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

[The Real Gamer]

I haven't gotten far enough in the game yet to get to really know the cast (right now everyone's hiding tons of stuff) but the voice acting REALLY adds to each character's personality... Especially Zero the Third I'm more than surprised at how entertaining this character is. That rabbit really steals the show every time it pops up.

I'll also throw this last tidbit in here because I find this extremely interesting and I think you will as well: in 999 it takes you quite a while to figure out that some really crazy **** is going on. (999 spoilers)

Spoiler

I'd say it wasn't until around the end of the "Safe" ending when June's body disappears and Junpei can hear Zero's voice in his head.

But in VLR, crazy stuff like that (and in some cases even crazier) starts happening right off the bat. All I'm saying is that there's a LOT more stuff going on this time around and it happens a LOT sooner in VLR than in 999. I've already had a mind **** moment and I've barely even scratched the surface of the story... I can't wait to see where this is going.

EDIT: Ok as of now make that 2 mind ****s. 0.o

 

[jamlosingthegame]

I asked a friend to get me a copy of it while he was at the mall. Said they were sold out. Surprised how popular it is.

 

[LivewiresXe]

I asked a friend to get me a copy of it while he was at the mall. Said they were sold out. Surprised how popular it is.

Yeah, I'm kinda surprised too, but I'm pleasantly surprised and actually kinda glad. If this game is even half as good as 999 then it deserves to get a crap ton of attention.

 

[Raziek]

You guys should probably realize that it's less so popularity, and much more likely to be a small supply, right?

This isn't like a Halo release or something.

When 999 came out, each EB in my area got like, 5 copies or less.

 

[LivewiresXe]

You guys should probably realize that it's less so popularity, and much more likely to be a small supply, right?

This isn't like a Halo release or something.

When 999 came out, each EB in my area got like, 5 copies or less.

I'm moreso comparing the amount of people that seem to have known about Zero Escape to the amount of people that initially knew about 999, if that means anything.

 

[Lythium]

You guys should probably realize that it's less so popularity, and much more likely to be a small supply, right?

This isn't like a Halo release or something.

When 999 came out, each EB in my area got like, 5 copies or less.

I still wish I had known about it, and got the pre-order with the watch. D:

 

[LivewiresXe]

I still wish I had known about it, and got the pre-order with the watch. D:

I truthfully don't think the pre-order watch was available to us Canucks, Lythi. Though that might have just been if you used Amazon.ca and not .com. I could be wrong, but I know a lot of people in the GameFAQs 999 and VLR boards from Canada that say they didn't get the watch or know they could.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Someone please hurry up and get VLR so I can actually start talking about this game... These plot twists man... THESE PLOT TWISTS. >.<

 

[LivewiresXe]

Someone please hurry up and get VLR so I can actually start talking about this game... These plot twists man... THESE PLOT TWISTS. >.<

Believe me man, if I had a say I would've gotten it on Tuesday.

 

[jamlosingthegame]

Same here

 

[sakuraZaKi]

I wouldn't talk to anyone when I get it, lol.

 

[LivewiresXe]

So, in good news I check Amazon.ca to see how long I'd have to wait still for Zero Escape to get here and the latest package status says...:

"Delivery attempted - October 29, 2012 9:33:00 AM"


So hype now. Knew this was gonna be a good day.

 

[The Real Gamer]

This game keeps throwing curveballs at me and I don't know how much more my mind can take lol.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Man, why does this game keep blowing my mind? I just got it today and I've already put 6 and a half hours into it.

Oh, and the rabbit is amazing. Gotta love it.


2:30 AM Edit: Crap, I uh...suspect I may have picked what may have been the "do near the end ending". Well uh...time to Flow way back before I get too deep into this, lol.

 

[The Real Gamer]

WOW... JUST ****ING WOW

I was in the middle of a puzzle room last night and was too tired to finish it so I saved and went to sleep. Just now powered my game up to find out that my save file has been corrupted. So I just Googled "VLR save corruption" to find THIS. To summarize there is a common game breaking glitch that can affect anyone with the 3DS version of this game. All you have to do is save your game and quit during the middle of certain puzzle room (called the PEC room) and your file becomes corrupted and you lose ALL of your data!

What a ****ing load of HORSE ****! How the **** could Aksys overlook such a massive glitch??? Did they not test this game for bugs I mean seriously ALL OF MY DATA IS GONE JUST BECAUSE I SAVED IN A PUZZLE ROOM. I can't believe this crap.

My 25+ hours of enjoyment with this game is completely gone and instead here I am frustrated as hell with Aksys. 25 ****ing hours of my life that I'll never get back. And now I'll have to waste another 10+ hours reading/puzzle solving just to get back to the point where I was in the story... I'm done with this game for a while.

I'm still in complete disbelief. I think I'm gonna email Aksys or something. 15+ years of gaming and I've never dealt with any crap like this. What a ****ty way to end such an awesome experience.

 

[sakuraZaKi]

If you should blame anybody, it's Chunsoft. Aksys are merely the publishers.

Unless it is the part of the job of publishers to check the game, then welp.

