#akane my beloved junpei my beloved 999 my beloved

[badboypoirot]

does anyone else think about 999 and just instantly start tearing up

[espurr-roba]

For character bingo. Carlos from ZTD? Or Akane or Junpei from 999. Whichever you prefer.

c-team my BELOVED, i'm going for all three!!

carlos:

akane:

and a jumpy!:

my favorite pair of divorcees and their himbo firefighter boyf <3

[roseofcards90]

Haiiiii, continuing the ask game of random top5s

Top 5 videogame characters

Omg I didn’t know this was going around 😭

(Not counting characters from VNs because otherwise the whole list would just be Higurashi and Umineko characters djdjdkdkdk)

1. Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods)

Ah. Yeah KJFDNJFDKKNJD cat girl blinded and chained by nostalgia that she doesn't want to leave behind, while also being weighed down by her past mistakes as she still struggles with the guilt and the mental illness of it all. Reconnecting with old friends, only to find that they've changed and they're becoming farther and farther away for you to reach out to. Finding a way to cope with all of that and simply leaving with "I'll just continue to live" in the end — AUGH. Night in the Woods my beloved, Mae Borowski my beloved...

2. Akane Kurashiki (Zero Escape)

I remember playing 999 on the ds and just being shocked, and I remember playing vlr on the 3ds also being pretty shocked. And I didn't quite understand Akane as a character at the time because I was like 14 and I couldn't comprehend shit. But when I revisit her character now and I read a bunch of analysis stuff regarding her, I now realize just how well she's written to be in Zero Escape's narrative. For a girl to sacrifice the normality and life she had left for the sake of the world, forsaking timelines again and again so she can find the right outcome, but leaving the one she loved most behind — it's heartbreaking. It's cruel and tragic, because Akane had her life tragically ripped away too soon, so she never got to truly live at all. But to see her at the same time be cold-hearted and leave behind Junpei and the others also hurts to see. She's very well written and complex and I love her for it

3. Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4)

I don't talk much about Yosuke, but he's a character I have a lot of beef with personally. He's a character that I look at and go "Shit, I can't help but see my teenage self in you" and it's like damn 💀 I struggled with the same goddamn things this guy did and I was shitty just like he is, and I'm looking at a mirror every time I see content about him I swear. Persona 4 was a game that got me through my teenage years, so it checks out tbh. I appreciate the growth that Yosuke himself goes through, but I do think the game does him dirty development wise 😭

4. Mizuki Okiura/Date (Ai: The Somnium Files)

I think this goes in hand with my personal experiences, but I relate to Mizuki a lot tbh. I relate to her loneliness as a child, but it was also so happy and fulfilling to see this girl get the family she deserved in the end and to see her grow up into a better version of herself, who's come to terms with her grief. I have more complicated feelings with how they handled some of her character aspects in aini, but I still appreciate how we got to see Mizuki older and see how much she's grown as a person from her 12 yr old self in aitsf

5. Ryunosuke Naruhodo (Ace Attorney/The Great Ace Attorney)

Keeping this one brief and without spoilers since I have a moot who's going through tgaa rn, but I love Ryunosuke as a protag much more than Phoenix tbh, his development throughout the duology is so good! He's silly, he's grieving, he finds a passion in something he didn't think he would excel in. His character arc overall is just very satisfying to see, and he's one of the more enjoyable protags I've played in any video game ngl

[brawlqueen]

the irony of mi.zuki's 999 verse is that i'm still working on it, need to replay it, but while everything is so tightly written in my first uchikoshi game? (ak.ane my beloved) i do think she'll have the 9 bracelet as i was talking about with @bonescribes which...will make ace probably target her and probably regret it unless he uses underhanded tactics which...he sure does! so a route of her dying is very possible, much like the annihilation route or bad end of mi.zuki route. i also find it very funny, for mi.zuki, to have the codename 'usa.gi = 'rabbit', which akan.e also has a fondness for, but knowing mizu.ki i highly doubt she'd be amicable for her once she learns the truth, even if that anger will be mixed with horror at akane's situation / death.

and only bone's light / snake knows her name and if clover wants to know her as well, clover. they're the two she trusts most if 'trust' is....an accurate phrasing for how numb she is at this point. she was taken during the cyclops serial killings so she hasn't been given her finalized family name of 'date' via her adoptive father. she's aware that ju.npei is kind of the 'leader' of the group,

but most of the time she calls him 'plaid boy' to snark at him but sometimes calls him by his name. not like he....really gave himself a code name. she wants to know if seven is really a detective / cop route dependent and has given her instincts to all manner of horror for really, as long as she's been alive, subtle or blatant like her canon's plot? she absolutely does not trust ace and unlike a.kane she has a very hard time faking it, but does so, albeit sullenly because this is no time to be pissed off.

which trust me, she is.

but if you want someone to break ace's bones then she's your captured 'crew mate' on the 'ship'.

people she thinks are remotely trustworthy or at least worth being near: light, clover, junpei. people she's debating on trustworthiness: lotus, aoi, seven. people she has an 'off feeling about' but is undecided: akane, also possibly aoi, and seven despite his demeanor. people she immediately has a bad feeling about by experience: ace.

