Approx. Length: 12-15 hours for the first time; less on the next two times
Language: English
Played on: DS
Type of Game: Visual Novel; Puzzle; Horror; Mystery
Overall Impression: The story is very engaging! I strongly recommend it.
SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This
review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a
"Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail
about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the
review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.
PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
I was first exposed to 999 by reading many entries about it on Siliconera. What really drew me were two things: 1. There were multiple endings depending on the choices made.
2. If you fail, your character will face a horrible end.
Later on, Siliconera posted a link to its demo. After trying it out, I knew that I was going to get it.
STORY
Just like the title suggests, 999 involves 9 people, 9 doors, and 9 hours. You play Junpei as he and 8 other people try to escape a sinking ship within 9 hours. In order to escape, you'll have to solve puzzles in various rooms (there are 9 rooms total). I won't say anything further. Part of the fun is seeing what happens next.I can tell you, though: the story is engaging, and different story routes lead to different revelations, leading to a more fleshed out story in the end.
GAMEPLAY
In 999, there are some choices to make and puzzles to solve, but at its core, it is a visual novel: a text story with audio and visuals. So... there isn't really a whole ton of "gameplay" or direct gaming interactions. Sometimes there could be 10 minutes of just straight text-reading; sometimes even an hour if you find yourself on the path to one of the better endings. I wouldn't say that it is a detriment to the game, though. I mean, the story is interesting! If it wasn't, then yeah, the story-reading parts would be horrible (but it's not). 
Junpei (you) close to the beginning of the game.
PUZZLE-SOLVING AND GAME OVERS
From my few playthroughs, failing at a puzzle does not result in a horrible ending. You can try puzzles over and over, and other characters tend to give you hints if you fail at it often enough, or examine certain clues often enough. The only time you really game over is when you make the choices that lead to a bad ending. In one playthrough, you will never be able to go through all 9 doors. Part of your choices include deciding which of those doors to go through, which results in which characters will accompany you, which results in a different "character learning" experience, which will ultimately determine the ending you will see.
CHARACTERS
From left to right: Lotus, Seven (big guy), Santa (white-haired guy), June,
Junpei, Ace, Snake, Clover, 9th Man
There is a varied cast in 999. As you keep playing, almost all of them are fleshed out. They all have their own voice, too, which I find commendable. For a game where each character has a lot of dialogue, staying "in character" throughout can be quite a feat.
By the way, the caption above only refers to them in their codenames. Many of them are strangers and figured it'd be safer to have codenames. My favourite characters are Snake and Clover. Lotus is neat. Junpei and June are cool, too.
GRAPHICS
Well, this is a visual novel, so the visuals often involve static backgrounds and character sprites that change expressions to match their dialogue and current moods. There are some animations when a door is opened, or if a lever is pulled. While this often pales against games that have characters physically moving about, it is the standard for visual novels. What's more key is the storytelling instead of graphics. That said, visual novels often trump other games in character design. Characters are key for a good story. If you don't care for the characters, you will most likely not care to find out about the rest of the story.While this is a visual novel under the horror genre, there are some bloody scenes, but most of the uneasiness will come from the descriptive writing, and creepy music.
MUSIC
The music is varied, but tends to have an industrial feel to it, which fits. There are also some really touching pieces. Visual novels tend to have emotion-evoking tracks and 999 is no stranger to that. Whether you hear a slow piece that tugs at your heartstrings or some creepy tunes to enhance the eerie-ness of a scene, 999's got it. I'll mention my favourite track in the "Spoilers" section.
REFERENCES
999 has a lot of science fiction, parapsychology, and even medical references. I was... pleasantly impressed -- to introduce those ideas and make them fit with the game's story. I don't think I've learned about so much from any other video game. I'll mention some of the references in the "Spoilers" section.
REPLAYABILITY
There are 6 different endings to the game. If you play through it normally without any aid from gaming walkthroughs and such, I can guarantee with 99% probability that you will see one of the 4 bad endings. So, yes, there is replayability in 999, especially if you want to know more about each character, and the story. The nice thing is if you're going through a route you've been through before, you can fast forward through the text. I have to say this: In order to reach the "True" Ending, you'll have to first reach the "Good" Ending (AKA the "Safe" ending). So, in essence, you will have play 999 at least 2 times to get the full story. It's well worth it!
Oh, one other thing: Almost everything in the story will be tied up in the "True" Ending, except for one thing. I hear that this was intentional, so that players could come to their own conclusions about it. I'd say it's a minor loose end and doesn't affect the major story.
MISC. MINOR PET PEEVES
Well, not every game is perfect and I did run into a couple of pet peeves while playing 999. These are not deal breaking (one is a personal pet peeve anyway), but I figure I should mention them.1. The default text speed is too slow. If there was an option to speed up the text or a button to allow all the text on one screen show up, that would have been great.
2. Ahhh, Lotus... Why are you a character with huge breasts in a skimpy dancers' top? Well, I know why... but whyyyy? In my opinion, 999 is good enough that it doesn't need that kind of appeal for game sales. *sigh*
CLOSING THOUGHTS
999
is a great game. If you enjoy a good story and nicely fleshed out characters, this will not disappoint. When I first picked it up, I never imagined that I would be pulled so strongly towards the game. But it did. And I have no regrets.Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, feel free.
So I'll do the scrolly thing and the "Spoilers" section will appear after that. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
SPOILERS
References
So, during my 3rd playthrough, I decided to Google some of the terms mentioned in the game and lo and behold, they are real terms! Now, I haven't seen all the endings, so I might not have seen all the different references, but here's what I've found so far:
Ganzfeld Experiment -- This is a test in telepathy involving two subjects where each is placed in separate rooms. Subject A is given an object to observe, while the Subject B is supposed to say what Subject A sees.
Ice-9 -- Ice-9 is a fictional material that has a melting point of 45.8 degrees Celsius.
Morphic Field -- In 999, this is described as "a field the eye can't see, but everybody has access to." Once somebody learns information, it can be placed on that field and those who can access that field can acquire that same information. It sounds really cool.
Prosopagnosia -- This is a disorder where a person is unable to differentiate between faces. It's unfortunate that this is real.
Rupert Sheldrake -- The guy behind the morphogenetic field, morphic field, and such.
Ship of Theseus -- The idea that asks if an object is still considered that same object if it becomes largely made up of other "replacement" parts. So... a ship named Theseus. As it gets fixed up over the years and have had its parts replaced, is the ship still Theseus if most of its original components have been replaced? It's a very interesting question!
My favourite music track
Morphogenetic Sorrow
This track played during the tender moments, and I found myself crying when it was used for the two ending scenes (when Snake wouldn't go down after Ace shot him so many times, and when Junpei was linked with Akane). This plays while you're tackling the last puzzle (a Sudoku puzzle) of the "True" Ending, and I must agree with the Top Commentor in that Youtube link: "The most emotional Sudoku puzzle I have ever done in my entire life :')".
If you read my spoilers, thank for reading them! Now to finish with more scrolly things. Feel free to comment :D
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
No comments:
Post a Comment