Someone needs to get round up all the OHMYGODWHAT reactions from people's various LTTP threads and post them in a collective "why you should play 999 if you haven't"
I love reactions to this ending, now move on to VLR! Be careful with the 3DS save glitch though, heard Vita version doesn't have the issue, bit it's good to study up on the bug for 3ds version so you can prevent it
I really want to go theough these again sometime before ZE3
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.
Will I like it if I wasn't able to finish Ever17? I thought both the characters and the pacing were rather weak in that one. Played it for what felt like an eternity, but I never quite reached the point where it started to feel actually interesting.
Will I like it if I wasn't able to finish Ever17? I thought both the characters and the pacing were rather weak in that one. Played it for what felt like an eternity, but I never quite reached the point where it started to feel actually interesting.
I started playing Ever17 and it didn't feel compelling to me at all either, although I wasn't more than an hour or two in, so I'm interested in this as well. Is Remember11 the better of the two, and does it get interesting earlier?
Will I like it if I wasn't able to finish Ever17? I thought both the characters and the pacing were rather weak in that one. Played it for what felt like an eternity, but I never quite reached the point where it started to feel actually interesting.
yes you will love it, its entirely different pacing wise, it hasnt the large amount of slice of life moments like ever17 and never7.
It's more like the Zero Escape games pacing wise, but with more character development like usual in the infinity series and the twists are imo as mindblowing as in the final path of ever17!
I started playing Ever17 and it didn't feel compelling to me at all either, although I wasn't more than an hour or two in, so I'm interested in this as well. Is Remember11 the better of the two, and does it get interesting earlier?
R11 was interesting from the start for me, E17 had many boring and repetitive moments for me, but an amazing ending. The biggest advantage that R11 has over all the other games for me is that it nails the atmosphere and tension, and there isnt a moment that drags.
The Soundtrack ist outstanding with many atmospheric tracks!
I got the true ending and I still didn't think that highly of it when I played it two years ago. The story was fun enough with lots of wacky hijinks, but towards the (true) ending, it was beginning to strain under the weight of all its psychobabble. I actually laughed at the true ending's
sudoku
gimmick, though I suppose it's appropriate given the title.
My main problem with it was the ridiculously overblown purple prose. The script trips over itself in its eagerness to describe every scene in gory detail. It wasn't long into the game before I started noticing how much it was repeating certain imagery and even certain phrases, like the "groan of metal on metal", and so on. There was a similar overreliance on metaphors and similes that made me roll my eyes towards the closing chapters. It came off as amateurish, though I'm not envious of whoever had to translate the original text to English.
I'd still say I had a good time with it, and I'd still like to play VLR some day.
Thank you - I felt like I was the only one who thought 999 was entertaining, but mindblowingly bad in the actual quality of the writing.
I was curious about visual novels as a medium (I'm an English teacher) so picked up 999 on a lark, and the story and general plot is fun and entertaining in a summer-beach-read kind of way, but man is the writing amateurish and clumsy. I got to the part where they describe intestines "like fresh spaghetti" and specks of flesh "like tiny slugs" and I actually made a :/ face while playing. I don't know if the writing is this style in the original and it's just a writing style thing or if the localization team adapted the text differently, but ... well, I spend a lot of time grading 9th and 10th grade level writing, and the writing in 999 reminded me a ton of what I would get from a basic writing prompt of "write a narrative and use descriptive language." Similes all up in here and hamfisted in its direct exposition, filtered through the lens of some Kingdom Hearts II-level insanity, of course.
I think visual novels as a medium could be really cool, but as a novel 999 felt amazingly disappointing to me. It reminded me of the clunkiness of something like 50 Shades of Gray, which is not really something to aspire to.
Admittedly yeah, the actual writing is pretty bad. I think I remember reading an Aksys localization member saying the translation process was really difficult, and that basically the way it was programmed forced them to fill every space where a character had been in the original Japanese text so it lent itself to a lot of filler words, but it's been a while so don't quote me on that. I know there's also a lot that doesn't translate to English as well as it could or, well, at all - the whole
9 is Q
twist for example - so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I do really like the characters and general story, so I'm hoping when I play VLR it'll improve in the actual writing department.
I think visual novels as a medium could be really cool, but as a novel 999 felt amazingly disappointing to me. It reminded me of the clunkiness of something like 50 Shades of Gray, which is not really something to aspire to.
