A few minutes later...
Oh, ok, here it is. Many of you have probably already heard of Virtue's Last Reward, which is the second part of umm, Zero escape. Oh, that's a pretty clever play of words on zero, ahahaha.
Anways, I decided to replay this game for the second time because I totally forgot the story going in Zero Time Dillema, the last entry in the series. Also, I needed to re-earn the trophies since I played on my US account before my full conversion to Jhipster mode on PSN. Err, I mean who cares about stupid trophies? NOT ME!
I have not replayed 999, the first entry because the story is not as closely tied as the second and third entries appear to be. It's totally NOT because silly Nintendo doesn't have trophies. Regardless, you'll definitely want to play all 3 games in order. Otherwise, it'll be like watching Star Wars Empire strikes back first and when Darth Vader says "I'm your father" you'll be like ummm... ok? Oops, spoiler alert?
Anyways, I'm sure I'll be writing about 999 when I'm suckered into buying the voiced Vita re-release or whatever. But for now, let's talk about Zennin Shibou... err, I mean VLR. The first thing I would say is that this is the kind of game that really requires a marathon. Usually, I chip away at a game for months and sometimes even years before I reach a point where I'm invested enough to just finish the damn thing. However, in this case, even in my first playthrough, I finished the game in a little over 1 month, which was kind of a record given my busy riaju lifestyle.
Fortunately, the game is gripping enough and manages to keep the suspense going so that it's not too hard mentally to plow through it from start to finish. That's definitely a strong point toward it's plot and pacing. However, the real unfortunate reason you don't want to set this game down is because the major events in the various branching paths are pretty much the same but with slight differences in details.
Pretty soon, you start to get the details mixed up in each branch and the similar events start to kinda blend together. I could never remember who went through what door and who did what in each branch. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that you constantly have to switch branches due to it being locked for some reason or another. Unlike the first entry, you cannot play through all the way to the end unless it's one of those bad endings that go nowhere.
In terms of graphics, everything looks pretty good albeit just a tad bit dated. The 3rd entry looks way better in terms of graphics but VLR is still a pretty good looking game. The voice acting is fine, and the music is more than adequate. In terms of presentation, there's nothing that stand out good or bad.
The gameplay is much improved from the first game just in the fact that you only have to solve a puzzle once. I hated playing the first puzzles OVER and OVER again in 999 and so being able to jump around the branching paths was a great convenience. Although the puzzles seems way too easy now that I've played the mind fuck that was Misshitsu no Sacrifice, it seems just right for the mainstream audience. It even has an EASY mode for the extra mainstream newbs out there.
I have to give the game major props because while it has a stupid rabbit mascot, it wasn't annoying as fuck like some other games... *cough* Danganronpa *cough*. I really liked listening to the rabbit talk and I'm not even being sarcastic here. Of course, I'm talking about the Japanese version. Sorry for the non-jhipsters that have to listen to the annoying English voices. I have a nice fork you can stab into your ears or I heard the PAL version didn't replace the good shit with shitty fake ass English voice acting.
Finally, a rabbit that's not annoying as fuck.
One really cool part of the game is that some of the dialogue changes depending on the order in which you play them. Once you've saved playing through one path, even if you navigate back and replay that part, you're locked in that order so as a tip, you may want to keep a separate save before going down one path.
Score: 3.5 yeah it's a great game, if a giant, gaping plot hole doesn't bother you out of 5. (45 hours to beat the first time)
It seems unfair to judge a game that rewards the player with plot twists and reveals after a second play-through. I remember really enjoying all the suspense and mysteries the first time I played this game. But there's a GIANT plot hole I just can't get over that bothers me. As much as I try, I just can't explain this away and it kinda puts a huge damper for me on the game as a whole. I suppose I will see how everything wraps up in the 3rd entry.
Still, I definitely enjoyed this game and it's come a long way from Never 7. If it wasn't for the gaping plot hole, I would definitely give this a solid 4 as a great game. Maybe I will give it a score of 4 after all just for having an animal mascot that doesn't make me want to throw my Vita against the wall.
ScaleI have not replayed 999, the first entry because the story is not as closely tied as the second and third entries appear to be. It's totally NOT because silly Nintendo doesn't have trophies. Regardless, you'll definitely want to play all 3 games in order. Otherwise, it'll be like watching Star Wars Empire strikes back first and when Darth Vader says "I'm your father" you'll be like ummm... ok? Oops, spoiler alert?
 |
| OMG, I loved this anime! I think it was called Imocho? |
 |
| My defunct US PSN before my ascension into pure Jhipsterdom |
Pretty soon, you start to get the details mixed up in each branch and the similar events start to kinda blend together. I could never remember who went through what door and who did what in each branch. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that you constantly have to switch branches due to it being locked for some reason or another. Unlike the first entry, you cannot play through all the way to the end unless it's one of those bad endings that go nowhere.
In terms of graphics, everything looks pretty good albeit just a tad bit dated. The 3rd entry looks way better in terms of graphics but VLR is still a pretty good looking game. The voice acting is fine, and the music is more than adequate. In terms of presentation, there's nothing that stand out good or bad.
 |
| HOT DAYUM! Which artbook do I need to buy for this? |
I have to give the game major props because while it has a stupid rabbit mascot, it wasn't annoying as fuck like some other games... *cough* Danganronpa *cough*. I really liked listening to the rabbit talk and I'm not even being sarcastic here. Of course, I'm talking about the Japanese version. Sorry for the non-jhipsters that have to listen to the annoying English voices. I have a nice fork you can stab into your ears or I heard the PAL version didn't replace the good shit with shitty fake ass English voice acting.
One really cool part of the game is that some of the dialogue changes depending on the order in which you play them. Once you've saved playing through one path, even if you navigate back and replay that part, you're locked in that order so as a tip, you may want to keep a separate save before going down one path.
Score: 3.5 yeah it's a great game, if a giant, gaping plot hole doesn't bother you out of 5. (45 hours to beat the first time)
It seems unfair to judge a game that rewards the player with plot twists and reveals after a second play-through. I remember really enjoying all the suspense and mysteries the first time I played this game. But there's a GIANT plot hole I just can't get over that bothers me. As much as I try, I just can't explain this away and it kinda puts a huge damper for me on the game as a whole. I suppose I will see how everything wraps up in the 3rd entry.
Still, I definitely enjoyed this game and it's come a long way from Never 7. If it wasn't for the gaping plot hole, I would definitely give this a solid 4 as a great game. Maybe I will give it a score of 4 after all just for having an animal mascot that doesn't make me want to throw my Vita against the wall.
 |
| OMG, what's underneath the scratch part of the poster? THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME!!! |
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely
No comments:
Post a Comment