LTTP: The Nonary Games(and eventually Zero Time Dilemma)

[Zacmortar]

OPEN SPOILERS FOR 999, PLEASE HIDE ANY FOR VLR AND ZTD

Spoiler

Santa and Seven can get some, honestly

After renting the Nonary Games remaster on a whim after years of good hearsay in Danganronpa communities, I was blown away. JUST finished 999, and while a bit jank at times, those escape rooms were some of the most satisfying puzzles I've played in a long time. That, mixed with the True Ending(thank god for Flow Chart hopping) left me satisfied as hell.

The character designs were all a bit iffy at first, but overtime I grew to really like nearly every character. Lotus's design had potential to be amazing, but her vagina basically hanging out was skeevy and for the first playthrough I straight up didn't realize she had pants on beneath the red cloth on her sprite. But she still ended up being my favorite character by far, with Seven, Clover, and Snake not too far behind. Plus, animated sprites are so much more interesting and immersive than Hyper High Definition jpegs, and it really put more life into the minute to minute scenes.

I love a game with branching paths, and 999's were really cool, especially seeing each individual one culminating in unique information being revealed, and the True End taking that up to 11 with the timeline "seeing"(?) and basically giving Junpei the knowledge of every failed timeline's Junpei was such an amazing moment. I'm a sucker for time shenanigans.

I loved the reveal of Alice halfway through, though, because I IMMEDIATELY recognized her from the other half of the cover art, and that gave a.... wild expectation. That ending is still hilarious, and I'm hoping I find out what the fuck happens after? Because.......

~transition~

........ I just started Virtue's Last Reward(as in literally just now, paused the second it let me) and..... It takes place in 2028?????? That's like 20 years after 999, right? I don't remember a timestamp for 999, but I assumed it took place around the time it came out. I think some of the cover characters are the same as the first game(Primarily the girl that looks like an Older Clover) and I hope this has a continuation to the kinda open end of 999. I'm expecting mostly completely separate circumstances/events with very little tying them together, though, besides the obvious Alice.

Now for the thing that made me make this thread. Hoo boy. I started this expecting a similar structure to 999's easygoing flow, which had great branching and pretty clean jumping points.

And as I started VLR, I decide to take its flow chart for a gander. And holy shit. HOLY SHIT. Not only does every branch continue down a unique route(Unlike 999, where multiple branches would reunite at points), Every branch's branch has a branch. There is so much here.

Now, sure, quality can be bad or good, I don't know yet, but the sheer ambition of this hit me like a truck and left me slack jawed.

After the dread in DRV3 of knowing all the characters I really like would probably die, it's so nice to get a game(or series?) where the anime absurdity is still top tier but most/all the characters get out with good endings.

How is ERAs feelings towards the series as a whole? I think people generally hold up 999 as the best and ZTD as bullshit, but I'm excited to see just how absurd the series gets. I think I saw somebody mention

Spoiler

Aliens?????????????

at some point, but I can't quite be sure. I have no idea what to expect though.

(If people would rather marked spoilers for 999, I can change that)

EDIT: With my completion of VLR, here's an OP update:

ALRIGHT NOW VLR HAS BEEN DEFEATED big thought post

Spoiler

My final thoughts:
I think I'll start with the handful of problems and nitpicks I have first, just to get the negativity out of the way.

Firstly, the characters. A lot like 999, I don't really like any character design beyond Phi and Alice's head. They're just kinda either too wonky like Clover or too nothing like Tenmyouji, and made it difficult to get attached to non-known entities early on. The over sexualization was also real bad, With Alice's boobs literally just hanging out at all times and Clover going from a cute jacket in 999 to wearing booty shorts, stockings, and a bikini. Speaking of Clover, for awhile I thought it was plot stuff, but the game never realizing how inconsistently it wrote Clover means she was just.... really badly written in this. In several routes she's either really competent, completely nonexistent, or in the most egregious case, straight up portrayed as excessively stupid, to the point Dio and Sigma were mocking her behind her back. That was then followed up with her acting "seductive" to get Sigma to betray someone, which felt incredibly out of character compared to every other route with her so far up to/after that point. It actively ruined her character for me :/

