#vlr zero the third

[sir-incorrect]

we're allowed to post our zine stuff now, so! here's my little comic for the @sigmaklimzine! essentially me trying to see if I could fit every vlr character into a four-page aitsf au, heh. also did some spot art for one of the fics:

definitely check out the zine if you haven't already, it's free and it turned out super awesome!!

oh, I also have an alternate version of the comic pages with the RGB effects at a higher opacity; toned it down in the zine itself for eyestrain concerns, but I still like these too:

[aciesvirtus]

[eevee-miscellaneous]

Virtue’s Last Reward is easy to think of jokes for. I don’t understand it either.

[bucketofcrows]

okay so i played through the first two Zero Escape games and i have mixed feelings about them. but then i start playing the third game and it’s like. how did they drop the ball on character designs so hard. the designs in the first two were pretty good but how did they end up with the most generic looking cast of characters for the third game

[colourful-void]

zero the third hm... we seem to be missing a zero here. also that sounds like clovers va. i know i could be wrong but the last time i thought that i was completely right so. hm.

[ot3]

have you ever played any of the zero escape games? genuinely cannot remember if you've ever talked about them before. virtue's last reward and zero time dilemma seem like they might set off your headaches (as in vlr probably would and ztd almost certainly would) but 999 seems right up your alley

i have! i played 999, then realized i didn't particularly care for this style of gameplay and would just be clicking through it with a guide, and read the latter two games as forum letsplays on somethingawful. i enjoy whatever the fuck is wrong with kotaro uchikoshi's brain. vlr was stupid as fuck and ztd just made me annoyed mostly but i do like that they gave junpei and akane a third. akane definitely one of the girls of all time. i do think at the end of the day though i may prefer aitsf to even 999.

[luna--flare]

Zero Escape? I think you'll find I escape plenty

Inspired by this post, I decided to count how many times throughout the series characters actually escape from a situation, including both escape rooms and the Nonary Games as a whole. There's obviously going to have to be some judgement calls about how to count things, so you might not agree with the final number I come up with. Spoilers for the whole Zero Escape series below.

9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

For this, we'll be going off the DS version, counting each route from the start of the game, since that's what Akane actually experienced through Junpei's eyes. The Nonary Game starts with each participant escaping from an individual room, presumably excluding Akane and Aoi. So that's 7 escapes per route. Things then diverge into 2 at the first door. For the second door choice, if Junpei enters door 3, nobody else does an escape room at this or the next stage - we'll say this happens once for Submarine Ending. For the other routes, the group splits into two again, and then one final time for two escape rooms back to back. So.

Knife Ending

Third Class Cabin - 7 escapes

Door 4/5 - 2 escapes

Door 7/8 - 2 escapes

Door 1/6 - 4 escapes

Submarine Ending

Third Class Cabin - 7 escapes

Door 4/5 - 2 escapes

Door 3 - 1 escape

Door 2 - 2 escapes

Axe Ending

Third Class Cabin - 7 escapes

Door 4/5 - 2 escapes

Door 7/8 - 2 escapes

Door 1/6 - 4 escapes

The true routes add a bit more because we also go through Door 9, of course. In the Safe ending, while Junpei doesn't go through an escape room, we can presume Ace and Lotus do, and of course in the True Ending Junpei does go through the Library and Study. The puzzle in the incinerator is also presented with a "Seek a way out!" introduction. For the Coffin Ending, we're assuming that Junpei already knows the code from the Safe Ending and goes straight onto the True Ending without replaying, to get a lowball estimate.

Safe Ending

Third Class Cabin - 7 escapes

Door 4/5- 2 escapes

Door 7/8 - 2 escapes

Door 1/6 - 4 escapes

Door 9 - 2 escapes

True Ending

Third Class Cabin - 7 escapes

Door 4/5 - 2 escapes

Door 7/8 - 2 escapes

Door 1/6 - 4 escapes

Door 9 - 2 escapes

Incinerator - 1 escape

Finally, there's the matter of the escape from the Nonary Game overall, which is achieved both in the True Ending, and an escape from the First Nonary Game 9 years prior. We don't know the details of the puzzles in that game, so we can't accurately count how many escape rooms were escaped within it, so we'll just add 1 for the overall escape.

999 Total: 79

Virtue's Last Reward

VLR has a fundamentally different structure to 999 - the player and Sigma only visit each escape room once each, because they jump around the timeline rather than restarting from the beginning. However, bad endings frequently feature people escaping from the Nonary Game, so we do still have more counting to do. Additionally, the number of other players alive to enter other escape rooms varies depending on the route. Let's start at the top and go down the flowchart left to right. I'm using this excellent flowchart by @drailholsac for reference, and it might help you follow along too.

