Thane reviews the Zero Escape series

[Thane]

Hello everyone.

I've never written proper reviews before, but since such a niche series miraculously enough was confirmed to get its third and final installment after a period in development hell, I decided to play through the two games in the series - 999 and Virtue's Last Reward - and spread some of the love and hopefully convince someone to get on the hype train with me. I won't include any spoilers in my review, but I will give my impressions on the story, gameplay, characters and so on.

Now, let's begin with the obvious question: what is Zero Escape and why should I care?

Zero Escape currently consists of two games with a third installment confirmed to be released sometime during the summer. The full names are: the first game is called 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, or simply 999, the second game is called Virtue's Last Reward while the third name is Zero Time Dilemma. The series are puzzle visual novels with an emphasis on a dark atmosphere, science fiction, philosophy and science, among other things; while certainly not everyone's cup of tea, I implore you to keep reading before judging the series.



In 999, you wake up on an abandoned ship in the middle of nowhere, having no recollection of how you got there; you eventually run into eight others in the same situation. Right after meeting your fellow abductees, a voice calling themself Zero claims they are the ones responsible for kidnapping them, and the only way off the ship is to play the "Nonary Game", in which you've got to work your way through the dangerous puzzles - guarded by special doors that force you and your party to separate - set up by Zero together with the other party members. However, you quickly realize there's far more to the situation than what you had previously thought, and as you make your way through the labyrinth, you slowly begin to unravel its many mysteries.

What sells the games are its many endings, interesting puzzles, heavy atmosphere and overall tone; it's not afraid to make the player shocked, sad or downright scared, and it knows how to reward your hard work with interesting information about the characters' pasts and wonderful storytelling that'll leave you wanting more.

Oh, and when I said many endings, I meant it. People, you included, WILL die in many different ways due to various things that happen throughout the exploration set up by the Nonary doors.

The intricate story and the incredible number of possible ways of advancing through the ship thanks to the special door system leaves the player wondering what would've happened if they had done something even slightly differently, with a different team composition. The many, many plot twists range from being seen from far away to blowing your mind when you least expect it.

However, if there's one argument that could be used against 999 it is that its few instances of gore are very descriptive for no adequate reason. You don't get to SEE it, but they describe it in such a fashion that doesn't contribute anything to the atmosphere, but rather just makes you feel as if the author thought corpses were cool. Fortunately, due to the heavy backlash, 999's successor removed it almost entirely. However, both games are very much rated M for a reason.

Virtue's Last Reward, the second entry in the series, has a different but still familiar tone. You wake up and find yourself challenged yet again by someone calling themself Zero, who has set up a different but still familiar Nonary Game. Here, you and your party members are actively pitted against each other in a game based on the Prisoner's dilemma. When you wake up, you find that you and all the others have a bracelet with the number 3 on. In order to escape, you need to get 9 points and walk through a door that can only open once. So, how do you get points?

Simple, either by trusting your comrades or stabbing them in the back.

After every puzzle section, you'll return to where you began and cast a vote: ally or betray. You have no idea what the others are thinking, and no one is below manipulating you in order to get out first. If both the involved parties vote ally, then you both get two points, if you both vote betray, you'll get zero points - however, if someone votes ally and the other chooses betray, then you'll get three points while the other gets minus two. It would hardly be a plot twist to spoil what happens if your points reach zero.

Naturally, much like in 999, the plot twists are many and once again range from mindblowing to about as predictable as Irish weather. Thankfully, the heaviest plot twists are very tough to predict and will leave you with your mouth agape.

Oh, and as a nice added bonus, there's now extensive high quality voice acting that adds the necessary touch when people want to tear your throat out for betraying them.



Understandably, due to the story-heavy nature of the game, writing about it is hard if you want to avoid spoilers, but I hope I've done an okay job so far. The structure of both stories are both incredible, and you quickly realize that the amount of work that must've been put in to avoid any plot holes is staggering. There's always a sense of urgency and hopelessness but it never becomes too tiring due to the game knowing when to give the player a break and focus on either something more lighthearted or some well-written exposition. The game also knows doesn't pull any punches when it comes to descriptions of any sort, be it about the way characters feel to the way you all die; much to the games' credit, they treat you like an adult.

