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Aksys 4infinity countdown ends tomorrow (7/3), most likely Zero Escape 3

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I'm currently at Anime Expo right now and this is definitely my most anticipated event. Going to line up early to get closest position to mic.

It could either be the 4th infinity game or ZE3, either result would be great for me. I just want more Uchikoshi.
 

takoyaki

Member
Aksys has been totally silent today besides 2 retweets. The calm before the storm.

Yup, if anyone is still trying to solve this thing: Now is the right time to do it!

edit: by which I mean that there probably won't be any more words/letters/numbers added; the single letters could still change into full words though.
 
Sigma is a much better main character, and I liked the puzzles a lot better in VLR but 99 had the better setting.




If it's indeed ZE3 we're getting, by Aksys, this means it will be targeted to Western audience. Even though I loved VLR, 999 had a better atmosphere... but it was toned down in VLR because of the japanese audience. Less gore, less scary etc etc...
 
If it's indeed ZE3 we're getting, by Aksys, this means it will be targeted to Western audience. Even though I loved VLR, 999 had a better atmosphere... but it was toned down in VLR because of the japanese audience. Less gore, less scary etc etc...

am I reading this right? It was toned down because of the Japanese demographic?
 

takoyaki

Member
am I reading this right? It was toned down because of the Japanese demographic?

Spike-Chunsoft wasn't that happy with 999's sales in Japan so they told Uchikoshi that the sequel should be less horror and more sifi. He mentioned this in the Q&A interview he did with Aksys. In the end, VLR sold even worse in Japan and now there's hope that a western-focused sequel will go back to to a combination of the tone of 999 and VLR. But that part is still pure speculation at this point.
 
J

Jotamide

Unconfirmed Member
Tomorrow Aksys better deliver. They've been hyping us for months now!
 
Hope is true, need to know how the story ends.

Spike-Chunsoft wasn't that happy with 999's sales so they told Uchikoshi that the sequel should be less horror and more sifi. He mentioned this in the Q&A interview he did with Aksys. In the end, VLR sold even worse in Japan and now there's hope that a western-focused sequel will go back to a combination of the tone of 999/VLR. But that part is still pure speculation at this point.

Well, I liked more the characters of VLR. They were more likable. 999 has a more intrincate and scary story, but the characters are mostly crap. You can do unlikable characters well, thats sonething that Danganronpa does, but in 999 they were just flat.
And I always thought they misused totally the titanic replica aspect in the story.
Also the puzzles in VLR are much better, more suited to the narrative and better integrated to the gameplay, and do not feel like a freaking maths exams most of the time like 999.
 

takoyaki

Member
Well, I liked more the characters of VLR. They were more likable. 999 has a more intrincate and scary story, but the characters are mostly crap. You can do unlikable characters well, thats sonething that Danganronpa does, but in 999 they were just flat.
And I always thought they misused totally the titanic replica aspect in the story.
Also the puzzles in VLR are much better, more suited to the narrative and better integrated to the gameplay, and do not feel like a freaking maths exams most of the time like 999.

Both games are great, I was mostly talking about the tone/atmosphere. 999 was more horror, VLR was more scifi; I personally preferred horror and thought VLR could have been even better with the tense atmosphere of 999.
 

Thud

Member
If it's indeed ZE3 we're getting, by Aksys, this means it will be targeted to Western audience. Even though I loved VLR, 999 had a better atmosphere... but it was toned down in VLR because of the japanese audience. Less gore, less scary etc etc...

With all the horror Japan produces, that makes it hard to believe.

Corpse Party with the gore, epileptic red flashes and child abuse. It's an unsettling creepy game. That series got its third installment last year in Japan. I don't know how well it does in sales, but it's enough for localisation this year. Maybe because everybody seems to be jumping on the 3D bandwagon.

I think it's just the sales in Japan that ruined it. The sci-fi was a nice change, but the bad endings were mild at best.
 

Korigama

Member
With all the horror Japan produces, that makes it hard to believe.
Uchikoshi specifically went on record saying that VLR was toned down compared to 999 as a result of their marketing department informing them that Japanese consumers avoided the first game because they thought it looked scary.
Kotaro Uchikoshi said:
When we were developing Virtue’s Last Reward, we asked people in Japan who didn’t buy 999 why they didn’t buy it. Most of the answers we got was because it looks scary. One of the decisions made by the higher ups was for the next one make sure to tone it down. I made it more mellow and lessened the tension. That’s why in the first game you explore, but in the second game there was the needle. I didn’t have a choice, but to tone it down.
VLR being watered down is a direct consequence of Spike Chunsoft attempting to pander to the Japanese audience, only to yield even lower sales than 999 even after accounting for a launch on two platforms versus 999's one. They couldn't simply accept the fact that the Western audience embraced the original for what it was and compromised the sequel in hopes of gaining a larger audience, and failed.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
I remember reading that a while back and being sad.
I also find it hard to believe Japan doesn't like a good horror game. I bet that study was flawed.
 

Shouta

Member
I embraced VLR as a sci-fi mystery where 999 was this kind of horror-thriller which is why I was fine with both games. I definitely ended up enjoying VLR more because I wanted to figure out what was going on though.
 

FluxWaveZ

Member
I remember reading that a while back and being sad.
I also find it hard to believe Japan doesn't like a good horror game. I bet that study was flawed.