Magenta Door

There are 6 AB rooms escaped from at the start of the game. No matter which of the three Chromatic Doors Sigma chooses to enter, the Lounge, Crew Quarters and Infirmary are each escaped, so that's 9. Going through the Magenta and then Green Door, the Gaulem Bay, Pantry and Rec Room are escaped, so 3 more. If Sigma then allies with Luna, he and Phi escape the Security Room while Dio and K escape the Director's Office - everyone else is dead so that's only 2. Finally, in Luna's Ending, Phi and Quark escape the Nonary Game. Alternatively, in the corresponding bad ending, Luna helps Quark escape. That's 2 more. Quark also escapes if Luna is betrayed earlier, for 1 more.

Total for this paragraph: 23.

Yellow Door

If Sigma instead enters the Blue Door after Magenta, the Rec Room, Treatment Center and Pantry are escaped for 3 more. If he allies with K, then K escapes, but if he betrays, then no one does. That's 1 more. Finally, if Sigma goes through the Red Door second, the Pantry, PEC and Treatment Center are escaped for 3 more. If Sigma allies with Clover, then Phi and Dio escape, but if he betrays her, he joins them. That's 2 more escapes.

Total for this paragraph: 9

Going all the way back to the top, if Sigma instead goes through the Yellow Door and then Blue, the PEC, Laboratory and an unknown room are escaped for 3 more. If Sigma then allies with Tenmyouji, the Director's Office, Q Room and Security Room are escaped for another 3. If Sigma then allies with Tenmyouji and Quark, they escape with Clover, otherwise Clover escapes alone - 2 more. Clover also escapes alone if Sigma betrays Tenmyouji earlier, for 1 more.

Total for this paragraph: 9

Cyan Door

If Sigma instead goes through the Red Door after Yellow, the Laboratory and two unknown rooms are escaped for another 3. If he then allies with Dio, he and Quark escape, while otherwise K escapes alone. That's another 2. Finally, through the Green Door, the Treatment Center, PEC and Pantry are escaped for 3 more. If Sigma allies with Quark, everyone dies and no one escapes, but if he betrays Quark for Clover, then she escapes, so that's only 1 more.

Total for this paragraph: 9

Finally, if Sigma goes through the Cyan Door and then Blue, the B. Garden, Laboratory and Treatment Center are escaped for yet another 3. No further escape rooms nor game escapes occur on Alice's route. Through the Green Door, the Archives, B. Garden and Pantry are escaped for another 3. If Sigma allies with Tenmyouji, everyone dies, but if he betrays, he gets knocked out and wakes up with everyone gone, so we can assume they escaped for 1 more.

Total for this paragraph: 7

VLR Total: 65

And now through the Red Door we get the True Route. The Control Room, Archives, and B. Garden are escaped for 3 more. If Sigma betrays Phi, he opens the door but does not get out, so no one can escape. If he instead allies with Phi, the Q Room, Security Room and Director's Office are escaped for 3 more. At this stage, Sigma and Phi jump into the past and escape the AB Room a separate time earlier than they "initially" did to save Akane, so that's 1 more escape. And after that, everyone escapes the Nonary Game for 1 more, even if they go back inside afterwards.

Total for this paragraph: 8

Zero Time Dilemma

Similar to VLR, we can assume each escape room is only experienced once - decisions split the timeline only after they're escaped. Unlike VLR, other escape rooms aren't even going on simultaneously off-screen, so counting that should be relatively easy. However, there are also escapes from the Decision Game to account for. Notably, it's questionable whether some escape rooms, like the Control Room, actually count as escapes, since the players don't necessarily get to leave the room alive - however we'll say that the game going "You Found It" is enough to call an escape room completed.

Escape Rooms

Biolab

Control

Healing Room

Infirmary

Locker Room

Manufacturing

Pantry

Pod Room

Power Room

Rec Room

Study

Transporter Room

Trash Disposal Room

Total: 13

Decision Game Escapes

Coincide: Carlos wins the coin-flip (we won't count shifting to this timeline later as a separate escape)

Apocalypse: Carlos uses the transporter to go back in time and break Junpei and Akane out of the facility.

Triangle: Sean kills Eric, and Mira escapes with him.

Triangle: Sean tries to kill Mira but Eric takes the shot, and Mira escapes alone.