However, the games are certainly not without flaws: characters, while never really one-dimensional, only range from annoying to mildly interesting; you won't find Ace Attorney quality character writing here. Don't get me wrong, you still get plenty invested and the game tells the story it wants to tell brilliantly, but more than a few characters will make you roll your eyes from time to time. The character design is also not the best, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to say more than that I'm afraid.

The writing also has a tendency to get wooden during certain character interactions. Due to the nature of the games and the themes therein, characters tend to have both an implausible wealth of specific knowledge as well as handy, easy-to-understand explanations of said complex themes supposedly thought up on the fly.

There is much more that could be said, but any more would lead us too deep into spoiler territory. Just know that these games are definitely worth your time and money if you're a fan of exciting, story-heavy games and enjoy reading.

999 is available for the DS, 3DS and IOS, while Virtue's Last Reward is available for the 3DS and Playstation Vita. In theory, the second game could be played first, but quite a few hints would be missed and some spoilers for the first game would be revealed. If you'd be unable to get a hand of 999 (I don't believe it's available on the Nintendo E-shop, unlike Virtue's Last Reward), I'd suggest just watching a playthrough of it, since the story is the most important aspect of the series. Also, please keep in mind that both games are rated M for very good reasons.

If you are interested, here's a link for the demo of 999, available on the localization company's website: http://www.aksysgames.com/999/agegate

Edited January 22, 2016 by Thane

[Zera]

I don't think your review told me much that I didn't already know from reading other reviews, but it's okay. If the game had no story whatsoever, would it still be enjoyable?

[Elieson]

I never even heard of this franchise until this review. Sounds intriguing.

inb4 Zera Escape plug

[Thane]

I don't think your review told me much that I didn't already know from reading other reviews, but it's okay. If the game had no story whatsoever, would it still be enjoyable?

The game is essentially 90% story, so definitely not. You'd be far better off playing a Professor Layton game if you were only interested in puzzles.

I never even heard of this franchise until this review. Sounds intriguing.

inb4 Zera Escape plug

It's incredibly niche, and due to low sales in Japan, the third game barely got made; it's much more popular in the US for some reason.

Here's to hoping the series will go out with a bang, even if it's not well known!

Did you try the demo?

[Irony]

I never even heard of this franchise until this review. Sounds intriguing.

inb4 Zera Escape plug

Holy heck, Elieson- You should play this game! :D I played the second one before the first (I actually had to import the first game just so that I could play it.) But the plot is amazing, the puzzles are pretty fun and the music is pretty good too! :)

[Luce]

Everyone should be spreading love for this amazing series

I'm not an expert when it comes to reviews, but I did like this one! It gave me some hype - although, to be honest, I'm always hyped when people talk about Zero Escape - and now I really feel like playing both games again.

I think it's quite difficult to review this series without spoiling anything, so yeah, good work! I do not agree with some points, like the one about the characters - I wouldn't say there are no actually interesting ones, and it was nice to see every single one of them "reacting" to the others.

I guess this may be a bit off topic so I'll leave it under a spoiler. Damn me and my love for these games

To be fair, Ace Attorney handles less main characters at the same time and has the time to develop them well throughout many different games, while in Zero Escape you could say that there's... not enough time (in the game) to get to know them well, and since they're kinda all main characters it's even more difficult to develop them all equally.

But yeah some of them were incredibly annoying (actually, I'd be interested in knowing which ones annoyed you and why, be it via pm or whatever haha)

Anyway, it's a cool review and I'm glad you wrote it ;o; fingers crossed for the third installment!

[OakTree]

Im fairly sure all of the "convenient" knowledge the characters have is intended, as the whole point of the games is that literally everything that happens in both Nonary Games is pre-determined.

Edited January 22, 2016 by OakTree

[Radiant head]

I've only been able to play VLR, which was amazing. I dunno where to get the DS version of 999. Was going to get the iOS one, but apparently that version took out a bunch of the puzzles.

