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[grimshawish]

I just took it the punning was to connect Sigma and Junior. I was also suspicious at his 'since he was young' line. Also the characters not looking Japanese does fit to me, I took them to be more international. I mean Luna is enough to tell you their not all Japanese descent.

I think the only one who is I would say was, is Sigma.

On the spoiler bit:

Spoiler

I had a few moments like that and did think it when they were in that room; but I took it they needed the full vial - its a single anti-viral.

I think a lot of this is less what is being translated but how the story is being told.

Spoiler

I think almost like a clue thats presented as fact 'you can only help one' of them.

Whether thats the translation or the original I've no idea.

Not played 999 but I'm really enjoying my experience with the game so far.
Its interesting how the different paths differ and I'm trying to work things out in my head.

Lot of information to take in. Won't even put my suspicions in spoiler tags as their involving multiple paths so some people will surely be spoiler. Kind of following the logic though. A few 'did that really happen like that?' moments too.

EDIT: I have to say I'd love more games like this on the 3DS. In fact I'd say their the most marketable 'mature' games possible to bring to the system.
I just played it as I waited to cook dinner yesterday; I was so engrossed; when usually you can't do that with a more 'live' game if your stopping/starting all the time.

 

[Crash Station]

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 (

Spoiler

presumably it takes place on the Moon?

) so again, I feel like they sort of went for translation over localization.

Everyone in 999 was Japanese.

Just keep playing.

Oh, also, I got to the point where both

Spoiler

___Quark___

and

Spoiler

___Alice___

are

Spoiler

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

Spoiler

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?

Spoiler

They need to administer the entire bottle either way. That's what it takes to combat the thing.

 

[Acquiescence]

Alright, this is unexpected. I am going through on my first run and have stuck to the left as much as possible on the flow chart (not intentionally of course, it just worked out that way). It was the shortest route on there, so I thought I was heading toward some really abrupt conclusion, but then a shit load more placements or novel/escape blocks or whatever appeared. What is the reasoning behind this? Does the same happen for a lot of other different routes on the chart as well?

 

[Jinfash]

It'll happen a few more times, but not to every route. The reasoning isn't so clear, aside from surprising the player with more delightful content.

 

[SolarKnight]

Saving Dio‘s ending until the last possible moment had to be the best thing I could do. Because of that, rather than having his twist come pretty much out of nowhere, it was much more satisfying when it finally clicked just what the twist was from putting together all of the hints and info from all other routes.

Btw, which was the infamous dice puzzle? Becaus I just did two that involve dice and didn‘t think either of them was that bad :T

 

[PurpleMaster]

Saving Dio‘s ending until the last possible moment had to be the best thing I could do. Because of that, rather than having his twist come pretty much out of nowhere, it was much more satisfying when it finally clicked just what the twist was from putting together all of the hints and info from all other routes.

Btw, which was the infamous dice puzzle? Becaus I just did two that involve dice and didn‘t think either of them was that bad :T

I think that the infamous one is in the last room.
The other one is in the Archives, but it isn't that bad...

 

[grimshawish]

Only puzzle I have really disliked is the food nutritional one.
Two back buttons and a heavy archive lean its just painful to get through.

 

[Busaiku]

Everyone in 999 was Japanese.

Just keep playing.

Not Alice!

 

[toastyToast]

Zero III is hilarious

I was wondering, with the Amidex Game

Spoiler

is there any reason to not always pick betray? Do the characters get pissed off going forward?

 

[SmithnCo]

Zero III is hilarious

I was wondering, with the Amidex Game

Spoiler

is there any reason to not always pick betray? Do the characters get pissed off going forward?

Yes, they do. All part of the fun.

 

[SolarKnight]

I think that the infamous one is in the last room.
The other one is in the Archives, but it isn't that bad...

I just finished the one at the end a while ago. Fuck that puzzle with a chainsaw, that was too needlessly complicated :|



Anyways, just finished everything except like 2 game overs that I just couldn't bring myself to get. My mind is full of fuck and my heart is huge mix of emotions. In the end, 999 wasn't really required to understand the overall plot, but if you don't play it it's just IMPOSSIBLE to fully appreciate and to get the emotional impact of the most important twists. (True ending spoilers)

Spoiler

Akane's hologram in the Q room made me pretty damn sad, and the realization that Phi and I could decide Akane's fate and prevent her murder almost made me shed a couple of tears of happiness.

