Layton's Mystery Journey (3DS/iOS/Android)

[Klinsy]

So, the story of Hershel Layton has been told ... but that doesn't mean the series is over, nope, there is still more puzzles to be solved!

A new Professor Layton game has been announced, however, the professor himself will not be the star this time and this is a different product than the previously announced Layton 7, details are scare right now, but we will learn more at Level 5 Vision, till then, have some concept art. 

[AlphaRuby]

So, guessing from the art, it's about 3 people planning to escape London on a boat?

[sonicgirl313]

Wait if it's not going to feature Layton, why even bother calling it a Layton game. I could understand it being a spin-off being set in the Layton universe kind of like Mystery Room.

[Salamander]

Is it me, or is Layton kind of a cash-in franchise that's been overexploited?  They churned out a heck of a lot of games which seem to me to have shown gradually diminishing understanding of the appeal of the original, and this is, what, the third spin-off that attempts to use the Layton name on a game which won't include Layton?  This is a franchise I really want to like, but whenever I've brushed with it I've never come away entirely happy.

[sonicgirl313]

1 minute ago, FFWF said:

Is it me, or is Layton kind of a cash-in franchise that's been overexploited?  They churned out a heck of a lot of games which seem to me to have shown gradually diminishing understanding of the appeal of the original, and this is, what, the third spin-off that attempts to use the Layton name on a game which won't include Layton?  This is a franchise I really want to like, but whenever I've brushed with it I've never come away entirely happy.

There's more than one Layton spin-off? The only one of know of is Mystery Room and it technically has Layton in it. He's not seen but none the less he's part of the story, especially since one of the main characters is his son Alfendi Layton (wonder if Level 5 will ever reveal if Alfendi is his biological son or adopted.)

[Salamander]

Mystery Room appears to be a very good game but the Layton name was blatantly slapped onto a game which originally had nothing to do with him (and its original announcement backs this up).  The other game I was thinking of is Layton 7, a kind of werewolf game which seems to have had similarly little to do with Layton as a character or a game series, though radio silence suggests the possibility of it having been cancelled.

[Marcello]

Maybe Luke will be the main character in this.

Also, glad to see a new Layton game.

[pppp]

30 minutes ago, FFWF said:

Is it me, or is Layton kind of a cash-in franchise that's been overexploited?  They churned out a heck of a lot of games which seem to me to have shown gradually diminishing understanding of the appeal of the original, and this is, what, the third spin-off that attempts to use the Layton name on a game which won't include Layton?  This is a franchise I really want to like, but whenever I've brushed with it I've never come away entirely happy.

If Level-5 just wanted to make money they would make more Yo-Kai Watch games, not a new Layton game, the reason they make them is cause they're passionate about making them. If you don't like the series that's fine, but please make sure you know what you're talking about before you make claims like that. Layton hasn't made much money since the original trilogy.

No need to come here to try to ruin this for us.

[AlphaRuby]

But what about his son...?

From what I heard, a spin-off game had Layton's son be the protagonist (and who is apparently not very nice), indicating that Layton knows much more about archaeology than he does parenting.

Yet his daughter seems to have turned out OK. Wow, is the series kinda portraying him as havng favoritism...? O_O 

 

In other news, it's  gonna have the traditional Layton style gameplay and puzzles.

[Salamander]

Well, it actually looks like it was designed to be a Layton game, unlike Layton Bros. - and on that note it will be interesting to see if they acknowledge Ms. Catoleil's canon brother Alfendi or leave him to languish in the depths of mobile forever.  I wasn't sure about her hat at first, but it grew on me over the course of the trailer, and it's interesting that she appears to outright be a detective rather than being an academic and archeologist moonlighting as a detective.

[AlphaRuby]

Trailer for Lady Layton

[The Tenth Doctor]

I'm a bit confused about how she hears the dog. Only Luke could talk to animals, don't tell me Layton got with Luke.

[pppp]

2 hours ago, dwibs93 said:

But what about his son...?

From what I heard, a spin-off game had Layton's son be the protagonist (and who is apparently not very nice), indicating that Layton knows much more about archaeology than he does parenting.

Yet his daughter seems to have turned out OK. Wow, is the series kinda portraying him as havng favoritism...? O_O 

 

In other news, it's  gonna have the traditional Layton style gameplay and puzzles.

The game looks alot of fun, can't wait for it. As for favoritism, even though Layton Brothers was awesome, I don't think Hino considers it canon since he only produced that game. It's probably just a "What if Layton had a son?" thing in his mind. Lady Layton is the actual followup to the original series, so as far as the main series is concerned, Layton only had a daughter. That's what I think is the deal.

 

2 minutes ago, The Tenth Doctor said:

I'm a bit confused about how she hears the dog. Only Luke could talk to animals, don't tell me Layton got with Luke.

