A few strangers are locked up in a bizarre construction of puzzle rooms. They have to work together and solve math puzzles to progress and to survive. Each of the puzzle rooms has a trap that kills them if they mess up.
Battle Royale (film/book/manga):
Bunch of teenagers are dropped on an island and forced to kill eachother. They all have neck collars that explode if they don't follow the rules of the game.
Triangle (film):
Thriller/horror film with a time loop aboard an abandoned ocean liner.
There's plenty more films, games and tv shows that have featured
time loops
and life-or-death social experiments. So no, I wouldn't call 999's story very original, but it's creative in how it combines these elements together and how they manage to tie it into the gameplay in some way.
what I really found about the story refreshing, was its mind fucks based on seemingly true sci-fi theories and how it did manage to blend them into the story without leaving you feeling stupid. The story was really intelligent, not only compared to 99% of game stories, to say the least it was leagues better that the mind fuck inception tried to offer.
A few strangers are locked up in a bizarre construction of puzzle rooms. They have to work together and solve math puzzles to progress and to survive. Each of the puzzle rooms has a trap that kills them if they mess up.
Battle Royale (film/book/manga):
Bunch of teenagers are dropped on an island and forced to kill eachother. They all have neck collars that explode if they don't follow the rules of the game.
Triangle (film):
Thriller/horror film with a time loop aboard an abandoned ocean liner.
There's plenty more films, games and tv shows that have featured
time loops
and life-or-death social experiments. So no, I wouldn't call 999's story very original, but it's creative in how it combines these elements together and how they manage to tie it into the gameplay in some way.
Wasn't really thinking of the being trapped aspect, more of the twist
The second game being a set up to save someone from the past, someone that was supposed to die in the original, the whole "collective field" and the experiments, plus the Titanic and a mummy being in the mix, the whole "trapped in a room with puzzles has been around for ages tho....
what I really found about the story refreshing, was its mind fucks based on seemingly true sci-fi theories and how it did manage to blend them into the story without leaving you feeling stupid. The story was really intelligent, not only compared to 99% of game stories, to say the least it was leagues better that the mind fuck inception tried to offer.
I just finished playing the game. It was fun but after I while I felt that the story was too complex and there were too many plot twists. It reminded me of Hotel Dusk where the answers to all the questions are
about an event that happened in the past in the game that you and the main character have no idea about and of course everyone is lying or withholding information about it and throughout the game you get some clues until the end where there is the big reveal when they finally explain everything.
It was also annoying to have to play through the game multiple times, even though there is an in-game reason for that. They should've at least let you skip to the main decision points rather than making you scroll through all the text.
There's an excellent FAQ on the official webpage that basically answers all the questions and it's a good read, however even the writer/director admits that some things in the game don't make sense, like why
Seven has memory loss, why all the present time photos of the players are on the cards in the warehouse and why Lotus is in the game.
There are some other plot holes as well and you can tell he bit off a little bit more than he could chew with the script.
Also, the explanation for how Zero set up the whole game is pretty ridiculous
When you talk to Santa in one of the rooms he mentions about how he played the stock market and got rich because he knew that the Pharmaceutical company would invent that drug that would make them rich and he knew this because of June's thoughts from the past, or something like that. So apparently he made so much money investing that he created an organization that built the replica of the Nonary game from 9 years ago and set the whole thing up to save his sister.
:facepalm
And as a side note, in real life the ship called the Gigantic was the proposed name for the ship that became the RMS Brittanic and was sunk in the Aegean sea by German landmines (in the game they say it went aground in a shoal after being damaged).
Just picked this up over the weekend... sitting outside on the beach, DS in hand...
About to get the first ending, I think, but I will eventually go for all 6. I can't wait to see what happens. My first experience with the "visual novel" genre, and now I really want to play Steins;Gate. Only complaint is the puzzles are FAR too easy, but that could be because I'm a veteran of Myst and the Sierra games.
I rented 999 from a friend and finished it with all endings, fantastic game! The last time i realy finished a ds game was when i played Time Hollow. Are there more games like this?! Any recommendations?
I don't know, maybe because of translating it to other languages and the fact that games don't sell as much in EU as in the US? One translation, more sales, less effort.
Or they just hate us!(jk)
I don't know, maybe because of translating it to other languages and the fact that games don't sell as much in EU as in the US? One translation, more sales, less effort.
Or they just hate us!(jk)
professor layton games and ace attorney, if i am not mistaken, have sold very well in europe. Adventure genre is pretty popular , at least, in france and germany, much more than in the us.