[sir-incorrect]

I posted 71 times in 2022

71 posts created (100%)

0 posts reblogged (0%)

I tagged 71 of my posts in 2022

#zero escape - 16 posts

#zero escape 999 - 10 posts

#9 persons 9 hours 9 doors - 10 posts

#not art - 10 posts

#goretober - 9 posts

#goretober 2022 - 9 posts

#junpei tenmyouji - 9 posts

#persona - 8 posts

#akane kurashiki - 7 posts

#anonymous - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#though funny enough i've finished both 999 and ztd already so if you want to mention any spoilers for those in the tags go nuts i guess haha

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

was having a psychickers moment as well. they are so dear to me. toritsuka’s on thin ice but he’s more tolerable in a group setting so he can be in the picture too

163 notes - Posted April 12, 2022

#4

birthday present for a friend! hamuko my beloved

176 notes - Posted March 13, 2022

#3

it’s still 6/2 for another hour here, I’m not late!! happy birthday goro, here’s some unrestrained violence. as a treat!

(please don’t tag as any ships! thanks)

184 notes - Posted June 2, 2022

#2

finished 999 a few days ago and I CANNOT stop thinking about akane.

she burned to death while surrounded by water. she's alive she's dead she's the protagonist she's the antagonist she's a girl she's a boy she's a victim she's a culprit she's an adult she's a child

194 notes - Posted August 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

a silly dcmk post-canon (post-conan?) comic that I made for @deducingcircumference for the dcmk fanfic server’s gift exchange! they wanted shinichi teaching the detective boys how to play soccer, and I... got a bit carried away haha

511 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[stellamancer]

hi yes okay. i know tumblr will cut me off if i comment so i'm reblogging it. also i actually have not replayed since i first played LMAO.

ZERO TIME DILEMMA.... i have a love hate relationship with that game, it's like a trigger almost. almost. but YES TEAM C SUPREMACY!! I love them so much. I mean the Zero Escape games have always had such colorful cast members and ztd is no exception even if... i don't care for. some of them. LMAOO.

i remember when i started and got the good ending first and went 'whatttt' and then my friend also got it which should have been a Clue. in retrospect that was honestly a brilliant play. to establish a safe timeline and then by the time the end came most of us all probably forgot.

i did all of the team q fragments i could first. because. i was like 'well might as well get the set i don't like out of the way first.' and like. i don't like eric. i got a little sympathetic toward the end and i do think he's real for being attracted to mira even tho she's a serial killer because like HELLO?? i, too, support women's wrongs. she just wanted to understand human emotion can we blame her?

but right right. what i think. my biggest issue is that ztd, at the bare bones, was trying to do what 999 did, but for delta instead of akane. and the problem with that is that delta spends most of his time off screen and so when he's revealed it's like mADDENING. because it's like THE WHOLE TIME YOU WERE HERE and you put everyone here through ALL OF THIS for tHIS. and it's like. akane did the same thing! but akane was there and endeared herself to us so that we didn't want her burning to death!! BUT FUCKING DELTA CHEATED US!!! i felt SO CHEATED that he basically got to have his cake and eat it too by not only creating a stable time loop to ensure his existence bUT HE TECHNICALLY DIDN'T COMMIT A SINGLE CRIME BECAUSE EVERYTHING HE DID!! WAS IN A DIFFERENT TIMELINE!!! so like, as a player i was MAD!! i wanted justice! retribution!! HE KILLS GAB!!! but thinking on it now it makes sense because akane as zero, while initially introduced as the antagonist of 999 was ultimately not the big bad whereas delta always was.

i think from a storyteller perspective, the reveal of delta as the fourth player on team q was pretty respectable LMAO. i think i actually ended up finding out a little later due to my fragment progression.

my second biggest issue was that after vlr, i was pro sigma/phi. i wouldn't call myself a big shipper but. their dynamic, to me, was just chef's kiss, i love me some bickering (which probably shows in my writing). BUT I CAUGHT ONTO THE FORESHADOWING WITH PHI DYEING HER HAIR. and like... sniffs... i guess it's okay... i guess... it's okay that hE'S HER DAD... i guess it makes it funny... still. kinda.