After characters, the Escape Rooms weren't as good as 999 for me. A lot felt overly obtuse and trial and error, and the focus shift from Digital roots was disappointing. Every escape room felt about as annoying as the Torture Room in 999 did, and it sucks. They're still satisfying, but by the end it just wasn't worth it, with a LOT of puzzles being really tedious. I ended up using a guide for the last half of Q because I was not even gonna entertain the thought of spending that long on the Hexagon or Dice puzzles.

Storywise, I actually don't have any immediate problems besides the utter absence of Santa despite 999 implying Akane and him were fugitives together, not separately. Him and Lotus deserved that comeback call.

NOW FOR THE GOOD

Tenmyouji and Quark grew on me, as Dio being a dick actually made me think Quark was a monster for the first 30 hours lol. Besides Alice's titties, I actually liked her personality and unpredictability a whole lot. Feel kind of cheated though, with her not being All Ice(Why the fuck was she dressed as an egyptian priestess when she was on a mission), but not too bothered.

Luna being a GAULEM and uncontested the nicest character in the series is great. I had a lot of suspicion for her, but damn did I trust her completely every time anyways.

Dio is Dio. K is.... well, literally just Sigma in 2/3 of the timelines. I love his voice and deceptively chill attitude, but characterwise there's not much besides the clone shenanigans.

Zero Jr honestly should have had a more Monokuma-esque role, with random interruptions interspersed towards the back halves of each route. The lack of new Zero content after maybe 30% of the game is such a bummer, especially when he cryptically hints we'd see him later but all we get is his image showing up once or twice, no great dialogue. What a goddamn amazing character, I love him even despite the lack of him.

Phi is.... interesting. Despite being the co-star with majority screen time, great dialogue, and personality, I still know literally nothing about her besides a latin interest and a few lines about her mom or dad. Apparently you learn more in ZTD? Hope she's not ruined.


Now story wise, I'm SO glad it followed up on 999 and wasn't a spiritual successor. Expanding on the Morphogenetic stuff in the first game to straight up be time travel(Though makes 999.... more confusing in retrospect). This took the raddest shit from 999 and amped it up to 100, 10 times. The entire journey through should be praised for bombast alone, even if all of the twists dont personally land for you.(Personally don't really like K's twist. Kinda boring for him to just be a clone for me).

That entire last 3 or so hours was a constant kick to the nads in a GOOD WAY. I love being able to actively theorize and getting some beats right, and some WAAAAAAAAAY off is satisfying. Or, hell, stuff like the Moon twist, where the game totally wants you to think they're on the moon at first with the flashback images, then you get Dio's end and nope not the moon! Just the desert during an eclipse :) And then it pulls the rug out again, and it was great.

The ambition of this game is so underrated, I'm actually a little ticked off this didn't get big like Dangan Ronpa did. IMHO, this deserves that popularity waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more.

All in all, that was one of the best experiences I've had with games.

Now to wait for Zero Time Dilemma to get here :)

Click to shrink...

 

[Rand a. Thor]

Oh you sweet summer child. I am loving your guesswork.

 

[Deleted member 8860]

999 is a fantastic stand-alone game. It's my favorite, especially in retrospect, even if every version has its flaws (the DS original lacks the flowchart segment selection, but the other versions all lose a major storytelling element).

VLR has some really great parts (including one moment early on that I think is the highlight of the series), but the characters and plot are both over-the-top and incomplete. I can see why some like VLR the best, though.

ZTD is indeed bullshit and worse. I strongly encourage you to pretend it doesn't exist.

 

[NotLiquid]

getting ready for the myriad of posts saying don't bother with ZTD

even though you should bother with it cause it's still a good game

 

[Zacmortar]

Oh you sweet summer child. I am loving your guesswork.

Click to shrink...

After years of hearing secondhand talk of the games, Im simultaneously expecting somehow literally everything to be connected while also nothing is.

