999 (Nintendo DS)...anyone else playing this?

...it's either the most interesting adventure/puzzle game I've played or the most annoying. Haven't made my mind up yet. I've finished the game twice, and I'm still playing, but I'm not happy about why I'm still playing it (the game has 6 different endings, and forces you to play through multiple times to get the "true" ending).

I really enjoyed the first time around, but any game mechanic that forces you to replay an adventure game that has 10-15 minute stretches of nothing but reading dialog is a *really* bad design.

Sounds like a thrilling endorsement...

I got it for my wife since she needs games to tide her over between Layton sequels and I thought she'd enjoy the "solve a puzzle or die!" storyline. I'll get her feedback on it.

Based on reviews I was very, very interested in this, but I can't bring myself to pay more than $30 for a DS game. I hope it price drops (or maybe I'll get it from Goozex). I'm curious to hear other impressions.

I picked it up back in November. I hadn't played anything of this sort before, but I really enjoyed it. Very interesting story and characters, puzzles were pretty fun. The repeating text/puzzles on subsequent playthroughs was mildly annoying, but at least you get to fast forward through "old" text (auto stops you if you hit something new.) Reminded me of nothing so much as those old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books I had when I was more of a kid.

Amazon DotD today. $20.99

Interesting.

Stele wrote:

Amazon DotD today. $20.99

Interesting.

Price has already gone back up.

No, it's still the deal of the day. It just now says ships in 2-4 weeks. Looks like they sold out of on-hand stock.

Picked it up in spring but still haven't gotten to it. It sounds really interesting, but I need about 5 clones of myself connected via hive mind to get through all of this backlog

Since the thread has resurrected, I remembered that, hey, I finished this! I don't think the multiple endings are too big a deal since you can fast forward through text the second time around, but... the "bad" endings are generally kind of unrewarding and arbitrary. Although I did not need a FAQ for any of the puzzles (all were just the right level of difficulty) I do recommend checking one of the "flowcharts" at GameFAQs after your first playthrough so you can pick up the good endings.

So is it worth it?... well, a lot of the puzzles are really neat, but sometimes parts got tedious. Honestly though, the "game" is mostly spent reading lots and lots of text. This takes something away from the second playthroughs because you will be fast forwarding through lots it, taking you out of the story. You will also have to "solve" certain puzzles several times since there is no way to skip them; also slightly tedious.

The story is really cool and intriguing, at least at first, but starts to get very "Japanese"-- that is, there is a very convoluted storyline with strange and arbitrary metaphysics, and it is obvious that they came up with the characters and scenario first and then shoehorned in a story to have an excuse to put these people in these situations. It's a cultural thing, not good or bad, but some people hate it so beware. I've played enough JRPGs and watched enough anime that I can live with it. Unfortunately, this kind of story hinges on you wanting to spend time with these characters, and they aren't always consistent or deep enough.

Now I sound like I'm piling on it, but I did like it enough to get all the endings, and as usual the willingness for designers to do something risky or different will get me to overlook a lot of flaws. Nothing about the game was outright bad. They took a lot of risks, and some worked, and some didn't.

Amazon DotD again, $19.99

I'll just leave this here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAqGs441qzU

This game is great.

Having enjoyed this one well enough, I've just placed an order for the 3DS version of the sequel. I'll post some impressions once I get it.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Having enjoyed this one well enough, I've just placed an order for the 3DS version of the sequel. I'll post some impressions once I get it.

NOOOOOO! Not that one!

Seriously, if you save during a puzzle room, there is a *high* chance the save file will become corrupted, especially in certain puzzle rooms. I realize today's date makes my words dubious, but a Google search should reveal hints of this problem dating from well before this accursed day of internet trickery.

I'd avoid clicking links directly unless you're willing to risk spoilers (since many will name the rooms most likely to have the issue occur), but the sheer volume of links and the pre April Fools' dates on them should verify I'm not being an internet jerk playing a mean prank.

As far as I remember, the VITA or PSP (whichever the other was) one does not have the issue. Though, notably, if you're just REALLY careful to never save during puzzles, the 3DS one works too, that was how I ended up dealing with it.

Ferret wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Having enjoyed this one well enough, I've just placed an order for the 3DS version of the sequel. I'll post some impressions once I get it.

NOOOOOO! Not that one!

Seriously, if you save during a puzzle room, there is a *high* chance the save file will become corrupted, especially in certain puzzle rooms. I realize today's date makes my words dubious, but a Google search should reveal hints of this problem dating from well before this accursed day of internet trickery.

I'd avoid clicking links directly unless you're willing to risk spoilers (since many will name the rooms most likely to have the issue occur), but the sheer volume of links and the pre April Fools' dates on them should verify I'm not being an internet jerk playing a mean prank.

As far as I remember, the VITA or PSP (whichever the other was) one does not have the issue. Though, notably, if you're just REALLY careful to never save during puzzles, the 3DS one works too, that was how I ended up dealing with it.

I remember that, so I know you're not fooling. I don't have access to a Vita and want to play this, so I've just resolved to be very careful about when I save the game. Hopefully, that'll be less of an issue since this is on handheld that can be suspended. I wouldn't buy the game if it were on a home console; I never know when I need to save one of those.

Thanks for the warning, though! I do appreciate it.

