Board 8 > Metal Plays: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors [UNMARKED SPOILERS]

(+) Yeah! (+)

By popular request, 999 is the game I'll be playing, and trying my hand at a playthrough topic for, next.

Some first impressions from 20 odd minutes so far:

• I immediately noticed that the graphics aren't great, but they're serviceable, and I'm not sure why I was expecting anything more from a port of a DS game.
• Junpei's dialogue seems kind of hammy so far. Lots of '_ the hell' and the like, though I suppose he's in quite an unexpected predicament. Between that and his English voice acting sounding just like Erik from Dragon Quest XI (whose vocal direction is divisive, as I understand it), I'm going to guess that Junpei isn't the most beloved character.
• My pea brain is befuddled about what combinations of numbers open the two briefcases in Junpei's initial chamber. I've found the keys for both, along with a ship cabin picture with clues on the other side and a note with a number-symbol key to make something out of those clues. However, I can't figure out how to put two and two together, or something, and it doesn't help that there seems to be a real-time element crunching me with the rise of water into the room. I guess I'll sleep on it, and then try to figure the correct combos out tomorrow.

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i forgot that the nonary games ports added that dub lol

obligatory note that there is a lot of good dialogue hidden throughout the game by examining things repeatedly

there are more ladder puns in that first room than in an average ace attorney game

You are now tracking this topic.


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This is not Trails in the Sky.

Tag.
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UF8 posted...

i forgot that the nonary games ports added that dub lol

Oh, I guess I should have realized that considering it was originally a DS game >_>

Also, I suppose the escape sequences probably aren't actually real-time, then?

Anyways, I finally solved the puzzle of the briefcase combos, by looking up a spoiler-free guide because I'm that dumb. The items I had on me only gave me one half of each combo, and I couldn't figure out how to derive the other half. In retrospect, I think it might have been as simple as inverting the remaining numbers, whoops.

That was soon followed up by meeting up with the other participants in this mysterious Zero's Nonary Games - most notably the Ninth Man, the obligatory overconfident first sacrifice of this Cube-like scenario, with a hard-edged twist. Now, I have to choose to enter door 4 as agreed, or suddenly shift to door 5; I plan to stick with the former, but I have made a save at this moment just in case.

Already, this game's striking an interesting balance between absurd dialogue (obviously Snake and Clover are siblings, even though the two look nothing alike + Santa really wants to keep his new shoes clean + Santa's apparently the only one to know Japanese, even though the two real names we know are both Japanese?) and the very real stakes of the situation our erstwhile protagonists have found themselves in. Also, I'm fond of its devices to indicate Junpei's thoughts, as well as names for the other characters before they chose their codenames.

Two things I can't help but wondering about:

• I assume the Ninth Man doesn't have any particular connections to any of the other eight; with that in mind, I'm guessing it's the other eight that are connected somehow based on Snake and Clover's dialogue. Snake and Clover are apparently siblings, June and I (Junpei) are childhood friends, so what are the other two pairs, and how are they connected?
• I chose Santa and June to accompany me in testing door 5 shortly before where I'm at now, and apparently June came down with a fever as a result? It seems like this fever was acknowledged briefly, then forgotten, so I wonder if it will actually wind up mattering or not.

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They are not realtime, no. The final puzzle would be particularly unforgiving in real time (though I managed it).

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tag
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tag

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It's been a fair few days since I've played 999, so even though I haven't totally been feeling it, here's an update from the hour I just played:

I went through the 4 door, and after some momentary panic about the defusing switch, the four of us found it and defused our bombs. We then split up to investigate the two unlocked rooms near the end of the hallway. The highlight before I left June to check out the other room:

Junpei (paraphrased):

I know this blue shelf is for holding a bar of soap because I've used a shower once before.

Once in the other room, things got suspicious, with a candle happening to burn into the shape of a key to open a display case. Then, out of the blue, after trying to give me a bookmark with a four-leaf clover symbol on it, Santa mentioned that the four things that he hates most in this world are hope, faith, love, and luck. Very suspicious. I did ultimately decide to take the bookmark despite that weirdness, which he proceeded to further compound afterwards.