999 is a fantastic stand-alone game. It's my favorite, especially in retrospect, even if every version has its flaws (the DS original lacks the flowchart segment selection, but the other versions all lose a major storytelling element).

VLR has some really great parts (including one moment early on that I think is the highlight of the series), but the characters and plot are both over-the-top and incomplete. I can see why some like VLR the best, though.

ZTD is indeed bullshit and worse. I strongly encourage you to pretend it doesn't exist.

Click to shrink...

getting ready for the myriad of posts saying don't bother with ZTD

even though you should bother with it cause it's still a good game

Click to shrink...

(this is really funny, but I expected it with how polarizing it seems to be)

I gotta play it, just to see what it is that everyone is so conflicted on. I'm excited for the cliff drop moment(s?).

Also Emag, what storytelling element did the other versions lose? Was there some stuff with the DS second screen?

 

[Deleted member 3196]

........ I just started Virtue's Last Reward(as in literally just now, paused the second it let me) and..... It takes place in 2028?????? That's like 20 years after 999, right? I don't remember a timestamp for 999, but I assumed it took place around the time it came out.

Click to shrink...

Nah, 999 takes place in the 2020s. I can't remember the exact year, but it's definitely set in the future.

Virtue's Last Reward is, personally, my favourite in the series. 999 is also good. I won't say don't bother with Zero Time Dilemma, but, well, just don't go in with any expectations of being satisfied.

 

[calc84maniac]

999 actually takes place in 2027, so that's just a year earlier.

 

[Deleted member 2834]

999 and VLR are god-tier games. I thought VLR was quite possibly even better, but 999 got the novelty advantage.

 

[Zacmortar]

999 actually takes place in 2027, so that's just a year earlier.

Click to shrink...

Nah, 999 takes place in the 2020s. I can't remember the exact year, but it's definitely set in the future.

Virtue's Last Reward is, personally, my favourite in the series. 999 is also good. I won't say don't bother with Zero Time Dilemma, but, well, just don't go in with any expectations of being satisfied.

Click to shrink...

Oh, shit, I didn't expect that timeframe lol.

And for analogy sake, would ZTD's shenanigans be closer to Danganronpa 3 or V3? Because that's probably my scale for "controversial". With 3 being pandering while also ruining it's best characters, V3 goes in such an exact oppsite direction it's just as controversial.

Gotta prepare

 

[Lumination]

Pretend ZTD doesn't exist. This is the greatest advice anyone can give you.

Enjoy VLR. It is fantastically ambitious like you said and it nails it.

 

[UltraJay]

Also Emag, what storytelling element did the other versions lose? Was there some stuff with the DS second screen?

Click to shrink...

You finished the first game so...

Spoiler: 999 spoilers

It seems at first that the game uses the bottom screen for long narration whereas the top screen is dialogue with portraits, but it is revealed in the end that the bottom screen is actually from June's/Akane's perspective in the very first nonary game. If I recall, Junpei "speaks" with Akane's younger self to help her solve the final puzzle.

I didn't realize the other versions of 999 get flowcharts.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

999 = 10/10
VLR = 9.9/10
ZTD = 9.5/10

ZTD is indeed bullshit and worse. I strongly encourage you to pretend it doesn't exist.

Click to shrink...

Pretend ZTD doesn't exist. This is the greatest advice anyone can give you.

Click to shrink...

 

[Zacmortar]

Ok, so this is pretty big telling of what I know of VLR:

A 3D model appeared on screen and I reeled back. I had no idea it went to 3D, and a pretty decent looking model, too! Although a bit disappointed the main character isn't voiced(Or there just isn't nearly as much voice acting as 999) as Junpei's smug tone was a hoot and a holler

You finished the first game so...

Spoiler: 999 spoilers

It seems at first that the game uses the bottom screen for long narration whereas the top screen is dialogue with portraits, but it is revealed in the end that the bottom screen is actually from June's/Akane's perspective in the very first nonary game. If I recall, Junpei "speaks" with Akane's younger self to help her solve the final puzzle.

