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2020 has just been one big mess of a year...
Surprising Sakurai and his team have been holding up well during this whole thing, but then again, I suppose he mainly has the DLC to worry about over the base game.
I haven't heard much statements from Level-5's side other than them taking some extra measures but hopefully their doing alright too...
I don't know if they would have announced anything for the Direct but hopefully we'll be hearing more from them during the second half of 2020..
Well. Layton's Main Theme has to be one. I feel like the other one should either be a Puzzle Theme, one of the villain themes, or Kat's theme... Idk which.
2020 has just been one big mess of a year...
Surprising Sakurai and his team have been holding up well during this whole thing, but then again, I suppose he mainly has the DLC to worry about over the base game.
I haven't heard much statements from Level-5's side other than them taking some extra measures but hopefully their doing alright too...
I don't know if they would have announced anything for the Direct but hopefully we'll be hearing more from them during the second half of 2020..
Yeah... I believe Sakurai's column mentioned things were going fine, but wouldn't be going fine if it was the base game. I imagine that progress on Nintendo's 2020 line-up, whatever it was supposed to be, has slowed down... We'll see if an ARMS character gets revealed/released in June regardless.
Hopefully Level-5 is doing well too, yeah... It'll be interesting to see if companies go to non-Nintendo digital events to reveal news planned for this Nintendo Direct.
Well. Layton's Main Theme has to be one. I feel like the other one should either be a Puzzle Theme, one of the villain themes, or Kat's theme... Idk which.
I'm fairly certain Level-5 wouldn't pull a Square Enix with Sakurai, they seem to be fairly chill when it comes to collaborations from what I've seen.
Plus things would be quite awkward if Sakurai would be limited with say, the main series theme and one other theme and all....
That said, if we where to be limited to just two songs, then I suppose the main series theme and a medley of all the puzzle themes should cover things quite nicely I think...
Yeah... I believe Sakurai's column mentioned things were going fine, but wouldn't be going fine if it was the base game. I imagine that progress on Nintendo's 2020 line-up, whatever it was supposed to be, has slowed down... We'll see if an ARMS character gets revealed/released in June regardless.
Hopefully Level-5 is doing well too, yeah... It'll be interesting to see if companies go to non-Nintendo digital events to reveal news planned for this Nintendo Direct.
I think Level-5 generally tends to do their own thing when it comes to game announcements anyway, with their own events and all.
Although due to COVID-19 that's probably not going to fly either. If Layton was announced, I suppose I could see them finally reveal Curious Village HD or something for the Switch then.
Speaking of which, if they where to pull another ARMS and did a guess who on the next fighter pack being a character from Level-5 this time but not revealing on who it is until a later date, what would you do? And how do you think the rest of the community would react? Asides from them being pissed that they pulled another guess who on us, that is.....
I'm fairly certain Level-5 wouldn't pull a Square Enix with Sakurai, they seem to be fairly chill when it comes to collaborations from what I've seen.
Plus things would be quite awkward if Sakurai would be limited with say, the main series theme and one other theme and all....
That said, if we where to be limited to just two songs, then I suppose the main series theme and a medley of all the puzzle themes should cover things quite nicely I think...
I think Level-5 generally tends to do their own thing when it comes to game announcements anyway, with their own events and all.
Although due to COVID-19 that's probably not going to fly either. If Layton was announced, I suppose I could see them finally reveal Curious Village HD or something for the Switch then.
Speaking of which, if they where to pull another ARMS and did a guess who on the next fighter pack being a character from Level-5 this time but not revealing on who it is until a later date, what would you do? And how do you think the rest of the community would react? Asides from them being pissed that they pulled another guess who on us, that is.....
I don't think Level-5 remotely has enough noteworthy characters to even pull a Guess Who with. As far as people are concerned, Mamoru Endou, Jibanyan and Hershel are it. Sadly not Achilles, which has even less likelihood than Ray Mk. II...
Besides, I'm sure that ARMS' situation is a one-time thing, not the new norm.