After more investigation, I found the tiles necessary to reconstruct a picture to parallel the picture in the other room's frame. Apparently it actually looks like a dog, which I only realized after it was pointed out. Previously, the only impression I got out of the options provided was koi, because of what appeared to be a distinct fish shape near the middle. That hid the Mars key necessary for advancement, along with some tricky pseudoscientific talk from Lotus. At the very end, I found I had messed up by saving each time into the same slot. Whoops!

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MetalmindStats posted...

Santa's apparently the only one to know Japanese, even though the two real names we know are both Japanese?

This is probably the biggest weak point of the English translation. It's probably safer to say everyone's speaking Japanese in-universe. And speaking of the translation...

MetalmindStats posted...

After more investigation, I found the tiles necessary to reconstruct a picture to parallel the picture in the other room's frame. Apparently it actually looks like a dog, which I only realized after it was pointed out.

IIRC, the joke option ("funyarinpa") didn't exist in the original Japanese, but was recursively translated for this release because the English-speaking fanbase turned it into a meme.

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MetalmindStats posted...

Apparently it actually looks like a dog

No. It is a funyarinpa.

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MetalmindStats posted...

English voice acting

Oh noooo (I haven't tried it but I liked the blips and bloops of the original...)

Still, this is by far the best Zero Escape game so tagggg

Actually, this version adds a flow chart right? Lame, that kills a big part of it...

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Also I think it's totally fine to use a spoiler-free guide to the puzzles. As long as you explore a lot and click on stuff for the various dialogues.

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Geez, has it really been almost a week since my last update? I really need to keep at it more consistently than this.

Anyways...

I searched the kitchen to find a way out, which was mostly straightforward, even when I was temporarily trapped in its freezer. A few things that stuck out at me in the process:

• Did the Titanic really sink in 1906 in 999's world as June indirectly claimed, or would that be giving the devs too much credit?
• June commented that there was no need for me to search the bottom of the cheese shelf, which had the opposite effect by making me more curious. However, the only relevant item on the cheese shelf was not towards its bottom.
• "It's no use. The door won't budge." - dialog when a door won't open in literally every Japanese game
• Junpei really came into his own as a groan-worthy joker during the kitchen sequence.

Then, things got ...somewhat less straightforward as I entered the ship's hospital room, which had three numbered doors with their scanners missing parts. Here I met up with the other four, and the eight of us spent an hour (in dialog; surprisingly no adventure sequence) searching 6 rooms each for the parts. There was some odd dissonance right before that between the text and voice-acting, particularly with Seven.

We all finished, and most of us regrouped, only to find that the parts were mysteriously back in place, and Snake missing. At this point, Clover launched into a petulant spiel about how Snake couldnt have gotten lost due to his hearing, then ran off to search for him; naturally, we opted to cover more space in the search effort. I chose to look in each section in turn in order of choices, and talk to each person there in turn, resulting in some distressing conversations with Lotus, Clover, Ace, and Santa in that order. After a few seemingly pointless repeats, I decided to finish searching; Lotus proposes the necessity of sacrificing someone lest we need to sacrifice multiple people, which I will make a decision about next time.

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Believe it or not, I have returned.

MetalmindStats posted...

Lotus proposes the necessity of sacrificing someone lest we need to sacrifice multiple people, which I will make a decision about next time.

I questioned whether this was truly necessary, without taking the time to rigorously calculate all possibilities; turns out it was, and Ace volunteered with confidence that the rest of us would return for him at some point. At this point, Lotus had pretty thoroughly rubbed me the wrong way, so I opted to go through door 7 with Clover and Seven instead.

Immediately, the two almost came to blows, and Seven revealed himself as a creep loud and clear over the rest of the operating room sequence. It feels like these puzzles keep getting more and more straightforward, with the operating room exemplifying that most of all. However, I did wind up foolishly bashing my head on a chemical-based locker combination for a bit before figuring out the obvious answer. On the other hand, though, the choices seem to be getting less and less straightforward...!

