Describing 999's Best Ending - Part 1

999:  Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors was a weird one for me, all told.  I played it.  I enjoyed it.  I got the True Ending and suddenly I didn't really care for it, despite liking it while I played it.  This has happened before and it's a weird feeling, a feeling that I do not understand the source, nor the reason for it.  If anything, I imagine I was left wanting a little more, perhaps, or I felt a little jilted with what's there.  Also the True Ending has....a bit to it that kind of wrecks the mood.  However, soured a little by that, I proceeded to talk to Haplo about it in a non-spoilery way for a while and then he told me, "Look, I'm probably not going to play the game, so go ahead and spoil it".  And I said, "Well, to understand the True Ending, you have to get another ending first."  It's a weird concept to be sure, but it's there for reasons I will not divulge right yet.  A strange thing happened when I started telling Haplo of this first ending.

I really got into it.  An excitement for the game I didn't know existed started welling up in me, burned at me as I explained subtle nuances of the game, things it made sure you knew at this point and that.  I fell in love with the game for the first time because I found an intense verve with which I began telling the story of this ending.  Rather, this playthrough the leads to the ending since the ending doesn't make sense, or an impact on its own merits.  The story took a good few hours at least to tell, which is rather astounding (even with a bit of audience participation, as it were) and before I knew it, it was a wee hour in the morning and I hadn't written a blog post here.  (Of course, the previous lack was because I was entranced with the game, steeped in finding the final ending)  So I was thinking about it today, a way to make it up, and I realized "Well, I really enjoyed telling that....so I'll tell it again!" except I'll tell it here and tell it better since I admittedly did a poor job at times with Haplo.  To save myself some trouble, I'm going to be doing it in a few parts.

I believe it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway.  Beyond the Page Break (which is right after this blurb) are MASSIVE 999 Spoilers!  If only for this ending, I recommend that you play the game yourself rather than take my account as your exposure.  Because it is rather fantastic.  I will, however be explaining it rather thoroughly (hopefully) so if you must read this rather than play the game yourself, I do hope you'll be able to appreciate it.  Still, a spoiler warning is a spoiler warning and thus you have been warned.

A Christmas of Nines

If there's anything that I honestly didn't need this Christmas, it was even more games, but you know what?  I like games.  I wanted more games.  And thus, so it was that I got some pretty great games for Christmas - some surprising ones even.  I think one of the stand-outs (the other of which I'll probably speak on tomorrow) is that my parents managed to do what I haven't been able to in two years, in finding a copy of 999:  Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.  I mean, yes, I could have always gotten a copy online or something, but that's no fun - the hunt itself is a thrill and being able to taste the fruits of that effort, so to speak, is a wonderment all its own.  It's not enough that they managed to track this down for me, but when I unwrapped it and saw it - the first thing I noticed was that it was a copy that had the original box art and not the new art that re-brands the game retroactively as a part of the now-established "Zero Escape" series, of which 999 and Virtue's Last Reward (For 3DS and Vita) are now a part of.  I don't mind the new box art at all, and it wouldn't be a deal-breaker one way or another, but regardless, I thought that was pretty neat.

In actually playing the game, I have found it to be something of an actual treat, which surprised me a little.  I worry about the learning curve in games like these, but so far, it's been kind to me I believe.  At least, I haven't had to look up a guide yet, though I'm not sure at all how far into the game I am.  I expected something rather lengthy, but if the pace is anything to go by, then I'm actually drawing near to an ending, of which there are many.  I figure this can't be, and that something will reveal itself, but I'm not quite sure really.  It's still too early to tell, of course, and I'm really just more concerned about the -game- and the story than the ending(s) for now.  Since, I mean, it is a visual novel/old-style adventure game, so there's not a lot else -to- do but worry about the story of it.

I did mention that the puzzles haven't been especially hard, but I will say that they've been clever at points.  One such puzzle took me to peaks of frustration as I tried to figure it out, and when I was tempted to give up, I thought about it for just a few extra moments before that "Aha!" moment hit and it clicked.  It's honestly very, very difficult to actually make things so you'll have that moment since it requires a delicate balance that few are able to implement.  It's either too obscure so that you can't honestly be expected to figure it out, or too easy that there's no challenge to it.  Being just tricky enough that you force somebody to wrack their brain, looking at the details and realizing that there's a -reason- they don't add up, that's some sort of talent right there.  Because when you figure out which detail it is that doesn't fit, that's just wrong in the context of the situation, it pushes on that spot on your brain that feeds on the 'smugness' you get when you figure things out like that.

I do worry somewhat about just how fleshed out the characters will get before the end of it however.  Like I said, I don't quite know how far into the game I am, but I've played for a good clip and some of them are still a bit thin.  The logical part of my brain understand that there are reasons why the characters haven't been explored really, but at the same time, that doesn't preclude being able to develop them in ways that aren't subtle personality quirks and the like.  I want a little more from them as a cast, because if something were to happen to somebody, I feel like it would help if it actually meant something.  Since I mean, you put people into a gauntlet of traps and 'games' where losing means your death, you sort of -expect- for there to be some casualties.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm just guessing.  I might also be being intentionally vague and/or flippant or misleading so as to not spoil things for others.

