Retro|Spective 212: The Final Tour of Nintendo 3DS

[Neon Ignition]

It gutted me when not supporting the USP of the 3DS started to become a thing

[Neon Ignition]

Game 08 - Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights
Coming from Konami this game was quickly pushed to the side for being an attempt to cash in on the success of the Professor Layton series. As such it now sits hidden within the 3DS's library. The game uses the same pattern of exploring environments to find clues and piece together a mystery.




Worth the Lautrec?

[Nu-Eclipse]

Game 08 - Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights
Coming from Konami this game was quickly pushed to the side for being an attempt to cash in on the success of the Professor Layton series. As such it now sits hidden within the 3DS's library. The game uses the same pattern of exploring environments to find clues and piece together a mystery.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iNGEP_pzk6c/maxresdefault.jpg

Worth the Lautrec?

One of the few 3DS games that I wasn't aware of at the time and I suspect that I'm not alone on that - Last Specter, Miracle Mask, Azran Legacy and Prof Layton vs Phoenix Wright all pretty much followed soon after so Lautrec never really stood a chance.

That said, timing is everything. The Prof Layton series was running out of steam (no pun intended) by the time it concluded on 3DS - vs. Phoenix Wright was a flop, and let's face it - Level-5 probably wouldn't be bringing the Professor out of retirement for Switch if they weren't struggling financially. Konami probably should've waited to release this when the Katrielle Layton game probably wouldn't have been as big a rival.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 09 - Ever Oasis
Developed by Grezzo, this action adventure RPG was a well reviewed title for the handheld that didn't garner enough attention to live on beyond the console. A boy and a water spirit work to create an oasis in a desert meaning the game mixes in some town management and dungeon crawling elements into the gameplay with the intention being that the game would fall under the same umbrella as the Mana games.



Ever Tried It?

[Travesty]

Game 06 - Crimson Shroud
Developed by Level-5, this 3DS exclusive RPG is based on tabletop rpg games. The first game developed by Yasumi Matsuno since FFXII, it was fairly well recieved and sold on eshop in the West compared to being part of a collection in Japan.

Shrouded in Love?

I bought this from eShop years ago, but never played it before today. My first impression is that it is a intresting take on a video game role-playing game, the graphics are mostly based on miniatures on small dioramas, and the narrative is handled in the the same way as visual novel games do, which is text only. To me this game would have benefitted from having good voice acting. The gameplay is good simple to understand turn based combat mixed with simple exploration of different rooms on the map and story told in prose. So yeah, my first impression was good and I'll certainly go back to it.

Game 08 - Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights
Coming from Konami this game was quickly pushed to the side for being an attempt to cash in on the success of the Professor Layton series. As such it now sits hidden within the 3DS's library. The game uses the same pattern of exploring environments to find clues and piece together a mystery.

Worth the Lautrec?

It is a weird game as I don't quite understand what it is trying to be, it has a few puzzles here and there to get past different doors, but then there's also the weird monster battle mechanic that is pretty frustrating from the very beginning. I felt like there was nothing in the gameplay that made me want to continue playing to see what the story had to offer.

Konami probably should've waited to release this when the Katrielle Layton game probably wouldn't have been as big a rival.

Care to elaborate on that odd anachronistic sentence? Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights was released in 2011, Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaires' Conspiracy was released in 2017. A game released in 2017 was the reason why a game released in 2011 did not sell well, I'd say that was highly unlikely, but what do I know about time travel.

It was a game released very early in the life cycle of 3DS, at the time when the hardware sales were flopping, so that naturally will affect the sales figures. But on the other hand Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask was released before Doctor Lautrec, and sold what? 7-8 times more copies worldwide, so that will certainly affect the sales of a game that is viewed as a similar game.

Game 09 - Ever Oasis
Developed by Grezzo, this action adventure RPG was a well reviewed title for the handheld that didn't garner enough attention to live on beyond the console. A boy and a water spirit work to create an oasis in a desert meaning the game mixes in some town management and dungeon crawling elements into the gameplay with the intention being that the game would fall under the same umbrella as the Mana games.

Ever Tried It?