Click to shrink...

Oh! Yeah, that would have made the reveal in The Final Question much more impactful.

 

[Rand a. Thor]

I can't even comment on the lack of a VA for sigma in VLR without fucking things up for you. I dunno where to begin actually. Just play the game, it will make sense later.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

i beat 999 for the first time this weekend

that moment where i realized akane in the past had been in psychic connection with junpei throughout the entire game had me fucking SHOOK

only thing that annoyed me was that they didn't figure out ace was shady the moment they knew not-snake was dead

1+2+9 would have opened the 3 door so someone should have gone to check whether the ninth man's bracelet was gone to determine whether ace or santa + seven was the culprit

 

[Strings]

Enjoy VLR. It's absurdly great. I'd probably rate the three games...

999 - 9.5/10
VLR - 10/10
ZTD - 7/10

Also, something no one ever mentions in these LTTPs... How great is the music!? VLR especially has some bangin' ambient industrial stuff.

 

[UltraJay]

Ok, so this is pretty big telling of what I know of VLR:

A 3D model appeared on screen and I reeled back. I had no idea it went to 3D, and a pretty decent looking model, too! Although a bit disappointed the main character isn't voiced(Or there just isn't nearly as much voice acting as 999) as Junpei's smug tone was a hoot and a holler


Oh! Yeah, that would have made the reveal in The Final Question much more impactful.

Click to shrink...

V-voice acting? Maybe I should play this new release...

Spoiler

999 on DS has none.

Did you play in "novel" or "adventure" mode? That is a new thing to this port and will explain a lot about how you experienced the story of the first game.

 

[Deleted member 8860]

Also Emag, what storytelling element did the other versions lose? Was there some stuff with the DS second screen?

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

You play as both Junpei and young Akane, with each having their own screen (and thoughts). This isn't actually spelled out explicitly until the end of the game.

And for analogy sake, would ZTD's shenanigans be closer to Danganronpa 3 or V3?

Click to shrink...

DR3. V3 was controversial for valid reasons, but ZTD is outright bad. It's arguably worse then DR3 as it just drops all the hanging plot threads and setup from VLR. The only point of debate is just how bad a game ZTD is; and, to be fair, there are plenty of visual novels that are worse, so even if ZTD is significantly worse than VLR and totally fails at tying up the trilogy, it may have some value to those starved for even mediocre VNs.

i beat 999 for the first time this weekend

that moment where i realized akane in the past had been in psychic connection with junpei throughout the entire game had me fucking SHOOK

only thing that annoyed me was that they didn't figure out ace was shady the moment they knew not-snake was dead

1+2+9 would have opened the 3 door so someone should have gone to check whether the ninth man's bracelet was gone to determine whether ace or santa + seven was the culprit

Click to shrink...

Being able to go back over the events of the game like this is why I love 999. VLR loses a bit of this and ZTD just throws all logical thought out the window in favor of Complex Motives! and Mind Hacks!

 

[Zacmortar]

V-voice acting? Maybe I should play this new release...

Spoiler

999 on DS has none.

Did you play in "novel" or "adventure" mode? That is a new thing to this port and will explain a lot about how you experienced the story of the first game.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, for non Escape Rooms(and even important dialogue in escape rooms) 999 is completely voiced in the rerelease.

And I switched back and forth from time to time, usually used Novel for action/motion scenes while used Adventure for general standing-around dialogue.

Enjoy VLR. It's absurdly great. I'd probably rate the three games...

999 - 9.5/10
VLR - 10/10
ZTD - 7/10

Also, something no one ever mentions in these LTTPs... How great is the music!? VLR especially has some bangin' ambient industrial stuff.

Click to shrink...

I'm excited for some rad music! 999's soundtrack didn't particularly move me one way or another.

I can't even comment on the lack of a VA for sigma in VLR without fucking things up for you. I dunno where to begin actually. Just play the game, it will make sense later.

Click to shrink...

Oh! Excited then! Glad it has a reason.