Regardless, it's been a good trip so far and I'm quite happy that I did finally get my hands on a copy of the game.  I always figured I would, since there's not been much of a price hike ever since the reprinting, but the comfort in having the game, being able to hold it and watch it and play it is nice all the same.  With any luck, I'll like it enough that I'll want to pick up Virtue's Last Reward, which I totally can on my Vita and have that to hop into afterwards.  Of course, after I beat that, then there'll be a long, long wait for the next game in the series, but at least I'm set for the near future if nothing else.  And man, am I ever set for the near future in terms of games.  That, however, is a tale for another night.  In the meanwhile, I just hope everyone had a great Christmas, because hey, I actually did too!

So I Tried the Demo for Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

Meet the antagonist to the demo of Zero Escape:  Virtue's Last Reward - A door.  A locked door, to be precise, being the thing standing between you and progress into the next room that presumably also offers a locked door to be opened with a lengthy series of searching every inch of scenery and combining the items you come across.  I mean, that is sort of the MO for Escape the Room games which is basically what Zero Escape seems to be which is fantastic.  I rather enjoy them for the ways they encourage you to think, though there is a line between being clever and requiring such a break from logic that it makes me question what the hell is going on.  Luckily enough, Zero Escape offers no such break, as the puzzles are either pretty blatantly easy or approaching rather clever, never really even broaching the line in which I throw my hands up in frustration and consult a FAQ.

Of course, this could be because of the rather large flaw in design that the demo offered in locking you into 'Easy' mode which basically takes 80% of the challenge of the game out of your hands by giving you the answer to a good portion of most of the puzzles themselves.  Not all of them, mind you, but the ones that really could have made or broken the difficulty of the demo, thus not really giving you a good approximation of the game itself which is kind of the entire point -of- a demo.  I really can't see the point of this except trying to 'trick' people into feeling smarter than they might be, thus convincing them that Zero Escape is a game that they could, theoretically, play and understand and such.  I'm really not sure why the deception is 'necessary' however, as I really don't think the things it spoils are -that- far-fetched.  The screenshots I offered are mostly out of context, but they don't really offer knowledge onto anything that couldn't be parsed out yourself.  And probably would've made for a more worthy demo -had- you been able to figure it out for yourself.

However, despite my grumblings, I did enjoy the demo quite a bit and have played it a couple times past my initial attempt which didn't go so hot because I had a headache at the time.  Something that's helpful is that the numbers seem to randomize, so you can't just memorize them and move on through the demo without a thought to what you're actually doing.  You might remember the method, sure, but the execution will be different each time meaning that anyone who finds themselves playing the game multiple times won't get too bored with things.  Seeing as I might be one of these people, this is good news enough for me.  And the demo does have one thing that I find myself reaching towards the skies and praising the gods of all that is good and makes sense in the Memo function which allows you to utilize the touchscreen to leave yourself notes on things that might be important rather than having to rely on actual pen and paper for your notes.  It's a godsend and a wonderful idea that needs to be in like everything of this ilk.  Because it is, as I suggested in my screencap so goddamn useful.

I will note that I have not played 999:  Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors which does present a little bit of an issue here since I -like- Zero Escape, but I severely hate playing a sequel without playing the first.  In fact, as we all know, I hate playing a series over the span of multiple handhelds, but that's somewhat tempered in this case because it is also available on the original console as well (well, same line, that is) which is generally all I ask.  I planned on getting 999 anyways, so it's not a case where I -have- to get it to 'understand' the sequel, and in truth, I'm not even sure if Zero Escape will have much to do with 999 at all, story-wise.  Which I have also said is no excuse but look, just shut up and let me be a hypocrite for this series.  Escape-the-room/point-and-click is practically dead as a genre outside of PC (even there, it's mostly just flash games) and any release in it is generally one to treasure unless it's just balls-out dumb.  Which I am told 999 is certainly not.

Still, not having picked up 999, I'm not quite sure about just what I will do with Zero Escape.  I want to buy it, surely, but I won't play it right away if I bought it right away, and that just feels wasteful.  However, I don't want to be in a similar situation with the game as I am with 999 in that I simply cannot find it in stores, my preferred method of getting games.  Yes, yes, Amazon and all that, and I will get it that way -eventually-, as it seems like the price is stable for now.  I believe a stealth reprint happened at some point and that helped the game stay at the $25 pricepoint for months now, which is always nice.  But my issue is that if I get 999 right now I will similarly probably not be able to play it because, well, I have a lot of gaming to do between my PS3 and Vita, despite people claiming that I should have no trouble in that department.  Because....well, people are stupid.  Clearly.  I've held off buying like four Vita games because I'm saving the money for four -other- Vita games, but noooooo, it -has- no games and I'm clearly saving money for absolutely nothing at all.  Twats.  Anyways, I suggest you grab the demo for yourself to give it a whirl if you're so inclined.  It's not perfect, and I would suggest you only play the Escape portion as the Novel portion is literally just a cutscene, but what you do with it is your business and such.