Triangle: Sean refuses to kill anyone. Eric kills him and escapes with Mira.

Outbreak: D-Team use the bomb from Manufacturing to break through the X-Door.

Ambidex: If Junpei betrays Carlos, it's very likely he escapes with Akane.

Anthropic Principle: If C-Team fail the dice roll, it's likely that Phi escapes alone.

Monty Hall: If Carlos successfully finds the oxygen mask and saves Akane, she later escapes.

First Come, First Saved: Each team has a timeline where they press the button and escape (though Carlos, Sean and Diana each stay behind), for a total of 3.

Suppression: Mira kills most of the players. Diana enters the X-Passes to open the X-Door, but Mira kills her and escapes alone.

These are mostly taken from a list of game overs and endings, and not every escape happens in an ending (for example, First Come, First Saved: C), so this is the place I'm most likely to have missed something. Nonetheless, the tentative count here is 13.

ZTD Total: 26

Total Escape Count: 170

Resources used

Let's Play 999, by Dragonatrix

Let's Play VLR, by Fedule

Let's Play ZTD, by DKII

VLR Detailed Flowchart, by @drailholsac

Zero Escape Wiki (I really wish there was a better option than the FANDOM wiki though...)

[aita-blorbos]

i love seeing so many scenarios of the same thing. shout out to the zero escape fanbase they only played 999 [joking but theres been 2 akane ones specifically about 999 with a third in the inbox i submitted and an ace one as well. where are ztd and vlr asks you know there is some fodder in those bad boys

also go play zero escape everyone very good games

is that what all the timeloop/death game/face blindness asks are from?

[argentsunshine]

I loveeed 999. Have you played VLR and ZTD as well? Can't remember off the top of my head if you have. Anyway I think Junpei is absolutely just a hilarious protag, and his outfit is so great. Do you like click and point adventures? Do you like escape rooms? Do you like random esoteric or need facts being dropped constantly for no reason? Play 999 👍

yes i have played vlr and ztd! i think vlr isn't as tight of a game as 999 - it's still a fun game, but its characters aren't as interesting and it feels like the game could have gotten away with completely removing a third of the cast without changing anything. likewise, it has way too many endings. it also did my girl clover so bad and it's kind of ugly. but it is fun! i enjoyed it! it's just like a 7/10 rather than a 10/10 like 999 is.

zero time dilemma.

i was just gonna leave it at that but i realised someone unfamiliar with the game might accidentally buy it. zero time dilemma is a solid 2/10. every character who wasn't invented for the game is completely mangled (save for sigma, who i like more here than in vlr) and every new character is just a complete void of time and personality. puzzles are stupid as fuck mystery is stupid as fuck philosophy is stupid as fuck and it's the ugliest game ever created.

don't play zero time dilemma. play ai: the somnium files instead. (then don't play ai: nirvana initiative either. it's better than ztd but it's still Not Good! aitsf is better than vlr in my opinion)

[nvexe]

[Zero Escape post]

I was a big 999 fan about ten years ago (still my favourite game) and at that time I saved up to buy my first touch screen device the beautiful PS Vita so I could play the sequel VLR but I ended up hating it so much I couldn't finish it. I finally forced myself to play it fully so I could at least get through it and play the third game. Thoughts on all three games:

999: (played on DSi?) One of the best games in the world. Everyone should play this, even if it's just to see if they like it. There are versions without escape rooms if you're like me and not super into that. The original version has aged well, but the rereleases and sequels apparently remove some tedium. Wonderful cast of characters.

VLR: (played on Vita) Not the worst game in the world but there's much better out there. Lots of room for improvement, but instead they use that room for repeating the same info three to nine times. I would be more forgiving if the graphics weren't awful after the comparatively beautiful graphics of 999. Characters are mostly just okay. A remake would be nice as most of my issues come from poor quality of life.

ZTD: (played on 3DS) I've never played a game like this before. The graphics and animation are a little janky but it gives it a unique flavour and I actually really like it. MUCH more brutal and gorey than the previous games. Does twice as much as VLR in half the time. Characters are consistently interesting, even if they're not always likeable. I had a really good time. Awesome!

