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Virtue's Last Reward SPOILER Thread

grim-tales

Member
So I finished this last night at like 4 am, but had to replay through the important endings again this morning while taking notes so I could figure out what the hell just happened...

Wow. Just wow.

One of the things I'm most interested in for ZE3 is seeing how they handle Kyle being in what will presumably be the player's body. The easiest option would be for the player to be controlling Kyle so that they don't have to show the body, but that seems way too obvious for this series.

And now to play the waiting game...

The Waiting Game sucks, lets plays Hungry Hungry Hippos

:D
 
I'm wondering that, I really want to find out more about Phi, who is she really?
I think Phi is connected to you in some way, more than we know. I mean look at how Phi (the Greek letter) looks like 0 but divided in two....

I wonder if we'll find out more about her mother? When she showed me her brooch I was expecting to learn more about her later, but we didn’t.
 

TheCloser

Banned
So I got this game off ps plus. I've gotta say, it's a big disappointment for me. I just thought I'd play this to take a break from TLOU. Seriously, the opening scene with thing on the elevator screen ticked me off. I just wanted to burn it with fire. Does the game get any better?
 

Leezard

Member
So I got this game off ps plus. I've gotta say, it's a big disappointment for me. I just thought I'd play this to take a break from TLOU. Seriously, the opening scene with thing on the elevator screen ticked me off. I just wanted to burn it with fire. Does the game get any better?
I think it does get better. If you want to continue playing you might not want to post in the spoiler thread, though.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Just beat it yesterday.
Gotta say while good, it wasn't beat as incredible as 999. Definitely a case of where less was more.

Besides that though there's was something that bothered me. I'm sure its in the thread, but I searched and didn't pull it up.

How did Sigma not know he was his older self.
Mainly because of that damn eye piece. Seriously I'm sure he rubbed his face at one point. That's more of a nitpick though. Hell the design in general if older sigma was pretty lacking.
 
Just beat it yesterday.
Gotta say while good, it wasn't beat as incredible as 999. Definitely a case of where less was more.

Besides that though there's was something that bothered me. I'm sure its in the thread, but I searched and didn't pull it up.

How did Sigma not know he was his older self.
Mainly because of that damn eye piece. Seriously I'm sure he rubbed his face at one point. That's more of a nitpick though. Hell the design in general if older sigma was pretty lacking.

He did rub his eyes, at least a couple of times IIRC. I think the commonly accepted explanation is that his cybernetic arms were made such that he wouldn't notice the eyepiece. Yeah, it is a bit of a stretch.
 
Considering he was able to build perfect androids among other shit, I'm not against just accepting that his mechanical body parts somehow interact with his nerve cords or something, in a way he wouldn't notice it. And otherwise, for me it just boils down to poor character designs.
I find it funny that the biggest offender is never mentioned, which is that they didn't even give him a goddamn haircut for the nonary game design. If you ever had long hair, you know that you will instantly notice this shit and especially if he's running - he will see his grey hair.
edit: wait, was it even grey? not sure, but still...
 

Max O Power

Neo Member
So I got this game off ps plus. I've gotta say, it's a big disappointment for me. I just thought I'd play this to take a break from TLOU. Seriously, the opening scene with thing on the elevator screen ticked me off. I just wanted to burn it with fire. Does the game get any better?

I felt the same. I hate manga and most Japanese fiction. But I got a vita, and this was free, so I thought whatever. And I agree, the first 8 hours were pretty miserable, they talked to me as if I was a child, the characters looked dumb and perverted, I seriously closed down the game after having seen Dio, Alice, and Clover. My god, felt ashamed to play it on the bus.

But it gets way better, the dialog never gets any good, the jokes are dumb, I didn't really ever care for the characters , and at the end I would usually go online to skip the puzzles. All this and STILL, I played through it, took me 40 hours, and I fucking loved the game. The plot and underlying fiction is, if not that good, than at least that engaging.

Oh I didn't play 999, read a bunch of places that I really should if I wanted to enjoy VLR, but it really didn't bother me. That said I think I'm going to pick it up now.

Does anybody know of a possible future Vita port?
 
I felt the same. I hate manga and most Japanese fiction. But I got a vita, and this was free, so I thought whatever. And I agree, the first 8 hours were pretty miserable, they talked to me as if I was a child, the characters looked dumb and perverted, I seriously closed down the game after having seen Dio, Alice, and Clover. My god, felt ashamed to play it on the bus.

