that's what time I went to bed last nite!!! 1:11 AM!!
coz of this game!!! I was on route to finish my 5th ending but it ended up being really long and sat me down for like 2 hours reading text when the puzzles themselves only took me 10 minutes!!!
and that's not good!! coz my new years resolution is to stop sleeping so late!! Like, go to bed before midnite!!
999 made me break my new years resolution on the very first day I had to keep it!!!
anyway now Im on my final playthru... true ending time!!!
that's what time I went to bed last nite!!! 1:11 AM!!
coz of this game!!! I was on route to finish my 5th ending but it ended up being really long and sat me down for like 2 hours reading text when the puzzles themselves only took me 10 minutes!!!
and that's not good!! coz my new years resolution is to stop sleeping so late!! Like, go to bed before midnite!!
999 made me break my new years resolution on the very first day I had to keep it!!!
anyway now Im on my final playthru... true ending time!!!
Not really a review, but my final thoughts. spoilers throughout so beware.
The cards were pretty stacked against this game. I just beat Miles Edgeworth
within an inch of his life
about a week or two ago after 10 months of going back to it, completing some drudgery, and then going back to it a day, a week, or sometimes months later. To say it's a boring game is an understatement. I really dislike it. It lacks the tension of previous Ace Attorney games, and I think the dialog for the series has gone from precious to annoying.
So I was in a bad mood for adventure games, and I wasn't going to get 999 until I saw it was sold out on Amazon and basically everywhere else. And normally, I really dislike stories in video games. They're usually poorly told and poorly written. Either it comes from some designer's fantasy of being a famous movie director or it's the designer's fantasy of being a famous movie director and the translation is bad on top of it.
...But there are some genres I'm okay when it's there. Or at least, I expect to see it. RPGs being one of them, adventure games being the other. It's a once-in-a-while guilty pleasure.
999, in particular, was billed as a visual novel. So I was expecting something like Hotel Dusk, which I thought was all right (mostly thanks to its atmosphere and not its writing). But man, there's more text than I was prepared for. People talking, descriptions of things happening, descriptions of things you're looking at, conversations about things you have. Good lord.
What was surprising was that it was kinda not bad. I think there were too many descriptions of mundane things, but I understand why it was there. The game can't just be crazy exciting thing after crazy exciting thing. Plus, it was nice to see the characters actually investigate their surroundings and exhaust all other options before deciding on heading into the numbered doors.
I think the biggest strength to the writing is that the translation team did a really damn good job. And I'm sure the original writers did a good job too, but there's a lot of stuff that seems to get lost with a Japanese-to-English transition. Words, sayings, cliches... not a lot were present in the dialog itself, which was a big surprise. And whatever awkwardness that might've been there was replaced with believable dialog and developed personalities. Yeah the characters are still cliches, but they're subdued. Swear words are used in appropriated situations for example, and not whenever the writers felt like it. And sometimes, it was subtle- from the true ending: a grown up Junpei asking "what the hell is this?" versus a child-version of Akane asking "what is this?"- showing either/both a difference in age and/or demeanor. The use of italics and elongation also did a good job of conveying emotion and importance to words.
As for the puzzles, I was pretty glad that I actually solved all of them myself, considering they were basically the only game part of the game (except for one, which I had just forgotten that you could actually combine items). I thought they were just about the right challenge too.
Then there were branching paths. In every other game with a branching path, I always tried to make the "right" decision. I'd heard that the game needed two playthroughs to get the true ending, but I thought I could beat the system by making all the right moves the first time through. So I went in door 5, then door 7, and finally door 6. At some point, I had expected Junpei to retrieve the 9th Man's bracelet. The lack of control at these parts was annoying, and getting killed my first time through was a big surprise, especially the lengthy description of a man dying (a side note: the descriptions of gore were really well done, and I'm glad it was only text and not a picture). The second time through, I figured to go through all the options I had not done before. So I went through door 4 and door 3 (more on this later). Considering I had gone through mostly with June, I figured everything would be fine, but I got stabbed by someone (had to've been Ace or Clover in retrospect). The third run, I went through 4, 8, and then 1. For a while there, I thought I was going to get a "Clover ending" and I guess I did, but I was again disappointed in the lack of options to incapacitate her, and that Junpei would just give in to madness. Also, I was pissed off that every option I had tried on my own, thinking that I was doing the right thing had gotten me killed.
