• 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.

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward |OT| -- More Hours, More Persons, More Doors

firehawk12

Subete no aware
So I know I asked this probably when the game came out, but after P4G I'm finally convinced to give the game a go... but is it really necessary to play 999? I have it, but the idea of playing through another 20 hour experience just to get to a 20 hour experience really doesn't appeal to me at the moment.

(Considering I'm already 70 hours into P4G :()
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
So I know I asked this probably when the game came out, but after P4G I'm finally convinced to give the game a go... but is it really necessary to play 999? I have it, but the idea of playing through another 20 hour experience just to get to a 20 hour experience really doesn't appeal to me at the moment.

(Considering I'm already 70 hours into P4G :()
It's not necessary but it is a sequel and 999 is worth playing just for itself. VLR's story is enhanced by playing 999 most assuredly.

Keep in mind I got the true ending of 999 in <20 hours. I'm 20 hours into VLR without the true ending in sight.
 
So I know I asked this probably when the game came out, but after P4G I'm finally convinced to give the game a go... but is it really necessary to play 999? I have it, but the idea of playing through another 20 hour experience just to get to a 20 hour experience really doesn't appeal to me at the moment.

(Considering I'm already 70 hours into P4G :()

Yes, it's necessary. Just think of it as a single 40 hour game (though it's probably more like 50-60 since VLR is long).
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Man... of course there would be conflicting answers! lol

Well, P4G is still going to take some time so I'll probably try to make a decision about it soon. It would help if I kept the 3DS version, so the transition from one game to the other wouldn't feel as jarring, but the save bug thing is just too scary... especially for a single slot save system where you're investing dozens of hours.

Patrick Klepek saying that all puzzles in 999 suck doesn't help though. :/
 
Tenmyouji‘s ending ;A;

So far, 999 hasn‘t been an absolute necessity, but I‘ll be damned if it doesn‘t add a lot to the emotional impact.
 
999 will definitely be a necessity by volume 3. Even if you can make a flimsy argument about how you shouldn't play it before VLR, I doubt you'll be able to make that argument by then. At that point, no reason to spoil 999 for yourself by playing VLR first.
 
...I knew it was coming because it was in the intro but WHAT THE HELL

-Things actually start looking bright with Clover finding a way to save whoever gets injected by the watches.

-Clover runs off to find Alice

-...Phi is looking really tired.

-...Oh shit she clearly has the symptons of Radical 6

-I can't find the others

-ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit

-I found them

-...They all suicided

-...Now I suicided too.

-ROLL THE CREDITS

...I swear, Clover has the most fucked up endings.

Edit: Oh god I just chose"betray" to get the rest of the flowchart and now I feel as bad/worse as I did when choosing Door 3 ;A;
 

AwShucks

Member
Didn't get this for Christmas so I grabbed it from the PSN store. About three hours in and I'm enjoying it. Looking forward to getting more info on the characters. Zero's English voice is awesome.
 

Mistle

Member
On the flow chart where it says "Archives: x/10" or whatever, does that mean there's more information I can find in that escape segment?

I'm about 3 hours in and so far the beginning is pretty underwhelming compared to the beginning of 999. But I have faith it'll reach comparable greatness once I progress more :D I'm glad it's a longer game, too.
 
Just realized I’ve played this game for 95 hours.......

i3t6tIPNkaCJa.gif
 

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
Where do you get the
01 bomb
password? I've visited every room in every path, and collected every gold file. All that remains is Phi's ending. Could I have missed something, a hint, or files?

Just realized I’ve played this game for 95 hours.......
How is hat even possible?
 

Mistle

Member
Just finished my first ending.

Phi betrayed me, got 9, to be continued

It saddens me to say but so far this has been really underwhelming compared to what I hoped it to be... It hasn't come close to 999 yet. It only took me like 1 hour to become completely engrossed in 999, but now I'm almost 6 hours in to VLR and completed an ending, and I'm still waiting for it to get kickstarted :/

So far it's all just falling flat to me. The location/setting is very dull (not a fan of most of the rooms looking similar and all connected by identical corridors..), the characters aren't very distinguishable and interesting (upon first play through. I understand there's so much time for them to be fleshed out, but 999's cast was great from first introduction), the writing isn't as sharp (and Sigma is too much of a perv), while i like the graphics i feel the animations arent as expressive as 2D art, there's a great lack of danger , threat and suspense (this may sound weird but I actually liked that 999 was kind of gorey- suited the themes). In my first play through, VLR had nothing that truly made me worry or care.
Some of the puzzles have been questionable too, but so were the ones in 999, so I can deal with that I guess lol.