However, I believe translation really needed to be top notch. maybe they lacked the resource for this.
So basically Junpei received the information to succeed in the True Route from an alternate history "Your previous safe run-through", was the information relayed through Safe walkthrough Junpei or Akane?
Basically Akane had to setup the second Nonary Game as Zero with Aoi's help in order for the timeline to be complete and help her past self, by having Junpei guide her in the present?
Did Akane actually disappear for real, or did she leave while no one was looking? I assume that if she disappeared for real, she reappeared in the time line and left with Aoi.
Do you guys think Seven was in on it with Akane and Aoi? Do you think he was just faking his memory loss, or did that really happen?
Do you think Snake was in on the plan too?
Why was Ace with them at the end? Did Aoi just leave him tied up on the exit.
I figured something was going on when I realized the Gigantic already blew up and sunk into the ocean, so what the hell were they on? Of course it ended up being Site Q in Nevada
Which of the watches didn't have detonators? Just Junpei's, Lotus', Seven's, Santa's, June's, Clover's, and Snake's?
Who was Lotus?
That ending was pretty funny. I assume that was Alice? At first I was looking at her and thinking, what is Lotus doing out of the car with less clothes on? Why does she know how to hitch a ride? lol
I still don't understand how Alice would have been removed from the Egyptian Temple and dragged through the desert without the ice-9 melting. Only thing I can think of is that they got her coffin out of the temple and got it through the dessert at night, when it is cooler.
That last puzzle had me looking at it for a few seconds, but once I realized what I needed to do, it was pretty fun.
How are they going to back to Japan or wherever they live? I'm guessing they would need a passport and some excuse as to how they got into the country. It would look odd having a guy tied up in the back of the car. I'm guessing since they had the video tape of Ace killing the Captain on satellite feed around the world, they can easily drop him off without any problems. I assume Clover and Snake know English and Akane and Aoi must have some connections or money to get people transported all the way to America.
So basically Junpei received the information to succeed in the True Route from an alternate history "Your previous safe run-through", was the information relayed through Safe walkthrough Junpei or Akane?
Basically Akane had to setup the second Nonary Game as Zero with Aoi's help in order for the timeline to be complete and help her past self, by having Junpei guide her in the present?
Did Akane actually disappear for real, or did she leave while no one was looking? I assume that if she disappeared for real, she reappeared in the time line and left with Aoi.
Do you guys think Seven was in on it with Akane and Aoi? Do you think he was just faking his memory loss, or did that really happen?
Do you think Snake was in on the plan too?
Why was Ace with them at the end? Did Aoi just leave him tied up on the exit.
I figured something was going on when I realized the Gigantic already blew up and sunk into the ocean, so what the hell were they on? Of course it ended up being Site Q in Nevada
Which of the watches didn't have detonators? Just Junpei's, Lotus', Seven's, Santa's, June's, Clover's, and Snake's?
Who was Lotus?
That ending was pretty funny. I assume that was Alice? At first I was looking at her and thinking, what is Lotus doing out of the car with less clothes on? Why does she know how to hitch a ride? lol
I still don't understand how Alice would have been removed from the Egyptian Temple and dragged through the desert without the ice-9 melting. Only thing I can think of is that they got her coffin out of the temple and got it through the dessert at night, when it is cooler.
That last puzzle had me looking at it for a few seconds, but once I realized what I needed to do, it was pretty fun.
How are they going to back to Japan or wherever they live? I'm guessing they would need a passport and some excuse as to how they got into the country. It would look odd having a guy tied up in the back of the car. I'm guessing since they had the video tape of Ace killing the Captain on satellite feed around the world, they can easily drop him off without any problems. I assume Clover and Snake know English and Akane and Aoi must have some connections or money to get people transported all the way to America.
I started this again after stopping for a while earlier this year. I'm still very early in the game, but just out of curiosity how long is the whole thing?
I started this again after stopping for a while earlier this year. I'm still very early in the game, but just out of curiosity how long is the whole thing?
Have you completed a playthrough yet? The first time through takes about 7-8 hours (maybe longer) depending on how fast you read and solve the puzzles.
Subsequent playthroughs (which are a must) take about 2-3 hours, with the "final" playthrough being a bit longer.
Well, you can't get the "true" ending on your first time, the least amount of playthroughs it takes to unlock it is two, but that depends on what ending you get on the first finish. (More information would be considered spoilers.)
I personally recommend seeing all 6 endings, as this game utilizes the multiple endings mechanic is a way that I've never seen any other game before attempt. You will say WOW.