I don't think Level-5 remotely has enough noteworthy characters to even pull a Guess Who with. As far as people are concerned, Mamoru Endou, Jibanyan and Hershel are it. Sadly not Achilles, which has even less likelihood than Ray Mk. II...
Besides, I'm sure that ARMS' situation is a one-time thing, not the new norm.
I mean, to be fair, people are also just primarily looking at like, about 5 or so ARMS characters at most from what I've seen.... Excluding Bowser jr/Hero type deals, the rest might as well not exist it seems....
I have seen some people rooting for the protagonists of Ni No Kuni and Dark Cloud as well I suppose.
I'm fairly certain Level-5 wouldn't pull a Square Enix with Sakurai, they seem to be fairly chill when it comes to collaborations from what I've seen.
Plus things would be quite awkward if Sakurai would be limited with say, the main series theme and one other theme and all....
That said, if we where to be limited to just two songs, then I suppose the main series theme and a medley of all the puzzle themes should cover things quite nicely I think...
Yeah, true. I imagine we'd have a healthy amount of songs. A puzzle theme medley is hopefully going to happen no matter what. That's a pretty A+ song remix idea, though I actually can't think of any medley remixes that came with DLC characters? I'll Face Myself contains elements of Never More, but also Persona regularly has songs that contains implements of other songs, so it's really just a mix of I'll Face Myself... Kurikinton is a mix of a song that has been remixed a lot before and takes inspiration from multiple prior remixes, but that doesn't really count... Spiral Mountain has elements of other songs in it, but it's not like it goes through them in the same way one would expect a traditional medley to do so. Anyway, hopefully they do it anyway.
Speaking of which, if they where to pull another ARMS and did a guess who on the next fighter pack being a character from Level-5 this time but not revealing on who it is until a later date, what would you do? And how do you think the rest of the community would react? Asides from them being pissed that they pulled another guess who on us, that is.....
I imagine people would be not-thrilled it isn't a character they want, while people who want a Level-5 character have a panic attack over who it will be. I feel like Layton would probably be the most popular pick just because he's been a relatively-long-standing request and people want the DLC to be fulfilling those...
I'm fairly certain Level-5 wouldn't pull a Square Enix with Sakurai, they seem to be fairly chill when it comes to collaborations from what I've seen.
Plus things would be quite awkward if Sakurai would be limited with say, the main series theme and one other theme and all.... .
Yeah, true. I imagine we'd have a healthy amount of songs. A puzzle theme medley is hopefully going to happen no matter what. That's a pretty A+ song remix idea, though I actually can't think of any medley remixes that came with DLC characters? I'll Face Myself contains elements of Never More, but also Persona regularly has songs that contains implements of other songs, so it's really just a mix of I'll Face Myself... Kurikinton is a mix of a song that has been remixed a lot before and takes inspiration from multiple prior remixes, but that doesn't really count... Spiral Mountain has elements of other songs in it, but it's not like it goes through them in the same way one would expect a traditional medley to do so. Anyway, hopefully they do it anyway.
I imagine people would be not-thrilled it isn't a character they want, while people who want a Level-5 character have a panic attack over who it will be. I feel like Layton would probably be the most popular pick just because he's been a relatively-long-standing request and people want the DLC to be fulfilling those...
I think Megalovania had some other songs sprinkled into its main theme, or so I've heard, I haven't really played Undertale myself.
There might have been some medleys in the base game too but yeah, they are more uncommon compared to Brawl and Smash 4.
Still, I feel like they might do it for the puzzle themes, even if the one from Curious Village was the primary one with the others added to it to give the song more flare.
Yeah I'd imagine Layton and Jibanyan would probably be the highest up on peoples lists. Their pretty much the two most popular requests as far as characters from Level-5 go.
Though I can see people pushing for the protagonists from Inazuma Eleven, Ni No Kuni and probably Dark Cloud as well.
So I just finished Miracle Mask... Honestly like the Spectre's call I wasn't to fond of it either.
It's has one of those stories/script where I genuinely wonder what it looked like when it was originally written before each subsequent rewrite that came with it.
It feels like some characters where to meant to be one in the same at some points during the script, and it felt like it was building up to that, before the writers took a u turn and decided "Nah."
