The ChunSoft Thread: Zero Escape Series & Banshee's Last Cry

[LivewiresXe]

It's interesting (well to me at least) how everyone has a different level psychological tolerance for different kinds of horror.

Take my sister and I for example; she's extremely afraid of bugs while I sit here and laugh the thought of being afraid of something like a roach. But on the other hand, I'm really paranoid/jumpy when it comes to scary movies, novels, etc., while my sister can sit through a movie like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre at 3 am with all of the lights off by herself with no issues.

The mind works in mysterious ways.

The scariest bits for me are like things that aren't ridiculously supernatural or seem like they could happen. Like that may have been a bad example there but like, in horror films and stuff it's almost more scary when the killer is really "just a guy". Kind of like how when Kefka was established as the FFVI villain, he was just a guy. Or how in Suikoden 2 Luca Blight was ultimately "just a guy". Yeah, those aren't scary games or situations really, but they're what makes them stand out. Though I've probably botched my point.

 

[jamlosingthegame]

I got Safe then True. I dunno why, but it was either the Sub or Knife that I got last. Axe was just meh for me as well.

Spoiler

After going through the game enough times the part where Junpei could feel the axe in Clover's clothes I knew I reached another bad ending.

 

[asianaussie]

this has to be played past midnight

no exceptions

might get a 3DS when another few good games come out

 

[jamlosingthegame]

I dunno if anyone noticed, but they didn't seem to use codenames in that trailer.

 

[LivewiresXe]

I dunno if anyone noticed, but they didn't seem to use codenames in that trailer.

Well...K's obviously a codename, and I'd be surprised if Sigma and Phi weren't codenames. Plus, it should already be known that Clover's a codename just from the first few minutes of 999.

 

[The Real Gamer]

I dunno if anyone noticed, but they didn't seem to use codenames in that trailer.

They don't really need codenames in the first place.

If you remember back to 999 it was actually Seven's idea to come up with the codenames

Spoiler

with him bring a detective and all

. If he hadn't spoken up about it everyone would have used their normal names like they are in Virtue's Last Reward.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Yeah but...K's obviously not, and Clover's not going by Yotsuba like I said before so...

 

[The Real Gamer]

But everyone else seems to be using their true names. And I think Clover realizes that she really has nothing else to hide from this Zero person/organization with this being her 3rd game and all lol.

K is definitely a mystery though.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Yeah, I mean Quark, Alice, Dio, Luna, and Temyouji all come across obviously as real names but...I find it hard to believe Sigma and Phi aren't.

Also, I wonder if (early 999 spoilers):

Spoiler

anybody will wind up getting "9th Man'd" and killed from the watches unavoidably for storyline purposes to show that it's real

.


And some random things I noticed/considered that while I don't feel I need to spoiler tag the second, the first one I probably should in case nobody's played 999.


1.

Spoiler

Among a bunch of fans, they feel that, like in 999, that the "Zero" in this game will be one of the 9 players. The top 3 that people suspect most to "be Zero" this go around are, in order from most to least: Clover, Luna, and Sigma himself.

2.

Spoiler

A randomly nice thing to think about that I'm sure everybody else knows is that everyone's wondering who K is and assuming that it's someone from 999. While Seven seems plausible due to the size, it might be worth noting that K is the 11th letter of the alphabet and 11= 1+1, 1+1=2, and 2=Snake. That's not an actual Zero Escape spoiler as I know literally none of them and don't plan on finding any of them, it's just my suspicion as to who he is.

 

[The Real Gamer]

More big 999 spoilers:

Spoiler

Those are some very interesting theories. I like how you utilized 999's base-10 and digital root system to attempt to identify K's true identity. In terms of the plausibility of K being Snake I actually wouldn't be too surprised if that were the case. Remember that K is the one who jumps out of the elevator while holding Clover. But if this is true then that would mean Snake is unquestionably in with the "Zero team." I'm not quite sure if this is the case.

In my opinion, out of the 9 contestants this time around there will be one designated "bad guy" (like Ace in 999) and one or two people that are responsible for the entire game and part of the "Zero team" (Santa and June).

I don't have enough info to make a good guess as to who the bad guy is but in terms of who could be in on Zero's plan I am a bit suspicious of Phi but I am EXTREMELY suspicious of Luna.

