So in case you're all wondering, this is going to be a weekly blog. The last installment was posted so early was because of the fact the first puzzle was basically exposition. So yeah.
@Endark: Wait... there's only three of them on a screen at a time!? I didn't know that!
Well let's continue on Professor Layton. Before I start I'm going to mention the fact that I'm quite surprised at how this game has changed. While it's small things each time it is hard to play the first game in the series without the note pad and always having the same background music playing everywhere. And I'll also mention that these puzzles are easy. Once we hit the later ones, you guys get to watch me throw my D Si at the wall. Without further ado, let's being the show!
Entering Reinhold Manor we meet Matthew, the short butler. And of course after mentioning the fact the music is always the same, the music changes. Well here's the link.
At least it sounds pretty and a bit omnimous. Anyways, Matthew tells us that everyone is waiting upstairs for us. And Lady Dahlia has a message for us. 3 guesses what it is and the first two don't count.
- Worth:35
- Though Process: Hey! Didn't I see that puzzle before in a different game...
- Earned:35
- Total:250
And now we can go meet the family... but not before Luke observing the portrait of the Late Baron Reinhold. And then there's a girl too who appears to be the baron's daughter. Who Luke remarks is pretty. Matthew tells us the picture is of Flora, the Baron's daughter. And then he gives us an old painting scrap which unlocks the option for the painting puzzle/minigame thing. I'll explain later. First we must go upstairs to meet the Reinhold family.
But not before a puzzle after Layton comments on how many bookshelves there are and how the Baron must've been an avid reader.
- Worth:30
- Thought process: Wait so the last letter isn't Z? Then it's t. After all the alphabet ends with t!
- Earned:30
- Total:280
Still not rusty.
Cutscene #4
Well Lady Dahlia turns out to be a jerk. Surrounded by Idiots indeed. OH! A hidden puzzle!
- Worth:20
- Thought Process:110? Did I just skip a few?
- Earned:20
- Total:300
Took me a bit but I got it. If you talk to the skinny guy with glasses, he reveals his name to be Simon and is in fact the Baron's nephew. His father is the little brother of the fat guy on the left. (The fat guy's name is Gordon by the way.) And Simon is stuck up. But the important thing is he gives us a puzzle.
- Worth:20
- Thought Process: Oh, math. This'll be easy. Anyways Circle X has a radius of 10. BD is one of the radius and so it's length is 10. It's corresponding friend AC must also have the same length in order for this to be a rectangle. Thus AC is 10.
- Earned:20
- Total:320
You are no match. Anyways let's talk to the other man in this room who has not formally introduced himself. This is Gordon. He is a bit fat. And it appears that he too agrees with Simon that it'd be best if we did what Lady Dahlia says. So let's talk to the woman herself. And now she's making us find her cat which is obviously more important than what she called us here for.
Chapter 2 The Fugitive Feline: Lady Dahlia's cat has escaped! Search St. Mystere for the runaway feline.
Anyways this adds a new mystery to our briefcase. I'll explain that later too. Off to go find that (stupid) cat. Oh hey! There it is, right ouside! And then she ranaway... This is going to be a long chapter. And then it was cutaway to show a mysterious man covered in smoke and coughing. Appears to be a villian or rival of some sorts to Layton. Yes and no. He's a villian in this one but he get's progressively better each installment.
Anyways chasing after Claudia, we meet Franco again. Turns out some guy raised the bridge while he was on lunch break. And then that guy made off with the bridge crank. Effectively trapping us here. And then we got another option added to our briefcase. And hey! Claudia! That jerk of a cat. Turns out Luke is good with animals so he tries to talk to Claudia into coming back with us. Poor Luke is promptly scratched and now we have to go after Claudia again. Brilliant.
Oh hey person we haven't met yet... wonder if they have a puzzle. Hi Deke! You look rather sleepy! Huh? You're not helping us catch the cat? Well at least he told which direction she ran to. AND LIES. He didn't give us a puzzle!
Let's move westward like he said... but first we must get lodging! So being kept on rails we must head to the inn we passed a while ago. There we meet Beatrice. Everyone, say hi to Beatrice! Well the Inn option has been unlocked and we can finally progress in the plot again. Back to chasing claudia!
Hey Pauly over here looks rather angry. (50 picarats says its a puzzle.) And I'm sort of right.
