I'm currently trying it. Impressions to follow... -I think the translation has some issues. "It were him" " she were somewhere" are just a few examples... Not game breaking but not what I expected from Level 5... (Disregard! See below for explanation) -It's not the prof. layton experience you know and love. You are not solving puzzles, rather you find objects in crime scenes and use your wits to find the killer. It's more like Phoenix Wright thus far! -The game doesn't save your progress when you exit. It uses a checkpoint system instead.
Just finished the first case. The jazz soundtrack is outstanding, and the dialogue is definitely professionally written, with none of the awkward translation or language issues that often pop up in these kinds of games. The first case is basically a tutorial and not overly difficult, but it's actually still pretty lengthy for what it is; the case itself also cleverly handled and is one of those bizarre stories that wouldn't be out of place as an episode of Murder, She Wrote (or Castle). There also seems to be an overarching secondary storyline that continues between the cases, but I'm not far enough in to comment on that. The gameplay itself revolves around searching crime scenes for clues (you pan, rotate and zoom around areas to find clues to add to your files), interviewing suspects, answering questions based on your deductions, eliminating possibilities, and generally trying to solve the case based on logic, rather than puzzles. The actual game is less like the Professor Layton puzzle games, and more like Phoenix Wright if the courtroom and exploration sections from that series were merged together. This is the only game so far this week that I'm even remotely interested in. Guess the next big week will be, well, next week, what with the sales and all.
Maybe! It was indeed by the same character (at least I think it was...) but there are also a few answers that don't sound natural and a bit out of place. Don't get me wrong, most of the translation is flawless and well written but that was just... odd for a lack of a better term.
The use of language (e.g. "it were") is intentional, and not a mistake. Several characters speak in national or regional dialects (a number of Baker's verbal cues paint her as being from the Midlands or Northern England, for example), hence the seemingly odd phrasing if you're unfamiliar with the area and its patterns of speech. These aren't errors; I haven't yet found a line that doesn't make sense in the context of the character speaking it.
You're correct! Later on she uses more expression that are typical of a certain region/dialect. My bad
It's a much more limitying experience (gathering clues per case, not a huge story arc or travel like Layton and his team) but a great puzzler nonetheless. I am SO happy they ported it to English. That said: I am more anxiously awaiting Jacob Jones episode 2. That is more Laytonesque in it's storytelling mixed with puzzle book puzzles.
Same here on the Jacob Jones bit. Jacob Jones is a fantastic puzzle adventure game, and i cant wait for Ep2.
Well, that's not exactly true, as the game "season" definitely does have an overarching plot beyond the individual case "episodes" themselves.
