#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:

[concord-and-cliches]

there are not nearly enough blonde white guys on the moon. sad!

[aci3svirtus]

my main blog got banned so im posting all the things i couldnt post here and did on twitter hii guysss :3

[mortellanarts]

First, I'm not quite sure if you saw the answer I gave to your question on Rot in Paradise, so I'm just checking here 👍

Anyway, out of the three Zero Escape games, which one was your favourite and least favourite and why? I think for me it was 999 as the best, then VLR and then ZTD. I like all the games, but the first one was the one where I enjoyed things the most (especially the art for that one).

I sawww many moons ago, my bad qwq

I have had the game dowloaded along with Eloquent Countenance and played Married in Red!! Pretty simple but good, it made me nostalgic for finding those short and sweet rpg maker horror games between replaying the longer more popular ones, I'm looking forward to playing the two whenever my brain allows me especially since I'm trying to get back into game making and so I feel like I need to pay extra attention to everything

Second question! I certainly have a soft spot for 999 above the others as well (parentified brother of the year is not on the other ones) it was very important to me, that kind of media that shows up in your life right when you need it when things are tough to give you an epiphany on how to get through it you know? but even revisiting the serries as a whole I'd have to say the visual presentation does have a lot to do with it too yeah... VLR is harder to think about for me because there's so so much blue and grey that just morphs together but I'd still say I like it better than ZTD because some moments in it just really rub me off the wrong way despite me remembering them all much better? I think a lot of the last fic I made was me making peace with the way canon concluded and forcing open some space for the characters to breathe and feel like they have humanity and internal logic again to my way of reading each of them at least

[uhh-fina]

this is really petty, but it feels weird to me that the first two Zero Escape titles are launched from the same Steam program, but Zero Time Dilemma is a standalone package. wouldn't it make more sense if the two 3D games (VLR & ZTD) were their own combined thing, and the original sprite-based 999 was standalone? i also feel like, storywise, you can't really do VLR without ZTD to follow it up. without delving too much into spoilers, the second game's whole point is to set up the third. 999 isn't like that. it's a complete story on its own.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi on Steam pt. 111

The fourth test is a visual novel I know for a fact works on handhelds: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. This one is claimed to not be supported on the steam deck. I know that Danganronpa is a very different creature to Higurashi and the rest, what with it having a more investigative gameplay style, or literally any gameplay really. But I wanted to test a variety of visual novel type of game, and I don’t think anyone really gives a damn about Vampire the Masquerade Coteries of New York, or Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest. Both of which work just fine by the way. Anyway, Danganronpa, I was able to suppress my disdain for the third entry long enough to unlock the save ability and can confirm despite the steam deck curation system’s claim it does indeed play just fine on the steam deck.

Fifthly one of the others I tested was Zero Escape: The Nonary Games, specifically Virtue’s Last Reward, as that one is my personal favorite of the series. Again, not quite the same as the When They Cry series, but I felt it relevant to test it anyway. I am becoming convinced I’m just somehow cursed and when I tried Matsuribayashi that first time I somehow screwed the game up on a fundamental level making that odd glitch occur. Because VLR, like the rest of my test cases works just fine.

Of course I do realize the problem with my theory is the fact that this relies on the story maintaining its more fantastical spiritual elements that it seems to have largely moved away from with Tsumihoroboshi. Once the plot became about parasites, and a disease this theory holds a lot less water, especially when you take the culprits behind the curse into account. Which is what makes the inclusion about Hanyuu’s past and her people all the more annoying to me. I understand that there must be some explanation for Hanyuu lest you confound and annoy people more about the narrative. I’m not sure I agree with the notion, but we’ll roll with it. I have been made abundantly aware of the decision to change Hanyuu as a character from Minagoroshi to Matsuribayashi, but I’m not even trying to bring that into this particular equation. The inclusion of Hanyuu as a device that needs to cosmically exist to take on the sins of humanity to ensure that there’s no loser in the fight between the gaming club and Takano is such a needless over complication. I feel that Hanyuu’s existence to the plot really could, and maybe should, have ended with the fact that one of the ancient Furude ancestors fell in love with this demon girl. And owing to the superstitious nature of man she was sentenced to death thereby cursing the Furude bloodline until her resurrection with the birth of Rika. You could perhaps include the plot point that she died to act as a bridge between the two races, but that’s it, I don’t think it needed to be any more than that.

With the mention and inclusion of other potential members of Hanyuu’s tribe I feel that it opens up some of the more contentious plot points introduced in this chapter, and Minagoroshi to have a different explanation. It’s presented that the way to break the curse of 1983 is that there has to be a divine miracle to interrupt the cycle. What if instead, the reason so many times the attempts at escaping the cycle failed was because one of the demonic entities was pissed off at the fact that humanity killed Hanyuu a thousand years ago? And so it manipulated events to keep Rika in this existence for some inscrutable reason? I don’t want to use Umineko as a basis for this theory, but it does offer an explanation. What if this other force wants to keep Hanyuu trapped in Hinamizawa forever? It would go to explain the mysterious voice Takano heard when she escaped from the orphanage that led her to the phone booth. It set up the circumstance for the events to occur as they have in the series.

[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.

[eternityboxed]

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

[klauswalz]

After revisiting Zero Time Dilemma. I don't think it's the worst entry in the Zero Escape series but it could have been better. I wish they kept the visual novel style in this game, and having inner monologues from the protagnists. The animation in this game is horrible, they should have kept VLR graphics.

