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Zero Time Dilemma: first trailer released [3DS and Vita 6/28, Steam TBA]

Two Words

Member
Sure, they're all survival scenarios, but 999 wasn't so explicit about the presentation of violence, which tends to make it more effective than showcasing gore.



Aksys says Steam releases of 999 and VLR are possible.



Given what Uchikoshi has said about these games - that he toned down Virtue's Last Reward at the request of the Japanese publisher based on feedback from Japanese fans, and that Zero Time Dilemma is being made primarily for Western audiences due to the higher degree of success the Zero Escape games have found here than in Japan - yes, I do think that's the reason.

I'll put it to you this way. I played VLR first because I got it as a PS+ game. I had no idea what the series was about. I thought it was just a "Saw" type of game from what I had seen about the game in the trailers. I was greatly surprised for what I got instead. ZTD feels the same to me.
 

Nachos

Member
Troy Baker was Sigma? Man, I'm kinda starting to dislike the guy more and more whenever he ditches parts in smaller games he did. Nothing against Mercer but it just makes it seem like Baker doesn't give a shit.

If he's gone full union as it seems like he has, Baker can't return to most of his old stuff without risk of messing up his whole career.

If they felt like porting it to Android I'd play it. Not sure why anyone would port just to iOS at this point with the market share being how it is.
There's a lot more compatibility issues with Android, just because there's a much wider variety of devices and customized versions of the OS.
 
I know I'll be in the minority here when I say no. VLR can kiss my ass.

VLR existed to give us best girl Phi. Love her character and so glad she's back. Will be interesting in how Sigma acts in this game given the nature of how is character works in this one.
 

AwShucks

Member
VLR is vastly inferior to 999. The story got way too convoluted for stuff no one cares about. Also some of the puzzles were stupid stupid. I still like it but it didn't even come close to the experience in 999.

Not vastly inferior. Yes it got crazy and convoluted, but it was still an amazing game and getting other and all endings was much less frustrating. I prefer 999 but certainly have fond VLR memories.
 

LProtag

Member
I'm ready.

Probably playing with Japanese audio, which I did with VLC.

I'm intrigued by the mechanic of not knowing what the timeline looks like until you start playing through scenes. It's ripe for Uchikoshi's shenanigans.
 
I played the eu version of vlr so the voice acting didn't bother me as I'm waiting for the Japanese dub. Good to see that the group members interact with one another. So much blood though.
 
Wow, they're really going hardcore this time. It looks crazy! Some of the voice acting in the trailer was a bit stilted, but VLR's English track was so good I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.

And it's releasing in June! That's so close.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Sigma's VA is the same guy who replaced Baker as Kanji, right? He does a good job, it's hard to tell the difference.

Baker doesn't really do much small budget stuff anymore. All of his old roles get filled by Mercer.
 
Looks pretty good. Excited to play it. Looks like we still don't know who the protag is going to be (unless they announced it and I missed it?) It's looking more and more like siggy won't be. Junpei? I was thinking a completely new character, but none of them have jumped at me yet.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Sure, they're all survival scenarios, but 999 wasn't so explicit about the presentation of violence, which tends to make it more effective than showcasing gore.

I disagree with this. Also the game was pretty explicit in its descriptions, but I don't think it's a bad thing to be more explicit in the visuals.

Given what Uchikoshi has said about these games - that he toned down Virtue's Last Reward at the request of the Japanese publisher based on feedback from Japanese fans, and that Zero Time Dilemma is being made primarily for Western audiences due to the higher degree of success the Zero Escape games have found here than in Japan - yes, I do think that's the reason.

I think he's being given more free reign in terms of violence because it's more popular over here. But I don't think the game is darker and more violent just to pander to Western audiences. He wanted VLR to be darker than it is, so maybe this is just what he wants to do.

VLR is vastly inferior to 999. The story got way too convoluted for stuff no one cares about. Also some of the puzzles were stupid stupid. I still like it but it didn't even come close to the experience in 999.

I also disagree with this. Some of the timeline stuff got convoluted towards the end, otherwise I didn't think the game was too hard to follow if you reread some stuff you were iffy on. There are a lot of details that you can miss, but everything made sense.

999 is great but I preferred VLR's overall story and twists. I wasn't a fan of 999 or VLR's puzzles. At least in VLR you only need to do them once though.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Cosmicblizzard would like me to tell you all that if you play 999 on anything other than a DS/3DS for the first time, you're doing yourselves a massive disservice.

