"Soon, the World will end."
- Luke Triton
Professor Layton and the Last Specter, a game also known as the Spectre's Call in the states, released in 2009 in Japan and 2011 in other regions, is the fourth game in the Professor Layton game series on Nintendo DS, and the first game in the second trilogy of this quirky puzzle-adventure and mystery series. What's interesting about the Layton franchise itself is that how it evolves is the same as the Ace Attorney game series. What I mean by that is not the gameplay or the storyline but the fact that they both contain two main trilogies, the first game of the second trilogy (in other words up to the first four games) is done in the normal 2D style as the first three games, with some upgraded-to-3D models here and there, however the games after the fourth main game in both franchises is done in the Nintendo 3DS system; all characters and areas shown fully in 3D. The upgrade to the 3DS system makes the gameplay in both noticeably lag a bit compared to the earlier games but it's something that the player can get used to quickly.
The difference between the similarities I've mentioned with AA and PL exists in the timelines of the two game series. Layton's second trilogy is a prequel to the first trilogy, while AA's second trilogy is a sequel to the first trilogy.
What the Professor Layton game series are known for are ofcourse the puzzles along with the use of an overarching story to create a puzzle game with actual characters. While none of the puzzles are World's Record tier, I very much appreciate many of them for the ability to try to make the player think outside of the box for the answers - that is a real-world ability that I want to master some day myself. While there are not too many puzzles such as those, they still do exist in all of the Layton games; any puzzle solver should enjoy playing the games just for that, even if the puzzles aren't "up to par" for the standards of the best of the best of the best - to quote Will Smith in Men in Black.
I personally don't care about trying to solve a puzzle like a chess game for five hours, so the Layton games are excellent use of time for me - there's a great amount of puzzles in each game and the pacing of the puzzle-solving is family friendly but still challenging enough for any Joe out there - average or not.
The Last Specter is a story about how the famous gentleman archaeologist Professor Layton met his young self-claimed apprentice Luke Triton.
This blog post is going to be a bit special compared to the rest as it will contain information about the events of the storyline from every single chapter of the game as I figure that no one else on the internet has this type of information available for the fans of the series who want to check up on what exactly happened in a specific chapter of a game. I will continue doing these types of posts for the last two games of the second trilogy as well.
The Story:
A woman parks her bike and arrives outside of Hershel Layton's household. The old Rosa, a worker at Layton's apartment gives him a letter and the man himself decides to go out - but not before finishing his tea! As Layton drives past the woman with his Laytonmobile, the woman goes after him, driving dangerously fast and stopping Layton in his tracks. Her name is Emmy Altava, she claims to be Layton's new assistant, hired by a person named Dean Dalmona who is Layton's superior at the University.
Layton is on the tracks heading towards a place where a friend of his lives, as they had sent a letter to Layton mentioning something about a "giant attacking a town." The letter also contains a hidden message: HELPSOS, solving the hidden message is the first puzzle of the game.
"Hershel Layton: At age 27, became youngest professor of Gressenheller University. Published in numerous academic journals, which I could recite chronologically, if you like. Astute intellect and preternatural skills of observation have been utilized by Scotland Yard to solve some of the toughest criminal cases."
She stops for a second, and then continues:
"Single. Thirty-four years old. Capricorn. I made that last part up... Just a guess!"
So says Emmy Altava with her surprising amount of knowledge on Hershel Layton. Emmy seems to hide a secret or two about why she in actuality wants to be Layton's assistant so bad. This truth will be revealed in the final game of the second trilogy, the Azran Legacy.
Six months ago, the newspapers of London `the Times` reported about ancient remains being found in the town of Misthallery, the remains belonging to ruins known as Golden Garden, and so the story begins...
Chapter One: The Fog of Misthallery
Prof. Hershel Layton, our gentleman protagonist, as well as Emmy Altava, his new assistant at the time, arrive at the eerie town of Misthallery where new puzzles await. Layton's goal is to meet up with an old friend of his named Clark Triton. Clark is a person who, along with Layton both together in their younger days wanted to become elite archaeologist's, which Layton successfully managed to do but Clark did not. Although Layton does not know it at first, about a year ago Mr. Triton had become the mayor of the town of Misthallery, living in a mansion with servants. That fact is not too important however. The game does not take too much of its time to guide you on how to play - already a few seconds into the game you begin the story with quick summaries of how to move around in this point-and-click-type of DS game.In the town of Misthallery, an Oracle who is claimed to have saved many lives over the recent times in the town has told people to evacuate as the Oracle claims to have seen the future. As Clark Triton had sent a letter to Mr. Layton in which he mentions a "giant," could this giant have something to do with the evacuation plans? - that's the question.