Spoiler

You play as both Junpei and young Akane, with each having their own screen (and thoughts). This isn't actually spelled out explicitly until the end of the game.

DR3. V3 was controversial for valid reasons, but ZTD is outright bad. It's arguably worse then DR3 as it just drops all the hanging plot threads and setup from VLR. The only point of debate is just how bad a game ZTD is; and, to be fair, there are plenty of visual novels that are worse, so even if ZTD is significantly worse than VLR and totally fails at tying up the trilogy, it may have some value to those starved for even mediocre VNs.

Click to shrink...

Thats''' really fuckin cool actually, holy shit.

And damn, thats a bit disappointing. But I'll still have to experience it, just to know.

 

[UltraJay]

V3 was controversial for valid reasons

Click to shrink...

I have yet to play V3, but I thought the consensus was that it was alright? Now I'm seeing a few people upset by it? I've obviously stayed away from threads about it, can you explain why without spoilers? Disappointing or... something? I can usually deal with that. I liked what I played of the demo (also the first time I played Dangan on PC, so that was novel by itself.)

 

[Zacmortar]

i beat 999 for the first time this weekend

that moment where i realized akane in the past had been in psychic connection with junpei throughout the entire game had me fucking SHOOK

only thing that annoyed me was that they didn't figure out ace was shady the moment they knew not-snake was dead

1+2+9 would have opened the 3 door so someone should have gone to check whether the ninth man's bracelet was gone to determine whether ace or santa + seven was the culprit

Click to shrink...

At that point though nobody knew you could use the bracelets without the person besides Santa and Ace, though, and Santa was probably the one that put Guy X out there in the first place.

I have yet to play V3, but I thought the consensus was that it was alright? Now I'm seeing a few people upset by it? I've obviously stayed away from threads about it, can you explain why without spoilers? Disappointing or... something? I can usually deal with that. I liked what I played of the demo (also the first time I played Dangan on PC, so that was novel by itself.)

Click to shrink...

It's honestly......... such a gigantic.... thing that its near impossible to give without any spoilers. It's a really easily spoilered thing, too.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

At that point though nobody knew you could use the bracelets without the person besides Santa and Ace, though, and Santa was probably the one that put Guy X out there in the first place.

Click to shrink...

if you went through the 5 door at the start you would have seen that the bracelet went off the ninth man's body after his death, and that should have been enough of a clue that you'd be able to use them once the person they belonged to died

 

[UltraJay]

And I switched back and forth from time to time, usually used Novel for action/motion scenes while used Adventure for general standing-around dialogue.

Click to shrink...

Novel would be the original release, or as close as you can get to it anyways.

Spoiler

Voiced dialogue was Junpei's perspective (top screen), narration was Akane's (bottom screen).

 

[Deleted member 8860]

I have yet to play V3, but I thought the consensus was that it was alright? Now I'm seeing a few people upset by it? I've obviously stayed away from threads about it, can you explain why without spoilers? Disappointing or... something? I can usually deal with that. I liked what I played of the demo (also the first time I played Dangan on PC, so that was novel by itself.)

Click to shrink...

V3 is great. The controversy is over the ending's ramifications for the Danganronpa universe. Can't say more without spoilers.

Even fans of ZTD will admit the game isn't [nearly] as good as VLR. The "controversy" is whether it is awful or just disappointing, and you'll probably form an opinion long before getting to the joke of an ending.

 

[Deleted member 41931]

I've yet to play ZTD, however I quite enjoyed 999 and VLR. My only thing that really irks me is some of the really off the wall stuff is really hokey and a bit too many plot points,reveals,etc. that feel like they exist just for the player to go "Oh my God, Whaaaaaaaaat".

 

[Enrico25]

I have yet to play V3, but I thought the consensus was that it was alright? Now I'm seeing a few people upset by it? I've obviously stayed away from threads about it, can you explain why without spoilers? Disappointing or... something? I can usually deal with that. I liked what I played of the demo (also the first time I played Dangan on PC, so that was novel by itself.)