If you look at her face closely she resembles June a LOT. Ever since I first saw her character I haven't been able to shake the idea that she is secretly June with orange-dyed hair and colored contacts. In addition to her looks I'm extremely distrustful of her overly nice persona... We all saw how the overly nice person turned out in 999. We also know how good of an actor Akane is. Nearly everything that came out of her mouth was just an act. She's more than capable of pulling off a performance as a completely different person. ALSO, watch the OVA again... While Sigma is asking himself who is responsible for all of this guess who's face is zoomed in on the camera? Yup... Luna's.

But of course I could completely be off with all of my predictions lol, but speculating what's gonna happen is part of the fun with this game.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Along with what above, pretty much 999 spoilers in response to TRG:


[COLLAPSE="Hidden Message"]I wouldn't go so far as to go with the "Luna is June" theory as that admittedly seems kinda silly. However, her being so naive, nice, and pacifistic (is that a word?) is what makes me NOT trust her and has never made me fully trust her. Of course, I remember at first when Phi was shown people started assuming it was just Santa in drag. It's actually funny you mention Ace since I'm trying to think if it's going to explain what happened with him.

One thing that's worth noting with the OVA is that it was TWO cars that sent Sigma into a tailspin and all that, which would support the 'pair' theory. Of course, if K IS Snake, then that kind of makes him innocent from being the kidnapper as, it would be assumed those eye-things in the suit (if K happened to be Snake somehow) would be necessary for him to see. I can totally see people automatically assuming that the "Zero pair" would be Alice and Clover since they fit the "past connection" bit, and since Clover was the one who drove them back to civilization from the Nevada Desert but...I can't help but think that any suspicion on them would be a total red herring.

I'm not sure on Phi because while it seems we're supposed to be skeptical of her, that could well be a red herring too. That people are guessing Sigma would be in on it as a twist is interesting, but I doubt it would plausibly work. That's the thing about this game and 999 before it. Even before you've played it or know much of anything you're suspicious of everyone. I remember in 999 before I played it, I was suspicious of Snake, and as it went on I was suspicious of Seven and Lotus, especially Lotus. And well, that was way wrong, lol. Who knows what's gonna go down, and all I know for sure is that it's gonna be a long few days waiting for Amazon.ca to get my copy here since I want to get my grubby hands all over it. [/COLLAPSE]


Man...this game is going to be so hype. And I bet it'll make me wind up being unable to sleep a bunch of times too.

 

[The Real Gamer]

The theory is only seems silly until it actually happens! XD

I probably am far off but the resemblance bothers me too much (999 spoilers):

Spoiler

You can't sit here and tell me Luna doesn't look like a slightly older Akane with a different hair color/style... Or just picture Luna with Akane's hair.

But yes this game will be epic indeed I REALLY can't wait.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Hmm....can't say you're totally wrong.

[COLLAPSE="More 999 Spoilers"]However, if it was June, wouldn't Clover at least be able to recognize her in some way? And I seem to remember there being something that listed the character's ages and wasn't Luna's either 20 or 24, while June would be 22? But of course, there is the obviousness that "Luna" and "June" are similar with Luna directly translating to "Moon", which sounds even closer. Of course, this would be even more crazy if Luna meant something in Japanese that related to 6 or 9.

If they wanted to turn us for a loop, they could make it so the "Zero" of this game was someone from 999 that's not in Zero Escape just since we're expecting it to be one of the 9 players. You know, it'd be something that would catch a bunch of people off guard and would probably mind-*censor* a lot of us.

Also, I gotta ask. Do you think we're going to get anybody dying really early this time? And if so, do you have any suspicions on who it might be? I could personally almost see Temyouji or Luna being found dying or dead, then having the rest of the group come back and find the body's gone and that whoever 'died early' is the actual Zero or something. But...that's just coming from someone who's seen every SAW film.[/COLLAPSE]


Actually, thinking on it, some of my theory/theories sound more silly than yours ever did, lol.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Moar Spoilzers

Spoiler

I have yet to see everyone's ages and I also don't know how much time has passed between the events of 999 and VLR so Luna's age could possibly disprove that theory. In terms of Clover I'd say June's physical disguise (in a hypothetical situation that assumes it really is her) as well as her new persona would be enough to keep Clover from immediately piecing everything together. Like I said earlier if anyone could pull off an act like that it's definitely Akane with her mastermind grand schemes and such.

