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[cosmicblizzard]

Still, there are several times when the characters go into "what's your story" and Sigma does his whole "college student blah blah blah" nobody ever presses the point about "when did you lose your eye". Yeah I've replayed some sections and there are quiet a few hints about Sigma being old, but not one about a fake eye.

There actually is about his eye.

Sigma: It almost looks kind of like a computer.
Clover: You almost look kind of like a computer.

Or she was just being dumb.

Of course the bottom screen was pretty big foreshadowing at times I'd say.

 

[toastyToast]

So the Akane ending basically told me to wait for a sequel :lol

I'm curious to see where K's consciousness ends up. Despite these first two titles being built upon the Nonary Game, it's going to be kind of awkward if there's one in the next entry. Unless the Mars Test Facility is owned by Free The Soul and they're secretly running another one for some reason, leading to Sigma and crew having to pull a Dio.

 

[SolarKnight]

Considering that Free the Soul is extremely likely to be the one behind the Radical 6 outbreak it's not too unthinkable though.

 

[Javier]

So the Akane ending basically told me to wait for a sequel :lol

Akane Kurashiki: Trolling Gamers Since 2009

 

[Hours Left]

There actually is about his eye.

Sigma: It almost looks kind of like a computer.
Clover: You almost look kind of like a computer.

Or she was just being dumb.

Of course the bottom screen was pretty big foreshadowing at times I'd say.

Hey, I forgot about that one. The perfect way to say it plainly without anyone thinking twice about it.

There are so many little hints in the game that are worded in such a conversational manner that it totally goes unnoticed. It really is quite brilliant. (Except for Dio's senile comment, that felt totally out of place when you first hear it.)

 

[Dion Blaster]

Hey, I forgot about that one. The perfect way to say it plainly without anyone thinking twice about it.

There are so many little hints in the game that are worded in such a conversational manner that it totally goes unnoticed. It really is quite brilliant. (Except for Dio's senile comment, that felt totally out of place when you first hear it.)

I liked it though because that's when I thought something was off. Like I was losing a sense of reality in the game, which I loved.

 

[GSR]

Hey, I forgot about that one. The perfect way to say it plainly without anyone thinking twice about it.

There are so many little hints in the game that are worded in such a conversational manner that it totally goes unnoticed. It really is quite brilliant. (Except for Dio's senile comment, that felt totally out of place when you first hear it.)

Another really tiny one: in the Archives, when Sigma 'drops a contact' in an attempt to get some upskirt, Clover doesn't buy it for an instant. Maybe because he's already been pretty pervy, or maybe because he's got a goddamn mechanical eye.

The eye thing was still a pretty big hole, though.

 

[Hours Left]

Another really tiny one: in the Archives, when Sigma 'drops a contact' in an attempt to get some upskirt, Clover doesn't buy it for an instant. Maybe because he's already been pretty pervy, or maybe because he's got a goddamn mechanical eye.

The eye thing was still a pretty big hole, though.

Sigma not noticing it is indeed a bit of a hmmm moment.

As I said earlier, they really didn't need to make it look so over the top. All the subtle hints and the final reveal would be just as effective if they eye was human shaped but still mechanical. (The could even make it red and shiny for extra pizazz! But it didn't need to look like a periscope sticking out of his face.)

 

[toastyToast]

I'm not sure if it's been brought up, but after watching the final epilogue and the way it breaks the 4th wall, I got the feeling that the Akane observer twist from 999 was re-used, except the observer is you, the player. This leads me to believe that the purpose of this Nonary Game aside from a cog in Zero IIs plan was to elicit the involvement of you so that you can help Sigma break the cycle, which Akane mentions, Sigma and Phi can't actually accomplish on their own. Within the context of the game, we're the ultimate espers after all. Phi knows what happened during the blank spot in the chronology but can't tell you because that causes a paradox in VLR. If you know, that means Zero Escape 3 already happened, rather, the participants of the Nonary Game in VLR would have never taken part in it. This means... I'm not sure exactly.

Did anyone else come to this conclusion?

