• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors |OT| RED, DEAD, Redemption

Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
The word for you link is still visible. I don't know if that's important or not.

Nah, it's not, just a link to an interview with the director of the game that was done months ago and doesn't really have anything in it that's a spoiler. Sorry about all that, for some reason my hand instinctively typed "spoilers" instead of spoiler
damn morphogenic fields
.

Edit-
Well I looked over the interview again, nothing really much but I decided since I'm probably already on thin ice here I went ahead and took it out just to make sure :lol .

Sorry for all the trouble.
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
:mad: Damn, you people adding new items.

Yay, the store is back up :) Buy away! :D



KirbyStamped said:
Nah, it's not, just a link to an interview with the director of the game that was done months ago and doesn't really have anything in it that's a spoiler. Sorry about all that, for some reason my hand instinctively typed "spoilers" instead of spoiler
damn morphogenic fields
.

Edit-
Well I looked over the interview again, nothing really much but I decided since I'm probably already on thin ice here I went ahead and took it out just to make sure :lol .

Sorry for all the trouble.

No, worries. Stuff like that happens :D Just glad you didn't post it and then vanished for hours on end :lol

All is well that ends well :D!
 
Completed the game yesterday. I'm wondering if I got this right so here goes. Warning: True End Spoilers


The way I see it, Akane never died. Instead she was able to gather information from the future. Not just that, she saw 6 different potential futures, though only 1 branch ended up giving her the information necessary to save herself. After she escaped she waited 9 years and then set up the second Nonary Game so that her past self could access the information that had saved her. Basically, she created a stable time loop. Is that right?

The best part about finishing the game is being able to highlight all the spoilers in the thread :D

minor edit:

I know Akselziys and Tuesday already mentioned that
they changed it from Zero saying "9" on the loudspeaker to them being given notes that had 9 written on them. Is my memory off or did the game flash a picture of the loudspeaker whenever they mentioned the "Find a door that has a 9 on it?" I remember it (perhaps falsely) that the game did that which is why I didn't even realize that they got the information from notes rather than the loudspeaker.
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
Obsessed said:
Completed the game yesterday. I'm wondering if I got this right so here goes. Warning: True End Spoilers


The way I see it, Akane never died. Instead she was able to gather information from the future. Not just that, she saw 6 different potential futures, though only 1 branch ended up giving her the information necessary to save herself. After she escaped she waited 9 years and then set up the second Nonary Game so that her past self could access the information that had saved her. Basically, she created a stable time loop. Is that right?

The best part about finishing the game is being able to highlight all the spoilers in the thread :D

minor edit:

I know Akselziys and Tuesday already mentioned that
they changed it from Zero saying "9" on the loudspeaker to them being given notes that had 9 written on them. Is my memory off or did the game flash a picture of the loudspeaker whenever they mentioned the "Find a door that has a 9 on it?" I remember it (perhaps falsely) that the game did that which is why I didn't even realize that they got the information from notes rather than the loudspeaker.

Pretty much as you said :) When they were reading the notes, I believe it still showed a loud speaker to signify it was Zero talking in the note.
 

Hyunkel6

Member
I just got the true ending, but I feel that I did not understand the story completely:

Who is the killer in the submarine ending?

Am I right in assuming that Santa and Akane masterminded the game together from the beginning?

Why did Santa shut off everyone in the incinerator at the end?

Where/why did future Akane/June disappear to in the incinerator?

How did Seven lose his memory?

Other than that, I really enjoyed the game. Definitely one of my best DS game. :D
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
Hyunkel6 said:
I just got the true ending, but I feel that I did not understand the story completely:

Who is the killer in the submarine ending?

Am I right in assuming that Santa and Akane masterminded the game together from the beginning?

Why did Santa shut off everyone in the incinerator at the end?

Where/why did future Akane/June disappear to in the incinerator?

How did Seven lose his memory?

Other than that, I really enjoyed the game. Definitely one of my best DS game. :D

Don't forget you can ask questions to the creators via our official 999 website up until Dec 23rd! :D

http://www.aksysgames.com/999

But I think I can help answer your questions ;)

1. It's insinuated to be Ace. They never did check his pulse to see if he was alive ;).

2. Aoi and Akane masterminded it, so as to save herself in the past, thus saving her present self. Seven is insinuated to be helping them as well (from Junpei's comments in the True End).

3. Santa shut everyone off in the incinerator so Junpei could solve the puzzle along with past Akane in order to save Akane in the past from dying.

