Nachimir

Professor Layton and the Underpant Pillage

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Has anyone else tried Professor Layton and The Curious Village yet? It came out around February in the US and is expected to be released here later this year.

Most of the people I know with DSes either picked it up while at GDC or couldn't wait and downloaded it.

It's basically a collection of lots and lots of puzzles, but connected by a story, which makes it way more interesting than things like Brain training. The art is really nicely done, the style is like a lot of 80's european animation (think Mysterious Cities of Gold, etc).

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I'm one of those who picked it up while at GDC. It's a great time-waster (definitely more of a puzzle game than an adventure game); the art style is lovely and when combined with the characters the package has a certain warmth to it that does enough to obscure the fact that many of the the puzzles are quite disconnected and arbitrary, though no less fun for it really.

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It's a great time-waster (definitely more of a puzzle game than an adventure game)

Yes, there have been loads of collections of minigames, but this one actually does enough to connect them well. The long term puzzles in the professor's chest go some way to doing that too.

The puzzles are diverting enough, but I think the reason I like it is because it's really well designed. There have been a couple of rubbish puzzles where the answer seemed arbitrary, but overall nothing annoys me about it. The way they've structured the end of one chapter, the save prompt and the start of the next to have a slight gap between them gives it nice pacing, and I find it also sucks me in (i.e. "just a little bit more").

The animation style is, of course, 80's Japanese ;)

How embarrassing. I knew it was made in Japan and dubbed into French before English, but... d'oh! :)

I've been trying to think of other cartoons I watched in this style as a kid. It's familiar enough that there must have been plenty, but my mind is a blank on their names.

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Well 'Mysterious Cities of Gold' as well as 'Ulysse 31' were French-japanese production, so you're kinda right Nachimir.

So, is this an adventure game or not ? I hated the Touch Detective game; is it difficult in the same way ?

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I've not played touch detective.

Bits of it are like adventure games. There are lots of optional puzzles and bonuses you can hunt and peck for, and you do navigate from one screen to the next around a map, but it doesn't have the same kind of puzzle and inventory system that involves rubber chickens and pulleys. They're all kind of self contained. It's just the art and story that ties them together.

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It's a great time-waster (definitely more of a puzzle game than an adventure game)

Why have I become Nick? Oh what cruel and twisted fate befalls me!

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I hated the Touch Detective game; is it difficult in the same way ?

No idea, but there's actually a playable demo on the official website (yes, your mouse pointer is the DS stick thing), so it might give you an idea?

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Cool info thanks! Twas nice, but one last question : is it full on non-branching dialogs like Phoenix Wright ? It's not that I don't like them, I'm just not really in the mood for lots of those currently.

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Why have I become Nick? Oh what cruel and twisted fate befalls me!

I'm just full of fail in this thread :getmecoat

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Why have I become Nick? Oh what cruel and twisted fate befalls me!

You lucky, lucky boy.

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To me the game stopped being fun when you started doing the same puzzles again and again, only harder, and most of them were math problems...

Not to mention I saw the ending coming halfway through the game... ;(

I wonder how the sequel will be? More of the same? I hope not!

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I finished it last night. I don't mind puzzle variants, but the ending was a bit rubbish.

The way Profesor Layton could reveal all the mysteries as they were climbing the tower seemed rushed. There was no real revelation, just him talking

The antagonist was utter shit too, and in the brief periods he showed up in the game even contradicted himself:

He said in his first appearance that he was going to steal the apple when Leyton and the kid had found it, yet tried to kill them with the big wheel before they had. WTF?

Reminds me of something I was once told about writing for games (Can't remember who by or where I read it): Because they're told almost entirely from the protagonist's perspective, antagonists often suffer from a lack of development due to low time on screen. As a result, game stories often create melodrama rather than drama, and that's definitely the case with Prof. Layton.

They didn't even try! Just prof Layton, once villain was unmasked, saying "Oh yes, I've heard of this guy. Evil chap. Genius, but had his science license revoked. This is just the kind of thing he'd get up to".

I can't even remember his name. During the end I was looking at him thinking "Why the fuck are you here?".

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Dammit all week I have been reading this title as Underpant Village...

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Yeah, it was awesome. No need to dig up this old thread just to say that, though.

Anyway, does anyone know when the sequels are released in English?

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the game was awesome, the best DS game I own

and yes, where are the sequels

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Anyway, does anyone know when the sequels are released in English?

I'm pretty sure it was a massive hit, right? Surely they should be scrambling over themselves to translate the sequels!

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It sells out pretty much the instant we get it at work. I've been waiting to pounce on my own copy for a while now. You'd think working at a store with a games department this would be easy, but alas... :frusty:

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Not to be a jerk, but I hope they don't make a total of six games. Three is fine.

you don't have to play the games if you don't want to

jerk

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