 

[Jintor]

...does Alice tell Sigma he reminds her of her father in her path, or am I making that up? :T

 

[Black Republican]

I'm not sure if it's been brought up, but after watching the final epilogue and the way it breaks the 4th wall, I got the feeling that the Akane observer twist from 999 was re-used, except the observer is you, the player. This leads me to believe that the purpose of this Nonary Game aside from a cog in Zero IIs plan was to elicit the involvement of you so that you can help Sigma break the cycle, which Akane mentions, Sigma and Phi can't actually accomplish on their own. Within the context of the game, we're the ultimate espers after all. Phi knows what happened during the blank spot in the chronology but can't tell you because that causes a paradox in VLR. If you know, that means Zero Escape 3 already happened, rather, the participants of the Nonary Game in VLR would have never taken part in it. This means... I'm not sure exactly.

Did anyone else come to this conclusion?

fuck.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Well, they couldn't specifically point out his eye without giving too much away. I think Phi's comment about doing drugs, looking like "that", etc. were as close as we could get.

They didn't really need to do the terminator style eye though, I think they wanted to play it up for the shock factor. A close up of a human shaped eye, but noticeably robotic, would of done just as well, plus it would of given more plausibility to Sigma not noticing it.

I think they wanted to mislead us when we were shown the hologram of Zero II. Having two normal looking eyes might have made us even more suspicious. At first I thought it was Santa.

 

[BassForever]

fuck.

Pretty much my response whenever I try to over analyze what's going on lol

 

[CorvoSol]

Maybe he DOES double as a circus ringleader just like Clover is also a waitress? Even clones need their own lives I guess.

Yeah, but Clover being a waitress is a normal cover for a young Japanese girl who is trying to survive being stuck in America.

Dio as a Circus Ring Leader in a post-apocalyptic world makes no sense as a cover at all, and if it wasn't for the fact that Junpei and Quark had sworn to keep their mouths shut, they likely would've pointed out this fact.

Dio's cover was stupid. Whether that's intentional or not, I dunno.

Question: Does anyone think that Lord Gordain and his Nonary Game will get brought up again in the next game? I mean, according to new canon, Ace was a member of Free the Soul and was a participant in Lord Gordain's Nonary Game. Is it possible that Brother lost Left during the same game?

 

[NEO0MJ]

Dio as a Circus Ring Leader in a post-apocalyptic world makes no sense as a cover at all, and if it wasn't for the fact that Junpei and Quark had sworn to keep their mouths shut, they likely would've pointed out this fact.

Didn't Quark mention traveling entertainers in his ending?

 

[ScraftyDevil]

Question: Does anyone think that Lord Gordain and his Nonary Game will get brought up again in the next game? I mean, according to new canon, Ace was a member of Free the Soul and was a participant in Lord Gordain's Nonary Game. Is it possible that Brother lost Left during the same game?

I'll be honest; when I first saw the hologram of Zero II during Tenmyouji's ending, I thought he was Lord Gordain based on his manner of dress and speaking. Boy, was I ever wrong.

To answer your question; yes, I do. Continuity is too important in this series, and I doubt something as major as that will remain shrouded in mystery.

 

[corn_fest]

I'll be honest; when I first saw the hologram of Zero II during Tenmyouji's ending, I thought he was Lord Gordain based on his manner of dress and speaking. Boy, was I ever wrong.

To answer your question; yes, I do. Continuity is too important in this series, and I doubt something as major as that will remain shrouded in mystery.

Continuity is definitely important, but has Gordain's game ever been mentioned outside of The Answers for 999? I feel like they might consider it to not be important if it was never mentioned in-game.
Personally, I hope we get to see it, though. The Titantic lore stuff and the ship from 999 was one of the coolest parts of the game.

 

[Darktails]

I finished 999 about two weeks ago and - although I disliked some aspects of the writing and the character design of Lotus - really enjoyed myself. The final big twist was brilliant and I genuinely didn't see it coming. I had moderately low expectations when I first started the game, so the cleverness of its structure was quite impressive to me. While some of the alleged historical or scientific anecdotes mentioned by various characters had little to no basis in reality, it didn't bother me as much in retrospect as I initially expected. As long as the universe is internally consistent and closely follows its own rules I'm happy to accept things as plausible which I otherwise would not.