Like for example, I thought that Randall was going to be revealed to be
Descole
especially when in the first scene we see him he's fighting Layton in fencing the same way he did back in the Eternal Diva.
Honestly I didn't like how the game was split in two distinct paths, the Past and The Future it didn't seem to blend as well like it did in Unwound Future.
The final scenes were
Randall reconciles with Angela and Henry
seem to be lifted from an entirely different game, I don't think the writers remembered that the Past scenes weren't really about them, much more it was about the relationship between Layton and Randall.
The only time you seem to see what the relationship between those 3 were like is during final 10 minutes and the end credits, so it's hard to feel strongly about it when the game developed so much of its time between Layton and Randall during the past.
I'm interested though to see how it ends in the next game, between Layton Descole and this new character introduced in the post credits scene. What is the relationship between all three I wonder?
Current rankings of the series so far:
Unwound Future>Curious Village>Eternal Diva>Diabolical Box>Miracle Mask>Spectre's Call
So I just finished Miracle Mask... Honestly like the Spectre's call I wasn't to fond of it either.
It's has one of those stories/script where I genuinely wonder what it looked like when it was originally written before each subsequent rewrite that came with it.
It feels like some characters where to meant to be one in the same at some points during the script, and it felt like it was building up to that, before the writers took a u turn and decided "Nah."
Like for example, I thought that Randall was going to be revealed to be
Descole
especially when in the first scene we see him he's fighting Layton in fencing the same way he did back in the Eternal Diva.
Honestly I didn't like how the game was split in two distinct paths, the Past and The Future it didn't seem to blend as well like it did in Unwound Future.
The final scenes were
Randall reconciles with Angela and Henry
seem to be lifted from an entirely different game, I don't think the writers remembered that the Past scenes weren't really about them, much more it was about the relationship between Layton and Randall.
The only time you seem to see what the relationship between those 3 were like is during final 10 minutes and the end credits, so it's hard to feel strongly about it when the game developed so much of its time between Layton and Randall during the past.
I'm interested though to see how it ends in the next game, between Layton Descole and this new character introduced in the post credits scene. What is the relationship between all three I wonder?
Current rankings of the series so far:
Unwound Future>Curious Village>Eternal Diva>Diabolical Box>Miracle Mask>Spectre's Call
Honestly, I don't really remember much from Miracle Mask tbf, I haven't really played any of the 3DS games more than once, I do remember the models being a bit rushed though, (case in point, sausage head Layton,) but that game was meant to be a Japanese launch title for 3DS and still originally having that hand drawn look as the DS games did initially,
I suppose they only went 3D at the last minute just to showcase the 3DS 3D gimmick, which is especially obvious in that horse chase minigame.
As for Randall, I recall fans speculating initially that he was
Descole in disguise
, but I always kinda felt that that would have been a tad too early to reveal his true identity in what would have been the second game in the prequel saga.
I suppose they mainly wanted to give more background on Hershel's interest in Archeology and his ability in fencing.
It's pretty much about the average most DLC characters tend to get, give or take.
If we where to get other Level-5 content beyond mii costumes (Much like SNK and Namco do), what other Level-5 songs would you guys think would fit in Layton's stage?
It's pretty much about the average most DLC characters tend to get, give or take.
If we where to get other Level-5 content beyond mii costumes (Much like SNK and Namco do), what other Level-5 songs would you guys think would fit in Layton's stage?
not sure if theres any yo-kai watch songs that suit a layton stage, a few from ni no kuni would. mind you i do enjoy have unsuited songs one stages, hence why i have that miitopia track on tomodachi life even though itd be better suited to streetpass quest
In addition to try and keep the average number of spirits/music, I wanted to make sure my list of music were big enough you could read it and still fit within that square.
but who knows, perhaps Level-5 might be like SNK a allow for a bunch of songs!
Heck, perhaps maybe even have the likes of Mark Evans, Oliver and Jibanyan make special guest appearances on Layton's stage whenever any songs from their series are played. Much like how Captain Toad will appear instantly whenever you a play a song from his game at the New Donk City stage and all.
