• 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

Korigama

Member
upandaway said:
So here's what I did today.

I got the ending where
Clover gets the axe from the old dude and kills me
. I was a little confused but whatever. Next I tried to do the same thing, only now
I'll give Clover the flower from Santa and always choose options to soap her up (I also talked to her a lot in the old man's room. Same ending. Now I was really confused, and a bit annoyed. There's no reason in what she's doing, at all. At all.

So I tried once more, and chose only things which I hadn't chosen before, and I'm not getting any new doors or puzzles, so I think I did all of them. And I already tried matching different routes and it still gave me the same ending (like I said with Clover), so I dunno what to do next.
And I REALLY don't feel like replaying the game again without getting a new ending.. the only thing worse than redoing the puzzles is redoing them without progressing. I hope I'll find a spoiler-free ending guide somewhere.. anyone here got a tip for me for one nice ending I didn't get yet?

In respect to that, you were
still supposed to give the clover to Clover, but make sure you asked Seven about Ice-9 before that. If you skip that step, then you'll wind up getting the axe ending anyway.
 

upandaway

Member
Yeah that's it, thanks. I didn't do it since I did it the time before that (I just pick white options instinctively now...). It's such a tiny option too... frustrating.

Guess I'll try it again tomorrow when I gather the strength to do the puzzles again.
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
This game is very addicting. I beat it yesterday night after starting it the day before. I started a second playthrough right after and just beat it again. Now it's almost 4 am Sunday morning and I want to go through one more time right now to get the true ending.
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
Just got the true ending. As crazy as the story gets, I can't help but think how silly it is
Akane orchestrated the entire events to get help playing SUDOKU. I get she's young, but it's not even a hard one. I've played tons of Sudoku, so it would have been like a Slumdog Millionaire moment for me. This game further propagates women can't do math.
 

NZNova

Member
NZNova said:
Just picked up this game and Ghost Trick on sale, hopefully I will enjoy them :D

So far this game has been a shitload of talking, one room escape, and another shitload of talking. I fired it up for 30 minutes before bed and spent the entire time pressing A to move through dialogue. Hopefully the actual game starts soon...
 
A Human Becoming said:
Just got the true ending. As crazy as the story gets, I can't help but think how silly it is
Akane orchestrated the entire events to get help playing SUDOKU.
For some reason by boiling things down to this I now like the plot much more! though that's probably because all the craziness became too much for me.
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
Nocturnowl said:
For some reason by boiling things down to this I now like the plot much more! though that's probably because all the craziness became too much for me.

999 nears levels of Metal Gear nonsensical story telling. I still really enjoyed the game, but reading the developer interview Aksys did has spoiled it with the terrible explanations. Lotus especially bothers me.
The fact that she was there just to hack that computer makes her seem like a throwaway character. The only tie she has is one of her kids at least, Nona, was in the first game on Gigantic. I also really dislike the explanation that she wore the belly dancer costume because it was a hobby of hers. Sounds to me like they just wanted to put a bit tits, scantily clad woman in the game. It was never intended for her to end up being Alice either despite their similar appearances, which wouldn't have worked with her programming background anyway. I'd rather she'd actually been Alice honestly.
 
NZNova said:
So far this game has been a shitload of talking, one room escape, and another shitload of talking. I fired it up for 30 minutes before bed and spent the entire time pressing A to move through dialogue. Hopefully the actual game starts soon...

It's a visual novel, dude. It's about 85% reading and 15% gameplay. Don't know what to tell ya.
 

Instro

Member
NZNova said:
So far this game has been a shitload of talking, one room escape, and another shitload of talking. I fired it up for 30 minutes before bed and spent the entire time pressing A to move through dialogue. Hopefully the actual game starts soon...
Theres a good amount of puzzles considering this is a visual novel, and generally that genre has little to no gameplay at all. It picks up more on the gameplay side once you start getting further in, but the game is certainly very story/text heavy so it might be tough if you dont like to read.
 

SmithnCo

Member
It might also be worth noting that the scene where the characters first meet might be one of the longest besides some of the endings... So just stick with it, the puzzles occur more frequently after that.
 
NZNova said:
So far this game has been a shitload of talking, one room escape, and another shitload of talking. I fired it up for 30 minutes before bed and spent the entire time pressing A to move through dialogue. Hopefully the actual game starts soon...

Yeah, with the internet it is really hard to research products before you buy them... oh wait.

You bought a fucking visual novel, and you are surprised that it is mostly talking?
 

Thoraxes

Member
It's weird. I just went down to my kitchen and I saw my mother sitting there with her DSi XL playing through the game for the umpteenth time.

Kinda nice and i'm glad it was a game that helped break her entry to gaming.

She really liked the game a lot, and was surprised and enjoyed the story. Also went over The Answers with her and we chatted for an hour about how all of the story fits together, and I helped answer some questions she had about the story and how it worked too.

GOTY, folks. <3
 

NZNova

Member
Obsessed said:
Yeah, with the internet it is really hard to research products before you buy them... oh wait.

You bought a fucking visual novel, and you are surprised that it is mostly talking?

