#layton youre back!

[animemoonlight]

I screamed my husband was so concerned until I explained i screamed because I'm overjoyed for a new layton game.

Professor Layton and The New World of Steam

[skitskatstudios]

Obsessed with how Professor Layton is set up with the vibes of having something mystical and surreal afoot, but EVERY mystery has a very specific, logical (???), non-magical resolution. It’s a science fiction story masquerading as a nostalgic urban fantasy.

But also Luke can talk to animals. There is no science behind how. He just can.

[another-clive-blog]

Why are we as a fandom not talking more about this scene ??

Clive is literally asking the professor to come back and stop him. Like this isn't him pretending to be Future Luke : he looks genuinely upset/displeased even after the professor promises to come back. He only goes back to smiling after the professor says, and I quote "I wouldn't dream of leaving things here in that state" before talking about stopping his future self. Clive wants confirmation that Layton is actually going to confront the bad guys, that he won't just solve the mystery but fix it too.

And this is literally so important. Clive's speech at the end, about getting saved. This is concrete proof that he had truly meant it from the start, because he's asking for Layton to stop him and thus save everyone here. Which, hey- he didn't just hope and wait to get saved, he tried to save himself too.

Yep, that's right. The game talks about how dangerous it was for Clive to bring Layton underground : it doesn't talk about how even more dangerous it was to let him leave. He could have brought back cops (he did). He could have gathered precious knowledge out there (he did). He could have never come back (and yet he did !!). Clive letting Layton leave is the biggest threat to his plan, and yet HE DID. And you know what else he did ? Make Layton promise to stop him. You can't make a clearer call for help, you just can't.

"Oh but it doesn't make his crimes more forgivable, now does it-" of course not. This isn't about Clive's redemption, it's about Clive trying to avoid needing a redemption : his efforts are vain the moment he started using the fortress. But. There were efforts.

[adapotata]

Listen I need them to stop leaving Flora places, isn’t she Layton’s legal ward after the first game? Stop ditching her?

“Oh it’s dangerous” THEN DON’T BRING LUKE????

[darklight-owl]

Wtf did Dimitri mean "molecular instability". Was Claire's body dipping in and out of the blast? Did warm breezes feel like fire on her skin? Did the cold night air smell like smoke? Did the sunrise look like the flash of an explosion? Did she feel her body turning to ash, only to realize she was still alive?

I... I need to lie down.

[aquamarineglow]

It's a miracle that I've had this blog nearly ten years, and never ran out of Rook and Bishop content to make. Amazing.

Hypothetically of course. We know their fights are exclusively verbal.

[transannabeth]

for anyone who wanted them, i have officially uploaded all of my nancy drew vods to youtube! that's 92 videos of me not just being terrible at nancy drew, but also constantly glitching and breaking the game

[sophapop]

Slight warning for blood

•

•

'Kill your darlings...'

[plposting]

After Azran Legacy Descole was left with a lot of clothes, personal items, and various souvenir trinkets left behind by the other former passengers of the Bostonious none of which was ever properly retrieved due to the groups sudden parting.

Rather than throwing it all out Descole has been trying to covertly return all items back to their original owners and because it’s Descole he’s probably returning the objects and whatnot in the most complicated way possible over a period of time.

Auroras stuff in particular remains safely stored in a box on the Bostonious.

[101flavoursofweird]

Eh?!

From what I can remember, we’ve never had a main character in the series who was just straight up bad at solving puzzles. All the main characters with ‘correct’ animations obviously can solve puzzles, as the player solves puzzles. But what about the players who had to look up a lot of the answers to puzzles? Like me

I’d like to volunteer Marina Triton as tribute for this role as a character who is bad at solving puzzles.

Marina doesn’t necessarily dislike puzzles. Having married Luke, who loves puzzle as much as his mentor, you’d think she’d be used to him pointing out puzzles and solving them. Marina just… doesn’t seem to be very good at finding hidden puzzles or solving them on her own.

She didn’t realise that the three accessories on her handbag, linked to Luke’s previous adventures with Layton, were (presumably) given to her by Luke so that Layton would trust her. This seems odd, since Marina has seen the photos in Luke’s study and she mentions how Luke was always bragging about his adventures with Layton. As Luke’s wife, you would think Marina would be privy to some of the details of those adventures. I guess maybe Luke could have skipped over Subject 3, since he threatened to rearrange Luke’s kneecaps… and Flora’s red ribbon is quite nondescript… but the legendary Molentary Express? Did Marina not make the connection between the train charm and the photo of the train?

