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

Torraz

Member
Dayum. Some nice hints / puzzle pieces are being revealed which invalidate previous hypotheses. Dang, this is thrilling. Having to put the game down to recharge the vita is a bummer on the one hand (I know I could play while charging without hurting the battery, right?), but it also helps me to pace the gaming experience a little.

A question about locks: How do I know if a lock is gone? Will I get a scene and/or will the lock on the flow chart disappear?

spoiler regarding a lock
I am at a lock where sigma get's "penalized". During another path I learned of the injection gun with the anti-dote for the suffocation drug. I was sure that this would remove the lock, but I still got "to be continued" when I reached that scene. Thus, the question: How will I know when I can proceed past a lock?
 

Venfayth

Member
Dayum. Some nice hints / puzzle pieces are being revealed which invalidate previous hypotheses. Dang, this is thrilling. Having to put the game down to recharge the vita is a bummer on the one hand (I know I could play while charging without hurting the battery, right?), but it also helps me to pace the gaming experience a little.

A question about locks: How do I know if a lock is gone? Will I get a scene and/or will the lock on the flow chart disappear?

spoiler regarding a lock
I am at a lock where sigma get's "penalized". During another path I learned of the injection gun with the anti-dote for the suffocation drug. I was sure that this would remove the lock, but I still got "to be continued" when I reached that scene. Thus, the question: How will I know when I can proceed past a lock?

There's no true indication. You just need to try once you've discovered something else.
 

Roto13

Member
Dayum. Some nice hints / puzzle pieces are being revealed which invalidate previous hypotheses. Dang, this is thrilling. Having to put the game down to recharge the vita is a bummer on the one hand (I know I could play while charging without hurting the battery, right?), but it also helps me to pace the gaming experience a little.

A question about locks: How do I know if a lock is gone? Will I get a scene and/or will the lock on the flow chart disappear?

spoiler regarding a lock
I am at a lock where sigma get's "penalized". During another path I learned of the injection gun with the anti-dote for the suffocation drug. I was sure that this would remove the lock, but I still got "to be continued" when I reached that scene. Thus, the question: How will I know when I can proceed past a lock?

Any locks you can pass turn green on the flowchart. I don't know what the above poster is talking about. You never have to go back and try without knowing if you can pass it.
 
All right, might as well get my thoughts down as I'm getting increasingly frustrated and going to boards means spoilers:

So first of all, I've done most of the routes up to locks, and have gotten Clover, Tenmyouji and K's endings, in that order.

I started out going the right branch, then middle, then left. (Doing as much as possible within these branches as possible.) This, as I have discovered, it completely the wrong way to play, and has possibly diminished my enjoyment.

Going back to the left branch? It's a little frustrating to be thinking
It's radical-6! Goddamn it you idiots!
I haven't done the white door route yet, but I'm thinking it's probably going to be
Dio's
ending. Simply because I'm pretty much out of alternatives, as far as I can tell.

Also, Clover's ending being the first one I got?
Can't say it did much to encourage me to play the game, especially given how many stupid Game Over... routes I've taken. I mean, my first character ending is everyone Radical-6ing out? Sheesh!

Tenmyouji's ending was okay, I suppose. I mean, it tells me that
Tenmyouji is Junpei, which means that the old woman is PROBABLY Akane, which means that I'm in another morphogenetic field time travel shenanigan to prevent the Radical-6 break out and save everyone, I suppose.
It's okay for a second ending, but I'm looking for something that doesn't suggest to me that everyone is an idiot.

K's ending...well...
Oh, great. So K's a Sigma clone, and Sigma goes on in one timeline to become a geneticist given that he was a doctoral student? Okay, that changes some things, but cements that Akane is in the game. Noting that her body isn't found in the Alice route, I've got an idea what to expect there.

I'm also starting to go crazy waiting for the map and door animations to finish. They SUCK. They were nice the first few times I saw them. Now every time I start a new branch, I dread having to sit through them. Given that I have no power at home due to Sandy, it aggravates me greatly to be thinking that I'm wasting power on animations that aren't playing the game.

