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Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward 3DS save corrupting bug info thread

I feel like the big problem is that there's no way they didn't know there was a problem beforehand and, rather than let people make an informed decision, they pimped the game until the bug became known and then disappeared.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
I feel like the big problem is that there's no way they didn't know there was a problem beforehand and, rather than let people make an informed decision, they pimped the game until the bug became known and then disappeared.

This is also, sadly, a real possibility. I'd like to give Aksys the benefit of the doubt all things considered, they seem like really nice folks. But to be honest what I'm more concerned with is the potential tarnishing of the brand. While I don't expect the series to go beyond a third game I wouldn't want the third game to bomb because a problem in the second was never addressed. :(
 
Got through the PEC room successfully... does that mean that I should be safe as long as I don't save in Puzzle rooms from now on?
 

Paranerd

Neo Member
Aksys never made a response? I haven't looked into this story lately, since I finished the game some time ago. Kinda sleazy if they never even issued a press release about it.
 

wrowa

Member
If they don't know the solution, they could at the very least just cut the ability to save during puzzle rooms. That wouldn't be much of a solution to the problem, of course, but at the very least it would prevent people from running into the bugs accidentally.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
Is this still rampant? I've been thinking about using some Amazon credit to pick up 999, but if this isn't fixed I'd probably just get VLR on the Vita and be done with it.
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
My game has crashed twice in the PEC room. If it happens again I might just call it quits or try the room again later (if that would change anything).
 

Izayoi

Banned
Is this still rampant? I've been thinking about using some Amazon credit to pick up 999, but if this isn't fixed I'd probably just get VLR on the Vita and be done with it.
999 is completely fine, and I would strongly recommend playing it. If you are getting VLR, however, definitely get it for Vita.
 
My sister just hit the bug, has to restart the game. She's absolutely furious, and is now blaming me for not knowing about the bug and warning her beforehand. (I had no idea there was a bug this devastating. She insisted on playing it before me, no skin off my nose. XP)

Really upsetting, it's shocking Aksys isn't doing anything. My sister might not even return to the game, and if she doesn't she's probably not going to purchase any future entries in the Zero Escape franchise. Really disappointed in Aksys/RSG.
 

corn_fest

Member
I suppose I was pretty lucky in that I was able to get through the whole game without ever crashing. I never saved in puzzle rooms, even during novel sections, though... the worst thing I experienced was occasional slowdown in puzzle rooms.
 
I suppose I was pretty lucky in that I was able to get through the whole game without ever crashing. I never saved in puzzle rooms, even during novel sections, though... the worst thing I experienced was occasional slowdown in puzzle rooms.




Same for me. Only had one crash after one ending and that's it. But I was carefull to save outside puzzle rooms even in Novel parts.
 
Isn't there an aksys rep/dev on gaf or something?

Surprised s/he hasn't chimed in



No answer from both Aksys or RSG. This is kinda lame and unprofessionnal. I'd rather have an honest answer like: " We can't do anything because that would be expensive or Chunsoft has to make it" than disappearing.
 

Jockel

Member
In fact, they do reply.
In the meantime, our suggested workaround is to avoid saving in puzzle rooms. The PEC (pressure exchange) room particular should never be saved in to avoid affecting a save file. A great deal of the game takes place outside of the puzzle stages and gives clear signs when you'll be entering a puzzle room beforehand, so we advise saving at these moment.

We're very appreciative of your caution and we apologise for the inconvenience caused by the bug. We hope you will still enjoy the game as much as we did.
That's a real shame and we are really sorry to hear you've been affected by the bug. Unfortunately we've no news on whether we can expect a patch. Without the assets and skills to develop a fix ourselves it's entirely down to the developer and they've still not confirmed their intentions for the future.
I'll ask our development coordinator, Sarah, in the office tomorrow if there is anything we can do to help you and if the data will ever be recovered, although I imagine it will be unlikely.
We're equally annoyed this game has had to suffer this issue.
 

Jockel

Member
Who said that and where?
Those were individual quotes from RSG staff members on Facebook.
First being from their official page, second being from my own correspondence with them.

Yes, as far as I know they didn't put out a PR message stating "yeah our game is broken and we probably won't fix it.", but that would be a complete suicide for sales.
Not trying to defend it, but it makes sense from a business perspective. My guess is that they try to get Chunsoft to fix this problem, and then hit us with the PR. Anything else wouldn't make much sense for them now, would it?

And let's not forget that this wasn't a screw up on either aksys or RSGs part. Chunsoft dun goofed.
 
It is baffling why Chunsoft wouldn't just fix it or even why they let it go out the door that way in the first place. In a lot of ways, the 3DS version seems like an outsourced port.

The 3DS may be weaker than the Vita, but there's nothing about the technology that makes multiple colors on the notes screen or skipping credits impossible. Did they simply assume the Vita version would sell ten times as much so they put more effort in to it?
 