Given my enthusiasm for 999, I quickly purchased a copy of VLR and finished it yesterday. I still have to wrap my mind around some bits of the story, but there were some small details that really sour the overall experience for me and make it hard to suspend disbelief:
Why did Sigma not realize his older voice, longer hair or mechanical eye (which unfortunately also sticks out of his head)?
Why did anyone think that it would be a good idea to incorporate puzzles that involve ponds of water into the Nonary Game? If Sigma would have had a quick look at his own reflection during his first visit of the garden, this would have disrupted the entire operation. Actually, given the existence of an infinite number of parallel universes, we can be sure that there is at least one instance where this actually happened.
Also, if the low gravity environment is an explanation for why Phi can jump as high as she does, why does it not affect fluids in a similar fashion? (You could also make the point that it's odd that no other character ever tries to jump or that thrown objects don't behave the way they would given low-gravity conditions.) Streams, the aforementioned pond of water and the few puzzles involving fluids of various sorts are only plausible given the existence of some sort of artificial gravitational pull, which, in turn, would render the extraordinary jumping ability of Phi implausible.

There is some potential of explaining Sigma's inability to realize his own age by referring to the impact Radical-6 had on his brain (although this would still be questionable). The existence of potentially reflective water-surfaces could also be justified by postulating that this was part of an accurate representation of what Akane saw in her experience of the future. The latter implausibility, however, seems in need of a successful retcon. It would, for example, seem like a good idea to me to establish that Rhizome-9 actually had artificial gravity, while Phi had bionic legs. I can get over flaws which are not particularly important to the story - like the misunderstanding of what the thought experiment of Schrödinger's cat was supposed to convey - or minor unlikelihoods like the amazing coincidence that Radical-6 would precisely counteract the perceptual effects of a low-gravity environment so as to make it appear earth-like or the puzzling fact that a top-secret intelligence agency chooses to recruit psychologically unstable people who apparently hate wearing clothes, but the aforementioned little details do - at least for me - decrease the believability of the game's universe and thus lower my investment in it. I have to think about the story some more. I really want to like VLR as much as 999, though. Particularly since I loved the breaking of the fourth wall at the very end of the game.

 

[Korigama]

Continuity is definitely important, but has Gordain's game ever been mentioned outside of The Answers for 999? I feel like they might consider it to not be important if it was never mentioned in-game.
Personally, I hope we get to see it, though. The Titantic lore stuff and the ship from 999 was one of the coolest parts of the game.

As of VLR, it has not (from what I recall, Ace's Nonary Game is still acknowledged as the first one within the actual games).

 

[Cha]

Yeah, I also thought Sigma not noticing that he has a mechanical eye was weird. But what really bugged me about VLR, was that they’re depending on a sequel to answer all the questions that were left behind. I can’t see how how changing anything in the past is gonna solve the problems in the present that we’ve played through. But the fact that Tenmyouji touched on this issue with using the “bikers on a road” example is a ray of hope that the writers have thought about this, and have a good solution/explaination.
The end of 999 tied up all loose ends very neatly, with almost believable reasoning (srsly, I had to google things to separate real theories from fiction). I’d be very dissappointed if the VLR sequel fails to do the same. I’d also be sad if VLR was just a “bad end” that the consciousness of “???” jumped to, and is trying to prevent.

That said, VLR was still one of the best games I’ve ever played. I really need to buy a physical copy. Wonder if it’ll get a cover update like 999 when the sequel releases.

 

[SolarKnight]

I can’t see how how changing anything in the past is gonna solve the problems in the present that we’ve played through.

It won't, and I believe that's what Tenmyouji was talking about during the epilogue. The whole point is not necessarily making it so that the future we see in VLR doesn't exist, but to create at least one timeline in which the world is not anhilated by Radical-6 and everyone can live happily.