And I agree with him. :)
 

Nyoro SF

Member
I know I'll be in the minority here when I say no. VLR can kiss my ass.

LMAO this reply... but yeah, 999 was far preferable to me. I really did not like taking notes on my Vita touch screen, and there were way too many obnoxious "remember the number legend" puzzles for my liking that required brute force memorization instead of logic.
 

Two Words

Member
Not vastly inferior. Yes it got crazy and convoluted, but it was still an amazing game and getting other and all endings was much less frustrating. I prefer 999 but certainly have fond VLR memories.

999 tells a story that is about a much smaller number of people. It is much easier to create an empathetic mood when the connection of the people involved are so intimate. Since VLR is such a grander scope, it can feel more sterile. Kind of like how a news story about a single young girl dying from a tragic death can put you into tears, but a story about thousands dying in a bomb blast can feel somewhat clinical.
 

UberTag

Member
Sounds like they want to go maximum level mindfuck with the main gimmick of no one knowing what order anything is in.

They're gonna make the last choice of the game have some random element too aren't they, son of a bitch how am I supposed to decide
My priorities when making decisions in this game...
1) Protect Phi
2) Make Junpei Be a Dick to Akane
3) Save the World... I Guess (we'll get trophies and stuff)
4) Keep the Ice Cream Scooper Alive to Do Crazy Shit
5) Everything Else
 

AwShucks

Member
I'd rather have 2D sprites than bad CG. 999 is still the best looking of the Zero Escape games.

Certainly 999 looks better. But I think this looks better than VLR so it's an improvement. My point is really that this is a game from what we know barely got made. I wasn't expecting anything amazing looking visually. Just want my nutty Zero Escape world.
 

DNAbro

Member
Looks pretty good. Excited to play it. Looks like we still don't know who the protag is going to be (unless they announced it and I missed it?) It's looking more and more like siggy won't be. Junpei? I was thinking a completely new character, but none of them have jumped at me yet.

We knew the protagonist like a week ago.

There are 3. One for each team, all new characters.



Also VLR is vastly superior to 999 fight me.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
I think the voice acting is kinda rushed because Aksys wants to make sure the game is released in "June".

;P
 

Two Words

Member
My priorities when making decisions in this game...
1) Protect Phi
2) Make Junpei Be a Dick to Akane
3) Save the World... I Guess (we'll get trophies and stuff)
4) Keep the Ice Scream Scooper Alive to Do Crazy Shit
5) Everything Else

You don't need to protect Phi.
 

D-Man

Member
CdtcO33WoAE5Xkk.jpg:orig

Damn this art is absolutely fantastic! I love the incredibly dark tone of this game.

I think the VA will be fine. It's only a minute long trailer and everything is definitely cut up for the trailer so it's a little unfair to judge it this early. I'm incredibly optimistic.
 
From the looks of it, Phi is back :eek:

I was kinda let down by the voice acting and animations, but the ending stinger made me happy and reading this thread made me happy too

ALSO SO MUCH BLOOD AND GORE AWWWWW YESSSS

EDIT: After reading Kotaku's article OH MY GOD THIS GAME IS GONNA BE AMAZING
 

grim-tales

Member
WAIT, I accidentally read "novel sections will be replaced by cutscenes", what does that mean? That lots of text will be replaced with a mini movie, wtf?
 
I think the VA will be fine. It's only a minute long trailer and everything is definitely cut up for the trailer so it's a little unfair to judge it this early. I'm incredibly optimistic.

Exactly. All of the voice acting is taken out of context. Once you play the game and it all flows together it'll be fine. Mark my words.

Zero sounds amazing by the way.
 
We knew the protagonist like a week ago.

There are 3. One for each team, all new characters.



Also VLR is vastly superior to 999 fight me.

Oh, I think no read something like that but it didn't click because I found it strange. Thanks for correcting me! ^^;
 

Two Words

Member
WAIT, I accidentally read "novel sections will be replaced by cutscenes", what does that mean? That lots of text will be replaced with a mini movie, wtf?

I think they're getting rid of the flatness of the presentation. This is how VLR and 999 handled scenes.


latest


Even if K and Dio were talking to each other, they'd be facing you. I think now, they're trying to animate the scenes to have a real 3D scene.
 

