by ·3 Comments

I managed to squeeze in some time today and I also played a bit during the train ride home yesterday, so here goes…

I talked to the chief and he gave me his super nose again. Using that, I managed to find the pot lid and it opened up another dungeon for me, this time a nature oriented one. I also talked to Weldon and he gave me some strange spices that he found in the dungeon. I fed those spices to the fupong at the chieftain’s house and this opened a portal to another dungeon. Since I had two dungeons to chose from this time, I decided to go with the one nearby – fupong’s Ruins dungeon.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon, Sword and Anella

Not a screenshot this time, Sword and Anella.

It turned out it was pretty hard, so I died a bunch of times. On the plus side, I got a nice sum of money, so I could finally afford the drain sword. This one allows me to sometimes restore my life when attacking enemies so it made things much easier. I got to the end of the dungeon and found Whip there. He said he ate some moss nearby so he is sick now. I got him back to the village, where he managed to infect some other people with the same sickness. Now I have to solve this new problem, as well as clear the other dungeon where Giggles’ mom should be.

I went to speak to the doctor and he just happened to conveniently discover a cure-all medicine. He used it on the Whip and he got better. Problem is, he doesn’t have any more of it so now Helmut and Macey are still sick. I have to go get some ingredients so he can make more of the medicine. The flowers he needs are in the Forest dungeon so I went there to find them. Of course it was at the bottom level and, before I could pick them, I got attacked. The boss gave me a hard time at first, but once I figured out his attack patterns, it was easy. I got the blue flowers and went back to the village. Soon, everyone was fine and the chief decided to rebuild Whip’s ranch. The fupongs will be there now, since there’s more room at the ranch.

With all the dying, I also managed to acquire enough organic fertilizer to upgrade the ranch, so this was the first thing I did. For 300 gold, the fupong can now also find pong pods around town. I had no idea what those are so I tried it once and I got some weird container thing. I believe I can put fupong’s I find in the dungeon in there so I can bring back more of them. Of course, in the pod, they cant be used, so I guess this is used for farming them or something.

After all of this, I went back to the Mine dungeon and saved Giggles’ mom, Keesh. Compared to all the other stuff, this was easy and I did it on first try.When I came back, the chief held a meeting in the village meeting room. The villagers asked Sword how come he wasn’t taken and he explained how Anella asked the light not to take him. It turns out, this was the reason the Away took the entire village. If she hadn’t asked that, Sword would be the only one taken. Half the village (the dumb ones) are now blaming Sword for what happened and expect him to save everyone. Since that’s what he has been doing all this time, I guess nothing is changing.

After the meeting, the chief told me that Whip has been looking for me, so I went to see him. He said that I should round up some fupongs, but I have no idea what that means. Should I gather up fupongs from old dungeons in order to unlock a new one? In any case, this is where I saved my game and stopped playing.

by ·3 Comments

I completed another dungeon, this time one with a forest theme. In this one, I managed to find and rescue Dr. Ricket. He opened up a medicine shop where I can finally buy some resurrection items, which means I might finish a dungeon or two even if I die in it. I had to put his clinic on a low growth spot, so he will need 4 of his upgrade items for each upgrade.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon In-Game Screenshot.

An in-game screenshot this time, though it wasn’t of my own making.

After this, I talked to some people in the town, and Giggles mentioned she really misses her mother. She has a pot that belongs to her, but she can’t find the lid, so I guess that is what’s going to be the portal to my next dungeon.

by ·0 Comments

Sorry for not posting yesterday, but it somehow slipped my mind.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon Art

No screenshots on the DS, so here’s some more art I found online.