I'll post more thoughts once I've finished it (I saw the credits, but I'm not even close to done), but right now I'll say that Virtue's Last Reward is an across-the-board improvement on 999. If you were interested in 999, enjoyed 999, or even just really like puzzle/adventure games, give it a shot.

(Just don't, you know, save in the escape chapters on the 3DS.)

Just finished 999

First game= Worst game I ever played.

Second game = Oh that was a nice little twist. I want to play some more.

Third game = ha ha that was cool. I really wish you could skip parts on multiple paths. What the heck happen? Oh I bet I know what's up.

fourth game = Jesus christ you talk a lot. Your friend is in trouble and you are making jokes. Why are you guys acting like there isn't a time limit. How many times do I have to watch the same story. I just heard this stupid story 30 minutes ago. Why can't I skip to the new part. Kill me now. Wait a freaking minute, if you were here 9 years ago why do you look no older than 15. So you were 6 when you played this?

At the end of the day the bad out weighed the good. Didn't like the world. I missed rooms because of the camera. I missed stuff because I highlight the big object instead of the small object making me think the small object wasn't selectable. I hate turning to a guide that ends up telling me I should click something that I thought I clicked. The text goes by way to slow. You can speed through text if you already read it on a past game but the exact same info is sometimes on more than one path. The game will not let you speed through duplicate info on a new path. No respect for my time. Then there are some things that aren't covered very well and plot holes left wide open. Then there is the odd thing of not letting you punch in a number before you found the clue for the number. I played the game 900 times now. I remember what the number is. Considering the main theme of the game they should let me put in the number. Again no respect for my time. I played a few games on this type and this is probably the worst one I have ever played.

I can't speak to the plot holes, yet, but many of your other concerns were addressed well in the sequel. You have free control of the camera, items are easier to spot, there are better hints so you're less likely to get stuck (there's even a per-puzzle easier mode if you get stuck), you can skip around in the timeline as you see fit, enter codes if you already know them (meaning you can skip whole puzzle rooms if you like), skip previously viewed dialog at great speed, skip redundant dialog in different branches, and so on. The writing and scenario are much better, too.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Why can't I skip to the new part. Kill me now.

Again no respect for my time.

Certainly a legit gripe. As much as I loved the game, just fast-forwarding through the opening section (especially between the escape and entering the first door) for the 15th time annoyed me to no end, as it took roughly 10 minutes of rapid-action tapping each time.

AUs_TBirD wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Why can't I skip to the new part. Kill me now.

Again no respect for my time.

Certainly a legit gripe. As much as I loved the game, just fast-forwarding through the opening section (especially between the escape and entering the first door) for the 15th time annoyed me to no end, as it took roughly 10 minutes of rapid-action tapping each time.

You could just hold down the L button...

But yeah, as much as I liked 999 it's totally fair to say that it has little respect for your time. Even ignoring the way that you couldn't skip ahead, the byzantine requirements to get the "true" ending were frustrating for how easy it was to miss one of them and have to start all the way over from the beginning.

Which is why I like Virtue's Last Reward's flow system so much. Basically, you have a flow chart of the game with each novel section and room escape as a node and each choice you make as a branch. The choices are clear and obvious, so no mid-room choices like talking to the right person at the right time about Ice-9. At any time, you can pull up the flow chart, pick a node and jump to it. So if you want to go back and pick a different door in the first branch, you can jump to that choice and make a different one without having to replay the first puzzles. If you get bored with that path or just want to go back to the one you left, you can jump back to any other path you've opened at any time.

I'm going to be annoyed the next time I play a visual novel that doesn't have a system like this, honestly.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

You could just hold down the L button...

Couldn't remember what button it was, so I just mentioned tapping, but yeah, I did that as well. It got to the point where I sometimes read a book/article while holding down that button.

Okay, so. I finally wrapped up every little nook and cranny of Virtue's Last Reward, and I have to say that 99% of it is absolutely awesome, but the final 1% takes the stupid train to stupid town. It feels like Uchikoshi was trying way too hard to one-up the twist ending of 999 by plugging any number of utterly ridiculous twists at the end of Virtue's Last Reward. It's not enough to ruin the game (which is, again, 99% awesome), but it's enough to make me think that the inevitable third game in the series is going to be fascinating with a balls-stupid ending.

Since I just picked up the sequel to this on the eshop with my free SMT/FE money, I figured it was time to finally go back and finish this. I'd gotten one of the bad endings already, so it's been a ton of fast forwarding and replaying with a flow chart to guide me.

I got the

Spoiler:

safe

ending last night, and that was way longer than I was expecting based on the others. Definitely going down the "woah, totes anime" road plot-wise, but I dig it.

I was shameless about using a walkthrough for the

Spoiler:

cargo room. Specifically, the pins in the grid puzzle and the crate pusher one. I knew the method of solving those, but I just didn't feel like going through the process of getting to the solution. The next time through that room, I felt like it even less.

I'm hoping to finish it up tonight and be able to start on VLR. Of course, getting out of my car, I realized the danger of relying on sleep mode and saving less frequently then I should. I accidentally ejected the cart, which means that the 30 minutes I spent this morning getting past the first two rooms of the last time through are gone. Boo! Moar saving!

I have it loaded in my 3ds but game time seems to go to Diablo 3 these days. Need to sneak more time I with the handheld.