The only person I'm 99% sure of that isn't Zero would have to be Clover for obvious reasons, but I also think there's a very small chance of Alice being Zero as well thanks to what we know about her back story. Of the remaining 7 I think I'd be most surprised to find out that Quark was Zero. I remember someone speculating that it was him who set up the game because of the whole childish rabbit Zero the third character... Lol I'm definitely looking forward to finding out what the deal with Quark is though cause a kid that young being involved in a situation like the Nonary Game intrigues me (inb4igettoanendingwherehekillseveryoneCloverstyle).

And I'm guessing you mean a character dying early like the 9th man or Snake? I know the 9th man's death makes sense once you piece everything together but overall I didn't like how early he was gone. We never really got to know his character so even though the game involved 9 people it really felt like 8. I could see the writers going a different route and having different people die in different endings to keep the player guessing. I just don't want any super early deaths like the 9th man. >.<

 

[LivewiresXe]

Just brief spoiler tags since it's a short answer but:

Spoiler

The OVA has Clover and Alice saying that "we met a year ago in the Nevada Desert" which leads me to believe that well, it's a year after 999 and that Clover's 19.

 

[jamlosingthegame]

You're telling me that in a year Clover turned out like that? (won't really argue with the logic on that one)

Here's my guess on who's the one behind all this is:
[COLLAPSE="Possible spoilers"]

IT'S THE FUNYARINPA!!![/COLLAPSE]

Also, I have to wonder what Junpei and the others are up to while Clover and Alice are in VLR.

I wonder how many endings will be in this one. What about you guys? Would you like it to have more or less endings than 999? I think I want more, mainly because two of the six endings in 999 were basically one and the same. Hopefully this river will be just as interesting as the last.

In the meantime, listening to the OST of VLR. Loving the samples from 999 they put in.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Apparently there's supposed to be

Spoiler

24

endings for it, which is crazy.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Yuppp and I've heard reviews saying that the game is on par/(and even better in some cases) than 999 which is pretty hard for me to believe.

If this game is even 75% of what 999 was then we're in for a real treat.

EDIT: Just found out my copy will be in the mail Friday! I'm gonna lock myself in my room for the weekend lol.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Not gonna lie, if my copy DOESN'T get here from Amazon.ca by Friday, I'll be kinda pissed. I mean...it's a freaking 5 hour drive from where they ship from to my house. I even Googled it.

 

[Lythium]

Yeah, but Canada Post.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Yeah, but Canada Post.

Ah yes, true. It cosst me $10 to ship a cart-only Link To the Past and took 2-3 days on the slowest/cheapest possible shipping and made it reach the guy I sold it to looking like this:

http://imageshack.us/a/img96/2375/img0749iv.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img197/7043/img0751h.jpg


So uh...good point, anything could happen. Even if Amazon.ca has normally been pretty good to me.

 

[The Real Gamer]

GI review: http://www.gameinformer.com/games/z...3/zero-escape-virtues-last-reward-review.aspx

 

[LivewiresXe]

Canadian stores are having issues getting Zero Escape like mad. EB's on pre-order, a bunch of places are backed up, and Amazon.ca (where I ordered from) is apparently on a 1-3 WEEK delay. Man, I'm not sure if either massive rage or profound sadness will cover things here.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Holy **** a 1-3 week delay?? That's really screwed up man!

Are there any other alternatives for receiving the game faster in your area? A game being delayed due to shipping issues is understandable if it's around 2-3 days but waiting 1-3 weeks is completely unacceptable.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Holy **** a 1-3 week delay?? That's really screwed up man!

Are there any other alternatives for receiving the game faster in your area? A game being delayed due to shipping issues is understandable if it's around 2-3 days but waiting 1-3 weeks is completely unacceptable.

I kinda decided if I don't have it by this time next week if it hasn't shipped I'm cancelling my order and doing the 40-45 minute drive to Bayshore in Ottawa since there's an EB there. Or...maybe Future Shop since I have a gift card there and all, lol.

 

[The Real Gamer]

I got my game a day early and just started playing it... The 3d models take some getting used to but man the voice acting is a fantastic addition!

I wish you had the game as well Livewires but you won't have to worry about me posting any spoilers in here until you or some others have started playing.

 

[LivewiresXe]

I got my game a day early and just started playing it... The 3d models take some getting used to but man the voice acting is a fantastic addition!

