Not The Same Person Telling You To Forfeit The Game.

[rionaleonhart]

More Zero Time Dilemma! I've heard people saying this game was a bit disappointing, but so far I think it's actually my favourite in the Zero Escape series, although I suppose there's still time for it to disappoint.



There was a bit in the game where I was faced with a button that said 'WARNING: DO NOT PRESS THIS BUTTON'. I didn't press it. Shortly afterwards, three characters were stabbed to death and I got a game over.

'I suppose I should have pressed that button,' I thought.

I went back to that decision point and pressed the button, and the building exploded, and everyone died, and I got a game over.


The 'roll three dice, you'll all die if they don't all show a 1' bit was an interesting one. You have to keep reloading and rolling until they all live, but it's not random; you get the 1s on your third attempt, and you just have to infer that there are hundreds more timelines in which they died.

For a moment I thought the game might actually make me roll the dice until I legitimately beat the odds. It could have worked if the rolls had been in succession, rather than simultaneous. Same odds for the characters, much better odds for the player if you can save after a roll.

I really like Carlos's uncertain 'We're... alive, right?' after the successful roll. On some level, he's aware of all those timelines where they died.

Carlos and Akane's awareness of other timelines really makes me want fanfiction where they seek comfort in each other after Junpei's death, and then those feelings filter through into timelines where Junpei is alive and make everything very complicated.


I am doing some absolutely disastrous shipping in this game. Look, I know Sigma is a sixty-seven-year-old man in a twenty-two-year-old body and Diana's probably actually somewhere in her twenties, but they got awkward when I shut them in a shower stall together and I can't resist that.

I'm extremely disappointed that, although Sigma and Diana cloned themselves into an alternate timeline, it was a timeline where they were already dead. I wanted to see them interact with themselves!

The versions of Sigma and Diana who did the cloning are still trapped in the nuclear shelter, the only people alive, so of course I want fanfiction where they bang. I was thinking 'they should have incredibly unhappy sex' even before I reached the shower-stall scene and started shipping them properly. Take two characters, isolate them completely, I'll want them to bang. It's like clockwork.

I feel I owe Phi an apology for going 'okay, Phi's trapped in an incinerator and I should really move fast to rescue her, but I have to know whether you get special dialogue for trying to examine Sigma's crotch.'

Sigma: ...What are you doing?
Diana: Um... I just thought, maybe an important clue would be hidden somewhere...
Sigma: ...Well, there IS something important there.
Diana: O-Oh my God, I'm sorry! It's not like that! I didn't mean... It's not like that!

(If you examine his chest, she goes, 'Oh...! Uh, wow, your chest is... strong.' It's exactly like that, Diana, and you know it. I'm glad the game is supporting me in my forty-year-age-gap ship.)

I don't know what it is about this game specifically that's put me into full-on fandom mode. The idea of shipping or writing fanfiction never even crossed my mind with 999 or Virtue's Last Reward. There's a genuine danger I might write something for this one.


I have been talking exclusively about C-Team and D-Team, and that is because Q-Team is the worst. Q himself is fine, though. Sorry you're stuck with these arseholes, Q.

In the Q-Team execution timeline, C-Team sends the poisoned D-Team an antidote and Phi's response is 'wait, why would Carlos want us to have the antidote when he tricked us into executing Q-Team? Surely he wants more people to die so he can get more passwords.' Look, Phi, maybe Carlos just voted for Q-Team because they're a bunch of dicks.

(I like Carlos just staring at his own hands in horror after voting for Q-Team, evidently wondering why he just did that. I'm sorry, Carlos. It was me. You're not a bad person; you're just played by one.)



This is an extremely weird game.

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

This sounds really interesting!

And two people alone, trapped in a fallout shelter together does sound like a logical setup for unhappy sex!

[rionaleonhart]

The Zero Escape games generally do really interesting things with the fact that they're videogames. There are plenty of games where the player's actions can cause events to play out in different ways, but in this one you're not just deciding what happens; you're splitting off parallel timelines, and you can use information you gain in one timeline to inform your actions in another. It's a story that couldn't be told in any other medium.