Going deeper into the town of Misthallery, Hershel and Emmy find destruction all over the place in the nearby streets. A building and the road next to it have been completely destroyed, as if a wrecking ball had smashed on them. Emmy takes photographs of the destroyed places as evidence.
The front door that had flown off from a nearby destroyed building has a red X-shaped mark with couple of red dots on it. The citizen call it the Witch's Mark, which appear on the victim's households before the destruction of the Specter happens.
Two mysteries appear:
A forged letter. After meeting up with Clark Triton, Hershel realizes that Clark did not in fact send the letter - someone had purposefully wanted Layton to the town for unknown reasons.
A legend in town. A folk story about a specter, an ancient spirit which protected the town from danger. However for unknown reasons the attacking specter is supposedly evil instead of a guardian spirit.
Due to Clark's personal plea for help when meeting with Layton - a request from an old friend to friend - despite Clark actually not sending the original letter - Layton agrees that he will do all he can in order to solve the case of the Specter/Giant/Witch-Oracle which fills the townspeople's minds with questions, tension and insecurity.
- Mayor Clark Triton's wife is named Brenda. Due to family matters Brenda is away from the Misthallery. And yes, their son is named Luke. Luke Triton is a young boy who keeps himself shut inside of his room.
- Layton is known in the story for solving cases for Scotland Yard, and never leaving a single one unsolved.
- There are only couple of puzzles in the first chapter. The cutting of the rope of the bridge-puzzle uses a fresh mechanic for this game series, but the puzzle itself is not special. It's not that new either but it's done in a somewhat similar way as when Layton pulled the swords during the finale of Diabolical Box - so a puzzle that ties directly to how the story moves on, and it flows better with the story than a random puzzle thrown between the story which breaks the flow, but it's done in a more casual manner in this game, showing off the experience of the game creators. In Unwound Future there was also one puzzle like that which was impressive in how it was presented - I mean the card games between Adult Luke and Layton.
Since Layton has not seen Luke Triton since he was a baby, he wants to talk to him for a bit. Clark appreciates the thought due to Luke's weird, unnatural act of not wanting to leave his room and not wanting to talk to anyone.
Chapter 2: The Boy Who Foretold Disaster
Luke Triton is known in the household as a young, bright boy who doesn't hate to talk with people, however since the last six months, ever since the appearance of the Specter, he has withdrawn into his room beyond a door locked with a puzzle. Luke has barely talked with his father. His mother's leave from the town is speculated by the household workers to be the reason for this withdrawal from the world, however, as Layton points out that Luke was the person who sent the letter to him in his father's name (pretty quick thinking from our gentleman!), Luke has an ominous thing to say: "Soon... The world will end."Doland the household butler has told the townspeople of the foretold destruction that will happen in the Great Ely Street of Misthallery, this information was told to him by Luke Triton himself, as he knows that the Specter is to appear this very night that Layton had come to visit on that particular area. Luke knows exactly where and when the Specter will appear, but how..?
There have been sinkholes appearing around the town along with an unnatural amounts of fog, told to Layton by a townsperson named Mido.
Geography of Misthallery:
The Great Ely Street, North Ely district. That's where the Specter will attack.
South Ely district, that's where Layton came from and saw the destroyed house.
East Ely district, that's where the Specter is said to have attacked before.
In the north Ely Street; an inn run by a man named Joseph, whom has no intention of leaving because of the Specter and always has a bottle of alcohol at hand, decides to give Emmy, Luke and Layton room number 302 with a nice view to the disctrict, due to them solving an important puzzle for him.
When the fog hits, Layton and the others get ready to see the attack of the "giant," of the Specter.
In this second chapter there were about as few puzzles as in the first except the introduction of special puzzles. The story progresses quickly at a nice pace and you get to know more of the town of Misthallery.
