Hi! I recently blasted through the EU release of PLvAA. As a fan of both franchises who's played all the games (except AAI2 which has not been localised yet) I thoroughly enjoyed the game on multiple levels. What I realised whilst playing it however, and what wouldn't be obvious until you've played it, is that this game is an excellent introduction to both franchises as well as being stellar fan-service. I would actually recommend that, once released, people use this game to introduce new players to either franchise. Allow me to explain.

The rest of this post is going to assume you're new to both franchises.

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== So what's this Professor Layton thing about? ==

Short version: genius professor Hershel Layton is a renowned mystery-solving puzzle expert from London. Accompanied by his "apprentice", Luke Triton, Layton travels the UK (and sometimes the world) solving mysteries presented to him by friends and acquaintances who always write him a formal letter requesting his services because apparently none of Layton's friends have heard of e-mail even though this is supposed to be modern England but I digress.

Additionally, the Laytonverse is full of people who love to invent and solve puzzles because who doesn't like doing that why are you even questioning it. Professor Layton games therefore consist primarily of a surprisingly-solid-and-interesting plot that is otherwise an excuse to solve tons of puzzles en masse.

As for why this Luke kid follows this guy around, that's explained in the fourth game in the Layton series and is a major plot point in that game, so I can't talk about it here. It turns out to be really simple, though. Also this Luke kid can talk to animals which is considerably less typical in this universe than liking puzzles, apparently.

== OK, so about Ace Attorney? ==

Short version: you are Phoenix Wright from Japanifornia* (or in later titles, one of his minions subordinates), a defence attorney of variable pedigree depending on how far along in the series you are. (Brand new at the beginning, hardened veteran by the current installment, Dual Destinies.) You are a walking BS Detector and use this natural gift in court to get innocent parties acquitted of crimes they didn't commit against impossible odds.

Your assistant happens to be a spirit medium from the one group of people on the planet who can actually summon the dead and aren't just faking it. When she's not being hyper or a walking Deus Ex Machina you can whip out at the best possible time, she has a knack for stumbling across the critical evidence needed to make your case airtight. Basically everyone loves Maya Fey why are you even questioning it.

Ace Attorney games consist of A) stumbling on a random scenario nearly always involving a murder that makes Phoenix's natural BS Detector hit Red Alert instantly, B) finding evidence by investigating the crime scene (which you're not supposed to do but no-one brings that fact up except that one time) and C) using said evidence in court to acquit your client and get the actual guilty party on the hook.

*Japanifornia is the fan name given to the setting of the series; in the localisation it's meant to be set in Los Angeles, but in the original script the game is set in Japan and later titles in the franchise make that super obvious and the shift to LA makes less and less sense.

== So about this game, will I need any prior experience with these franchises before jumping in? ==

No.

The characters are roughly midway through their own storylines at the point this game must take place, so they're already well-established and into their standard character dynamics. Other than that, there's no direct references to the franchises or assumed knowledge at all, so you're actually perfectly fine to start here.

== Is this game canon? ==

It's not important nor relevant to your ability to enjoy this game and its world, as it's set in a new location.



== Oh really? Where is it set then? ==

After introducing the characters and their respective franchise's gameplay (although Phoenix is randomly in England on a business trip allowing him to get wrapped into a Laytonesque plot), the crew are whisked to Labyrinthia, a world where logic does not exist and magic is real - this being the point where this game diverges the most heavily from its source material. Labyrinthia is most notable for the location looking like you took a typical AA locale and a typical Layton locale and threw them in a blender, right down to the people you meet along the way very obviously belonging stylistically to one of the two franchises.

Returning characters are kept to the main foursome, although there are cameo appearances.

== How long is the game? ==

Reports vary depending on your own personal pace and preferences from the looks of it. I was one of the faster folks and it still took me over 20 hours to get through this game, but it's taken some other folks 35 hours.

The game is essentially split down the middle between being a Layton game one minute and an Ace Attorney game the next, with the transitions being remarkably seamless.

As each franchise complements the other and covers the other's weaknesses in this title, the game has little to no filler - this is lean and mean, you can be sure of that.

== "Covers each other's weaknesses?" ==

Both Layton and AA have detective work and truth-revealing segments to their plots and gameplay, despite being wildly different in their approaches to them. Layton is generally much better at the detective work whilst AA is much better at the truth-revealing dramatic highpoints, so in this game the gameplay switches to whichever type is appropriate for where the plot is at currently.