Kinsei

Banned
That VA was pretty rough, but I really liked the dub of VLR so hopefully the actors grow on me in the full game.

It's fitting that we get the final game in the trilogy in June.

Originally Posted by Kotaku

Make sense? No? That’s the idea. Explains Kirk: “The characters don’t know where they are in the timeline, and neither does the player. When you complete a segment it goes into the larger decision tree, which tells you where it actually happens in the story. So the idea is, you play a fragment, the fragment plays out, then you go back out to the floating fragment screen and it shows you where the thing you just played fits into the narrative flow. You might start a fragment and see only two characters, but not yet know how the third died. Then you’ll play the earlier fragment later, and learn what happened.”

That sounds amazing.
 

Wazzy

Banned
Oh mah god at that sexy art!

I still wish they went with sprites like originally planned but either way this gameeee.

If we get a second trailer(which I'm sure we will) at some point I hope it's more like 999's and VLR.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
547582_1024688940903500_7772381876703283602_n.jpg

The names on the C Ward map... Most of them are... familiar...

Yeah I noticed they're straight out of VLR. They showed the Rec Room in the trailer and it had the knight there like VLR. At the same time it makes sense that a Mars test site has the same facilities as the facility in VLR.
 

takoyaki

Member
The Kotaku article explains the Fragments System really well, sounds like an interesting idea and certainly different from the old timelines. It's also nice to finally know why Diana is holding that gun pressed against Sigma’s head in that piece of keyart.

I'm surprised that ZTD really won't have any VN parts (Time Travelers meets Telltale game might just work for the series though) and I'm not a big fan of the English voiceover (probably just a bad dub for the trailer); otherwise I'm really optimistic that this will be a great finale for the ZE series.
 
I think he's being given more free reign in terms of violence because it's more popular over here. But I don't think the game is darker and more violent just to pander to Western audiences. He wanted VLR to be darker than it is, so maybe this is just what he wants to do.

I don't think Uchikoshi is being forced to do something against his will or anything, but I do think he is intentionally pushing this game in a direction that seems like it'd be most desired by Western audiences. That also seems to be the case with the stated focus on cinematics over writing: that's a move that seems designed to appeal to a wider Western audience, who would be more comfortable with movie-like adventure games such as Telltale's work than visual novels that rely primarily on text.
 
So, guys, I didn't read anything from the demo summary, as I want to keep that spoiler-free.
Can anybody explain with fake examples this new RNG thing?
 

Dee Dee

Member
That sounds amazing.

No. :C That sounds like Beyond Two Souls. Which was stupid.

That sounds like the fragments will be presented out of order, but probably in the same way for every one. I have a fear this might end up very linear, where you go through different endings in a very set order. I always liked how 999 and VLR let you pick your path freely, unable to guess where you end up, then experiment from there.
This sounds more like you will have to fill in blanks one after the other in a given order to not directly jump to important parts.

The "less text, less context" remark also frightens me.

I am happy this arrives soon to hopefully disperse all my fears (and creates new ones).

WTF, ice-cream man though...
 

AwShucks

Member
No. :C That sounds like Beyond Two Souls. Which was stupid.

That sounds like the fragments will be presented out of order, but probably in the same way for every one. I have a fear this might end up very linear, where you go through different endings in a very set order. I always liked how 999 and VLR let you pick your path freely, unable to guess where you end up, then experiment from there.
This sounds more like you will have to fill in blanks one after the other in a given order to not directly jump to important parts.

The "less text, less context" remark also frightens me.

I am happy this arrives soon to hopefully disperse all my fears (and creates new ones).

WTF, ice-cream man though...

Likely won't be linear due to failing and decisions.
 

DNAbro

Member
No. :C That sounds like Beyond Two Souls. Which was stupid.

That sounds like the fragments will be presented out of order, but probably in the same way for every one. I have a fear this might end up very linear, where you go through different endings in a very set order. I always liked how 999 and VLR let you pick your path freely, unable to guess where you end up, then experiment from there.
This sounds more like you will have to fill in blanks one after the other in a given order to not directly jump to important parts.

The "less text, less context" remark also frightens me.

I am happy this arrives soon to hopefully disperse all my fears (and creates new ones).

WTF, ice-cream man though...

I'd put that on David Cage though, not as a bad way to tell a story.
 
That trailer is basically all I needed to see, blackout on all info from this point forward. Directly into my veins please - can't wait for June.
 
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