Chapter 3: The Specter Appears
The way of the real english gentleman is to always keep your mind focused and clear, and to pay attention to your surroundings. Before the specter appears, Layton wants to check the surrounding area of North Ely district out in order to plan for the future accordingly.Luke tries to catch a cat which escapes and they run to the nearby forest area to look for it.
In the forest there's a worn-out laboratorium ran by a woman named Marion who happens to know where the cat lives but only tells them after you solve an aquarium puzzle. Marion opens up a fish minigame for the player. Where the cat Luke was going after lives in, is an old house in the northern parts of the woods. He lives with our good old Granny Riddleton, the, when it comes to puzzles, omniscient old lady who is ready to go to the hot springs and leaves the puzzles in the kind care of her cat's paws.
After investigating around and asking questions from people who know nothing, they head for Paddy's place, a restaurant, and decide to head for the hotel to get ready for the Specter after grabbing a bite. It's night and the soundtrack changes.
Music starts playing as Layton is sipping his gentlemanly tea, and the ground starts to shake. A massive black ant-looking creature with red eyes attacks the hotel and leaves. Layton gives Luke a pep talk about bravery and they go after the Specter, plunging right into the thick fog. The song starts to play again, as if someone is playing a flute. As they ask around during the night the song keeps playing, a weird echo makes it sound as if it's coming from all directions.
Luke tells the story about Specter's Flute. A long time ago the villagers used to call the specter with a flute. Layton speculates that the water left in the specter's wake means that it comes from the canals that surround the town and that the townspeople use to move around. Luke tells Emmy and Layton about a flute that was recently sold off at a black market. The music playing when the Specter moves is their only clue to investigate at this point in time, so they have to get to the bottom of who is behind the Black Market.
Chapter 4: Shadowy Manipulator
Cuckoo. Morning arrives. The plan is to head west, go through the rope bridge they arrived from to get into town, and go to the regular outdoor market in order to gather information on the Black Market which sold the Specter's Flute.Joseph the innkeeper whos inn the specter wrecked up a bit is a man who cares more about the people than the money as he shows care towards Layton's group not getting hurt; the specter was attacking their room personally.
Layton stops walking and claims that he felt as if someone was tailing them. They head next to a factory which was made to create cars but due to the pollution it created on the town's canal waters, the factory had to be closed.
An old lady claims that Emmy is too old to be sold any candy to, so she won't. A bit of a comedic moment but unskippable as it's important for the storyline. At the the normal outdoors market. After solving her puzzle, Marilyn, a seller tells about a mysterious man who no one has seen before: that's the person running the black market.
The market area is filled with poor people from the slums. After asking around, a young man named Badger claims that he doesn't know a thing, but the old lady who sells candies knows everything. Everything. The old lady, Aunt Tuffy has a puzzle to sell before giving out information. She claims that "a dark bird" runs the black market.
At the market area again, a person with a bird's mask and black clothes jumps down from a building, manically laughing, breaking a table and almost hitting Layton's gang. They can't seem to catch the man. He calls himself the Black Raven. He wants to make Layton figure out a puzzle but won't give it to him just yet as Layton has to figure out what it really is.
After solving a puzzle, a man named Tweeds is there to give them a hint: "If you put the Raven's body together, that will guide you to the black market. I can't tell you anymore than that, but the Medallion will guide you." Tweeds hands them a medallion with a design of a bird's wing. Layton's theory is that there are other medallions out there in the market with the other parts of the bird, put them together to create a full bird.
Badger has more information for them: "The door will open when you put all of the pieces together." He also hints about medallion in the Chimney quartet. Louis and the chimney as well as Aunt Tuffy's place. That's four medals.
The puzzle is a sliding puzzle to create the bird from the medals. A boy named Nabby suddenly changes his tone about not knowing anything about the black market; he was the "gate guardian" of the way to that place. Although it's no gate, it's a hole downwards.
