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GAF (Re)Plays Zero Escape (999 & VLR): NEW VLR Giveaways

Starting to formulate some theories for 999

A few of the characters seem to talk about the same stuff. Like wacky off the wall stuff. I feel like it will be important later on and that they are setting up connections between characters that I'll need to recall for later. Like just completely off track and random characters just launch into tirades about substances crystallizing and telepathy. Lotus has done it twice on me so far and is always like "oh just kidding teehee"

I feel like one of the 8 is like a double agent that is helping Zero by guiding the rest of the group to do certain things or not do certain things. Maybe it is just general paranoia but everyone in this game is sketchy as fuck. Maybe Snake and his keen senses was on to them? I think it was Lotus that floated the idea that Zero was among them and the reasoning made sense. Everything seems to run itself.

Also I'm super disappointed that no matter what first door I choose Snake gets killed and makes Clover sad.

I have gotten to the point where I know there are two #9 doors and I know that everyone can escape. I'm wondering what the point of all this is. It feels like I'm watching Saw but I don't get the idea that all of these people are scummy and are wasting their life. If Zero wanted to kill everyone he could easily do it. There has to be some purpose for putting people through this right?

Only have a couple more doors to clear and then I can get down to business of getting the rest of the endings. I have to order VLR from Amazon though so it might be a week or two before I can start playing that.
 
I'm watch number 5, Call me Go.

On that note I can't wait for Zero Time Dilemma. I beat 999 back early this year march, and played Virtues last Reward this month and beat it last week. I been playing a lot of this Visual novel type games I beat danganronpa one and back in February. One thing thats weird is that even though I love Virtues last reward, I feel that 999 had a much bigger impact on me. I am a sucker for sprites and OST was really catchy too.
 
If I had the number 4 I would call myself Reaper (4 = Shi = Death = Grim Reaper, but I'm not so grim), just so I can screw people's minds believing I am Zero because I have this most obvious nickname.


I made it to Door 1, so I'm close to the
___Axe___
ending, and what I really don't like about the iOS version of 999 is Junpei's faces. You don't see him outside of "cutscenes" in the DS game, but seeing him in the iOS version somehow takes some of the immersion away. :(

Spierek said:
Just wanted to weigh in that I completely disagree with that opinion. During my first playthrough of 999 I got the Coffin ending first and absolutely loved it - it gives you just enough information to completely hook you in on the story, without revealing most mysteries that you'll puzzle together with the rest of the endings.
Click to expand...

I think of not getting the Coffin ending first as more of a convenience thing
since you have to do the exact same route twice in order to get around it
. Since there is no flowchart ala VLR in the game it feels more like, say, a wall than a locked door.

I know that VLR does basically the same thing in so many of its routes, but you can skip ahead to that exact position in the game once you have the McGuffin that lets you continue. 999 not having this feature makes it more of a struggle, because you have to do all the puzzles again that you already solved so many times before.
 
Yep on to the true ending and my game freezes. I have no idea when the last time I saved was. I might literally have to do this entire thing (again)

Seriously so tired of doing these same puzzles, hearing the same shit. Most of it is skippable but damn the stuff that isn't that is so similar to stuff I've heard like 11 times before.

This game is fun but I am just tired of it already.

LOL i literally have to do the entire playthrough again because I didn't save and the piece of shit crashed. I was seriously in the
communications office about to be done with door #1.

I think I might just youtube this because I'm already bored to tears playing the same 5 puzzles over and over and over again.
The complaints people have about Bravely Default they should have with this game. This is so much worse and so boring and now I have to do these puzzles again just for the true ending.
I am beyond frustrated right now.
 
silkysmooth said:
Yep on to the true ending and my game freezes. I have no idea when the last time I saved was. I might literally have to do this entire thing (again)

Seriously so tired of doing these same puzzles, hearing the same shit. Most of it is skippable but damn the stuff that isn't that is so similar to stuff I've heard like 11 times before.

This game is fun but I am just tired of it already.