4. Was his memory actually gone...? ;)

I'm super happy that you love it so much :D! I hope even more people can love it in the future too!
 

Hyunkel6

Member
Akselziys said:
Don't forget you can ask questions to the creators via our official 999 website up until Dec 23rd! :D

http://www.aksysgames.com/999

But I think I can help answer your questions ;)

1. It's insinuated to be Ace. They never did check his pulse to see if he was alive ;).

2. Aoi and Akane masterminded it, so as to save herself in the past, thus saving her present self. Seven is insinuated to be helping them as well (from Junpei's comments in the True End).

3. Santa shut everyone off in the incinerator so Junpei could solve the puzzle along with past Akane in order to save Akane in the past from dying.

4. Was his memory actually gone...? ;)

I'm super happy that you love it so much :D! I hope even more people can love it in the future too!
Thank you for the clarifications, and please bring us more of those adventure games!
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
robotzombie said:
True ending mid game question:

Do I have to do anything special when everyone meets up in the hospital room and goes looking for Snake? Does it matter if I go around talking to everyone or if I just skip it and get to the room choosing asap?


wondering if anyone can help me out with this
 

DiddyBop

Member
so i got the submarine ending...lots of questions still to be answered. do i press continue from the main menu? or do i go with begin with memories?
 
DiddyBop said:
so i got the submarine ending...lots of questions still to be answered. do i press continue from the main menu? or do i go with begin with memories?
Begin With Memories at the start of each new playthrough.
 

JKTrix

Member
Yeah, I think 'Begin With Memories' is when you want to start over before you've reached an ending.

(Waiting for the real page 9!)
 

Mjunter

Member
You know I really gotta wonder how Junpei can
consider hanging around with June knowing she has the capacity to kidnap people and put them in potentially life threatening situations. I mean she stuck bombs inside people and set them up to be potentially murdered. Not to mention she can put on quite an acting performance. She is not the type of girlfriend I would want to mess with.
 

Belisarius

Neo Member
Mjunter said:
You know I really gotta wonder how Junpei can
consider hanging around with June knowing she has the capacity to kidnap people and put them in potentially life threatening situations. I mean she stuck bombs inside people and set them up to be potentially murdered. Not to mention she can put on quite an acting performance. She is not the type of girlfriend I would want to mess with.
I donno man, seems kinda hot to me. Besides,
it's pretty apparent Junpei can be just as ruthless, if he wants to be. I think they're made for each other. :3
 
Akselziys said:
Unfortunately we're running low, so we are only offering them with the 999 bundle now.

The watches were flying off the shelves :D

This game grabbed me so much I am literally going to buy another copy just for the watch. Also I live in Australia so I can't buy it myself from your store so I'm going to have to pay another company based in America to buy it for me so they can then mail it to my address. I hope this watch is worth it!
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
lucablight said:
This game grabbed me so much I am literally going to buy another copy just for the watch. Also I live in Australia so I can't buy it myself from your store so I'm going to have to pay another company based in America to buy it for me so they can then mail it to my address. I hope this watch is worth it!

That's some awesome 999 love and dedication there :D!

The watch is pretty sweet :)
 

jiggles

Banned
Getting the
Knife
ending on your first playthrough of this is just about the biggest kick in the balls ever.
 
jigglywiggly said:
Getting the
Knife
ending on your first playthrough of this is just about the biggest kick in the balls ever.
Got it too. I feel like it's a common first ending based on the choices I made.
I guess most people stick with June most doors.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Just got the
True Ending
.

Aahhh.... truly,
love prevails above all else
, eh? I do not have any shame to admit that I am teary-eyed at the end. I'm a sucker for
love conquers
theme after all.

At first I am a bit baffled about the question: how could
Akane/June be present when the her past self was dead? Time-paradox
... and at first I thought
June was really Alice in disguise
, somehow, hahahaha. So
Alice's purpose was just to be a red-herring and to pose sexy at the very end of the game?
:lol

But after a bit of thinking I think I understand the whole story.

Very beautiful... poetic, even.