The game just can't get feelings out of you like that without 999.


I'll join you people in the spoiler topic as soon as my internet connection gets stable again.

 

[toastyToast]

Yes, they do. All part of the fun.

I would have found out if I played another 5 minutes :lol

Spoiler

I chose Ally the first time around. Why did you betray me Alice?

(999 Spoiler)

Spoiler

I'm confused as hell at how Alice has integrated so well over the course of 3 years. I imagine I'll find out eventually, right?

Also, what the hell is Alice wearing? I thought Lotus was bad

 

[Red_taiyaki]

Also, what the hell is Alice wearing? I thought Lotus was bad

The real question is: how does it manage to stay on through the course of the entire game?

 

[XiaNaphryz]

The real question is: how does it manage to stay on through the course of the entire game?

Spoiler

Lunar gravity obviously!

 

[Red_taiyaki]

Man that

Spoiler

Luna

ending....

Finally an arc that reaches some of the lofty heights of the individual routes in Ever 17....

Spoiler

But yah, her ending reminds me a lot of Sora's from E17 mixed with a bit of Planetarian.

 

[Yuripaw]

So I finally just finished every ending of 999. Got the true ending on my second playthrough, so the rest were just out of curiosity. I already got a copy of VLR, and I am wondering without specifics...does this game directly relate to the events of 999? It seems so different, with the exception of having Clover in it, and it's another Nonary Game, it looks really different from 999.

I don't think I'm ready to start it up right away, but I am really curious if this story sheds some light on the events following after 999, or if it has any connection to some of the characters besides Clover. Don't need details, just a heads up.

 

[Roubjon]

So I finally just finished every ending of 999. Got the true ending on my second playthrough, so the rest were just out of curiosity. I already got a copy of VLR, and I am wondering without specifics...does this game directly relate to the events of 999? It seems so different, with the exception of having Clover in it, and it's another Nonary Game, it looks really different from 999.

I don't think I'm ready to start it up right away, but I am really curious if this story sheds some light on the events following after 999, or if it has any connection to some of the characters besides Clover. Don't need details, just a heads up.

Spoiler

Yeah, it does.

 

[toastyToast]

I went for the rightmost tree to start off and all the non-bad endings are locked

Am I supposed to be jumping around between the main branches? I kind of exhausted myself going through the same very similar options and not really getting anywhere significant.

Then again, I also played for like 10 hours in the space of 2 days.

 

[SmithnCo]

I went for the rightmost tree to start off and all the non-bad endings are locked

Am I supposed to be jumping around between the main branches? I kind of exhausted myself going through the same very similar options and not really getting anywhere significant.

Then again, I also played for like 10 hours in the space of 2 days.

Yeah, I'd say just start jumping around to whatever interests you, and where there are unopened forks in the timeline.

 

[Mistle]

I went for the rightmost tree to start off and all the non-bad endings are locked

Am I supposed to be jumping around between the main branches? I kind of exhausted myself going through the same very similar options and not really getting anywhere significant.

Then again, I also played for like 10 hours in the space of 2 days.

Haha, I've done the exact same thing as you. About to start some other branches now, I guess randomly!
Once I start a branch however I feel a need to complete everything in that specific area.. I guess as it's all fresh. I didn't really feel exhausted of it, I got a lot of new information out of the similar paths. The skip option makes it rather hassle free. Thank god you don't have to repeat puzzles like in 999!

Do the black "Lock" icons on the flow chart turn green once I am able to progress further, as an indication? Or do they only turn green afterwards, once I take it upon myself to try and progress?

 

[toastyToast]

Haha, I've done the exact same thing as you. About to start some other branches now, I guess randomly!
Once I start a branch however I feel a need to complete everything in that specific area.. I guess as it's all fresh. I didn't really feel exhausted of it, I got a lot of new information out of the similar paths. The skip option makes it rather hassle free. Thank god you don't have to repeat puzzles like in 999!

Do the black "Lock" icons on the flow chart turn green once I am able to progress further, as an indication? Or do they only turn green afterwards, once I take it upon myself to try and progress?

Once its green it means you can progress. I got 2 locks to break but a couple novel segments later I was locked out again lol

Now I've gone with Luna through the cyan door and I'm

Spoiler

mixing drinks in the Lounge

Either I'm missing something or this kind of confusing

 

[Jintor]

They'll turn green when you have the information available to you (that is, you've 'unlocked' them by playing other paths).

