#i actually started writing this post before i had 100% beaten 999 (i just hadn't solved the last puzzle)

[alto-tenure]

so I beat 999. it's definitely landed on my "games of all time that I think everyone should play" list, and I think it's interesting to look at the common threads between my choices, because the other picks that immediately float to mind are ghost trick and professor layton and the unwound future. and there's something to be said about how these games work to deceive the player, the unbelievably crazy plot twists, the cast of characters...

but what I want to focus on here & now is how these games talk about death, fate, and grief. unwound future is very much the outlier in how it decides to talk about it; 999 and ghost trick both argue that there's no such thing as the inevitable, that as long as there's a sliver of chance to fix things one should seize that chance. ghost trick and 999 both say "this is always going to happen -- unless you do something about it, and you're the only one with the power to"; unwound future says "this already happened a long time ago; you can't do anything to change it, but you can always move forward. grief can cause stagnance, but it can also make way for better things."

and where they're more similar is in their perspectives on revenge. to get the true ending in 999 you need to make sure Clover doesn't pursue her revenge for Snake; Yomiel is primarily motivated by a revenge he comes to realize wasn't necessary and has only made him worse; Clive's plot for revenge falls apart around him. revenge won't get anyone what they want. Clover's ending can't get her anywhere because the zero bracelet isn't zero and the person who did kill the person she believes to be Snake isn't even dead. Yomiel ends with him on the submarine, betrayed and trapped forever. Clive's scorched-earth approach just leads to him not getting anything of what he wants. revenge doesn't work, in any of these cases.

every action has a consequence. giving Clover the bookmark gives her hope and lets them escape; Ray reaching out to Sissel saves everyone; Claire reaching out to Clive lets him live. even through the darkness of tragedy and impending doom, there's a light of hope, and that hope allows for change.