From what I can tell, apparently this dog actually talks like humans, everyone can understand it.

[JezMM]

While her design is nice, a small part of me wishes they had resisted the urge to give her anime eyes like all the other "attractive" female Layton characters and instead let her inherit her father's bead eyes.

But then again his face is so unique in the series the result would probably just look like Layton in a dress lol.

[pppp]

2 minutes ago, JezMM said:

While her design is nice, a small part of me wishes they had resisted the urge to give her anime eyes like all the other "attractive" female Layton characters and instead let her inherit her father's bead eyes.

But then again his face is so unique in the series the result would probably just look like Layton in a dress lol.

Don't forget that Hershel has his mother's eyes, so Catriel probably does too. It's always the mother's eyes xD

[AlphaRuby]

1 hour ago, pppp said:

Don't forget that Hershel has his mother's eyes, so Catriel probably does too. It's always the mother's eyes xD

Unless you fuck up that detail like in HP8...

But I wonder if characters from the original series will make a small cameo.

[pppp]

1 minute ago, dwibs93 said:

Unless you fuck up that detail like in HP8...

But I wonder if characters from the original series will make a small cameo.

They're probably saving a big Hershel cameo for a big emotional moment.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

5 hours ago, dwibs93 said:

But what about his son...?

From what I heard, a spin-off game had Layton's son be the protagonist (and who is apparently not very nice), indicating that Layton knows much more about archaeology than he does parenting.

Yet his daughter seems to have turned out OK. Wow, is the series kinda portraying him as havng favoritism...? O_O 

 

In other news, it's  gonna have the traditional Layton style gameplay and puzzles.

I guess a true gentlemen shows a lady more attention, and that was Layton's parenting style :U

[sonicgirl313]

So this means Layton has and this is counting Flora, 3 kids. How did Phoenix end up the better parent again?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

47 minutes ago, sonicgirl313 said:

So this means Layton has and this is counting Flora, 3 kids. How did Phoenix end up the better parent again?

More offspring does not a better parent,  make!

[Salamander]

I haven't seen an English-subbed trailer for Lady Layton yet, but here's a detail I've seen only in a Crunchyroll article and nowhere else: Catriel "initially got into this line of work to find out where her father disappeared to. When progress isn't going so hot on that mystery, she takes on odd detective work around town".  In short, Layton's absence is actually significant to the plot.

Edit: There's an official English blurb that gives us an actual localised name for Lady Layton (Katrielle wins) and a release window of next year:

As one of LEVEL-5’s masterpieces, the PROFESSOR LAYTON series of puzzle adventure games has sold more than 15.5 million units worldwide to date. Its newest official sequel, Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadone’s Conspiracy — available on Nintendo 3DS/Android/iOS — was announced to be released in Spring 2017 in Japan. Not only will the main character switch from ‘Professor Layton’ (Hershel Layton) to ‘Kat’ (Katrielle Layton), many of its characters will be brand new. The story will focus less on dynamic problem-solving and more on solving multiple mystery cases observed in the everyday lives of Londoners, which will bring a faster tempo and more comical tone to the series. It will be more familiar — and funnier — than ever, while maintaining an adventurous quality. The creators of the puzzles and brain-teasers, the core element of the series, will also be new. Please look forward to the new PROFESSOR LAYTON series, targeting a Western release in 2017.

..."Ariadone"?

[sonicgirl313]

You know it's funny how both of Layton's children pretty much solve mysteries with Alfendi as an Inspector and Katrielle as a Detective.

Though on a side note, this is sparking a whole bunch of idea for my story "Be Happy Sister."

[Salamander]

And there's now a(n unofficial) English-subbed trailer:

It seems we can look forward to more absurd revelations.

[AlphaRuby]

My issue with the series as a whole is that, for the most part it relies on logic to build up the solving of the mystery and its tone is mostly down to earth, but then at the end, the revelation is so out there and the tone turns to absurd mode, it kinda feels out of place. Not to mention I think Hino just isn't good at trying to balance wackiness with down-to-earthiness, and is better at having one consistent tone all the way through (Yo-Kai Watch, for example).

It's mostly for the original trilogy, the prequel ones did dial down on the wackiness which I appreciated, only for the crossover to bring the "out there-iness" back with a vengeance and helped to really cripple that game's story near the end.

But, I am confident that whoever is writing this one (I'm guessing Hino and the writing staff) will have learned from the previous mistakes the other game's made.

[Salamander]

I admire the contrivance of a big, ambitious twist, but I felt that quite a few Layton twists were less plausible than the premise they were meant to be explaining.  However, then you have games like Miracle Mask, where the big twist is that the person wearing the mask is the person it was obviously going to be all along...  I hope the writers for Lady Layton will be able to strike a balance between "surprising" and "believeable."