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT. at LEAST JUNPEI/AKANE BECAME REAL. i mean in a way it was always REAL but. like the FRUITION OF IT. the hilarity of junpei proPOSING IN THAT SETTING. by the time vlr happens (in it's respective timeline) junpei and akane have grown too far from one another. like that quote you mentioned, the junpei and akane they remember are long gone. but in ZTD!!! it's like yes. perfect. all i ever wanted. akane going insane at junpei's death and coming at carlos with the chainsaw... junpei willing to kill everyone in the world for akane. they are the couple of all time. actually team c in general would make a great poly ship. i actually would like to get in on it too. lemme in please. this is a complete tangent but akane gives me the tiniest bit of makima. a beautiful woman who is a master manipulator? yes. i actually have some fan plushies someone made of the junpei and akane. my beloveds.

AND ACTUALLY this is a big tangent but i've already rambled so much already so now you're here for the ride. when i was writing halloween fic, i actually did a bit of thinkling about the SHIFTing they do in ztd. if i wanted reader's ct to be shifting or more like mental time travel and i decided that the moral dillemma of shifting and switching places with an alternate version of themselves on top of everything else they were going through was way too much. plus it would possibly involve discussions of the multiverse and alternate timelines (which could still crop up).... LMAOOO. it always comes back to fics with me.

ultimately, though, i think that ztd was an okay experience. not my favorite title in the series though. i think my reaction has mellowed out a Little. i do owe it a replay though... one day LMAO.

AH YES ANOTHER PERSON OF CULTURE (zero escape fan)!!! Though I suppose I should not be surprised when you did mention loving time loops!!! Akane Kurashiki is truly my girl of all time....

NIKUUUU MY BELOVED PERSON OF CULTURE… yes…. the time loops ………. my biggest weakness 😔 uchikoshi is insane in the head (AFFECTIONATE!!) but i truly think he’s a genius for turning the classic video game format of diverging paths into a real part of the story …….. it’s just theeee coolest thing ever AND AKANEEEE OUR GIRL!!!! hehe i knew i could trust your taste :3 sigma n akane are my favs too!!! they’re just so silly…. a little insane…….. very tragic & doomed 💔 my type in other words (i think gojo and sigma would hit it off so well but i also Really don’t want them to i feel like their meeting would destroy us all)..

ok but niku ….. 👀 i neeeeed to know what you thought abt ztd . plot and lore aside i thought the carlos/junpei/akane dynamic was just so great……… i love them all so much <333 two divorcees and a Himbo

[lightphieric]

Over the past two and a half years, I have amassed a huge backlog of games and extensively catalogued the ones I’ve played. It started out as a way to keep myself sane during the pandemic, but since then it’s basically just become the way I play video games. I’ve recently reached the huge milestone of 200 games played using this system, and to commemorate, I thought a list of “Each Zero Escape character as one of those 200 games” would be fun! Let’s go!

(FYI, I kept a tier list and for this post, I’ve only drawn from games I’ve ranked B, A, or S. So yes, these are all recommendations! I played some of them via itch.io, but all of them are available on Steam)

Ace: Contradiction

An FMV detective game with elegantly simple mechanics: you do exactly what the title says and it’s very satisfying. Special mention goes to the pair of shady businessmen you encounter who totally don’t brainwash, kill, or kidnap people wink wink.

Snake: Dicey Dungeons

This is almost entirely based on Light’s codename meaning “snake eyes,” but it was between this and that game you play by blinking so this seemed like the more appropriate choice. A cute and cheeky roguelike deckbuilder played by rolling and assigning dice. The fact that its gameplay is built around basic arithmetic gives me 999 vibes in general!

Santa: Tell Me Why

A choice-consequence adventure game from the makers of the first two Life Is Strange games (LIS2 my beloved, don’t @ me). Two siblings who can communicate telepathically revisit their childhood home and the events leading up to their mother’s death. One of the siblings is a trans man so if you are as Correct about Aoi as I am you know where I’m coming from.

Clover: Chicory: A Colorful Tale

The game where the world is a blank coloring book and you get to fill in the lines. Tells a lovely and relatable story about art, burnout, impostor syndrome and mentorship, although the main reason I’m assigning this to Clover is because it’s just plain adorable. The relationship between Pizza and Chicory also reminds me of her and Alice.

Junpei: Lamplight City

Perhaps aligned more with ZTD Junpei than any other iteration, this is a steampunk point-and-click about a disgraced detective who is haunted by his late partner and can’t rest until he’s avenged his death. The best part of this game is the protagonist’s awesome wife, who, unlike Akane, will actually help you with puzzles sometimes.

Akane: Elsinore

You play as Ophelia. You are stuck in a time loop and must find a way to save yourself and manufacture a happier ending to the tragedy of Hamlet. This is basically tied with Celeste for the title of my favorite video game of all time, and I was delighted to find parallels between it and Akane’s story.

Seven: The Darkside Detective

I love detective games so I had a wealth to choose from when it came to the cop character. I ended up going with this game, a standard point-and-click that is a detective game in name and theming only but is still a lot of fun. A pastiche of Twin Peaks and X-Files with some of the funniest writing I’ve ever seen in a video game, it captures Seven’s zaniness and willingness to believe in the supernatural.