LOL i literally have to do the entire playthrough again because I didn't save and the piece of shit crashed. I was seriously in the
communications office about to be done with door #1.

I think I might just youtube this because I'm already bored to tears playing the same 5 puzzles over and over and over again.
The complaints people have about Bravely Default they should have with this game. This is so much worse and so boring and now I have to do these puzzles again just for the true ending.
I am beyond frustrated right now.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the reason why there is a flowchart that lets you skip right ahead to wherever you wanna go in VLR and the iOS version of 999.
 
I finished 999. I was right about a couple things

I had figured that Zero was someone close to June and that the idea was to do something to save her. She always seemed like she was sick or weak or in distress. Of course I had no idea the nature of what that would entail or that she was actually Zero.

I also kinda thought the feelings between June and Junpei were going to be important but again it wasn't until the end that I basically got all the weird stuff they were saying was setting me up to solve the final puzzle for her.

The whole top/bottom screen split stuff blew my mind. I got literal chills when I had to flip my 3DS to solve the final puzzle of the game. All along it was June from 9 years ago sending the puzzle solutions to Junpei.

Also Prosopagnosia is a real thing! I googled a ton of stuff from this game just to see what was real and what was BS and that surprised me as being real.
I'm really sad that I got frustrated with the game though. This game is a masterpiece. I always wanted to play the game but just never got around to it. Needed something for free shipping on Amazon so I just threw it in my cart.
 
I don't know if this fact is that weird (or unknown to people), but it's what I thought of since numbers seem to be important in these games: The word 'billion' refers to one of two different numbers, depending on whether one is using the "long" or "short" scale, with one or the other being the common usage in a given country.

For the watch, I'd hope to have number 7, so you could call me Lucky.
 
I just got a 3ds and 999 is arriving the day after tomorrow. I can't wait. I've heard many positive things about 999, but know nothing about the game!
 
The winner of the game and watch combo is RainbowIslands!
I'll send you a PM soon! Congrats!

24 hours remain for the next giveaway. Get your entries in!
 
Fact: Neither game was available in Mexican retail, if you wanted the game the only option was importing or in the second game case downloading

Hopefully they release a trilogy for the 3DS
 
I'd take number 9, and I guess be called "Cloud", since my name starts with a C and I'm on cloud nine that we're getting ze3 in less than 2 months!
 
Fact: We have an entire system in our brains that is devoted solely to detecting if others are looking at you. People usually call it the 'gaze detection system' (original name, right?)

My number would probably be 5, and i'd take the name "Go". Not only because that's 5 in japanese but also because i play alot of the board game of "go"
 
So I've watched up to 2 endings now
Sub and Axe
thanks to the LP Bjoern recommended. I think I would prefer experiencing it this way even if I had the game just because 1) I can watch it at 1.5x speed, which makes the text fast enough that it isn't agonizingly slow and 2) I can skip rooms I've seen and go straight to the parts I haven't. Quick question I know VLR solved the later issue, but does it also have faster text scroll options?

As far as the actual game I doubt I'll have any strong opinions till I get to the true ending, which I'm saving for last. At that point I'll probably either cry bullshit or I'll never shut up about how good it is like my friends do. For now it seems decent enough though.

However, one of my friends was very adamant that even if 999 ever did get ported to PC/other consoles it would be an inferior experience. He refused to tell me why, but if I don't see some crazy shit only the DS could do I'm already going to be disappointed. So I hope crazy 999 fans haven't hyped it up too much.
 
ZoronMaro said:
Quick question I know VLR solved the later issue, but does it also have faster text scroll options?
Click to expand...
In VLR you can either have the text scroll normally, tap through it or press Y/Square twice to fast forward (which blazes through the text like there's no tomorrow, though this only works with text you've already read)
I just checked and in 999 you could fast forward texts you've already read by pressing and holding Right on the D-Pad.