Omikaru

Member
I have the Vita version so I can't say whether they've done this or not, but couldn't RSG/Aksys/Nintendo send a SpotPass notification warning people not to save in the PEC room? That would be a saving grace.

Failing that, all new copies of the game should have a printed notice inside warning people to not save in the PEC room. Sure, it's no patch, but short of fixing it, getting word out to warn people about this should be their priority.
 

Jockel

Member
It is baffling why Chunsoft wouldn't just fix it or even why they let it go out the door that way in the first place. In a lot of ways, the 3DS version seems like an outsourced port.
At this point, it's just guesswork. And useless guesswork at that. There might be a huge slip up in QA, I can imagine play testers just breeze through the puzzles after having spent so much time with the game... but what does it matter in the end?
We got the situation now and all we should complain about is how Chunsoft doesn't seem to be interested in fixing the problem.
 

2San

Member
Damn just bought 999 and Last Virtue, because I heard a lot of good stuff about 999. I saw 999 in a webshop which was never released here and just bought it, because I was afraid I would never get another shot. The chances of another sequel getting an Euro release seems slim as well. Meh shouldn't have bothered. :|
 

Tmdean

Banned
Those were individual quotes from RSG staff members on Facebook.
First being from their official page, second being from my own correspondence with them.

Yes, as far as I know they didn't put out a PR message stating "yeah our game is broken and we probably won't fix it.", but that would be a complete suicide for sales.
Not trying to defend it, but it makes sense from a business perspective. My guess is that they try to get Chunsoft to fix this problem, and then hit us with the PR. Anything else wouldn't make much sense for them now, would it?

And let's not forget that this wasn't a screw up on either aksys or RSGs part. Chunsoft dun goofed.

I feel like Aksys is in a really tough position. From what I've heard the margins for localization of these niche titles are razor thin, and code changes are extremely expensive, especially to issue a patch for a game that's already been printed. Don't forget that they would have to QA the entire game for any fix to make sure the fix doesn't introduce any new bugs, and issuing a patch probably isn't free. Double Fine revealed last year that it costs about $40K to certify a patch on Xbox.

If they can't afford to fix it, I think issuing a press release saying "We know there's a problem and we're not going to fix it" would do more harm than good from Aksys's point of view.
 

dallow_bg

nods at old men
I feel like Aksys is in a really tough position. From what I've heard the margins for localization of these niche titles are razor thin, and code changes are extremely expensive, especially to issue a patch for a game that's already been printed. Don't forget that they would have to QA the entire game for any fix to make sure the fix doesn't introduce any new bugs, and issuing a patch probably isn't free. Double Fine revealed last year that it costs about $40K to certify a patch on Xbox.

If they can't afford to fix it, I think issuing a press release saying "We know there's a problem and we're not going to fix it" would do more harm than good from Aksys's point of view.

First patch is free for Sony and MS.
On Wii U eShop, patches are free always.
Not sure about 3DS because... aside from Mario Kart and it's odd patching system, not sure how it would work for retails games. (free for digital)

Aksys just knowingly shipped a broken game without any warning.
 

zashga

Member
If they can't afford to fix it, I think issuing a press release saying "We know there's a problem and we're not going to fix it" would do more harm than good from Aksys's point of view.

I don't see it that way. Even taking an extremely dim view, looking like an idiot is better than looking like a cheat. If there is a third Zero Escape title, I certainly won't buy it.
 

Neiteio

Member
I absolutely loved 999 and want to play VLR on my 3DS, but Aksys needs to fix it first. I couldn't enjoy playing VLR thinking my game might crash and my data be erased if I do something wrong.
 

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
Found this on RisingStarGames' Facebook Page

vlrbug.jpg
 
I feel like Aksys is in a really tough position. From what I've heard the margins for localization of these niche titles are razor thin, and code changes are extremely expensive, especially to issue a patch for a game that's already been printed. Don't forget that they would have to QA the entire game for any fix to make sure the fix doesn't introduce any new bugs, and issuing a patch probably isn't free. Double Fine revealed last year that it costs about $40K to certify a patch on Xbox.

If they can't afford to fix it, I think issuing a press release saying "We know there's a problem and we're not going to fix it" would do more harm than good from Aksys's point of view.

Aksys has me in a bind, because I know and they know I have to go through them to get Zero Escape 3 in english.

But this whole thing has basically ensured that's the only series they get my money for.
 

73V3N

Banned
Aksys has me in a bind, because I know and they know I have to go through them to get Zero Escape 3 in english.

But this whole thing has basically ensured that's the only series they get my money for.


But it's not their fault .. :/

It's now up to the developers to fix it, and since the japanese version has been out for a long time, i don't think they will bother.