[animeapple]

I've only been able to play VLR, which was amazing. I dunno where to get the DS version of 999. Was going to get the iOS one, but apparently that version took out a bunch of the puzzles.

you can pick it up on amazon or ebay

which is pretty much the only place you can find them

the game is about 20 dollars on average for a used copy.... so its not that bad... you can even pick a brand new copy of the 2nd print for about 25-30 dollars

being a niche game its kinda hard to find this game out in retail stores anymore... i havent seen a copy at a store like gamestop in a long time... same goes for VLR

anywho this series is one of my favorite games series, and i cant wait for Zero Time Dilemma

[Thane]

Everyone should be spreading love for this amazing series

I'm not an expert when it comes to reviews, but I did like this one! It gave me some hype - although, to be honest, I'm always hyped when people talk about Zero Escape - and now I really feel like playing both games again.

I think it's quite difficult to review this series without spoiling anything, so yeah, good work! I do not agree with some points, like the one about the characters - I wouldn't say there are no actually interesting ones, and it was nice to see every single one of them "reacting" to the others.

I guess this may be a bit off topic so I'll leave it under a spoiler. Damn me and my love for these games

To be fair, Ace Attorney handles less main characters at the same time and has the time to develop them well throughout many different games, while in Zero Escape you could say that there's... not enough time (in the game) to get to know them well, and since they're kinda all main characters it's even more difficult to develop them all equally.

But yeah some of them were incredibly annoying (actually, I'd be interested in knowing which ones annoyed you and why, be it via pm or whatever haha)

Anyway, it's a cool review and I'm glad you wrote it ;o; fingers crossed for the third installment!

I figured someone would write this, and I guess it all comes down to personal preferences, and while you are right in that there's not really a lot of time to actually develop that many characters, it's not really a good excuse. Shu Takumi, the creator of Ace Attorney, is fantastic when it comes to characters but has never been great at pacing, whereas Kotaro Uchikoshi, the creator of the Zero Escape series, writes atmospheres and plot twists like none other but doesn't seem to really understand what makes for above average character chemistry or how to write smooth dialogues. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

As for my general take on certain characters, well...

Clover is essentially useless in both games aside from giving exposition in the first one and almost literally working as a signal booster in the second game.

Alice, unlike her character model, is flat as a board.

Quark is underdeveloped, although he did disappear for a long time.

[spoiler=major spoiler]Dio is an idiot. Entertaining and with Liam O'Brian as a voice actor, but the second game hinges on his stupidity.

Really, the first ones that come to mind and stand out the most are Santa and Akane for showing various sides of their personality as well as having interesting motives.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Thane

[Luce]

I figured someone would write this, and I guess it all comes down to personal preferences, and while you are right in that there's not really a lot of time to actually develop that many characters, it's not really a good excuse. Shu Takumi, the creator of Ace Attorney, is fantastic when it comes to characters but has never been great at pacing, whereas Kotaro Uchikoshi, the creator of the Zero Escape series, writes atmospheres and plot twists like none other but doesn't seem to really understand what makes for above average character chemistry or how to write smooth dialogues. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

As for my general take on certain characters, well...

Clover is essentially useless in both games aside from giving exposition in the first one and almost literally working as a signal booster in the second game.

Alice, unlike her character model, is flat as a board.

Quark is underdeveloped, although he did disappear for a long time.

[spoiler=major spoiler]Dio is an idiot. Entertaining and with Liam O'Brian as a voice actor, but the second game hinges on his stupidity.

Really, the first ones that come to mind and stand out the most are Santa and Akane for showing various sides of their personality as well as having interesting motives.

Oh if we're only talking about Takumi the I agree with you, his characters are on a whole different level of quality. If we include Yamazaki in the picture, though... I guess he's more similar to Uchikoshi, since they both like convoluted plots and aren't the best at handling characters (especially if they're not their characters - I'm still not over how Dual Destinies treated some old characters, like Edgeworth, and this is coming from someone who loved the game).

It seems to me that Uchikoshi is improving with dialogues: they felt much less wonky in VLR in my opinion. I hope ZE3 will be even better.