As far as the actual game I doubt I'll have any strong opinions till I get to the true ending, which I'm saving for last. At that point I'll probably either cry bullshit or I'll never shut up about how good it is like my friends do. For now it seems decent enough though.
Click to expand...
I and many others will gladly hear you not shutting up about how good the game is :)

However, one of my friends was very adamant that even if 999 ever did get ported to PC/other consoles it would be an inferior experience. He refused to tell me why, but if I don't see some crazy shit only the DS could do I'm already going to be disappointed. So I hope crazy 999 fans haven't hyped it up too much.
Click to expand...
He is sorta right. I mean, it depends on the port.
The iOS novelization is never recommended over the DS version of the game.
You will see why when you're done with the game.

The interactive playthrough sort of does it justice. You won't experience one certain (sort of) mind blowing thing, but at least everything else is intact.
 
And the winner of the second giveaway for the 999 Watch is //ARCANUM!

If you're bummed about not winning, don't worry cause there's still another giveaway to come later in the month, and maybe a few more surprises along the way. ;)
 
Dandy Crocodile said:
And the winner of the second giveaway for the 999 Watch is //ARCANUM!

If you're bummed about not winning, don't worry cause there's still another giveaway to come later in the month, and maybe a few more surprises along the way. ;)
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! :D :D I'm a *huge* 999 fan and this is the first GAF contest I've won!
 
To the watch winners; congratulations! I'll be getting the watches out to you in the next day or so. I'll PM you once I have everything in the mail.
 
I'm almost done with my replay of 999, just have to do the Safe and True Endings. I really wish I could experience these games for the first time again. On my second complete playthrough of the game and I still find it awesome. The way the game teases things in other paths to get you to go back and replay different routes is great. There was also one subtle hint of foreshadowing that I did not catch on my first playthrough. I'm sure a lot of people already saw this. I can't wait to start VLR as that game has so many things going on that I know I don't remember it all.
D8smd7v.jpg
 
shadowfoxx21 said:
I'm almost done with my replay of 999, just have to do the Safe and True Endings. I really wish I could experience these games for the first time again. On my second complete playthrough of the game and I still find it awesome. The way the game teases things in other paths to get you to go back and replay different routes is great. There was also one subtle hint of foreshadowing that I did not catch on my first playthrough. I'm sure a lot of people already saw this. I can't wait to start VLR as that game has so many things going on that I know I don't remember it all.
D8smd7v.jpg
Click to expand...
Be sure to read the books in the
library
very carefully this time around. ;)
 
//ARCANUM said:
Thank you so much! :D :D I'm a *huge* 999 fan and this is the first GAF contest I've won!
Click to expand...
Congrats dude. I seriously couldn't be any more jealous if I tried.

You treat that watch with the respect it deserves, you hear me? You treat her good, son. ;__;
EDIT: Also, please explain: Why P?
I'm definitely missing the most obvious thing but I can't see a connection between the number 9 and the letter P.
 
Ordered VLR from the Aksys store since it was 25% off today and Amazon sold out temporarily. $22.49 plus $5 to ship is pretty decent. Looking forward to playing it.

999 is definitely growing on me post playthrough. Definitely feeling like it will fit in my top 10 games ever list somewhere.

Just need Best Buy to open up preorders for ZE3 again so I can get one in :(
 
Bjoern the Smexy said:
Congrats dude. I seriously couldn't be any more jealous if I tried.

You treat that watch with the respect it deserves, you hear me? You treat her good, son. ;__;
EDIT: Also, please explain: Why P?
I'm definitely missing the most obvious thing but I can't see a connection between the number 9 and the letter P.
Click to expand...

It's not that obvious or interesting unfortunately, lol. My name is Paul, I think 9 *kinda* looks like a funky backwards P, so I went with that. Lol.

And I will definitely take good care of that watch :). Very excited.
 
//ARCANUM said:
It's not that obvious or interesting unfortunately, lol. My name is Paul, I think 9 *kinda* looks like a funky backwards P, so I went with that. Lol.

And I will definitely take good care of that watch :). Very excited.
Click to expand...