Anyway, I finally did manage to complete that one dungeon and save Whedon. He’s the local Blacksmith, so I now have to get upgrades for him to. I also did a few runs to get some experience, money and upgrade items, but not to much. I guess now I have to find another discarded item somewhere and use it to open another portal. I think I will also give up on raising fupongs as they have a tendency to just disappear. I think I need to read the manual as I don’t get what exactly causes that.  I will try to play some more today, but you can expect my post quality and frequency to drop for the next 2 and a half weeks, since my exams are starting and my free time will be very limited.

by ·1 Comment

I was playing it on a train today, and I couldn’t take notes while playing so I’m afraid this one wont be as detailed as the last few. I will do better next time.

I returned to some of the dungeons to level up, get new fupongs and make some money. After a while of doing this, I started to explore the town again and soon found some food supplies by the river. Upon examining them, another portal opened, this time to a watery dungeon. A few levels in, I managed to find Giggles and returned with her to the city, but only a moment to late.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon Characters

The characters of Away: Shuffle Dungeon

The chief was there, waiting, and told us that Macey and Helmut grew impatient and decided to go and find Giggles by themselves. I went back to the watery dungeon and ran into them immediately. They over-geared, so their armor and weapons were to heavy to move around. They got attacked by a giant snake monster, so I had to kill it myself. We went back to town again and Giggles scolded them a bit. She then explained all about feng shui and how the position of a shop affects the merchandise, prices and growth. Then I got the chance to re-position the armor and weapon shop properly.

I did some more exploring and found a bottle of garlic(?). This opened a portal to a new dungeon, this time a fiery one, where, after some more exploring and fighting, I’ve found another villager, called Walter, if I remember correctly. I brought him back, but he turned out to be another monster in disguise, so I had to defeat it. The chief then gave me a “super nose” so I could see smells and find the real portal to where Walter is. It was in the southeast of the shop area and I entered the dungeon, but got killed, even after several attempts. This is where I saved my game and stopped playing. I will attempt the dungeon again tomorrow.

by ·3 Comments

I was gonna post these last night, but I had a terrible headache. Since I’m not gaming today, due to a test tomorrow, I thought I might as well post the answers now, to fill in the day at least partially.

Puzzle 1

Help Stachenscarfen move the wolf, sheep, and cabbage from one side of the river to the other while obeying the following rules.

  • In addition to its captain, the raft can only one animal or item at once.
  • When Stachenscarfen isn’t near, the wolf will eat the sheep, and you’ll have to start over.
  • The sheep will eat the cabbage when Stachenscarfen isn’t around. If you let the sheep have its way, you’ll have to start over.
  • You can shuttle the raft back and forth as many times as you like, but the shortest solution takes seven moves.

 Solution

  1. Move sheep to the other side
  2. Move back alone
  3. Move cabbage to the other side
  4. Take sheep back with you
  5. Move wolf to the other side
  6. Go back alone
  7. Move sheep to the other side

This is a simple puzzle to which I’m sure many know the answer, so I feel really silly even posting it. Still, that was the only one I could remember from that day that didn’t require pictures.

Puzzle 2

Two corporations have put out “Help Wanted” ads. Aside from the information that follows, the two companies’ offers are exactly the same. From a purely financial standpoint, which one should you work for? Company A will pay you $100,000 a year and give you a $20,000 raise yearly.Company B will pay you $50,000 every six months and give you $5,000 raise every six months.

 Answer

While it does seem like the first job pay better, if you really do the math, it turns out that every year, the second job pays 5000 more.

  1. year: A – 100 000, B – 50 000 + 55 000
  2. year: A – 120 000, B – 60 000 + 65 000
  3. year: A – 140 000, B – 70 000 + 75 000, etc.

Obviously, the second job is a slightly better choice.

by ·5 Comments

Hi, my name is Sword and i live in a small village where I was found shipwrecked. I have no idea where my real home is, but the villagers treat me nice and this place feels like home to. I also have a great friend and her name is Anella. Anyway, one day we were talking outside when suddenly some strange lightnings came from the sky and tried to take me. Anella said she will do anything as long as they let me go, so they took her and the rest of the village instead.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon Cover, Box Art

Away: Shuffle Dungeon is a fun and slightly weird game.