Well first of all, the player could choose their gender from girl or boy, so not just a boy and a water spirit, could also be a girl and a water spirit. It was a good and fun game made by the studio that is most known for their Zelda games and ports for 3DS. To me it felt like the game would have been great fun as a multiplayer game. Graphicswise the game looks great and some parts of the game has clearly been designed with the stereoscopic 3D in mind. But unfortunately it does not have that much staying power to me, after playing through the game, I saw no reason to go back to it, it was a good experience going through it but I don't feel like I need to go back to it. I remember when I played the game, I could see all the twists of the story loooong before they happened, but I did not mind it as I felt like it was meant that the player will see everything coming kilometers and miles away. I would recommend Ever Oasis, and would love to see a sequel to it.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Care to elaborate on that odd anachronistic sentence? Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights was released in 2011, Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaires' Conspiracy was released in 2017. A game released in 2017 was the reason why a game released in 2011 did not sell well, I'd say that was highly unlikely, but what do I know about time travel.

It was a game released very early in the life cycle of 3DS, at the time when the hardware sales were flopping, so that naturally will affect the sales figures. But on the other hand Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask was released before Doctor Lautrec, and sold what? 7-8 times more copies worldwide, so that will certainly affect the sales of a game that is viewed as a similar game.

Care to try properly reading and comprehending what I wrote before trying to be clever with quips about time travel?

Where did I say that Katrielle Layton was the reason that Lautrec didn't sell well?? I quite clearly didn't say that so don't twist my words.

What I wrote is quite easy to understand. The mainline Prof Layton games all came out soon after/around the time that Lautrec did. My point was that Lautrec might have done better had it came out later than the mainline Prof Layton games.

[Travesty]

Where did I say that Katrielle Layton was the reason that Lautrec didn't sell well?? I quite clearly didn't say that so don't twist my words.

Konami probably should've waited to release this when the Katrielle Layton game probably wouldn't have been as big a rival.

I don't see any other meaning to that sentence.

What I wrote is quite easy to understand.

If you did not mean it the way I read it then it clearly is not easy to understand, I'm not intentionally trying not understand your writing. But let's take a closer look at your original post.

One of the few 3DS games that I wasn't aware of at the time and I suspect that I'm not alone on that - Last Specter, Miracle Mask, Azran Legacy and Prof Layton vs Phoenix Wright all pretty much followed soon after so Lautrec never really stood a chance.

So this paragraph lists Layton games, starting with Last Specter that came out 3 years before Doctor Lautrec, and the list goes through Layton games almost chronologically (Azran Legacy came out after Layton vs Phoenix Wright), so because of the list format it makes it appear like they came first. Now granted, now that you corrected that it was not what you meant I see that you tried to mean that they followed soon after Doctor Lautrec, but it's not that clear.

That said, timing is everything. The Prof Layton series was running out of steam (no pun intended) by the time it concluded on 3DS - vs. Phoenix Wright was a flop, and let's face it - Level-5 probably wouldn't be bringing the Professor out of retirement for Switch if they weren't struggling financially.

The first part of your second paragraph is much more understandable, because it is a tangent that is not directly related to the sentence of the first paragraph. Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright was a flop, that is true.

Konami probably should've waited to release this when the Katrielle Layton game probably wouldn't have been as big a rival.

And now we come back to the last part of the second paragraph. When we look at the first paragraph where you start by listing Professor Layton games from a game that was released before Nintendo 3DS console was even announced, and since the sentence does not clearly say when Doctor Lautrec was released in that timeline, it already primes the reader to misunderstand. Now we are at the last sentence of that post, where I have already been primed to not understand what you say, the last sentence looks absolutely silly, it looks like you are saying that Konami should have waited for how many years to release Doctor Lautrec so that Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaires' Conspiracy that was released in 2017 would not have been that big of a rival. Now if that last sentence was left out, the entire post would be more understandable. Certainly the first sentence still would have some things to nitpick, like having a list of games that you mean came out after Doctor Lautrec but in fact 2 came out before (Last Specter came out 3 years before 3DS was even released). When you say on your later post that you meant that Doctor Lautrec should have been released later so that Professor Layton series would not have been as big of a rival, that is not how this paragraph you wrote reads. The last sentence of the second paragraph reads that the last game in Layton series was a rival to a game that was releasd 6 years earlier.