This means that the Layton segments cover investigation and clue finding, with the Ace Attorney investigation gameplay either absent or skillfully rolled into the Layton segments so well it took me half the game to notice, whilst Ace Attorney does what it does best; the trial segments. Layton's typical cavalcade of billions of puzzles to represent dramatic tension and urgency is avoided here.

The end result is a near 50/50 split of facetime between both franchises in this game - which half you prefer will depend on which franchise you like best, so both franchises are strongly represented here.

== So there's not much blending of the franchises here? ==

Contrary to the common consensus, I would argue there actually is a lot of blending, but it's probably a lot more subtle than people originally expected it to be, thus the consensus. It gets more blatant as the game progresses.

Generally though, the game is intended to be a strong showcase for both franchises as separate entities. What's most impressive is how they achieve that yet the two complement each other so naturally anyway.

== How difficult is the game? I hear it's pretty easy. ==

Again I have to disagree with the consensus in reviews: the game is roughly as challenging as a typical entry in each franchise unless you abuse Hint Coins, which appears to be the common temptation.

The trial mechanics are adapted to work better with Layton's scoring system, and they finally name the "life bar": the Credibility Meter. You get five points of Credibility for an entire trial this time around (considerably less generous than Ace Attorney is normally!) and if it runs out it's Game Over, so it's actually quite fortunate that evidence and profiles have been heavily streamlined in this release as well - otherwise it would be far too easy to blow out your Credibility and lose 20 minutes of progress really easily.

You get 50 picarats for every point of Credibility you retain by the end of a trial, so you will be well rewarded for competence.

The main difference though is that you get far more Hint Coins than normal relative to the amount of puzzles to solve, which is probably why everyone is reporting that the game is easy. That and areas in the world with Hint Coins will now sparkle when you highlight them.

== I didn't understand any of that... ==

Ah, yes, sorry. You got that you walk around in Layton games talking to people who give you puzzles to solve, right?

Layton games provide "Hint Coins" - tokens that, as the name implies, give you a hint to work out a tough puzzle you're stuck on. You can spend up to five hint coins on a single puzzle and if you spend that many the puzzle will usually be solved for you by the hints you get. In this game, they also work in trial sections by narrowing down the possible answers you can gave and highlighting the correct piece of witness testimony to respond to.

Correctly solved puzzles reward "picarats", which might as well read "Bonus Content Unlock Currency" because that's its actual job - it has no gameplay relevance. Wrong answers to puzzles will decrease the amount of picarats awarded - sometimes very severely.

That said, in all Layton games provided you complete every puzzle, even if you get the minimum possible picarat score you will still unlock everything and that is still true here.

Ace Attorney trial gameplay is simple in theory: witnesses come up to the stand, testify, and then you pick their testimony apart sentence by sentence to find the faulty statement to challenge, either with direct evidence or by pressing the witness for clarification. In practice, rattling out useful information to nab a witness with can be quite the arcane science, even for a veteran of the series!

Challenge the wrong statement and you lose credibility. It seems to actually be canon for Phoenix to screw up at least once per trial...

== Are there any changes to the standard gameplay for this game? ==

Most reviewers missed it, but the Layton sections have way more strictly investigative/clarifying dialogue than normal, rather than just hiding everything behind metaphorical puzzle walls like usual - puzzles are now reserved for the important bits and punch a lot harder because of it.

On the other hand mainly because of the setting and the fact that these are Witch Trials, not murder trials and logic doesn't exist in this world, significant changes are made to trial sections: you will now, for the first time, be able to cross-examine more than one witness at once.

This also leads to one big difference: you can find contradictions between different witness' testimonies not adding up as well as simply presenting evidence. You should have a lot of fun with it - I know I did!

== So, if I've never played Layton or AA, should I pick this up? ==

Definitely, it's an excellent commitment-free introduction to both franchises. The only people I don't recommend this title to are people who already know they despise one (or both) of the franchises featured for whatever reason.

Ultimately the game is an above-average example of both franchises and one of the better titles in each, so hardcore fans especially will get a lot out of this one, as you will expect. The surprise is that everyone else should, too!

Great review! Now I just have to wait till it reaches NA to play it...

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