I searched the village to see if there’s anyone left, but even the buildings were gone, except for my house. Outside my house, I found the chief’s harp and tried to play it, which then opened a portal. The portal lead to Rock Cliff Dungeon where, after fighting some enemies, I encountered a strange creature. I called the creature “fupong” because of the way it sounds when the it walks. When a fupong is following me, I can cast a spell, but if I do, I cant do it anymore on that level. There were several fupongs around the dungeon, though, so I could gather a bunch of them.

A few levels later, I encountered a giant spider thing and it killed me, several times. A few attempts later, though, it was the spider that went down. The spider was holding the chief captive so I saved him and returned to the village with him and a new armor.

The chief said he thinks it was the “Away” that took the entire village. I went to rest and when I woke up, the chief already managed to rebuild his house again. He said he just needed some carpentry nails to expand the place. He invited me in and it turns out he had a fupong in there, this time a green one. He suggested I should try and feed him to see what happens. He instantly grew into a bigger fupong, this time not some round little thing but a bunny-like creature. Chief decided he will keep a few around, but not to many as they grow fast.

I explored the village some more and found a sword which opened up another portal. This one took me to the Flame dungeon. A few levels in, I’ve found Macey, the weapons shop owner. I went back to town and the chief rebuilt Macey’s weapon shop. I also upgraded it with the Orihalcum I’ve found in the dungeon. After this, I’ve found a shield outside, which again opened a portal, this time to the Ice Dungeon. Pretty soon, I’ve also found Helmut, the armor shop owner. Again, I took him with me and left the dungeon. The chief built him his shop and now both Helmut and Macey are asking me to find and save Giggles, the owner of the inn.

I then did a few runs through the Rocky Cliff Dungeon again to get enough nails for the upgrades for chief’s shop and combined some of the red fupongs. I now have three level 2 red fupongs, which will be useful in the future. After the upgrade, I saved my game and decided to take a break.

by ·2 Comments

I went on and solved the remaining 8 puzzles in the game, as well as the 15 bonus puzzles I could now access from the main menu. This, of course, means that i decorated the inn rooms, and assembled the painting.

It took me 12 hours and 50 minutes to do all of this and finish the game. My final score is 5181 and i have 53 coins left. There are some weekly puzzles you can get by WiFi, but those do not count towards anything, so I will leave them for when I have nothing else to do. In any case, I think I can safely mark this one as 100% completed. There would of course be the ultimate option of starting a new game and getting the maximum score, but since the puzzles do not change, I see no point in doing this. I might try the sequel now, or maybe some other DS game.

As for the reader puzzles, I will put up answers tomorrow if no one solves them by then.

by ·0 Comments

Zappone didn’t know anything so i was back at the start. I continued to explore the streets and soon found a strange note mentioning someone building “models for every situation” for his boss. After solving some more puzzles, I went to the market where one of the merchants, Giuseppe, gave me a flower vase which was given to him by a strange man. I also found a few more notes, one of them by the same man who wrote the last one, this time saying that he will “make one in honor of lady Violet”. I stumbled into Archibald at the market, and he finally told me that he was a good friend with the baron. The baron did not leave him a note, but he did give him an old desk. Archibald agreed to let me search the desk, and this is where I found another note, this time with a red “X” on it. After all of this, Chapter 5 ended and I got a message that the innkeeper, Beatrice, needs to talk to me. I went there and she said that a guest ran off without paying the bills. She described him as a sinister looking guy in a trench coat and a sharp mustache. Sounds like the guy that we saw in front of the manor much earlier. We left the in and, since the investigation was going nowhere, decided it was time to visit that sinister tower at the back of the village. Chapter 6 started and we were on our way.

Professor Layton Artwork

Even the empty streets look nice.