Down the sinkhole. Layton doesn't feel too concerned about it possibly being a trap. Emmy, Luke and Layton arrive at a worn-out stage where the Black Raven stands at. Layton out of nowhere claims to have figured out the identity of the Black Raven. This part is probably the best of the game so far - we take a backseat as Luke and Emmy, and myself (the player), have to figure out what exactly Layton meant. The Black Raven seems to have teleported around - how? It's Layton's quiz time. The answer is quite something; there are subtle hints, or I guess it'd be more accurate to say that I wasn't really expecting that kinds of hints to figuring out the Black Raven's identity from a Layton game despite its history on similar things - this was more subtle than normal and the clues exist in the animated cutscenes as well.
Due to the Identity of the Black Raven not being too important aspect of the story, but still a clever trick, I will be warning you (the blog reader) as I am going to the SPOILER TERRITORY for a bit in order to explain how this was done. This quiz of Layton's is progressive, there are multiple active choices, and after figuring out the first one, you have to answer the second question which also asks the player to pick an answer from multiple choices. The quiz is not hard but it's very needed for the freshness of the gameplay's style as it's different from the traditional Layton-styled puzzles.
The quiz goes on for three times until you reach a marvelous conclusion: the Black Raven are actually all of the children of the market area as Aunt Taffy will not sell candies to adults. Layton, during their chase after the Black Raven, saw Taffy's candies inside the Black Raven's coat, which was gone the next time he saw the B.R all of a sudden much further away, which happened almost instantly - making it seem as if the Black Raven had teleported.
This means both: The Black Raven = a child, and, The Black Raven = many people together.
Such a quickly paced sequence contains such a nice mystery! Great! Layton's quick wits really shine in this game and it feels really natural. Very Ace Attorney styled visual clues as well.
SPOILER TERRITORY /DONE
The Black Raven at the time in the manhole during Layton's reveal is a person named Crow. He explains that almost exactly a year ago a flute reminiscent to the legend's Specter's Flute was sold to a man named Barde from Highyard Hill. The problem with meeting up with Barde is that the man died a year ago.
At the Barde Manor, a young girl called the "Calamity Witch" is claimed to reside in - Arianna Barde's the name, the townspeople claim that she's cursed and urge not to go near the manor. "Anyone who speaks ill of Arianna ends up regretting it."
While Chapter 3 takes longer than the other ones, chapter 4 takes almost twice the time chapter 3 takes to play through at a decent pace, provided that you try to explore every nook and cranny instead of rushing through the story only.
Luke claims that a man named Greppe likes the town so much that he has spent alot of his wealth in rebuilding the town for its people. Greppe is a man that likes the restaurant Paddy's Place at North Ely, however he's not in the mood to talk with Layton's ilk at the time so it's time to head for the Witch's manor...
Chapter 5 is the first really 'free' chapter when it comes to gameplay in the way that you can find many hidden puzzles and extra puzzles in it than than just having to keep progressing the story.
Highyard Hill. A more normal and beautiful residential area from the slums of the market area - the police station and the excavation side for the foreshadowed Golden Garden exist nearby as well.
Layton and co. arrive at the Barde Manor but the garden around it has grown too thick to walk through without a navigator - a map that acts as a puzzle! After solving it they gaze their eyes on the massive manor which is in bad condition. Layton sees someone watching them through the windows and knocks the door. The gardener, Seamus, opens the door and won't let them in to meet the manor's owner. It's Weird, though. A snobby gardener but a garden that is in terrible condition...
The group decide to invade the manor through a very old lookout tower (you can see the town, garden etc. from it) that looks almost like a tree on first sight. The upper bridge gives access to the manor itself. From outside it seems as if you can get to the bridge from the tower but however from the inside it's not so easy - there's only graffiti on the wall and no access elsewhere. Layton figures out that the lighting the torches of the manor in a specific manner does something, and it opens a trap-door on the second floor.
Another Door puzzle to solve. Inside the manor this time: a picture of Arianna and her brother Tony on the wall can be seen. The manor is filled with spider webs from top to bottom, giving it an eerie and old feeling. How can peopel live there? comes immediately to mind. Emmy shows that she's scared of spiders.
Before the Specter arrived Luke and Arianna used to be friends; now she's called the cursed witch. The squad is forced to leave by the gardner again and they decide to leave to talk about Arianna more with Luke.
