Zero Escape: 999 true ending was a mess (SPOILERS!!)

[WolfOfPersia]

so I just finish zero escape: 999 and true ending feels kinda bulls%$t to me, I don't know why people liked it so I'm asking you to explain to me what's good about it, maybe I missed something but the ending was time travel nonsense

 

[Waffles]

As a reminder to everyone who chooses to participate on this topic: please use the spoiler tags when discussing plot points and/or the actual ending to the game.

 

[WolfOfPersia]

As a reminder to everyone who chooses to participate on this topic: please use the spoiler tags when discussing plot points and/or the actual ending to the game.

sorry, I thought the the spoiler in the title was enough, added the tag

 

[Waffles]

sorry, I thought the the spoiler in the title was enough, added the tag

No, you did nothing wrong.

I meant the spoiler BB tag:

Spoiler

This one

 

[What's His Face]

Okay, quick question. You DID catch that the entire game was

Spoiler

multiverse time travel "nonsense"

right?

 

[WolfOfPersia]

Okay, quick question. You DID catch that the entire game was

Spoiler

multiverse time travel "nonsense"

right?

yes I played the whole game and got every ending, it was not

Spoiler

multiverse time travel "nonsense" till the last puzzle of true ending

it gave me whiplash

 

[What's His Face]

yes I played the whole game and got every ending, it was not

Spoiler

multiverse time travel "nonsense" till the last puzzle of true ending

it gave me whiplash

Spoiler

"The entire game hinted at what was going on. ESPECIALLY the non-true endings (save the ax murderer ending) where Akane would become sick and straight-up VANISH after a certain point. Why? Because you as the player didn't follow the one route that would allow her to live, as it was her past self that was connecting to you the entire time. But most of those bad endings were required to get to the good ending, as you were able to gleam information from the other timelines where you failed in order the find the one timeline where Akane survives. Until the events of the game, her very existence was that of "Schrodinger's Cat," which gets referenced in the sequel."

 

[WolfOfPersia]

Spoiler

"The entire game hinted at what was going on. ESPECIALLY the non-true endings (save the ax murderer ending) where Akane would become sick and straight-up VANISH after a certain point. Why? Because you as the player didn't follow the one route that would allow her to live, as it was her past self that was connecting to you the entire time. But most of those bad endings were required to get to the good ending, as you were able to gleam information from the other timelines where you failed in order the find the one timeline where Akane survives. Until the events of the game, her very existence was that of "Schrodinger's Cat," which gets referenced in the sequel."

well when you put it that way it only becomes less irritating to me, now the plot is only a messy and kinda bad time travel story
by the way how are the other games? is the final ending to the whole series satisfying enough to play them??? answer me based on the fact that I almost enjoyed 999 but hate the ending of it, but loved almost every puzzle

 

[Nekopan]

The ending of the third game leaves you wanting more so I wouldn't say its satisfying. The nonsense in the series escalates as a whole specially if you want to try to piece zero escape and zero dilemma together. Too bad its not like Fnaf that keeps pumping out games and media. lol

 

[WolfOfPersia]

Too bad its not like Fnaf that keeps pumping out games and media. lol

I don't know if I should be happy or sad about this information

 

[ATenderLad]

You won't catch me defending that ending, too much of an info-dump right at the finish line that kills the pacing, but I think with the series in general you gotta vibe with the "anything is possible and all conspiracy theories are real" attitude it's laying down. It's a lot like X-Files, in that sense.

 

[Maromishi]

I think this series was really satisfying in terms of gameplay; whereas the story is very divisive with people who HATE it and people who LOVE it. I was not a fan of the second game (mainly I think due to the characters) but I DID complete all endings of the first and third of the zero escape games. I would say I think my love of the first one was largely due to when it released (I played it on the DS when it first came out) and the whole hype around "Saw" style puzzle games (or just danger puzzle games? Think like the Professor Layton series and Hotel Dusk etc). For what it's worth the gameplay in the third one is still very fun if you liked that part of the experience of the first one!

 

[RageBurner]

I did finish 999 and liked it, but I've yet to finish the other two games because I found the shift in art style offputting.

As much as I like this series (as well as Danganronpa), I always find somewhat miffing that you can't really influence events and save specific characters, but I understand it's a genre limitation and it would be nigh on impossible to tell a coherent story while considering all possible permutations.

It just sucks when a character you like gets done in.