I think Inazuma Eleven in particular has some good songs they could use if Level-5 where to allow songs from their non Layton IP's.
Heck, perhaps maybe even have the likes of Mark Evans and Jibanyan make special guest appearances on Layton's stage whenever any songs from their franchises are played. Much like how Captain Toad will appear instantly whenever you a play a song from his game at the New Donk City stage and all.
Captain Toad shows up normally once the stage made about 3 laps or so to the top of the New Donk City hall. He shows up instantly however, whenever a song from his game is played though.
I know some other stages also have some special quirks whenever certain songs are played. Mementos being the most notable example of it.
Captain Toad shows up normally once the stage made about 3 laps or so to the top of the New Donk City hall. He shows up instantly however, whenever a song from his game is played though.
I don't know if, realistically, we'd get any other Level-5 IPs represented alongside Layton. SNK already effectively has a shared canon or at least psuedo-canon within all of its franchises. With Level-5... um... Layton appeared in a Yokai Watch mobile game once? There have been some cameos in Inazuma Eleven... It's not quite to the extent of SNK... I'd love to be proven wrong there.
That said, I pick the weirdly-upbeat Fantasy Life battle theme because it feels both battle-ready and kind of Layton-esque in the instrumentation (though with bonus squeaking and what sounds a lot like the sound effect used when moving furniture in Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer and Pocket Camp).
I don't know if, realistically, we'd get any other Level-5 IPs represented alongside Layton. SNK already effectively has a shared canon or at least psuedo-canon within all of its franchises. With Level-5... um... Layton appeared in a Yokai Watch mobile game once? There have been some cameos in Inazuma Eleven... It's not quite to the extent of SNK... I'd love to be proven wrong there.
That said, I pick the weirdly-upbeat Fantasy Life battle theme because it feels both battle-ready and kind of Layton-esque in the instrumentation (though with bonus squeaking and what sounds a lot like the sound effect used when moving furniture in Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer and Pocket Camp).
They tend to have more, like guest appearances and cameo's over outright crossovers I suppose.
Even with Layton there was that one puzzle based off the Inazuma Eleven games and Katrielle having outfits based off other non-Layton Level-5 female characters.
Although most of these tend to be exclusive to the Japanese versions for one reason or another. I don't know if these kind of correlations matter too much but I suppose at the end of the day, its more so up to Sakurai and Level-5 and if they are interested in going the extra mile beyond just Mii costumes and spirits for those IP's.
Also that's a very upbeat song, I can definitely hear that on a Layton stage.
Also, here's a bit more insight of one of the more iconic cutscenes in the Layton series.
In 'Professor Layton and the Curious Village', Layton and Luke find themselves fleeing from a runaway Ferris wheel. The animation director wanted players to feel like it was barreling towards them too, so he placed the camera in front of Layton and Luke in a long, continuous cut. pic.twitter.com/zJUbbmLFoP
So, I finally finished Azran Legacy... honestly I'm not sure what to think of it.
It's easily the best of the prequel trilogy, but it still feels a lot weaker than the games in the OG trilogy, middle section (collecting the eggs) was a drag to go through, and some of the the twists, while not as farfetched like in previous games, still feel a bit "ehh" compared to the surprise in past games.
Although I think your view of them depends if you knew them going in or not, like I knew that
Layton and Descole were brothers before I played it
which as a twist I thought was ok, but learning that
their father is the bad guy
is a bit overdramatic and silly IMO, especially when you only learn this in the last hour or so and the relationship between the 3 isn't developed enough for it to sink in, same way in Miracle Mask their wasn't much focus on Randall's and Henry's until the last 20 minutes.
That said, I liked the twist that
Emmy was a mole
since it caught me by surprise just like Layton. The beginning and the end of this game were strong but the middle, Meh.
I see that most of the community is divided on it when I look up comments of the OST on YouTube.
Final Rankings of the series for me:
Unwound Future>Curious Village>Eternal Diva>Diabolical Box>Azran Legacy>Miracle Mask>Last Spectre
I think that's 90% accurate, maybe it might it change when I play through them a second time.
