Thursday, July 05, 2012

Acquisition #135: Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS)

Can you believe I recently picked up the North American, rather than the European, version of Professor Layton and the Last Specter?

I ask that because, as some of you may remember, I bought the Euro releases of the professor's previous puzzling adventures. (Photos of these purchases can be seen here, here and here.)

This time around, though, I went with the North American iteration because it contains the "Professor Layton's London Life" side attraction that, sadly, is nowhere to be found in its foreign counterpart.

Speaking of "London Life," that's the only part of Last Specter I've spent time with thus far.

Why? Well, because its graphics look a lot like those of Mother 3 (a very good thing, obviously) and because I've heard that its gameplay calls to mind Animal Crossing. How could I resist, right?



Despite the fact that, on paper, it sounds like something that would suck up all of my time, "London Life" has me feeling a bit conflicted at the moment.

Oh, I absolutely adore its aesthetics, and the soundtrack is, quite literally, music to my ears, but I can already sense--after spending just a few hours with it--that "London Life" is going to transition from "charming time-waster" to "tedious fetch-quest-athon" sooner rather than later.

Still, I'm enjoying it right now. And it's not like I only bought the Last Specter for this retro-tinged piece of bonus content.

So, I'll keep at it until it's squeezed me dry and then switch over to the main mode, which I'm sure will both entice and confound me much like its predecessors did.

See also: Previous 'Acquisition #123' posts

12 comments:

chaosyoshimage said...

Yeah, that US only thing for London Life is so lame. My brother is crazy obsessed with the series to the point where he manages a wiki for it. A lot of his friends on there are from Europe so he couldn't play it with them.

Also, you can do multiple characters so I can't play it either...

Bryan Ochalla said...

I guess I can understand their reasoning behind not including London Life in EU versions, CYM, but it still sucks for EU gamers.

That said, at this point I can't say you're missing out on a ton by not having access to London Life. Don't get me wrong, it's adorable, and it's fun *enough*, but it's not amazing. Kind of reminds me of a cellphone game, honestly.

GameOverYeah said...

It's called London Life yet not available in the UK. Like releasing New York Nights everywhere but the US, anyway...

I picked up Lost Future today for less than an English fiver which was very pleasing.

Bryan Ochalla said...

dste: Yes, it is a touch ... troll-ish that 'London Life' isn't available in the UK version, especially.

Congrats on finding such a cheap version of Lost Future, BTW!

Unknown said...

I can't believe you're only picking this up now, Bryan! I played about an hour of London Life but honestly, like you mentioned, it just felt a bit too fetch quest-y and though it was cute, it didn't really hold my attention that long. Maybe I'll try it again!

Funny you mention in the comments that it feels like a cell phone game... That's because it originally was! (in Japan)

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey there, Anne! Well, to be honest, I actually picked it up earlier this year. I'm only now getting around to playing it and writing about it :)

'London Life' started out as a cellphone game? Was it actually released as such in Japan? That's too funny, if true, as it really does feel like that sort of 'superficial' game.

As for the game being too fetch-quest-y and not holding your attention for long: That's really too bad, isn't it? A few changes here and there and the game could have been much more interesting.

Oh, well, at least there's still the 'main campaign' to deal with. I'm sure that'll be more of the same, but that's OK with me.

Unknown said...

Oh, okay! It's always hard to tell when you actually pick up a game vs when you get around to writing about it ;)

As for whether or not the game was actually released as a mobile phone game, I'm pretty sure it was on Level-5's ROID service: http://andriasang.com/com84u/roid_service_preview/ You can see a screen there... Some sites indicated that it was in development but then they didn't actually release it and kept it for the DS game release, but I'm under the impression it was/is available on iMode phones in Japan (did you know there was a Ni no Kuni tie-in and an Inazuma Eleven game, too?! I didn't!).

Yeah, it is a shame, especially since I love Bobbie Brown's designs and the overall feel is just so cute! But it didn't hook me like Animal Crossing did.

Bryan Ochalla said...

I know, I know. I try to do my best with these 'acquisition' posts, but it's hard. I mean, I don't want to deluge people with them, so I tend to sit on some of them for a bit.

Anyway, in your defense, I did say that I bought it 'recently.' Sorry to trick you like that :)

As for 'London Life' first appearing on Level-5's ROID service: I remember reading that, too, now that you reminded me! How interesting...

Really, it's too bad they couldn't have changed it up a bit and made it more like Animal Crossing -- you know, where you could do errands and stuff now and then if you wanted to, but also kind of allowed you to just life your life in various ways if you so chose.

BTW, I think the company name is Brownie Brown, not Bobbie Brown. Were you thinking of the make-up maven or Whitney Houston's ex-husband? ;)

Unknown said...

Ahaha, you're right! It's definitely Brownie Brown... I don't know why I have issues remembering that name

Bryan Ochalla said...

It's OK. We all do it! That said, I got a good laugh (or at least chuckle) out of it :)

Viewtiful_Justin said...

That's exactly what I did, Bryan. I played it until the charm wore off, sadly. And then I jumped into the main event, which captivated me until the credit rolled. It's wonderful!

Bryan Ochalla said...

Well, at least the main event captivated you all the way through, Justin. We'll see if the same happens to me, although I think it will.

Are you looking forward to and/or planning to pick up the 3DS sequel, Justin?