I dunno, Kazutaka Kodaka stated that a big reason they strayed from the original designs, aesthetic and the red blood for Danganronpa is because the Japanese audience would be too freaked out by it and the game would fail, so they livened it up a bit instead of making the atmosphere too oppressive and disturbing.
 

spinz

Member
999 was a more effective experience for me.. because well.. i went into the game believing and assuming things were the way the game told me. With VLR
i assumed nothing was "real" and everything would be explained with "cuz super physics and stuff". So then the whole game kind of felt like they were just going through the motions to get to that point.
I still had fun with both games though :)
 

daxgame

Member
I embraced VLR as a sci-fi mystery where 999 was this kind of horror-thriller which is why I was fine with both games. I definitely ended up enjoying VLR mire because I wanted to figure out what was going on though.

pretty much. Whatever the reasons, I actually prefer VLR (still like both tho) so I'm okay with the direction.
 

convo

Member
I embraced VLR as a sci-fi mystery where 999 was this kind of horror-thriller which is why I was fine with both games. I definitely ended up enjoying VLR mire because I wanted to figure out what was going on though.

VLR got less horror-like because they thought japanese players would be less likley to buy a gory-kind of game. It had cuts made to make it more savory for the squeamish like the death method of the watches being relatively mild. I read that the creator wants to be more on the darker side of things but some things have to get censored and rewritten .The stuff that got cut would have been really messed up if it made it in the game.
The sequel should have more confidence for more messed up stuff since they know the west likes it.
 

MechaX

Member
This needs to be ZE3.

After that ending in Virtue's Last Reward, this world would be way too unjust if ZE3 doesn't get made.
 

Korigama

Member
I embraced VLR as a sci-fi mystery where 999 was this kind of horror-thriller which is why I was fine with both games. I definitely ended up enjoying VLR mire because I wanted to figure out what was going on though.
While I wanted to figure out what was going on with both games, I kept waiting for the thrill and the adrenaline felt while playing through each path in 999 to kick in for VLR, only for nothing on the same level to ever come. The majority of the tension came from the Ambidex Game, which ultimately only served to make the cast far less sympathetic in VLR by typically having it boil down to "every man for himself" (the characters themselves generally being less interesting and having worse designs didn't help, either). The Chromatic Doors gimmick was also weaker and not as interesting as 999's Digital Root theme. The music was good in both games, but I'd say 999 used its soundtrack much better, particularly when considering the return of Imaginary as a recurring theme (used very well in 999, not so much in VLR).

Uchikoshi's claim that he'll try to make a potential third game closer to 999 in respect to the fear while balancing it with VLR's exploration sounds promising, but I'll be tempering my expectations.
 

grim-tales

Member
VLR got less horror-like because they thought japanese players would be less likley to buy a gory-kind of game. It had cuts made to make it more savory for the squeamish like the death method of the watches being relatively mild. I read that the creator wants to be more on the darker side of things but some things have to get censored and rewritten .The stuff that got cut would have been really messed up if it made it in the game.
The sequel should have more confidence for more messed up stuff since they know the west likes it.

I read a long time ago that for ZE3, Uchikoshi at least wants to combine the horror/fear/dread of 999 with the exploration stuff of VLR. This was back in 2012/13 or so, so who knows what will happen now...
 
What if it came out only for mobile? If it's a full fledged game, unlike the 999 port which was only cutscenes I believe, how would it be received?
 

MegaZeroX

Neo Member
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned in either thread, so sorry if this has already been posted. I was thinking that maybe Gab is referring to the non english abbreviation for transactional analysis? It seems like something that would fit in the ZE series.

I found this idea through this blog.
 
What if it came out only for mobile? If it's a full fledged game, unlike the 999 port which was only cutscenes I believe, how would it be received?

Golden_time_flower_slap_gif_by_paranoxias-d6wv007.gif


don't jynx it!
 

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
What if it came out only for mobile? If it's a full fledged game, unlike the 999 port which was only cutscenes I believe, how would it be received?

Well, there's already quite a few VNs on iOS, so I personally wouldn't mind. With ZE3, it existing somewhere is enough for me - even if its not on my platform of choice.
 

takoyaki

Member
some guesses if there’s an English anagram in there

gobbledygook like in VLR: the quiet cage bird chirps a song of hope for the grim cat at night

instructions: phi accept fight for history, phi go catch spy on moon, honor his big sacrifice, etc.

the possibilities are endless (other language like Latin, groups of words, not all letters are part of the same puzzle,…).

I’m done, you win teaser! Still think there’s an anagram in there, but hey, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 

takoyaki

Member
Takoyaki, which words were used for the anagrams there?

I've tried many different combinations. The one with the bird uses all words with some letters left over, the other three are from grouped words and you can combine parts of them if you use all words.

this is the site I used: http://www.wordplays.com/anagrammer


If you want to give it a try yourself, here's all the words:

ring (s) , coin (l), ice cream (s) , firefighter (r) , shotgun (s) , Gab (s) , 1/216 (s) , CUT-HERE (r) , shift (s), portrait (s), psychopath (l), 50 m (l), C (s), Q (s), D (s)

(s=static, l=left, r=right)

grouped:

static: ring ice cream shotgun Gab [1/216] shift portrait C Q D
left: coin psychopath [50 m]
right: firefighter CUT-HERE


another idea of grouping was chronologically, all before the "-" in CUT-HERE and all after "-" :

group1: ring coin ice cream firefighter shotgun Gab [1/216] CUT
group2: HERE shift portrait psychopath [50 m] C Q D

You could also interpret CUT-HERE as "cut all words after the 3rd letter" and put them in group A, the rest in group B

You could put the 5 static words above the counter in group A, the 5 below in group B, the moving ones in group C

...

Good luck, maybe you'll find something. I will finally watch the rest of Punchline now, the show really gets better around ep. 5/6

edit: people on reddit are still trying to solve it
 

MegaZeroX

Neo Member
Another idea (I thought of this myself).

Maybe 50 m is referring to 50 minutes? Like maybe the ZE3 stuff is 50 minutes into the hour long panel.
 
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