I'm finished. I found it the weakest in the series, but by no means bad. Several rather surprising events, but nothing that really blew my mind.

I would have preferred sticking to the visual novel format, as about 90% of this game is cinematics. Reading is faster and I want answers NOW. I do, however, understand why this direction was taken.

Oh, and once you get the final ending, if you still want more information, you get a bunch of new files to read that the game neglects to tell you about. Worth a look.

Now I can finally get some sleep.

Oh, before I forget, if you find yourself stuck near endgame like I did, check to see if you've seen all the executions at the beginning of the game. Chances are you're missing one.

And I haven't even gotten my copy yet ;_;

Should hopefully be coming today though..

Just finished up 999.

Soooo my net decided to shit itself after I rambled at you a bit, Shep. Give me a few to let the silly annoyance die down and I'll type it up again.

But the long story short is even though I'm not done the game (or anywhere close to, hopefully), thanks for indulging my silly speeches.

ETA:

Okay, now I'll just type it back up again. I'm allergic to double posting so I'll just hit the three points in question here.

1. I can agree as far as the cast goes completely and I think that's where I  get a little caught up. I'll go on record saying as of now, I don't have issues with Q or D team, though in the latter, not getting Laura Bailey back for Diana makes me a bit sad. I refreshed my memory on VLR's cast and it's actually really amazing. >.> I have to laugh a bit because Eric works way better than I was expecting him to considering the role the trailers and even his dialogue makes him  out to be. But you're 100% spot on for me in that the pauses do make the dialogue feel a fair bit stunted. Delivery  isn't terrible but yeah, there definitely are points where it either feels like they're reading off a script, or I just get (selfishly) grumbley because the intensity doesn't quite  match what's going on in my head.

2. Glad to know it isn't just me there. As of right now, I'm working around it by closing my DS lid any time I feel I need to pause to let my brain do its thing. I only worry cause if things get ramped up later, there's going to be a chance I close it after every line and at least I'll be able to make a sweet drum beat with the lid?

3. I mean, the camera angles and everything when the scene is mounting up. Suspicious as fuck. >.>

But yes, thank you for indulging my daily rambles. My little routine as of  now is to play it at night (atmosphere, and it's what I did with 999) and then wake up and write my notes in the morning. When I'm done the game, I might post said notes just to show  the wacky train of thought I go through trying to figure things out. In general I'm also toying with the idea of  making an end of trilogy post cause I've been in this fandom for six years and as long as they don't completely drop the ball here, I'd like to think I will be happy. I mean as of now, 999 is still my favorite of the series, that's not a hit against VLR cause it did certain things very very right, I'm just kind of adjusting my expectations as I go and as long as they don't completely fuck it up, I'd like to think I  can be satisfied here. I never expected the series to become a series in general, so there's at least that....

I would like to see a write up of your thoughts on the ending some point Shep for when I do finish the game. I'm very curious to see how I'll feel about it after.

I have my fingers crossed it doesn't pull an ME3 and ruin the series for me on the final chapter..

That does have me a bit worried but I'll try my best to keep an open mind when I hit it. To be fair this is a tough series to deliver on considering how high 999 and VLR set the standards. I'm surprised VLR was even as good as it was tbh.

I have a Jumpy now! Okay stupid jokes aside, let me catch up. Not sure I'll reply tonight but I'll IOU both Ness and Shep once I get some shuteye cause it's just about time for me to go curl up and get back to ZTD.

ETA: No. I will say this. Ness. You are a bad person for like the final boss and now I need to go cry again. 




Okay now I really do promise I'll reply  properly tomorrow.

Okay! So I'm going to steadily work through my replies now. Just had my coffee so while my brain isn't running at top speed right now, it's still a bit functional. Might have to agitate my allergy to double posting so that I can give both of you the replies deserved, as well as try not to make this post take up far too much room. >.> I'll have some extra notes after I cover your stuff, Shep and then I'll work on Ness'

(Yes, I'm giddy, getting to discuss a series that means so much to me with others)





I'm mostly laughing about my notes right now because they're almost full train of consciousness type things and I (as you probably already noticed) tend to go off on wild tangents when I'm trying to shove these pieces in my brain somewhere. So I have like three different paragraphs right now regarding Zero's identity, cause my brain is all over the place. I was supposed to do a full series replay before ZTD came out, but June has been a complicated month (go ahead, take that as a 999 joke and laugh, because I'm doing it too) so that didn't happen and I'm kind of running on six years ago memory for 999 and three years old memory for VLR. Much like you, I think the bigger points still stuck but as you'll eventually see in my notes, there's some things I can't fully remember regarding 999's finer details. But with replacing my copy of 999, I'll have all three again and even if I have to give myself a break, once I'm done this first playthrough, there's a chance I'll do a full series run provided it doesn't pull an ME3 (we'll touch on this eventually given where you stand with it and of course I'll bring my own too many words to the table as well).