What? Man, I thought it had something to do with chemicals or elements or something.
That was very anti-climactic. Totally dissapointed. 1/5 :P
 
So I finally watched the entire LP of 999 and I've seen everything. I'm kind of ruminating my opinion (just finished like a minute ago), but for now can someone explain to me why this had to be on the DS?

silky mentioned turning his DS upside down, but the screen was never upside down in the LP, and it never mentioned ever editing any footage. Was it only flipped for the sudoku, or were any of the story bits upside down as well?
 
ZoronMaro said:
So I finally watched the entire LP of 999 and I've seen everything. I'm kind of ruminating my opinion (just finished like a minute ago), but for now can someone explain to me why this had to be on the DS?

silky mentioned turning his DS upside down, but the screen was never upside down in the LP, and it never mentioned ever editing any footage. Was it only flipped for the sudoku, or were any of the story bits upside down as well?
Click to expand...

999 True End massive spoilers (seriously don't read if you haven't beaten the game or if there's even the slightest chance you'll play it):

It's only the sudoku puzzle that has the screens flipped. The LPer must have edited that bit.

Anyway, the reason it's important is because of the hardware layout of the DS. Only the bottom screen is touch sensitive; the top screen is just an ordinary screen. The entire game, you've been using the bottom screen to control the game, and watching what happens on the top screen.

In the final scene before the puzzle, young Akane appears on the bottom screen, with Junpei on the top. As soon as the puzzle starts, the screens flip, so Akane is on the top and Junpei is on the bottom. At this point, you're meant to flip your DS around to see the puzzle the right way up and have Akane/Junpei in the correct position again.

From this, you're meant to realise that the entire time, the bottom (touch) screen has been Akane's perspective, and she was transmitting everything she did to Junpei. When the screens flip, the top screen becomes the touch screen, showing that the roles are now reversed and Junpei is transmitting to Akane.

The reason the game had to be on DS is because of that screen setup, with one touch screen and one normal screen representing the transmitter's/receiver's points of view respectively.
 
Starting 999, already beat it once a long time ago but forgot most of the plot minus the big stuff. Last time I used a puzzle guide, how hard/doable are the puzzles? I kinda want to do them this time around but don't want to be stuck for hours on a given puzzle.
 
Wichu said:
snip
Click to expand...

Thanks that makes sense.
I kinda figured something was up since in the LP the sudoku puzzle was on the top. The dude edited it so that Junpei's perspective was consistently on top and vice verse, so I still understood everything story-wise (Well, not really...but the stuff you said I already knew). I was mainly unsure how it played out on a real DS.

I do have qualms with the game, but I can't deny that's pretty neat. At the same time though, you could totally do that in an phone/tablet port, and it wouldn't even be that hard. Never mind that they didn't do that, it's still possible. So now I've got some really harsh words for a certain elitist friend of mine.
 
ZoronMaro said:
Thanks that makes sense.
I kinda figured something was up since in the LP the sudoku puzzle was on the top. The dude edited it so that Junpei's perspective was consistently on top and vice verse, so I still understood everything story-wise (Well, not really...but the stuff you said I already knew). I was mainly unsure how it played out on a real DS.

I do have qualms with the game, but I can't deny that's pretty neat. At the same time though, you could totally do that in an phone/tablet port, and it wouldn't even be that hard. Never mind that they didn't do that, it's still possible. So now I've got some really harsh words for a certain elitist friend of mine.
Click to expand...
The big problem is that you can't get away with showing the same thing from both perspectives simultaneously unless you did an exact port of the game, i.e. emulate the dual screen setup. The devs chose to change the game to fit the format, at which point you can't present the twist (that you're actually playing as Akane and transmitting everything to Junpei) in the same way.

And as I said in my earlier post, the big thing about the flip is making it so you're solving the puzzle from Junpei's perspective rather than Akane's. The port doesn't have puzzles so it's irrelevant, and the rest of the story is still great, but that realisation was my favourite moment in the DS version and it can't possibly be shown in the same way in the port.
 