It's... funny how everyone agrees on the most annoying characters of Zero Escape. For me, Clover takes the cake: I liked her in 999, but in VLR she ended up being incredibly dumb and useless and literally meaningless to the plot. Not to mention her character design (if only Light knew what his little sister wears!). Or the fact that she was supposed to be somewhat clever, given her job, and ended up acting like an eight-year-old.

Poor Quark was cute, but had like zero screentime. I wish he was developed more.

Dio was so absurdly stupid I loved him. He also had some great lines too, and I loved how he reacted to the super complicated things the other talked about ("So it's a story about poor Mr. Schrödinger and his cat? Don't tell me, the cat dies in the end" was 10/10). Also the biggest douche in the universe. He still doesn't realize the entire cast of VLR laughs at him all the time.

Santa and Akane are amazing, definitely the most interesting characters of the games! Another one that, in my opinion, stands out would be Sigma (spoilers ahead!)

both young and old one. He was an amusing protagonist and he was incredibly weird, I loved him. He's your typical friendly dude who just wants a girlfriend and his PhD, then you find out he'll end up researching stuff for the rest of his life, studying complicated stuff such as genetics and robotics and so on, in order to save the whole world. And he goes from talking in cat puns to talking about termites in a pseudo philosophical way. That's character development at its finest.

Also the foreshadowing about his actual age was fantastic, I could have never seen it coming!

Edited January 23, 2016 by Luce

[Thane]

Oh if we're only talking about Takumi the I agree with you, his characters are on a whole different level of quality. If we include Yamazaki in the picture, though... I guess he's more similar to Uchikoshi, since they both like convoluted plots and aren't the best at handling characters (especially if they're not their characters - I'm still not over how Dual Destinies treated some old characters, like Edgeworth, and this is coming from someone who loved the game).

It seems to me that Uchikoshi is improving with dialogues: they felt much less wonky in VLR in my opinion. I hope ZE3 will be even better.

It's... funny how everyone agrees on the most annoying characters of Zero Escape. For me, Clover takes the cake: I liked her in 999, but in VLR she ended up being incredibly dumb and useless and literally meaningless to the plot. Not to mention her character design (if only Light knew what his little sister wears!). Or the fact that she was supposed to be somewhat clever, given her job, and ended up acting like an eight-year-old.

Poor Quark was cute, but had like zero screentime. I wish he was developed more.

Dio was so absurdly stupid I loved him. He also had some great lines too, and I loved how he reacted to the super complicated things the other talked about ("So it's a story about poor Mr. Schrödinger and his cat? Don't tell me, the cat dies in the end" was 10/10). Also the biggest douche in the universe. He still doesn't realize the entire cast of VLR laughs at him all the time.

Santa and Akane are amazing, definitely the most interesting characters of the games! Another one that, in my opinion, stands out would be Sigma (spoilers ahead!)

both young and old one. He was an amusing protagonist and he was incredibly weird, I loved him. He's your typical friendly dude who just wants a girlfriend and his PhD, then you find out he'll end up researching stuff for the rest of his life, studying complicated stuff such as genetics and robotics and so on, in order to save the whole world. And he goes from talking in cat puns to talking about termites in a pseudo philosophical way. That's character development at its finest.

Also the foreshadowing about his actual age was fantastic, I could have never seen it coming!

...I love you. I couldn't stand the writing of Dual Destinies for so many reasons. 5-5 is by far the worst case in the series and a carbon copy of 1-5 and [spoiler=Dual Destinies] why couldn't Athena tell everyone about wanting to free Blackquill? There's no reason; it's an artificial attempt to add tension.

[spoiler=Virtue's Last Reward spoilers]Huh, that was one of the plot twists I DID see. Everyone kept calling him old, senile, grandpa or whatever. It's one of the least probable plot twists in the series though, since there's a mirror in the infirmary (I think), and even if there wasn't, you're telling me the guy never touched his face during this time? Not even during his several headaches or whatever? And no one asks him about the eye?