Honestly between Unwound Future and Last Spectre it's hard to rank them, they all feel like they have their good points and bad points compared to the Top and Bottom of the list.
I still have to play Kat's game though, but that's for another day.
How would you rank them Curious Villager
?
P.S. since you're the most knowledgeable one of us on the series, besides (presumably) Layton how much do the characters in the OG and prequel trilogy feature in Kat's game? I'd like to look up fanart of the franchise but I'm afraid I'd be spoiled on the fates of the characters in the new game if I did that.
Although I think your view of them depends if you knew them going in or not, like I knew that
Layton and Descole were brothers before I played it
which as a twist I thought was ok, but learning that
their father is the bad guy
is a bit overdramatic and silly IMO, especially when you only learn this in the last hour or so and the relationship between the 3 isn't developed enough for it to sink in, same way in Miracle Mask their wasn't much focus on Randall's and Henry's until the last 20 minutes.
Yeah, I feel like Layton games excel when they have giant plottwists that are foreshadowed just enough to make their low-key-absurd reveals feel logical in-universe. I don't know why, but some of the twists in Azran just don't quite meet that standard for a lot of people...
So, I finally finished Azran Legacy... honestly I'm not sure what to think of it.
It's easily the best of the prequel trilogy, but it still feels a lot weaker than the games in the OG trilogy, middle section (collecting the eggs) was a drag to go through, and some of the the twists, while not as farfetched like in previous games, still feel a bit "ehh" compared to the surprise in past games.
Although I think your view of them depends if you knew them going in or not, like I knew that
Layton and Descole were brothers before I played it
which as a twist I thought was ok, but learning that
their father is the bad guy
is a bit overdramatic and silly IMO, especially when you only learn this in the last hour or so and the relationship between the 3 isn't developed enough for it to sink in, same way in Miracle Mask their wasn't much focus on Randall's and Henry's until the last 20 minutes.
That said, I liked the twist that
Emmy was a mole
since it caught me by surprise just like Layton. The beginning and the end of this game were strong but the middle, Meh.
I see that most of the community is divided on it when I look up comments of the OST on YouTube.
Final Rankings of the series for me:
Unwound Future>Curious Village>Eternal Diva>Diabolical Box>Azran Legacy>Miracle Mask>Last Spectre
I think that's 90% accurate, maybe it might it change when I play through them a second time.
Honestly between Unwound Future and Last Spectre it's hard to rank them, they all feel like they have their good points and bad points compared to the Top and Bottom of the list.
I still have to play Kat's game though, but that's for another day.
How would you rank them Curious Villager
?
P.S. since you're the most knowledgeable one of us on the series, besides (presumably) Layton how much do the characters in the OG and prequel trilogy feature in Kat's game? I'd like to look up fanart of the franchise but I'm afraid I'd be spoiled on the fates of the characters in the new game if I did that.
Yeah I kind of have the same sentiments with that game as you do, the fetch quest in the middle was definitely the weakest part of the game and may have dragged the rest of the game down too in terms of overall pacing.
Though being fair, they did drop some clues in regards to the conclusion of the game in previous titles, especially in regards to Emmy, although its hidden quite deeply and out of the way that I don't really blame anyone for missing them.
I suppose Level-5 was trying to go for something more grand than what the series could handle (especially for a prequel story) just to give Hershel a send off since the game was meant to be the last entry with him as the main protagonist, but perhaps they bit a bit more than they could chew though, especially with what they tried to go for in the end
Layton & co dying by the beams of light
just couldn't work at all due to the existence of three other games taking place after AL, which made that particular scene look more awkward than what the writers where trying to go for.
I'd probably rank them about the same as you did, especially with Lost Future, Curious Village, Eternal Diva and the Elysian Box, the prequel entries I'm a bit more unsure on where exactly to place them, I'll probably have to replay them again to freshen my memory.
Layton's Mystery Journey is kind of a soft reboot in the franchise with an all new story, cast, structure and atmosphere, pretty much no past characters really appear (or are even mentioned) in that game other than some minor NPC's like Stachenscarfen and Granny Riddleton, and even their characters have been changed a bit compared to how they usually where in the original series.
