I completely agree with your thoughts on Desmond. The greatest disguise Descole could construct was... no disguise at all.

I like that in MM and AL the villans are not making stupid mistakes. The are opponents that really challange the professor

It’s a shame these PL analysis videos don’t get more views… They are some of the best I have seen on KZfaq.

It's strange how the way you describe Aurora at the end mirrors the robots from St. Mystere. Thinking, feeling beings, designed to be discarded after they fulfill their purpose of testing people.

whenever I find someone talking about Professor Layton I have a smile on my face from start to finish of the video

This is my favourite layton game, despite how flawed its execution was. The mere thought of being a definitive sendoff to a great series is very unheard of, and when the post credits scene played, that feeling of dread that "It actually ended" was one of the most powerful emotions that any videogame has made me feel. Ofc nowadays we know NWOS is going to release, but at the time I played it, it truly felt like the end of an era. Also the fact that every puzzle and screen has animation, like wtf how many japanese people were overworked to fill the game with that much detail?

God, I really wish that franchises like PF never ended. It's just something that has become a part of many people and that you'd want to live with forever. That's why videos like this are so precious for the community, thank you so much for your work.

just found your channel thanks to the paper jam video, and immediately got sent to this. as a long time layton fan who absolutely adores the second trilogy, thank you so much for bringing the spotlight to these games. it's more than well deserved at this point. crossing my fingers for NWoS!

I was a kid when it came out and couldn't buy it. Later when I decided to play all games this is the only one that is missing from them all. Used copies are so expensive now a days. The only Layton game I watched and never played. Wonderful video, made me want to epirience it again.

gosh another astounding video essay! ✨ i definitely agree with your statement abt sycamore revealing himself to be descole and then being knocked down for the count almost immediately after doing so. they definitely could’ve benefited by issuing his reveal sooner, or simply just cutting the laser-injury completely. that’s honestly my biggest nitpick, as the pacing gets super weird at that point in the game- at least to me anyway. i also love how much you highlighted the simpler aspects of the game, like being able to interact with the environment just because. the lack of localization also wasn’t something i noticed until you pointed it out. hopefully new world of steam doesn’t suffer from this all these years later. although at the same time, i immediately think of lani minella’s voice acting of luke in the hd re-release of curious village (the new animated cutscene specifically) and well..😖 i’m completely fine with the uk dub

Thank you for this wonderful analysis! Azran Legacy is actually my favourite game of the series, with the Ace attorney crossover and Miracle Mask being close seconds. I just love the atmosphere of the game, relaxed and truly "an adventure". The way the eggs' existence was incorporated differently in each environment to fully fit the culture of the different locations was great and made none of the quests feel repetitive. I had not actually thought about all stories being related to tradition and history, but that's a great point! Ties it all together thematically while still being different. I agree that unfortunately, the main story is quite short, leading to some pacing issues near the end after gathering the eggs. But I loved how there was focus on individual/"disconnected" stories related to the locations and how the characters reacted to that. A lot of subtle lore and foreshadowing was put in seemingly unrelated conversations. A bit sad that some of the buildup since Miracle Mask was resolved too quickly, but I still loved the whole reveal of what the Azran's history was, and I cried a lot near the end because Aurora is easily one of my favourite characters :") Also love how you highlight the beautiful art and animation! There were many times I interacted with the environment expecting a puzzle or comment of some sort only to be absolutely thrilled to see that it was "just" a small animation; it brings so much life to the environments. It's a great inspiration for what I'm trying to accomplish with my own game as well, this wonderful atmosphere created through environmental storytelling. Funny how you mention streetpass not being common. I remember running into so many people who shared treasure hunts that there are still ones I need to complete even now many, many years later xD. But that may be because in Europe the Layton-series was more popular. (Btw, it's really strange to see the english names of the location, as I've played the game in Dutch and to fit the puns, all of those names were changed.) Ahh, I could just keep gushing about my favourite game franchise, but I think you've already explained everything wonderfully, so again thank you for your insight :)

Yaaaasss, been waiting for this video since your Miracle Mask one!