I'm replaying 999 now and I agree. The writing is terrible, technically. I don't expect much out of videogame prose so I'm still enjoying myself, but it sure would be nice if more games could be like Planescape: Torment.
for me it's that you were seeing the game from multiple perspectives the entire time. the omnipotent narrator on the bottom screen was always kid-akane, and the way the information was conveyed to you was by having the player turn the screen upside-down. it is so elegant and beautiful. designers can learn from this.
more than that, it also colors everything before it in a completely different light. all of those video game endings aren't really video game endings, they're actually part of a larger narrative of this girl looking for the one way out. that one twist simultaneously subverts the idea of multiple endings and how hardware can tell a video game story at the same time. masterful.
I'm replaying 999 now and I agree. The writing is terrible, technically. I don't expect much out of videogame prose so I'm still enjoying myself, but it sure would be nice if more games could be like Planescape: Torment.
Admittedly yeah, the actual writing is pretty bad. I think I remember reading an Aksys localization member saying the translation process was really difficult, and that basically the way it was programmed forced them to fill every space where a character had been in the original Japanese text so it lent itself to a lot of filler words, but it's been a while so don't quote me on that. I know there's also a lot that doesn't translate to English as well as it could or, well, at all - the whole
9 is Q
twist for example - so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I do really like the characters and general story, so I'm hoping when I play VLR it'll improve in the actual writing department.
Thank you - I felt like I was the only one who thought 999 was entertaining, but mindblowingly bad in the actual quality of the writing.
I was curious about visual novels as a medium (I'm an English teacher) so picked up 999 on a lark, and the story and general plot is fun and entertaining in a summer-beach-read kind of way, but man is the writing amateurish and clumsy. I got to the part where they describe intestines "like fresh spaghetti" and specks of flesh "like tiny slugs" and I actually made a :/ face while playing. I don't know if the writing is this style in the original and it's just a writing style thing or if the localization team adapted the text differently, but ... well, I spend a lot of time grading 9th and 10th grade level writing, and the writing in 999 reminded me a ton of what I would get from a basic writing prompt of "write a narrative and use descriptive language." Similes all up in here and hamfisted in its direct exposition, filtered through the lens of some Kingdom Hearts II-level insanity, of course.
I think visual novels as a medium could be really cool, but as a novel 999 felt amazingly disappointing to me. It reminded me of the clunkiness of something like 50 Shades of Gray, which is not really something to aspire to.
Finally, some people who agree! I see people go on and on about how great 999 is, but I don't think I've ever see anybody mention how bad its writing is. I enjoy getting my mind blown as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy reading good prose in a visual novel.
yes you will love it, its entirely different pacing wise, it hasnt the large amount of slice of life moments like ever17 and never7.
It's more like the Zero Escape games pacing wise, but with more character development like usual in the infinity series and the twists are imo as mindblowing as in the final path of ever17!
give it a chance you wont regret it
R11 was interesting from the start for me, E17 had many boring and repetitive moments for me, but an amazing ending. The biggest advantage that R11 has over all the other games for me is that it nails the atmosphere and tension, and there isnt a moment that drags.
The Soundtrack ist outstanding with many atmospheric tracks!
Listen to this advice. Remember11 is amazing. The best PC VN I have ever played. Tension and atmosphere are perfected (and repeatedly so), but the ending is somewhat inconclusive and it doesn't have the OH MYFUCKINGGODWHATTHEEVERLIVINGFUCK ending most other Uchi works have.
Remember that it isn't the destination but the voyage, and the game is amazing. (Pun intended).
After being quite skeptical, on a whim I played the Danganronpa series a few months ago.
Needless to say, those games were amazing and converted me into an ardent fan.
Unfortunately, history repeated itself with a little game titled: 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.
I was not deaf. I heard the absolute praise and adulation the game was receiving on GAF, however for some strange reason I never once thought to play the game (even after LOVING Danganronpa). I think it was due to the fact that the escape sequences turned me off.
After constantly seeing this thread bumped to the first page of GAF, I finally cracked.
I picked up a copy last night at around 6PM, popped it in the DS, and proceeded to play it ALL NIGHT LONG.
The atmosphere and the tension gripped hold of me for the duration of the game. It was one of those times where I could not stop playing because I had to see what would happen next.
I finally beat the game and received the Sub ending at around 4AM.
Obviously I knew I couldn't stop there. I HAD to see the other endings! However, while I adored the game, I had no desire to play through the entire thing 5 more times.
So I YouTubed the endings in this order: Axe--Knife--Safe--True
The three bad endings are nice what-if scenarios, however once I watched the safe ending things really started heating up.
I thought to myself:
What the fuck Ace? and WOW how is Snake surviving all these bullet wounds? and what in the world happened to June at the end?
I excitedly made my way to the last true ending, prepared to find out what the hell was going on in the Gigantic.
My mind was blown.