Hey, no need to be a douche about it. I never said I was surprised. Just that I'm looking forward to getting into the gameplay part. The first room escape was good, I just want more of it. No need to be so defensive about it.


SmithnCo said:
It might also be worth noting that the scene where the characters first meet might be one of the longest besides some of the endings... So just stick with it, the puzzles occur more frequently after that.

Cheers, good to know.
 
NZNova said:
Hey, no need to be a douche about it. I never said I was surprised. Just that I'm looking forward to getting into the gameplay part. The first room escape was good, I just want more of it. No need to be so defensive about it.
Don't worry, there will be much more of it for you...but there will also be even more dialog. Luckily, the story is fantastic, especially the deeper you get into it. The puzzles and escapes are coming, so I think you will be ok with it. I won't say any more than that, but if you get through the game, come back and talk to us about it...
 
This game is godly. Best one of 2010. Anyone who gives this game a mediocre review just isn't really into the genre, I think. It's wonderfully translated and the puzzles are very fun to work through. Best visual novel I've played yet, and I'm an Ace Attorney superfan. I hope Aksys goes back and does Ever17 PSP.
 

Kambing

Member
I am thinking of picking the game up for my 3DS (i don't have a DS) and was wondering if anyone has any experience playing it on the 3DS? I am only worried about the picture quality, you guys don't need to convince me that the game is good, hahaha.
 
Thoraxes said:
It's weird. I just went down to my kitchen and I saw my mother sitting there with her DSi XL playing through the game for the umpteenth time.

Kinda nice and i'm glad it was a game that helped break her entry to gaming.

She really liked the game a lot, and was surprised and enjoyed the story. Also went over The Answers with her and we chatted for an hour about how all of the story fits together, and I helped answer some questions she had about the story and how it worked too.

GOTY, folks. <3
Best post about the game in this thread.

That's really, really awesome.
 

Belisarius

Neo Member
Thoraxes said:
It's weird. I just went down to my kitchen and I saw my mother sitting there with her DSi XL playing through the game for the umpteenth time.

Kinda nice and i'm glad it was a game that helped break her entry to gaming.

She really liked the game a lot, and was surprised and enjoyed the story. Also went over The Answers with her and we chatted for an hour about how all of the story fits together, and I helped answer some questions she had about the story and how it worked too.

GOTY, folks. <3

dragonlife29 said:
Best post about the game in this thread.

That's really, really awesome.

Seconded.
 

Akselziys

Aksys Games Dev.
Thoraxes said:
It's weird. I just went down to my kitchen and I saw my mother sitting there with her DSi XL playing through the game for the umpteenth time.

Kinda nice and i'm glad it was a game that helped break her entry to gaming.

She really liked the game a lot, and was surprised and enjoyed the story. Also went over The Answers with her and we chatted for an hour about how all of the story fits together, and I helped answer some questions she had about the story and how it worked too.

GOTY, folks. <3


dragonlife29 said:
Best post about the game in this thread.

That's really, really awesome.


Belisarius said:
Seconded.


Thirded XD!
 

Tizoc

Member
Anyone know if there is a 'text dump' of the game online?
I want to read what Lotus says about the computer and the human brain, etc.
 

Frost_Ace

Member
Tizoc said:
Anyone know if there is a 'text dump' of the game online?
I want to read what Lotus says about the computer and the human brain, etc.
There is one on gamefaqs, but I don't know if it's complete or not.
 

Crayons

Banned
Can someone explain to me how I get an ending other than the submarine one without spoiling anything? I already got that ending twice. :(
 

Korigama

Member
Crayons said:
Can someone explain to me how I get an ending other than the submarine one without spoiling anything? I already got that ending twice. :(

Never go through door
2
, if intending to avoid the sub ending. It will get you that one every time, no matter what you picked first.
 

Belisarius

Neo Member
Tizoc said:
Anyone know if there is a 'text dump' of the game online?
I want to read what Lotus says about the computer and the human brain, etc.

I think this is the section you're looking for. I pulled it from our master files, so it should be pretty accurate. I removed most of the coding, although I did leave the [PAUSE]s in there. In the game, that's where the test would stop printing until you hit a button.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Finished this yesterday after 3 (long) sittings. I read the answers page at the official site and I'm still skimming through the discussions here and in the spoiler thread but everything I had doubts about is already sorted in my head so I don't have much to add except that it surpassed my expectations and is now in my top 5 adventure/VN games. Happy this got localized and extra happy that it was with a great localization because the translation work will make or break a game like this for me (like it happened with the unfortunate Lux Pain).

The excessive text felt a bit heavy handed to me at the start (colossal starting sequence at the staircase + the narration and characters sometimes going overkill with long or samey comments) but I adjusted quickly and started to enjoy it. I didn't get stuck in any of the puzzles as they were all nicely designed and made sense for the most part, and these days I'm conditioned to not overthink puzzles so it was smooth. Highlighting the exact object or place you click is also something that should be in every point&click.