I really want to love this game so of course I haven't given up yet. There's definitely been glimmers of greatness that give me hope for the rest of the game! :D But the fact I've gone through a playthrough underwhelmed, lowers my expectations quite a bit.

So now that I've gone through an ending, do I just chose AB rooms on the flow chart and aim for different endings? Simple as that? Kind of anticlimactic that I can just go back to the previous AB room and choose a different answer straight away, haha. But heaps more efficient so I'm thankful.
 
^
If it said "To be continued" then that wasn't an ending. You'll have to get back there later when you have more info from other routes.

So yeah, go do that.
 

Mistle

Member
^
If it said "To be continued" then that wasn't an ending. You'll have to get back there later when you have more info from other routes.

So yeah, go do that.
oooh ok! That makes sense. No wonder that ending kind of just, happened.

Re-reading my post, it sounds way more negative than I intended. Guess that happens when you do a con list and not a pro ^^' There's definitely pros to the game and I'm excited to progress. I'll hold off any reservations until I finish the game from now on.
 

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
I just Platinum'd the game and now my head is full of fuck.

It'll take me some time to put my thought in order to evaluate the game, but put simply after a great start, followed by a bit of dragging middle riddled with twists I was able to predict, I'm glad the game ended on a strong note.

Now to go back and read all the secret files.
 

Mistle

Member
Now to go back and read all the secret files.
Should I not be reading the secret files until finishing the game?

In fact, does a resource exist that kind of explains the mechanics of the game, without any spoilers? I seem to have a lot of questions about how it works ^^' doesn't really explain anything in-game. Or maybe I'm being overly cautious in getting the "best" experience.
 

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
I personally felt it was best to leave them for last, as did a few others it seems. The game hands them to you mid game, so in theory they shouldn't mar the experience, but I found it introducing some concepts and terms way before their due.
 

Mistle

Member
Lucky I asked then, because I would have read them willingly. So just avoid everything in the "Secret" folder I guess. I assume they give hints to the overall plot that are better left undiscovered?

So if I were to 100% the game, it's a matter of getting all the archives in each room, and of course going through all the paths? And what's the difference between gold and silver files, does each room have one or the other? I have 6/8 in the very first escape segment, but I got the secret file, so I'm not sure what the other 2 things could be. Can you get all the archives first time every time, or do you have to go back to get some?

And lastly, I should be able to progress through the game without any guides, no? The game gives enough hints and such for me to figure out the correct path on my own? Is there any specific path I should avoid until the very end? (For example, in 999 I purposely left the safe and true endings for last).

These are the only things that are on my mind at the moment. I should be good to just enjoy the game from now on if I figure those things out :p sorry for all the questions.
I've also gathered from this thread that once in the PEC room, I should just play it and not save, as to avoid crashing my file...
 

Jintor

Member
Gold files are the secret files. Silver files... I don't know what silver files are, I assume just the exit code. You're missing 2 normal archives, so that's two things in the room that get added to your archive folder. You can get all the archives in one through.

The game will funnel you by itself and will require you through the lock system to finish certain paths in relative order, so just play and relax, you can't stumble out of order unless you google some stuff.

Have a nice Treachery.
 
If you're playing 3DS, yeah, don't save there or other escape rooms to be safe. So far, I don't think the order really matters since the game itself locks you out of continuing certain routes until you see something for yourself anyways.


Anyway's, K ending...

God damn it, this is the Submarine ending all over again. If Quark is in cryo, Dio really only killed the old lady, K only killed Dio since he has an alibi otherwise, Alice and Luna are dead, Tenmyouji and Clover are handcuffed, and Phi and I didn't kill anyone, the what the fuck is going on
 

Mistle

Member
Thanks for the quick answers!

I must have misread the explanation of silver/gold files, thus the confusion lol. I swear I got the
third memory card
in the first escape room, but maybe I forgot to actually get the gold files or something stupid like that ^^' thus the 2 missing archives.
EDIT: ah! You get silver files if you're in easy mode. I didn't switch to easy mode o_O must have done it accidentally or something. Ah well, at least I know what went wrong then.

