#zero time dilemma is. its zero time dilemma

[orphetoon]

What is 999 and how to you play it

oh boy time to promote one of my favorite games

999 (actually titled 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors) is a visual novel occasionally interrupted by 'escape the room' puzzles. It was originally released for the DS and its the first game in a trilogy.

It's a fun game wherein everybody but the protagonist has at least three wikipedia articles memorized and will info dump to you about literally anything. Technically its about a bunch of people (nine, even) escaping a replica of the Titanic as it sinks, but 'infodump game' is a better descriptor imo.

OKAY SO. IF YOU WANT TO PLAY. DO THE DS VERSION

while later releases (aka the steam release) has voice acting and some other updates, 999 was built to be played on the ds. i can't exactly talk abt why without spoiling a lot of the game, but it did split the narrative into two 'modes' which just makes it more confusing. the pc port also had to change the final puzzle, but instead of just removing ds specific elements they made it really stupid. as a fan of this game watching streamers play the pc version is an exercise in frustration lol

anyway play it! learn what morphogenetic resonance is! learn what a funyarinpa is!! also u can play the other two ig

[rawberry-preserves]

I know someone else made this post but I wanna throw out my own options!

[shhhhimwatchingthis]

My Favourite Zero Escape universe thing is the way it shows love flourish after the trauma of the various Nonary Games.

In VLR Junpei is visibly hurt that Clover doesn't trust him, even though it's been 45 years. he says himself he didn't expect it to hurt (but it does!) and despite knowing she has no idea who he is she's the one he ends up trusting most with Quark's life

and the inverse of this!Clover not giving much of a damn about Tenmeyouji or Quark untill its the timeline where he tells her his identity and suddenly her entire strategy to the AB game changes. she can't knowingly betray Quark even by association because it would be betraying Junpei and she could NEVER

Junpei in ZTD revealing to Akane that he works with Seven as a detective. that they keep up with Lotus.

Clover in VLR revealing that she and Light turned down SOIS' offer and they only accepted when Seven told them Junpei had gone missing and they needed to find him(!)

Junpei's search for Akane, in ZTD, years later in VLR, he never stops looking

Phi and Sigma's bond in VLR, the timeline where she betrays out of hurt for Sigma betraying her first. so hurt because the trust she felt was so real

Sigmas anguish in the Incinerator choice in ZTD. Phi's rage if you choose to pull the trigger regardless if Sigma dies or not(remeber they don't know what they are to each other yet)

its a small mention but in VLR Clover mentions when she and Light were recruited by Alice they were put in a room with the other 14 kids who were a part of the first Nonary game and it was 'like a reunion, everyone was so happy to see eachother'

just...love persisting through the horror. there are some things you go through with people where you can't help loving them after. The survivors went through hell together and after they would go back to hell to save each other forever

[meowsticmarvels]

one of the most insane things about carlos is like. based on how you are introduced to him in ztd you think he's gonna be the most normal character in the game especially when teamed with AKANE and JUNPEI of all people. and he is the hero type main character archetype guy. but then you play suspicion where he literally kills himself with an axe because he's worried about being dangerous to others (? Is he okay actually. What the fuck). and then there's also get back/apocalypse where he waits 10 fucking months for akane and junpei to save them instead of stopping zero at all. What is wrong with him

[sinlizards]

been a little obsessed with mira lately

[glittergoats]

A bunch of my ZTD doodles from twitter... I'm kind of obsessed with this game

[peachducy]

NASA knows how the pheromones

cascade!

down the walls

you can't help the way you feel

[prezaki]

C Team polycule is so good because it's this star-crossed lover couple with intertwined past present and future... and then they just take a random guy as a third. And completely mean it with all the love in their hearts.

It's neither breaking the already-forged destiny nor submitting to said destiny, but a third and more outrageous option.

It's acknowledging that you are tied together by forces beyond mortal comprehension and yet not letting that ruin your capacity to devote yourself to another - simply out of your own free will and affection.

Carlos doesn't need to be part of their from-childhood-til-death tragedy - it's enough that he chose them and they chose him.