Arianna is... Very sick. Luke tells Layton that her dad, the person who bought the Specter's flute and died, had told him that Arianna didn't have much longer to live despite her young age. Terrible is fate, as they say... To gain more information about her, the group decides to ask information from the townsfolk. After asking around, one of the people tell them that the gardener, Seamus, had been sailing through the canals. At the market however no one's seen "an old man with a beard" but instead "a boy from Highyard Hill who was stocking up quite alot on household items and groceries," has been around just recently, yes...
Right afterwards there is commotion at east of the Crossroads of the town. A Witch's mark has appeared on a building - remember that whenever someone speaks ill of Arianna, the Witch's mark appears on the house of the person who says so, and that building would get destroyed by the Specter.
At this point we get another storyline related multiquiz related to Seamus the Gardener. It's not hard to guess the answer to this quiz and Layton will shot Emmy and Luke what it is at the Barde Manor. At this point in time the canals are free for use for quickly moving around Misthallery.
Arianna and the "gardener" at the lake. The curse of the calamity Witch is not a curse, just a simple trick created by a young boy who wanted to protect Arianna from all the people who talk ill of her - Seamus is indeed just her younger brother Tony. The entire gist of things is that Arianna and Tony wanted to be left alone, that's all. Arianna tells them that she absolutely has no idea about any flute and they simply have to leave.
The Specter is claimed to be able to take over the hearts of everyone in the town and we see a flashback of Arianna next to her father as he was found dead. "The Specter... It changes people." Not soon after Mr. Barde's passing, the Specter became active and Arianna was never the same again.
Luke also believes that his father Clark Triton is lying about his mother being on a trip and that she's really missing, he claims that it must all be because the Specter is controlling Clark.
The group goes to the police HQ of the town to ask for information on the Specter but the Chief who is gone right now anywhere from 5 to 10 hours is the one who can grant access to the information - and he may not do that at all, so Emmy decides to go to the Scotland Yard which also have the information of the Town's police - Layton tells her to pick up his notes and the recent newspapers as well. When Emmy returns they are to meet up at the town's library.
Chapter 6: London's Hidden Secrets
A quick little chapter compared to the previous two. Emmy is in London to pick up the goodies - Layton's items and info on the Specter case from Scotland Yard. She rans into Dean Delmona who claims to have hired her as Layton's assistant. Dean knows her. She also meets Layton's household cleaner Rosa. After solving a couple Hat puzzles in the office and heading to the Yard, officer Colby is there to block Emmy's way from information on Misthallery's police reports about the Specter case. An old acquaintance of Emmy's points out that inspector Grosky is solving a case in Central London; Emmy needs to find him exactly...
Inspector Grosky has been battling a crook across the London streets. His muscular and manly outlook charmes the people around him. Back at the Yard, Grosky and the thug both come through the window and Emmy knocks the thug out. Grosky allows Emmy to see the police files. Inspector Chelmey notes that there is something weird about the death and the death also has only one eye witness account. Inspector Grosky decides to go to Misthallery by sprinting with his own two feet as Emmy rides the bike back.
Chapter 7: Third Eye Jakes
Hans, a young man, tells them that his father figured out that Arianna's father did a suicide. Maggie, another town person, tells them that she arrived to the town hoping to see the Golden Garden, and the Specter appeared on the town on her first day there.
Layton the archaeologist decides to go see the dig site for the Golden Garden himself. Around the town it seems that sinkholes have been appearing along with the specter. What could their connection be? Around the dig site everyone seems to have given up on the dig for the golden garden and only one person is there, doing whatever. The guy, Dugan, says that they dug really deep and found nothing. Lukes father's personality has changed ever since he became the mayor which was right before the specter appeared, to get to the bottom of Clark's problems, they decide to talk with him after Emmy returns - she should be back so.. to the Library now! There, Layton checks out the newspaper for the time when mr. Barde's death was seen and there is no mention of it. Emmy wonders if Layton's "memory was jogged," foreshadowing something that Emmy wants Layton to remember. Layton also knows inspector Grosky who came from London by foot.
The police report on Mr. Barde's/Arianna's father's death:
Mr. Barde fell off a cliff. No sign of struggle, a will was discovered at his house. Details are sketchy but it appears that it was either a suicide or an accident. According to a single eyewitness there was no one else around the area. The eyewitness of the death is Clark Triton, who never spoke of the situation to Luke before. Nothing on the newspaper, this incident... Is someone trying to keep everything under wraps?