I'll just play the game now, good to know it's got a much better system for progressing through the different endings than 999 (even if there was a narrative reason for multiple playthroughs in 999 >_>) . Look forward to just playing it from now on instead of questioning if I'm doing things "right".
 

Jintor

Member
I'm waiting for your first breakdown when you start exploring alternate paths and realising exactly what that entails

just don't do what some god damn idiots (sorry but it's true) in this thread have done and try and google solutions before they're obvious
 
You mean
like the lion eating the sun password screen? It's weird they didn't outright lock that until you got both the ID and password. I'm trying to find the password now.
 

Mistle

Member
Haha yeah I know my negativity in my post before is going to come back and bite me once the game opens up and I start loving it. But hey, that's what I want to happen!

And nah, trust me I won't be googling anything.
 

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
Gold files are the secret files. Silver files... I don't know what silver files are, I assume just the exit code.
Silver files are what you get instead of Gold files if you were playing on easy, iirc. I'm unsure of how different the contents are, though.
 

Mistle

Member
So I
just did the path to the very right of the flowchart. Surprised to see Phi's answer changed! For a moment I was annoyed it didn't match the results of the other path, but soon realised that's all part of the game. Then I re-did the path second from the right, and it allowed me to progress further than previously. Starting to learn all about the parallel worlds theory and how some of their memories can exist in multiple worlds, how future choices effect the past, quantum physics, etc. and all the the different information you get on that path. Gotta say, it's getting interesting now! :D These are the sort of themes I expect from a Zero Escape game lol.

Anyone else think it's kind of provoked by the game that these would be the first two paths that you experience? Because I just chose answers that my partners suggested and it lead me here. I'm sure a lot of other people wouldn't go against the grain on their first play through either.

Anyway, I won't be doing a commentary after every segment I play haha. I'll probably start avoiding this thread from now on just to be safe, actually. I just wanted to acknowledge that I'm liking where the game is headed now... Even though I'm sure I have no idea :D
 

Hansel?

Neo Member
Alright GAF, you guys haven't let me down yet but I'll ask here even though it's not technically about Virtue's Last Reward. My backlog is nothing but DS/3DS. I had recently finished Kingdom Hearts 3D and had decided to make Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask my next choice (it is my very first Layton game) followed by 999. Problem is I'm having a very hard time enjoying Layton with how much reading is involved and what feels like so few puzzles in between (I'm currently ~40 puzzles in). I kind of just went in expecting puzzle after puzzle, and it really ends up dragging for me. I will finish Layton though just because I have to finish each game I start.

My question is will 999 be the same? If so, is the story THAT incredible that I won't mind all the reading? I've read through pretty much all of the 999 threads, including LTTP, but I feel like this question is a bit more specific to my own interests/enjoyment.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

EDIT: I guess to clarify, I don't necessarily have an issue with "all the reading." I guess I just expected a puzzle genre game with a story to have a bit better pacing? If 999 is similar, then maybe this just isn't for me.
 

hao chi

Member
My question is will 999 be the same? If so, is the story THAT incredible that I won't mind all the reading? I've read through pretty much all of the 999 threads, including LTTP, but I feel like this question is a bit more specific to my own interests/enjoyment.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

EDIT: I guess to clarify, I don't necessarily have an issue with "all the reading." I guess I just expected a puzzle genre game with a story to have a bit better pacing? If 999 is similar, then maybe this just isn't for me.

999 is closer to being a visual novel than it is a puzzle game. Though the story is very well done (my favorite in any game, in fact), so I think it's definitely worth playing.
 

Hansel?

Neo Member
I appreciate all the replies. I actually had no idea there was a flash demo of it online. Just finished with that and based off it, it felt more like a point and click adventure than a real puzzle game. Since that's one of my personal fav genres, 999 should be just fine. Far more fun in that demo than the entire Layton game so far.
 
Alright GAF, you guys haven't let me down yet but I'll ask here even though it's not technically about Virtue's Last Reward. My backlog is nothing but DS/3DS. I had recently finished Kingdom Hearts 3D and had decided to make Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask my next choice (it is my very first Layton game) followed by 999. Problem is I'm having a very hard time enjoying Layton with how much reading is involved and what feels like so few puzzles in between (I'm currently ~40 puzzles in). I kind of just went in expecting puzzle after puzzle, and it really ends up dragging for me. I will finish Layton though just because I have to finish each game I start.