Akselziys said:
Play it until you pass out! :D
Quoting this old reply by Akselziys because it was exactly what I had going for me in the past 3 days while playing this. Planned sleeping at 11:30pm in the second sitting, ended up passing out at 2am after the
safe end
and then @ 3am the other day after getting the true ending because I just couldn't stop, lol (no problems with
the sudoku puzzle either, super easy and as a seasoned sudoku player I actually loved when it appeared on the computer screen
). The first ending I got was the
coffin one
and after looking at the ending chart's conditions (I started using a chart after I got 4 different endings because even though I don't mind quickly redoing the puzzles, the fast forwarding can get tiring) I found it curious how I did everything I needed for the true ending in my first playthrough aside from
seeing the safe one first
. I'll let it rest for a while and do another playthrough in the future with no speeding up + true ending + knowing all reveals.
 
Glad to hear you liked it so much!

I really agree- the translation was excellent, and the writing was handled in a way that you really didn't want to stop playing. I ended up using a chart for the exact reason you listed, but I didn't feel guilty about it since I had played through almost every ending at that point.
 
9/10, damn good game, one of the best ds games ive ever played


just one question though
was it ace who killed everyone in the sub and knife endings?
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Forgot to say that
the use of the DS dual screens
in the big reveal was just amazing, truly inspired.

Typographenia said:
Glad to hear you liked it so much!

I really agree- the translation was excellent, and the writing was handled in a way that you really didn't want to stop playing. I ended up using a chart for the exact reason you listed, but I didn't feel guilty about it since I had played through almost every ending at that point.
Yep, using a non-spoiler chart at that point also helped me making sure I didn't get the true ending before getting all the bad ones, and saving that one for last made it all the more satisfying.

Black Republican said:
just one question though
was it ace who killed everyone in the sub and knife endings?
Yes. The writer confirmed it and also said
Lotus's missing bracelet
was supposed to hint at that.

Make sure to give this a read, a lot of answers and interesting information: http://www.aksysgames.com/999/answers
 

Gambit

Member
Very late for this thread, but my account hadn't been approved at the time it came out.

Pre-ordered and imported it to Germany. It was my first visual novel and it was an absolutely fantastic experience.

Loved all the characters, the twists and the overall setting.

I am so glad it was translated. Further proof that region-locking is a stupid, stupid idea.
 

jman2050

Member
Oh hey, this thread is still alive. Convenient for me!

I definitely liked the game. The puzzle-solving portions were very good and I think did a good job alleviating the long dialogue drudge many VNs get into. The
Library room and subsequent junk room
were the most epic of the bunch there.

As far as the VN portion goes, there were annoyances. The really really slow text speed is something I never got over, and it just got even more annoying towards the end of the game when you want to keep reading what's going on but have to wait for the text to sloooooowly crawl across the screen. Yeah, sure, take your time, game.

Aside from that, and this isn't really the game's fault but partly mine, is that
I played Ever17 before this, so while 999's particular plot twist was very good, I had trouble getting over the fact that the dude who made the game already did this twist with Ever17, and did it better in that game to boot.

That aside, regarding the true ending:
I love games that use the medium they're on to the fullest, and I think 999 succeeded in this regard as well as Ever17 did. I remember when I first started the game and saw the narration and action on seperate screens that I figured it was just a very economical use of the two screens concept to make the narrative easier to follow, and didn't think anything of it after that. Suddenly establishing at the end that the narration was NOT omniscient was a legitimate "you win game, you win" moment for me.
So yeah, in the end I thought it was a pretty good VN that is propped up by also being a legitimately good game as well. Best of both worlds.

Still, on a final note, I can't be the only one who
burst out laughing when they revealed the final climatic obstacle that would decide the ultimate fate of everyone both past and present was goddamn SUDOKU of all things, can I? The fact that this make perfect sense in the context of the game just makes it funnier really.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Do you guys recommend getting all of the endings? I already got the
knife
ending. I'm wondering if I should go for the
"Safe Ending"
and then the
True Ending
or whether I should go for the
sub or axe
ending.
 

Korigama

Member
It adds much more to the experience to get all of the endings, so I'd definitely recommend getting the
sub and axe
endings first.

EDIT: +1 for the order Javier recommended (as Instro said, not getting the
coffin
ending isn't really a deal breaker, so no need to worry about it if you don't get around to that one).
 

Instro

Member
Trojita said:
Do you guys recommend getting all of the endings? I already got the
knife
ending. I'm wondering if I should go for the
"Safe Ending"
and then the
True Ending
or whether I should go for the
sub or axe
ending.
I'd recommend doing so. It's not necessary but if you want the full story then you should get them all, and then get the
safe and true
endings last. Only one that isn't needed is the
coffin
ending.
 

Javier

Member
Trojita said:
Do you guys recommend getting all of the endings? I already got the
knife
ending. I'm wondering if I should go for the
"Safe Ending"
and then the
True Ending
or whether I should go for the
sub or axe
ending.
You already got the worst ending, so now go in this order:
Axe - Sub - Safe - True. It's all uphill from there.

Even though I finished the game months ago, it's great seeing newcomers to it. Reading other's theories is almost as fun as playing it for the first time.
 

Clott

Member
Just finished it last night!!

I am so glad I finally beat this, finished with the true ending. Am I silly when I think that this is a truly original story? I have never played or read anything quite like it.
 
Top Bottom