I wish you had the game as well Livewires but you won't have to worry about me posting any spoilers in here until you or some others have started playing.

My copy actually just shipped today at 12:45pm so, with luck I should have it on Monday. Without luck...Tuesday, lol. And uh, it's actually Livewire (singular). I forgot to put a "_" when making my account as it was meant to be "Livewire_sXe". Oops.

 

[sakuraZaKi]

I'm going to wait until I get my Vita to buy the game.

I'm not going to be missing anything, lol.

 

[LivewiresXe]

I'm going to wait until I get my Vita to buy the game.

I'm not going to be missing anything, lol.

Cancel your Vita order, buy a 3DS, and buy/play through 999 first. You won't regret it.

 

[jamlosingthegame]

I should probably head to the nearest game store and get one myself. One of my friends ordered it through Amazon and is apparently getting a watch that is a replica of the ones used in VLR. Also, since VLR isn't named 999, shouldn't the thread title be changed?

 

[LivewiresXe]

I should probably head to the nearest game store and get one myself. One of my friends ordered it through Amazon and is apparently getting a watch that is a replica of the ones used in VLR. Also, since VLR isn't named 999, shouldn't the thread title be changed?

Hmm...possibly. What would you propose it be changed to? "Zero Escape: Series Discussion"?

 

[sakuraZaKi]

Cancel your Vita order, buy a 3DS, and buy/play through 999 first. You won't regret it.

What do you mean?

I have a 3DS, a sibling's Vita, and I've finished 999 a long time ago. I still know the story pretty well, too, since I dabble on some of 999s puzzles, every now and then.

 

[LivewiresXe]

What do you mean?

I have a 3DS, a sibling's Vita, and I've finished 999 a long time ago. I know the story pretty well, too.

What do I mean?

I believe what I mean is "I'm having blonde moments and will now proceed to shut up".

 

[sakuraZaKi]

... Anyway, renaming the thread to "Zero Escape" is fine, probably even proper. Unlike NA giving the two games different names, the Japanese versions of the game have been consistent keeping the main titles "Extreme Escape: blah blah blah"

 

[LivewiresXe]

... Anyway, renaming the thread to "Zero Escape" is fine, probably even proper. Unlike NA giving the two games different names, the Japanese versions of the game have been consistent keeping the main titles "Extreme Escape: blah blah blah"

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I guess it's technically the "Escape Series" if you think about it.

 

[Raziek]

I'll update the title later, if someone feels like typing up a pretty, informative post on the games, I can put that in the OP as well.

 

[The Real Gamer]

I've been playing for over 7 hours and I only have 2 out of the 24 endings so far. Needless to say I got as stuck as a person who is stuck can possibly get on one of the puzzles...

The damn thing wasn't even hard either I just overlooked it again and again and AGAIN

 

[LivewiresXe]

I've been playing for over 7 hours and I only have 2 out of the 24 endings so far. Needless to say I got as stuck as a person who is stuck can possibly get on one of the puzzles...

The damn thing wasn't even hard either I just overlooked it again and again and AGAIN

Is it one of those things where when you finally get it you think "oh what the hell, how did I miss THAT?" and just shake your head at?

 

[The Real Gamer]

Is it one of those things where when you finally get it you think "oh what the hell, how did I miss THAT?" and just shake your head at?

In the simplest way I can explain it "event x" caused "event y" which eventually caused "event z" to happen, but I could never get to z. So I kept doing stuff that dealt with event y over and over again (for at least an hour) without realizing that I needed to take one more step back and do event x again.

And because of the way the puzzle was set up, it made it seem like I was doing something wrong with "event y" so I was pretty pissed with myself when I finally decided to retrace my steps. The solution was pretty obvious.

Other than that though my experience has been overly positive so far.

 

[LivewiresXe]

That's certainly good to hear. I hope the OST is as epic as 999's was, and I hope they flesh out the characters and really make them unique. Though, and I guess I'll spoiler tag this since it kinda refers to 999 but I dunno how spoiler-y it'd count as, but there was something that I wondered about that I found on the website.

Spoiler

Though, since the Zero Escape official website said in Dio's bio something about him once saving a kitten I kind of wonder if he was that guy who Junpei threw the kitten to in order to save it back when Junpei and June were like what, 12? Just a random thought of a possible small connection thing that might wind up meaning nothing, but hey.