 

[Platy]

So ... shall we still have hope for a 3DS demo ?

 

[ACESmkII]

About nine hours in and I am absolutely loving the story, characters etc but some of these puzzles have made me feel pretty stupid and frustrated.

Spoiler

rotating nozzles, colored tree root, and unlocking box with colored dice weight (getting the weight of the dice was easy but I had to search about multiplying before adding

I am currently playing on hard. Does switching the difficulty make the puzzles a little more enjoyable?

My favorite puzzle so far...

Spoiler

rotating the dice

 

[SolarKnight]

Changing the difficulty only makes it so that the other characters give you hints when you "fail." Still, I would recommend not switching difficulties so that you can get all the gold files without having to repeat puzzles unnecessarily.

My favorite puzzle so far...

Spoiler

rotating the dice

I'm sure your mind will change on that...later.

 

[Sera O]

Now that I've completed it, I think VLR was a lot weaker than 999 despite the welcome added flowchart. Production values were good. But the character designs, boring environment, typos, being forced to watch an aqua dot slowly blink around on a map though it doesn't add anything. . . why?

999 kept me up nights playing until I was done. With VLR I'd stop playing it for days at a time, get a few endings, go back to it for an hour, drop it again for another couple of weeks, etc. I didn't really like the characters, and the AB game was a factor. The only character I felt for was

Spoiler

Luna who always allied with me, and had a more realistic design in contrast with the other women

. Even Sigma came across really weirdly with his kitty talk, lever creepiness and random anarchy coveralls.

End-game revelations about

Spoiler

Akane still wandering around looking for places to set up her pet game and saving her ass - and Junpei still being a sucker

just kind of pissed me off. Maybe that would have gone over better if I hadn't developed extreme antipathy towards that character in 999.

I really wanted to get into this the same way but it just wasn't working out for me. I'll probably play the next one if it looks decent, but my expectations will not be high.

 

[Vibed]

About nine hours in and I am absolutely loving the story, characters etc but some of these puzzles have made me feel pretty stupid and frustrated.

Spoiler

rotating nozzles, colored tree root, and unlocking box with colored dice weight (getting the weight of the dice was easy but I had to search about multiplying before adding

I am currently playing on hard. Does switching the difficulty make the puzzles a little more enjoyable?

My favorite puzzle so far...

Spoiler

rotating the dice

Don't you know your order of operations?!

I like that favorite of yours a lot too.

 

[ACESmkII]

Don't you know your order of operations?!

Apparently I did not.

 

[Mr. Fix]

Planning on getting this soon on the 3DS. I'm safe as long as I only save during the cutscenes (assuming that still works), right? And is there an in-game flowchart? Or are there better alternatives on the internet somewhere?

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Planning on getting this soon on the 3DS. I'm safe as long as I only save during the cutscenes (assuming that still works), right? And is there an in-game flowchart? Or are there better alternatives on the internet somewhere?

Just save whenever you're in a warehouse and you'll be fine.

And yeah, there's an in-game flow-chart that you can use to jump around directly to specific spots.

 

[Mr. Fix]

Just save whenever you're in a warehouse and you'll be fine.

And yeah, there's an in-game flow-chart that you can use to jump around directly to specific spots.

Awesome, and thanks!

 

[toastyToast]

Damn this setting, it's so boring. Even though you knew the boat wouldn't actually sink in 999 it added a sense of urgency, there was also a cool design cohesiveness going on because of it. If I had to guess I'm about 50% of the way through. I like the puzzle rooms a lot but as far as being gripped by the overarching narrative, I'm not. The individual streams are too short

Spoiler

2 rooms and then a lock pretty much everywhere

. Each ending in 999 felt like its own its own resolution, vague or verbose. 16 hours in and I haven't legitimately reached one (that isn't a bad ending). Throw me a bone, yo

The next game needs to be set on a space station crashing towards Earth

 

[Hours Left]

Damn this setting, it's so boring. Even though you knew the boat wouldn't actually sink in 999 it added a sense of urgency, there was also a cool design cohesiveness going on because of it. If I had to guess I'm about 50% of the way through. I like the puzzle rooms a lot but as far as being gripped by the overarching narrative, I'm not. The individual streams are too short

Spoiler

2 rooms and then a lock pretty much everywhere

. Each ending in 999 felt like its own its own resolution, vague or verbose. 16 hours in and I haven't legitimately reached one (that isn't a bad ending). Throw me a bone, yo

The next game needs to be set on a space station crashing towards Earth

I thought the warehouse was a bit bland at first too, but now I actually really like it. The vast emptiness of the main rooms feels really isolating and creepy, especially in scenes with just a few characters.