It started with needing to remind Seven of this ice-9 substance from before to follow up on a story he had just told about crystals produced in a factory, where I made what was immediately and obviously the wrong choice. For the first time, I felt an urge to go back and make the clear and obvious correct choice, cheating be damned, so that's what I did. Subsequently deciding to give Clover the clover bookmark from early on was easy enough, but that was only possible thanks to a not-so-easy choice I made early on. That led to her going on about further pseudoscience that's surely plot-relevant in a way I haven't figured out yet.

The full seven of us subsequently reuniting in the hospital room, now with two more keys, was seemingly preordained. The best thing we could think to do was splitting into three groups and searching with our new assets, which led to two admittedly clear choices; the latter in regards to June's reluctance to go down an elevator, where one option felt like a joke option (which didn't make logical sense regardless). All three groups returned to the hospital room after brief searches; two found the numbered doors 1 and 6, while the last found definitive evidence of Snake's fate.

Turns out Snake was (of course) murdered, and Zero being on board was a tough decision to make, but turned out to be right. From there, two different theories flew around: that Zero was the killer and that Zero was among us. I deduced that the two were, in fact, compatible, because the set-up of the bracelet detonators and the Nonary Games in general allowed them to work on their own. Unfortunately, however, I was unable to come up with a motive for Zero being among us, which led right back to trusting everyone else as the default. Onwards we proceeded, as the clock hit 3 AM, and discovered the 2 door, leaving me with a decision to make about which of the three new doors to go through myself after everyone else had made up their minds.

As I understand it, 999 has quite a few different possible endings, and I've seen and heard that one of them is the true ending. I'm going to guess that I needed to make certain choices differently to give me whatever information I missed regarding this pseudoscience of substances 'communicating' and changing their properties in order to determine Zero's motive for being among us. Further, I suspect that capitalizing on that to figure out which of us is actually Zero at that time was necessary for the true ending.

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Which number door are you planning to do next?
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What TRE said. And please post before actually choosing it. I don't want to go into details, but we might have something to say about it.

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Interesting...

My first inclination was 2. However, I'm leaning towards 1 right now, because it allows the others to go through 6 without leaving anyone behind (and also because both Seven and Lotus have rubbed me the wrong way).

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MetalmindStats posted...

June's reluctance to go down an elevator, where one option felt like a joke option

Okay yes, it is a joke, but they just go all in on the joke. I definitely suggest you listen to that conversation at least once

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As for the door options, I actually picked the same path as you so far on my first playthrough. I went with door 2 next, but 1 would also be... interesting.

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If you want a hint:
Ace and Clover will team up with you for Door 1.
Seven and Lotus will team up with you for Door 2.
Ace, Santa, and June will team up with you for Door 6.
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MrSmartGuy posted...

OK well, judging by what you were thinking, I would suggest not going through Door 1 It will not be a satisfying first ending to get in the slightest.

Nah, I disagree. I think there's merit to going 4->7->1 first as it gives you a reason to keep exploring. And because the PC version has a flowchart...
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OH RIGHT the flowchart. I forgot that exists in this version. I take back my previous statement.

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hombad46 posted...

Okay yes, it is a joke, but they just go all in on the joke. I definitely suggest you listen to that conversation at least once

I (think I) have a save right at that choice, so I suppose I'll go back to it briefly for that.

Hbthebattle posted...

Ace and Clover will team up with you for Door 1.
Seven and Lotus will team up with you for Door 2.

Yep, that much was obvious. Good to know about 6, though. Also, I haven't been using the flowchart at all really.

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MetalmindStats posted...

Yep, that much was obvious. Good to know about 6, though. Also, I haven't been using the flowchart at all relaly.

You shouldn't use it until you get at least one of the endings
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MetalmindStats posted...

I (think I) have a save right at that choice, so I suppose I'll go back to it briefly for that.

