Reader Response: Uncover the mysteries of Touch Detective 2 ½

I love the art style like that, w/ the characters looking all dazed and cute :)

Now I haven’t played the first game, but I’ve heard there are many occasions the clues are very obscure and really discourages players from enjoying the game, did they improve on that? Because I would really like to finally try this title.

Ask about whther this game has any ‘villains’ – I don’t think the first one did.
Also who is the red head with the pistol – is she a rival detective? or an ally?

What I am most curious about is: will it be possible to actually lose this time, to see any sort of game over screen? The first game was a little on the easy side to me, since there was no way to actually die, solving a puzzle, even if it was really obscure, was just a matter of time. I actually liked that.

I really loved the first one. A few of the puzzles were a bit obscure, but I found that once I’d got into the mindset of the game they generally made sense (though admittedly sometimes only in retrospect, and let’s forget the one with the air pump). What really made the game for me, though, was the game world and dialogue. It was genuninely funny in a way that most games aren’t, and the strange characters and environments really worked for me. It vaguely reminded me of Grim Fandango, which can only be a good thing.

If it’s not too late for more questions, I’d be interested to know how they approach translation of something like this. Are there a lot of cultural elements to the humour that need to be reworked for an English release (as I think is the case with something like Phoenix Wright) or is the translation fairly literal?

Also, is the new game any bigger than the first? The original got a lot of puzzles out of a fairly small number of rooms, but I did feel by the end that it could have done with being a touch bigger. Do any of the old environments return? Will we get to see any of the more elusive residents of Penelope’s apartment block, for instance?