The plot twist was good, I think it was just poorly executed. The game hints at there being a 10th person in this game:

This game being called The Decision Game instead of Nonary Game. Nona means 9.

The X door instead of the Number 9 door. 

Some of the characters talk about a character that can't see or hear but they never specifized who that is. 

I think this series needed a fourth game to cut all loose ends because this game does not answered a lot of questions, just create new ones. I dont' hate this game, it's okay at best. The plot in these games are convoluted, it doesn't effect me with just how complicated and confusing the story can get. 

It's still a great series, and I always will recommend it to people. I guess for me, I didn't have much expectation for the third entry. I do hope that somewhere in the future, there is a fourth game or new content for this series. 

[tsubahundred]

Mutter mutter with what that previous anon was saying about Moko and Shouma possibly being related or connected at the very least. All I think about is how is Zero escape 2 VLR by Uchikoshi who also a fellow writer on this project along with eight other writers.

If you know the big twist in the third game between two characters it messed with people. So who knows Uchikoshi could be pulling a fast one by doing something similar in this game.

Or it could just be a big coincidence because Shouma and Moko are both cartoony character designs. But who knows they could be strange plot twist that one of them is the others parent or something from the future which would be wild.

OH I KNOW THE TWIST IN QUESTION AND I STILL MAD ABOUT IT (<= this guy literally just finished the zero escape trilogy two weeks ago)

ngl i hate this kind of trope! but i wont express my opinion on this matter

i still think that these coincidences will have some weight. they could have come up with a different red make-up and passive if they wanted i guess??

[alto-tenure]

pl/ze au rambling under the cut, zero time dilemma spoilers bc I finally played it. also massive massive pl series spoilers, mostly azran legacy

I've been thinking about changing the configuration of some characters but ohhhh my god I have. So Many Things To Reevaluate when it comes to VLR and ZTD

I'm still keeping layclaire as junepei

I...think I might make Des into Sigma, and reconfigure the teams a little

I'm also thinking. Leon as Delta, and it's sort of a reverse twist of what happens with the Klim family?

But also maybe. Des's daughter could be somewhere in here? I don't know? And keep Aurora, as an explicit reminder of Des's daughter rather than a romantic thing, and still making her a sister figure to Flora?

alternatively I move Aurora into Sean's role?

or maybe one of the Curious Village robots

*collapses*

Eric and Mira?

mira is very diane (as in diane makepeace)

but oh my god, the timeline

oh hmmm, Emmy being on "Q-Team"? she goes with Eric being a victim of the cycle of abuse and the murder trauma goes with my headcanon for her

but... ????

I definitely have to switch up the relationships

and I could really use someone to rubberduck with (IF YOU'RE READING THIS AND YOU'RE INTERESTED SEND ME AN ASK OR SOMETHING) (PLEASE) (I AM DESPERATE)

I've also been really obsessed with Randall in Carlos's role third-wheeling Hershel and Claire

I think...hmm, with Hershel he's not going to be outwardly angry the same way as Junpei. he still has that drive to find Claire again, refuses to lose her again or let her go, but the fact that he was planning to propose before is something that's brought up

and I'm also keeping the Randall-Hershel childhood friend dynamic

so I'm thinking Randall and Hershel went together

losing Dimitri as Sigma does suck because I love my fucked up research partners but. Des as Sigma fits for this game better I think and would be really interesting for VLR though. and the Des and Claire dynamic in my head is interesting too. so it's not the end of the world!

deep breaths

with the bronevs at the heart of this I should probably find a place for rachel too

*lies facedown*

[kokitschi]

im finally through! some thoughts in regards to v3 under the cut bc spoilers for both v3 and ze:vlr. i really recommend zero escape btw, play it!!!

the virus, the "space colonie", humanities last survivors (or are we?), the cult... (and also im pretty sure those books in one of the final scenes spelled "dice" which is just ??? i wasn't able to inspect them though so maybe i read it wrong..)

so the question is... was in-game team danganronpa just ripping the plot of vlr shamelessly? LMAO

and did kokichi recognize what kinda plot they're in because it's...heavily inspired? lol (he's been established as a gamer!)

i think you could interpret this as another point of how unoriginal and tired the franchise became... in-universe i mean (though i guess some people might argue the same for the actual game). after supposedly 53 seasons, nothing hasn't been done before. why not just rip the story of this old game and repackage and butcher it until it's just a bad copy but just original enough to not set off any copyright alarms. it's loveless and superficial. im pretty sure there's already been discussions about the point that kodaka didn't want to do any more danganronpa games because he felt like it's already gotten stale (this is badly paraphrased from memory. i think there was another article that he mightve changed his mind by now anyway.) and this is a pretty direct commentary on it. whether the tv-show narrative is at all true in-universe is secondary for this point imo.

so uh. yeah. i don't think that these references actually mean that zero escape and v3 are in the same universe or that their stories are the same or that this is proof espers and time travel exist in v3 or anything like that. ((bc all of that is based on the information we get from the flashback lights and tsumugi. whove already proven themselves to not be reliable sources of information.) though that could also be fun to theorize about! (actually there already are theories like that and personally, i like them but am not 100% convinced or anything)

anyway i'll be off to play the third zero escape game 👍

im currently playing zero escape: virtues last reward and... man this is definitely what got referenced in v3, no? 🤔