History VideoGame / ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Near the end of the game, Layton refuses to leave [[spoiler:the Herzen castle]] until he's uncovered the truth behind Dr Schrader's death and the Elysian Box. Absolutely nothing prevents you from strolling right through the front doors and going back to solve any puzzles you may have missed along the way.

** VoiceOfTheLegion: When the ruse is revealed, the culprit speaks in both characters' voices until the disguise is [[ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction dramatically pulled away]].

%%* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: Duke Herzen chose his own greed instead of the happiness of his family. His obsession actually is the starting point of the events in the second game]].

* AliceAndBob: By now the series has its own cast of 4-5 no-name characters for practically every hypothetical puzzle situation, the most prominent one being the brown-haired mustachioed, Mario-ish looking man. [[spoiler: Their names are finally revealed in the 3rd to last puzzle, Colin's Grade.]]

* ArtifactOfDeath: The Elysian Box, [[spoiler:but only if you really do [[YourMindMakesItReal expect it to kill you]]]].
* ArtisticLicenseGeology:
** The mystery of the town of Folsense revolves around [[spoiler: the miners striking a "vein of hallucinogenic gas" that caused them to all be susceptible to suggestion]]. Needless to say, no such thing exists in real life.
** The mine in question is a gold mine... in England.
* BadassLongcoat: [[spoiler: Young]] Anton's coat definitely qualifies [[spoiler: even leading many to think that he's a vampire]] probably because of that [[HighCollarOfDoom collar.]]
* {{Bishonen}}: My, but isn't [[spoiler: younger, hallucinated]] Anton pretty!

* CluelessMystery: There's no way to solve the mystery until you receive the answer, since doing so requires several ludicrous assumptions. [[spoiler: Sammy, Beluga, Katia, Luke, and Layton are all hallucinating the same things, with a power of suggestion so strong that even the insides of buildings that they've never seen before are affected. And that simply having heard rumors of people dying can actually kill you through tiny traces of hallucinogenic chemicals from 50 years ago.]]

* DancesAndBalls: [[spoiler:Anton and Sophia]], as shown in flashbacks and the painting in the room where Layton and Luke stay at Herzen Mansion.
* DiedHappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler: Sophia is very happy to see Anton and Katia getting along. Happy enough to smile serenely down from the heavens, in fact.]]
* DugTooDeep: [[spoiler: The hallucinogenic gas that the miners tapped into under Folsense.]]
* EldritchLocation: The town of Folsense could be considered this as it's essentially a phantom town which was marked off the map decades back, but [[spoiler: appears to be alive thanks to the mysterious gas that leaks from the nearby abandoned mines.]]

* EvilOverlooker: Anton. [[spoiler: Technically, he isn't evil, though.]]
* ExitPursuedByABear: [[spoiler: Don Paolo exits the story pursued by Inspector Chelmey following his unmasking.]] In the closing credits, the chase is ''still'' going on.
* FallingChandelierOfDoom: [[spoiler: At the climax.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The town name of Folsense. [[spoiler:(If one has knowledge of French, the name comes out as faux-sense, which essentially means 'False Sense', which makes sense when you realize that the inhabitants of the town are mere illusions brought about by a hallucinogenic gas leak!)]]
** [[spoiler: Even the actual name sounds a bit like "False Sense" / "Fool Sense". It's even called that by Sammy, the train guard.]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Near the end of the game, Layton refuses to leave [[spoiler: the Herzen castle]] until he's uncovered the truth behind Dr Schrader's death and the Elysian Box. Absolutely nothing prevents you from strolling right through the front doors and going back to solve any puzzles you may have missed along the way.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Chelmey adopting a "Don't ask, don't tell" stance concerning Luke's "apprenticeship". The ending also comes down with a case of [[spoiler:[[NeverSayDie Never Say Pregnant]], ignoring the fact that Katia's grandparents never married. (Anton specifically says in the flashback that they're betrothed, and Sophia's unlockable profile identifies her as his fiancee and the mother of his child.)]]
** Not to mention Ilyana, a woman who works ''at a cabaret'', flirting with various characters, particularly Luke. She also makes special mention of [[spoiler: Mr Beluga visiting her to "unwind"]].