We solved a few more puzzles and then continued north, past the market, to try and find a way to the tower. Sadly, we reached a dead end. This is where we met a young girl. She wouldn’t tell us her name and soon ran off, startled by something. She dropped a ticked to the ferris wheel at the park so we decided to go there next. As we left, the same mustached man from the inn appeared saying how Layton was a thorn at his side for a while now and how he will get what’s coming for him. Chapter 6 ended.

We got to the park, but the entrance was closed again so we decided to ask around in town about it and Chapter 7 began. I went to the town hall and was told that managing the park was the caretakers job. He also manages the sewers, but no one could tell me where to find him. There was a sewer entrance on the way to the park, so I went there and entered it. A man named Pavel was right at the entrance, so I asked him if he was the caretaker. As it turns out, he was just a tourist who got lost, but he did say he saw a man in working clothes pass by recently. After doing some exploring and puzzle solving, I’ve finally found Sylvain, the caretaker, trying to fix something. I helped him by solving a puzzle and he opened the park doors for us.

There was a poster at the park entrance with Flora on it. It seems the baron built the park specifically for her. Everything in the park was old and run down. It seems it hasn’t been used in years. Another note, found on the ground in the park was saying that “the little miss was catching on on the village secret” and that the boss asked the author to built the park for her. The “little miss” must be Flora. We explored the rest of the park and, other than a locked shed on a lake, we found nothing. We were about to leave, when the ferris wheel broke out of the frame and almost ran us over. We managed to avoid it, but it crashed into the shed. All that was left was a passage leading underground, so we decided to follow it.

There was a room at the end of the passage with a key hidden in the wall behind a picture. The key was decorated with a miniature model of the castle, so we decided to take it to the dead end we were at before to see if we can use it somewhere. This ended Chapter 7. As we were leaving the park, the professor decided to visit the inn before going to the dead end. He thinks someone is after us and that the inn would be the place to find a clue who it is. Chapter 8 started. We asked Beatrice to show us the newspapers from the last few days, but she couldn’t find any. Then Ramon showed up and asked us to go to the manor. On the way there, we’ve encountered the mysterious girl again. She said we shouldn’t interfere with the tower and left.

We came to the manor, and the inspector accused the professor. It seems that the vase I was offered at the market was the same vase that was in the room where the murder happened. Since I held it at the market, my fingerprints are all over it. I confronted him with the claim that he is the only one who seems to be hiding something. According to a newspaper article we’ve found earlier, the inspector’s favorite food are sweet-potato fritters, yet when he was offered candy earlier, he got mad and claimed he doesn’t like it. He said that he just happens to like his wife’s, Amy’s fritters and nothing else. However, the name of his wife is Amelie, not Amy. To add to this, he said he received a report to come to St. Mystere right after the murder happened, but the crank to lower the drawbridge was stolen, so there was no way for him to enter the village. Finally, he somehow knew about the key we found before we told it to anyone and said he would take it. After being cornered like this, the inspector had no choice but to confess. He was wearing a disguise all along. He wasn’t the inspector, he was Don Paolo, the same man that skipped paying at the inn, an evil genius and professor Layton’s arch nemesis. Before we could catch him, he jumped through the window and ran off. Chapter 8 ended and the mystery of inspector Chelmey was solved.

With the murder accusations out of the way, it was time to focus on finding the Golden Apple again. We went to the dead and and, as expected, there was a small keyhole on the wall. right at the spot where the “X” on baron’s note was. The wall moved and uncovered a door. Chapter 9 started and the mystery of the key was solved. We went through the door and instantly fell into a trap. The floor bellow us opened up and we fell into the hole. We fell into a room filled with strange machines. One of the walls was covered in pictures of everyone from the village with a key next to each of them. We found the stairs and went up, but soon encountered an old man. He said something about us trying to interfere with his work and asked us to return number 38 to him. We explained to him that we are here by accident and that we are just looking for the Golden Apple. He said that the Apple was on top of the tower, but it’s filled with extremely difficult puzzles.