Well, you aren't wrong... >.> We're most definitely going to get to that once I cover the rest of the reply because oops, I did most of the Triangle fragment last night and let's just say I had a *long* point where i needed to close the lid and just stare because my brain was doing far too much.



Not going to deny that it's taking all of my self restraint here to stick to the schedule of playing it at night. VLR I just binged regardless of time of day because I needed to. But in mentioning again what we're going to talk about later with Triangle, it's safe to say I finally hit one of those points where the game is doing as the series does, and putting something into my mind that sticks with me hard, even after sleeping. I'm amused when I think back on getting the Axe ending for the first time, and how the next day at work, I made my coworker/friend sit down and watch it with me on YT even though he had exactly zero (huehue) context for it.



See this is why I'm laughing so much, because I'm making little addendums in my notes as time goes on and since right now I'm just grabbing at straws and funneling too much information from the other two games into place (not going to lie, I worry this is a silly course of action that might leave me unsatisfied later, but we'll see as time goes on), so there's a huge chance so many of my notes are wrong.

999 spoiler




Right, and we'll most definitely touch on this when the time comes. Trying to adjust my expectations as I go, like I said. Even though I say a million times my desired things to be satisfied, I know in my heart there's also a chance it won't live up to the self inflicted hype I've rolled it in. That'll be my own fault and in some ways, knowing you feel it might not be as.... conclusive as my brain might desperately wants, kind of serves to rein me back in a little bit.



Makes my heart warm, it really does. I admit when I got the first ending, I didn't completely focus on the credits because I knew I would when I eventually get the true ending, so seeing that acknowledgement? Probably going to make me cry, but then again I'll probably already be sooooo. >.>

That uncertainty we had for years after VLR and being told the third wouldn't happen because it's more profitable in the West than the East, not going to lie there was an ache in my heart. See, you'll see me mention it in my notes but Remember11 (and in hand, Ever17, I/O and a few others) was a much earlier VN by some of the crew that went on to work on 999 and Zero Escape in general. R11 is pretty important to me in the same way ZE is, dealing with a lot of subject content that hits my heart. It unfortunately ended on a huge cliffhanger and I doubt we'll ever see a pickup of it. I worried the same was going to be true for ZE as well, so in a sense, I'm happy we at least got a conclusion, regardless of how I feel about it when I'm done.

I/O tickles me in that I feel it was practice for VLR and its blocked paths with other points needing to be seen first. They've done this a few times, taken mechanics used in their earlier things and used them in ZE so it makes me smile quite a bit.



I get you, and we'll most definitely touch on these things later. Like I said, I'm a little worried I'm overhyping and setting my expectations too goddamn high here. I know there's a strong chance real information from the earlier games won't be pulled in too much, but god I can't help but hope so. One of my bigger issues with ME3 with it being made with newcomers in mind. I guess I'm desperately hoping ZTD was made with long time fans in mind and the little flashes I've picked up on so far have made me smile as a long time fan.


*Okay* Now that I've addressed everything, it's finally time for me to slip some real spoiler stuff in regarding what I saw last night.

Triangle spoilers



I have a feeling I'm going to touch back on that fragment again at some point because yup, it stuck with me hard. For the record, the way I choose what fragment to go to is: I decide the team I want to control, look at the thumbnails and decide which one at that moment looks the most interesting.

As of right now I've completed: Suspicion and all but one strand of Triangle. Before closing it down, I went to Transporter but I won't comment there since that's a book and a half *maybe* and I've only started the puzzle room and shut it down for sleep.

Alright, I know.... a fuckton of words and if you read it all, thank you. Zero Escape does a lot for my brain, always has, and if there's one way to get me to not shut up, it's get me on this series.

I know this speech is disjointed as fuck and I apologize. I still can't fully put into words what the hell my brain is doing over this ending....

I maintain that talk is one of the best parts of doing these things :3  I kind of wish I was up to date and doing ZTD with that in mind so I could read these things. :/

But I suppose I've got a long way to go till that yet.

Just a reminder that there was something 999 teased on Spike Chunsoft's twitter a week or so back. And at anime expo the other day, Kotaro Uchikoshi, the Zero Escape director, was asked if there would be a Vita or PC port. And to which he answered, that we should look forward to the Aksys game's panel this Sunday.

If it is indeed one of those... it'd be a real good opportunity for everyone missing out for whatever reason. It'd seem a bit strange to announce it on the down low now of all times, given I've heard ZTD fills you in on the previous two with full spoilers. But ah well.  

Might also be an easier platform for pressuring a certain kohai/senpai of ours into playing it, Ani.  :3