At this point you can travel back to London and meet up with Dean Delmona, help him with a puzzle. Dean is very interested in the Golden Garden and wants Layton to write a report about it; archaeologist stuff. You can talk with everyone around the places that were visited in chp 6.
Chief Jakes of the police PD in the town known as Three Eyes Jakes; a name that comes from him never leaving a single case solved. Jake says that he absolutely wants Layton out of the town. He has 24 hours to pack his stuff and leave. As they leave, he starts laughing maniacally. Time to speak with the witness of the supposed suicide/accident; Clark Triton. At the mayor's house (Triton house) Clark claims that what he saw was "a person/a dark silhouette" fell to the lake," that's all. He didn't see the body being mr. Barde's but his was found there so it's a logical conclusion to make. Layton, however, thinks that the police chief "third eye Jake" might have something to do with the case personally. Clark tells Layton to go pick a wine from the wine cellar for their dinner however Layton and co. have to leave..
People assumed to be working under Jakes' surround Laytons squad as they go after inspector Grosky. Three thugs attack them however Emmy beats them all up - she's somehow very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Layton explains to Grosky that Jakes might be behind everything and Grosky leaves to his place again as Jakes tried to lie to him that Layton kidnapped Luke...
Despite the chapter's name, Jakes was not that heavily part of it as you can spend most of the time solving puzzles in more places than just the town such as London.
Chapter 8: Face-to-Face with the Specter
Chapter 8 is again a rather short chapter if you've solved the puzzles around the town by then.
To avoid Jakes's attacks the group will move in more populated areas of Misthallery's streets. Luke doesn't have a "prophecy" for the next attack of the specter, however, Layton does: it will happen somewhere between Highyard Arch and the reservoir - he predicted this from Luke's notes as the Specter never attacks the same buildings twice so it would look for new areas. Luke explains how he's able to predict the specter's appearance: the water level of the area drops below normal = the specter appears. Luke never left the room but as he can talk to animals, his pet mice told him about the water levels dropping.
Instead of telling the butler Doland to inform the police of the appearance of the specter, Layton decides that it is time for them to alert the people alone as they set a trap for the specter. Evacuate the residents, then visit the Black Market, then... A final showdown with the specter.
The police officer Jakes visits a mysterious man with a mask who already knows about Layton: "Fate is so interesting sometimes," the masked person says.
The stubborn politician Mr. Greppe who is known by the locals decides to help evacuate the people from Highyard Arch, but they need a plan instead of going from door-to-door; so it's puzzle time!
Layton decides to pull a trap on the specter to see its true nature; a trap that encompasses the whole town, however in order to do that they need the help of the Black Raven of the Black Market.
Next it's night time. The mist fills the entire town. What could the Specter's identity truly be? The song of the Specter's flute starts playing. Specter falls down in front of Layton due to a trap and looks at him with its red eyes. Layton manages to see the Specter clearly with his own two eyes. As Layton is about to tell Emmy and Luke what it really is, Jakes comes and tells the police to arrest them. Jakes goes to the masked man to tell that they "don't have to worry anymore," Layton decides to break out of the interrogation room with the help of Luke's pet mouse. It's quite funny to see Layton prison break though, via puzzles ofcourse.
The next problem to solve is the Specter's Flute. What exactly carries the sound around the town which controls the specter? Ah also Layton still hasn't told the true identity of the specter.
At the scene of the latest crime of the specter Layton notices something and says that all the pieces are finally in place. The third multiquiz of the game takes place as we figure out that the pipes around the town that lead to the lake are where the sound of the flute echoes from. It's time to go back to Barde Manor to see this through.
Via Bucky the boatman there are multiple shortcuts you can take to quickly access different areas.
