Zero Time Dilemma: Zero Escape 3

[strawdonkey]

Yeah, you don't need to have played the previous games. I played VLR and 999 in the "wrong" order and still had an absolute blast with both.

 

Spoiler

Three puzzles down now. Not sure how I feel about the 3D modelling - the static images of 999 and VLR felt more impactful. The moment in VLR when [VLR spoilers!]

 

Spoiler

Phi is affected by Radical-6

Probably wouldn't have been as impactful in the animated 3D style of ZTD. 

On the positive side, I feel like disaster lurks around every corner way more than I did with the previous games. Every step is taken with trepidation and many of the payoffs have been absolutely fucking brutal. Also the plot jumps around like a fucker so I still have no idea what's going on, but I don't think any of it is good...

 

[strawdonkey]

Also I hate/love/hate that I can't open any of these spoilers yet.

[Let us measure]

I'm staying well out of this thread until I have time to play the game over summer! Way too tempted to pop in every so often to see how the game holds up, but I'll resist and assume it's great. See ya!

[Disgraced Toblerone]

It's a Decision Game!

 

And yes, you don't need to have played the others. 2h30 in, and I just had my first escape room. 

 

It's t'a awesome and please don't read any spoiler!

[SMD]

I am gripped.

 

Also first spoiler:

 

Letting you win on a toss of a coin

 

[Disgraced Toblerone]

I forgot how devious the puzzles were.

[b00dles]

I've found a reference to one 'secret' out of three puzzle rooms so far and then I didn't do it and escaped meaning I'd have to do it again (which I'll save for later I think) or are they not in it at all? The secret I thought I found, I couldn't crack, as mentioned, so I'm not sure if I was imagining it or not. Weirdly in VLR I always ended up doing the secret solution first and then still being stuck in the room trying to get out of the damn thing.

 

Loving it though but I think I'd agree with the 3D models, although I did think VLR was occasionally too static, this one is actually stilll quite static but now also just looks a bit weird.

 

Also, I seem to remember the gore being more in your face in VLR and 999, this one seems to have blood spurts and suggestions of it rather than detailed grimness. Then again, it could be that it affected me and from reading about it, filled in the blanks for me as it is....

[strawdonkey]

PSA: just come across quite an explicit spoiler for VLR in one of the story branches. It's not going to ruin the game for you but might lessen some of the more impactful moments of VLR.

 

Also, VLR is on sale right now on PSN so probably just buy it anyway? It is super good.

 

[edit] To clarify, only relevant if you were planning on playing VLR at some point after this; if this is going to be your first entry into the Zero Escape games just go for it

 

[edit 2] Ok disregard that, it spoils huge swathes of VLR. Be prepared!

 

[edit 3] Also contains spoilers for 999.

[SMD]

Yeah I was gonna say, they aren't shy with the plot. 

About 25% in:

I'm doing as much of each team's branch as possible, reached a dead end with Akane/Junpei's story so switched to Sigma/Phi. Diana is such a sweetheart, loving the callbacks but damn the bad endings are tough! Want to know what ties the heart gouger, the surgeon and radical 6. Have a theory about the murderer but I'm probably wrong.

 

[SMD]

Some of these puzzles are ridiculous, fuck me

[Thwomp]

I've just started and I'm already liking the atmosphere of the game more than VLR, I think. That was spoiled by the screaming rabbit. I hadn't looked at any screenshots of ZTD before buying it and I'm kind of wishing I bought it on Vita now. The 3DS' resolution does not do the aesthetic of the game justice.

[SMD]

Can't begin to imagine what its like on 3DS, the Vita struggles enough as it is.

[Thwomp]

Maybe I'm just forgetting the end of VLR, but is

 

Sigma not in the wrong body? I don't remember Phi knowing him as his younger self.

 

Edit: oh right, this is the other Sigma. Not the young mind in the old body!

 

 

[strawdonkey]

Spoiler

First real ending (discounting the hilarious coin flip) - a "bad" ending I guess that wound up leading into VLR. Soon as I saw Armless Sigma walk in I knew exactly what was going to happen.

 

Looks like I've exhausted all story paths now, so will have to go round some alternate histories murdering people. Not sure how I feel about that...

 

[SMD]

About a third in

 

murderer speculation

Mira heavily sign posted from the beginning, wonder what her game is

 

 

Finished as much as i can from team c and team d, guess I'll go team q and see what that unlocks. Also found a gold door but don't think I know the password yet.

 

[SMD]

Two endings now in addition to the first.

 

3

 

Crossbow

 

Really unsurprised about the Mira reveal, though didn't clock onto the first victim being Eric's mum. Can't tell what the significance is or if it links to Zero's identity.

 

 

5

 

Outbreak

 

Ahhhh the VLR timeline. Goddammit Diana why did you do that. Does that mean Phi was frozen because she was patient zero?

 

 

A couple of dead ends due to insufficient information too.

[SMD]

I'm totally stuck. About 50% in I think.

 

 

The Force Quit Boxes and the Door of Truth. I figured out D team's but I got a number from Zero that he gave to Q when he told him his origins but I can't use it anywhere. And I have no idea where I'm meant to get the other two passwords, I've finished all the escape rooms (I think?) and I've got no other fragments to get on with. I tried to use

 

invisible

and

 

6140-4091

as passwords but got nowhere. Can anyone give me a prod as to what direction I need to move in?

 

Oh and for some reason I can't use Q's name even though the game has told me.