Click to shrink...

V3 is my favorite game of all time.
The game itself is fine but there are some plot twists that ruined the game to many people.

 

[blueredandgold]

999 was a game I played around the same time Bioshock Infinite was released.

Boy was that a headache.

999 was the game I preferred more, they will always be linked in my mind.

ZLR needed more love. I think we the super fans kinda contributed to the way the finale was conceived, I'm yet to play it but bought it day one on my 3DS.

In actual fact it's had a strange knock-on effect in that I don't know if I want to check out other stuff in the genre.

Spoiling key elements be they game play or story kinda goes hand in hand when looking for others. What's the Dangaropa demo on PSN? I shouldn't have tried it because it didn't leave a good first impression. Is it worth getting if I'm already playing/looking at Persona titles?

I just hope I am able to play Aksys' next visual novel mystery brain tease oh my god this is horrible the poor dears more more this is what I signed up for game.

 

[Zacmortar]

999 was a game I played around the same time Bioshock Infinite was released.

Boy was that a headache.

999 was the game I preferred more, they will always be linked in my mind.

ZLR needed more love. I think we the super fans kinda contributed to the way the finale was conceived, I'm yet to play it but bought it day one on my 3DS.

In actual fact it's had a strange knock-on effect in that I don't know if I want to check out other stuff in the genre.

Spoiling key elements be they game play or story kinda goes hand in hand when looking for others. What's the Dangaropa demo on PSN? I shouldn't have tried it because it didn't leave a good first impression. Is it worth getting if I'm already playing/looking at Persona titles?

I just hope I am able to play Aksys' next visual novel mystery brain tease oh my god this is horrible the poor dears more more this is what I signed up for game.

Click to shrink...

V3 is a good 50 hour game, and also even more visual novel than Zero Escape and Persona are. Hell, DR barely has actual gameplay even during the "gameplay" parts, and what is there is kinda bad. Purely wanna play just for story.

 

[Deleted member 8860]

V3 is my favorite game of all time.

Click to shrink...

Have you played Nier Automata? I played Automata first and felt that it tackled some of the same themes in a more compelling way.

What's the Dangaropa demo on PSN? I shouldn't have tried it because it didn't leave a good first impression. Is it worth getting if I'm already playing/looking at Persona titles?

Click to shrink...

The DRV3 demo is a standalone "What If?" case and does not spoil the game. DR and Persona are stylistically similar, but totally different games (visual novel vs. RPG).

 

[Zacmortar]

I've yet to play ZTD, however I quite enjoyed 999 and VLR. My only thing that really irks me is some of the really off the wall stuff is really hokey and a bit too many plot points,reveals,etc. that feel like they exist just for the player to go "Oh my God, Whaaaaaaaaat".

Click to shrink...

Lowkey I adore those cheesy reveals.

Only thing in 999 that made me cringe really hard is calling the generic Scanner machines RED and DEAD because it both just sounds/reads stupidly, its also just...... really bad writing? Only bad thing about 999 really for me.

 

[ShyMel]

I love 999 and VLR. ZTD was a disappointment for me. Since others are mentioning V3, I felt it was a much better game and part of its trilogy compared to ZTD.

 

[tommyv2]

Best trilogy in gaming for me. ZTD, in particular, does a lot of things and goes a lot of places that are a joy to experience. The ambience of 999, however, is unmatched.

 

[Hero]

999 and VLR are both fantastic. ZTD is terrible by comparison. Biggest disappointment for me since ME3.

 

[Zacmortar]

UM OKAY

Spoiler

Not only is Alice straight up just Alice, Clover is back/named AND they know eachother/are decently familiar

What an amazing immediate hook

 

[Deleted member 2840]

UM OKAY

Spoiler

Not only is Alice straight up just Alice, Clover is back/named AND they know eachother/are decently familiar

What an amazing immediate hook

Click to shrink...

Enjoy your next... 25 hours.

 

[Lumination]

999 = 10/10
VLR = 9.9/10
ZTD = 9.5/10

Click to shrink...