Chapter 9: The Specter Becomes Clear
Layton and co. arrive at the Barde manor. Layton speaks to Arianna claiming that he has figured out who controls the specter and what it really is. Arianna tells them to follow her and pulls out a flute from a bag and starts playing the theme of the specter in front of the large lake, summoning a.. "monster." Arianna calls her "Loosha," a creature which comes from an ancient race - an obvious reference to the Loch Ness's monster. Layton claims that Loosha is actually not the specter but a being that protects the town from the specter - and the real specter is something "far worse." So basically playing the flute stops Loosha from fighting and calms her down. Chief Jakes appears again and catches Loosha and Arianna and accuses them of being the culprits behind Misthallery's destruction.
Layton gives Tony, Arianna's brother, a letter to take to the boy named Crow in order to save Arianna. Back to the town. The Black Raven have helped with a trap. Instead of telling, Layton wants to show Luke and Emmy what exactly the real evil specter is when it gets trapped.
After getting intel and a key from an old factory worker named Sebastian, Layton and co. head over to the factory itself through a secret passageway. You see, despite the factory being shut for years, someone is in there at the moment. The music turns ominous. The Chief Engineer can be found inside of the factory; he's been creating machines that create the thick fog around the area and he knows more of the Specter. Thugs are keeping him there against his will. Behind a secret door we see the Specter. Jakes and a masked man, supposedly the boss of the enemy, make their move.
Chapter 10: A Legend Revealed
Epilogue: The Last Gift
Archeological finds are what Layton lives for but there are countless puzzles out there that Layton says that he must solve until one day he will solve the one puzzle that is meant only for him.
Luke wants to be Layton's new apprentice, well now. That makes two in such a short amount of time! Layton before the story of the Last Specter started his days alone, solving puzzles. From now on he has both Emmy Altava and Luke Triton to look after.
At the end of the story as Luke is about to leave Misthallery behind, every kid in the town says goodbye to him as he leaves as Layton's new assistant.
To be continued . . .
Wrap-up:
"Soon, the world will end," a young boy named Luke Triton once said. Professor Layton and the Last Specter is the first game of the game series's second trilogy which is a prequel story as it marks the beginning of the journey when Luke met Layton; it's a story about an ominous Specter which is attacking the town of Misthallery. The game is shorter than the Unwound Future and it's the last Layton game done in 2D. The puzzles in it are, on average, better than the ones in the first three. The character models are more lively than they've been before and the handling of the characters, Layton and Luke, as well as the newly introduced Emmy, was well done as they showed other sides than just being a gentleman to them. The story had couple nice twists to it, the Black Raven's and Descole's identities mainly, and the story was somewhat emotional aswell towards the end, but despite the emotional aspect of it, a problem I feel was that the ending felt rushed and that it was quickly over. As a puzzle game it was good, the story was good but too quick but after the Unwound Future it needs to take its time to build up to the more overarching story as, despite it being a self-contained story like the earlier ones, The Last Specter was simply the beginning of it all - Descole, "the one puzzle meant only for Layton," Emmy's true motives...
What I really liked about this story was the fact that, even though they did somewhat of a good job in The Unwound Future, Professor Layton who is hailed to be a person to help the Scotland Yard (he lives in London as well) solve difficult mysteries, he has never been all that smart aside from you, the player, solving the puzzles as him. In this game he got to shine as a guy who can figure out three different things from seeing a piece of candy.
Great start to the second trilogy. Almost at the level of the Unwound
Future which means that the Last Specter dunked on the Curious Village&the Diabolical Box
story-wise.So this was the final Layton game in 2D. The 3D ones take some time to get used to as they look a bit worse and the gameplay is far more laggy.
Also I don't like how Jakes's fate is not mentioned. He simply ran away after confirming that he has forged the will of Mr. Barde in order to fit Luke's father's agendas etc. That would change the story a bit, what exctly happened to Jakes? no one knows. Seems almost too serious not to mention, but that's just one nitpick, time to move on.
The story itself being connected to Layton's past - connected to a friend of his just like the next game, the Miracle Mask - makes the journey more personal and interesting to play through. Despite the Layton game series always having towns to stay in as their main settings, Curious Village and the Last Specter share more similarities in their core stories that the Last Specter almost feels like, yes, an upgrade on the ideas of the first game of the franchise, which was a simple story with ok-nice puzzles.
So: PL and the Last Specter is a neat story with some nice puzzles in it. Expectations were met.
First trilogy
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Second trilogy
Professor Layton and the Last Specter
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
Other games
Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's conspiracy
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