Just some observations:
- It was alluded that
Cradle Pharmaceuticals is a very wealthy company, proven by the fact that they managed to use the Gigantic as one of its experiment facilities 9 years ago
. It's kind of hard to believe that
they did not do anything to search for four of their most important leaders (Ace, The Cap, No 9, and the No. 3 Door Guy)
.
- How is it possible that
June/Akane/Zero and Santa/Aoi managed to secure the Nevada facility in order to conduct the second Nonary Game
? It seems unlikely that
a company as big as Cradle Pharmaceuticals would just abandon such an important facility and allow others to use it as they wish.
- What's the deal with the
first puzzle, the Sub, and the whole flooding thing if the game took place in the Nevada Desert?
o_O
Simulated Gigantic environment, I assume.
- The way I see it, there were actually
three people altogether that orchestrated the whole second Nonary game: June, Santa, and Seven
. Correct?
- The fact that there's actually
no detonator at all in the bracelets made the second Nonary experiment a very luck-based effort
, yea? Since if there's
one person who, due to some sort of luck, did not manage to find the DEAD in time but found out that he/she was totally fine in the end, then the entire plan would collapse
. I guess that's why
June, Santa, and Seven all tagged along in the game
.
- In retrospect,
June/Akane was quite possibly one scary gal
. I mean, what would happen if
Junpei was unable to solve the final puzzle? Then the whole team got incinerated? Or maybe the Incinerator thing was just a bluff in order to heighten the sense of danger so that Junpei could access the morphogenic field easier to help the past Akane?

Great game, great story.
 

Belisarius

Neo Member
Laughing Banana said:
- It was alluded that
Cradle Pharmaceuticals is a very wealthy company, proven by the fact that they managed to use the Gigantic as one of its experiment facilities 9 years ago
. It's kind of hard to believe that
they did not do anything to search for four of their most important leaders (Ace, The Cap, No 9, and the No. 3 Door Guy)
.
I'd have to go back and look to be sure, but I got the impression that, after the failure of the first Nonary game, Cradle either kind of fell apart, or Ace ceased to be in charge of it or something. The way I remember it implied that he'd found the special plant in the coffin some time before he actually began the Nonary Game, and the money he made with Soporil was what how he managed to afford to have the Nonary game in the first place. Also, fun fact: The original (literal) translation for Soporil was "Mandrain" (from "mandrake" + "drain").
Laughing Banana said:
- How is it possible that
June/Akane/Zero and Santa/Aoi managed to secure the Nevada facility in order to conduct the second Nonary Game
? It seems unlikely that
a company as big as Cradle Pharmaceuticals would just abandon such an important facility and allow others to use it as they wish.
In line with my earlier assumption, Cradle either no longer existed, or no longer had the influence to hold onto the Nevada facility. Or perhaps, after the failure of the first Nonary Game, they simply sold or abandoned it. Or the Nonary Project was Ace's pet project, and the Nevada facility (and presumably the Gigantic) belonged to him, not the company.
Laughing Banana said:
- What's the deal with the
first puzzle, the Sub, and the whole flooding thing if the game took place in the Nevada Desert?
o_O
Simulated Gigantic environment, I assume.
I would assume you assume correctly. Zero wanted them to believe they were on a sinking boat, to provide the same impetus for survival. The original Gigantic was, for obvious reasons, no longer available.
Laughing Banana said:
- The way I see it, there were actually
three people altogether that orchestrated the whole second Nonary game: June, Santa, and Seven
. Correct?
That seems to be the implication, yes.
Laughing Banana said:
- The fact that there's actually
no detonator at all in the bracelets made the second Nonary experiment a very luck-based effort
, yea? Since if there's
one person who, due to some sort of luck, did not manage to find the DEAD in time but found out that he/she was totally fine in the end, then the entire plan would collapse
. I guess that's why
June, Santa, and Seven all tagged along in the game
.
Depending on how you look at it, it wouldn't have really mattered if someone had done what you describe. Since they'd all seen the 9th Man die, it would be pretty clear that at least some of them had bombs. Would you be willing to try and find out who, if you were in that situation? Besides, that would have likely lead to a failure anyway, and that timeline would cease to exist once the "true" one asserted itself, making that failure of the plan even more meaningless.
Laughing Banana said:
- In retrospect,
June/Akane was quite possibly one scary gal
. I mean, what would happen if
Junpei was unable to solve the final puzzle? Then the whole team got incinerated? Or maybe the Incinerator thing was just a bluff in order to heighten the sense of danger so that Junpei could access the morphogenic field easier to help the past Akane?
Presumably, they would have all died, and then the timeline would have reset itself, like it does any time you fail. The fact that it fried Ace and Snake suggests that it was still a fully armed and operational battlestation.
Laughing Banana said:
Great game, great story.
Glad you enjoyed it. :)
 