- Worth:50
- Thought Process: Hey! I guessed the number of picarats correctly! And in case you're wondering, I kind of guessed a lot on this one. As in I just kept on drawing random lines. But I usually started with A and then B and you get the idea. What you want to think about is to not accidently box in one of the letters and to make sure they don't go through to many places. After a while though I started with B and D. And then after a while (10 minutes) I achieved the solution. Through sudden luck.
- Earned:50, Foot for Gizmo
- Total:370
After finishing the puzzle, Pauly tells us to stay away from the obviously going to be important later tower. And by accident I talk to Pauly again. And get a new puzzle!
- Worth:30
- Thought Proccess: I want to say 9 but this is Professor Layton and all of these are TRICK PUZZLES. Wait... he has to start TODAY. That means he can just eat one already and so there are 9 left. After that he only needs to lable 8 of them! EUREKA. (Time taken was 3. Better than the last one.)
- Earned:30, Right Leg for Strange Gizmo
- Total:400
Now where is Claudia! Seriously! Still looking for her. Let's check this Restaurant. Because I'm totally not looking for even more puzzles. No what makes you think that? Anyways (I use that word alot), talking to Crouton, he tells us if we ever need food we can stop by. Sweet! Food! And here's the puzzle!
- Worth:40
- Thought Process: Peace of cake! This type of problem is my specialty!
- Earned:40, Strange Gizmo Foot
- Total:440
So I decided to go look back and guess what I found... On second thought you probably don't need to. Because this jar reminds Layton of a puzzle.
- Worth:20
- Thought Process:I REMEMBER THIS ONE. OUR TEACHER GIVE IT TO US ONCE. IN MATH CLASS.
- Earned:20 Painting Scrap
- Total:460
Going around and circles and gee, Layton's car (the Laytonmobile) reminds him of a puzzle.
- Worth:30
- Thought Process:SLIDY TIME! It's not like I can get this wrong. And this is surprisingly harder than it looked since you can only move them all the way until it hits another car of the wall.
- Earned:30 Strange Gizmo Leg thingy
- Total:490
SO after going on a while I finally decided to talk to Agnes here. She tells us she saw Claudia run to the park... But weren't we there a while ago. Whatever. Event Flag. And she gives us fish bones to lure the cat with in exchange for solving a puzzle. A puzzle.
- Worth:30
- Thought Process:Well at least I can't (theoretically) fail this let's just draw random lines. We are limited to 3 at a time and the main problem is that pig in the middle. THAT STUPID PIG IN THE MIDDLE. Why can't we move them!? And then I finally got it after realizing that in order to get 7 separate places you would need a specific patern. No I just guessed. Again.
- Earned:30 Fish bones
- Total:520
Time to go get that jerk of a cat! Finding Claudia at the park gate, Luke finally manages to convince the cat to come back to us and with that, Chapter 2 is now complete! And we are immediately teleported back to the manor. However all is not as it seems...
When we return Matthew is very very worried. It appears something awful has happened. Going back upstairs we meet Inspector Chelmey and... a man has been murdered. Simon Reinhold collapsed suddenly two hours ago and it appears he is dead. Cause of death? Unknown. And with that the mystery thickens.
Toon in next time for Puzzle #4! Murder in the Manor
So anyways, earlier I mentioned how I'd explain a bunch of the things. So here goes. Every so often, whenever you solve a puzzle you may receive an item. Which item however depends. Right now we have unlocked Painting and Gizmos. That means whenever we may solve a puzzle, we might recieve another piece of the puzzle. Mysteries is another feature. It keeps track on the various plot points of the game and whenever you solve one, it gives you a mystery completed. A bit of an Interface Spoiler though. The Journal is for all of those people who forget what just happened and want to go back. The puzzle index is used to revisit puzzles and to solve them again. It's nifty to give to friends and have them try to solve all those annoying puzzles. (Looking at you Princess in a Box.) Finally is the inn. Just the above mentioned painting and gizmo, sometimes when you solve a puzzle you might receive some furniture. Every time you receive furniture you can put it into either Layton or Luke's room. Both of them have different reactions to furniture and if you max out they're happiness you unlock something. Another interesting thing to note is the fact that everytime you continue after turning off your DS, they give you a story so far segment. It's a nice little feature.
Status
- Puzzles Found:18
- Puzzles Solved:18
- Hint Coins:23
- Time: 2 Hours 17 Minutes
- Total Picarats:520/520
- Current Location and Chapter:Mansion Parlor, Between chapter 2 and 3