 

[WolfOfPersia]

I think this series was really satisfying in terms of gameplay; whereas the story is very divisive with people who HATE it and people who LOVE it. I was not a fan of the second game (mainly I think due to the characters) but I DID complete all endings of the first and third of the zero escape games. I would say I think my love of the first one was largely due to when it released (I played it on the DS when it first came out) and the whole hype around "Saw" style puzzle games (or just danger puzzle games? Think like the Professor Layton series and Hotel Dusk etc). For what it's worth the gameplay in the third one is still very fun if you liked that part of the experience of the first one!

yeah , I liked most of the puzzles and I picked up the game because I liked the ds Layton games but inspector's call didn't satisfied me enough and at least 999 had some fun puzzles so I don't say it wasted my time or anything

Post automatically merged: Jan 3, 2025

I always find somewhat miffing that you can't really influence events and save specific characters, but I understand it's a genre limitation and it would be nigh on impossible to tell a coherent story while considering all possible permutations

as someone who is trying to write a visual novel, I am trying to make every decision count ( unlike what other studios lie about and you end up with only 1 decision that actually matter in the end ) and let me tell you, it's the hardest thing to make hundreds of path and all of them at best must be satisfying and at worst must be logical to the choices

 

[RageBurner]

as someone who is trying to write a visual novel, I am trying to make every decision count ( unlike what other studios lie about and you end up with only 1 decision that actually matter in the end ) and let me tell you, it's the hardest thing to make hundreds of path and all of them at best must be satisfying and at worst must be logical to the choices

I have to commend your drive and passion to even attempt this. I wish you the best of luck, and may you succeed, so that the industry will adopt this style as the defacto standard.

Now, going on a bit of a tangent here, having finished 999, what is the proper plot order after it? VLR then ZTD or ZTD then VLR?

 

[WolfOfPersia]

having finished 999, what is the proper plot order after it? VLR then ZTD or ZTD then VLR?

I've heard that ZTD happens before and after VLR some how but everyone said play order is 999 -> VLR -> ZTD

 

[RageBurner]

I've looked it up and it seems the only way it makes sense is actually 999 -> ZTD -> VLR. Still odd that Chunsoft would release 999 -> VLR as duology while leaving ZTD standalone.

 

[WolfOfPersia]

I've looked it up and it seems the only way it makes sense is actually 999 -> ZTD -> VLR. Still odd that Chunsoft would release 999 -> VLR as duology while leaving ZTD standalone.

as far as I know, VLR and ZTD supposedly were getting made at the same time if not back to back but VLR sold like 2 copies or something and ZTD got canceled then got revived because of the fans, this also explains the shift in quality of the games

Post automatically merged: Jan 4, 2025

they were like 2 parts of the same game like companion app or something

 

[Yousef]

as far as I know, VLR and ZTD supposedly were getting made at the same time if not back to back but VLR sold like 2 copies or something and ZTD got canceled then got revived because of the fans, this also explains the shift in quality of the games

Post automatically merged: Jan 4, 2025

they were like 2 parts of the same game like companion app or something

ZTD went through development hell and it really shows. The ending literally feels like a joke.

 

[WolfOfPersia]

ZTD went through development hell and it really shows. The ending literally feels like a joke.

damn, and I thought 999's ending was bad

 

[Yousef]

damn, and I thought 999's ending was bad

Yup. If you disliked 999 true ending, ZTD will make you tear your hair out haha.

 

[WolfOfPersia]

Yup. If you disliked 999 true ending, ZTD will make you tear your hair out haha.

well, it's time to delete them from my vita

 

[RageBurner]

I suppose I'll play them and see.
By the way, this ordering I'm talking about has nothing to do with production order; I'm referring to plot order only.

My points are two fold:

Spoiler: Game Order

First, in ZTD, Junpei and Akane constantly refer to the second Zero and "what happened 1 year ago" and how the Dcom experiment that the current Zero had hijacked are similar.

Secondly, by the time of VLR, Junpei is an elderly man already, going simply by his last name.

That said with the series' penchant for mcguffins, it can be hard to say.

 

[WolfOfPersia]

I suppose I'll play them and see.
By the way, this ordering I'm talking about has nothing to do with production order; I'm referring to plot order only.

My points are two fold:

Spoiler: Game Order

First, in ZTD, Junpei and Akane constantly refer to the second Zero and "what happened 1 year ago" and how the Dcom experiment that the current Zero had hijacked are similar.

Secondly, by the time of VLR, Junpei is an elderly man already, going simply by his last name.

That said with the series' penchant for mcguffins, it can be hard to say.

as I said VLR and ZTD were companion to one another and I've heard by so many people that play order is 999->VLR->ZTD

 

[ObscureJigglypuff]

I did finish 999 and liked it, but I've yet to finish the other two games because I found the shift in art style offputting.

My situation with this series is exactly like this comment.
I'll play the others out of curiosity in the future.

Don't remember much about the truth ending cause i played a long time ago.
If you are trying to write a visual novel i guess there are many good examples out there.