I love the series, otherwise I wouldn't have written the review, but some plot twists are there for the sake of being twists, rather than enriching the current plot.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Thane

[Luce]

...I love you. I couldn't stand the writing of Dual Destinies for so many reasons. 5-5 is by far the worst case in the series and a carbon copy of 1-5 and [spoiler=Dual Destinies] why couldn't Athena tell everyone about wanting to free Blackquill? There's no reason; it's an artificial attempt to add tension.

[spoiler=Virtue's Last Reward spoilers]Huh, that was one of the plot twists I DID see. Everyone kept calling him old, senile, grandpa or whatever. It's one of the least probable plot twists in the series though, since there's a mirror in the infirmary (I think), and even if there wasn't, you're telling me the guy never touched his face during this time? Not even during his several headaches or whatever? And no one asks him about the eye?

I love the series, otherwise I wouldn't have written the review, but some plot twists are there for the sake of being twists, rather than enriching the current plot.

Haha thank you! The writing of Dual Destinies felt so surreal and artificial at times, it didn't even feel like an Ace Attorney game. And also WHY were the cases so incredibly convoluted and absurd and unbelievable? [spoiler=T&T and Dual Destinies]Even the infamous pendulum and the entirety of case 3-5 managed to feel real, even though it involved so many, many weird/impossible things.

Also, now that you mention it... If she told the others about it, maybe she would have been able to save him without that mess that happened in cases 4/5. But yeah, Athena needed to be literally the center of the game (they really should've called it Athena Cykes: Ace Attorney), so they had to add tension for the sake of her centrality.

I loved Athena, she was funny and all, but did she really have to be an attorney/assistant/suspect all in a single game?

[spoiler=VLR]I simply thought they were just teasing him for being twentysomething, I do that all the time with some of my friends so I overlooked it haha. It's weird though how he never ever noticed he had a bionic eye, but I guess no one said that because of the reveal in that room with Zero's hologram. The only twists I saw coming were 1) they're in the future and 2) they're in space. I mean, after seeing Dio's ending they're kinda obvious.

VLR suffered a lot from random plot twists, there were so many that it was hard sometimes to keep up with them. Now, Uchikoshi said that the next game will be super philosophical, more than VLR - I just hope it will be understandable.

[The DanMan]

No offense, but the Zero Escape series may not have been the best to review. This reads about 9/10 info dump and 1/10 personal opinion (I generally find the best reviews to be about 50/50). As you said, it's hard to review these games without spoiling anything.

[Thane]

No offense, but the Zero Escape series may not have been the best to review. This reads about 9/10 info dump and 1/10 personal opinion (I generally find the best reviews to be about 50/50). As you said, it's hard to review these games without spoiling anything.

Hey man, none taken. Practice makes perfect and all that, and I started with something out of my league. However, the second reason for writing this was to make people interested in the series, since it's way too niche.

Might write about Ghost Trick at some point for the same reason, hm...

[Irony]

Hey man, none taken. Practice makes perfect and all that, and I started with something out of my league. However, the second reason for writing this was to make people interested in the series, since it's way too niche.

Might write about Ghost Trick at some point for the same reason, hm...

Dude, you have a good taste in obscure games. :)

[Radiant head]

Anyone know the difference between the Vita and 3DS versions of VLR?

[OakTree]

Anyone know the difference between the Vita and 3DS versions of VLR?

Just sound quality on the voices.

[Vigamox]

Anyone know the difference between the Vita and 3DS versions of VLR?

I believe they are mostly similar except for the Vita having slightly better sound/visuals, but the 3DS version allows you to write notes down on the screen when working on a puzzle, which is super handy.

The 3DS version also has a game breaking bug which involves saving in a certain room, so if you do go with the 3DS version watch out for that.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Vigamox

[Radiant head]

Huh really? I have the 3DS one, and don't remember having that issue.

[animeapple]

Huh really? I have the 3DS one, and don't remember having that issue.

it involves 2 different rooms due to the size of the room and other issues... the rooms that are bugged are the PEC room and the Crew Quarters.... during their puzzle sequences if you save in them it can corrupt your save file...

this bug primarily happens in the retail release of the game... just a heads up