#game-review #finishedgame2021 # Zero Escape: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors  [Console:: Nintendo DS] [Status:: Beaten] [Approximate Start Date:: 2021-01-07] [Finish Date:: 2021-03-18] [Clear Time:: 32h 38m 37s] [Total Play Time:: 33h] [nReplays:: 0] ## [Rating:: 94] The story is awesome, the puzzles are challenging yet reasonable, and the twist is one of the best a visual novel can do. # Playthrough Notes Streamed this one with a bunch of my voice acting friends, it was sort of my first foray into the "committed live dub" with my peers, rather than having them hop in halfway through the game. I think it turned out pretty well all things considered. We got all the story endings and the best ending possible, so it can be considered completed! # My Thoughts *(Normally I don't put spoiler warnings in my notes, but somehow if these were to get published ever one day, I figure that 999 has one of the most important plot twists in a visual novel, so I will make an exception this one time)* - [[The fluidity of profanity used in 999 is an example of a great localization]] ## As a Visual Novel This game is easily one of the best visual novels ever created. It's not just the characters, it's not just the setting, it's not just the conflict, and it's not just the twist, but the way that every single thing works together to create an incredible, well-contained narrative with an incredible twist. given that this game was meant to be played on the Nintendo DS first, I absolutely love the way that the game was crafted with the hardware in mind. The twist, for the uninformed is that the game is actually being seen from two different perspectives. Junpei, in the present, is seen with the top screen, while the narration on the bottom screen is actually young Akane in the past connecting with him via the morphogenetic field. And the twist is so ingrained in the game's structure that it's impossible to think that it was an asspull twist. It was there the whole time, and I love it. Such a great twist that is ultimately lost on a lot of new players because they're playing the Nonary Games version which only has a single screen and was rewritten to work in the single screen format (which suuuuucks). The puzzles are hard but I liked them if only because I ended up studying some of the math that's used in them. things like Hexadecimal and modular arithmetic are pretty easy to me, but to others, I can totally understand how they can be REALLY hard puzzles. But when you consider that the Digital Root of a number is just its divisibility rules for the number 9, you can fall down so many interesting rabbit holes. ## Characters The characters are all consistent and great. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I enjoy Clover a lot, Snake too. I think they're all wonderful additions and every character has a reason for being there and the actions that each character does is consistent with the motivations that are outlined at the end of the game. # Favorite Moments / Memories - The Elevator scene is one of my favorite little side moments in any kind of visual novel game ever. It's clever and funny and the characters are entirely realistic in their exchanges. It gets even better too when you realize that June knows that this exchange will happen and is probably trolling Junpei the entire time. - Love the escape with Clover and Seven in the surgical bay, it's very funny to see their dynamic play out. - Junpei tricking Ace to reveal that he has [[Prosopagnosia|prosopagnosia]] by pretending he's Santa, thus revealing Ace to be the killer. # What were you doing when not playing this? - Living alone in my apartment after having graduated, doing voice over full time, just trying to get by. - Winter too, so I was fresh out of school, and doing the graduate school interview process. # Relevant Links ### The VOD Playlist <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLdGe_J3R_OE7Qj4Fwd1rymDlz627ck3fT" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>