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Zero Time Dilemma (Zero Escape 3) review thread

I'm worried purely because I'm so invested, having really (and completely unexpectedly) enjoyed the first two so much.

The Steam vs Vita decision weighs heavy too.
 

asagami_

Banned
Length wise is it closer to 999 than VLR?

It seems. According to a reviewer's tweet, it's 22 hours. To be fair, both 999 and VLR are filled with padding (the first with the repeated puzzles + the inabilty to "jump" between scenes, the second with the amount of dialogues), so it not should surprise me if the lenght and the content are both correct.
 
Yep. No more or less than literally any other reviewer, funnily enough.

But yeah, keep being edgy :D.
You're aware that Famitsu reviews are literally worthless, right? They're pretty much made solely to keep advertisers happy, with like three sentences of text that usually amount to nothing more than "you press a button and something happens".

There's little point in even discussing their reviews, because they say nothing.
 

theecakee

Member
Can't wait to play this next week.

Also, that opencritic site....is that new? This site looks really cool never seen it before. Looks way better than metacritic.
 

takoyaki

Member
You're aware that Famitsu reviews are literally worthless, right? They're pretty much made solely to keep advertisers happy, with like three sentences of text that usually amount to nothing more than "you press a button and something happens".

There's little point in even discussing their reviews, because they say nothing.

You certainly have a point, but Famitsu is the largest gaming publication in Japan so their score isn't worthless.

Even if you don't care about the score itself (which is perfectly fine), the more interesting point worth a discussion is this trend imo:

999: (36/40) -> VLR: (34/40) -> ZTD (32/40).
 
Yep. No more or less than literally any other reviewer, funnily enough.

But yeah, keep being edgy :D.

There's nothing edgy about completely disregarding Famitsu's opinion. It's a common sentiment that they have little-to-no integrity as a publication when it comes to reviews.

You certainly have a point, but Famitsu is the largest gaming publication in Japan so their score isn't worthless.

Even if you don't care about the score itself (which is perfectly fine), the more interesting point worth a discussion is this trend imo:

999: (36/40) -> VLR: (34/40) -> ZTD (32/40).

Are the four people who reviewed ZTD the same four people that reviewed the other two games?
 

Soriku

Junior Member
You certainly have a point, but Famitsu is the largest gaming publication in Japan so their score isn't worthless.

Even if you don't care about the score itself (which is perfectly fine), the more interesting point worth a discussion is this trend imo:

999: (36/40) -> VLR: (34/40) -> ZTD (32/40).

Lower budget = less bribery = lower score.

Hoho.
 

Jornax

Member
Hmmm, I've been planning for months now to just watch some 999/VLR recaps to refresh my mind in the week before ZTD came out. But when searching for them now, it does seem like there's barely any decent video capable of doing that.

Sure, there's the wiki, I'd just prefer to have some footage playing alongside what I'm reading or listening to.
 

D-Man

Member
The wait for this is going to kill me. Someone needs to put me into cold sleep until Tuesday so I don't have to wait any longer.
 

mStudios

Member
By a good friend of mine:

The game is pure zero escape, he just wished that it was more of a visual novel(999/VLR) than an "adventure" novel (TellTales game).
 

Z3M0G

Member
It sucks that not finishing 999 has stunted my entry into this series... should I just move on and start this one?
 
It sucks that not finishing 999 has stunted my entry into this series... should I just move on and start this one?

They say you can play any of them and still get a decent story, but even more so than 999 I really think you should play virtues last reward first if you haven't.

I'm no reviewer and haven't played zero time dilemma yet, but to put it as spoiler light as possible, it seems to me like uchikoshi always planned viertues last reward to have a direct sequel, whereas 999 is almost standalone and had a sequel decided on later.
 
It sucks that not finishing 999 has stunted my entry into this series... should I just move on and start this one?
Absolutely not! It is vital to play all titles in this series, as a good percentage of the experience of each one is playing off of your expectations from the previous title. A lot would be lost if you skipped either 999 or VLR. They're also both incredibly good and worth checking out. ZTD will still be there when you finish.
 

TheMasterThief

Neo Member
They say you can play any of them and still get a decent story, but even more so than 999 I really think you should play virtues last reward first if you haven't.

I'm no reviewer and haven't played zero time dilemma yet, but to put it as spoiler light as possible, it seems to me like uchikoshi always planned viertues last reward to have a direct sequel, whereas 999 is almost standalone and had a sequel decided on later.

According to the Answers portion of VLR, Uchikoshi originally planned to develop Virtue's Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma simultaneously, but the decision to have VLR be on both 3DS and Vita had Uchikoshi change his mind to only developing VLR for the moment. 999's Answers also showed that Uchikoshi was interested in developing a sequel to the game, but only if it gained popularity across the world. Luckily, this happened and has brought us a week before the final Zero Escape game is released.
 

TheMasterThief

Neo Member
It sucks that not finishing 999 has stunted my entry into this series... should I just move on and start this one?

Not to beat a dead horse, but you should absolutley beat 999 first. At the very least, get your hands on VLR as Zero Time Dilemma is more of a direct sequel to VLR than 999, even though the game does not begin with that notion. Regardless, I'd imagine that in order to get the most out of ZTD, it is imperative to finish the previous two Zero Escape games.
 
For my Vita watch people, this is what Amazon told me:

"Im not getting a clear date I can see though that there is a shortage so what I will do is monitor this for you to see if this gets updated, we will do this through out the week and inform you"
 

SexyFish

Banned
For my Vita watch people, this is what Amazon told me:

"Im not getting a clear date I can see though that there is a shortage so what I will do is monitor this for you to see if this gets updated, we will do this through out the week and inform you"

I totally forgot I ordered this last July. Kind of upsetting but I'll be happy if I just receive it next week at some point.
 

Dominator

Member
I'm so pumped for this, but I don't have time to replay 999 and VLR, does anyone have a good recap video? Can be any length, I'll be able to get through that before this comes out. Just want a refresher.
 
I totally forgot I ordered this last July. Kind of upsetting but I'll be happy if I just receive it next week at some point.

Also ordered one last July. Might end up cancelling if it's going to be super delayed.

Oddly on the page it says "only ships to the US" but I ordered in Canada and even updated my address the other day and it didn't stop me.
 

daveo42

Banned
I asked amazon about this. They said it will ship in August... I CANT WAIT THAT LONG!

Yeah I had the same issue, though they said July when I asked a few weeks ago. I hope they just haven't received their shipment yet and can't confirm it'll be out on time. If I don't get confirmation here soon though, then I'll probably just buy another copy of the game at launch.
 

LProtag

Member
I'm so ready.

If Amazon can't get me my watch edition, hopefully I can just run out to Best Buy and pick up a copy of the game that day. I guess I can just get a digital version if that fails.
 

Kaizer

Banned
Are there any good summaries of 999/VLR out there? Don't want to scroll though dozens of Wiki pages

You should probably just play the games.

What if you have played the games, but have forgotten the details of what goes down? It's been so long since I was glued to my Vita screen playing VLR that I've sorta forgotten all the different pieces of the plot. Any good YouTube summaries or should I just head for a Wiki?
 
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