Wichu said:
The big problem is that you can't get away with showing the same thing from both perspectives simultaneously unless you did an exact port of the game, i.e. emulate the dual screen setup. The devs chose to change the game to fit the format, at which point you can't present the twist (that you're actually playing as Akane and transmitting everything to Junpei) in the same way.

And as I said in my earlier post, the big thing about the flip is making it so you're solving the puzzle from Junpei's perspective rather than Akane's. The port doesn't have puzzles so it's irrelevant, and the rest of the story is still great, but that realisation was my favourite moment in the DS version and it can't possibly be shown in the same way in the port.
Click to expand...

Thing is, they could have easily ported the DS version on iOS devices with no big problems.
Look at the Ace Attorney games where it has a dual screen layout like the DS has if you hold your iPhone/iPad in portrait mode. When you hold it in landscape then it switches to a more GBA-esque one-screen mode.

Why Chunsoft couldn't do that for 999 I really don't know.
Rewind said:
Starting 999, already beat it once a long time ago but forgot most of the plot minus the big stuff. Last time I used a puzzle guide, how hard/doable are the puzzles? I kinda want to do them this time around but don't want to be stuck for hours on a given puzzle.
Click to expand...

I think there are one or two puzzles where almost everyone needs a guide for. But all puzzles are doable without one, they just might take longer than is comfortable for you.
Either way I wouldn't hold anything against the guy who wants to use a guide for the puzzles.
 
I've tried writing out my thoughts on 999 like a dozen times now, but it always comes out as an angry, rambling mess by the end. I've decided I don't want to be such a profoundly negative voice in an otherwise positive and happy thread, so I'll keep my complaints to myself and make it as succinct as possible.

The more I think about the story the more things I find to be upset about: plotholes, bad tropes, unanswered questions, etc. Looking up the 999 Q&A after a friend told me to only made things worse. Ultimately I have to put the game in the "overhyped" category, and it's not so much that it's a bad game so much as it's disappointing and definitely not for me.

Wichu said:
The big problem is that you can't get away with showing the same thing from both perspectives simultaneously unless you did an exact port of the game, i.e. emulate the dual screen setup. The devs chose to change the game to fit the format, at which point you can't present the twist (that you're actually playing as Akane and transmitting everything to Junpei) in the same way.

And as I said in my earlier post, the big thing about the flip is making it so you're solving the puzzle from Junpei's perspective rather than Akane's. The port doesn't have puzzles so it's irrelevant, and the rest of the story is still great, but that realisation was my favourite moment in the DS version and it can't possibly be shown in the same way in the port.
Click to expand...

My friends have been telling me to play the game since way before the iOS port. The fact that iOS port doesn't do it properly, doesn't change the fact that it easily could've.
Just divide the iPhone screen in half, like what a DS emulator would do, make up for the lack of buttons with a calculator and notepad button on screen (actually this would solve one of the few inconsistencies that even Uchikoshi acknowledges, which is that the notebook and pad and stuff should be viewed through Junpei's eyes and should have been on the top screen) Maybe it wouldn't have been the most elegant solution having a straight up port, but would any fan disagree with me that it would have been preferable to what we got?

This goes back to my deleted ramblings where ultimately I was expecting things I didn't get, and what I got I didn't want; which isn't really the games fault, but doesn't change my opinion.

As an aside I don't think my experience of the game not being on an original DS is what soured me, if anything if I had played on a DS I'd be more sour. Now I'm rambling again, but my point was the LP Bjoern recommended is actually quite good and I think it's the best way to experience the game for those without a DS.
 
Man, all this talk about the big twist at the end of 999 using
the flipped DS has me worried that there could be something in ZTD that makes it a better narrative experience on the 3DS even though it's a better visual and audio experience on the vita. This wasn't the case for VLR, but there's no way to know until we play. :/
 
//ARCANUM said:
Man, all this talk about the big twist at the end of 999 using
the flipped DS has me worried that there could be something in ZTD that makes it a better narrative experience on the 3DS even though it's a better visual and audio experience on the vita. This wasn't the case for VLR, but there's no way to know until we play. :/
Click to expand...