My question is will 999 be the same? If so, is the story THAT incredible that I won't mind all the reading? I've read through pretty much all of the 999 threads, including LTTP, but I feel like this question is a bit more specific to my own interests/enjoyment.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

EDIT: I guess to clarify, I don't necessarily have an issue with "all the reading." I guess I just expected a puzzle genre game with a story to have a bit better pacing? If 999 is similar, then maybe this just isn't for me.

I do not like to read. I love 999 and VLR.
 

corn_fest

Member
I don't share the concern about waiting to finish the game before looking at the hidden files. That's what I did, based on GAF's advice, and it was really a let down. I didn't notice any of the files giving away any major plot points. In fact, they were all pretty boring.
 

Roubjon

Member
I don't share the concern about waiting to finish the game before looking at the hidden files. That's what I did, based on GAF's advice, and it was really a let down. I didn't notice any of the files giving away any major plot points. In fact, they were all pretty boring.

I've got to agree with this. I read the gold files as I first received them and they never spoiled anything for me ever. They just brought up interesting points.
 
Okay vlr theory time, bear with me cause Ive only gotten bad endings, to be continueds, dios ending and tenmyoujis ending.
I think everyone in the facility has been cryo sleep for at least forty years, the pandemic did happen and it isnt 2028. Tenmyouji is junpei based off his interactions with clover and how he trusts her with such conviction, his pose resembling junpeis cover pose, him having a picture of akane and saying hes been looking for her for a long time and his reaction to the old womans death. Which brings me to my next point, the old woman is akane based off tenmyoujis reaction and looking at akanes picture when near the body, and also based off ks backstory dump, the old woman was in love with someone. Theres also the facility and nonary game, I think some of these people are from the future like ten and dio while others are from 2028 like sigma and clover. I think the game is being played to trigger the morphogentic field and send the axelavir formula to thw past so the pandemic doesnt happen creating a new timeline.

How close am i? A simple yes or no.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I am playing the game without 999 and really enjoying it so far. The writing is great and the VA is awesome, but man, the aesthetics are just wrong. Every character looks utterly out of place, except Sigma and the old fart and Phi. Alice is completely embarrassing. I could never even imagine where she got what she has on. Maybe a jewelry store or like Home Depot.

I have 100%'d 999 and am now playing VLR, I'm about 5 hours in, I've cleared a pretty decent swath of the right end of the tree but keep getting blocked. So far I agree with your complaint and I'd add another complaint--I think the localization is really really troublesome. I don't care if Sigma is a perv, some of these conversations border on nonsense because Sigma is a perv and they can't stop telling people. I don't care if Sigma has a Cat tic and Zero III is programmed to be a bunny, it's genuinely not interesting to read people talking nonsense. I don't care if Zero III is supposed to be taunting the players, the name puns are terrible. It's a huge drag on the writing. I'd also add that Tenmyouji is not visually Japanese, and nothing about his character so far has been Japanese, so I feel like it's an unfortunate localization decision not to change his name. Junpei and Akane, of course, had Japanese names as well, of course, so I can't say I'm consistent in terms of my frustration about that. I also noticed that the trees in the botanical garden, despite not being particularly Japanese looking, are described in-game as being Japanese. Based on Sigma's flash forwards, the game doesn't take place in Japan (
presumably it takes place on the Moon?
) so again, I feel like they sort of went for translation over localization.

Oh, also, I got to the point where both
___Quark___
and
___Alice___
are
infected by Radical-6, and the group finds exactly one bottle of anti-viral solution. There appears to be enough medicine for both, but the group stands slack-jawed because the needle gun they have will use the whole bottle, so how can they possibly administer it to both?
I'm not sure if this is just the localization text being shitty or if a subsequent plot development will explain more, but why couldn't they just
Get an empty bottle from one of the many rooms, pour half the medicine into the empty bottle, inject the first person, take the newly empty bottle and pour the rest of the medicine back in, inject the second person
? Something must be missing in the text that a room full of adults couldn't propose that?
 
Top Bottom