Although its pretty widely agreed upon to be the weakest entry in the series and most fans tend to recommend watching the anime adaptation instead, (which also covers the plot in regards to the whereabouts of Hershel).
The game is also the first entry to not involve the late puzzle Master, Akira Tago, due to his passing a year or two before the game initially came out, so you'll notice that the puzzles are very different from what they used to be.
In terms of the Layton fandom, you should be fine in terms of spoilers as most fans tend to be careful in regards to that in the first place unless they know that you know.
As fogbadge said, its really Nintendo and Level-5 themselves that unironically tend to spoil major plot details in the games within their trailers than the fans do, hence why many Layton fans tend to recommend you to avoid watching the official trailers for the Layton games and just go straight to playing them, or look up some reviews and let's plays I guess...
Man, I've finally gotten around to looking up some of the Layton fanart the internet has to offer, and jesus that Descole X Layton ship aged horrendously, like cold milk left out in a hot southern day.
With the move to the Nintendo 3DS for 'Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask', the change from programming 2D graphics to 3D introduced new challenges for LEVEL-5. The development team put a lot of effort into creating eye-popping 3D visuals throughout the game. pic.twitter.com/jAuYL2n5yx
Man, I've finally gotten around to looking up some of the Layton fanart the internet has to offer, and jesus that Descole X Layton ship aged horrendously, like cold milk left out in a hot southern day.
Damn, I stopped receive notifications in this thread, and I ended up missing out on a lot of interesting discussions over these last few weeks. Yikes!
Well, rest assured, I still have that Layton support! In fact, it's reached the point he's the only decent chance character at this point that will make me truly excited if he gets added to Smash (along with a BlazBlue character, but the chances of that happening are a lot smaller compared to Layton).
Figured I'd let you know I stumbled across this text-to-speech tool I online a few days ago called 15.ai. It lets you type in phrases and sentences (with a 200 character limit), and then a character's voice from that list can speak the phrase/sentence you put in for you; it's been trending on Twitter with people using it to have Spongebob speak profanity.
One of the voices that it lets you utilize is Smash Ultimate's announcer (Xander Mobus). Thus, you can use that text-to-speech tool to input the name of a character you want to see in Smash, and then you can hear the name of the character being said in the classic Smash announcer style!
I've already tested this with a few characters I want to see in Smash, and Professor Layton turned out fantastic! I didn't even need to change the wording of his name to make it sound like how it's usually compared to other characters like Ragna or Noel: just typing in "Professor Layton" was all it took for the tool to produce a really good imitation of how Xander Mobus would say Layton's name in Smash without any mispronunciations! It makes up for Layton never getting a Smashified art a while back where we hear someone say his name in a similar fashion by the end of the video.
If you want to try out this text-to-speech tool to see for yourself, here's the link. Make sure you click the drop down tab next to "Source", then select "Super Smash Bros Ultimate"; the announcer is the the only voice connected with it at the moment, but that's all you need. Afterwards, type "Professor Layton" in the text box, click "Generate", wait a few seconds, and presto, you got the announcer saying Professor Layton's name!
Have Smash Ultimate's menu theme playing in the background and keep pressing that play button to let your Smash fantasies run wild as you imagine selecting Layton as your fighter on the character menu as you play the game!
So, I finally finished Azran Legacy... honestly I'm not sure what to think of it.
It's easily the best of the prequel trilogy, but it still feels a lot weaker than the games in the OG trilogy, middle section (collecting the eggs) was a drag to go through, and some of the the twists, while not as farfetched like in previous games, still feel a bit "ehh" compared to the surprise in past games.
Although I think your view of them depends if you knew them going in or not, like I knew that
Layton and Descole were brothers before I played it
which as a twist I thought was ok, but learning that
their father is the bad guy
is a bit overdramatic and silly IMO, especially when you only learn this in the last hour or so and the relationship between the 3 isn't developed enough for it to sink in, same way in Miracle Mask their wasn't much focus on Randall's and Henry's until the last 20 minutes.