I decided to ram through my current course and hopefully hit an ending first, which worked - a couple of escape sequences including some bombshell revelations (Snake is alive?!) and one hell of a red herring later. Of course, that ending had Santa taking matters into his own hands (extremely high odds he's Zero), leaving three of us stuck at a coffin which obviously contained Snake, without the necessary knowledge to figure out its passcode. I clearly missed something, but what?

Next time: knocking out a joke choice, then solving the mystery of the coffin via flowchart goodness, probably.

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Welcome to the Coffin Ending
And dont worry, you havent missed anything. Youre supposed to see this and be unable to progress at least once.
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MetalmindStats posted...

I (think I) have a save right at that choice, so I suppose I'll go back to it briefly for that.

First, I finally did this. The conversation started out making me cringe like typical cringe humor, but its efforts towards humor slowly hit their stride for me. As an aside that I came to realize later this session but feels most relevant here, I've grown to appreciate 999's brand of humor - yes, it tends to be forced rather than truly humorous, but that's fitting considering the jokes are being made by ordinary people thrust into an extraordinary situation.

Anyways, I went back to the last door decision in the interest of having to redo as little as possible to reach a new ending, and wound up choosing door 6 this time around. Suddenly, June's fever that the game seemed to forget about for a while flared up again before dissipating once I solved the first escape room's puzzles, though her voice seemed pretty normal rather than reflecting the text about her condition.

The otherwise strong translation dipped a little in terms of consistency, with the first room seeing odd phrases "A pipe the goes to the conveyor belt." and "box filled with the coal" because apparently this coal is special enough to merit being called the coal.

Most of these puzzles have been pretty whatever, but I really liked the second room's puzzles. I was first tasked with fitting 9 pins into 9 slots so that the horizontal/vertical/diagonal sums were all 15, which struck a perfect balance of not being too easy or hard, while giving me a eureka moment and sense of accomplishment upon solving it. Then, there was a sliding block puzzle, which was annoying at first, but nicely designed by giving an extra move and a hint every time I went back from it to compensate for its meatiness (by 999's standards).

Turns out Clover split from Seven and Lotus to handle a room herself, and apparently vanished somewhere unknown. We all went our separate ways to look for her, and I discovered Lotus murdered in cold blood by a mysterious assailant with a knife. Shortly after, "Into emptiness Junpei fell - Into Zero." So is that what Zero is, then? Not actually a living person, but rather the absence of life? Also, of course, who was the killer?

Next time, I'll check out door 2 and see what ending results from that branch, and what obstacles I'll encounter on the way.

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MetalmindStats posted...

Next time, I'll check out door 2 and see what ending results from that branch, and what obstacles I'll encounter on the way.

Hoo boy. That ending certainly ratcheted up the tension and shock factor. Some of those revelations certainly blindsided me, but I don't really feel any closer to putting it all together. I still don't get why Zero chose (most of) us nine in particular to play the Nonary Game, or to put it another way, how we're connected. I also can't help but wonder who the murderer is, and why they're doing it. That's not to mention all the unresolved talk about telepathy, Alice/All Ice, and all the rest. Maybe the next ending I go for will help.

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MetalmindStats posted...

Maybe the next ending I go for will help.

Naturally, the ax ending was the only suitable choice here, even though it seemed like it would only give me questions, not answers. First, I spent some time trying to reach it from a save I had already seen the coffin ending on, forgetting that the game would prevent me from choosing a given option more than once in a given save.

Side note: not being able to choose the same door twice in a given save is fine, but I don't get why I can't repeat any of the non-door options that don't have any plot relevance, i.e. most of them. To be fair to Chunsoft, I suppose it's pretty unusual that I would prefer to pick the correct choice, even when I've already seen what it results in, and I haven't seen the results of any incorrect choices. I feel like the few hours of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn I played might have scarred me for life when it comes to dialogue-based decisions in video games, but that's neither here nor there...