Another great and interesting analysis! I hard agree with the last part that it felt rushed. I love the Bronev plot twist a lot, it adds an additional layer of relationships between Emmy, Layton and Descole, all with very different views on Bronev and how they dealt with him. It is however extremely soapy as you said and i think it would've benefited from cooking a bit longer, perhaps through some additional foreshadowing. I'm glad Emmy at least got some more serious plot involvement!

Amazing video! Your Layton video essays are my favorite :)

This was a wonderful analysis of Azran Legacy! It really help me in articulating why I love its attempts to break away from the series's traditions with the points you bring up. I do disagree on the point at 27:46 that the game should have ceded one the egg locations for a story chapter. I agree that more time is needed for story moments, but I feel like only have 4 egg locations would have taken away from the "traveling the world" feel that they were going for. But's that obviously my opinion on that which is biased by the fact those locations were my favorite in terms of exploring them and making the world feel a bit more varied. One last small thing, thank you adding captions! It nice to watch a video essay with proper captions (which for some reason isn't the norm at least with the video essays I've seen)

Man, I am super early. Just passing by to say that I love the insight you put into the analysis of the game. I always think of these game as a big part also in forging some of my identity (since i played them from 7 to 12, which is like the pinnacle formative age), but never seem to put into words how great the messages and themes of these games are to friends, so I fall a little short in being convincing, but these videos really contextualise a lot of information and they acquire meaning in actual sentencies that you can understand and not random fumbling lol. I really miss these games, I cant wait for the new one next year! Thank you for the great video :)

Was hesitant to watch this since its the only one I haven't played, but most of it was already spoiled for me just because I was around when it came out lol. The number one thing I like about these videos is the idea we should strive to provide good-faith intention to whatever media we are consuming. The argument in this case is that the game is not FAILING to be like Diabolical Box or Unwound Future, but merely trying to do something else. Still, this game genuinely just looks fun. I want to go to the diesel-infused Targent HQ so bad lol. I also like the observation linking them with the Azran civilization, history has been full of warlords and dictators who were obsessed with the Holy Roman Empire, usually failing to see its flaws, so there was probably lots of intention behind that. I guess on a more pop-cultural level, it mirrors the Nazis chasing after ancient relics like you might see in an Indiana Jones film. Actually, thinking about it more, "villain group who romanticizes/worships the past" feels like the appropriate antagonists for this finale. You could even argue that this partially explains the "Layton's Evil Dad" plotwist; the family lineage would be important Bronev but not to our hero Layton. I mean, it also could just be lazy soap opera writing, but man its sometimes more fun to try and give creators just a little more credit. In regards to the Layton series, I've been fully convinced that they've earned it. (PS before watching this video I was convinced the lead bad guy's name was Broney)

There’s nothing that can kill a game franchise more than stagnation in innovation. Many many games in today’s world struggle with it and I personally think Level 5 took a risk with Azran Legacy. Which in my opinion, worked out for them. I found the game to be enjoyable outside of Phong Gi and felt the game tried to convey its story as best it could

I just watched your MM's analysis and now this, and they're both wonderful! Really needed more Layton analysis, I'll be watching your Last Specter video next! Thank you for these greatly made analysis videos of one of my favorite game franchises ever! :)