Lotus: Beglitched

A glitzy and girly game full of computer lingo and in-jokes that go over my head. Thankfully you don’t actually need to know a lick of code to enjoy it because the hacking minigames all take the form of really unique and strategic battles.

Kubota: Underhero

An RPG with one of the most wonderfully convoluted premises ever. Put simply, you’re a villain’s henchman who must play double agent when you’re magically chosen to be the next great hero. Kubota certainly doesn’t fit the “secret hero” angle, but a whole game about an underling seemed appropriate.

Sigma: Milkmaid of the Milky Way

A point-and-click (can you tell I love those?) in which a dairy farmer’s favorite cow is abducted by aliens and she must sneak onto the spacecraft to rescue it. Now, that absolutely delightful premise could work with just about any VLR character; I don’t want to spoil the game, but something else does happen that rings very close to Sigma’s story specifically.

Phi: Downwell

I really expected Phi to get a platformer, with all her soaring and kicking! Downwell is kind of a platformer, I guess, although really it’s more of a free-fall simulator and most of the things you land on die. You can either shoot enemies with your “gunboots” or step on them to kill them - killing things with your feet, very Phi.

Alice: Paradise Killer

A quirky open-world detective game where everyone is impractically hot. I’ve truly never felt more like a detective than I did while playing this game, but you can’t talk about it without talking about the style. The world is bizarre, the music is all vaporwave, and again. You, the investigator, are improbably sexy, and so is every suspect you interview.

Dio: Cult of the Lamb

The cute and cozy roguelike where you start your own cult and smite nonbelievers. I feel like I don’t really need to describe this one further, y’all know it already.

Luna: Cloud Gardens

An art/puzzle game about helping plants reclaim an abandoned, decaying urban environment. Has both a story mode which I completed, and a sandbox mode I didn’t try in which you can just grow gardens to your heart’s content.

Quark: Carto

A really cute puzzle game where you manipulate the very ground you stand on using a map. The story is about a little girl trying to find her grandmother, so it’s very Quark in both aesthetic and story.

Kyle: Hades

The mythological roguelike about hating your dad a whole lot. I don’t feel like I need to explain this one further, either, as everyone has talked about it at length including me on this very blog, but I’ll have you know that I’ve played it for hundreds of hours and it’s solidly my third favorite video game of all time.

Carlos: The Rewinder

This is the most recent game I’ve played; I haven’t finished it yet and I can’t even say for sure that it will be top-tier in the rankings, but I’m really liking it so far and since I wanted a puzzle game about time manipulation for Carlos it was between this and Braid. And as far as I know, The Rewinder doesn’t have a creator with the absolutely rancid vibes of Jonathan Blow.

Sean: 2064: Read Only Memories

A visual novel where you solve a mystery in a cyberpunk world with the help of the world’s first fully sentient AI. The AI is a precious baby baby baby; if you love Sean, you will love Turing.

Delta: Evergate

A gorgeous puzzle platformer about the afterlife and a fraught sibling relationship that transcends time. I loved this game so much that I 100-percented all the collectibles and time trials, which is something I never do. Made me want to call my brother.

Eric: Boyfriend Dungeon

Of course, my much maligned fave gets paired with a game that also gets a lot of undue hate but nonetheless has my entire heart. It’s a dating sim for all of the thirsty simps out there that’s also a roguelike about literally attacking your inner demons and fears with crazy impractical weapons. This choice has nothing to do with a certain Boyfriend Dungeon character who gives all Erics a bad name.

Mira: Carrion

Going through all these games I was surprised that this was the only real “play as the villain” power fantasy on the list. You might have heard of this one described as a reverse horror movie; you play as a biological weapon, or an alien, or something, that has escaped containment and it’s just about eating scientists and soldiers in an explosion of pixelly gore.

Diana: There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension

I won’t be all coy like every other reviewer: this is a video game, a point-and-click about a sentient computer program who really does not want you to use it. It’s really funny and full of meta-references, but the reason I chose it for Diana is because this game is actually a tragic love story not unlike SigDi. I’m not joking about that.

And there you have it, twenty-two great games, one for each Zero Escape character. This is just a silly post but, sincerely, check some of them out if they sound interesting to you!