Back on topic, practically everything I went through this time around was a repeat, either from previous sessions or from earlier in this session. With that in mind, here's a list of things that I may or may not have noticed before, yet stood out to me this time around anyways:

• I haven't previously commented on 999's music, so I will now: it's done a nice job building tension and avoiding rote repetition (the laboratory song was certainly interesting) while still sounding like a unified composition. A few tunes will likely even pop into my head again every now and then.
• There were two Ls and an R in blood on the wall where "Snake" died.
• Clover isn't used to seeing a world map with the Atlantic in its center, even though the localized version seems to take place in/around the US? This is presumably a carryover from the original Japanese version.
• The game claims there's only static on two monitor screens in the captain's quarters, yet I see a series of sentences that are way too small to make out superimposed on each screen's static.
• "We found it." "What?" "We found it." This is now the third time I've heard that particular snippet, and it cracks me up more and more every time.

Shortly before that last point, of course, things started to break down. First, Clover responded with "I wonder" when I asked what's in her jacket pockets (actually the 0 bracelet), and then I spotted a "stick" on her back? Oh no. Then Clover convinced the rest of us to look at door 2 before proceeding to 9 - and as if she wasn't fishy enough before, she was basically the only one speaking there where she hardly spoke most of the time before. Oh nooo...

SECONDHAND?! That's no way to find out about the deaths of three other people you've gotten to know somewhat, and then I was the next one to bite the dust. Murder is much more stark when the culprit is known, and it's a character you've already gotten to know. I guess I should have realized that of course the quiet & traumatized one would be the murderer, especially since she had a real motive. But what about the other paths with a killer? Also, where did Ace and Lotus go? Hopefully the next ending will answer one or both of those questions.

(Yes, it's odd that I felt like saying so much more this time than last, even though it still feels like I'm talking to myself.)

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I think that was my first ending

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No need to reload saves; you can just jump back on the flowchart.

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LordoftheMorons posted...

No need to reload saves; you can just jump back on the flowchart.

Normally you'd be right, but all the saves which I have endings on have either the coffin or axe ending completed, both of which require door 1. From what I'm seeing, the "true" ending requires door 1, specifically on a save where I've already completed the other ending I have yet to see. Of course, 999 won't let me repeat any choices I've already made, so I'll have to reload a save where I haven't chosen door 1 (and haven't notched an ending) yet.

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When its time to unlock the true ending, you can just hop back to the Coffin through the flowchart
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Hbthebattle posted...

When its time to unlock the true ending, you can just hop back to the Coffin through the flowchart

Ah ok, I suppose that makes more sense than what I was assuming >_>

I'll probably just tackle everything I haven't seen yet - what lies behind door 3, plus the two remaining endings - in one session and update tonight, then.

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Here's a quick update from the escape sequences I hadn't seen:

As I expected, the letters in blood on the wall of the shower room were relevant, but only to solve its specific puzzle. Also, a certain scene past door 3 showed just how close of childhood friends "Jumpy" and "Kammy" really were, which makes me wonder when/how they split, and as I mentioned earlier in this topic, why they were reunited in the Nonary Games.

There was a chair joke over three interactions involving Seven in the first-class cabin, just as there was with Ace in the communications office. I suppose there's probably more of those in other escape sequences I missed (or maybe found and didn't remember), then? Also in the first-class cabin was a seemingly obligatory gay panic joke for a piece of Japanese media >_> In the casino, there was a slightly different bit where Junpei repeatedly squeezed a soft chair, and Snake didn't like that.

It was only after finishing those sequences that I finally realized the game actually allows me to choose grayed-out choices, so among other things, I could wind up having all the endings in one save. Yes, I am a total dumbass for not even thinking of trying it beforehand, no less in a game where a key aspect is investigating as much as possible, even if it doesn't seem to result in anything.

Expect one last update with my thoughts about the final two endings, and the questions they answer (or don't answer), in a few hours.

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I thought it was weird when you said you couldn't choose the same options twice. I probably should have questioned you about it instead of just assuming it was something they changed in the version you played.
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MetalmindStats posted...

I suppose there's probably more of those in other escape sequences I missed (or maybe found and didn't remember), then?

