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[KirbYuuYuu]

Spent like 7 hours getting all the endings, so not being able to skip puzzles wasn't too bad.

But man, how timely. I just finished this last night, and enjoyed the fact that I notice things a little too early.

 

[Cody_D165]

I'm subbing to this thread for OP's reaction when he actually completes the game

it will be glorious

 

[HardRojo]

Lol I was reading the OP and thought to myself that OP had no clue what still awaits. This will be interesting.

 

[Korigama]

Really now? I was interested in the series for a long time, could never find the DS version when it was new, and now it's hard to find and my DS is borked. I bought both games on the same day because I heard good things about the story and loved my experience with the iOS version. I spoke about the differences with a friend of mine for over an hour today and aside from the major puzzle at the end, it seemed like the vast majority of the important stuff was intact. It's not perfect but it's far from skipworthy.

The DS version isn't hard to find at all at this point, actually.

I concede that my conclusion that someone who would get the iOS version instead simply doesn't care is untrue, as it's not something that would apply to everyone. Just the people who made it. I feel rather strongly about its poor quality, and believe that a port of the game that could potentially reach a larger audience deserved better.

 

[The Technomancer]

Hoo boy, get ready for a ride

 

[Mergesort]

Does the 3DS play DS games? I sold mine a long time ago and 999 was borrowed from a friend, might get my own game to replay it.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

lol


You're not ready

Does the 3DS play DS games? I sold mine a long time ago and 999 was borrowed from a friend, might get my own game to replay it.

yes

 

[roytheone]

I stopped playing this game for some reason after reaching the kitchen. Judging from these responses, it is probably worth it to pick it back up and finish it?

 

[Hylian7]

Ohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohoho


You ain't done OP, you have not finished the game until you have gotten all the endings. Just take my word for it on this one, I don't want to ruin it for you.

Just think about what you learned from the other endings, and apply that in what you do in future playthroughs.

I will say one thing though: It is technically possible to get the true ending on only two playthroughs, however it is unlikely to happen because the first few times playing are usually guesswork. The bottom line is there is one ending you need to get to be able to get the true ending. I'll let you take it from there.

Good luck.

 

[Hours Left]

I stopped playing this game for some reason after reaching the kitchen. Judging from these responses, it is probably worth it to pick it back up and finish it?

Unequivocally, yes.

There's a reason why 999 and VLR have the most LTTP threads in GAF history by a huge margin.

 

[Hylian7]

I stopped playing this game for some reason after reaching the kitchen. Judging from these responses, it is probably worth it to pick it back up and finish it?

There's a reason it's even higher than fucking Chrono Trigger or a Dispiccable Me game. You absolutely have to finish it. Like everyone has probably made clear, you are not done after one playthrough. Try to get to the True Ending.

Then pick up VLR afterward, you can play this on 3DS or Vita, either is fine.

There's a reason ZE3 is still #1 best seller on Amazon right now, and it's a fucking preorder for a game that releases in a year.

 

[Jachaos]

I stopped playing this game for some reason after reaching the kitchen. Judging from these responses, it is probably worth it to pick it back up and finish it?

Yeah. I felt 999 took some time to grab me but it was so worth it. I enjoyed it from the get go but I was waiting for it to pick up a bit and when it did it was so worth it. On the other hand, Virtue's Last Reward grabbed me from the get go, though that might be because of its storytelling combined to the flowchart and the fact I knew I was in for another ride since 999 didn't disappoint. Still, both take some time before you get deeply intrigued.

 

[Weltall Zero]

It's endearing to see people make LTTP threads for 999 before they get the true ending. Can't wait for the mandatory and inevitable mind explosion and exclamation marks.

DS 999 is exceedingly player-hostile. Super-slow text crawl, braindead puzzles, no jumping to branch points, etc.

That's hyperbole of the greatest order. Text is fine for first-time readings and you can speed it up to lightspeed for parts you've read. Puzzles are pretty great and well integrated with the story. Removing them is nothing short of a crime.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

I stopped playing this game for some reason after reaching the kitchen. Judging from these responses, it is probably worth it to pick it back up and finish it?

Umm, YES!

 

[Zakard]

I stopped playing this game for some reason after reaching the kitchen. Judging from these responses, it is probably worth it to pick it back up and finish it?

You need to go back!

 

[axisofweevils]

Can't wait for the reactions.
I really wish I could erase my memory and experience this amazing game again for the first time.

 

[Thud]

OP didn't notice the squares with icons after each ending?

You have to go back!

 

[galvenize]

Didn't read OP but I want to take the opportunity to say I'm also currenty in the middle of 999 (I've already played VLR unfortunately so I think I know the biggest twist of 999 already). Currently got ending 5 and 6 as well as one portion of ending 3.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

Didn't read OP but I want to take the opportunity to say I'm also currenty in the middle of 999 (I've already played VLR unfortunately so I think I know the biggest twist of 999 already). Currently got ending 5 and 6 as well as one portion of ending 3.

That's really unfortunate. : (

 

[Shiggy]

Oh man...you're not ready for the True Ending.