[sholmeser]

like i can't in good conscience recommend ztd just because objectively i don't think it's a very good game and sequel especially regarding the way it builds on zero escape's preexisting themes but it's just so fucking ridiculous that i feel like everyone has to experience it at least once. two characters have sex in a time machine. a grown man threatens a little boy with a shotgun. the catastrophe of the world's annihilation is revealed to have been caused by a literal snail. a woman chases you around with a chainsaw only to get axed to death. the main antagonist is 124 years old but also he hasn't been born yet. you beat the game within five minutes by winning a coin flip. there is a literal serial killer on the loose and she isn't even the worst person there. it's so bad. so bad.

[hecksupremechips]

Girl it’s just a snail just hop over it why do you insist on taking evil mcscary route. Dumbass

[dreamdripdistance]

love is in the air? wrong. Divorce

[marstyler42]

It's not that I want to argue that ZTD is not a bad game, but I feel like reducing it to just a bad game kinda ruins all conversations about the fact there are some genuinely good bits of writing in it? Like I'd argue the fact that there's those few moments of greatness is honestly what makes it such a complete letdown in the end, but that shouldn't discredit the game entirely

[argentsunshine]

Carlos in figment ? 💕

[ID: A digital drawing of Carlos from Zero Time Dilemma using a limited colour palette of cream, pale pink, slightly more saturated pink, bright magenta, and navy. He has his arms crossed and is talking and looking off to the side.]

a quick peek behind the curtain for non artists these palette challenges tend to be harder the more similar the colours in the palette are in brightness. the palette itself wasn't a problem but carlos' whole character design is almost all the same brightness

[junepei]

same character btw

[meowsticmarvels]

one of the things i WILL give zero time dilemma credit for is how most of the past participants from 999 and vlr just. get Worse mentally.

junpei the hero-type character in 999 who's a bit awkward but tries to save everyone to struggling with the trauma from it all and his detective work in ztd. now falling down the path of cynicism. he says he used to drink himself to sleep most nights and slept in the shower just to get the blood off. by the time of ztd he's learned not to trust people and knows people have to die - he just wants akane to be safe at LEAST. even if it means sacrifice.

with akane its not as obvious but she's no longer got the control she had in the nonary game. she's alive, junpei saved her, but she's not zero anymore. she can't prevent people from dying like she did in her nonary game. losing junpei makes her lose it a few times - to the point of violence towards carlos and its so insane. or her willingness to sacrifice d-team and other versions of c-team so they can SHIFT elsewhere. it's crazy. she also knows, vaguely, about the radical-6 apocalypse future and it's vlear from how she acts in c-end that she's willing to go to any measures to stop it

sigma's come back from the future having spent 45 long years preparing for the 2074 nonary game, almost completely alone on the moon. he watched diana die, built luna in his grief, and now sees her here. he KNOWS what he's done to kyle. and now he's trapped in the opposite situation as himself in vlr - the mind of a 67-year old man stuck in a 22-year old's body. and it's clear from how he acts and some of the things he talks about that the decades he spent on the moon like that clearly do not leave a person normal at the end of it

and then there's phi. her change isn't as noticeable unless you really pay close attention to her dialogue but its worth bringing up that for her, mentally since she spent the 45 years sigma experienced in cold sleep VLR only happened a few days prior to the decision game. she has a few days at dcom but her, sigma and akane spend most of those worrying about radical-6. and as a flashback with her and diana shows she's just... tired, after everything. where she could be scared about her death a few times in vlr gives way to her now being completely apathetic to her death in ztd. she's the only player who doesn't react at all to being executed, and in the "fire" fragment no matter what option she doesn't feel her life matters enough to be worth sacrifice. she's also notably more emotional than she is in vlr - see how she's driven to break down in tears when sigma dies in that same fragment, or lashing out at delta out of pure frustration and anger! which she would've never done in vlr! (though she does stop dio the same way, that's more out of necessity to stop him, with delta it's more just pure frustration)

its just. idk it's something i think about a lot. i looove when characters are allowed to get worse and visibly shown to struggle with the things theyve been through before in a previous entry and is something i do actually find insane about ztd

[andro-ice9-lover]

In their first adventure Akane put a gasmask on to make sure she survives.

In their last adventure Junpei puts the gasmask on her to make sure she survives.