 

[The Real Gamer]

No you're right I forgot that Chunsoft is the developer. They'll be getting a mouthful from me soon.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Yeah, I feel bad for not saying anything. I admittedly thought most people had heard the "do not save in puzzle rooms" bit. Sorry that you lost your data, TRG. Wish I'd said something sooner.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Don't be upset with yourself. This is all on Chunsoft.

I still can't believe how ****ing unlucky I am though. The route that you take to get to the PEC room was the second to last route I took (of around 12 or so possible routes), so instead of only losing about 3-4 hours of progress if I had taken that route first, I'm sitting pretty at a whopping 25 hours of playing time gone. This glitch screwed me over about as much as it possibly could have.

I'll be back when I can get around to playing through all of crap again... Whenever that is.

EDIT: You know what's incredibly hilarious about all of this? Abstaining from reading about anything VLR related on the internet actually ended up RUINING my experience in the end. I can't help but laugh at the irony.

 

[LivewiresXe]

So, I just got the ending where [COLLAPSE="Spoilers ahead obviously"] you wind up chasing after Dio and Phi through the 9 door ditching Clover/Tenmyouji/K/Quark behind. So many questions. What's with the suits? Why does it look like space? What disaster-that-I-hope-doesn't-wipe-out-most-of-humanity? What's this crazy thing with the religion and cloning? Where are we supposed to use that key? Where IS the 'bomb'? What does Phi mean 'he snuck in' if he was kidnapped? The only bit that makes sense is it being New Year's. Eep.[/COLLAPSE]

 

[LivewiresXe]

Finally got through the last of all of the endings late last night. Needless to say, my mind is still blown, full of confusion, more questions, and the whole thing has an odd way of making you feel relief/happiness/sadness at the same time. Especially the parts where:

[COLLAPSE="Major True Ending Spoilers"]The old woman is revealed to be Akane Kurashiki (who is revealed to be K) and that Tenmyouji sees the hologram of her in "Q" on the True Path. That, and when Akane reveals what we already had guessed by that point, which is that Tenmyouji is Junpei with them finally getting their (albeit only briefly shown) reunion with a shocked Clover and Alice looking on. Of course, there's then Tenmyouji sadly essentially saying that (at least in that timeline) she's not quite the Akane he knew anymore.

I personally didn't find Luna's ending THAT sad comparatively, partly since I got stuck at the 2 Headed Lion computer on Luna's first, but the big Sigma reveal was kind of surprising, but kind of weird and "really?" at the same time because it's like "he never looked in a mirror or felt around his face?". Though it's interesting because unlike with Ace, you pretty much spend the whole game knowing about Dio. It does leave you wondering who "Not Kyle" is, but some suspect it's 22 year old Junpei that's going to be sent back to December 2028 to help Phi and (I think) 22 year old Sigma. As well, it makes me wonder what happened to Santa and kind of sets the stage for the 3rd one being on the Mars testing site (you can kind of tell from VLR's ending that, unlike 999, a sequel was intended when they made it, but not in a bad way.[/COLLAPSE]

So, needless to say, I'm satisfied with it. I couldn't stop playing the thing, that's for sure. I mean hell, between 4pm Monday and 11:30pm Saturday I put between 44 and 45 HOURS into the game. That's like 7.5 to 8 a day or something, so yeah, this game was certainly ADDICTIVE and totally worth buying a 3DS for.

 

[Lythium]

So, my pre-order didn't come in, and no other stores have it in stock where I live unless I want to ride an hour or two on the bus. >:I

Looks like I'll have to order it off of Amazon or something.

 

[LivewiresXe]

That kinda sucks. I know a lot of people had troubles with that for whatever reason. And wow at that Chibi New-Noel avatar of yours, that's awesome.

 

[Lythium]

Haha, why thanks! :3

Yeah, I guess the supplier didn't get any copies, so rather than inform the gamestore that I work at, they just didn't show up. Lamesauce.

 

[tekkie]

i'm 28 hours in. this game is ruining my life just as hard as 999 did and i love every second of it~

 

[LivewiresXe]

I guess it was a localization thing since I've never actually heard of anybody in Canada getting the watch.

And this is probably really old news, but I find it amazing how much of VLR's VA cast did voice work in Persona 4 Arena too. I mean hell, aside from Zero 3's being Labrys/Shabrys, we've got:

Phi = Aigis
Dio = Akihiko
Clover = Fuuka
Luna = Rise
Quark = Chie
Sigma (OVA) = Kanji

Granted, the Clover/Luna bit is small and all that, it's still kinda funny and weird that they both have a lot of the same voice cast. But...I'll probably just get a lecture after on how "It's easier and more financially sensible for Aksys as a company to repeatedly employ the same Voice Actors in order to build a rapport with them and establish familiarity and confidence in their work than it is to constantly be bringing in new Voice Actors", so ha.

 

[sakuraZaKi]

Akihiko's VA is always a nice unique thing to hear. He was even in another recent game that's on the tip of my tongue...

Dead or Alive 5

Oh, and I found this: [COLLAPSE="Uhhh..."]

