K guys. If you want to play Layton 2 and haven't done so yet, avert your eyes. For those of you who have finished it or are only interested in Layton as a pop culture reference, please proceed.
Overall, I adored the game. I would argue that it was better than the first in terms of characters, though the cameos from the first game carried a lot of weight. It was a little weaker with its pacing of animation sequences, since I often felt like what I was watching was a more active reiteration of whatever I had just read/heard in the dialogue. It was only PERFECT during the next-to-last puzzle, since I did not expect the sudden transition from animation to puzzle. It just... kind've pops up and I literally lol'd. "A WARRIOR ALWAYS KEEPS HIS SWORD IN HAND" "*POING*" I solved that puzzle in, like, 10 seconds too, even though it was worth 50 picarats =/.
And I freaking panicked when I kept hearing people here foreshadow a "terrible plot twist". Ugh, you guys, it WASN'T that bad. It was quite appropriate and actually allowed the relevant part of the ending to come through. I cried during the ending, too, and I DON'T cry during anything. I think people say "OMG HALLUCINOGENIC GAS HOW LAME" and... just kind've let that one minor detail that has nothing to do with the theme of the game spoil the ending for them. Not saying that they didn't get anything out of it, but I have heard an awful lot of complaining about it.
I would like to state that there weren't any contradictions with the hallucinogenic gas. If you think about it, there wasn't any real evidence that Katia saw what we saw- she may have seen everything for what it was the entire time. While Layton had bits and pieces figured out, he wasn't completely sure what was going on until Katia explained everything to Anton. Anton was deliberately living in the hallucination and Luke just doesn't figure things out quickly. Arguably, Layton may should have seen Anton's true nature a few moments before it was shown since we are primarily playing from his perspective and not Luke's, but it's no worse than the fudging that directors do in other great movies/games for the sake of suspenseful and dramatic pacing.
In case this is an issue as well, it makes perfect sense that Layton and Luke should have seen the young Anton because they did have a preconception of what he looked like from the family portrait in the museum. I can't really justify Nigel, who is a minor character after all, but when the two protagonists knew they were seeing the current Duke Herzen and heard all of the rumors about town of him not having aged, it makes sense that they saw Anton as they did.
The only thing that made me go a little =/ was that Dr. Schrader woke up. He just wasn't that important by the end. But seeing the Professor wink
was 100% worth it.
OKAY, now for some general pros and cons.
Pros:
+: The fact that they can't say the word "pregnant" in an E10+ game. It's so funny that it qualifies as a pro.
+: Anton's voice. Oh baby. I heard some butthurt over this as well, but he really did sound like a vampire to me, so I preferred that over some stereotyped accent. In addition, his voice as an old man was perfect.
+: Folsense. Between the introduction sounds of each chapter, the music when you return to the parked train car, or just the vibrantly lit, yet oppressively empty and frightening atmosphere of the last town, this game demonstrated excellent skill in the fright department. The game was still innocent enough, but I felt my hair stand up on end at times.
+: Integrating puzzles into the storyline. Made the ending sequence of animations sooo much more rewarding and, throughout the game, it ensured even more Layton-and-Luke artwork than before, since we'd see them drawn into the puzzles.
+: The fact that they even managed to have puzzles of a quality comparable to those in the previous title. Consistency in quality is a very, very good thing.
+: The scene where, you know, Anton tied up the Professor in ropes and talked about drinking his blood. Preemptive con -: The fact that it didn't actually happen. Oh, and that a minor was present. D= Ffff Luke.
I don't like yaoi plz, but oh baby.
Cons:
-: Some of the puzzles. There were literally 2 or 3 puzzles in which I had to guess my OBJECTIVE, so I just kept putting in random stuff until I got the question right. There were even more puzzles that would have benefited from better wording.
-: Hints. OMG, they were so bad in this game. The first one would either restate the puzzle with little variation or tell me to look again. By the time you get to the third hint, it either tells you the answer or a one-step method for finding it. This wasn't true with all puzzle hints, but it definitely became an unwelcome trend.
-: I found plenty of reasons to like Anton, but I never really liked Katia. I only liked her because I liked Anton, and I liked him and Sophia much more than her own character.
-: I constantly missed the Curious Village theme. D=
Overall, Layton has finally become a "series" to me now that it has two games, and it indeed ranks up there as one of my favorites for whenever I list them for people. I am looking foward to the next installment and any news on the Eternal Diva coming to the US. There is no limit to how much I recommend this game and its predeccessor to anyone who's considering picking them up. If, like me, you weren't satisfied with Brain Age and Big Brain Academy, this is your second shot at "smart" video gaming. It actually works in that it challenges you to think abstractly, yet it's not impossible as I was able to solve all puzzles that I found without the help of an FAQ (the same is true of the last game). As with anything else, you won't be the best at every kind of puzzle, but that's why you're giving hint options.
Sin Blue-Eyes White Dragon
Wow!