But it gets way better, the dialog never gets any good, the jokes are dumb, I didn't really ever care for the characters , and at the end I would usually go online to skip the puzzles. All this and STILL, I played through it, took me 40 hours, and I fucking loved the game. The plot and underlying fiction is, if not that good, than at least that engaging.

Oh I didn't play 999, read a bunch of places that I really should if I wanted to enjoy VLR, but it really didn't bother me. That said I think I'm going to pick it up now.

Does anybody know of a possible future Vita port?

A Vita port is highly unlikely. An iOS port in English is coming soon, though. Although it removes all puzzles so it is only the story.
 

Wichu

Member
It's a shame playing 999 after VLR ruins some things (especially if you read the secret files)... I think it'll still be worth your time. At the very least, it expands on some of the VLR characters' backstories.

Speaking of 999 -> VLR, two of my friends have played about an hour of VLR. One of them found it not very interesting, while the other was all "HOLY SHIT THAT'S ALICE" and "WHY IS CLOVER ALL SLUTTY NOW". Guess which one's played 999!

I love how there's quite a few moments in VLR where someone who hasn't played 999 will be thinking "oh, that's interesting", while someone who has will be having their mind blown - I particularly enjoyed the reveal of Tenmyouji's photo (and the Q room password made me go "awww").
 

grim-tales

Member
I know Akane seems cold to Tenmyouji in the game, but on the other hand based on that ID/password, she must still have memories of what they shared, long ago.... awwww.
 

Jintor

Member
My tentative hypothesis is that the entire point of the Zero Escape series will probably be ultimately to cancel it out from ever happening so Junpei and Akane can go have a happy life together.

The entirity of VLR is an interim timeline that only occurs because one attempt at interference in the Mars game failed; the conclusion has you return to the past to attempt to avert the future VLR takes place in. I suspect from what little information Uchikoshi has shared on Akane that she holds a fair amount of regret for her actions but, given her status as a 'for the greater good' kind of character, will always sacrifice others (and herself) [indeed, given the way 999 resolves, it's probably arguable that she can't not sacrifice others to preserve herself because not to do so results in paradox]. I think VLR will probably encapsulate the trilogy as a whole in that sense; the entire trilogy will prove to be an interim timeline that will be cancelled out to divert history to a better future.

Given that we know the location, a few of the participants, and the point of the next game's scenario, I am thinking two things:

a) It's a gigantic bait and switch and the Mars test will be a lead-in to the real nonary game of the third ZE and/or

b) Ultimately the goal will be to reset the timeline completely.

I've been mulling over this a little and I can't wait for Uchikoshi to blow my mind by proving to me how wrong I am.
 

AniHawk

Member
yeah it seems like akane might be playing the long game to undo the events that created the first nonary game. i'd be fine with that.
 

Kenka

Member
I just watched the Dio and Clover endings and holy shit, this game delivers. The story unfolds in a way that makes the countless hours poured into solving puzzles worth it. Had I played in 2012, it would have been my GOTY.
 

grim-tales

Member
My tentative hypothesis is that the entire point of the Zero Escape series will probably be ultimately to cancel it out from ever happening so Junpei and Akane can go have a happy life together.

The entirity of VLR is an interim timeline that only occurs because one attempt at interference in the Mars game failed; the conclusion has you return to the past to attempt to avert the future VLR takes place in. I suspect from what little information Uchikoshi has shared on Akane that she holds a fair amount of regret for her actions but, given her status as a 'for the greater good' kind of character, will always sacrifice others (and herself) [indeed, given the way 999 resolves, it's probably arguable that she can't not sacrifice others to preserve herself because not to do so results in paradox]. I think VLR will probably encapsulate the trilogy as a whole in that sense; the entire trilogy will prove to be an interim timeline that will be cancelled out to divert history to a better future.

Given that we know the location, a few of the participants, and the point of the next game's scenario, I am thinking two things:

a) It's a gigantic bait and switch and the Mars test will be a lead-in to the real nonary game of the third ZE and/or

b) Ultimately the goal will be to reset the timeline completely.


I've been mulling over this a little and I can't wait for Uchikoshi to blow my mind by proving to me how wrong I am.