[/COLLAPSE]

Ffffffffffffffffff

 

[The Real Gamer]

So these past few days I decided to swallow my pride and plow through the game despite having to start everything all the way over... It was well worth it.

Overall this game exceeded my expectations and then some. It was even better than 999. The plot twists were bigger and more plentiful, the "AB games" were much more dramatic and exciting than simply picking doors to go through, it answered many questions I had after the events of 999 but leaves even more questions for the 3rd game, and it REALLY made you feel for the characters this time around. Both VLR and 999 will go down as some of my favorite video gaming experiences ever.

Oh and the soundtrack was awesome! The following 3 were my favorites:
Clarification - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJvZwZQV7fs
Confession - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8E20i-dLBI
Blue Bird Lamentation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFJ1r6_4mW4&feature=relmfu

 

[LivewiresXe]

I have to admit though that this game made me pissed on account of one thing. By the end I'd actually teared up a couple of times. Over a video game. I'm 25, what the hell?

Also, Clarification to me seems like the "Digital Root" song of the game.

Also, I happen to like:

Consternation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooK86eSZFCo&feature=plcp
Sublimity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXKVMy2XzFQ&feature=plcp
Divulgation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1el6_p8NMFo&feature=plcp
Demise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkTmE6zyW9Y&feature=plcp

 

[jamlosingthegame]

I was listening to some of the OST and I was loving it. I need to play this game

 

[The Real Gamer]

Sublimity is one creepy *** song man.

Although I remember that tune I don't recall ever truly being scared/freaked out like I was with 999 at some points. Now that I think about it I guess that's one thing that 999 has over VLR: the overall setting and scenarios that play out are much creepier

Spoiler

such as the 9th man's death

. VLR feels a lot more laid back in comparison. Not necessarily a bad thing though.

There actually was one moment that creeped me out a bit...

Spoiler

Towards the end of Luna's ending when you see her right before the AB gates closed. I thought she was about to go terminator on me or some ****. >.<

But then I got her true ending and all of that fear changed to immediate sadness. ;.;

Spoiler

This game made me get emotional over a freaking ROBOT for crying out loud.

 

[LivewiresXe]

I swear I must be really weird for having that bit not be one of the ones that got me. It seems to have gotten everyone else, but my first thought to that was

Spoiler

"WTF are you doing?!!".

 

[The Real Gamer]

You were probably thinking

Spoiler

I still trust her so I doubt she will do anything crazy.

I was thinking

Spoiler

HOLY **** SHE KILLED EVERYONE AND I'M NEXT!! ;.;

 

[LivewiresXe]

Actually, I was thinking

Spoiler

The HELL are you doing Sigma? Get your a-- BACK behind the 9 Door!!

One of the parts that really got me was

Spoiler

When Tenmyouji breaks down crying in front of the Akane hologram.

 

[tekkie]

just got

Spoiler

the eight left-most endings

saw all of the big emotional drops so far: K's ending, tenmiyouji's ending, just got luna's ending...

just sorted through the roster, thinking, who could the last ending be, who could be the big one?

and when i realized it was Phi...

...holy ****...

i'm almost there. i'm finishing it tomorrow.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Prepare your mind then, because you'll need to. And even then it'll still get blown.

 

[Rutger]

My Gamestop happened to get a copy in today, so I bought VLR.

But before I start, I need to finally take care of that true ending in 999.

and I have this essay I need to work on, it's going to be a few days before I can start. :/


So I need to avoid saving in a certain room, I'll be okay if I just don't save during any puzzles right?

And still only one save, that's not right for something with so many endings.

How many of those endings are just dead endings anyways? I may end up leaving many of those for afterwards, I don't want to be going for the true end two years later again.

 

[LivewiresXe]

I don't want to necessarily spoil things with that but, I will say that after you get your first actual ending, it should be pretty easy to guess how many are dead ends. And it's actually not a bad idea to get that true ending in 999 before you do VLR. Actually...I'd really strongly recommend it.

 

[tekkie]

So I need to avoid saving in a certain room, I'll be okay if I just don't save during any puzzles right?

And still only one save, that's not right for something with so many endings.

Don't save in the Pressure Exchange Chamber or the Crew Quarters. That's where I've heard a lot of problems are occurring.

Also, it works out fine with a single save file; trust me.

 

[Rutger]

I don't want to necessarily spoil things with that but, I will say that after you get your first actual ending, it should be pretty easy to guess how many are dead ends. And it's actually not a bad idea to get that true ending in 999 before you do VLR. Actually...I'd really strongly recommend it.

Yeah, I'll probably go for at least one ending blind first, then decide if I want a path guide.

Don't save in the Pressure Exchange Chamber or the Crew Quarters. That's where I've heard a lot of problems are occurring.

Also, it works out fine with a single save file; trust me.

Thanks, I'll probably still avoid saving in a puzzle room but it's good to know which ones to keep in mind.

And yeah, I'm sure a single save file will work out fine, I'm just spoiled on this. :/

Edit: I just found out about the flowchart, I am more than okay with just one save file now.