GuardianE

Santa May Claus
Just got all the endings. :D I absolutely love the game. Riveting from start to finish. I have to admit, though... several of the bad endings in a row really felt like getting suckerpunched over and over. The true ending was actually my final ending. Some impressions and a few questions:

I have to admit that I was worried about the direction the game. I really didn't want everything explained via the ALL-ICE route, and the Morphogenic Fields explanation throughout the story left me intrigued, but wary. I really didn't want everything explained in a ridiculous supernatural fashion sloppily. Despite these concerns, the game's true explanation was one that still works within the context of the game due to great pacing and gradual introduction to the facts. I suspected Ace was behind everything after I got the Submarine ending (I noticed that his pulse hadn't been checked), and was totally stoked when I was only partially right.

It's kind of ridiculous that the game's crescendo was a sudoku puzzle, but it still felt just right with the music, tone, and fact that you were still reeling from a series of reveals.

The only thing I didn't really fully understand was ALL-ICE at the end. I'm guessing that ALL-ICE was a red herring... pretty much what I wanted. I know she was there at the end, but I considered that to be more of a cute non-canon throwback, right?

Reading some of the posts above mine, it seems that Seven was a part of organizing the second nonary game? What did I miss there?

I found it sort of interesting that there weren't real detonators in the bracelets... but if there weren't, how did the Ninth Man and the fake Snake explode? I guess that those individuals were selectively given detonators since they were bait for Ace?
 

Belisarius

Neo Member
GuardianE said:
Reading some of the posts above mine, it seems that Seven was a part of organizing the second nonary game? What did I miss there?

I found it sort of interesting that there weren't real detonators in the bracelets... but if there weren't, how did the Ninth Man and the fake Snake explode? I guess that those individuals were selectively given detonators since they were bait for Ace?
There's a point (I can't remember where) where Seven says or does something that implies his "amnesia" was faked. As far as the detonators, I think Zero only put them in the "guilty" people. So yeah, selective, but with a purpose.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
GuardianE said:
The only thing I didn't really fully understand was ALL-ICE at the end. I'm guessing that ALL-ICE was a red herring... pretty much what I wanted. I know she was there at the end, but I considered that to be more of a cute non-canon throwback, right?

Yea, the way I understood it, ALL-ICE was just a red-herring. I bet even Seven/June/Santa would be surprised when they found out that ALL-ICE was real after all :lol

GuardianE said:
Reading some of the posts above mine, it seems that Seven was a part of organizing the second nonary game? What did I miss there?

At the very end of the game Junpei's comments insinuated that Seven was lying about his memory loss in order to help Akane/June and Aoi/Santa. Which was understandable, considering what he witnessed during the 1st Nonary game.

GuardianE said:
I found it sort of interesting that there weren't real detonators in the bracelets... but if there weren't, how did the Ninth Man and the fake Snake explode? I guess that those individuals were selectively given detonators since they were bait for Ace?

Those people were the bad guys that were responsible for the experiment 9 years ago. I suppose June/Akane/Zero did not care much about what happen to them. I mean, she gave them the chance to repent, but by the way she nudged Ace to kill his colleagues suggested to me that she did not care for their fate--"so be it if they died" stuff.
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
Hey guys,

Along with our own US character poll we're conducting on the 999 official website:

http://www.aksysgames.com/999


We've also gone ahead and translated Chunsoft's Japanese character poll blogs for your viewing pleasure :D


Siliconera put the first up of many this morning. It shows who ranked last (9th) on the Japanese character poll:


http://www.siliconera.com/2010/12/13/chunsoft-blog-999-japanese-character-ranking-9/



I hope you all enjoy reading them! And if you haven't already, go vote for your favorite character in the US character poll! :D
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Holy shit, got my game today. Watch has some heft to it, it's made out of metal I guess? I thought it'd be a shitty plastic watch.

Haha, ye of little faith :D It is quite hefty and awesome ;)
 

Ferrio

Banned
Laughing Banana said:
At first I am a bit baffled about the question: how could
Akane/June be present when the her past self was dead? Time-paradox
... and at first I thought
June was really Alice in disguise
, somehow, hahahaha. So
Alice's purpose was just to be a red-herring and to pose sexy at the very end of the game?
:lol

Because she never really died (Seven lied). Junpei saved her when she was a child back then. She then had to orchestrate the nonary game in order to make sure it actually happens.