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler: Don Paolo tips off his identity and involvement in the case by revealing that he knows what the image on the Elysian Box is, despite apparently only having seen a photo with a crucial piece missing.]]
* IdenticalGrandson: [[spoiler: Katia and her grandmother, Sophia.]] The only notable difference between them is [[spoiler:Katia's eyes, which she clearly inherited from Anton. It's the sight of them that makes him realize she's telling the truth.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Beluga; for all his [[SurroundedByIdiots bluster towards his employees]], he shows at several points in the game to be capable of compassion. [[spoiler: He seems mournful remembering that it had been a year since Sophia passed away, and Sam mentions that Beluga had a soft spot for his older brother, whom he left behind. In the closing credits, he is shown to be very happy to see Anton again.]]

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Anton challenges Layton to a duel, and being the good sport that he is, gives Layton a free choice of the swords on the wall. [[spoiler: It's actually a trick as all the swords are {{Ornamental Weapon}}s; Layton figures out that the clue Anton gives about a "true warrior" keeping his sword in hand means to grab a sword off a nearby suit of armour.]]

* MushroomSamba: [[spoiler: The glitzy, modern town of Folsense is a shared hallucination induced by gas emanating from the gold mine.]]

* SceneryGorn: [[spoiler: The brief shots of the ruined Folsense at the end.]]

%%* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler: Anton and Sophia.]]
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial:
--> '''Layton''': "We're looking for information about the Elysian Box."\\
'''Kostya''': "Oh, dear me! I mean... I've ''never'' heard ''anything'' about that dreadful, dreadful thing."

%%* ThrillerOnTheExpress
* TitleDrop: The last and most difficult bonus puzzle is called the "Diabolical Box".
* TooDumbToLive: Guess what [[IdiotBall every supposedly smart person in the game]] does after getting their hands on a box rumoured to kill anyone who tries to open it? (Don't expect them to take any sane precautions either.)

* VillainousBreakdown: Anton does ''not'' take the news that [[spoiler: his beloved Sophia has passed away]] very well.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Parcelle, the mailman. The characters wonder aloud why he makes a daily mail run between Folsense and Dropstone, but, nope! It never gets explained. [[spoiler: Also, Folsense is pretty much a ghost town.'']]
* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Anton actively tries to kill Layton after misunderstanding the situation and thinking the Professor stole "his Sophia". Justified in that the last fifty years left him lonely and in great despair, plus the hallucination factor is probably enhancing his SanitySlippage.]]

* YourMindMakesItReal: [[spoiler: The town of Folsense is a massive hallucination caused by the hallucinogenic gas in the town's mine. The Elysian Box has elements of the gas in it, as otherwise it really is just a box, and it only kills people because they're expecting it to. Dr Schrader is implied to have survived because he didn't really believe it would kill him]].
** The box has no effect on Luke and Layton because [[spoiler: they are already hallucinating.]]

** Also provides a [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome rare glimpse]] of Layton's status as an [[spoiler:[[CulturedBadass excellent fencer]]]] in a series that focuses far more on his [[BadassBookworm intellectual side.]]
* MeaningfulName: See {{Foreshadowing}} above.

The second game in the ''Franchise/ProfessorLayton'' WidgetSeries.

Please place series spanning tropes on the main ''Franchise/ProfessorLayton'' page.

In ''Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box'' (''Pandora's Box'' in PAL regions), Layton receives a letter from his mentor, Dr. Schrader, in which Schrader says that he had acquired the legendary Elysian Box that is said to kill all who open it. Though Layton gets a bad feeling and rushes to his mentor's aid, Schrader is already dead and the box is missing. The only clue is a ticket for the mysterious Molentary Express, so Layton and Luke decide to take a trip with no known destination.

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: Duke Herzen chose his own greed instead of the happiness of his family. His obsession actually is the starting point of the events in the second game]].

* {{Feelies}}: A Molentary Express ticket is included in the instruction booklet. It's also a copy of one of the in-game puzzles. The feelie's not required to solve said puzzle, but it can help to have an object to physically manipulate rather than trying to picture it in your head.

** There's also one to a plot point in the next game. While in Folsense, a bouncer outside a restaurant tells Layton that he has to take off his hat if he wants to enter because of the dress code. Layton refuses to, stating that a true gentleman never removes his hat. It seems Layton has the wrong idea since, normally, people would say gentleman is required to take his hat off while indoors. However, players who play the sequel, ''Unwound/Lost Future'', find out that this is just what he says as to not raise questions about the real reason, which is revealed in flashbacks in that game.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Near the end of the game, Layton refuses to leave [[spoiler: the Herzen castle]] until he's uncovered the truth behind Dr. Schrader's death and the Elysian Box. Absolutely nothing prevents you from strolling right through the front doors and going back to solve any puzzles you may have missed along the way.