Both options seem entirely possible, IMO, I'm thinking there might not be a Nonary Game like in 999/VLR though. Dont know why.
I really want Junpei and Akane to have a happy ending :)
I think even though Akane had to be tough - look at her password. She still carries a torch for Junpei, loves him or at least remembers him.
Maybe the ending of VLR shows you cant really save everyone.
 

Kenka

Member
Might have been stated by other gaffers in this big thread but I would love the order of the jumps to have an incidence on the amount of endings you can unlock. In this game, you can get the best ending whatever the path you took to reach it.
 

also

Banned
Might have been stated by other gaffers in this big thread but I would love the order of the jumps to have an incidence on the amount of endings you can unlock. In this game, you can get the best ending whatever the path you took to reach it.

But that would be extremely annoying. The game is long and rereading all that dialogue and solving all those puzzles again would be no fun.
 

Kenka

Member
But that would be extremely annoying. The game is long and rereading all that dialogue and solving all those puzzles again would be no fun.

Would still be an interesting "you get what you deserve" experience. The end results would reflect the choices the player would have possibily done if immerged in the situation of the protagonist. But your point remains. Sure. Would be a bit sucky.
 

grim-tales

Member
Did anyone think Sigma's theorising about why he'd been kidnapped was trying to give us clues to the final twist or what happens in the game?
If you watch carefully - the things he mentions happen in the game somewhere?

The Myrmidons are the weirdo religion led by Dio
Sigma/Alice do hack into their server
I think he mentions a "virus" too?
 
Had this since day one but finally got around to starting a couple weeks ago. Just beat it.

THAT WAS AWESOME. THE THIRD GAME WILL BE AWESOME. AAAAHHHHH.

Seriously. I didn't think they could possibly match the holy-shit-ness of 999, but man, they did. Fucking awesome.

The only thing I though it was missing was some kind of emotional core, something that was a large part of what made the final sequence in 999 so powerful. I'm kind of surprised the Junpei/Akane thing didn't pay off here more that it did. Still, it made up for this with general badassery. Each time you reach what seems to be an end you just keep going further down the rabbit hole... so cool.

While things are definitely still interesting as hell plot-wise going into the third entry, I do wonder how many more surprises they will have in store. The fate of humanity hanging in the balance and having your consciousness reaching across all time and space is kind of hard to top :lol
 

grim-tales

Member
I agree.
But I actually think Lana was the core (emotionally and perhaps literally) of VLR this time. Her ending was truly brilliant.
 
So who's confirmed to appear in ZE3?

There have been confirmations for Phi, Sigma, Junpei, and Kyle in the body of ?/player.

There is a near-certain chance of seeing Brother, Left (and sort of by extension...Dio), Akane, Santa, and Snake.
Whether it's just details of what they are doing or them being bigger participants is up in the air.

VLR also left it open to have Alice and Clover back in some way, so they might be included as well.

Probably others that I'm forgetting, but I honestly wouldn't put it past Uchikoshi to include more cameos from the 999 crew.
 
There have been confirmations for Phi, Sigma, Junpei, and Kyle in the body of ?/player.

There is a near-certain chance of seeing Brother, Left (and sort of by extension...Dio), Akane, Santa, and Snake.
Whether it's just details of what they are doing or them being bigger participants is up in the air.

VLR also left it open to have Alice and Clover back in some way, so they might be included as well.

Probably others that I'm forgetting, but I honestly wouldn't put it past Uchikoshi to include more cameos from the 999 crew.

+human Luna.
 

grim-tales

Member
Maybe all those arent participants though, and AFAIK it hasnt been confirmed who we're actually playing as. I thought it would someone new, not Kyle.
IMO part of the fun/mystery of 999/VLR was not knowing each characters story, who they are etc so I hope we dont have too many cameos/fanservice.
 

redhood56

Banned
The theories about reversing the entire timeline seem very possible. But, it would be weird to have another nonary game. Most of the surprises are gone, like the location, and we know who most of the characters are. There has to be at least 1 or 2 new characters because the scene in VLR where we heard that transmission, IIRC there was a dude talking to right? The girl talking must have been human Diana.
 