I don't think I'll be able to write that fic, alas, but I'm going to go looking for it the second I've finished the game and don't have to worry about spoilers.

[rionaleonhart]

...holy crap, they actually did have sex while they were trapped in the fallout shelter. There was a half-hour cutscene that was basically the entire fic I wanted to write.

[wolfy_writing]

Wow! Awesome! This game is really well suited to your tastes!

[(Anonymous)]

These are so hard to reply to as I don't know what portions you've played (though I can infer some that you haven't played, at least). XD I'll try and stick to talking about stuff you reference.

I am glad you are enjoying it! I also like the game.

There was a bit in the game where I was faced with a button that said 'WARNING: DO NOT PRESS THIS BUTTON'. I didn't press it. Shortly afterwards, three characters were stabbed to death and I got a game over.

'I suppose I should have pressed that button,' I thought.

I went back to that decision point and pressed the button, and the building exploded, and everyone died, and I got a game over.

Sometimes, there is no good timeline. Every choice is terrible. :(

I loved how excited Junpei was about them surviving the dice roll timeline, and then Akane goes into exposition mode and he's just depressed at the end. Akane! It was the first time he was showing any personality other than angry!

The incinerator timeline was gutting. Interestingly, the shooting the blank genuinely is random - you can get Sigma to shoot himself like 5 times before finding a timeline where he survives. <<

The transporter room is the puzzle room lots of people moan about. I thought that was genuinely quite fun and a nice departure from the other puzzles.

I actually really liked Q Team as a contrast to the other 2 teams. There's thick tension in the air in C-Team with Junpei and Akane's past! D-Team is generally happier! Q Team is... a small child constantly being yelled at by a man whose crush even thinks he's ridiculous. Eric in particular isn't necessarily likeable, but I'd find it interesting to try and get into his head as his mental health really doesn't seem to be very... healthy. Plus, I guess when 4 of your 9 characters are blatantly reoccuring from previous games, that leaves you with a limited amount of new characters to react to the situation/leave the viewers questioning.

I don't know what you've played for Q Team, so I shall say no more!

Have you met any other endings other than the "absolutely nothing horrible happens and everybody lives, yay" ending?

-timydamonkey

[rionaleonhart]

It was the first time he was showing any personality other than angry!

Ha, that was my thought as well!

I was wondering whether the incinerator was random, because I got a blank on my first attempt and a live round on my second! It felt pretty weird to go back and specifically aim for the 'Sigma dies' outcome after getting the 'everyone lives' one, but that's Zero Escape for you.

I didn't mind working out the number values in the transporter room, but the base-13 conversion bit did my head in.

Other than 'everyone gets released', I've seen two endings: the 'original timeline' ending where Sigma loses his arms and Phi is infected with Radical-6 (a text I sent to a friend: 'Injecting Phi with Radical-6 is not great behaviour, but I still like Mira more than Eric'), and the ending where Mira turns out to be SUPER MURDEROUS.

[(Anonymous)]

I was wondering whether the incinerator was random, because I got a blank on my first attempt and a live round on my second! It felt pretty weird to go back and specifically aim for the 'Sigma dies' outcome after getting the 'everyone lives' one, but that's Zero Escape for you.

Probably a bit less weird for us than some. That outcome isn't tragic enough! How can I write my angsty fic now?!

Haha, the transporter notes spanned 4 pages in my notebook. Good times!

An interesting assortment of endings! Least I can speak more about Mira now without spoiling you on that. xD And yeah, Mira's move was douchey, but Phi's team had kind of led to Q Team's unfortunate situation so at least she had some motive. Unlike in the super murderous Mira ending. xD

[rionaleonhart]

I just saw the Sigma-and-Diana ending, and I can't believe I've been made obsolete as a fanfiction writer.

[(Anonymous)]

Ahaha, yes, I was smirking at that part! :P But it's okay, because the game ships your weird ship, so yay?