Re: Sigma's eye

I don't think it's THAT weird that he never noticed it himself. Remember K's comment about how his armor feels like a natural part of him and it's like when you wear glasses for so long that you pretty much forget they're there? Just apply that to his eye. Nobody mentioning it outside possibly Clover in one joke IS weird though. Also it's kinda odd that he never saw his reflection in the garden before. However, they did make a good job of making it hard for Sigma to see his reflection. They made it impossible for him to see himself in the mirrors, and the times he DOES have to look at the water in the garden, it's when it's pretty dark and he has to focus all his attention on the stars.

 

[Brazil]

But what really bugged me about VLR, was that they’re depending on a sequel to answer all the questions that were left behind. I can’t see how how changing anything in the past is gonna solve the problems in the present that we’ve played through. But the fact that Tenmyouji touched on this issue with using the “bikers on a road” example is a ray of hope that the writers have thought about this, and have a good solution/explaination.

It won't. That's the whole point of Junpei's explanation. What's done in that present is done. What they're trying to accomplish is save mankind in the alternative future, not in the one they are in.

 

[Mr. Fix]

It won't. That's the whole point of Junpei's explanation. What's done in that present is done. What they're trying to accomplish is save mankind in the alternative future, not in the one they are in.

Surely there's already millions of alternate universes where they've already stopped the apocalypse right? Or has that not happened in even one of them yet?

 

[Brazil]

Surely there's already millions of alternate universes where they've already stopped the apocalypse right? Or has that not happened in even one of them yet?

Maybe. And maybe there are universes in which a cockroach stopped the apocalypse.

... Or maybe there's an even greater supernatural power that can make the apocalypse happen in every universe.

We won't know anything until Vol. 3 is out. Trying to predict stuff, considering the direction VLR went, is a waste of time, hahaha.

 

[Trigger]

Surely there's already millions of alternate universes where they've already stopped the apocalypse right? Or has that not happened in even one of them yet?

I agree. This bothered me as well. Maybe there's a way to stop from happening in all timelines or something?

 

[Cha]

:/ :/ :/
Oh well, what's done is done. I'm ready to move on to another universe.
Also, Zero III plushies need to happen :3

 

[CorvoSol]

Didn't Quark mention traveling entertainers in his ending?

I don't recall. It would seem out of place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, though. Then again, the world can't be THAT devastated if there are bars serving rootbeer.

I'll be honest; when I first saw the hologram of Zero II during Tenmyouji's ending, I thought he was Lord Gordain based on his manner of dress and speaking. Boy, was I ever wrong.

To answer your question; yes, I do. Continuity is too important in this series, and I doubt something as major as that will remain shrouded in mystery.

I thought Zero II was Snake, so I was way off, too. I really wish it had been someone other than Sigma, though. I'm kinda sick of that twist.

Continuity is definitely important, but has Gordain's game ever been mentioned outside of The Answers for 999? I feel like they might consider it to not be important if it was never mentioned in-game.
Personally, I hope we get to see it, though. The Titantic lore stuff and the ship from 999 was one of the coolest parts of the game.

I could've sworn Lord Gordain's game was mentioned in 999.

 

[BassForever]

I thought Zero in the 999 was Ace (Irony) and I thought it was Luna in VLR, around the 75% mark I realized these were both wrong and did end up guessing the right one after that (June and Sigma) but at that point in the game both give you pretty big "all but say it" clues so meh.

 

[SolarKnight]

It would seem out of place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, though.

How so? If anything I'd say a post-apocalyptic world needs travelling entertainers more than a normal one does. Gotta spread some happiness around.

 

[Jintor]

I agree. This bothered me as well. Maybe there's a way to stop from happening in all timelines or something?

Ah, but you miss that Junpei doesn't know for sure if those universes cease to exist due to paradox or not. He's just acting as if they don't because that's the only option to him, as he is now, that makes sense.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Finally had time to finish VLR and see the final ending. Mind asplode

Will be reading this thread extensively in the morning. I'd make some sort of comment but it's basically just an amalgamation of what everybody has said. (Although looking at this thread I really do regret going with the 3DS version...)