That said, I liked the twist that
Emmy was a mole
since it caught me by surprise just like Layton. The beginning and the end of this game were strong but the middle, Meh.
I see that most of the community is divided on it when I look up comments of the OST on YouTube.
Late reply on my end, so apologies for that (just noticed your review upon revisiting this thread), but regarding the Bronev twist:
One scene in Miracle Mask foreshadows the whole Bronev-is-Layton+Descole's-true father twist, but it's something that can easily be missed: it comes from a special side episode in that game.
Remember the subplot in Miracle Mask when Roland Layton went missing, and so Randall and Layton had to go find him? The special episode is a dialogue Mr. and Mrs. Layton have that takes place after Randall and Layton find Roland. In it, Lucille Layton asks her husband about what happened when he went missing. He tells her that several archaeologists took him out of town to ask him some questions. These archaeologists wanted to know how Hershel was doing. Interestingly, Lucille tells him, "Roland, I've seen those men. With those well-mannered suits and those manicured hands, they weren't archaeologists."
Judging Lucille's description on the men that took Roland and comparing them to what Bronev and the average Targent officer wears, it's heavily implied that the men that visited Stansbury to ask Roland about Hershel's whereabouts were Targent officers. Seeing how Bronev tried to recruit Descole (when he went by the name of Desmond and had a family of his own) and later Layton into Targent, it's very likely that Bronev eventually learned about the whereabouts of his youngest son sometime after he was forced to separate from him, and once he learned his youngest son has been adopted by the Laytons and lives in Stansbury, he most likely sent Targent officers to Stansbury to find Hershel and perhaps even try to recruit him into Targent to reunite with him; it may also be possible that Bronev may have been among those Targent men that visited Stansbury and met with Roland so that he could meet his youngest son for the first time in over a decade.
I agree that that Bronev twist could've been better developed; while the special episode in Miracle Mask raises the mystery on who from Targent was so interested in Hershel Layton and foreshadows one of AL's biggest twists, it's like what some in this thread previously mentioned regarding some of the prequel trilogies' mysteries: you have to do some digging to find these clues (in this case, having to watch that special episode in Miracle Mask). Perhaps if they incorporated into that special episode to the end of the chapter as a "meanwhile" scene (along with giving Bronev more screentime in Azran Legacy where he drops some cryptic lines indicating some sort of familial familiarity with the Professor), I think that twist could've turned out better.
Damn, I stopped receive notifications in this thread, and I ended up missing out on a lot of interesting discussions over these last few weeks. Yikes!
Well, rest assured, I still have that Layton support! In fact, it's reached the point he's the only decent chance character at this point that will make me truly excited if he gets added to Smash (along with a BlazBlue character, but the chances of that happening are a lot smaller compared to Layton).
Figured I'd let you know I stumbled across this text-to-speech tool I online a few days ago called 15.ai. It lets you type in phrases and sentences (with a 200 character limit), and then a character's voice from that list can speak the phrase/sentence you put in for you; it's been trending on Twitter with people using it to have Spongebob speak profanity.
One of the voices that it lets you utilize is Smash Ultimate's announcer (Xander Mobus). Thus, you can use that text-to-speech tool to input the name of a character you want to see in Smash, and then you can hear the name of the character being said in the classic Smash announcer style!
I've already tested this with a few characters I want to see in Smash, and Professor Layton turned out fantastic! I didn't even need to change the wording of his name to make it sound like how it's usually compared to other characters like Ragna or Noel: just typing in "Professor Layton" was all it took for the tool to produce a really good imitation of how Xander Mobus would say Layton's name in Smash without any mispronunciations! It makes up for Layton never getting a Smashified art a while back where we hear someone say his name in a similar fashion by the end of the video.
If you want to try out this text-to-speech tool to see for yourself, here's the link. Make sure you click the drop down tab next to "Source", then select "Super Smash Bros Ultimate"; the announcer is the the only voice connected with it at the moment, but that's all you need. Afterwards, type "Professor Layton" in the text box, click "Generate", wait a few seconds, and presto, you got the announcer saying Professor Layton's name!