There was indeed one with Clover - identical to Seven's previous chair joke - on the way to the true ending. Also, while it wasn't a chair, there did wind up being a very similar sequence with Santa concerning a catwalk past door 6.

In the laboratory for the third time, Lotus's dialogue at the computer was completely different from the first two times. She claimed she was just kidding with half of it (evidently the more outlandish half), but it might actually be relevant - especially given some comments Snake made about stained glass in the casino. And Santa's dialogue past door 6 was also different, talking about an experiment with rats, and then about how he was Santa for his sister, who died 9(!) years beforehand. Finally, Ace in the storage room - he's the president of Cradle Pharmaceutical!

More revelations followed, flipping what I thought I knew on its head repeatedly. The most notable of these were:

• The Nonary Game was designed as an experiment (which had pretty much been revealed), and more importantly, designed to save all nine participants.
• Ace, the person so insistent that none of us could be the killer, was? I guess I should have expected it. That certainly recontextualizes his most frequent line: "I see. Then it would seem I have no choice."
• Zero's identity was another major switcheroo: first all signs seemed to be pointing to Snake, then Santa. Turns out he was just Zero's accomplice...!
• The revelation of Zero's true identity and motives (revenge for the first Nonary Game, but not just that) then also demolished the first two of these points anew. For example, most of the second Game's participants apparently did not actually have bombs in their guts.
• The 'not just that' part culminated in another quote recontextualization, making Junpei's "All right. I'm gonna open it." stand for the end of everything.

I had originally planned to compile a list of questions I've had over the course of this topic to see how many those last two endings answered. However, what started off as a tight mystery premise has turned into something rather different: a story of, well, hope, love, faith, and luck, one which has made me feel things I didn't expect. The final "puzzle" (apparently much different from the original version's genuine puzzle) typified that, particularly with me wildly overthinking the second half before the game gave me the answer. It would follow, then, that it intentionally opted not to answer many of my questions, or perhaps more precisely, opened up new questions.

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That concludes the playthrough portion of this topic. If anyone who's still following this topic has any relevant questions, feel free to ask them, and I will answer to the best of my ability. Otherwise, thank you to those of you who followed along, even when I only updated once in a two-week span (again, my apologies).

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I'm enjoying reading this thread even though I never beat either game and just read the plots on wikipedia

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You planning on playing VLR?
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Hbthebattle posted...

You planning on playing VLR?

Not right away, at least. I did wind up liking 999 more than I'm expected, but not enough to compel me to go for a similar experience immediately.

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How is the final puzzle different? That's my main concern with playing a non-DS version. It seems like it would lose the message of what the top and bottom screens actually are.

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foolm0r0n posted...

How is the final puzzle different? That's my main concern with playing a non-DS version. It seems like it would lose the message of what the top and bottom screens actually are.

Its completely different. The Top and Bottom screen lets are replaced with Adventure Mode and Novel Mode
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Hbthebattle posted...

The Top and Bottom screen lets are replaced with Adventure Mode and Novel Mode

This, and you can generally (but not always) switch between them as desired. I didn't do that much, though.

As for this version's final puzzle in particular, the first part is a 5x5 grid where you need to swap certain lettered tiles with numbered tiles from an eight-tile row on the bottom so all the numbers in between the tiles are 9. There's also a ninth, blank tile to the right of the row, which ties into the second part, which tasks you with entering a password.

During that final sequence, Adventure Mode was replaced by Akane Mode and Novel Mode by Junpei Mode (iirc, and I'm assuming that was also the case in the original DS version), and in the absence of showing both at once, the game frequently swapped between the two.

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The "Akane Mode/Junpei Mode" stuff was new to the remake.

And was technically a spoiler at its introduction point, because Zero's identity wasn't yet known when the switch happened.

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In the original DS game, the bottom screen was always the narration and choices (Akane), and the top screen was the character portraits and dialogue and such (Junpei). The final puzzle just made you flip the screen upside down so that the touch screen was the top and Junpei could solve the puzzle. I guess that's kinda similar to Akane/Junpei mode but it hit way harder.

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