Completed: Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

I have had this game half finished for a long time... i mean i bought it new.... played it a ton and then went to college and got other games and pushed it to the side until today.

So we find our Hero hershal Layton and his apprentice Luke involved in yet another puzzling mystery. They receive a letter from someone claiming to be from the future... well something as mysterious as that can not be ignored by this great puzzle solving master. so he goes with his apprentice as well as flora (the girl from the first game) and try to figure out what on earth is going on.
along the way they evntually arrive in the future and meet with someone who sais he's Luke but 10 years further in the future...
curiouser and curiouser.

i wont say much more except that if you have played any of the other games you can guess the plot twist pretty quick but i promise you wont get it completely right.

The good:
This is a puzzle game.... the puzzles are good... not greatest ever and no mind blown moment of one of the earlier games but still fun and challenging (though a little more on that later).
the story is cute and sweet and it mostly serves as a vehicle to get the plot moving so in the end it does it's job and never feels unwelcome or useless...
there is one part of he game that makes you think it may be a puzzle... you are given a clue of where to go next.... i thought the game would let me figure it out.... the game felt it should explain it to me in the next scene.... hm...
it's a decent pick up and play a few minutes game...
the music is really good, they changed the majority of the puzzle music from the first two games which is kinda a bummer but near the end you get really good and slightly faster versions of those songs and yeah just all around great score.

The not so good:
if your only good at some types of puzzles some of these may piss you off.... there are a few were the wording could be made a little clearer or the rules could be a bit more defined. the biggest offender to me were the stamp puzzles.... had they let me physically use the stamp instead of just checking off which ones i would use i wouldn't have been so pisses about them.
however on the flip side this one has a lot of 3d thinking puzzles and reversing the image or rotating the ds which i'm really good at so.... i can't complain too much

The bad.... but only for me:
as i say before i got this game new.....
how is that bad?
well the first two games i bought used.... both of them had a file called Greg on them and both times he kicked my ass time wise...
i'm more then a little competitive so some of the magic of the game was lost when i couldn't compete against 'greg'.... but the game was new and i didn't wanna wait even though it took more then 2 years for me to sit down and actually beat it.
i was in a friendly competition with my friend but
a) college and work took all free time away so yeah.... she pretty much automatically won
b) because i wasn't rushing i really spent a lot of time with this one... though i never did finish those toy car and parrot puzzles.... ugh... sorry they just weren't fun for me : (

but yeah these puzzle games are so much fun, a little sillier then your average puzzle game but hey thats what makes it all the more fun.

also the style of the animation and characters is just a joy, may try doing some of my characters like that for fun... thought i said the same about ghost trick and figured out it's really hard and will take a lot of practice to get my brain working like that.

alright onto play either vesperia, nayuta no kiseki or dragon quest 5 so my friend doesn't try to kill me for having his games for too long.

or i could art for a while... haven't decided yet.... hm....

side note: i do have the 3ds layton game and the second i find the missing DS games for the series i will get those too... for now the game store i live by was sold out..... maybe i'll get to play Greg one more........

Completed: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Normally I have random little anecdotes about how i came across a game or past history with certain titles.....
not this one.... see this is all thanks to a good friend of mine. See he picks up everything that looks remotely interesting... a chunk of his collection is still in seran wrap cause he just doesn't have tiem to play all these games.  However he said recently he was really into Visual novel style games and first he lent me 999:Nine persons, nine hours,nine doors. but i already wrote a review on that.... (long story short it's really good and you should go play it before the sequel comes out in october)... he also lent me two others games but that doesn't add to this story.... anyways after i returned it he immediately handed me this game: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective... and i proceeded to not play it for a good few weeks... with good reason.... i was reading a few novels and painting and starting a new job so i just didn't have time.
then a few days ago i decided time to pop it in and give this game a try.

1) why did it take me so long to hear of this games existance?
2) why did it take me so long to play it?
3) why is it so short?
4) how can it be this amazing?

um... yeah i really liked it... the style, the animation, the story, the twists (which I did see coming BUT not exactly) and that ending.... simply wonderful.

hm.... how to describe without spoilers.

You have just died (the game is called Ghost Trick so i count this as not a spoiler), it sucks and you can't change your fate, however you can change the fate of a girl who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. With your new abilities as a ghost you can manipulate objects and save a life... hell it may even help you remember who you are since being newly dead means you can't remember your past...
however you have to try and remember your past before Dawn since thats when Ghosts disappear.
You meet a colourful cast of characters in hopes of finding yourself... too bad things never that easy and the more you try to find out about yourself... the less you seem to know.

and yeah saying any more then that would be giving away the pure fun that is this game.
Seriously if you have a way to play DS games or you find this on IOS play it! it's made by Capcom who also made the point and click gem known as the Ace Attorney series. It is really good but unfortunately around 6-8 hours long and if you are good at these type of puzzles you may be able to finish even faster.

oh i should mention it's an action based point and click puzzle game / visual novel.
at least thast how it felt to me... it probably gets labeled under 'adventure game' which i guess gets the point across but i like my description better...

now to sketch my character in the art style of this game for fun... cause the art style is so cool

Completed: Professor layton: and the Diabolical Box

Originally posted July 31, 2011 on tumblr


this one had such a cute story… a lot more slider puzzles but still this game was a great deal of fun… and that final puzzle when it clicked (which didn’t take very long) made me cry out “you son of a bitch… i would never have guessed that…. except i did… hmm”
great game…. probably going to be KH BBS then go back to it…. good to take breaks from puzzle games
also the music is great…. just saying.

Completed: Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Originally posted May 19 2011 on tumblr


I feel like i earned this one… so yeah it’s a puzzle game from 2007. it’s got great music, interesting design and most importantly…. challenging puzzles… yes some are simple as long as you read the instructions and use logic but others will have you ripping your hair our in frustration while you hold back tears….
wait i’m the only one who felt that way about the last puzzle? hmmmm….
but yeah my only gripe is length…. 135 puzzles will last you a little while…. but i mean i beat it within three days of picking it up and i had two fairly busy days.
also i am sad… see i got the game used so i have a save file already on it which says nice and clear.
Greg - 11 hours 135/135 puzzles completed.
i tried desperately to beat this time… how did i do? 15 hours >< my competitive nature is crying
oh well lots of fun, i am looking forward to finding the second and third game but i think a day or two away from puzzles will be good for me…. i’ll be hearing the tune that’s played during puzzles in my dreams for weeks
i do kinda wish that there were more 3x3 or 4x4 slider puzzles…. thanks to avalon code i’m really good at those now (it’s about 50% of the game… if you want the good items) … oh well maybe in the next two. (four if they bring out the latest release and the crossover with ace attorney game)
maybe i should finish persona 4 or luminous arc two next…. hmmm….