999 vs VLR

[Puzych]

So I've completed 999. Amazing game - well ballanced story/puzzle solving/plot/reveals, great animated characters, hooks you up early in the game. One of the best games I've ever played. It's consistently good. Now VLR from what I've read is considered even better - improved version of the first one. I'm 12hours into VLR, reached few endings, playing on hard...and 'm not enjoying it at all. Dialogs feel empty, a lot of filler there, this irritating constant map movement, 3D models don't look good, they feel emotionless, zero interesting reveals so far and puzzles got harder. Is it that uneven? Maybe I was expecting more after all praise the game had, but as for now it's not nearly as good as the first one. Will this game "open up" later on? And for those who completed both games, which is better for you?

[LastNonak]

I really enjoyed both games - i guess i enjoyed VLR more than 999 due to the characters, the improved puzzles and the story (especially the dialogue!). I liked the 3D models and the AB game was - in my opinion - pretty great. I also thoroughly enjoyed the philosophical and scientifical part of the game.
Well, that`s just my opinion though

[Royal Lamp]

If the map screens are bothering you try pushing Ctrl twice to go into All Skip mode, then hit spacebar or almost anything else to go back into normal text when you see the animation for a door opening begin.

VLR felt a lot more polished to me. Japanese producers felt that 999 was too violent and made the devs tone it down which took a lot of wind out of the sails of a ZE game as the sense of danger and urgency is a very important and effective part of the atmosphere. This may be one of the things hurting your immersion.

The 3D models are a little weird, and there is a bit of filler, but the dialogue is anything but empty. 999 only had the 1 major twist and the foreshadowing was the times June gets a fever in certain rooms. VLR has a large number of twists and the foreshadowing hints are ALL OVER the dialogue. Admittedly the twists are piled on a lot at once all at the end, but I was left thinking "That can't be true! Then characters would have mentioned at some point... wait... there was the time Tenmyouji said this and I just dismissed it. And when Phi said this and I thought it was just teasing. And when Dio said this I must have just not paid attention... These hints have been here the entire game!" It was a very enjoyable realization.

I felt the puzzles in 999 were way too easy, in VLR the mental challenge is there, and if you switch to easy not only will the characters basically give you the answer, but you get some extra flavor text as well.

[Puzych]

Originally posted by Royal Lamp:

If the map screens are bothering you try pushing Ctrl twice to go into All Skip mode, then hit spacebar or almost anything else to go back into normal text when you see the animation for a door opening begin.

VLR felt a lot more polished to me. Japanese producers felt that 999 was too violent and made the devs tone it down which took a lot of wind out of the sails of a ZE game as the sense of danger and urgency is a very important and effective part of the atmosphere. This may be one of the things hurting your immersion.

The 3D models are a little weird, and there is a bit of filler, but the dialogue is anything but empty. 999 only had the 1 major twist and the foreshadowing was the times June gets a fever in certain rooms. VLR has a large number of twists and the foreshadowing hints are ALL OVER the dialogue. Admittedly the twists are piled on a lot at once all at the end, but I was left thinking "That can't be true! Then characters would have mentioned at some point... wait... there was the time Tenmyouji said this and I just dismissed it. And when Phi said this and I thought it was just teasing. And when Dio said this I must have just not paid attention... These hints have been here the entire game!" It was a very enjoyable realization.

I felt the puzzles in 999 were way too easy, in VLR the mental challenge is there, and if you switch to easy not only will the characters basically give you the answer, but you get some extra flavor text as well.

Hope it gets better. I don't think I saw even a 25% of the game. Cleared few branches on the left side, and that's it.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

I personally find VLR to be the better game. I can't truly explain WHY, I just do.

[FhqwhTODD]

Now that 999 has voice acting and the flow chart VLR is no longer leaps and bounds better. It's a matter of taste and you should not judge any of these games without getting all endings first.

[Cawotte]

I preferred VLR.
It's like it took what 999 accomplished and pushed it a step further.

More twists, the 'lock' mechanic is awesome ( It turn the game into a story you couldn't tale if it wasn't a video game. ), I loved the story-telling.

The 3D models of the characters are fine, except Clover's creepy smile that never leaves her face and kill a bit the tension of some scenes " Oh no someone is dead !! :) :) :) " and the all-pink mouths without teeth nor depth. It has also a lot of low-res textures in the environment, but I was quickly so much into the story that I forgot and forgave everything about graphics.