…I like to think she did make the connection (because it’s cute imagining Luke geeking out to her about his adventures), but she was confused about why Luke had given her these accessories. She wondered if it was part of a puzzle Luke had left her, but she wasn’t confident in solving it on her own. So, she just dismissed it as a cute quirky present from Luke and acted all shocked in front of Layton. “Eh? These things? You mean my puzzle-obsessed husband gave me a puzzle as a birthday present?”

More obviously… Marina also didn’t notice the clues Luke had left in his study that would lead to his location after he was captured; the clock, the giant crack in the ceiling and the rug on the floor that was actually a map. Marina herself admits she looked everywhere in the study, but she couldn’t find any clues until Layton came along and solved the puzzle.

But Layton waltzes in and, within minutes, he solves the puzzle. The satisfied Professor does give Marina a couple of hints (“Up and down!”), but Marina continues to ask questions, until Layton explains the answer. He then proceeds to climb into Luke’s attic and let in some light through a window, which reveals Luke’s whereabouts on the map— the British museum. (As much as we harp on at LMJ for the subpar puzzles, I do actually think this would have been a fun puzzle to investigate in a game!) Marina barely does anything to help with solving this puzzle. Even Rosa reads the time on the clock, while Marina just watches.

Our trio heads to the museum, where they are greeted by a disguised Don Paolo, who invites them to his office. Layton pokes around the office, before deducing that Luke was in the office earlier and he left a message for Layton. Marina is shocked. (“Another message?”) Don Paolo claims Layton is spouting nonsense. Rosa looks kind of stoned here.

Layton gestures to the bookshelf and says Luke left the message for him. Marina wonders, “Could it be one of those where you read the labels from the books to make a message?” (The way she vaguely says “one of those’, rather than calling it a puzzle, makes it sound as though she isn’t very familiar with them.) Layton confirms she is right and says she has a nice eye for this. He then informs her there is a hint in the room explaining how to read the books’ labels. Marina muses, “That means there should be some kind of numbers somewhere…” and we get this cool POV shot of Marina looking around the office, with Layton prompting her to look for anything unnatural. Marina noticed the chandelier and how the number of jewels it has corresponds with the books on the shelf.

I think if we were playing the Relic plotline within a game, Marina could have solved the puzzle in that moment, or we could have had a moment like in the prequel games, where Layton offers multiple choice questions in a scenario. (Eg, building the catapult with the Black Ravens’ help).

Marina does get captured by the organisation at the cathedral and her life is used as leverage to make Layton and Luke surrender…

But eleven years later, by the time Kat and Co make it to the cathedral, Marina has infiltrated the organisation and investigated the Relics. She’s able to work freely after Kat and Co apprehend the priests. Kat asks if Marina can save her father and Luke. Marina replies that she has obtained some information on the Relics from within the organisation. She is able to free Layton and Luke from their cryogenic coffins. Without her, they would have remained frozen for even longer.

Marina went from struggling to solve puzzles to figuring out how to control technology from an ancient civilisation. She’s not a puzzle master like Layton. She’s not confident and quick-witted like Luke. She’s not a fighter like Emmy. But she was patient and persevered, studying her former captors and the technology they used. She listened and looked closely, just as Layton told her.

(Reminder that Jean Descole couldn’t work out the songs of Ambrosia until Layton pointed them out, and that Leon Bronev— top archaeologist and leader of Targent— didn’t even realise that the Azran Legacy was a very obvious doomsday device until it was too late.)

[citrus-soda]

The fact that all of Descole’s schemes in the first two prequels / movie have incidentally involved victims who personally know Hershel Layton (and who then ask Layton to come and help them) is incredibly funny in hindsight. He just cannot! get!! rid of him!!!

[dumbasswhatever]

very funny that phoenix is like "sorry about this weird girl she follows me around everywhere. i mean sometimes she channels her older sister and gives me vital advice when i need it most but yeah she just follows me around" and then he's willing to risk his life for maya a dozen times over, meanwhile professor layton is like "this is my apprentice, luke :) i often find his help vital to a case" and then he forgets that luke is ten and puts him in danger repeatedly

[inkzix]

er,mmmmmm,mmmmm,mmmmm,mmmmmmmmmm hi guys *smiles*

[another-clive-blog]

Shout-out to the one friend whose reaction to the NWOS trailer was "Little Luke has become Big Luke- I mean he's no longer mutating into Clive Luke" Definitely up there in my list of sentences

[mangledscrimp]

mmmmm Pony time

[layton-heritage-posts]

the brothers are fighting

8 days a week brother.