Laughing Banana said:
Yea, the way I understood it, ALL-ICE was just a red-herring. I bet even Seven/June/Santa would be surprised when they found out that ALL-ICE was real after all :lol

I really think it's a possibility that
Lotus was originally intended to be Alice. Her clothes are very similar, and her backstory is very weak compared to the rest of the cast. I wouldn't be surprised if they originally meant her to be alice, but couldn't fit it well in the story. So they scraped it and made her a mom of the some of the original test subjects. One of the questions I'm going to ask on the aksys site
 

Cactus

Banned
Laughing Banana said:
Just got the
True Ending
.

- How is it possible that
June/Akane/Zero and Santa/Aoi managed to secure the Nevada facility in order to conduct the second Nonary Game
? It seems unlikely that
a company as big as Cradle Pharmaceuticals would just abandon such an important facility and allow others to use it as they wish.

To add to what's been said about this, during the room
4
puzzle,
Santa mentions that he acquired a significant amount of money through the stock exchange by buying into Cradle Pharmaceutical (pick stocks instead of gambling). It's possible that he simply bought the facility from Ace, since they didn't really need it for anything, and it was in the middle of nowhere anyway.
 
Akselziys said:
Haha, ye of little faith :D It is quite hefty and awesome ;)
Kind of depressing in the fact that I would have bought when free if I would have known. Very happy. :D Are the Jake Hunter games actually good? I've considered getting it before but I seem to see a lot of negative impressions.
 

Belisarius

Neo Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Kind of depressing in the fact that I would have bought when free if I would have known. Very happy. :D Are the Jake Hunter games actually good? I've considered getting it before but I seem to see a lot of negative impressions.
The second one (Memories of the Past) is all the content of the first game (Detective Chronicles), but with a better translation and more content. Obviously my opinion isn't worth much, since I edited the thing, but I'm pretty fond of it. :) Don't expect any of the gameplay you get in 999, though: Jake is 100% visual novel.
 
Tuesday said:
The second one (Memories of the Past) is all the content of the first game (Detective Chronicles), but with a better translation and more content. Obviously my opinion isn't worth much, since I edited the thing, but I'm pretty fond of it. :) Don't expect any of the gameplay you get in 999, though: Jake is 100% visual novel.
So if I buy the second one there's no reason to buy the first one?
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
You guys are sold out so no point anyhow now. :(

Amazon, like Tuesday pointed out, is selling Jake Hunter Memories of the Past (2nd one) :D

Feel free to grab it from them :)
 
Akselziys said:
Amazon, like Tuesday pointed out, is selling Jake Hunter Memories of the Past (2nd one) :D

Feel free to grab it from them :)

Not for $15 though. :p And as another side note, did you guys ever put your blazblue sticks on sale for black friday? I thought I remember checking and never seeing them discounted.
 
So my mother-in-law loves her DS and she loves adventure titles and especially Layton.

She leaves it up to me to "expand her gaming horizons" and as much as I want to get her to play Phoenix Wright or...uhm...the new guy (whose name escapes me at the moment), there's parts in those games that are downright embarassing if not appropriate.

So...I took a risk and bought her 999 for Christmas this year.

I don't need any spoilers...and my mother in law isn't a prude but I'm curious as to if I'm about to expose her to some crazy shit?
 

Belisarius

Neo Member
bigdaddygamebot said:
I don't need any spoilers...and my mother in law isn't a prude but I'm curious as to if I'm about to expose her to some crazy shit?
Nothing she hasn't seen on CSI, at least in terms of potentially unpleasant stuff. The plot has some pretty weird turns that you won't see on CSI, but it's nothing...untoward.

Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Not for $15 though. :p And as another side note, did you guys ever put your blazblue sticks on sale for black friday? I thought I remember checking and never seeing them discounted.
The sticks had free shipping (a savings of about $20) during our "Apology Sale". They weren't discounted on Black Friday.
 

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Is Amazon the best place to buy this from for Europeans? Don't see any other websites within Europe let alone a store carrying this!

Kinda like the whole concept of the game. And more PW like titles don't hurt :)
 
Tuesday said:
Nothing she hasn't seen on CSI, at least in terms of potentially unpleasant stuff. The plot has some pretty weird turns that you won't see on CSI, but it's nothing...untoward.


Thank you sir. I can rest easier. :)
 
Top Bottom