Zero Escape: The Nonary Games

Note : DO NOT LOOK UP ANY SPOILERS. The twists and stories are an integral part of the enjoyment (as far as I'm concerned). Do not ruin that for yourself. Small note : I am not a puzzle game maniac, this might be my first few puzzle games so i lack any true ability to rate this game as far as puzzle gameplay goes. As such, I will mainly be discussing the story aspect of the games. ---------------------------------------- Would 100% recommend. 2 games in 1. Both are very much worth it imo (though opinions may differ of course, notably on the second game). 999 is the first story and should definitely be played before VLR (VLR contains spoilers of 999) It has got a much more simple and easy to follow narrative and the puzzles dont require Einstein to get through. The story got me hooked from beginning to end and the ending twist clears up all the questions raised over the different routes. As some other reviews may mention, the game was designed for the DS, and porting that over to PC did raise a number of choices and changes. Most notably reflected in the ending but also the relevance of the Novel mode giving much more information and description which could not be converted to dialogue. I can see why people would recommend the DS version but it did not disrupt my enjoyment of the game. 999 is overall a simple but solid piece of work that i will strongly recommend to anybody. VLR offers a sequel to 999. Whilst similar conceptually, there are a number of ambitious and drastic changes, which some may find jarring. Most notably in the story setup as well as the shift in graphics towards 3D models. As i was here out of enjoyment following the first game's story, I did not get too bothered by these changes, but i can understand some people being disturbed by them. The addition of hard/easy mode on the puzzle aspect makes this game somewhat harder to get through, at least on hard mode. Whilst generally I still wouldn't consider them extremely complex, with fewer hints and less precise guidance a few of them are a bit harder, and some others are also just simply a bit convoluted in my opinion. Difficulty mode is individual to each puzzle room however and easily adjusted if struggling, offering some achievements and additional lore on the harder difficulty. Note that you can just return to clear the room again on hard right after finishing it on easy if you really want to. If all else fails, the internet exists. As far as i'm concerned, if you are here for the story, don't let the puzzles gatekeep you from it. As far as the story goes, where 999 was far more straightforward and condensed, VLR, as mentioned before, took a more ambitious approach. With a far wider variety of choices/routes to explore, as well as a much greater number of story locks present, the game is definitely harder to get into. It can get a bit harder to keep track of certain plot points (for me at least, as you may have to ping pong between various routes to unlock continuations) and the quality of routes have a much higher variance between its highs and lows. Nonetheless, after witnessing the finale, i believe the payoff is entirely worth it. Spoilers would absolutely ruin this game though, so get yourself a restraining order against those. Overall, VLR does pay a price for its ambitions, which may push away some players, even those who enjoyed the first installment, but i very much enjoyed myself and my experience in this game as well. I would definitely recommend giving it a try and completing the story if you loved the first game.

PEAK

This is a collection of two escape room death game visual novels with a heavy focus on puzzles. The first game, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (999 for short) is a pretty short and tight story while the second game, Virtue’s Last Reward, is significantly longer and more ambitious in scope, unfortunately to its detriment. Both games share frequent pseudo science infodumps, as if a character giving the lecture was a walking Wikipedia page. These scenes may sometimes come off as a bit awkward when they happen in the middle of a puzzle in a time-sensitive death game. They also share the ambition to present the most mindbending twists and while 999 pulls it off decently, VLR is very clunky. The plot twists in Virtue’s Last Reward remind me of the writer’s (Kotaro Uchikoshi) another game, AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative. In both cases, the plot twists are so insane and bold that pulling them off requires bending the story and characters over so much that they begin to crumble upon deeper consideration. I have some additional problems with VLR, the pacing is much slower, the atmosphere is far less deadly. There is a literal mascot character introduced right at the beginning of the game, which immediately set a bad tone for me. The visual style changed from 2D sprites to awkward looking 3D models. Coming back to 999, I felt it was a perfectly serviceable death game story. The pacing was tight, there was a good balance of story and puzzles. A lot of the prose felt victim to the usual wordiness present in visual novels. The issue is most prominent when playing using the Novel mode instead of the Adventure mode, in which a single thing may be repeated two, three or even more times in quick succession, sometimes to describe something that is already presented through the visuals. However, the short runtime and fun puzzles prevented the game from becoming tiresome. Overall, I consider 999 to be a good puzzle-heavy visual novel, while Virtue’s Last Reward was an ambitious swing and an unfortunate miss.