[b00dles]

Had a really good 'session' on this last night and have had some much better cutscenes that have used the engine better, up til now most of them wree pretty much static anyway.

The Pod room is a good puzzle/ bit and I liked the Biloab one too. I didn't think much of the 'robots' room though (I'm not spoilering these room names as you get shown the rooms and all their names right at the start but if this is also considered too spoiler-y I'm happy to do so.

 

As has been mentioned, there are spoilers in game for 999 and VLR but  still doesn't make it necessary to play the others I think, just makes it a bit 'cleverer' if you ask me.

 

I'm definitely back at the point where I now want to play more and find out what's happening. I'm not finding I need to use the notepad much yet either, I was recording X-passes but it doesn't seem to be necessary and the game is actually much kinder than VLR in terms of giving you reminders about things / clues you've already read.

 

Still only had the two escapes though, all other options have been literal dead ends or a lack of info. Hoping for some good KERBLAMM-age soon

[SMD]

This is how far in I'm in.

 

[lewismistreated]

Finished. Probably the weakest game of the three, but it still has some incredible moments throughout. Just handles some of the twisty stuff a little less elegantly than the previous games did.

 

SMD - you should try

 

letting the timer run out on 'Who Killed Mira'. That's what held me up for a while.

[SMD]

My man!

[SMD]

Oh, it hasn't unlocked anything.

 

Still stuck.

[lewismistreated]

Hmm. There's something that needs to happen before that in order for it to progress. Can't say too much more without spoiling. Involves Team C.

[SMD]

@lewismistreated

 

Spoiler

I know I should be able to open the force quit boxes but the only two passwords I can think of are invisible and 6140-4091, tried them on the boxes and door of truth. I've gone over the files again but I can't see what I'm missing and I haven't got any open fragments left

 

[lewismistreated]

SMD:

 

You don't know the passwords to the Force Quit boxes yet, not the Door of Truth. The boxes are actually some of the very last things you do in the game. Come back to them.

[SMD]

13 hours ago, lewismistreated said:

SMD:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

You don't know the passwords to the Force Quit boxes yet, not the Door of Truth. The boxes are actually some of the very last things you do in the game. Come back to them.

 

 

I fucking figured out where I went wrong.

 

Spoiler

 

I'd done all the choices for the voting but I needed to go back and actually unlock the execution videos. Now another fragment unlocked!

 

Cheers!

[lewismistreated]

Yeah, the execution videos are handled really weirdly, and I think this is actually something that needs to be read by most people who play the game, as it can be really frustrating. I'll still spoiler it though.

 

You need to go back and watch every execution video by making the choices that specifically result in that execution. So, you have to go back and Vote Team C with Teams D and Q, then go back and vote Team D with Teams C and Q, then go back and vote Team Q with Teams C and D. That should make each video play. I found that you had to really be thorough in how this was played out as otherwise it wouldn't trigger.

[SMD]

After getting bogged down, I actually managed to get through another chunk with great pace.

 

Spoilers about 75% in:

 

Spoiler

So the flow has finally been corrected, unlocked endings 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. No real kerblammo moments for me, unless the game is going to bait and switch soon so far most of the reveals have been twisty but make sense. Now I'm stuck on trying to figure out the last 'standoff' answer, when I answer who Zero is the game then asks me for proof (which Q is seemingly unable to provide) and Eric goes on his spree.

 

I fucking hate Eric, he's such a whiny prick.

 

Anyway, so I've opened the door of truth, I got the password to Team C's Force Quit box so all that's left are Team Q's password to the computer and Eric being satisfied so I can complete those branches. I tried the date Sigma is sent back to, the date Zero gives Akane to get the answers and the date I used for the door of truth on the keypad but none of them work. I've looked through the log to see if there were any other things I've missed, the only thing I can think of is the anagram but there's no obvious use for it at the moment?

 

This game has me stumped with its logic.

 

[SMD]

Cheated and looked up a clue. A piece of information I thought wasn't relevant at this point turned out to be the answer. Absolute fucking bullshit. There's being clever and there's complete misdirection. Argh!

[SMD]

And complete.

 

Full plot spoilers:

So Q was Delta who is Sigma's son but the entire time you play the game he's obscured from your view? And he set up the decision game to save the world? But then if he doesn't shift, how does he know to save the world? Surely if his mind hack ability helped him to see other histories from shifters he'd have to actually meet the shifters? So how would he have known to set up the decision game in the first place? And then when he does, how does he know it's going to work? Akane knew what she had to do cos she shifted. She summoned Sigma to help her defeat radical 6...but then wait, Carlos is Brother? What about the free the soul stuff? The game gave you a specific date to meet and find out the truth, that was just forgotten.

 

Maybe it's because VLR's ending was so incredible that I feel like this doesn't have the same impact but I don't feel like I got any closure from the story. The puzzles were great, loved them and the first...two thirds maybe, I thought the game was handling the mechanics better than VLR. But VLR tied it all up so much better and I just feel like for a game that's meant to be the end of the ZE storyline, we didn't really get a resolution other than "well now you're all mates, go save the world!". Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we got this and I enjoyed it but 999 was a masterpiece and VLR took your expectations and turned them on their head. This...I guess it feels like a favour to the fans rather than actual inspiration like the first two.

 

And is that really it? I thought the ending was going to leave you with one more choice but then all the trophies unlocked and there's nothing left fragment wise. So will there be a fourth? Is it setting up a spin off? It doesn't seem like a story that's done.

 

I give it 4 out of 7.