In the end, he told us the whole story. His name was Bruno and he works for the Reinhold family. His job is to manage St. Mystere from the top of the tower. To be precise, he manages the “life” of each villager. All the villagers are actually robots created by Bruno. The baron believed that an heir worthy of his legacy would one day arrive and had Bruno build the city and everyone within it to prepare for that day. Then he stored his greatest treasure, the Golden Apple, on top of the tower. Bruno was ordered to protect it with his life and, until the person arrives who can solve the puzzle of the Golden Apple, he will continue to protect it. It seems that there was no murder or abductions to begin with. Bruno was simply taking the villagers to repair them, and a cog or two got left behind every now and then. This means the mysteries of the cogs and the abductions are solved.

I started to explore the tower and solve the puzzles along the way. Luke and the professor started talking and concluded that the crank was also stolen by Bruno so he could give himself some time to evaluate us and Don Paulo before deciding if any of us is worthy. Moving on, we also realized that it really was Don Paolo who skipped paying the bill at the inn. As for Simon’s murder, it wasn’t really a murder. He simply malfunctioned and Bruno didn’t get the chance to take him for repairs before it was noticed. Now, since repairs needed machinery operating, people started to associate abductions with the sounds from the tower, where the machinery was. Anyway, Don Paolo probably stumbled into Simon on the floor and decided to disguise himself as an officer of the law to make use of the situation. The mysteries of Ramon and the rumbling tower are thus solved. The mystery of lady Dahlia and lady Violet is also easily explainable. Lady Dahlia is also a robot, built to resemble the late lady Violet. Flora couldn’t accept a robot replacing her real mother.

After much walking and puzzle solving, we have finally arrived to the top of the tower, where, obscured from the ground, a pretty little cottage was built. We stepped through the door and found Flora. This is where she was living. She is the Golden Apple. The whole purpose of finding her wasn’t to gain access to the baron’s wealth but to find a worthy guardian for his daughter. A few moments later, Don Paolo attacked with his flying machine. We ran down the tower as fast as possible before it collapses from the attacks, but soon, Luke was cut off from Flora and the professor due to damage on the stairs. The professor used some items from the cottage to build a kite which he then used to escape with Flora. As they landed, the tower finally collapsed. It would seem that the noise that scared Claudia, the cat, was Don Paulo’s flying machine, so this also solved that mystery.

Everything fell into place now, and the treasure was easy to find. Flora’s portrait at the mansion held a hidden switch, which moved the bookcase and revealed a secret passage leading to a room filled with gold. The room also held a recording for Flora from her father. It also said that if we remove the treasure, the inhabitants of St. Mystere would all go into a deep sleep. Flora decided, and we agreed, that the treasure should stay where it is, as the villagers mean far more to her than wealth. Flora left the village with us, and we decided to keep the secret of St. Mystere to us and keep it safe from the rest of the world.

THE END!

Final Score: 3752 Picarats, 112/120 Puzzles Solved, 62 Hint Coins Left

So, what to say about the game? Play it! It’s fun, you can play it in long sessions or in small chunks and allot of the puzzles are really interesting. The game has charm, the story is fun to follow and the character design and atmosphere are great to, reminding me of old cartoons like Dr. Dolittle and others. You get a recommendation from me!

For the readers:

Help Stachenscarfen move the wolf, sheep, and cabbage from one side of the river to the other while obeying the following rules.

  • In addition to its captain, the raft can only one animal or item at once.
  • When Stachenscarfen isn’t near, the wolf will eat the sheep, and you’ll have to start over.
  • The sheep will eat the cabbage when Stachenscarfen isn’t around. If you let the sheep have its way, you’ll have to start over.
  • You can shuttle the raft back and forth as many times as you like, but the shortest solution takes seven moves.

by ·0 Comments

Our story so far:

After witnessing Ramon’s abduction before their very eyes, Luke and Professor Layton are shocked to see him return to Reinhold Manor on his own. Busy with the murder investigation, Inspector Chelmey warns Layton against meddling any further. However, Layton is confident that the Golden Apple and the morning’s murder are linked to one another. Finally free to move about, Layton and Luke begin their search for the Golden Apple in earnest.