 

[CorvoSol]

How so? If anything I'd say a post-apocalyptic world needs travelling entertainers more than a normal one does. Gotta spread some happiness around.

Because how do you travel across wastelands patrolled by marauders? How do you have the means to travel when everybody else is stuck in one area desperately trying to survive?

 

[SolarKnight]

Do we know if the world is THAT bad? Still, if they really wanted to they could find a way I'm sure.

 

[CorvoSol]

Do we know if the world is THAT bad? Still, if they really wanted to they could find a way I'm sure.

It's hard to say, but I mean, if the planet is RED from space, and Junpei sifts through garbage to survive/make a living, it doesn't sound so great.

 

[Hours Left]

It's hard to say, but I mean, if the planet is RED from space, and Junpei sifts through garbage to survive/make a living, it doesn't sound so great.

Plus, root beer.

 

[CorvoSol]

Plus, root beer.

I confess the root beer throws me for a loop, but the way Junpei described it, the world had only so many survivors, and they'd basically crawled out from under the ruins of the world to try and start over. There might be SOME order, but if people are sifting through trash, traveling performers seems out of place. Principally ones dressed as well (garishly) as Dio.

 

[SolarKnight]

It's hard to say, but I mean, if the planet is RED from space,

Well, yes, but it's mostly because of all the dust in the atmosphere. Sure the planet is still in awful condition, but I thought it was supposed to be slowly but surely getting better thanks to the combined efforts of the survivors, not necessarily in a condition that'd make it impossible for people move around because of it/people.

 

[Jintor]

I think it's surpassed Fallout level because Junpei seems to have been living a relatively okay life on the surface. I reckon you probably only had 20, 30 years of bullshit and then it settled down into relatively stable but still shit-hard life

 

[Belisarius]

I'm not sure if it's been brought up, but after watching the final epilogue and the way it breaks the 4th wall, I got the feeling that the Akane observer twist from 999 was re-used, except the observer is you, the player. This leads me to believe that the purpose of this Nonary Game aside from a cog in Zero IIs plan was to elicit the involvement of you so that you can help Sigma break the cycle, which Akane mentions, Sigma and Phi can't actually accomplish on their own. Within the context of the game, we're the ultimate espers after all. Phi knows what happened during the blank spot in the chronology but can't tell you because that causes a paradox in VLR. If you know, that means Zero Escape 3 already happened, rather, the participants of the Nonary Game in VLR would have never taken part in it. This means... I'm not sure exactly.

Did anyone else come to this conclusion?

Clap if you believe in Sigma.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Brain still spinning. Some of the stuff that happened in the end I had to read 2-3 times to grasp, especially all of the point A-> whatever bits. Absolutely did not expect the game to suddenly turn into Empire Strikes Back.

Really hope the 3rd game happens.

I agree with everyone else that the post-apocalyptic scenario was a bit hard to swallow (let alone the Moon) but I must say the sheer implications of each were enough to win me over.

I suppose it's a plus that I hadn't played 999 in such a long time though; had to actually look at some screenshots to remember who the old characters were..

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Wanted to save my first post for this thread!

I've been following the 999 Thread, and VLR for ages it seems, and I'm happy to finally be able to join in on the conversation

I played through the game with my sister, just as we did for 999, and it blew both our minds. With the two of us, we didn't have to (cheat) find hints online so much.

Anyone else love when Sigma or should we say Kyle finally had a voice at the end of the game? It was so wonderful and natural. I wish we would have heard it throughout the whole game, but alas, we know why we couldn't. Too bad a complete save file wouldn't unlock Sigma voice acting for the whole game though, on that thought.

Anyway, I horribly horribly miss Snake. He was my favorite character on 999. There have been some tweets to Uchikoshi about him, so hopefully he's in the third game in a larger appearance!

 

[Mr. Fix]

Wanted to save my first post for this thread!

I've been following the 999 Thread, and VLR for ages it seems, and I'm happy to finally be able to join in on the conversation

I played through the game with my sister, just as we did for 999, and it blew both our minds. With the two of us, we didn't have to (cheat) find hints online so much.