[bibiana112]

i just Know youve already gotten a few abt Aoi so..... for the comfort chara asks, 6, 10, and 15 with Mizuki or Akane? (or both if u want!!) :0

Dw you got the right impression! Mizuki and Akane qualify also this will have ZE spoilers that I'm not tagging so be careful

★ Comfort character ask game

✤ Akane ✤

6. the moment of theirs that made me the saddest

I am this close to impersonating a fellow zero escape friend and only replying to this with a row of fire emojis aj

10. my favorite moment with them in canon

Oh my god Akane has so many good ones how could you make me choose hmmm I love the gun scene like a lot a lot she has so many scenes of her acting that are so funny to me and so many little interactions with so much weight too I obviously want to say the reveal scene of her narrating but honestly it's such a game defining moment that in my heart it's not so much a favorite moment for the character but just generally in fiction of all time ds dual screen playing into the experience my beloved this shit's peak fiction and absolutely everything hinges on this moment like fr it's so good it's insane But okay I'll actually surprise everyone with this and talk about ztd positively actually and claim C-Team ending as my favorite moment for her because it just encapsulates her character perfectly, what she's capable of why she does it how she thinks of herself for it how she still despite everything holds her memories with Junpei very dear in what's kind of a selfish way the imagery of the blood red moon all as she is at her wits end realizing just how much she was playing right into some other Zero's hand like these are all great conceptually! I can only imagine a world where the execution of and context for these ideas didn't fall flat as hell on it's face also shout out for the voice actors carrying the few good moments of this game btw

15. what i dont like about the way canon portrayed them

Aside from how ztd generally just treats everyone in terms of framing and where the story goes and especially seems to erase details we had very well estabilished on her from her mind and characterization y'know forgetting she's not an only child not being afraid of fire being okay with nurses etc etc Then there's not much I dislike really, like, as much as it pains me to see her turn out so callous and utilitarian and ruining people's lives for the 'greater good' it's still such a good development for her regardless in a way you don't often see and I'm thankful for it. Like honestly it's important to me to keep this in mind for her characterization even when I'm writing fics where almost nothing bad happens after she saves herself in 999, those traits never manage to take such a strong hold on her while still being there, so, I deny canon but I accept her as she is <3 lmao okay I guess there is one thing I disagree and it's just that I like to think she wouldn't be as okay with murder as she supposedly is? I don't think she'd never do it herself, fucking far from it, I just think she wouldn't own up to it? Try to remove herself from it however she can I dunno or maybe even just doing it on auto pilot just absolutely seething without a word or saying stuff that's more calculated still, like the fire extinguisher bit is so funny but I do wish she sounded less hysterical about it? It doesn't quite fit her, it feels like I'm watching some random dating sim with a secret route where the girl goes crazy, also she sounds so silly with the chainsaw lol

★ Mizuki ★

6. the moment of theirs that made me the saddest

The ways she defines a family in the carousel scene and how her relationship with her parents never fit that and how she wishes it did work our with them and then all of that with the context of how Shoko and Renju talk about her on the bar is just... you two barely even wanted it to work huh

10. my favorite moment with them in canon

Mizuki end my beloved...... 🥺😭

15. what i dont like about the way canon portrayed them

I don't like how she's friends with Ota specifically lmao okay not necessarily by which I mean I think it's weird that the fact all her friends being adults is something we're meant to practically ignore? It's not an inherently negative thing but it's mostly addressed as jokes at best but it's weird about what that means for her development wise or what it means for the characters she is friends with like they give her this presumed competence that is brushed off as her being 'so mature for her age' and so ahead of the other kids so we might as well treat her like we're peers but that. That has ramifications and implications and that's one of the things I relate to her own! So I know what I'm talking about it just feels shallow when it feels like it'd have some more relevance especially from Date's pov when it comes to assuming that same competence about combat and putting her in harm's way I guess it comes down to the more silly tone of AI but it's also a me thing to look at this and see missed potential because I know the nuance in those relationships and what it can do to a kids perception of self very well

[tieria-erde]

Idk anything abt zero escape but ! Zero escape for the series asks

💜 favorite male character: im very fond of santa but i do think that junpei has consistently the best writing across games 💜 favorite female character: akane for obvious reasons if you’ve played 999 💜 favorite pairing: santa/snake.... my beloveds <3 💜 least favorite character: writing-wise i have a DEEP distaste for ztd sigma but i have the most vitriol for ace i think 💜 who’s most like me: uhhhhh fuckin uhhhhhhhhhhhh... alice maybe 💜 most attractive: i wish i could be normal and say snake here but (points at santa) 💜 three more characters that I like: phi, snake, and clover!

[hilmihisham]

#81 : 999 Revisited [9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors]

No, this being my #81 posts and the digital root for 81 is 8 + 1 = 9 is just a coincidence. But it works out perfectly for a coincidence so I’ll take it haha..

I can say that 999 is quite an important game for me as it is one of the first visual novel that I’ve ever played (could be the first, even.. I’m not sure which one I played first tho - 999 or Time Hollow). Long short story, this (or these two) game(s) is/are the one(s) that introduced me to the world of visual novel, way before I even know about the term “visual novel”. (Grammar is confusing, eh?) These two are the ones that made me realized that there are “novel-like” game out there and provided how I like reading and v’games, I’ll say I got hooked up instantly..

