytime" a shitty save mechanic? Saving anywhere with a prompt to save at the end of a chapter is a feature from both series. Is great for when you screw something up :)
 

spiritfox

Member
It's not when it loads you at the start of the section instead of exactly where you were. It's annoying during the trials sections, especially when you're trying to guess the answer.
 
Well, there is a hint coin system if you're having so much difficulty with the trials you resort to save spamming.

Otherwise I don't really see a problem with starting a few sentences back in dialog. It's really nice to have context when you resume the game after a while.

It would be better if they had a button to show all the dialog history. A lot of DS adventure games have been adding this recently and I really missed it in this game.
 

Tizoc

Member
So I never played any Layton game before but I am a HUGE fan of Phoenix. And we have Maya too in here... <3

I wonder if my total absence of knowledge regarding Layton will hugely impact my enjoyment of this game if I buy it.

You'll be OK, at the very least you would need knowledge of the first Layton and PW games before playing this. Go for it and get ready for some hilarious court/witch trails.
 

Durden77

Member
That's one thing Dual Destinies added which I wish was in all the Ace Attorneys.

Indeed. A great addition. Very notcibly absent when it's not there now.

Also, while the Layton gameplay is different from your standard AA investigations, I'm diggin it. Very streamlined and quick, compared to AA's detailed but a bit rough mechanics. And I'm likin most of the puzzles so far too.

A lot of the characters use the AA voice beeps, and there's a lot of AA sound effects even during the Layton sections.

Started noticing this after getting back to the Layton section. Kind of weird hearing those effects when using Layton, but cool. I'm sure it will be even cooler when they become more of a team.

Man...it's so weird seeing Nick and Maya so out of their elements. Just had my first encounter with them with Layton. This be gettin crazy...
 

ohlawd

Member
spoilers for chapter 4, part 2

lmao at the double objection with gold Layton and Phoenix. Luke with the assist, pure gold.

This game is fucking ace. So nice.

edit: WHAT THE FUCK
 
so this game was announced 4 fucking years ago and now it's finally in my grubby hands

but it doesn't matterrrrr because i'm in court with maya holy shit!!!!
 

SoulUnison

Banned
I'm only on the first trial segment with him, but, holy crap. I'm enjoying Barnham *so* much more than I ever did Blackquill.

Also, it's jarring how Phoenix is the worst looking character in the game. everyone else made the transition to this art style beautifully, and the original characters in particular - there hasn't been a design I haven't liked yet. Their names are a bit more straightforward and not as clever as I'm used to from Ace Attorney, though. I groaned at "Darklaw."
 

Cody_D165

Banned
I'm only on the first trial segment with him, but, holy crap. I'm enjoying Barnham *so* much more than I ever did Blackquill.

Also, it's jarring how Phoenix is the worst looking character in the game. everyone else made the transition to this art style beautifully, and the original characters in particular - there hasn't been a design I haven't liked yet. Their names are a bit more straightforward and not as clever as I'm used to from Ace Attorney, though. I groaned at "Darklaw."

Yeah Barnham really shines. I'm tempted to even call him one of my favorite prosecutors (he's definitely my favorite "Inquisitor" :p)
 

Durden77

Member
Also, it's jarring how Phoenix is the worst looking character in the game. everyone else made the transition to this art style beautifully, and the original characters in particular - there hasn't been a design I haven't liked yet. Their names are a bit more straightforward and not as clever as I'm used to from Ace Attorney, though. I groaned at "Darklaw."

While he looked a lot better in DD, he still looked really weird when facing directly at you to me though.

Phoenix just can't seem to jump into 3D as he should.
 
Does saving hint coins or picart points or whatever they are count for anything in the end or should I just use them up as I please? Cause so far in Layton sections if I don't solve the puzzle relatively fast I just look up the answer. I feel like I gotta save the coins.
 

MattyG

Banned
This probably isn't a good place to ask this, but I'm assuming that most of you guys know the answer; Gamestop has Prof. Layton and The Miracle Mask for $10, and I'm interested in Layton Vs Wright. I plan on catching up on the Phoenix Wright games ons the HD trilogy releases, but I've never played a Layton game. Should I play them all, in order, or should I just start with whatever I can find for the cheapest?
 
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.

This probably isn't a good place to ask this, but I'm assuming that most of you guys know the answer; Gamestop has Prof. Layton and The Miracle Mask for $10, and I'm interested in Layton Vs Wright. I plan on catching up on the Phoenix Wright games ons the HD trilogy releases, but I've never played a Layton game. Should I play them all, in order, or should I just start with whatever I can find for the cheapest?

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.
 
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