So as for current thoughts:
I was assuming that K, Sigma, and Phi were robots. Luna's pretty weird ALWAYS choosing Ally, so I'm thinking Asimovian robotics there, so she's also one. Tenmyouji and Quark are native to the time, so that's six. The three who were frozen were Alice, Clover and Dio. Given the endings I've had, now I'm thinking that as K is native to the time, maybe Sigma's just got bionic arms...or is a clone/robot. Given Phi's ability to jump and run, I'm thinking bionic or clone/robot as well. (Also, the scanlines on the bottom screen? Whose eyes am I looking through anyway? Is this a morphogenetic time travel simulation or is my character a robot, or both?)
I'm really hating the cast as well, which annoys me because I loved the cast in 999. I felt everyone in there had something to offer personality-wise, even if the writing was a little choppy. The only characters I really like at all in VLR are Tenmyouji and Luna, which really shouldn't be the case.

Also, I did the PEC room. Twice. First time, as I examined a laser emitter, CRASH. Second time I got through with no issues, but the threat of another freeze is pissing me off. Heard someone had a save freeze on the Vita version as well, which changes my opinion from "friggen 3DS version" to "Chunsoft, PATCH IT." There is no excuse for the game freezing at all.

Also also: I dislike the way they're doing the branches. Specifically
the morphogenetic fields. In effect, if I want to read all of the text before and after "knowing stuff", I have to either play a new game to a point or save at the branch. And this is problematic at locks, because if I've already activated the lock, there isn't much I can do about it. I mean, Alice's responses given the ally/betray are VERY different if you have prior knowledge or not.
I think while 999's method of
take the correct route or get one of three bad endings
is far superior to VLR's branches, most of which lead to really, really boring
Game Over...
screens. The locks are okay, but they just mean "wait until my game thinks I know enough to unlock it", as opposed to me knowing enough to unlock it.

So my big question now is "what is the purpose of the golden folders"? As in, do they actually contribute to an ending?
I suspect they do, as I don't recall the IG = Immunogloblin showing up elsewhere, but I could be forgetting something.

Oh, also, I probably shouldn't have been reading gold folders as I unlock them, as they offer minor spoilers as well. Didn't seem like it would be an issue to me before I started playing. *sigh*

So yeah, right now...I'm thinking 999 is a much better game. We'll see how it goes as I get more endings, but right now...god, I hate the cast. (Also some more speculation here)
Dio is an insufferable ass, K's trustworthy as far as you can throw him, Alice and Quark are dead/crazy for most of the routes, Clover is completely dependent upon Alice and thus barely stable as well, Phi is fucking with me given that she also can morphogenetic jump and...hell, given that she plays opposite Sigma, much like Akane did for Junpei, is probably the jumper. I'm thinking she's one of the robots/GAULEMs or something who was in the Mars simulation, and we're in a remake of the Mars simulation 30 years later orchestrated by Zero Sr. (Sigma-base timeline) and Akane. She's pretty much trying to disarm bombs and prevent Radical-6 from spreading throughout the globe. Also, Sigma is unbelievable. He is intelligent enough to be getting a doctorate, but an imbecile to accommodate for the players. He's enough of a pervert/idiot to get into goofy/silly situations where I can't take him seriously, except when they need him to be a tender, actual protagonist. He writes like he's several different people, which given the whole morphogenetic jumping, he probably is.

Well, enough ranting. I'll play some more tonight, I guess. *sigh* Not looking forward to more corridors...

At least the puzzles are pretty good. Some of the blue solutions make little sense to me, but as a whole they're competent.
 

Torraz

Member
All right, might as well get my thoughts down as I'm getting increasingly frustrated and going to boards means spoilers:

So first of all, I've done most of the routes up to locks, and have gotten Clover, Tenmyouji and K's endings, in that order.

I started out going the right branch, then middle, then left. (Doing as much as possible within these branches as possible.) This, as I have discovered, it completely the wrong way to play, and has possibly diminished my enjoyment.