By “revisited”, yes I do mean “replaying it all over again”. Well obviously not with the original Nintendo DS version as I’ve already sold my DSi long ago and won’t bother to get another one at this point (I mean, come on. I’ve already got 3DS, Vita and Switch as my handheld gaming platform; don’t wanna invest some more money on that although I can’t argue that that could make of a nice little collection).

So the one that I’d played it from is the remake version - The Nonary Games for PSVita. There’s 2 Zero Escape games put together into a single game card - 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward. I didn’t yet to start on VLR but I just got the game 4 days ago and already finish the whole 5 (or 6, depends on how you wanna look at it) story routes of 999. I didn’t really counting but I think I managed to finish the game in about less than 12 hours - that’s quick but that’s to be expected. After all, I’ve already finish this whole game once back on my DSi. Even though I don’t remember the story and puzzle solution vividly, I still can remember the gist of it once I started play it again - thus the short amount of time to complete it whole. 

At this point, I better say “SPOILER ALERT” to what I wanna say about the game. I think I can be forgiven without it given that the 999 was first released back in 2010, but the remake The Nonary Games was only released last week (24 March) so some people might still didn’t finish the game yet. (Don’t think anyone read my text posts here though but oh well..)

And so, *MASSIVE, MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT!!!* after this line! You’ve been warned..

Don’t cry after I broke out massive spoiler of the game in this post. I won’t be there to console you guys..

What throws me off from this version of 999 game is the very last puzzle on June Ending (or True End) route. Except for that puzzle, I’m sure that I’ve saw every other puzzle before back in 2010 - well, not vividly but when I saw it while playing this game, it just sort of clicked on my mind like “oh yeah I saw this one before”.. Not to make any excuses here but that’s why I didn’t managed to get the very last solution until after the game keep giving me hints after hints after hints after hints.. 

Then, after finishing the game I decided to browse over the internet because I’m sure I never seen that before and boy, I am so right!

The final puzzle in DS version is sudoku puzzle while in remake version is just something very simple than that. Yes, simple! 

But why I’m struggling to solve it, you ask? I know I’ve said I’m stupid before but no, that’s not it.

The first part of the puzzle is totally simple - you just need to replace all the letter panels with the numbers at the bottom until the bottom says ‘PASSWORD’. ‘1A3S5O7D’ - seems “password” right from the first glance to me. Solved it in less than 5 seconds and then the screen changes and gives you a keyboard to enter the password. The puzzle from the first part is completely gone and you got no way to access it and you need to type something for the password. What something la?! Maybe the creator intended to give hints after hints to the player in the first place before they can solve it completely but how can someone managed to know that “PASSWORD” = 9 from the get go initially? =.=“ 

(Maybe part of it is also my fault to begin with - I solve the first part of the puzzle too quick without giving much attention to it.. Maybe that’s why the hint sort of missing from me..)

On that screen, I do literally type “password” for the password initially haha - I thought it wants a password so I give it one, quite literally lol..

On the other hand, we got sudoku puzzle on original DS version. Sudoku! I’ve took an interest on sudoku some way back before playing the game so for me this puzzle’s sudoku is an easy one. But still, it’s much challenging that the one on remake version. 

And also a brilliant one. Great use of DS dual-screen setup and the fact that only the bottom screen is touchscreen. It’s on the scene where both Junpei and Akane from 9 years ago try to solve the same puzzle together. As we the player is Junpei, the other person will be Akane. And while they are not in the same room (well technically they are in the same room, just not on the same time), what other way to share the same DS screens with other people and feel that they are not in the same room as us? Of course, Akane will look on our DS screen while sitting opposite to us. Thus, the puzzle is flipped! Brilliant, right?

Also of course, only the bottom screen of DS is touchscreen so they flipped the screen in order for us to interact with the sudoku much easily (just use touchscreen). 

In the game, the keyboard is sitting below the screen so the ideas of flipped picture quite makes sense actually, right?

But that’s not why I wrote this text post in the first place. To make 2-screens game from DS works in 1-screen Vita, some changes has to be made. Nothing wrong with them changing the final puzzle, really. It’s just me feels like the new puzzle wasn’t as well made as the original, that’s all. For the overall game, I must praise the developers for managed to port a 2-screens games to be playable on a 1-screen console so well that I don’t see any flaws to it. Totally playable, totally enjoyable and no context is lost at all while playing the game not on the intended platform that it should be initially. Sure, the brilliance of final puzzle is lost a bit, but that’s just a small detail to what a great move-over platform game.

Now onto the story itself.