AKANE IS ZERO?!?!?! WHATTTTTT. It was such an emotional moment helping Akane of 9 years ago solve the puzzle. Wow talk about pressure, the whole point of the Nonary game set 9 years in the future was for that one moment. To save poor little Akane .
and that TWIST
I NEVER SAW THAT COMING. I know it may have been obvious when they started discussing Building Q, however that completely caught me off guard. I audibly said holy shit when that happened.
After the conclusion of the true ending, I immediately took to the internet to look up some interpretation and explanation to the ending. My mind was turning over and over again thinking about what had happened.
People pointed out a lot of interesting details, such as the fact that the reason for Akane's fever is to signal that we are following a path that does not lead to the true end (and thus not aiding her with the puzzle that saves her life). The writing and attention to detail in the game is incredible.
I also looked at some of the Q and A after watching the true ending. That helped to clear up a lot of things so I recommend everyone take a look at it.
So to conclude this fucking rant, I was wrong about 999.
Everybody who is on the fence, do yourself a favor and PLAY THIS GAME.
I am going to start Virtues Last Reward soon (thank you based PS+). I can't wait to see what that game has in store for me.
Needless to say, I didn't go to bed until 8AM this morning. I'm very tired right now lol.
What is the proper order for the "Remember" and "never" and "ever" games? And how can I get them legally? I thought I had read somewhere that they aren't available digitally, that they were just released physically and hard to get?
edit - okay i found the order on wikipedia. is this correct?
It says these were leased on PSP and iOS but I'm guessing just in Japan cause I don't see them on US stores. So how can I legally buy these and play them in english?
After being quite skeptical, on a whim I played the Danganronpa series a few months ago.
Needless to say, those games were amazing and converted me into an ardent fan.
Unfortunately, history repeated itself with a little game titled: 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.
I was not deaf. I heard the absolute praise and adulation the game was receiving on GAF, however for some strange reason I never once thought to play the game (even after LOVING Danganronpa). I think it was due to the fact that the escape sequences turned me off.
After constantly seeing this thread bumped to the first page of GAF, I finally cracked.
I picked up a copy last night at around 6PM, popped it in the DS, and proceeded to play it ALL NIGHT LONG.
The atmosphere and the tension gripped hold of me for the duration of the game. It was one of those times where I could not stop playing because I had to see what would happen next.
I finally beat the game and received the Sub ending at around 4AM.
Obviously I knew I couldn't stop there. I HAD to see the other endings! However, while I adored the game, I had no desire to play through the entire thing 5 more times.
So I YouTubed the endings in this order: Axe--Knife--Safe--True
The three bad endings are nice what-if scenarios, however once I watched the safe ending things really started heating up.
I thought to myself:
I excitedly made my way to the last true ending, prepared to find out what the hell was going on in the Gigantic.
My mind was blown.
and that TWIST
After the conclusion of the true ending, I immediately took to the internet to look up some interpretation and explanation to the ending. My mind was turning over and over again thinking about what had happened.
I also looked at some of the Q and A after watching the true ending. That helped to clear up a lot of things so I recommend everyone take a look at it.
So to conclude this fucking rant, I was wrong about 999.
Everybody who is on the fence, do yourself a favor and PLAY THIS GAME.
I am going to start Virtues Last Reward soon (thank you based PS+). I can't wait to see what that game has in store for me.
What is the proper order for the "Remember" and "never" and "ever" games? And how can I get them legally? I thought I had read somewhere that they aren't available digitally, that they were just released physically and hard to get?
Never7 -> Ever17 -> Remember11 is the release order for the Infinity games (which is the name of the series) IIRC, but there isn't much that will be ruined for you if you start at whichever. I personally went E17 > R11 > N7 but would recommend chronological release order anyway.
For legal purchase, I think "maginodrive" or something was selling digital copies but I am not sure. The copies you buy from there will be in Japanese. Ever17 had an official localization and no fan patch, it's physical only and goes for around $200. Used. Remember11 and Never7 had fan patches. Never7's translator team Lemnisca Translations recently made an agreement with Sekai Project, a localization company, regarding the translation of Root Double, a VN that Lemnisca was planning to translate. Due to that agreement, Lemnisca took down all of their fan patches from their website. Never7's patch was included in those taken down, so I think it's possible there might be legal issues with obtaining that patch right now (since you're concerned with legality). You'll need to find a mirror for its patch. Remember11, if memory serves, was translated by a different group -TLWiki- and thus their patch should be still up.
Getting those legally is a challenge.