And honestly, that's kinda cool too. It's something Heavy Rain dabbled with but never got right. Heavy Rain had very clear good guy and bad guy choices. You had to know certain things to get a bad ending. Removing a sense of morality from decisions (aside from selfishness perhaps) makes the choices you make your own. 999 gets it right.
So I died many times, and that gif of Homer was exactly how I felt: I wanted to go back as Junpei knowing what I knew and kill Clover. So I set it up so I would have had the gun. That never panned out. Again, he got stabbed. So I went back to a previous save. He got stabbed in front of the sub. I went back again: Axe.
The lack of control over replays kinda sucked. I wanted to do things like stop the 9th Man, or at least retrieve his bracelet, save Snake, etc. Eventually, I found the safe ending, and the true ending.
And here's where it gets a little muddled for me: I was honestly enjoying the conspiracy/Saw angle for a bit, but going from "I heard about this telepathy thing once" to it becoming the central point of the game felt like too big a stretch, kinda like 90% of Indigo Prophecy. On the other hand, the plot twist that reveals itself in the last part of the game, that the new game + was actually part of the plot, that my bad choices were part of the plot, was kinda brilliant. Bioshock did something to this effect, where the plot twist was that the player didn't have any control, but that seemed to be an effort excuse that game's linearity/level design (although I think the revelation itself is still pretty cool). 999 doesn't come outright and say it, but the fact that you're supposed to be past-Akane seeing all the possible outcomes is pretty cool.
I have to say, the other thing that was really awesome was just a personal one, but I have never played Sudoku. Well, maybe once, but I never solved one and never cared to learn how. I thought I knew what I was doing at first, and had to go back and re-read the instructions. As I kept going, it suddenly hit me, and I knew exactly what to do and exactly how the puzzle was solved. An epiphany. It's something I doubt happened to a whole lot of other people, but for me, it was a great connection. On a side note, I really enjoyed the consistency of having past-Akane on the bottom-screen and Junpei on the top. One, it makes me wonder if the descriptions were all past-Akane's, two, it solved the problem of being able to use the touch screen while Junpei was on the top one and Akane was on the bottom, and three, it actually used the DS's two screens in a unique way. I don't think I've ever seen them done in that way to help tell a story. That whole segment was the absolute highlight of the game for me.
To wrap it up, I wound up enjoying this a lot more than I expected, even after my first, second, and third playthroughs. I think part of it is that I really appreciate the design of it. There's a consistency there that was really nice in retrospect. Consider Door 3: Junpei grabs June and Seven and makes Santa, Lotus, and Clover fight for the last spot. Santa barely pushes past them and slams his hand down on the RED. Why? Because his watch is 0 (or 9) and June's is 9 (or 0). If it had been Lotus or Clover, it would have fucked up the entire plan, as the wrong numbers on the watches would have been revealed. I came away liking the story and characters, but the design was very strong.
One thing about the story I kicked myself over was Zero's true identity. I had guessed it very early on, simply based on it being the person you least expect and the way she dressed, but the sub ending made it clear to me it wasn't her.
The only thing I didn't like was the Ace at the end of the game. I was cool with him just losing it and threatening to kill people. I was good with him being a fucking bastard. I wish it could have been left at that, but then there's a throwaway line about him just wanting to see other people's faces and it felt like too little too late to make him a sympathetic character.
Overall, a great experience. I don't think I want a sequel, just clarification on some things.
I am so glad you feel that way. I love italics, but since Japanese doesn't really have them, getting developers to put them in for us is often...difficult. I feel like it adds some important to the game, especially in games where dubbing is not an option, and I'm glad to know I'm not the only one.