Akane mentioning Alice and Clover possibly being able to travel back... fairly sure this was left as vague as that, but just to make sure, did I miss something? (Slowly working through this thread so I'll probably find an answer somewhere)
 
The theories about reversing the entire timeline seem very possible. But, it would be weird to have another nonary game. Most of the surprises are gone, like the location, and we know who most of the characters are. There has to be at least 1 or 2 new characters because the scene in VLR where we heard that transmission, IIRC there was a dude talking to right? The girl talking must have been human Diana.

Actually i disagree , the biggest force this serie has is the fact that you think you're in some place but you're actually not in it. there are plenty of ways to introduce a twist like that.

I honnestly don't think , with the expectations we have that the writter is gonna just give us what we expect. He always does the exact opposite.
 

redhood56

Banned
I am very interested in how ZE3 plays out, all these theories are getting me excited! And since spike chunsoft aren't going to TGS this year, the waiting game will be even more painful :( Well I guess I should have seen this coming, since 999 was released in japan in 2009 and VLR was announced in 2011. Hopefully development should enter full swing soon!
 

Kenka

Member
I am fairly lucky to have played and finished the game in July 2013. Had I completed it 10 months ago, the wait for the third installment would have totalled me.
 

ZenaxPure

Member
Just finished the game moments ago. Gotta say the majority of the ending I thought was kinda meh. I dunno donno, most of it was really predictable, until the very very end where it became awesome and has me now excited for the third game. They made the Sigma reveal far too obvious (being called grandpa, Alice saying that he must have been in school for a long time, never showing his face, people froze in pods, the INTENSE focus on what date it is, the list goes on really) so when it came my only reaction was "yeah no shit, but your eye is really weird bro." Sending his conscious through time to change history seemed pretty obvious as well since it's pretty much the trope-y thing to do when you have time travel. Granted their spin on it is unique at least. Being on the moon was a surprise, but, the first time the exploding warehouse memory hit Sigma my first reaction was "Is that the moon?!" so I can't say I was surprised really. I am not saying any of it is bad really (to the contrary I loved every moment of it) but it was far more predictable than I was actually expecting.

Now, all the stuff at the very for reals end with Akane was the kind of stuff I was hoping for, tons of questions, tons of interesting things to think about as we wait for a sequel and real revelations.

Also I haven't actually played 999, yet, though (reasons I don't want to get into that I posted in a different thread) so I am going to go back and play that. I will say as someone in my position (playing VLR before 999) the majority of the 999 spoilers in VLR are so out of context for me that all it really accomplished in doing was actually making me interested in 999. So I am excited for that.

As a closing thought I will also say even though the main focus is the story I think it would have suffered greatly without the more adventure game-y parts. The fact that I had to actually jump through different timelines and gather all these clues myself and put them to use is a phenomenal gameplay concept, I loved every moment of it. One of the more unique and fun things I've done in a video game, well, pretty much ever.
 

Meia

Member
My tentative hypothesis is that the entire point of the Zero Escape series will probably be ultimately to cancel it out from ever happening so Junpei and Akane can go have a happy life together.

The entirity of VLR is an interim timeline that only occurs because one attempt at interference in the Mars game failed; the conclusion has you return to the past to attempt to avert the future VLR takes place in. I suspect from what little information Uchikoshi has shared on Akane that she holds a fair amount of regret for her actions but, given her status as a 'for the greater good' kind of character, will always sacrifice others (and herself) [indeed, given the way 999 resolves, it's probably arguable that she can't not sacrifice others to preserve herself because not to do so results in paradox]. I think VLR will probably encapsulate the trilogy as a whole in that sense; the entire trilogy will prove to be an interim timeline that will be cancelled out to divert history to a better future.

Given that we know the location, a few of the participants, and the point of the next game's scenario, I am thinking two things:

a) It's a gigantic bait and switch and the Mars test will be a lead-in to the real nonary game of the third ZE and/or

b) Ultimately the goal will be to reset the timeline completely.

I've been mulling over this a little and I can't wait for Uchikoshi to blow my mind by proving to me how wrong I am.


B is kind of what I'm leaning to myself, after finally beating it and seeing everything.


Been a crazy week, starting with 999, then as soon as that ending picking up VLR, which I had no intention of getting to anytime soon.


As Junpei said(not calling him that other name), even if the future doesn't come to pass, they're all stuck there trying to make the most of things anyway. I can see the end result of the 3rd game just simply being Junpei and Akane meeting somewhere. We still don't know what her endgame was after the events of 999.