To tell the truth, when I first play this game back in 2010, I though those “base-16″ number thing was just a made up for the game but after I’ve learned more about computer and stumbled upon the “base-16″ again, I admit my mind at that time might have a small mindblown moment as I though “what the heck I learned about this IN A GAME!” o.o

The story is solid, but there’s just one thing I wanna touch upon - the scene at the chapel.

In June Ending route, somehow Junpei heard a voice in his head about “Truth is Gone, Truth is Gone” clue to unlock the coffin containing Snake in the chapel. In other route, Clover got that clue on a piece of paper from Captain’s dead body in Captain’s Quarter past Door [1]. They could make the story more logical by making Clover just handing that paper that she had to Junpei, but no.

I understand, they didn’t go that way just to play out that Morphogenetic Field stuff. Because, it’s one of the big theme of the story after all, might as well just play it out it that scene as a buildup to what’s coming. I can see the logic in this, yes.

But Clover got the paper though.. 

And in the end, Junpei didn’t have the reunion with Akane as most people (or most story) would like it to be. No, I don’t have any complaint about this one by the way. I kinda agree with this kind of ending. After all, it’s Akane the one that puts everyone in that game, forcing them to solve the puzzles and play it out until the end in order for her to save herself from being burned alive 9 years before. If you do stuff that’s just one step away from killing your friends, can you still show your face to them after they make it out alive? No, right..

No, the conversation on this scene wasn’t what you guys thinks it’s about!

There’s no doubt Junpei loves Akane and probably will forgive her after what she had done, but probably not for other players in the game. So, Junpei not meeting Akane in the end makes total sense - even though it’s always feels a bit incomplete when the hero and heroine aren’t together in the end..

Yup, he’s head over heels for her, all right..

She’s cute - apart from the fact that she make things happen when she really wants it. Well, that in itself wasn’t a bad point to have, but from her story, she forced peoples - including her beloved Junpei - to play Nonary Game, putting them in the danger of being killed just to save herself from the very same game. 

But yeah, she’s very cute in this one, all right! Best joke in the game, I laughed hard :P

In case you didn’t get it, the translation is lame, listen to what she says. If you still didn’t get it, she mixed up “Junpei” and “shinpai” (worry)..

To get back from what I’ve said before, this game have 5 or 6 endings depends on how you played it. 

The 5 (or 6) endings are (the words in the brackets is the end screen of the game for each endings) :

Submarine Ending (”The end.. or is it?”)

Axe Ending (”BAD END”)

Knife Ending (”BAD END”)

Safe Ending (”The end.. or is it?”) - also named Zero Lost Ending

Coffin Ending (”To Be Continued”) - June Ending being cut short

June Ending (”END”) - the true ending

Coffin Ending is just June Ending (True End) being cut short because you didn’t see all other endings yet - especially Safe Ending (or in remake version it was named Zero Lost Ending). I remembered when I first played this game I got straight to Coffin Ending because I did everything right from the get go (I’m good, right?) but because I’m too quick to get there, the story get cut short and it simply ends with “To Be Continued” screen. Thinking again, that “To Be Continued” now makes sense since there’s much more story - True End story - after that Coffin Ending.

As for Safe Ending, it’s “safe” as in “safe box”, not as in in the sense of “no harm done”. I guess that’s why they changed the name to Zero Lost Ending - too vague, too confusing.. After playing through June Ending, Zero Lost Ending makes sense now. Akane was suddenly disappear because Junpei failed to solve the game, thus the 9 years ago Akane had no way to solve the final puzzle without Junpei’s help. She died back then, thus there’s no way she could exist 9 years after. Thus, Zero Lost.

Yes, that cute Akane is indeed Zero.

Didn’t I’ve said I’ll be giving massive spoiler in this post before?

EDIT: Forgot to write this when I first hit that publish button.. All the screenshots from DS version are taken from https://lparchive.org/. I’ll be damned if I don’t give credit to where it’s due..

[bibiana112]

"tbh I've got SO many more songs on zero escape" PLEASE SHARE THE ZE PROJECTION SONGS... I REQUIRE THEM

Oh shIT did NOT expect this xD BUT AIGHT *rubs hands together*

I'm gonna limit myself to 9 recommendations, okay? Both so I don't expose myself too much and so we're not here all day, also like a good part of them are Kurashiki sibs centric but if you came to me for this that's probably to be expected lmao

🕰️Chronexia and the Eight Seals Opening - Rewind Sooo if you don't know the deal with this one, it's from an anime directed by a youtuber that Absolutely Bombed and got trashed as soon as it's only episode came out, but the song is genuinely good. So, call that recycling when I heard the lyrics and gave it a super deep meaning by associating the vague time travel bs with Junpei as he's going through 999. Yo, it literally has a line that is "Till I find the right road. Once more, for Love and for Hope, for fate not known" like aww, it's like, half the leaf words :3