The best ending was where it didn't go all over the board with some crazy Japanese story. I think I got the knife ending first and well, it was all at least plausible to happen. But then with the other endings it went to some crazy anime/sci-fi crap; kinda regret replaying the game to get the other endings.

DS 999 is exceedingly player-hostile. Super-slow text crawl, braindead puzzles, no jumping to branch points, etc.

True. There are far better visual novels on 3DS. They just aren't as hyped up, probably because their stories don't become completely unrealistic.

 

[King_Moc]

I'm jealous of the op getting to experience that for the first time. Will come back for the reaction. I was stunned after playing through it.

Edit: to the guy saying the text is too slow, you realise that you can speed it up on subsequent playthroughs by holding right? I never had a problem with it.

 

[Immaculate]

well i just finished the safe ending that had the twist i saw coming from a mile away


now 4 out of the 6 tiles are complete. time to do the true ending now

 

[roytheone]

Unequivocally, yes.

There's a reason why 999 and VLR have the most LTTP threads in GAF history by a huge margin.

Umm, YES!

You need to go back!

Alright, alright, alright, I get it, I will get back to the game and try to complete it I actually got back into choice driven adventure games recently thanks to.....well, I am going to make a LTTP thread about that game soon, so look for that

There's a reason it's even higher than fucking Chrono Trigger or a Dispiccable Me game. You absolutely have to finish it. Like everyone has probably made clear, you are not done after one playthrough. Try to get to the True Ending.

Then pick up VLR afterward, you can play this on 3DS or Vita, either is fine.

I have the vita version thanks to playstation plus, but decided to not play that game until I completed 999.

 

[emag]

I'm jealous of the op getting to experience that for the first time. Will come back for the reaction. I was stunned after playing through it.

Edit: to the guy saying the text is too slow, you realise that you can speed it up on subsequent playthroughs by holding right? I never had a problem with it.

Yes. Text display is far too slow on the first time through, regardless of holding or mashing buttons (which is itself also player-hostile). Even fast forward mode (on subsequent playthroughs) is barely faster than what ought to be the default text speed. Thankfully the iOS port resolves this in multiple ways (hands-free skipping, faster text speeds, automatic text progression, and jumping to flowchart nodes). I hope the ZE3 team takes these QoL advancements into consideration (some were already incorporated into ZE2). It's not quite as infuriating as the text crawl in the Ace Attorney games, to be fair, but at least those don't require replaying segments.

 

[Jintor]

Seek a way out!

 

[BronsonLee]

well i just finished the safe ending that had the twist i saw coming from a mile away


now 4 out of the 6 tiles are complete. time to do the true ending now

I have a query. What do you think the true ending is, based on speculation and our reactions here so far? Spoiler tag it if you like.

 

[TheDanimal]

I recently beat this game as well, and the ending is simply mind blowing. Despite this, I still felt disappointed in 999 as a game, but that's probably my fault. I should've viewed it more as a story than a game, but oh well.
OP, once you get to a certain point, you will not be able to put your DS down, the ending is fantastic.

 

[Fear2die]

The best ending was where it didn't go all over the board with some crazy Japanese story. I think I got the knife ending first and well, it was all at least plausible to happen. But then with the other endings it went to some crazy anime/sci-fi crap; kinda regret replaying the game to get the other endings.




True. There are far better visual novels on 3DS. They just aren't as hyped up, probably because their stories don't become completely unrealistic.

can you give some examples of those better visual novels?

 

[Immaculate]

I have a query. What do you think the true ending is, based on speculation and our reactions here so far? Spoiler tag it if you like.

i honestly dont know lol. you guys make it sound like its really mindblowing and anything i think of seems trivia or predictable

i feel like

Spoiler

telepathy plays a huge role in the true ending at least

 

[Thud]

I recently beat this game as well, and the ending is simply mind blowing. Despite this, I still felt disappointed in 999 as a game, but that's probably my fault. I should've viewed it more as a story than a game, but oh well.
OP, once you get to a certain point, you will not be able to put your DS down, the ending is fantastic.

That's the nature of the beast, but I assure you any other medium would not work that well.

 

[Jintor]

can you give some examples of those better visual novels?

They're all made by shu takumi.

(I like ghost trick a little more than 999. But only just.)

 

[Unbound By Death]

That true ending. I am not even prepared to remember it.

 

[JoeyJungle]

can you give some examples of those better visual novels?

Yeah I don't know what they're talking about, 3DS hardly has 5 visual novels released in english. There's the Phoenix Wright games and...? Unless counting DS too, in which case there's more Phoenix Wright games and... Ghost Trick? Hotel Dusk?

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

True. There are far better visual novels on 3DS. They just aren't as hyped up, probably because their stories don't become completely unrealistic.

There are no other visual novels better than 999 on the 3DS. Hell there's nothing better than it on anything.

 

[Lusankya]

Yeah I don't know what they're talking about, 3DS hardly has 5 visual novels released in english. There's the Phoenix Wright games and...? Unless counting DS too, in which case there's more Phoenix Wright games and... Ghost Trick?

There are also Hotel Dusk 1 and 2, which are really good.