This is a collection of two games. The first one, 999, is a very interesting game, I loved the themes and twists in it. Great characters and comedy too, and good music. The voices, which weren't in the original release, add a lot too. Overall I was very engaged and enjoyed the whole experience. This game alone would already be worth the full price if you ask me. Make sure to play in Novel mode for the full experience, Adventure mode being the default is maybe one of the biggest problems I have with the release. The original only had Novel mode, and you'll miss some critical details if you play in Adventure. So I'd recommend switching to Novel as soon as you start. The second game, VLR, I'm more mixed on personally. The story and characters are a lot more of a mixed bag. The themes are still interesting though, and overall I enjoyed my experience with it so I'd still recommend it. As I mentioned before, my opinion on this game doesn't matter much anyway because 999 alone is worth the full price.

I really like 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors. Virtue's Last Reward is a bit too convoluted for my liking, but it's still pretty good.

玩完善人死亡的我好爽啊。。。好想知道设施里到底发生了什么但是听说3很烂啊纠结！

999 относительно локальная неплохая история, где все ясно и понятно. Дальше же будет сегмент, относящийся только ко второй части. В virtue's last reward же вам намутили столько всего, что, на мой взгляд, переборщили. Загадки в обоих частях довольно понятные, однако интерфейс вызывает желание [spoiler] заразиться радикал-6 [/spoiler] из-за долгих анимаций. Серьезно, пока вы докрутите инвентарь и найдете нужный айтем пройдет достаточно времени, чтобы вывести вас из себя, особенно если по пути вы мискликнули, вызвав диалог персонажей, которые обсуждают кликнутый предмет. То же можно отнести к анимациям перемещения по комнатам и этажам. Кроме занимаемого хронометража никакой иной функции они не несут, однако знатно выводят из себя особенно при длительном прохождении. Возможно не стоило взахлеб проходить две игры сразу, так как уже на середине второй части заметно теряется интерес к происходящему. Во второй половине общего сюжета уже просто начал скипать все диалоги вне зависимости от того, видел их или нет. Касательно скипа, работает он тоже довольно странно. Скип диалогов если ты их видел работает относительно нормально, однако неоднократно встречал ситуацию, что один и тот же идентичный диалог но в разных рутах скипнуть нельзя, якобы он полностью новый, что ошибочно. Да, может быть изменены от силы 2 предложения, но заставлять заново прокликивать несколько минут значительно надоедает. Надоедает так же, как и мусоливание сюжетной информации, в особенности в одной из концовок где спойлер [spoiler] сигма рассказывает свою версию произошедшего, а луна повторяет за ним, до этого добавив инфы о своем прошлом [/spoiler], что для меня было прям духотой. Обе игры по-своему хороши, ясное дело, что первая часть не блещет вариативностью выборов, однако ей можно сделать скидку на возраст. Вторая же часть немного разочаровала на мой взгляд излишней мудреностью и технической частью. Хорошо, что начинал погружение в серию с 3ей части, которую и советую для первого прохождения, а данные игры проходить уже если понравилась тематика и хочется порешать головоломки.

算是我此类游戏的启蒙之作，也是促使我后续买所有打越游戏的动力（时长是因为我重刷试图用英文版，结果还没打完hhh） 999相对来说更加精炼，整体节奏紧凑，人物塑造讨喜。数字根设计精巧，善用游戏机制，可惜换平台牺牲了一点核心诡计的（容易剧透的）惊艳感。 善人死亡是我最爱的打越作品！可能也是所有游戏里最喜欢的作品之一。 层层反转，角色多样，打通所有结局你就学会了打越爱用的诡计大全bushi 跑图动画有点折磨，建模略显难绷（某偷笑的立绘，某cg的高发际线）。不过剧情真的没话说，有了三代以后这个画面也不是不能接受。因为流程相对999长很多，台词其实有不少细节伏笔，值得二刷的一部。初见打的线路顺序不同猜测和感受会有挺大差别的，很有意思。 既然卖二合一了，大家不要只打999，来玩玩这个我游戏人生中难得睡着过结果没看出某个伏笔的善人死亡吧！ 以及，[spoiler]露娜——露娜——[/spoiler]

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