I'm happy that you enjoyed it. I really, really wished ZTD wasn't the biggest disappointment in the last decade to me.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

I'm happy that you enjoyed it. I really, really wished ZTD wasn't the biggest disappointment in the last decade to me.

Click to shrink...

That definitely sucks for you, but to tell the OP to pretend the game doesn't exist as if it's impossible to like it is just wrong. Heaps of people love ZTD. He should at least give it a try.

 

[corn_fest]

Hi, don't play ZTD.

999/VLR are fantastic, just uhh make up your own headcanon conclusion. I promise it'll be more satisfying.

 

[Deleted member 3925]

999 and VLR are incredible. ZTD is... worse.

 

[ZeroX]

Oh wow what a massive coincidence. I literally just bought the Nonary Games + Zero Time Dilemma in the EU PSN sale and completed 999 today.

I liked 999 and felt that it actually made for a more convincing horror atmosphere than Danganronpa because it actually showed a lot more restraint in what they showed and was more grounded. The hyper stylization of Danganronpa makes you a lot more detached from the death and 2 even moreso. 999 felt more like real people suffering real trauma. At times it was a bit sterile and it didn't help that I couldn't really tell what age the characters were. Clover and Snake looked like 30 years different in age, and I couldn't tell if she was 12 or 21 by how the other characters commented on her appearance. And then Lotus just kind of felt shortchanged in general. The puzzles were all straightforward and nothing was particularly challenging.

Also had no idea Alice was in VLR, didn't really look at the artwork. I guess that might explain some things because that was the headscratcher for me in 999. It seemed she wasn't real, and then she just was? Had to peruse the Answers section on the 999 website and it still wasn't all that convincing. I'm looking forward to starting it ASAP.

I've been spoiled about one thing in VLR, because a person on GAF just openly posted it:

Spoiler

Moon

 

[psychedelic]

damn, I was really interested in picking up ZTD at some point because I liked 999 and VLR. Why is it such a massive disappointment for so many people?

 

[Zacmortar]

Oh wow what a massive coincidence. I literally just bought the Nonary Games + Zero Time Dilemma in the EU PSN sale and completed 999 today.

I liked 999 and felt that it actually made for a more convincing horror atmosphere than Danganronpa because it actually showed a lot more restraint in what they showed and was more grounded. The hyper stylization of Danganronpa makes you a lot more detached from the death and 2 even moreso. 999 felt more like real people suffering real trauma. At times it was a bit sterile and it didn't help that I couldn't really tell what age the characters were. Clover and Snake looked like 30 years different in age, and I couldn't tell if she was 12 or 21 by how the other characters commented on her appearance. And then Lotus just kind of felt shortchanged in general. The puzzles were all straightforward and nothing was particularly challenging.

Also had no idea Alice was in VLR, didn't really look at the artwork. I guess that might explain some things because that was the headscratcher for me in 999. It seemed she wasn't real, and then she just was? Had to peruse the Answers section on the 999 website and it still wasn't all that convincing. I'm looking forward to starting it ASAP.

I've been spoiled about one thing in VLR, because a person on GAF just openly posted it:

Spoiler

Moon

Click to shrink...

Yeah, the age thing was really weird, especially for Lotus who the game seems to paint as an old lady but shes designed to at most be early 30s. But I guess early 30s counts as old in anime so lol

Clover I just assumed was slightly younger than the 21 year olds, which she ended up being. She's like 18 I think?

 

[Lumination]

damn, I was really interested in picking up ZTD at some point because I liked 999 and VLR. Why is it such a massive disappointment for so many people?

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

Hamfisted plot development. Retroactively makes the earlier two games worse with its explanations. Cheesiest twist in the series by far. Stupid gameplay gimmick that doesn't work. Splitting up the story into 20+ (iirc) slices played in a semi-random order just does not work. Rather than engage the player into putting it together, it makes the player disengage entirely.

That's not even getting into the horrible art and stilted animations (at least VLR looked... inoffensive), unlikable characters, illogical returning characters, and anything else unrelated to the central plot.