Anyways, I find it weird to not like a story, just because it's unrealistic. That's like dismissing all sci-fi or fantasy stories ever.

 

[Unbound By Death]

There are no other visual novels better than 999 on the 3DS. Hell there's nothing better than it on anything.

True

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

True

**high five**

 

[SephLuis]

Yes, i want it for VLR and Zero Escape 3. I remember how pissed i was when i got to my first bad ending

Get your Vita, play VLR, then go play Danganronpa.

 

[Xeteh]

To anyone thinking of playing 999 make sure you're all in to get the true ending. If you're just gonna play through it once it isn't worth it. The true ending is what makes that game so great.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

To anyone thinking of playing 999 make sure you're all in to get the true ending. If you're just gonna play through it once it isn't worth it. The true ending is what makes that game so great.

I don't understand how anyone could stop after a bad ending, I mean it's a game over, not an ending.

 

[Hylian7]

There is one more thing I should mention for the OP and anyone else playing these games.

Shortly after each game released, Kotaro Uchikoshi picked a bunch of fan submitted questions about the games, and answered. Aksys translated these answers to English, in fact I vividly remember Akzelziys (Works for Aksys, GAF member) teasing them before they were published.

These questions range on a broad variety of topics from questions about what was implied, clarifications on what the game was implying, and more details we didn't know about the games.

These answers actually are canon though (but obviously not the cut stuff) and I highly recommend reading them for each game after you finish them.

They are filled with spoilers, but the 999 ones do not spoil VLR at all, so read the 999 ones after you get the true ending, and read the VLR ones after you finish VLR.

999 (click "Answers" at the bottom):http://www.aksysgames.com/999/

VLR (SPOILERS, DO NOT CLICK IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED BOTH 999 AND VLR):http://virtueslastreward.com/qahome/

 

[Xeteh]

I don't understand how anyone could stop after a bad ending, I mean it's a game over, not an ending.

The replaying can be frustrating for some. I actually got the

Spoiler

Safe

ending my first time and when I had to do all the stuff over again I stopped playing it for about a year before I came back to it. It really doesn't take long to go through all that stuff again but when you want to know what else is coming up it can be annoying.

 

[Mergesort]

Get your Vita, play VLR, then go play Danganronpa.

The first game i get for Vita will be Resistance Burning Skies. I just love this series to death.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Didn't read OP but I want to take the opportunity to say I'm also currenty in the middle of 999 (I've already played VLR unfortunately so I think I know the biggest twist of 999 already). Currently got ending 5 and 6 as well as one portion of ending 3.

That's really unfortunate. : (

All is not lost. I'll bet galvenize doesn't know about the nature of the true ending. I played VLR first. I would not recommend doing this, but it didn't blunt the impact of either game as much as people might think. Though admittedly my own fuzziness over the ending of VLR helped to preserve many of the twists in 999. If I had went out my way to figure out the end of VLR (e.g., using the official FAQ or reading spoiler threads), it would have certainly blunted 999's impact. Fortunately, I was foggy enough that not only was I still shocked by everything in 999, but it made me understand and appreciate the true nature of a few characters in VLR.

After I finished 999, I looked up everything and my mind was blown. Of course, it would have been better doing it the other way around (especially considering how much of a chore the gameplay can be sometimes in 999 compared to VLR), but I was still able to fully enjoy both games playing them out of sequence.

There is one advantage to playing VLR first. You're not disappointed by it lacking the great 2D art of 999.

 

[ramoisdead]

Get all the endings. Don't move on to VLR until you get all the endings for 999. Trust me.

 

[SephLuis]

The first game i get for Vita will be Resistance Burning Skies. I just love this series to death.

So did I ='(

Burning Skies is just regular though, but for a Resistance fan you can get it cheap now.

Just remember to try danganronpa eventually.

 

[Immaculate]

yoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

i just got the true ending. after playing through this 4 times and picking up on dialog one of my guesses that i thought was extremely faaarrrr fetched

Spoiler

with akane being zero

because

1) the way i was thinking of

Spoiler

akane being zero wouldnt make any sense like at all

2) it felt too predictable

like i expected it kinda and was like, "nah thats too easy figure out plus it would be kinda cliche" because i imagined

Spoiler

Akane suddenly just going crazy and revealing shit while trying to kill everyone

but i wasnt thinking of some

Spoiler

time travel shit

to start happening when i realized that i was just like

Spoiler

having to play sudoku made it a little less impacting though lol

 

[pirateluigi]

I still remember the reaction I had when

Spoiler

you flip the DS.

My favorite twist ever.

 

[Galactic Fork]

I don't get why people want to skip the puzzles. It's part of the story. You're supposed to get better and faster at the puzzles each time.

Spoiler

The whole thing about morphogenetic fields and rats doing better at mazes even though it was their first time. Each playthough isn't a new playthrough, it's a continuation in an alternate reality using the morphogenetic field to make better choices. (Which makes the best ending all the more interesting).

. By skipping the puzzles, you lose out on that.

 

[Amory]

The true ending is cryptically difficult to get without a guide.

Only complaint I have about 999