Have Smash Ultimate's menu theme playing in the background and keep pressing that play button to let your Smash fantasies run wild as you imagine selecting Layton as your fighter on the character menu as you play the game!
Late reply on my end, so apologies for that (just noticed your review upon revisiting this thread), but regarding the Bronev twist:
One scene in Miracle Mask foreshadows the whole Bronev-is-Layton+Descole's-true father twist, but it's something that can easily be missed: it comes from a special side episode in that game.
Remember the subplot in Miracle Mask when Roland Layton went missing, and so Randall and Layton had to go find him? The special episode is a dialogue Mr. and Mrs. Layton have that takes place after Randall and Layton find Roland. In it, Lucille Layton asks her husband about what happened when he went missing. He tells her that several archaeologists took him out of town to ask him some questions. These archaeologists wanted to know how Hershel was doing. Interestingly, Lucille tells him, "Roland, I've seen those men. With those well-mannered suits and those manicured hands, they weren't archaeologists."
Judging Lucille's description on the men that took Roland and comparing them to what Bronev and the average Targent officer wears, it's heavily implied that the men that visited Stansbury to ask Roland about Hershel's whereabouts were Targent officers. Seeing how Bronev tried to recruit Descole (when he went by the name of Desmond and had a family of his own) and later Layton into Targent, it's very likely that Bronev eventually learned about the whereabouts of his youngest son sometime after he was forced to separate from him, and once he learned his youngest son has been adopted by the Laytons and lives in Stansbury, he most likely sent Targent officers to Stansbury to find Hershel and perhaps even try to recruit him into Targent to reunite with him; it may also be possible that Bronev may have been among those Targent men that visited Stansbury and met with Roland so that he could meet his youngest son for the first time in over a decade.
I agree that that Bronev twist could've been better developed; while the special episode in Miracle Mask raises the mystery on who from Targent was so interested in Hershel Layton and foreshadows one of AL's biggest twists, it's like what some in this thread previously mentioned regarding some of the prequel trilogies' mysteries: you have to do some digging to find these clues (in this case, having to watch that special episode in Miracle Mask). Perhaps if they incorporated into that special episode to the end of the chapter as a "meanwhile" scene (along with giving Bronev more screentime in Azran Legacy where he drops some cryptic lines indicating some sort of familial familiarity with the Professor), I think that twist could've turned out better.
Oh gosh, this will be so useful for the modding scene if Layton doesn't end up being one of the DLC characters for Smash Ultimate. Thanks for sharing, Erureido!
Zillabean was a pretty well known artist within the Layton fandom. I wonder if she still does art for the series or has moved on to do other things as well..
It would be nice if Level-5 made more use of their past characters in general. I suppose that's what the Japanese exclusive mobile spin off's where for, but I don't know how many of those are still active...
I wouldn't mind a Mario Kart or Dynasty Warriors esque spin off game that involves the whole cast throughout the series history.
Or maybe a crossover with Puyo Puyo/Dr.Mario/Panel de Pon or something if they want to keep the series close to the puzzle solving genre...
Oh gosh, this will be so useful for the modding scene if Layton doesn't end up being one of the DLC characters for Smash Ultimate. Thanks for sharing, Erureido!
If you decide to use the text-to-speech tool for the announcer to say a character's name, just make sure you give 15.ai credit in some way. Their website mentions that regarding credibility.
Also will help promote their popularity for other Smash speculators who brainstorm how their characters would play like in Smash.
Zillabean was a pretty well known artist within the Layton fandom. I wonder if she still does art for the series or has moved on to do other things as well..
That would be fantastic. I would love something that reunited all the Layton gang in a light, non-canon, slice of life way.
Honestly, I think Layton could make a solid party game collection a la Clubhouse 51. You could reuse the probably-cancelled Layton 7 Mafia-esque game, put in a variety of puzzle games, and maybe some classic games like chess.? Then have various characters from across the franchise be playing the games and providing commentary as you play ("Another piece taken!" in chess and such).... I'd be very happy with that.