This is kinda similar to what happened with Project Zero 4, but this time the publisher didn't refuse to ship it like Nintendo did.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Thinking of double-dipping for the Vita version... but then again I do it that means I'll be rewarding their general treatment of this whole issue. Meh....

But it's not their fault .. :/

It's now up to the developers to fix it, and since the japanese version has been out for a long time, i don't think they will bother.

It's not their fault if the money people use to buy the 3DS version is not going to their pockets. Is this the case?
 

73V3N

Banned
Thinking of double-dipping for the Vita version... but then again I do it that means I'll be rewarding their general treatment of this whole issue. Meh....



It's not their fault if the money people use to buy the 3DS version is not going to their pockets. Is this the case?

Looks like you need to read my post again.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Looks like you need to read my post again.

Oh no I get it.

"They can't do anything about it" doesn't change the fact that they decide to publish and sell something with a gamebreaking bug in it, and directly earn profits from the people they are selling that something with a gamebreaking bug too. And not saying anything about it before people buying it. And not saying anything after people buying it.

Ah... whatever. They probably knew that they got people by the balls with this series so they can get away with it... ah well.
 
But it's not their fault .. :/

It's now up to the developers to fix it, and since the japanese version has been out for a long time, i don't think they will bother.

This is kinda similar to what happened with Project Zero 4, but this time the publisher didn't refuse to ship it like Nintendo did.

But they didn't give warning about it.

If they had said "Hey, the 3DS version has bugs and also for some reason you can't skip credits," I still would have gotten the game, just on a different system.

I'm not saying they created the bug or they themselves should fix it, but their concern was definitely not with the consumer. Why should I, as a consumer, support that further?
 

markot

Banned
Well... that sucks. What the held kind of QA do these guys do? Nintendo should strip them of their seal of quality.

I really wanted this game too, but screw it if I have to tip toe around a bug they are too lazy to fix. HEAR THAT? MY MONEY ISNT GOING TO YOU LAZY DEVS@!

Plus it was on the Japanese version too? For shame developer of this game. FOR SHAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMME!

I loved the demo too.
 

ghibli99

Member
Had this happen to me last night. :( Searched just now, and here I am. Damn. Thankfully my save didn't get corrupted, and I only lost about an hour of progress.

"Save everywhere" is a pretty standard QA practice. How this didn't get fixed is beyond me. I love the 3DS version due to the interface, but I'm halfway thinking of ditching it for the Vita one... and I don't even have a Vita.

However, I'll likely just brute force my way through the rest of the game since I'm 15 hours in and I really don't want to do all of this again. I'm not even halfway through all the endings, but I have to say that I actually enjoyed the characters and setting of 999 better.
 

flowsnake

Member
Thanks for making this thread and for everyone posting helpful information. I beat the game last night and never had any crashes or save corruption.

  • I only ever saved in warehouses or corridors (except once near the end, and that was in novel mode)
  • I absolutely didn't save during any escapes
  • When I couldn't save because I was in an escape or something, I just put the 3ds in sleep mode
 

Coen

Member
I've been trying to get past the PEC room for three hours straight. Game crashed on me four times now. Ridiculous stuff.
 

also

Banned
I've been trying to get past the PEC room for three hours straight. Game crashed on me four times now. Ridiculous stuff.
That sucks.
Does it always happen in the same spot? Have you tried changing the order in which you do things?
 
I crashed a few times in the PEC.

I got so mad that I almost put the game away from good.

My guess is that certain rooms in the 3DS version have memory leaks. I notice that the longer you stay in them, the "COMPLETED" thing when you get a password slows down more.
 

hunnies28

Member
This past weekend I found out my cousin has this game. When I asked him if he had any trouble or experienced any bugs with the game he said that he didn't found anything of the sort. He was kinda surprised when I told him of this bug.

I was going to take the game with me but decided against it since I haven't play 999, something I intend to fix soon.
 
The lack of support on this matter is ridiculous. I don't understand how the 3DS version got so badly gimped. No SD saves? One save slot? Lack of extra pen colors? Data corruption without a patch? Some bullshit.

I don't blame Aksys, but Spike Chunsoft won't be getting any of my money for the sequel at this rate.
 

PK Gaming

Member
The lack of support on this matter is ridiculous. I don't understand how the 3DS version got so badly gimped. No SD saves? One save slot? Lack of extra pen colors? Data corruption without a patch? Some bullshit.

I don't blame Aksys, but Spike Chunsoft won't be getting any of my money for the sequel at this rate.

did you play virtues last reward???

i'll admit the save bug is bullshit, but i'm kind of finding impossible to not play the sequel after experiencing vlr's ending.
 
did you play virtues last reward???

i'll admit the save bug is bullshit, but i'm kind of finding impossible to not play the sequel after experiencing vlr's ending.

I'm in the process of playing it but I really don't care about a sequel if we're going to get shafted for supporting a niche game.
 
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