Is Kotaro Uchikoshi the writer of this game? It feels so underwhelming. (no ZTD spoilers)

[Coocoodas]

No ZTD's direct spoilers please. There are some spoilers from 999 and ZE:VLR in the thread.

I've been watching an LP of this game and I haven't gotten to the climax yet, but the writing feels so underwhelming.



First, there are character inconsistencies everywhere. Junpei from Zero Escape:Virtue's Last Reward who must be more sullen given decades of hunting Akane in a doomed dystopia feels much more noble and kind compared to the one in Zero Time Dilemma, even considering the lack of Quart to influence his personality. Junpei's change from 999 to VLR felt logical but the change in ZTD feels contrived and not in character at all.

Akane and Sigma are different too. The only person close to VLR's version is Phi. I understand these characters are not exactly from the same timeline, but still they feel like completely different characters.



Secondly, the writing is very underwhelming. I haven't gotten to the climax or any twists yet but the writing itself feels extremely Juvenile and shoddy. The lack of inner description could be responsible for this, but even then it is really bad. The character interactions and emotions are completely wrecked in comparison to 999 or VLR, too. For instance I thought Junepei/June's love talks were cute in 999 but I feel they are terribly awkward in this game.



I have bought both 999 and VLR, and was going to buy this too but a few LP's episode turned me off.

Back to the root question: did Kotaro Uchikoshi write this? Without direct spoilers, are there reasons for the quality of writing explained from the story's standpoint? He is(or was) one of the best video game writers I've ever seen. I fully expect there to be shocking revelations and complex plots no doubt, but the basic quality of writing seems very bad this time around.

[Amplify]

It's still worth buying / playing.

Originally posted by Coocoodas:

Is Kotaro Uchikoshi the writer of this game? It feels so underwhelming.

Yes, but a little backstory if you're unaware:
Both 999 and VLR were commercial flops in Japan, though they sold "better than expected for the genre" in America. He wanted to start work on ZTD straight after VLR, but it was put on indefinite hiatus due to the poor sales. It is thanks only to high demand by western fans he was given minimal resources to put out the 3rd part and told to get it done in a limited time frame.

I'm sure he would have loved to have spent more time & effort fleshing out and tightening everything in the story up to the same levels as the first two games, but sadly it's money that makes the world go around and not just his love for what he does.

If you want any hope of future Zero Escape games or an improved remake of ZTD or anything like that, a good place to start would be buying the game and showing them that there is appropriate demand for the series, as well as fans willing to buy it.

[Mr. Manual]

Originally posted by Coocoodas:

First, there are character inconsistencies everywhere. Junpei from Zero Escape:Virtue's Last Reward who must be more sullen given decades of hunting Akane in a doomed dystopia feels much more noble and kind compared to the one in Zero Time Dilemma, even considering the lack of Quart to influence his personality.

I'm pretty sure by the time he picked up Quark, he's given up looking for Akane, since Quark said they had a different job collecting junk or something. Of course, he'll leap at the first news he has of her, but I think he stopped actively looking.

Originally posted by Coocoodas:

Akane, Sigma are different too. The only person close to VLR's version is Phi. I understand these characters are not exactly from the same timeline, but still they feel like completely different characters.

Sigma is the same Sigma from VLR, only when he went back in time at the end of VLR, he lived long enough to create the AB game, then jumped back to the Dcom experiment. Pretty sure that's some 45 years to change, at least a little bit. Phi jumped directly to Dcom from VLR's ending, so it makes sense she hasn't changed much. As for Akane, she made it sound like she just got information from her future self instead of jumping back directly, so if that's true, she's still her old (read: young) self, only a year older.

[Toph]

I think you're missing/forgetting some info from the previous games in regard inconsistent characters and I mostly disagree with your suggestion of lazy writing. I'm looking at you, "alien device."

Junpei is generally a jerk in this game, this is true. However, there's a reason for Junpei's prickly demeanor and the obvious strain in his relationship with Akane. Speaking of Akane, you should probably take a moment and recall exactly what this character is capable of. 999 relied on you thinking she was a sweet, naive, helpless girl, but the reality of the situation is quite different.

Regardless, Junpei and Akane's relationship is definitely a plot point and something that is eventually addressed and given a resolution by the end of ZTD.

Moving on, let me point out Sigma isn't the same "person" you play as in VLR. The Sigma you play as in ZTD is from the future--having successfully SHIFTed and swapped places with his younger conscious(you play as this younger Sigma in VLR). So, yeah, he is different but he is still definitely Sigma.

Since you haven't finished the game it's hard to talk about any real details in ZTD without obviously spoiling things, which I am trying to avoid, but I will say the game was pretty fantastic overall, imo.

In the end it was just as much of an emotional rollercoaster ride as the previous games.

[Planeforger]

Junpei in ZTD is going through a pretty terrible time of his life. VLR is set 45 years later, so he mellows out a little bit by then.

Sigma is kind of the opposite. He has sacrificed 45 years of his life to stop the events of ZTD, so his temperament is understandably a little short.

[MikeTD]

From what I've read, Uchikoshi wrote the major twists in the story, and wrote D-Team's side. Two other writers wrote C-Team and Q-Team.

[Rev]

Sigma also lived alone most of that time, so he isn't good with communication.

Junpei will see 75% of mankind dead and have years of useless Akane hunt ahead. And yeah, meeting Quark will also help

[Battler Ushiromiya]

I will say, Sigma's changes, at any rate, make perfect sense. It's been 45 years. The Sigma from VLR and Zero Sr. Sigma (which is this Sigma) are basically completely different personality-wise just because Sigma is 45 years older than in VLR.

[Polysorbate]

Yeah, VLR had a lot of inconsistencies too. Phi said I betrayed her when I hadn't. Made no sense. Sloppy writing. I put the game down right there and never played it again.

/sarcasm

A lot of the apparent inconsistencies and plot holes are cleared up as you progress through the story. Most of the others can be worked out if you put a little thought into it.

For example, there's a glaring "plot hole" at the very end - someone's alive who shouldn't be. Seems like a huge plot hole and makes no sense. Lots of people have called out this specific "plot hole". But when you think about it a little longer you realize why it's possible for that person to be alive - it's something that's the central theme of one of the most memorable endings.

Another "plot hole" is why a character did something very illogical in one of the endings, waiting around being useless rather than doing something to help. But then you remember the concept that 9/9/9 was written around and realize it was impossible for him to do anything else.

It's ridiculous coming on here saying you watched part of a let's play and think the game's badly written based on that.

[UnLuckyCat]

Didn't people complain about 999's writing being "childish"? I mean, there's not really a reason in ZTD like there would be there, but I didn't really get that vibe.

I did like the narrative in 999, though, and I also felt ZTD didn't have as much joke dialogue when investigating unrelated things.

[Arale//Zero]

It's true that ZTD doesn't reach every pillar of what I expected from Uchikoshi, however, it really does have its moments.