Professor Layton, Eerie artwork

Some eerie artwork this time.

I went to speak to Ingrid at the town square and she turned out to be the source of some useful information. Ingrid told us the story of how Flora’s mother passed from this world. The baron must have truly loved his former wife, for her grave lies within his garden, presumably so that, even in death, she could stay close to him. We went to her grave with Matthew and it was a truly beautiful place. The baron’s devotion and love for lady Violet reflected in every detail of it. Matthew mentioned the baron kept a journal detailing his thoughts. If we can find it, there could be some clues we could learn from it.

The journal was kept in the same room where I spoke to lady Dahlia earlier. I was free to take and read it so I did, for the sake of the investigation, of course. The pages were filled with passages reflecting upon the baron’s deep love for his late five and their daughter. He also mentioned something he referred to simply as “it”, how his daughter couldn’t grow accustomed to “it” and how he was forced to change “it’s” memory. In the end, the journal said that the baron left a note disclosing the location of the Golden Apple in the possession of his good friend. Who this is, I have no idea, but I should probably ask Ingrid about it.

I spoke to Ingrid again and she wasn’t sure who the aforementioned friend was, but she did say that he noticed Zappone visiting the mansion quite often. It was late so instead of finding him, I solved a bunch of puzzles around town, saved my game and went to bed.

For the readers:

Two corporations have put out “Help Wanted” ads. Aside from the information that follows, the two companies’ offers are exactly the same. From a purely financial standpoint, which one should you work for? Company A will pay you $100,000 a year and give you a $20,000 raise yearly.Company B will pay you $50,000 every six months and give you $5,000 raise every six months.

by ·4 Comments

Our story so far:

In the course of their afternoon-long investigation through St. Mystere, Luke and Layton stumble on a rumor about some mysterious kidnappings, The professor has a hunch that Ramon’s disappearance and these kidnappings must be connected. In a quest for further details, the intrepid pair continue their search of St. Mystere into the night.

Professor Layton Artwork

Even more artwork!

I went to the park to find the thing Gerard lost, but a man there told me that the Innkeeper, Beatrice found it and decided to hold onto it until the morning since it was late. It turns out it was a wristwatch. I went to get it and then gave it to Gerard. After solving some various puzzles, I went to the cafe past the clock tower. I asked the owner about Ramon and the old man. He said that a fellow by the name of Prosciutto might know something and he lives in a road to the north. I went to see him and he described the old man in detail. As I was leaving, we stopped the old man outside, carrying Ramon in a huge sack. We tried to chase him, but he was to fast. While running, he dropped another cog like the one from the manor so I guess that’s a clue at least. This concluded Chapter 4.

We reported our findings to lady Dahlia. As I was trying to convince the inspector to organize a search, Matthew, the butler ran in to let us know that Ramon is back. How this is possible, I had no idea. He claims he was just at the market to do some shopping and was never abducted at all. There was no point in arguing as no one would believe us anyway, so we left it at that. We went to the inn and retired for the night.

In the morning, we got a call from the inspector to meet him at the manor at once. On my way there, I solved a bunch of puzzles. The inspector basically told me to stay out of the way and that’s about it. I spoke to everyone, solved some more puzzles and then went to the river to talk to Ramon. Again, he told us nothing. We decided to leave the murder cause to the police and focus on the Golden Apple. Chapter 5 has started. I went to speak to the butler and he mentioned that a woman named Ingrid used to work at the mansion, but she lives in the town now. Before he could say anything else, lady Dahlia interrupted him. I guess i should speak to Ingrid next. This is where I saved my game and took a break.

For the readers, if five cats can catch five mice in five minutes, how many cats is required to catch 100 mice in 100 minutes?