AniHawk said:
One, it makes me wonder if the descriptions were all past-Akane's
Everything on the bottom screen during the "novel" partsthat is, everything that's written in that third-person omniscient p.o.v.is, in theory, all Akane. The other stuff (like where it'll say "Let's see what happens if I push this. ...All right, nothing." are Junpei. It works a little differently in the original Japanese, but it would have been literally impossible to do in English: The Japanese version takes advantage of how non-specific that language can be: It plays fast and loose with tense, and doesn't really use pronouns. When it shifts to gendered pronouns near the end of the True Endwhen Shit Is Getting Realit makes for a slightly more subtle, Holy-Shit reveal in the "Would you kindly" vein. Unfortunately, English demands a somewhat higher degree of specificity, especially in regard to tense, and there is only one version of "I", with no male/female variants. So we had to rely on other tricks, and do our best to make the "voices" sound different.
I am so glad you feel that way. I love italics, but since Japanese doesn't really have them, getting developers to put them in for us is often...difficult. I feel like it adds some important to the game, especially in games where dubbing is not an option, and I'm glad to know I'm not the only one.
Everything on the bottom screen during the "novel" partsthat is, everything that's written in that third-person omniscient p.o.v.is, in theory, all Akane. The other stuff (like where it'll say "Let's see what happens if I push this. ...All right, nothing." are Junpei. It works a little differently in the original Japanese, but it would have been literally impossible to do in English: The Japanese version takes advantage of how non-specific that language can be: It plays fast and loose with tense, and doesn't really use pronouns. When it shifts to gendered pronouns near the end of the True Endwhen Shit Is Getting Realit makes for a slightly more subtle, Holy-Shit reveal in the "Would you kindly" vein. Unfortunately, English demands a somewhat higher degree of specificity, especially in regard to tense, and there is only one version of "I", with no male/female variants. So we had to rely on other tricks, and do our best to make the "voices" sound different.
So you worked on this game? Either way, I dig the explanation of the original language stuff versus what we got. The plot twist being what it is is particularly great considering its use of the DS. Honestly, that's something I would not have ever thought to do with the two screens. It's brilliant.
So you worked on this game? Either way, I dig the explanation of the original language stuff versus what we got. The plot twist being what it is is particularly great considering its use of the DS. Honestly, that's something I would not have ever thought to do with the two screens. It's brilliant.
Well Tuesday, you did a really damn good job. I know editors that work on Japanese translations that have problems satisfying a fanbase because "it's not what it said in Japanese" when it just wouldn't work that way. 999 felt like parts had probably been changed so it sounded more natural to Americans, and that's what I loved about it. It felt like it was written in English first.
Well Tuesday, you did a really damn good job. I know editors that work on Japanese translations that have problems satisfying a fanbase because "it's not what it said in Japanese" when it just wouldn't work that way. 999 felt like parts had probably been changed so it sounded more natural to Americans, and that's what I loved about it. It felt like it was written in English first.
Well Tuesday, you did a really damn good job. I know editors that work on Japanese translations that have problems satisfying a fanbase because "it's not what it said in Japanese" when it just wouldn't work that way. 999 felt like parts had probably been changed so it sounded more natural to Americans, and that's what I loved about it. It felt like it was written in English first.
I think part of it is that I really appreciate the design of it. There's a consistency there that was really nice in retrospect. Consider Door 3:
Junpei grabs June and Seven and makes Santa, Lotus, and Clover fight for the last spot. Santa barely pushes past them and slams his hand down on the RED. Why? Because his watch is 0 (or 9) and June's is 9 (or 0). If it had been Lotus or Clover, it would have f'd up the entire plan, as the wrong numbers on the watches would have been revealed.
I guess you could make a argument for that, but I personally think Santa's mad dash to the door was just so he wouldn't be separated from June.