** Not to mention Ilyana, a woman who works ''at a cabaret'', flirting with various characters, particularly Luke. She also makes special mention of [[spoiler: Mr. Beluga visiting her to "unwind"]].

* IllGirl: Flora skips a great deal of the actual investigation in Folsense, staying in the hotel room because she doesn't feel well. Layton naturally expresses concern, and tells her to rest if she needs it. Of course, it turns out [[spoiler:that "Flora" is really a disguised Don Paolo, and is using all the sick time to do his own searching for the Elysian Box.]]

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Anton challenges Layton to a duel, and being the good sport that he is, gives Layton a free choice of the swords on the wall. [[spoiler: It's actually a trick as all the swords are {{Ornamental Weapon}}s; Layton figures out that the clue Anton gives about a "true warrior" keeping his sword in hand means to grab a sword off a nearby suit of armor.]]

%%* SharedMassHallucination

** Anton looks remarkably like a cartoonish version of Alucard from the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games. [[spoiler:The resemblance is enhanced by the fact that most characters think he's a vampire.]] His English voice actor must have realized this, because his voice is also similar to Alucard's in the original version of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]''.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Or rather, Slippy Slidey Ice Puzzles. Crossing the frozen lake to reach the Duke's castle requires solving puzzles in which you slide a miniature Professor around a sort of maze.

* TakeAThirdOption: You have three holes, and have two corks that you must use to completely block off the odor of garlic. Where do they go? [[spoiler:In your nose.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Guess what [[IdiotBall every supposedly smart person in the game]] does after getting their hands on a box rumored to kill anyone who tries to open it? (Don't expect them to take any sane precautions either.)

* YourMindMakesItReal: [[spoiler: The town of Folsense is a massive hallucination caused by the hallucinogenic gas in the town's mine. The Elysian Box has elements of the gas in it, as otherwise it really is just a box, and it only kills people because they're expecting it to. Dr. Schrader is implied to have survived because he didn't really believe it would kill him]].

* ArtefactOfDeath: The Elysian Box, [[spoiler:but only if you really do [[YourMindMakesItReal expect it to kill you]]]].

* ArtifactOfDeath: The Elysian Box, [[spoiler:but only if you really do [[YourMindMakesItReal expect it to kill you]]]].

* EvilOverlooker: See the box art. [[spoiler: Technically, he isn't evil, though.]]

** Also provides a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome rare glimpse]] of Layton's status as an [[spoiler:[[CulturedBadass excellent fencer]]]] in a series that focuses far more on his [[BadassBookworm intellectual side.]]
* MeaningfulName: See Foreshadowing above.

* SceneryPorn: The village of Folsense, and even more so the castle interior.
** SceneryGorn: [[spoiler: The brief shots of the ruined Folsense at the end.]]
* [[spoiler: SharedMassHallucination]]

* [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Slippy Slidey Ice Puzzles]]: Crossing the frozen lake to reach the Duke's castle requires solving puzzles in which you slide a miniature Professor around a sort of maze.

* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler: Anton and Sophia.]]

* ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma:
--> '''Wurtzer''': How she [Granny Riddleton] does it is a conundrum wrapped in an enigma-stuffed mystery. Or, y'know, a mystendrum.

* BadassLongcoat: [[spoiler: Young]] Anton's coat definitely qualifies [[spoiler: even leading many to think that he's a vampire]] probably because of that [[HighCollarOfDoom collar.]]

* TakeAThirdOption: You have three holes, and have two corks that you must use to completely block off the odor of garlic. Where do they go? [[spoiler:In your nose]].

* TooDumbToLive: Guess what [[IdiotBall every supposedly smart person in the game]] does after getting their hands on a box rumored to kill anyone who tries to open it. (Don't expect them to take any sane precautions either.)

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Anton actively tries to kill Layton after misunderstanding the situation and thinking the Professor stole "his Sophia". Justified in that the last fifty years left him lonely and in great despair]].