As for the endings, depending on what path you start with, it may take a while to get any of the more substantial endings, but once they start, truth bombs will be dropping in rapid succession. Trust me.

 

[Mr. Fix]

- Sigma's awesome.
- Zero III's hilarious, though I wonder if they'll address the II.
- Oh man K's a pretty cool dude, I definitely trust this guy more than the others
- LOL at the scene with him riding

Spoiler

- Holy fuck at all that betrayal in the end there, no mercy.

A different approach than 999,

Spoiler

which I felt as though they were all pretty chill with one another in comparison to these guys. Awesome.

-

Spoiler

K, you fuckin' bastard! WHY?

While the beginning definitely doesn't have the same impact 999 did, I still enjoyed what I've played so far. So many questions though, but I'm sure it'll be resolved later. Puzzles are much harder for me in this game too. I love that they allow you to jump through the flowchart so freely.

Predictions

Spoiler

- K is a character from 999, at first I assumed Seven, however his mannerisms/speech have me thinking otherwise. The whole memory loss thing surrounding him would have nearly made me hold onto this theory.

- I'm guessing Quark's the one who killed Luna/Alice, will be great to see how this unfolds.

- I've no clue about Alice/Clover, as Sigma hasn't really confronted them about it. Though it sounds like Clover's in on whoever's behind this, which doesn't seem too far-fetched considering the 999's ending.

- This one seems easy enough, but I'm probably wrong. The old woman who was murdered seems like Tenmyouji's wife, which in turn would mean that he and Quark aren't actually related.

That's about all I got for now. This gon' be gud.

 

[The Technomancer]

Okay, been playing this on a long car trip, been having a blast so far. some thoughts/questions:
-The voice acting is fantastic. Quite possibly the best voiced game I've ever played, the sheer consistency of quality is staggering
-Is Alice Lotus from 999? I don't remember Lotus' name, but it looks just like her and she knows Clover, but in

Spoiler

when I talk to them in the crew quarters and Clover tells me about the previous two Nonary games she doesn't mention that Alice was in the second one also

-The writing is great so far, on par with how I felt about 999 up until this point. But I'm really wondering how they can pull off an ending as...unconventional as 999s.The fact that they did it already means they can't do something similar, but if it really is just a Saw like psychopath game then I'll be similarly disappointed.

Spoiler

Also how are they going to explain the multiple play throughs thing without resorting to the same very specific explanation as 999?

So yeah, very curious to see where this goes. Also, can anyone give me hints to the path that leads to the true ending? I want to save it till last

 

[RobotNinjaHornets]

Planning on getting this soon on the 3DS. I'm safe as long as I only save during the cutscenes (assuming that still works), right? And is there an in-game flowchart? Or are there better alternatives on the internet somewhere?

Wait there's a problem with saving? Thank fuck I read this thread.

 

[PhoenixSFT]

Predictions

Spoiler

- K is a character from 999, at first I assumed Seven, however his mannerisms/speech have me thinking otherwise. The whole memory loss thing surrounding him would have nearly made me hold onto this theory.

- I'm guessing Quark's the one who killed Luna/Alice, will be great to see how this unfolds.

- I've no clue about Alice/Clover, as Sigma hasn't really confronted them about it. Though it sounds like Clover's in on whoever's behind this, which doesn't seem too far-fetched considering the 999's ending.

- This one seems easy enough, but I'm probably wrong. The old woman who was murdered seems like Tenmyouji's wife, which in turn would mean that he and Quark aren't actually related.

That's about all I got for now. This gon' be gud.

-Is Alice Lotus from 999? I don't remember Lotus' name, but it looks just like her and she knows Clover, but in

Spoiler

when I talk to them in the crew quarters and Clover tells me about the previous two Nonary games she doesn't mention that Alice was in the second one also

-The writing is great so far, on par with how I felt about 999 up until this point. But I'm really wondering how they can pull off an ending as...unconventional as 999s.The fact that they did it already means they can't do something similar, but if it really is just a Saw like psychopath game then I'll be similarly disappointed.