Snake's theory about June & Santa's bracelets having incorrect numbers displayed isn't ever proven in the game, (remember they were under the impression that Santa was Zero at that point) and it actually doesn't even matter since Santa & June always go through the same door. No other watch in the game displays the wrong number (or letter), so having two watches with fake numbers just seems like too much of a cheat to me.
I wonder if this will be cleared up in the Chunsoft Q&A.
I guess you could make a argument for that, but I personally think Santa's mad dash to the door was just so he wouldn't be separated from June.
Snake's theory about June & Santa's bracelets having incorrect numbers displayed isn't ever proven in the game, (remember they were under the impression that Santa was Zero at that point) and it actually doesn't even matter since Santa & June always go through the same door. No other watch in the game displays the wrong number (or letter), so having two watches with fake numbers just seems like too much of a cheat to me.
The 0 watch was definitely a six though. I guess Santa not wanting to be separated from June and Santa not wanting anyone to find out about anything wrong with the watches could both be valid reasons though. June seemed to very much not know what the hell had happened in room 3 if you go there with her, Santa, and Seven
The 0 watch was definitely a six though. I guess Santa not wanting to be separated from June and Santa not wanting anyone to find out about anything wrong with the watches could both be valid reasons though. June seemed to very much not know what the hell had happened in room 3 if you go there with her, Santa, and Seven
Cap's watch was a 6, but it wasn't displaying a 0, it was an O. And O in base-9(?) equals 24, which has the digital root of 6. So it technically wasn't displaying an incorrect "number" either.
Cap's bracelet is also interesting because it's a HUGE hint to who Zero is. ("0"=6/Zero=June)
As for June's meltdown, I attribute it to a very dedicated criminal mastermind keeping the plan running. :lol Or it could be a morphogenetic field brain overload, since going through door 3 equals instant doom for Akane.
Cap's watch was a 6, but it wasn't displaying a 0, it was an O. And O in base-something(10?) equals 24, which has the digital root of 6. So it technically wasn't displaying an incorrect "number" either.
Cap's bracelet is also interesting because it's a HUGE hint to who Zero is. ("0"=6/Zero=June)
As for June's meltdown, I attribute it to a very dedicated criminal mastermind keeping the plan running. :lol Or it could be a morphogenetic field brain overload, since going through door 3 equals instant doom for Akane.
So I just wrapped up all the endings - should I erase all the data on it before I let my wife play so she can go through everything for the first time?
So I just wrapped up all the endings - should I erase all the data on it before I let my wife play so she can go through everything for the first time?
C'mon dude, there was a post in it just over an hour ago. There was a little bit of spoilering here, true, but that thread is a nice sanctuary for candid discussion.
Being a long-time "adventure" game fan (dating back to the original LucasArts and Sierra games) I was quite excited upon first hearing of 999. I'm really enjoying it, but just now seeking some help to get the final two endings I need.
I was sure I was on the right track as I'd gotten 4 different endings (Coffin, Axe, Knife, Sub) and on my 5th playthrough chose doors 8 and 2 (both for the first time). I was surprised to see I'd already encountered the area behind door #2, and got a repeat of the sub ending.
Now I'm at a bit of a loss as to what I should do differently. So, what do I need to do to see the "true end" and the other horrific death I've missed out on?
Now I'm at a bit of a loss as to what I should do differently. So, what do I need to do to see the "true end" and the other horrific death I've missed out on?
to get the other ending you're missing first, as it's the "important" one.
Specifically,
to get that ending, you can go through doors 5, 8, and 6.
Once you have that ending, re-do the Coffin ending. It's also the true ending, but unless you already have the one you're missing, it ends at the coffin.
C'mon dude, there was a post in it just over an hour ago. There was a little bit of spoilering here, true, but that thread is a nice sanctuary for candid discussion.
I was referring to Anihawk's massive review with spoilers. Something to discuss without having to reply with a massive wall of black blocks. That was my intent for the spoiler thread.