Really good video! Personally Azran Legacy's my least favourite in the franchise, I think it definitely has some great elements (the scene where Layton talks to Bronev as he's getting arrested is like a top 5 scene for this franchise), but it also has a lot I don't like. Nothing I dislike were mistakes though, just creative choices I personally disagree with. I think the first three chapters are really cool, feels like a direct continuation of MM with the gang facing off against Targent almost immediately. It was really great, I wish the whole game was like, this Layton vs Targent thing because chapter 4 is honestly pretty boring. Like it's moderately enjoyable, I like the popono island and each island has good moments (would def cut the marraige one though lol), but I feel like it basically puts the game on hold for a chapter of filler. Like since the eggs are stolen afterwards, it feels very pointless. I don't remember the other Layton games having any real filler or at least long filler, the only thing that comes to mind is that bunny's backstory in Lost Future. Chapter 5's good from my memory, but the final chapter is one I'm very mixed on. As I said before, I love the scene where the professor says who he is and Emmy's goodbye is also really good. The twist with Emmy being a member of Targent is weird, I don't know how to feel about it. Firstly it wasn't really foreshadowed aside from one line in the japanese version of Spectre, where she mentions that her uncle taught her how to fight, since it's a twist I do think there should be some foreshadowing. Like it doesn't feel the previous games and the movie were really going in that direction with her character at all, her backstory in Spectre felt like justification enough for her wanting to join Layton. I never really questioned "why does Emmy want to go on adventures with Hershel" because not only did that Spectre cutscene already answer it, but Layton's already famous for solving mysteries so it's pretty easy to buy. The scene where she holds Luke at knifepoint's very stressful though, really welldone scene. As for Descole, I don't really like what they did with him. I don't like him being a sympathetic character, I liked him best as just this pompous asshole lol. That was so fun to me, he was especially great in Eternal Diva. It's also hard for me to find him sympathetic, considering all the awful stuff he's done. I find Clive sympathetic though, so I'm kind of a hypocrite lol. The climax is my least favourite thing in the game and probably the whole franchise. I feel like I can suspend my suspension of disbelief really well, I can buy that time travel kind of exists, that there was a living dinosaur and that Randall survived. Azran Legacy just takes it too far for me, I don't like everyone dying and than being brought back to life because a robot prayed to a long lost civilization. I know any fantastical story can sound silly if described in such a way, but I can't really think of that climax in a positive way. It also makes Azran Legacy fail as a prequel to me, having everyone die and get resurrected, and than having the original trilogy follow it kind of undermines the stakes of that trilogy since those games don't have anything on that level. Why should I worry when Layton and Luke are running from a ferris wheel when they literally died like a year ago? It's weird that I prefer LMJ, idek why I prefer it. Ig it just feels more consistent to me, I like all the cases in that game. I beat Azran for the first and only time in like 2020 or 2021, so I'm basing everything I said on memory btw

I get all your points and you made me appreciate the game a little. Truth is that I absolutley hated the game on release and could not beat it after the fact, I just get incredibly bored and give up. I wilk try to adopt your mindset when I replay it.

Great video. Personally Azran Legacy is my least favorite out of the original six games due to its weird pacing issues. But you did and have always done a great job at analyzing the themes of this series and discovering things I never even thought about. I thought Azran Legacy's story was the most shallow, but still had some interesting points of discussion, I'm really glad to see I'm not the only person who made the correlation between the downfall of the Azran and the series as a whole, and I've tried to find more little meanings behind the game's plot ever since I've played it. I still think this one ranks at the bottom, but regardless it's still a really important game to me, and I'm glad that someone out there gave it its due respect where deserved.

Great video its just too bad that this game did not sell well because nobody is talking about it anymore unfortunately they should make a layton collection of all the games before the new one comes out but i doubt that will happen

My biggest gripe with Azran legacy was that the middle 80% of the game is just... untelated filler content to eachother. You can do them in any order but you never have things that require going between areas or something, the ending was amazing but it just feels... incoherent. Besides me not being a massive fan of the 3ds puzzles and exploration needing to use the top screen because "haha 3d gimmick". I just.. like tapping on things and getting coins but this is mostly my gripe with Miracle Mask. In general I think Azran Legacy had better puzzles. Edit: your point about Descole being obvious made me realise that while not a red herring per se, I was totally thinking "okay when are they gonna have Desmond backstab us" but that perfectly distracted from Emmy being the one to ultimately do it. My criticism with chapter 4 still stands though, its just... "okay here's like 6 hours with little to no main story progression" which kinda feels... ehhh... other than that I personally rank the ending on par with unwound future even. Layton stating that he forged his own history truly sticks with me. I'm man enough to admit I've cried at every layton game's ending. Except for vs Phoenix Wright, that game was... okay? The ending wasn't as emotionally written as the rest. Also the Miracle Mask rabbit can kiss my-

6:16 Streetpass' end? Streetpass still works!

I love hate this game so much…