These are sci-fi psychological games and the plot and logic and paradoxes get more and more convoluted as you go along, but it's not an issue if you're expecting it and willing to roll with it. However... things may get a bit too ridiculous for some people at times. I highly recommend 999, but VLR and ZTD are very closely linked, so it's harder to recommend them since I really didn't like VLR much. My friend is enjoying it though, so don't listen to me and please try it if you like 999. All three games are very different from each other. Check on Does The Dog Die first, as some content may catch you off guard. Just give 999 a go, for me... ✌️🥺

[du-hjarta-skulblaka]

Thinking on it I still haven't even finished Nirvana Iniative

Like S1G finished it I think but even they were really struggling with it and like...it dragged so long with zero useful information that I just burnt out on it hard

Probably should finish it just to know whatever the Uchikoshi Twist is but. Yeah. I had similar issues with Somnium but that at least had really compelling characters and dripped enough hijts to piece together what was happening, I think I got more than 2 thirds through Nirvana and still couldn't tell you what was even happening in it. And it's disappointing, because 999 and VLR are two of the most satisfying mysteries I've ever experienced.

That being said. Very hopeful for the Uchikoshi/Kodaka collab. I just hope it doesn't end up being the worst of both.

[dumbasswhatever]

ranking death game video games by their murder jewelry that is used to murder the characters

6) head AS code. this is so boring. holy fuck. it gets points for having lasers in it which i think is fun but cmon this is the blandest necklace i've ever seen

5) zero time dilemma. ok i'm being a bit biased here ranking it so low bc i don't like the game howeveeeeeeer i don't think the bracelet ever actually killed them, it just had a tranquilizer and memory erasing drug. so i'm justified in putting it at fifth actually. also it's ugly bc zero the third is a boring bitch

4) the zodiac trial. really enjoying this game so far but the necklaces are boring. having knives come out of it to kill the player is pretty impressive bc i don't think that thing can fit any amount of knives in it

3) your turn to die. these necklaces are relatively simple but still have a bit of fun with their designs. they aren't used very often, from what i remember of my playthrough, but i think someone's head being burned off their body is pretty scary so kudos to that death game's mastermind, whoever they are

2) virtues last reward. every piece of murder jewelry should look swanky and gadgety, and at least this bracelet is gadgety as hell. thank god. uses poison to kill people which is a little lame but at least i got to see sigma get poisoned several times

999. there we go. the original. none of these other masterminds had the bollocks to make their murder jewelry bright pink. it isn't quite as gadgety as vlr's, but it's swanky, gadgety, and filled with bombs. as it should be. i love when characters explode and we hear silly descriptions of their bodies

[kayzero]

hey all,

the next zwg is gonna be delayed. obviously. it’s been two weeks without an update, but i’m afraid it might be at least two more.

the issue i’m having is that it’s. a LOT words to write. at least an entire fragment’s worth in a single chapter. and normally that wouldn’t be too bad, it would be like writing a three-chapter fragment in a single chapter of space.

the trouble is the content of that writing.

i’ll go into detail below the readmore but essentially the issue is that my brain works very linearly and i can’t start B or C without having completed A, and A in this case is kicking my ass.

the solution i’ve come up with is to try and write it gradually and release little snippets on tumblr to assure you that work is getting done and satisfy your zero escape fiction needs.

slight spoilers for the next chapter below. (no specifics, just overview. if you want to be totally blind and surprised don’t click.)

for those of you that have guessed that the sigma fragment will be covering the events of the vlr timeline, congratulations. as anticipated, ‘Foretold’ is referring to the events of the apocalypse that have been foretold to come.

i don’t have an issue writing for the vlr timeline. chapter 2 and chapter 3 have been outlined and i anticipate that once i start writing them it will take at most a day or two to complete each chapter.

chapter 1 is the issue.

for context, the character fragments are formatted thusly: chapter 1 will give characterization and context for motivations, chapter 2 will cover their adventures through the Zeroes Game, and chapter 3 will cover the consequences thereof.

for sigma specifically, providing context involves going over the 45 years he spends on the moon after the events of vlr. this is a roadblock for two reasons:

1. Covering 45 years of content and compressing it all into a single chapter is difficult. Not only because 45 years is a long fucking time, but because I have to think logistically about how Sigma would spend that time, what he learns in what order, and how his learning impacts his decision-making.

2. I don’t like Sigma. He is not only my least favorite Uchikoshi protagonist, he is my least favorite visual novel protagonist to date, and he is my third least favorite Uchikoshi character overall (no. 2 is Ota Matsushita, no. 1 is Dio). Having to think logistically about 45 years and write more than 10k words while in the mindset of one of my least favorite VN characters of all time is mentally taxing.

But I’ll fucking do it. Like I told my beta writer today as we were outlining the chapter, my integrity as a writer will not allow me to write a blank chapter titled “Fuck Sigma,” no matter how much I desperately want to.