Could you explain? I went 1 path into middle, left and right each.

What would be the better way to do it then? Spread it out instead of focusing on one of the three branches?
 

Roto13

Member
Could you explain? I went 1 path into middle, left and right each.

What would be the better way to do it then? Spread it out instead of focusing on one of the three branches?

It doesn't matter. Do it whatever way you want to do it. There's no wrong order.
 
The far right branch is Alice's route. The problem with her route is that it offers a bunch of differences from the other two routes (Tenmyouji/Luna) and results in some things being less interesting or exciting when you take Tenmyouji/Luna's routes.

You're fine as long as you don't start with Alice's route. Making it your second is okay, but if it's your first, EVERYTHING is a lock.
 

Torraz

Member
It doesn't matter. Do it whatever way you want to do it. There's no wrong order.

Heh, I hope so. Just a little paranoid since I had a nice order in which I got the 999 endings (through sheer luck, i might add). I think I would have enjoyed that game slightly less had I gotten the endings in another order.
 

Torraz

Member
The far right branch is Alice's route. The problem with her route is that it offers a bunch of differences from the other two routes (Tenmyouji/Luna) and results in some things being less interesting or exciting when you take Tenmyouji/Luna's routes.

You're fine as long as you don't start with Alice's route. Making it your second is okay, but if it's your first, EVERYTHING is a lock.

Ah alright, thankt makes sense. I went middle and left first because on the initial flow chart Alice's path was the longest, leading me to believe the true ending was there + the end of 999 suggested she would be important. Thus, the right path was the one I wanted to finishlast in any case, except for one attempt.
 

Jintor

Member
I mean, Alice's responses given the ally/betray are VERY different if you have prior knowledge or not.

I don't think they are, it's just written as if it is. I'm fairly sure it doesn't actually change, it just hopes you'll choose one option first.
 

GSR

Member
The OST of this game is so fucking good. I love this kind of music, it keeps you on edge. Great for programming :p

Definitely. I imported the CD this summer and for the next week or two at work I was just looping through the escape section tracks whenever I was coding.
 

Midou

Member
So yeah, right now...I'm thinking 999 is a much better game.

The way it handles paths is still much better, saving you the trouble of guessing what choices make a difference and replaying all those damned puzzles over and over. Especially when you ended up going down a path that doesn't lead to a new ending, meaning playing the puzzles even more than necessary. When I saw the chart it put a smile on my face, knowing I wasn't going to have to do so much repetition. Keep playing though, the cast won't change much, but the twists are pretty crazy.
 

perorist

Unconfirmed Member
I don't think they are, it's just written as if it is. I'm fairly sure it doesn't actually change, it just hopes you'll choose one option first.
I think it might, actually.
My friend chose ally first with Tenmyouji at the first set of chromatic doors and told me he didn't get the dialogue where Sigma goes "What? But you chose betray last time!" after I explained to him that's what happened to me when I chose betray first
 

Kaizer

Banned
What the hell just got to the
White Rooms. Uhhhhh wha?
Mind starting to be blown, especially after Luna's ending. Phi's the only one left and looks line it only gets crazier from here.
 
lead platform my ass. probably should have gotten the vita one. humbug.

question for the leftest path.

Why did they proclaim that the dudes were obviously in the rec room when the security room they were just in also has a light switch?
 

Pharros

Member
Alright so I'm about to start what I think is the last path.
Farthest to the right, the longest one. I also have all other character endings. So how long do you think it would take to complete? Was thinking about attempting it tonight but I'm not sure. I'm ready to have my mind blown.
 
lead platform my ass. probably should have gotten the vita one. humbug.

question for the leftest path.

Why did they proclaim that the dudes were obviously in the rec room when the security room they were just in also has a light switch?