I don't think that will be happening, as long as the game is coming out on both 3DS and Vita.
VLR didn't have something like it, so neither will ZTD. I'm 99% sure of that.
 
I played VLR first and really enjoyed it (I think there's one trophy I missed) but I've been trying to play 999 since last year when I got a 3DS.

I hate something about the way I have to replay the same rooms and skip through conversations to get other endings and how arbitrary getting some of the endings sounds from what I've read. It has become enough of a chore that I've been playing other things instead. Maybe this discussion will help motivate me to finish it.
 
Jeronimo Jones said:
I played VLR first and really enjoyed it (I think there's one trophy I missed) but I've been trying to play 999 since last year when I got a 3DS.

I hate something about the way I have to replay the same rooms and skip through conversations to get other endings and how arbitrary getting some of the endings sounds from what I've read. It has become enough of a chore that I've been playing other things instead. Maybe this discussion will help motivate me to finish it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I played 999 first and gave up, because I didn't think it was very good and I had no idea how beloved it was.

Played VLR next (without knowing it was in any way related - just because it was a PS+ freebie) and was blown away from minute 1. It was because of that that I found the community for the games online, and then forced myself through 999, only to find... that I still didn't really like it. Even in that second attempt I'd put it down for days at a time. It was a struggle.

I just think that's it's nowhere near as good a game. In particular, I think the internal dialogue is dull, overlong and poorly written, and that's something they almost completely solved in VLR. I wasn't a fan of the ending, either.
 
Just finished my replay of 999 last night and man it still holds up. It was a nice refresher since I hadn't played the game for a few years. Already knowing what was going to happen was helpful to pick up on the subtle foreshadowing some characters drop or references for
the first nonary game
that give more info if you already know what it means. I really love the final scene in the
incinerator when you learn Akane is Zero.

I still always get emotional when
Morphogenetic Sorrow
starts playing. Also Uchikoshi and his writing man, those
books in the Library, Teletemporation and Telepathy, and Mindswap right next to it.
You clever man you. I'm really excited to start back on VLR, so much so that I'm probably going to jump into it today.
 
So... As probably one of the few people here who hates 999 and loves VLR, I wasn't planning on playing the first game again, but I have a few super long flights in the next few days, and people in this thread are getting pretty... Excited? Happy? Amazed? about their (re)plays, so I'm actually gonna give the first game a fourth go. I mean, I played it through twice and loved it only to end up hating it by the end of the third, so maybe it was something external during the third play through that influenced my feelings.

Or, if I still hate it, at least I have the masterpiece of VLR to look forward to. Gonna post again after hitting the true ending.

Akane is still the worst either way.

Oh, and having played the iOS version, even if I don't like 999, I still think it's way better on the DS. I mean, the lack of ladder jokes is positively criminal.
 
I finished VLR a couple of days ago (first time). What an incredible game! I played 999 a couple of years after it came out and both games have fantastic stories. I do want to note that I felt 999 was scarier and the death scenes felt more disturbing than the ones in VLR. (I read more about this, and apparently VLR was intentionally toned down after some complaints by people who didn't buy 999)

I can't wait till the last game in the trilogy comes out!!
 
Started my replay of VLR a little early but man am I still loving this game. Especially the puzzles. With 999 I felt the puzzles were on the easier side but VLR ramps them up to 11. I also like the fact that all the final room puzzles have two solutions which makes getting all the gold files all the more satisfying. I really hope ZTD keeps the difficulty up in the room puzzles as that is one of the main things that make Zero Escape stand out amongst other visual novels.
 
Anybody want to try and figure out how to run an ambidex game on the forums?

We should team up with GAF Mafia. they did a Danganronpa game somehow. I wanna see an Ambidex game.
 
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