The Good and Bad of Zero Time Dilemma

[Arjen]

Hey! I had a lot of thoughts about Zero Time Dilemma and compiled them in this "article" or blog or whatever you want to call it:

https://arjenartdesign.blogspot.com/2019/10/many-thoughts-about-zero-escape-zero.html

It's admittedly pretty negative and I don't know if that fits with the prevailing point of view. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, any responses are appreciated but counterpoints most of all.

[Aurian]

I agree with many of the points you mentioned, though overall I liked it even less than you did - quit after 5 hours and just watched all the cutscenes (in the proper order that builds on decisions made) on youtube. I'm sad to say that this was far more enjoyable than my 5 hours of actually playing the game.

The disjointed structure was the biggest no-go for me - not being able to see the outcome of my decisions directly after I'd made them just about killed my motivation and interest in the story. Plus the poorly animated cutscenes, occasionally godawful voice acting (some of it is good, but not all) and Junpei's extreme personality shift from earlier games which felt forced and unbelievable. I also preferred the 2D puzzles for some reason.

But yeah, the cutscenes on youtube (in the right order) were good entertainment.

[Arjen]

Originally posted by Aurian:

I agree with many of the points you mentioned, though overall I liked it even less than you did - quit after 5 hours and just watched all the cutscenes (in the proper order that builds on decisions made) on youtube. I'm sad to say that this was far more enjoyable than my 5 hours of actually playing the game.

The disjointed structure was the biggest no-go for me - not being able to see the outcome of my decisions directly after I'd made them just about killed my motivation and interest in the story. Plus the poorly animated cutscenes, occasionally godawful voice acting (some of it is good, but not all) and Junpei's extreme personality shift from earlier games which felt forced and unbelievable. I also preferred the 2D puzzles for some reason.

But yeah, the cutscenes on youtube (in the right order) were good entertainment.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

I'm sorry you ultimately couldn't get through the game. It definitely drops the ball in many areas, even if I did like the puzzles. Assuming you played the prior games, did you prefer 999 or Virtue's Last Reward?

[Aurian]

I preferred VLR because of the ability to jump straight to key decisions without skipping through tons of text I already read. But I loved 999 as well. <3

[Xaneorath]

I just finished my playthrough and I think the game is a hidden gem, which I would easily recommend to other fans of stories like this. (Anime, Time Travels, Pseudo-Science..)
To be fair: I also enjoyed VLR and later on 999. Then I read negative reviews about this game and went into it with a negative mindset.
As many others I was first negativly impacted by the bad 3D-Characters, but after playing for a while I got used to them and rather enjoyed the positive parts of the game.
I cleared everything without the help of guides (except for one file I missed for allseeingeye and the answer to the "who killed xyz"-question) and I enjoyed it a lot.

The disjointed gameplay is strange at first, and yes, I also had to get used to it .. but in the end I accept it positively as artistic element. It connects you deeper with the way the characters experience the game and adds a layer of mystery.

That being said: In hindsight I'd never say it was "bad". Its part of the overall experience.

Heavy Spoilers probing into the very artistical essence of the game coming now:

From an artistic point of view I think the disjointed gameplay of the fragments connects both with the way the characters have to experience their "amnesia drug" timeskips and moments, but more importantly: Also with the way the Quantum Computer (as the "true" player view) has to see the events. It only gets feeds from the various Seans on the timelines and has to order them correctly first. Then it computes solutions to the various problems and progresses interesting paths (with the help of Delta who forces the main characters to do things with his mind hacking).
With this interpretation one could also argue about the "bad 3D-graphics" being an artistic element suplementing the overall work of art: It is how the Quantum Computer sees the humans whose actions it watches and calculates. They are imperfect, badly animated and have clumsy movement. ;)
Maybe we could also take the whole bad lip syncing as stylistic element for all the "morphogenetic field" stuff this series loves to articulate, implying the actual processing of information happens somewhere else. This mirrors, again, to Q and the Quantum Computer, which are basicaly a simulation of the morphogenetic field idea. Let me also mention how Q's mouth never moves and how he still talks while his head is screwed off ... and you might see a deeper picture.
That being said, the way of storytelling is consistent.
Delta says "his motives are complex" but he never articulates how so. But this is because the "player character" is supposed to be the Quantum Computer. Its a simulation to the max, which would honestly be spoiled if we just get the solution on the silver platter. After all, the player character is supposed to piece it together in the end (with a little bit of mind hacking from Delta perhaps ;p ).
That being said: I think the game itself tells us everything we need to know to wrap up the story.
My guess on this (without reading further theories of other players and by just piecing together things that stuck from my playthrough, so bear with me if remember something wrong and make wrong connections) is, that that whole story about the slug is actualy the key to understand how the characters are connected.
That jogger was in fact Mira. The slug hints to that parasite thing which is mentioned in the biolab fragment. Mira got it and it caused her murderous tendencies to awaken, which is described as her taking the "other way that day" (which is a metaphor in many ways, both in a manner of space as well as in a manner of time).
When she herself tells that story she hints about meeting an old man that day, which I believe to be Delta. He mindjacked her, as many others. It mightve also influenced him with Miras mindset, causing him to become so dispassionate about murder and death (or it was the other way around ..) . Perhaps he actualy sees himself as the slug-parasite and triggered her actions that day by mindjacking her and causing the murder.
Anyways, I think the falsely accused murderer was Erics Father, with his mother dying as a result. The kid whose surgeon never arrived was Sean.
Carlos' Existence and Miras Existence in the game were necessities to create the future which in turn causes Sigma to time travel, which also had to be created as alternate timeline by the death game as a prerquisite for Phi and Delta to be born. Erics existence was a necessity for Sean to spill Deltas identity. And Sean only knew Delta, because he visited "him" in the hospital.
So lets add up: The Quantum Computer probably told Delta the cast for the teams after checking a variety of possible Death Game Timelines with possible candidates from a larger list of candidates. Mira, Sean and Eric were in the list of candidates because of the jogger incident. Delta was in there because his talk about the future made his connection to Brother (and because of this to the Timeline Delta had to create) very likely, and he probably also talked about Phi and Luna. Junpei and Akane were on the List because of their actions against Brother. Carlos probably just ended up in there because he was on the rescue team for one of the failed Death Game Timelines. Maybe he just was that one roll of the dice. ;)
We can assume there are a lot of other death games with different candidates from that list which were computed, but as those realities did not create anything conclusive, they aren't interesting to us (the players) as they aren't interesting to Sigmas goals, so they are omitted.
In the end we only experience the setup that actualy produced the correct outcome, even if the candidates may seem random. Artisticaly it also mirrors in that "normal people on a mars mission"-part.
So lets finish with the open end. That last decision game about shooting Delta isn't just a question about revenge, I think. I believe Delta implies he himself (as Brother) is the one who will cause that nuclear apocalypse. Probably feedback he got from Q from a timeline where he would not be shot.
But we are never told, what will happen. Perhaps a hint to a fourth entry into the series?
Or perhaps just a final stylistic element.
The players aren't fixed to the path the Quantum Computer calculated as necessity for Delta and Phi to exist anymore, because the plan went through and both exist (with everyone being alive). So the game is actualy over and the story about the creation of Delta and Phi is wrapped up. Delta achieved his goals, no matter what one might think of it. But to be fair: He had to achieve it at some point in some way or he wouldn't exist at all. A hint to that "I am, because I think I am"-topic earlier in the game. So his story about having to create a timeline for himself is concluded and so is the story of the protagonist (the Quantum Computer ... ).
What follows is existence: a branching future with various possibilities where you never knows what will happen. Freedom.
And thats exactly what the storys "end" makes it "wrapped up" in a way.

[parogen]

Originally posted by Aurian:

I preferred VLR because of the ability to jump straight to key decisions without skipping through tons of text I already read. But I loved 999 as well. <3

You didn't actually have to skip through most of the text. Only the part that had the key. The game colors the path right when you visit it and you work through the puzzle to get the extra dialogue. After that, you can exit to flow and jump again. I'm always surprised when people say they had to do that or look up a guide for 999. 999 was the most enjoyable experience in terms of utilizing your inner detective and gameplay. Can't say the same for VLR.

I have not finished ZTD, but your review Arjen, is making me really not want to go through with it. The series progressively reveals how the creators behind it are steadily implementing measures to waste time. ZLR did that with half the dead ends having no meaning towards the story. Half the dialogue is also essentially a waste of time. The 3D models and their animation... I don't have to repeat myself. If they do the same things, they add no information. And now ZTD with unskimmable dialogue, again bad animation. Puzzles in ZLR were also turning into elementary IQ tests without adding to story. 999 actually incorporated story elements, which is more valuable to me. ZTD is starting to look like another logic dungeon, but they are making all the clues 180 degree turns from each other. Joystick simulator and more math and alphabet nonsense.

I guess I should dial back the criticism on puzzles. Psychopaths in real life are kind of into that, so it can be argued Zero is some psychopath and the characters are forced to go through it. But all this other time wasting nonsense. It makes me really wonder why none of the fans have the same criticism. Do they actually find it challenging and deal with it? Or maybe they're more immersed than me, and seem to forget all other timelines except for the main one.

Edit: I take my statements back about ZTD voice acting. Japanese is so much better, and the animation seems entirely catered to the Japanese voices. English sounded similar, if not worse, than ZLR. Bunch of american actors playing a casual role seemingly removed from the actual atmosphere of the game/genre.