 

[ZeroX]

Yeah, the age thing was really weird, especially for Lotus who the game seems to paint as an old lady but shes designed to at most be early 30s. But I guess early 30s counts as old in anime so lol

Clover I just assumed was slightly younger than the 21 year olds, which she ended up being. She's like 18 I think?

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Yeah I don't want to check the wiki for ages because obviously it'll be very easy to get spoiled on the other games. Clover's age became clear as the game progressed, but early on I think someone makes some sexual comments about her and I'd assumed by her design she was like 14 and was surprised.

Also that weird scene about being wet downstairs, boy that went on for a long time and seemed very out of place. It was funny, but more Danganronpa style comedy.

 

[Deleted member 41931]

Lowkey I adore those cheesy reveals.

Only thing in 999 that made me cringe really hard is calling the generic Scanner machines RED and DEAD because it both just sounds/reads stupidly, its also just...... really bad writing? Only bad thing about 999 really for me.

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Oh I like it too, but it was maybe a little too frequent in VLR for me. Not a big deal by any means, it just made me roll my eyes a couple of times.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Yeah, the age thing was really weird, especially for Lotus who the game seems to paint as an old lady but shes designed to at most be early 30s. But I guess early 30s counts as old in anime so lol

Clover I just assumed was slightly younger than the 21 year olds, which she ended up being. She's like 18 I think?

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lotus had kids around the main character's age who were in the previous nonary game, so she'd have to be at least early fourties

clover was nine during the first nonary game, so she'd be 18 when the game takes place. clearly the designer took pains to ensure that you dirty people could fantasize about her without feeling guilt

(santa's line that the stairs was the perfect angle for her to walk up/down was kinda funny tho)

Also that weird scene about being wet downstairs, boy that went on for a long time and seemed very out of place. It was funny, but more Danganronpa style comedy.

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that part was really funny tho

and given that akane had already foreseen the conversation, she was just messing with junpei throughout that entire conversation

 

[Zacmortar]

Spoiler

Hamfisted plot development. Retroactively makes the earlier two games worse with its explanations. Cheesiest twist in the series by far. Stupid gameplay gimmick that doesn't work. Splitting up the story into 20+ (iirc) slices played in a semi-random order just does not work. Rather than engage the player into putting it together, it makes the player disengage entirely.

That's not even getting into the horrible art and stilted animations (at least VLR looked... inoffensive), unlikable characters, illogical returning characters, and anything else unrelated to the central plot.

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I cant say much, but playing through the ps4 release of VLR, and...... some of these static model shots look really bad. The casual sprites and far away shots are fine, but the scene early on with a character huddling next to another one, and they both looked like clay.

 

[Zacmortar]

lotus had kids around the main character's age who were in the previous nonary game, so she'd have to be at least early fourties

clover was nine during the first nonary game, so she'd be 18 when the game takes place so that you dirty people can fantasize about her without feeling guilt

(santa's line that the stairs was the perfect angle for her to walk up/down was kinda funny tho)

that part was really funny tho

and given that akane had already foreseen the conversation, she was just messing with junpei throughout that entire conversation

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Yeah, but lotus said she had her twins when she was really young, which I thought implied teenage pregnancy, so assumed she was mid-late 30s.

And Santa's the only one I want walking up and down those stairs ;)

Spoiler

that joke doesn't make as much sense here

 

[NotLiquid]

Also, something no one ever mentions in these LTTPs... How great is the music!? VLR especially has some bangin' ambient industrial stuff.

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Shinji Hosoe is a master when it comes to ambiance.

 

[ZeroX]

I also don't know how I feel about 999 hinging on some weird pseudoscience. I don't mind going heavily grounded or going full on magical, but it was kind of a weird middle ground plus whatever happened with Alice. I guess the other games go into it more.

That said I can also handle the insane explanations the Layton games come up with to explain things.


re: the music in 999, it was fine, except in the puzzle rooms where it was probably a little more energetic than it needed to be