Topic: Professor Layton question

I'm sad to say I've yet to play a Layton game, but with the holidays quickly approaching I want to change that. My question is which game to get? Or rather, is it okay to get later games if you've never played one before, or would that ruin an intertwined plot? I'm trying to keep to a budget and, though I originally planned to get the first game, its price went from $20 to over 30 on Amazon. Right now the cheapest is Diabolical Box at $21, followed by Unwound Future at about $22. Which should I get?

Also, just out of curiosity, how long does a Layton adventure usually take to beat?

I've never played Layton, so I can't help you much. However, I recommend starting with the first one so you don't ruin the story or the new one that just came out because it starts a new storyline. Plus, the new one has a long bonus RPG.

Well, chronologically, it goes Last Specter, Eternal Diva (DVD out on November 8th in US), Mask of Miracle (Japan Only at the Moment) , Curious Village, Diabolical Box, Unwound Future.

So technically, Last Specter is the first one, and then Curious Village is the next available thing. If you are only choosing between Diabolical Box and Unwound Future, I would start with Diabolical Box to get to know the characters. Unwound Future is by far in my opinion a superior game in terms of story, and knowing the characters will help anyone appreciate it more.

Roughly, you are looking at about 10-12 hours of gameplay for each of them.

If you opt to get Last Specter first, you get the bonus RPG Professor Layton's London Life. But since it is new, it will be more expensive.

I agree about starting with Diabolical Box, but only if your not worried about spoiling the ending of the first game. It is the best one for getting into the series because it gives you a basic overview of everything the games have to offer and you'll get to know the characters better, as previously mentioned. However, Unwound Future and Specter's Flute are much better games because they have more puzzles, higher-quality sound, and have a better production value, but Diabolical Box is the best game to get started on, and it is also the cheapest one available I think. If you enjoy the game, you will enjoy the next two even more.

I would say to go with Curious Village regardless of price. It's a great start to the series.

I started with Pandora's/Diabolical Box purely because it was on sale, as my curiosity for the series wasn't great enough to fork over a premium for it. I really enjoyed it and I'd certainly consider myself a fan now, despite not being a particularly great fan of puzzles/riddles. The games are reasonably lengthy, with approximately 15 hours of gameplay apiece, and you could probably add a few more hours to factor in downloadable puzzles, post-game unlockables, and backtracking to complete any puzzles that you may have missed throughout the main adventure. In total, you're looking at about 20 hours of content per game, as there's hardly any replay value once you've completed everything (unless you wish to experience the story all over again).

While certain elements of the Professor Layton canon are carried over from one game to another, the plot of each game is essentially self-contained, so you really won't be "ruining" the experience for yourself regardless of the order you play the games, though the recommended order in which you play the games would of course be the order of which the games were originally released.

In terms of value, each successive Professor Layton game has included more puzzles than its predecessor (IIRC), and each game includes a few extra features that help refine the formula. With both a main story and a bonus "100 hour RPG" (i.e. London Life) crammed into one cartridge, Professor Layton and the Last Specter would offer the best value for money as far as content is concerned, but really, you can't go wrong either way.

I liked the DVD it was awesome but to the topic start with first one it just makes more sense that way plus it's a series so normally you want to start with 1st one

Curious Village of course

Which one is that again

The first one

Oh yeah duh I don't know the tiltles really well I just got started myself on the series