Now that I have explained this to you, I hope you see that it is not very easy to understand, regardless of your claim that it is.

[Nu-Eclipse]

TL;DR

If you're unable to comprehend a simple point being made, then just say that.

My point still stands and yes, it IS very easy to understand. If you can't grasp it then that is your problem and your problem only, not mine. It is a simple point and reads exactly as such and you're the one literally inventing things that I didn't say and literally twisting what I did say - WTF??

Lautrec came out around the same time as the main Layton games. It might have fared better had it been released later down the line.

The End.

[Travesty]

I was trying to explain how I read your text, so that you would understand how I understood (or in this case misunderstood) what you meant. I did not mean to attack you, even though at times I was snarky at times. I agree with you, let's end it here.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 10 - Gaist Crusher
A cross media action game, this would be the final game that Treasure would release before they went AWOL. A few months later a sequel would land too but Capcom, the publisher, opted not to release the games outside of Japan. Gameplay is action combo based tapping into the studios now decade lost expertise.



One to Treasure?

[Nu-Eclipse]

I was trying to explain how I read your text, so that you would understand how I understood (or in this case misunderstood) what you meant. I did not mean to attack you, even though at times I was snarky at times. I agree with you, let's end it here.

Your "explanation" was a nonsensical word salad that you might have thought was you trying to come off as smart but in reality was thoroughly incorrect from start to end and only served to highlight your clear and apparent inability to comprehend simple sentences whilst showing your natural gift for inventing things that anyone with an ounce of reading proficiency could see that I clearly didn't say as well as twisting things that I did say.

An absolute mess on your part. Learn to do better in future.

Yes, let's end it there for your sake.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Game 10 - Gaist Crusher
A cross media action game, this would be the final game that Treasure would release before they went AWOL. A few months later a sequel would land too but Capcom, the publisher, opted not to release the games outside of Japan. Gameplay is action combo based tapping into the studios now decade lost expertise.

https://images.nintendolife.com/a0d95a4ad27fc/1280x720.jpg

One to Treasure?

Can't remember this game.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 11 - Hey! Pikmin
Launching late in the 3DS's life, this entry into the popular series switched the gameplay to a 2D format with Captain Olimar traversing levels with the help of the Pikmin in order to find fuel for his ship. Developed by Azrest, the game was one of numerous later day games to sadly not include a 3D option and beyond this reviews were mixed for the game largely focused on the formula having been overly simplified in the transition.



Worth Pik-ing Up?

[Travesty]

Game 10 - Gaist Crusher
A cross media action game, this would be the final game that Treasure would release before they went AWOL. A few months later a sequel would land too but Capcom, the publisher, opted not to release the games outside of Japan. Gameplay is action combo based tapping into the studios now decade lost expertise.

One to Treasure?

I did not realise this was a game developed by Treasure. The controls were mostly fine, aside from the clunky one button camera control. Graphics look good but not great. Audio design is awful, with high pitch tinny noise coming every time the player attacks. Not a great game, but was probably at least some fun to kids in Japan who liked the anime and/or manga of Gaist Crusher.

To me the most intresting thing about this game is that Akira Toriyama and Eiichiro Oda each designed one enemy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmKtfqLBK2Q

[Travesty]

Game 11 - Hey! Pikmin
Launching late in the 3DS's life, this entry into the popular series switched the gameplay to a 2D format with Captain Olimar traversing levels with the help of the Pikmin in order to find fuel for his ship. Developed by Azrest, the game was one of numerous later day games to sadly not include a 3D option and beyond this reviews were mixed for the game largely focused on the formula having been overly simplified in the transition.

Worth Pik-ing Up?

Worth trying out at least. It's a decent game with flaws. I remember the framerate dipping quite often. Making the game a sidescroller really messed with the sense of scale that the mainline Pikmin games had, even though the backgrounds would have large flowers and such, because the graphic style moved to a more cartoony style with Hey! Pikmin, it rarely feels like pikmin are tiny, especially when the levels happen inside caverns. The controls were good and simple. Quite easy and short game. The game has it's charm but it's not as fun as the mainline pikmin games.