If I recall correctly
nobody else has been to the security room yet and also the luminol is in the rec room.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I just... K's ending. I... I mean... I dont want to think... Oh man :(
 

Midou

Member
Alright so I'm about to start what I think is the last path.
Farthest to the right, the longest one. I also have all other character endings. So how long do you think it would take to complete? Was thinking about attempting it tonight but I'm not sure. I'm ready to have my mind blown.

I remember it taking longer than I expected, so maybe hold off. It keeps going for a while.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I remember it taking longer than I expected, so maybe hold off. It keeps going for a while.

So I shouldnt start the last path at right now at 6 am, huh.

Too bad.
 

Gambit61

Member
Wow, that was quick.

Just got my first game over because K betrayed me and ditched everyone by exiting through the 9 Door.
 

Kaizer

Banned
Need some help: Stuck in the
White Room on Phi's/Leftmost path. I've done the Hexagon Puzzle, Dart Puzzle and pulled the AB Game Q Edition out as well as the safe. Can't figure out the Dice Puzzle - no idea where to place the pieces. I can't fund any clues.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Need some help: Stuck in the
White Room on Phi's/Leftmost path. I've done the Hexagon Puzzle, Dart Puzzle and pulled the AB Game Q Edition out as well as the safe. Can't figure out the Dice Puzzle - no idea where to place the pieces. I can't fund any clues.

Confused. I cant remember
a Dice puzzle on the leftmost path. Its not Phis path either

Just finished everything except the last path in this game and the leftmost one was the last one I finished.
 

Jintor

Member
There's definitely a dice puzzle there. I think there's some files somewhere you need to grab that'll help you out.
 
Man this game is exhausting in a good (sometimes bad) way.

Which they didn't do the whole traveling bullshit. Just time skip ahead, jeesus.

also find the whole name of room in front of a room, enter room, title card of the name of the room really pointless.
 

Roto13

Member
Confused. I cant remember
a Dice puzzle on the leftmost path. Its not Phis path either

Just finished everything except the last path in this game and the leftmost one was the last one I finished.

You must be blocking it out of your memory because it was such a traumatic experience. It definitely exists and it's awful.
 
Need some help: Stuck in the
White Room on Phi's/Leftmost path. I've done the Hexagon Puzzle, Dart Puzzle and pulled the AB Game Q Edition out as well as the safe. Can't figure out the Dice Puzzle - no idea where to place the pieces. I can't fund any clues.

You should have found three sheets of paper that show how to place each of the dice. You get them from one of the places on the wall that you can pull out.

Confused. I cant remember
a Dice puzzle on the leftmost path. Its not Phis path either

Just finished everything except the last path in this game and the leftmost one was the last one I finished.

That's because it's not there. It's on the rightmost path.
 

Jintor

Member
The worst thing about one of the dice puzzles is that you can inadvertently get the gold file solution while trying for the escape key, forcing you to redo the entire puzzle.
 

Jintor

Member
Yeah... in the unlikely event I ever get an interview with Uchikoshi, I will definitely take him to task on that. I've been hearing a lot of complaints about that, although I understand he doesn't do all the puzzles.

Or we could just by Aksys about it.
 

Kaizer

Banned
Yeah sorry about that earlier post, I meant the rightmost path. VLR has scrambled my brain for the night - putting it down and getting some rest.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Yeah... in the unlikely event I ever get an interview with Uchikoshi, I will definitely take him to task on that. I've been hearing a lot of complaints about that, although I understand he doesn't do all the puzzles.

Or we could just by Aksys about it.

Oh, are you a game journalist?

Yes, if you do get the chance please say that on behalf on your color-blind gaming acquaintances. Don't make them too much! Hahaha.

lol me too. luckily they usually tell you the color when you tap them. usually.

that billard puzzle. :(

That one, and the PEC puzzles, as well as the world map puzzle got me somewhat frustrated when I think it should have been not too hard to solve.
 
infirmary gold files.


the fuck?


After 2 hrs... I got it... but this is bullshit. Not sure why, but it's bullshit.

Think i'm done with this game for the night lol.
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
;D First platinum ever.
UFLV3.jpg
 
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