Edit: 12Riven was supposed to be the first in a wholly new trilogy called Integral, but the series didn't take off (So ZE3 wasn't the first time Uchikoshi's plans got canned). I am not entirely sure myself why it's lumped together with the Infinity games. The aforementioned Lemnisca was going to translate this and actually only editing and quality checking was left before release of the patch. Currently, its future is unknown because of Lemnisca's agreement with Sekai Project. I hope the translation does not go to waste.
Code18 is generally regarded to be by far the worst in the series and seemingly takes place in a different universe. Again, I don't really know why it is lumped together with the others. No one was even planning to translate this to my knowledge.
After being quite skeptical, on a whim I played the Danganronpa series a few months ago.
Needless to say, those games were amazing and converted me into an ardent fan.
Unfortunately, history repeated itself with a little game titled: 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.
I was not deaf. I heard the absolute praise and adulation the game was receiving on GAF, however for some strange reason I never once thought to play the game (even after LOVING Danganronpa). I think it was due to the fact that the escape sequences turned me off.
After constantly seeing this thread bumped to the first page of GAF, I finally cracked.
I picked up a copy last night at around 6PM, popped it in the DS, and proceeded to play it ALL NIGHT LONG.
The atmosphere and the tension gripped hold of me for the duration of the game. It was one of those times where I could not stop playing because I had to see what would happen next.
I finally beat the game and received the Sub ending at around 4AM.
Obviously I knew I couldn't stop there. I HAD to see the other endings! However, while I adored the game, I had no desire to play through the entire thing 5 more times.
So I YouTubed the endings in this order: Axe--Knife--Safe--True
The three bad endings are nice what-if scenarios, however once I watched the safe ending things really started heating up.
I thought to myself:
What the fuck Ace? and WOW how is Snake surviving all these bullet wounds? and what in the world happened to June at the end?
I excitedly made my way to the last true ending, prepared to find out what the hell was going on in the Gigantic.
My mind was blown.
AKANE IS ZERO?!?!?! WHATTTTTT. It was such an emotional moment helping Akane of 9 years ago solve the puzzle. Wow talk about pressure, the whole point of the Nonary game set 9 years in the future was for that one moment. To save poor little Akane .
and that TWIST
I NEVER SAW THAT COMING. I know it may have been obvious when they started discussing Building Q, however that completely caught me off guard. I audibly said holy shit when that happened.
After the conclusion of the true ending, I immediately took to the internet to look up some interpretation and explanation to the ending. My mind was turning over and over again thinking about what had happened.
People pointed out a lot of interesting details, such as the fact that the reason for Akane's fever is to signal that we are following a path that does not lead to the true end (and thus not aiding her with the puzzle that saves her life). The writing and attention to detail in the game is incredible.
I also looked at some of the Q and A after watching the true ending. That helped to clear up a lot of things so I recommend everyone take a look at it.
So to conclude this fucking rant, I was wrong about 999.
Everybody who is on the fence, do yourself a favor and PLAY THIS GAME.
I am going to start Virtues Last Reward soon (thank you based PS+). I can't wait to see what that game has in store for me.
Needless to say, I didn't go to bed until 8AM this morning. I'm very tired right now lol.
akane was zero thing coming a mile away so it didnt have the same affect on me because i had got the 4 other endings prior and they dropped some obvious hints in them like zeros watch number was 6 rather 0 etc
it was all the other stuff like
akane was the one narrating the story and you were actually in nevada that blew me away among other stuff
but yeah i couldnt stop playing during the true ending either. i played it like 4 hours straight lol
What is the proper order for the "Remember" and "never" and "ever" games? And how can I get them legally? I thought I had read somewhere that they aren't available digitally, that they were just released physically and hard to get?
edit - okay i found the order on wikipedia. is this correct?
It says these were leased on PSP and iOS but I'm guessing just in Japan cause I don't see them on US stores. So how can I legally buy these and play them in english?
Murder mystery was not the story 999 was trying to tell. It was more akin to horror and science was (IMO) in from the very beginning, from learning about the Digital Root to solving Zero's Lab puzzles, it was great. Also I loved every single plot twist. The whole esper aspect might have soured you on the mystery, though IMO there was more to it than that I can understand why you might have soured on the game.
Finally, some people who agree! I see people go on and on about how great 999 is, but I don't think I've ever see anybody mention how bad its writing is. I enjoy getting my mind blown as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy reading good prose in a visual novel.
I immediately thought of this after posting. I think it's ultimately a poor excuse for blatantly horrible writing, but I'll accept it as my personal canon... at least until I play VLR.
It's a terrible excuse. And there's no way the developers were really going for that effect.
Having just replayed 999, I prefer the structure of VLR. Replays are far less of a hassle. I also like how it's a lot easier to get to the true ending without a guide.
