Topic: Could I play Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask without having played any other games in the series?

I've tried searching for this sort of thing before but I've gotten a mixed response. What I want to know in a nutshell is, do the Professor Layton games have to be played in order? I might at some point get the older games but I would like to try the 3DS game currently. I know that the game isn't even out yet but based on past games would I be able to understand what's happening?

Also, do you think it might have a lot of spoilers for past games?

Anyways, thank you for reading this and have a great rest of the day!

To me, it's best to play the series in order so you'll understand the storyline and the characters better. It's best that you get PL and the Specter's Flute beforehand since it's the very first one in chronological order. Next, you could get the movie, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, because it takes place in between Specter's Flute and Miracle Mask. Finally, after this prequel trilogy is over and if you liked the series, you can then go back to the original trilogy if you want to .

Chronologically, the games go like this:
The Last Specter
The Miracle Mask
The Curious Village
The Diabolical Box
The Unwound Future
If you were to play the games in order of release, they'd go like this:
The Curious Village
The Diabolical Box
The Unwound Future
The Last Spector
The Miracle Mask
I think the series would be most rewarding playing them in release order, but I don't think it'll hinder your enjoyment at all. It's sort of like watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in the air order over the chronological order. They both have their perks.
I do know that I was able to enjoy Diabolical Box perfectly fine without playing the Curious Village first, so based on that, I think I can say that the Professor Layton games are meant to be standalone experiences that can be perfectly enjoyed without playing previous entries, but there are things you notice if you play them chronolically. I don't think anything will be spoiled though.

I played the first 3 games, they have little to with each other beyond the gameplay and major characters. I'd assume the others are the same.

I would recommend getting Professor Layton and the Last Specter before getting the upcoming one. I started on The Diabolical Box and never played the prior game and I was fine, but I have been meaning to pick up the Unwound Future for quite so time.

The PL series is pretty good about making sure you know what you need to know about previous entries in the series, so you shouldn't have any trouble starting with Miracle Mask. However, if you love developing attachments to the characters in a series, it may be best to grab Last Specter and play through that before Miracle Mask launches; like just about everyone else here, I started with Diabolical Box without having played Curious Village, and I wasn't really moved by the ending of that arc once I finished Unwound Future.

I just played the Unwound Future without playing any of the others and had no problems following the story. So I think you can play this game first.

Play the series,your missing out one some brilliant games.

There are recurring characters throughout the series (especially in the original trilogy) that you'll enjoy seeing pop-up now and again in various entries, but the plots and especially the actual puzzles are of a very standalone nature, so you should be perfectly fine jumping in wherever you feel like. It's not like Ace Attorney or Yakuza or many other on-going, story-focused series, where, if it's still not 100% necessary to have played the previous games, it's significantly more rewarding to experience the story by the order in which the games were released.

Mask of Miracle is the second of a Professor Layton trilogy. You can skip the first trilogy (Curious Village, Diabolical Box, Unwound Future) but it is mandatory to play The Last Spector, because it is the first Professor Layton game in the game's timeline. making Miracle Mask the second game in the timeline.

But does this actually matter to the game?

You don't really need to play the other games to play this one, the story is always different, they only share the same main characters. At least that's how it was for the first 4 games, I doubt they'll change that now. You should play them though, cuz they're all amazing

I was planning on possibly getting The Miracle Mask even though I've never played any of the games in the series. Hmm.

no u dont have to i only played curious village and the last spector and im getting miracle mask

[/div]

But he would also have to watch eternal diva after he's done with last specter

[/div]
I don't think The Eternal Diva is mandatory because it doesn't introduce anything new or serious. It doesn't introduce a new plot, nor any new Main characters. In fact maybe it's best not to watch it until you play curious Village, due to the beginning part of the movie (The clockwork mystery)