Well Tuesday, you did a really damn good job. I know editors that work on Japanese translations that have problems satisfying a fanbase because "it's not what it said in Japanese" when it just wouldn't work that way. 999 felt like parts had probably been changed so it sounded more natural to Americans, and that's what I loved about it. It felt like it was written in English first.
Thats what sets the Ace Attorney localizations apart too. While there are definitely parts that are very obviously japanese, capcom still managed to make the dialogue and style of humor (Even if the direct jokes weren't transferred over) enjoyable and relevant to a western audience.
Thats what sets the Ace Attorney localizations apart too. While there are definitely parts that are very obviously japanese, capcom still managed to make the dialogue and style of humor (Even if the direct jokes weren't transferred over) enjoyable and relevant to a western audience.
Thats what sets the Ace Attorney localizations apart too. While there are definitely parts that are very obviously japanese, capcom still managed to make the dialogue and style of humor (Even if the direct jokes weren't transferred over) enjoyable and relevant to a western audience.
Holy shit, it's already up to $51.88 on Amazon again.
Considering it's $40 used on Amazon, your best bet may be to get a display copy from a gamestop. It's what I had to do, but hey it was worth it. Best course of action would be to go to a store, ask them for a list of the nearest stores with that copy of the game and then ask for a printout. Then you can call those stores and ask them to hold it for you before you get there.
There were something like 8 stores that had one copy left, and I'm a bit east of LA, so ymmv.
There's a couple of Gamestops near me that still have copies (probably one copy each, though), but there's a lot of Gamestops here and most of them don't even have the one now.
I was referring to Anihawk's massive review with spoilers. Something to discuss without having to reply with a massive wall of black blocks. That was my intent for the spoiler thread.
Despite the gamestop website saying differently, my gamestop still has 1 in stock. Just called and had my manager put it on hold for me until I get there this afternoon.
Presumably. It'll probably then ask you if you're sure you want to erase everything! I haven't done it myself, though
Zerokku said:
Despite the gamestop website saying differently, my gamestop still has 1 in stock. Just called and had my manager put it on hold for me until I get there this afternoon.
The only thing that puzzles me a litte bit about the translation: What's the reason that it wasn't explained that
the letter q and the number 9 are pronounced similar/the same in Japanese
at the end? Without knowing this it's hard to understand the last plot twist. Character limit? Thought that an explanation would have interupted the flow?
The only thing that puzzles me a litte bit about the translation: What's the reason that it wasn't explained that
the letter q and the number 9 are pronounced similar/the same in Japanese
at the end? Without knowing this it's hard to understand the last plot twist. Character limit? Thought that an explanation would have interupted the flow?
Yeah, that struck me as a bit odd, when they flash back to Zero's voice over the speaker, but I kind of ignored it. And honestly I'd rather there wasn't a "this is how it is in Japanese" explanation.
Yeah, that struck me as a bit odd, when they flash back to Zero's voice over the speaker, but I kind of ignored it. And honestly I'd rather there wasn't a "this is how it is in Japanese" explanation.
Originally in the Japanese version that was all done over the loud speaker... *end game spoilers*
so you heard it as kyu. However, that leap can't be made nor have it come full circle in the US ver, so instead Chunsoft modified it, per our suggestion, so that everyone found notes in their pockets and Junpei read his.
Also, the note was purposefully written so that the 9 looked very similar to a 'q', but it would cause the reader/Junpei to mistake it for a 9 (like how q was mistaken for kyu). The reason for the flashback of Zero's voice over the speaker was obviously in the Japanese version to show the flashback of what happened. In the US version it was left in so that the player would know it was Zero speaking (via the words on the letter), symbolic if nothing else
Unfortunately, that was one of the major obstacles to overcome in the localization process, so we did the best we could to try and match it for the US audience
Hopefully it worked as intended for the most part.
Is Ever17 worth playing? Or rather worth searching for, since it seems to be out of print. It's written by the same writer who also wrote 999, but the artwork actually looks too cliche animu for my taste. How is the story? Is the translation worthwile?
Edit: Thanks for the explanation! Nice too see how thoughtful you guys were