⚰️Marina - Pandora's Box Marina songs are always top notch, can't recommend her enough, and I often think her songs have Akane vibes. Though this one in particular feels like a Junepei song more so from Junpei's perspective, the bridge "I don't wanna be the bearer of pain just so we can survive" and so many other bits that are sung softly while being a clear jab remind me how much he wanted Akane to acknowledge the emotional pain she put him through All while praying that not all hope is lost for them to be together in the end

🎭 Splendiferachie- Reversible Campaign Certified Akane song, Hatsune Miku is even wearing a gas mask on it. This cover is so good and the lyrics very much have Junepei vibes too. It has a bit of a stageplay motif at times and many bits have SUCH Akane realizing it's another wrong path energy like "Oh... is this the end? Of course it's Not! Can't take it anymore-". Also like, the ending bit I don't even want to spoil because the lyrics break my heart within the context of, specifically, vlr Akane thinking about Junpei because at that point she would Really rather not have her feelings getting in the way :'3

⛓️Chicago - Cell Block Tango It's a bit of a meme song, and I definitely recommend the No Talking edit, but I LOVE IT. Vengeful but Justified ™ Kurashikis my beloveds. The bit "If you had been there, if you had HEARD IT. I bet that you would have done the same!" Makes me directly think about Light because yeah he was there, yeah he heard what went down, and yeah, if it was his sister he probably would have... Yeah. Man I could keep going with the lyrics on this one but it's very on the nose, no need of me spelling it all out lol

🎟️ JubyPhonic - Dramaturgy Kurashiki vibes because the song goes SO Hard with the whole stage play motif. Like, this one I could pick apart to draw parallels, like, Eeverywheere, gosh. I mean that, but for the sake of brevity I'll just say there are bits that sound like they'd fit Akane's perspective better, bits that'd fit Aoi's better, and even bits where I imagine them having an exchange! The briefest example I can muster is all the bits of "Well, take a breath 'cause you'll need it, so c'mon." or "Take a deep breath, you know how this will all end." as they're like getting ready and psyching themselves up to Do the Things. Aaahh there are like SO Many other good bits hhh this is one of my faves x3

🌹BlackBriar - Snow White and Rose Red This one is honestly just one of my favorite songs in general and i wanna recommend it, Friend shared it and let me know that the story is about two sisters after I thought they were wives at first because the singers are so gorgeous had no idea but, yeah, Rose Red is just apparently a way less known fairytale than her sister Snow White :v I don't care much for the chorus with the context of the Kurashikis, but the bits where they introduce themselves makes me think about how they saw each other before everything went to hell. And the whole story about them being forcefully separated... it honestly makes me emotional to listen near the ending when they're crying out for the other with these two in mind :'<

🌌 The Walking Dead Game - Don't be Afraid/The night will be over soon I almost didn't wanna mention this one since I can't quite pin down a specific version, there's a few depending on which characters sing and how far it goes, but I feel very strongly about it so here. The ominous short version used in the official ps4 trailer is one that makes me think about the endings leading up to vlr because it goes up to "Nevermind the blood red moon, the night will be over soon" HOWEVER the full version that is a duet by different characters is much more soft and hopeful and makes me think of the aftermath of every game Other than vlr, funny how that clicks together. Like, I can think of almost every character having the smallest bit of peace at next morning light after such terrible experiences, since the lyrics go up to "Beyond the dark comes something new. The Sun will be rising soon." All the kids after being saved, Lotus with her daughters, Clover and Light resting, Kurashikis relieved to have pulled it off, Akane and Junpei engaged, D-Team hugging, just.... all the fluffy feels man

🖱️Penelope Scott - Rät Phi vibes from this one just from the like how much bite the singer puts into this one? Like the attitude is So Phi and it has some bits that make me think about Sigma is some way too? I don't really have a consistent interpretation of how this would fit their situation but the vibes are So Strong. Like "I come from scientists, and atheists and white men who killed god. They made technology, high quality, complex, physiological. Experiments, and sacrilege, in the name of public good." and "When I said take me to the moon, i never meant take me alone. I thought if mankind toured the sky it meant that all of us could go." for example

☕ Penelope Scott - Lukewarm Again, not much of a consistent interpretation and has quite a few non family-friendly and/or intense bits that can be upsetting if themes of suicide are a big trigger for you (so uh headphones on, at the very least) it just makes me think of shifting as the concept is presented in general with stuff like "Slit your throat and die and wake up the next day" and other things on that vein, the way the songs goes it's about there being a repeated bad thing™ that starts to get numb "Oh what I would give to care enough to scream." so yeah, very close to what a bunch of characters go through so it depends, mostly I think of Phi, Sigma even ztd Junpei while listening to it

And that's it! Hope you enjoy giving these a listen Anon! This was fun and I STILL have many others if anyone wants to know Shout-out to all the songs I left out cause I'm making art based on them, fingers crossed for me actually finishing all of that!