Seven has memory loss, why all the present time photos of the players are on the cards in the warehouse and why Lotus is in the game.
There are some other plot holes as well and you can tell he bit off a little bit more than he could chew with the script.
Also, the explanation for how Zero set up the whole game is pretty ridiculous
When you talk to Santa in one of the rooms he mentions about how he played the stock market and got rich because he knew that the Pharmaceutical company would invent that drug that would make them rich and he knew this because of June's thoughts from the past, or something like that. So apparently he made so much money investing that he created an organization that built the replica of the Nonary game from 9 years ago and set the whole thing up to save his sister.
is playing along with both Akane and Santa: he's just faking his memory loss, which is understandable since he's already connected with their plight due to his involvement many years ago.
As for Santa
and Akane creating a replica.... To my understanding the place they're in is not a replica--it's the real place where the Pharma company made their experiments a long time ago so it's not like they both bought and built the place from the ground up. And the Pharma company went bankrupt anyways, right? So it's not so necessarily too out there seeing a rich Santa can get a hold of that place.
Are you into narratives and story depth? If so, you will love this. I REALLY hate playing games solely for the story, and I rarely replay games once I beat them, but I made the exception with this one. Shit was just that damn good, and actually warranted playthroughs with new content. Hard to explain without spoiling it, so Ill leave you to it. Just saying, I almost gave up on it since i caught a slight annoyance in the beginning, but DAMN, does it pick up...
Just started playing this after seeing all the GAF hype. Hope it doesn't disappoint. It's alright so far. I'm used to batshit insane(ly awesome) visual novels like Umineko and Higurashi.
Got this game the other day, and LOVE IT! Junpei is a great character, and he's a nice player avatar too...although, I'm a 21 year-old college student like he is, so...haha. So far I've got three endings...
The first one I got was the coffin ending and, damn, the constant pounding on the coffin as the TO BE CONTINUED pops up just freaked me out. A great ending, although it left me with a lot of unanswered questions...
Second one, following Preview B, was the Safe Ending...and for some reason I thought this was the true ending at first. I liked Ace, so seeing him end up being a villain was a bit upsetting, but I loved how they used propagnosia as a plot point. And the scene with Snake was sad...although, after playing a certain game, it comes across as a bit cheesy when Junpei screams "Snake! SNAAAAAAAAAAKE!" And then the ending when Akane dissapears...whoa.
I was following Preview A, but ended up with the bad ending with Clover axeing me. What did I do wrong? The only thing I can think of is I didn't talk to Seven about ice-9, and thus never learned about All-ice, but is one dialog choice really that important?
Got this game the other day, and LOVE IT! Junpei is a great character, and he's a nice player avatar too...although, I'm a 21 year-old college student like he is, so...haha. So far I've got three endings...
The first one I got was the coffin ending and, damn, the constant pounding on the coffin as the TO BE CONTINUED pops up just freaked me out. A great ending, although it left me with a lot of unanswered questions...
Second one, following Preview B, was the Safe Ending...and for some reason I thought this was the true ending at first. I liked Ace, so seeing him end up being a villain was a bit upsetting, but I loved how they used propagnosia as a plot point. And the scene with Snake was sad...although, after playing a certain game, it comes across as a bit cheesy when Junpei screams "Snake! SNAAAAAAAAAAKE!" And then the ending when Akane dissapears...whoa.
I was following Preview A, but ended up with the bad ending with Clover axeing me. What did I do wrong? The only thing I can think of is I didn't talk to Seven about ice-9, and thus never learned about All-ice, but is one dialog choice really that important?
Without going into too much detail, there are two discussion points that you must chose correctly during the "Preview A" path to not have Clover kill you. One is the ice-9 discussion with Seven. You might want to do some of the other endings first since the "Preview A" path will lead you to the true ending.
Without going into too much detail, there are two discussion points that you must chose correctly during the "Preview A" path to not have Clover kill you. One is the ice-9 discussion with Seven. You might want to do some of the other endings first since the "Preview A" path will lead you to the true ending.
Yes getting the clover from Santa is the other one, and yeah I guess you need to talk to Akane about ice-9 as well. I haven't played the game in quite a while so I'm a little foggy, but those two plus the all-ice discussion with Seven should be correct.
Anyway, as Technomancer mentioned, I would totally recommend getting the other endings before doing the true one. There's quite a bit of extra story explained, at the very least make sure you have visited rooms 1-8 before doing the true ending to get the full story effect.
I think i'm missing something when looking for Snake. The search is pointless since snake is behind door 3, so maybe some conversations are the ones that open new paths.