Anyone else love when Sigma or should we say Kyle finally had a voice at the end of the game? It was so wonderful and natural. I wish we would have heard it throughout the whole game, but alas, we know why we couldn't. Too bad a complete save file wouldn't unlock Sigma voice acting for the whole game though, on that thought.

Anyway, I horribly horribly miss Snake. He was my favorite character on 999. There have been some tweets to Uchikoshi about him, so hopefully he's in the third game in a larger appearance!

I'd say that it's possible. Clover and Alice were supposed to be on a mission before they were abducted, right? I'm sure that Snake's supposed to be at their HQ helping them with whatever mission that was (probably the same one in ZE:3). It'd be back on track if Clover and Alice make it back.

 

[idlethreats]

I'd say that it's possible. Clover and Alice were supposed to be on a mission before they were abducted, right? I'm sure that Snake's supposed to be at their HQ helping them with whatever mission that was (probably the same one in ZE:3). It'd be back on track if Clover and Alice make it back.

I feel like the 3rd Zero Escape game is going to be a big reunion of all the 999 and VLR characters somehow.

 

[CorvoSol]

I feel like the 3rd Zero Escape game is going to be a big reunion of all the 999 and VLR characters somehow.

It's supposed to be the end of the series, right? I hope they reunite the casts, then.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

It's supposed to be the end of the series, right? I hope they reunite the casts, then.

Where did you see it's supposed to be the end? I'm not following Uchi's twitter religiously, but I saw no mention of it being a Trilogy.

That being said, I loved in VLR when Clover's opening up to you. Her line about Snake made me smile. "First of all, my brother is totally awesome!" I was all. xD

 

[CorvoSol]

Where did you see it's supposed to be the end? I'm not following Uchi's twitter religiously, but I saw no mention of it being a Trilogy.

That being said, I loved in VLR when Clover's opening up to you. Her line about Snake made me smile. "First of all, my brother is totally awesome!" I was all. xD

I don't even remember.

 

[podracer35]

I don't think it was confirmed that ZE3 will be the last game. But Trilogies are nice neat sets to have, so I think that's why people are assuming there will be only three volumes.

For all we know, there could be 5 games, or 100, or even 10 BILLION!

 

[Lee Chaolan]

I don't think it was confirmed that ZE3 will be the last game. But Trilogies are nice neat sets to have, so I think that's why people are assuming there will be only three volumes.

For all we know, there could be 5 games, or 100, or even 10 BILLION!

Nine seems more appropriate

 

[AwShucks]

Oh man, I just realized I didn't get the "all gold files" ending. Though getting my final gold file was pretty funny last night as all you have to do is go back to the puzzle and re input the password.

 

[wrowa]

I'm kind of anxious how the third episode will turn out. Uchikoshi already teased so many returning characters on Twitter that I worry how all of it is supposed to turn into one game. You can't put too many characters into one game, since otherwhise you don't have enough time to portray everyone properly. The game would also be incredibly boring if all we get is characters we already know... I think a really big part of the series' fun is to figure out who each characteri is, what intentions he has and if you can actually trust him. This part is kind of ruined if you've got to many returning characters.

In any case, I hope that both Alice and Clover will only have sideroles. Both characters were terrible and not believable at all in VLR. Uchikoshi could have killed them and I wouldn't have been sad for a second.

Though, I trust his ability to tell a good story. What's most important to me is that episode 3 will answer all of the important questions it raises. I'm really frustrated by VLR in that regard -- the ending was just incredibly unsatisfying to me. It stopped when the story went towards its climax and not knowing who Phi is, is killing me. She's the most important NPC in the game and at the end we are left behind with knowing not a single thing about her. Ugh.

Oh, and please make it more threatening again. I appreciate that the team tried to give VLR a new atmosphere, but I think that the lack of a feeling of real danger hurt the experience a little. Many decisions just didn't seem very important in the end... Like, in 999 you never knew if you would see the rest of the group ever again after you've chosen to go through a certain door. In VLR on the othe hand, you always knew that you are going to be reunited again after the following puzzle room -- as a consequence, it didn't really feel important with which characters you ended up going through a puzzle.