I liked K ultimately, though I have no real idea of what exactly he is, much like Phi. Also have to imagine that this is purely intentional. For me, Luna stole the show, and was definitely the one character I cared the most for. Her ending was one of the saddest things I've seen in the medium in some time. :(


Sigh, the wait for a 3rd game from a franchise I might not have even given a chance to without PS+ is going to be brutal, but I will pre-order it the second I see it announced. :p
 

Kenka

Member
Luna's ending is one of the best I experienced first hand in a video game. The secrets unveiled were not that big but the formidable wtfness of the protagonist to not follow Phi and stay in the facility was really something. Then, she is a fucking robot that earned the trust and the compassion of a human being, to the point the latter leaves aside his only hope of being freed to share her last moments with her. Monumental.
 

grim-tales

Member
Completely agree. Luna had so much compassion and warmth, and was clearly capable of indpendent thought, it made her alive. Makes her practically a person, for me. As GOLM said, if it looks like a person, talks like a person...
Truly brilliant writing.
 

redhood56

Banned
I just replayed it on my vita. I realized that tenmyogi(I know I butchered the name,i am sorry) said that he was involved with the nevada test site. He was also confirmed to be in the next nonary game. The nonary game can't be in the test site because he was not infected, since the people in the site would be the first of the infected.
 

grim-tales

Member
Do we know they'll be another Nonary Game or not? If we did, most of the twists would be gone IMO. I'm sure Uchikoshi san has plenty of tricks up his sleeve though.
 

Meia

Member
I just replayed it on my vita. I realized that tenmyogi(I know I butchered the name,i am sorry) said that he was involved with the nevada test site. He was also confirmed to be in the next nonary game. The nonary game can't be in the test site because he was not infected, since the people in the site would be the first of the infected.


Huh? Not sure how spoilery text works here for 999, so better safe than sorry.


Tenmyoji
or whatever is Junpei, the protag from 999. As such, the site they were in for the nonary game of 999 WAS the nevada test site. Not sure there was ever any mention of Zero Escape 3 having yet another Nonary game.
 

grim-tales

Member
Huh? Not sure how spoilery text works here for 999, so better safe than sorry.


Tenmyoji
or whatever is Junpei, the protag from 999. As such, the site they were in for the nonary game of 999 WAS the nevada test site. Not sure there was ever any mention of Zero Escape 3 having yet another Nonary game.

Really?! :eek: I never thought of it that way
I know they were in Nevada desert though
 

redhood56

Banned
Huh? Not sure how spoilery text works here for 999, so better safe than sorry.


Tenmyoji
or whatever is Junpei, the protag from 999. As such, the site they were in for the nonary game of 999 WAS the nevada test site. Not sure there was ever any mention of Zero Escape 3 having yet another Nonary game.
They are both in the
same desert
..but the picture they showed of the test site is different than the 999 area. And didn't the experiment begin 1 year after 999? Because clover got kidnapped with alice before it spread.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
My tentative hypothesis is that the entire point of the Zero Escape series will probably be ultimately to cancel it out from ever happening so Junpei and Akane can go have a happy life together.

The entirity of VLR is an interim timeline that only occurs because one attempt at interference in the Mars game failed; the conclusion has you return to the past to attempt to avert the future VLR takes place in. I suspect from what little information Uchikoshi has shared on Akane that she holds a fair amount of regret for her actions but, given her status as a 'for the greater good' kind of character, will always sacrifice others (and herself) [indeed, given the way 999 resolves, it's probably arguable that she can't not sacrifice others to preserve herself because not to do so results in paradox]. I think VLR will probably encapsulate the trilogy as a whole in that sense; the entire trilogy will prove to be an interim timeline that will be cancelled out to divert history to a better future.

Given that we know the location, a few of the participants, and the point of the next game's scenario, I am thinking two things:

a) It's a gigantic bait and switch and the Mars test will be a lead-in to the real nonary game of the third ZE and/or

b) Ultimately the goal will be to reset the timeline completely.

I've been mulling over this a little and I can't wait for Uchikoshi to blow my mind by proving to me how wrong I am.

I totally agree with your analysis. Maybe it's because that's kinda secretly what I want to happen. :3
 

joe2187

Banned
So if there is a way to physically travel back in time as Alice and clover have stated there was.

WHY DONT THEY JUST DO THAT!?
 
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