I liked a lot how the story talked about a lot of scientific experiments, and took time to explains it. And then gave them sense in the plot. It was quite educative.

I don't remember well enough the 999's puzzle, but yeah VLR's puzzle difficulty was uneven, some were really a pain in the ass even if you understood what you were supposed to do ( Looking at you, Dice & Darts ), there's the Easy mode where characters nearly give you all the answers ( but I only used it once ).

[Puzych]

Originally posted by Detective Cawotte:

I preferred VLR.
It's like it took what 999 accomplished and pushed it a step further.

More twists, the 'lock' mechanic is awesome ( It turn the game into a story you couldn't tale if it wasn't a video game. ), I loved the story-telling.

The 3D models of the characters are fine, except Clover's creepy smile that never leaves her face and kill a bit the tension of some scenes " Oh no someone is dead !! :) :) :) " and the all-pink mouths without teeth nor depth. It has also a lot of low-res textures in the environment, but I was quickly so much into the story that I forgot and forgave everything about graphics.

I liked a lot how the story talked about a lot of scientific experiments, and took time to explains it. And then gave them sense in the plot. It was quite educative.

I don't remember well enough the 999's puzzle, but yeah VLR's puzzle difficulty was uneven, some were really a pain in the ass even if you understood what you were supposed to do ( Looking at you, Dice & Darts ), there's the Easy mode where characters nearly give you all the answers ( but I only used it once ).

Oh god. Exactly. I was frustrated by that fŪcking darts puzzle yesterday. You need to write down these values for each color in notepad or it's impossible to solve quickly. Wasted 40 minutes on that one but I refused to change difficulty. And solving it after long day at work, it infuriated me.

[cheshire.panther]

999 was really nice, but I absolutely hate VLR. I've completed it in 30 hours and feel that 20 can easily be cut from the game without any loss of value or story.

[Czar]

Originally posted by cheshire.panther:

999 was really nice, but I absolutely hate VLR. I've completed it in 30 hours and feel that 20 can easily be cut from the game without any loss of value or story.

Maybe not 20. I finished it in 20 hours, and maybe 4-5 hours could be cut, because I was doing other things with the game open/ I was stuck in a puzzle.

I also skipped almost every repetition in every routes, and fast forwarded those times where the character was moving and door were opening. (Which is honestly the worst part of the game)

[Thrai]

I love 999 and Zero Time Dilemma, but currently am hating VLR. The story speed is so damn slow, they would be standing there at 1 location just explaining normal informaation for 20+ minutes ALL THE TIME. I fell asleep a couple of times due to being so boring. What pissed me off the most is the way the endings/routes are locked but you won't know it until you spent hours down that route.
I've finished entire 999 with all endings somewhere between 15-20 hours. I've spend about 20 hours in VLR and reached 6 route dead-ends (2 being Bad Ending), 0 real actual endgins found. I'm more pissed than have fun with VLR, can't wait to finish it asap and get it over with.

[Puzych]

Originally posted by Thrai:

I love 999 and Zero Time Dilemma, but currently am hating VLR. The story speed is so damn slow, they would be standing there at 1 location just explaining normal informaation for 20+ minutes ALL THE TIME. I fell asleep a couple of times due to being so boring. What pissed me off the most is the way the endings/routes are locked but you won't know it until you spent hours down that route.
I've finished entire 999 with all endings somewhere between 15-20 hours. I've spend about 20 hours in VLR and reached 6 route dead-ends (2 being Bad Ending), 0 real actual endgins found. I'm more pissed than have fun with VLR, can't wait to finish it asap and get it over with.

Yeah, When I was 30 hours into the game, I've unlocked 2 endings, and it's only one branch left to complete. Everything else is locked. When I came back to the locked ones after a few days of playing, I completely forgot what happened in this branch. The game feels stretched.

[Czar]

My first time in VLR, I ended up behind the computer trying to guess the ID and the password. "Memento Mori", "Remember death". Like, it was my first run, and I was supposed to know what to write?

... It really got on my nerves how almost every other ending didn't go as far into the game.


Also, most of the twist in VLR were too obvious. It's only a couple of them that was revealed in the finale that I never guessed. (like who's K, the reason behind the AB game)