* GenreSavvy: Chelmey. When he comes to a conclusion on who stole the MacGuffin[=/=]PlotCoupon, he tells his assistant to round up the suspects for a SummationGathering. Said assistant wonders why he doesn't simply arrest the guy, to which Chelmey shouts that unmasking the villain publicly is what detectives live for.
** More likely WrongGenreSavvy; he acts like he's in a detective story, which he is - but he thinks ''he's'' the hero and Layton is The Amateur That Gets In The Way.

* CluelessMystery: Not the mystery as a whole, but [[spoiler: what was Layton planning to do if "Flora" hadn't mentioned the goat on the Elysian box? He intended to name the killer, but the only clue that he or the audience had about Flora not being Flora was what she said five seconds before she was unmasked.]]
** Also, the only way to solve the mystery is to assume that [[spoiler: Sammy, Beluga, Katia, Luke, and Layton are all hallucinating the same things. [[WhatTheHellHero What the hell, Level 5?]]]]
*** And that [[spoiler:simply having heard rumors of people dying can actually kill you through tiny traces of hallucinogenic chemicals from 50 years ago.]] And, perhaps most objectionably, that [[spoiler:seeing a few photographs of a town can tell you what the insides of all of the buildings look like, or at least have everyone imagine them the same.]]

* WildMassGuessing: [[spoiler:In the second-to-last cutscene, the Molentary Express is shown pulling out of Folsence Station. Luke waves out the train window to Anton and Katia... who are standing on a hill... Did Layton and Luke really leave them behind, by themselves, in the dilapidated, run-down town with no connection to society? Surely it would not have been any trouble to drop them of in Dropstone when picking up Flora. During the credits, we do see all of Katia's servants from Dropstone arriving to renovate the town, so it's possible they're not alone after all.]]

** [[spoiler: Even the actual name sounds a bit like "False Sense" / "Fool Sense".]]

* ArtifactOfDeath: The Elysian Box, [[spoiler:but only if you really do [[YourMindMakesItReal expect it to kill you]]]]

*** UnscientificScience

* ActuallyNotAVampire

*** And that [[spoiler:simply having heard rumors of people dying can actually kill you through tiny traces of hallucinogenic chemicals from 50 years ago.]]
**** And, perhaps most objectionably, that [[spoiler:seeing a few photographs of a town can tell you what the insides of all of the buildings look like, or at least have everyone imagine them the same.]]

* DancesAndBalls[=/=]DanceOfRomance: [[spoiler:Anton and Sophia]], as shown in flashbacks and the painting in the room where Layton and Luke stay at Herzen Mansion.

* ThrillerOnTheExpress

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Anton

Please place series-spanning tropes on the main ''Franchise/ProfessorLayton'' page.

* {{Homage}}: Watch the scene as the trio arrives [[spoiler:at Folsense]] after watching ''SpiritedAway''.

* SayingTooMuch: [[spoiler:Flora]] correctly describes the design on the Elysian Box, which [[spoiler:she]] should never have seen before, proving that [[spoiler:she's Don Paolo]].

* ArtisticLicenseGeology: The mystery of the town of Folsense revolves around [[spoiler: the miners striking a "vein of hallucinogenic gas" that caused them to all be susceptible to suggestion]]. Needless to say, no such thing exists in real life.
** Might be a GettingCrapPastTheRadar way of saying they struck cobalt or other radioactive material.
** Another example: The mine in question is a gold mine... in England.

* AllForNothing: When Luke acquires the hamster, it opens the hamster minigame in which he has to exercise the pudgy little beast until he's "fit and sassy!" (in the hamster's words). The end credits and the hamster's profile show that the hamster has been returned to his rightful owner, the Molentary Express cook, and is once again overfed.
** Probably a form of GameplayAndStorySegregation, since the hamster game is optional and therefore some players could easily end the game without getting the hamster in shape at all.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Parcelle, the mailman. The characters wonder aloud why he makes a daily mail run between Folsense and Dropstone, but, nope! It never gets explained. [[spoiler: Also, Folsense ''doesn't fucking exist.'']]
** [[spoiler: It has to exist to ''some'' degree, as Parcelle is getting ''actual letters'' from it. He still gets little to no follow-up, though.]]

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler: Don Paolo tips off his identity and involvement in the case by revealing that he knows what the image on the Elysian Box - which can be interpreted multiple ways - represents.]]

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler: Don Paolo tips off his identity and involvement in the case by revealing that he knows what the Elysian Box looks like.]]