It’ll get done. Eventually.

Fuck Sigma.

[anthenasikes]

been seeing a lot of people who like yttd talking about zero escape so i’m thinking about getting it, should i get the full trilogy or just the nonary games bundle?

OH MY GOODNESS zero escape. i love zero escape it’s my favorite video game series hehhehhe. it’s so good man

ok honestly i would say buy the nonary games bundle first, and then after that, if you want to play ZTD (the third game) after that, you can get it separately (unless theres a bundle deal rn or smth idk)— but ZTD is like. quite controversial ? i guess ?? in that a lot of people Do Not Like it. in my opinion theres good stuff and bad stuff in it, i overall don’t like it very much while still also really liking specific parts of it… Hrm. to me it’s just not as good as the first two games but it’s not like its unplayable or anything. I’ve only watched playthroughs of VLR and ZTD bc i can’t focus on actually playing games myself very much (ive watched like 7 playthroughs of 999 but it’s been 10 months and i’m still not done with my actual own playthrough of it) so when i got to ZTD i just skipped through stuff when I didn’t care for it. which worked out for me bc then the stuff i liked more stuck in my brain more !! so really it’s up to you if you want to play the third game, like after you’ve played the first two and see if you want to see the follow up even if it’s not quite as good. but also i have no idea what your opinion on it will be! i only have my own as reference haufhgsdhsdkj BUT ANYWAYS THAT WAS A RAMBLE .

you ABSOLUTELY should play the first 2 though dude. theyre so rad. i scream and explode and flop around on the floor like a fish. on friday i rambled about them to a random classmate for an hour. BIG IMPORTANT THING THOUGH: if you are playing the steam version of 999 YOU NEED TO PUT IT IN NOVEL MODE. this is not an optional this is a You Have To. Ok ? theres stuff that got lost in translation when they ported it from the og DS version, and if you cant play the DS version, putting it in novel mode mitigates said translation loss to an extent. NOVEL MODE. OKIE COOL !! oh jesus christ i love these games so much man im falling down the stairs i’m exploding. just trust me man. VLR is like my fav thing ever. 999 music slaps hard also . Wwa9ufyhdjkdl;lksdjhg have happy escaping!! WOOHOOO prepare for emotional damage— but hey you like yttd so i’m sure youre familiar with emotional damage

[logicbutton]

current top five songs, ty for tagging me @oneidiotwithasword

exclusion zone from the Homestuck^2 soundtrack. [onlookers booing] look if I can't admit to this on tumblr, where can I admit to it? this song absolutely slaps, which is why it's first on my stargazing playlist and now it's a stargazing song to me.

In the Waiting Line by Zero 7. second song on my stargazing playlist.

Teardrop by Massive Attack. third and final song on my stargazing playlist and possibly my favorite song of all time.

Exchange by Richard Harvey. oh shit!! it's that song from the Sesame Street crayon factory video! a lifelong earworm that I finally learned the title of last year.

Lounge from the Virtue's Last Reward soundtrack. I've been listening to the whole album a lot lately and this happens to be my favorite track, but I love everything on it. it's a great soundtrack for a Locked Tomb reread (the reason I've been listening to it) because the vibes of VLR are really similar to GtN - a group of mostly-strangers thrown together to explore a creepy building full of locked rooms and solve puzzles with keys as prizes who get derailed when the bodies start to pile up. it's also got Mithraeum vibes that go with a HtN reread, and it's ALSO got post-apocalyptic desolation vibes that go with a NtN reread.

anyway idk about tagging people, although actually @ivylaughed I am curious about what you're listening to these days so how about you.

[colourful-void]

I don’t remember Sigma being voice acted in VLR. I can think of a reason why (the way a VA might say some things at certain moments could be considered spoilery for later twists) but it definitely places a stark divide between him and the rest of the characters for a lot of the game. He still has some really good moments with some of the other characters that make me cry my eyes out!

that's really interesting even tho!!! kinda makes it interestin, even tho like. idk what the thing he can't say is but like. the dialouge in 999 and what was written did not actually match up 100% n it'd be kinda cool if they played into that for this. ce la vie tho or however its spelled.

atm all i can picture is just

Sigma: oh no we can't go in there or else akane will kill us Clover: what Sigma: oh sorry i pronounced it wrong, zero the third will kill us.

or smthing.

in the meantime, clearly the only option is to mumble every dialouge line of sigma's under my breath and perform as his va. only option. im gonna do that.