Spoiler

Also how are they going to explain the multiple play throughs thing without resorting to the same very specific explanation as 999?

So yeah, very curious to see where this goes. Also, can anyone give me hints to the path that leads to the true ending? I want to save it till last

Oh man I can't wait until you guys get to some different paths, it'll be fun to see which of your predictions were true or not. And you can't really get to the true ending until you've knocked out most of the other endings. And to get the super secret (not really) True Ending, you need all the gold files.

 

[The Technomancer]

Wait a second...Lotus is white. I have no idea what I was thinking. It's been too long since I played 999. Wait..does that mean Alice really is...really?

 

[The Technomancer]

Huh, well I got an ending with To Be Continued... Is that the path I'll eventually take to "True"?

 

[ScraftyDevil]

Huh, well I got an ending with To Be Continued... Is that the path I'll eventually take to "True"?

Not necessarily. It just means you don't have the information required to continue down that path. Trust me; you'll know the True Ending when you reach it, since it requires a cumulative knowledge of information obtained in several endings.

 

[Mr. Fix]

Oh man I can't wait until you guys get to some different paths, it'll be fun to see which of your predictions were true or not. And you can't really get to the true ending until you've knocked out most of the other endings. And to get the super secret (not really) True Ending, you need all the gold files.

Thanks for letting us know. Going down the left-most path this time, I notice hat it extended. I'm hoping I avoid the To Be Continued/True Ending path altogether. There's also a lot of paths. Do each of them have different conclusions? Or would something like K's ending be waiting at the bottom of several?

 

[SolarKnight]

Don‘t worry much about the true path, you literally can‘t get through it without doing all others before.

 

[Mr. Fix]

Oh wow, all this time I just envisioned Troy Baker voicing Sigma, and what'ya know, he actually does in the promo.

Don‘t worry much about the true path, you literally can‘t get through it without doing all others before.

Thanks!

 

[GSR]

There's also a lot of paths. Do each of them have different conclusions? Or would something like K's ending be waiting at the bottom of several?

Each branch on the flowchart leads to a unique ending, it's not like 999 where you can make a bunch of different major decisions and still get the same ending.

 

[RobotNinjaHornets]

2 proper non-game over endings down,

Spoiler

Dio

and what I'm assuming is

Spoiler

death by Radical-6/Clover.

I need more visual novels. Between this, 999 and the Phoenix Wright games...man, I've found a new love.

EDIT:

Spoiler

WHY DOES TENMYOUJI OR WHATEVER HAVE A PHOTO OF JUNE/AKANE WHAT.

<- spoiler for middle, left, left route

 

[PurpleMaster]

EDIT:

Spoiler

WHY DOES TENMYOUJI OR WHATEVER HAVE A PHOTO OF JUNE/AKANE WHAT.

<- spoiler for middle, left, left route

Huhuhuhehehe...

 

[Philia]

Just finished this game. I said wow.

My SO was like, "so you finished your stupid little game?" I told him to STFU, you don't even go there with this one. NOPE. I wasn't having it.

Luna

Spoiler

ending was fucking FANTASTIC...

but the whole

Spoiler

snowballing of twists

after that was... even more mind blowing and more AWESOME. <3

 

[Javier]

I need more visual novels. Between this, 999 and the Phoenix Wright games...man, I've found a new love.

You should definitely track down the Infinity Series, a trilogy of VNs for PC done by the same writer of 999 and VLR. Only the second in the series, Ever17, was officially localized, but the other two, Never7 and Remember11, have both been fan translated.

I highly recommend all three of them.

 

[toastyToast]

I got my first actual ending with Dio

wat?

Spoiler

I found some gold files on that Myrmidon shit and in another path, I think Ks father was involved with their development somehow. I have no idea what Dio was actually doing since he never said what it was. Whether or not it has to do with Radical 6, I don't know. He did kill that old woman and squeezed himself into the game, that much was pretty obvious. It sort of looks like Tenmyouji knows her but he also knows Quark. I'm guessing two partners who start off with each other have some sort of link so it's strange that he knows her too. Unless it's the solo and pair knowing each other. Hmmm...

Also, during his ending I got the code for the 0 bomb which I don't think I saw at all during the left-most tree where he is. Rightmost tree is still locked like a fortress since I don't know any of the other bomb codes

 

[Jintor]

Don't read the gold files, they talk about some concepts before they should imho