Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

[MCD]

http://www.aksysgames.com/2010/07/09/nine-hours-nine-persons-nine-doors-coming-to-u-s/

Junpei, a normal college student, suddenly finds himself involved in a deadly conspiracy he could never have imagined.

Junpei-kun

more visual novel games.  

[MCD]

[MCD]

Someone dump this already.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Don't worry MCD i'm playing it. I got past the first puzzle and then stopped playing it. Maybe i'll pick it up again someday.

[magus]

this being a chunsoft game (the developers who made shiren) i'm going to be all over it as soon as a dump appear
we'll tag team this thread!

[Bebpo]

haha, I got the game on Friday but haven't had a chance to crack it open.  Playing too much other stuff atm for a visual novel.

Maybe I'll join in when you guys start playing.

[Himu]

Is this licensed for release in the west? Also, why does this thread lack pics and shit?

[magus]

the official site has a playable flash demo,i'm not sure why MCD just didn't link that
here you go
http://www.aksysgames.com/999/agegate

[demi]

Is this licensed for release in the west? Also, why does this thread lack pics and shit?

Cause its so hard for you to look it up yourself, lazy marshmallow

[pilonv1]

(Image removed from quote.)

Need this added

[Bebpo]

This is the sole reason I bought the game:
http://www.destructoid.com/review-nine-hours-nine-persons-nine-doors-187838.phtml

I soon learned that 999 was being billed as a visual novel, so the focus on storytelling would be far greater than I had initially anticipated. I don't recall ever playing a visual novel before, but I doubted one would be able to disrupt my firm stance against the ever-increasing story bloat found in modern videogames. My anticipation gave way to wariness, and I could only hope that the escape segments would be able to carry the rest of the game.

Today, I stand before you a changed man. This one title has made me reevaluate the effectiveness of story-driven games for the better.

To my surprise, the story is phenomenal! It's like Saw if it were written by Michael Crichton. It's a fiction-as-fact mystery brimming with moment after nail-biting moment. Truthfully, the story has no choice but to be good, considering that many of the novel sections can run over an hour. The length doesn't matter because it's such a treat, not to mention a damned miracle, to read competent game writing for once.

Since it was only $30 and I like stories my games, I felt it was worth a try and supporting these kind of things in English is always good.

[originalz]

The majority of the Something Awful thread for this game is people making fun of that review.  Apparently the person who wrote it isn't a very reliable source for quality writing...

    To my surprise, the story is phenomenal! It's like Saw if it were written by Michael Crichton.


Ahahahaha, that's this guy's metric?

The point is most of the people writing these games have barely read anything harder than a Star Wars novel. Games could have a lot better writing if people just got their standards up.

"Junpei, do you want to sleep together?"

"What?!"

"I...I...I was only kidding"

Thats some quality writing right there!

If the demo is any indication, the writing is not "competent", it is fucking terrible; I think my favorite line was when one of the characters remarked how the other one looked "younger than him, about 20 years old", while he was the wise old age of 21.

Then there's the always fresh and original scene where the girl falls on top of the boy and this creates a humorous moment where the two of them are aware of how awkward that is, despite the fact that both of them have just woken up confused in a strange place after being kidnapped. Or even better yet, the boy tricking the girl into climbing a ladder to get a peek up her skirt (this seriously happens in the demo).

These two characters then proceed to try and escape their impending watery doom but at no point does the writing convey any sense of urgency, especially considering that any reminder that there is a torrent of water coming into the room comes in the form of terrible, terrible jokes.

Basically, the writing was exactly like what you would see in every Final Fantasy game. Michael Chrichton might not be J.D. Salinger or e.e. cummings but the man wrote fucking Congo, Jurassic Park and a whole slew of other bestselling novels. Comparing the writing in this game to his is borderline offensive.

Also, while it might be true that there's nothing new under the Sun, "SAW but on a boat" is not exactly a compelling premise. Or just call it "Phoenix Wright but like, way edgier".

Apparently the review was written by some no-name intern anyway.

[Bebpo]

 

Well, Nintendo Power also gave it a 9.  I think the general consensus is that it's a pretty good adventure/puzzle game.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Yeah the story is that great at all. It's standard video game RPG fair.

[chronovore]

http://www.aksysgames.com/2010/07/09/nine-hours-nine-persons-nine-doors-coming-to-u-s/

Junpei, a normal college student, suddenly finds himself involved in a deadly conspiracy he could never have imagined.

Junpei-kun

more visual novel games.  

You want conspiracies?

Posted on: 2010-08-03, 12:34:57

spoiler (click to show/hide)

12:34:57

[close]

ADMIT IT! YOU JUST DROPPED THE 6 SO IT WOULDN'T LOOK SUSPICIOUS! IT'S ALL A LIE! THERE IS NO GAME!

[magus]

i do not understand why people are so fixated about video game writing...
if the plot is better than your average anime and there is no incredibly dumb plot twist (i'm looking at code geass) i'll take it
that's all

[demi]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[MCD]

$10 dollars coming your way.

[Himu]

The majority of the Something Awful thread for this game is people making fun of that review.  Apparently the person who wrote it isn't a very reliable source for quality writing...

    To my surprise, the story is phenomenal! It's like Saw if it were written by Michael Crichton.


Ahahahaha, that's this guy's metric?

The point is most of the people writing these games have barely read anything harder than a Star Wars novel. Games could have a lot better writing if people just got their standards up.

"Junpei, do you want to sleep together?"

"What?!"

"I...I...I was only kidding"

Thats some quality writing right there!

If the demo is any indication, the writing is not "competent", it is fucking terrible; I think my favorite line was when one of the characters remarked how the other one looked "younger than him, about 20 years old", while he was the wise old age of 21.

Then there's the always fresh and original scene where the girl falls on top of the boy and this creates a humorous moment where the two of them are aware of how awkward that is, despite the fact that both of them have just woken up confused in a strange place after being kidnapped. Or even better yet, the boy tricking the girl into climbing a ladder to get a peek up her skirt (this seriously happens in the demo).

These two characters then proceed to try and escape their impending watery doom but at no point does the writing convey any sense of urgency, especially considering that any reminder that there is a torrent of water coming into the room comes in the form of terrible, terrible jokes.

Basically, the writing was exactly like what you would see in every Final Fantasy game. Michael Chrichton might not be J.D. Salinger or e.e. cummings but the man wrote fucking Congo, Jurassic Park and a whole slew of other bestselling novels. Comparing the writing in this game to his is borderline offensive.

Also, while it might be true that there's nothing new under the Sun, "SAW but on a boat" is not exactly a compelling premise. Or just call it "Phoenix Wright but like, way edgier".

Apparently the review was written by some no-name intern anyway.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3366311

[iconoclast]

i do not understand why people are so fixated about video game writing...
if the plot is better than your average anime and there is no incredibly dumb plot twist (i'm looking at code geass) i'll take it
that's all

What I don't understand is why everyone who's always like, "video games stories are all sooooo bad lollllll" primarily play story-based games. It's baffling to me.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

so I've been hearing from some more reputable resources that this game might actually be interesting. I guess I may take a 35-dollar bender for you guys and report back

[magus]

i do not understand why people are so fixated about video game writing...
if the plot is better than your average anime and there is no incredibly dumb plot twist (i'm looking at code geass) i'll take it
that's all

What I don't understand is why everyone who's always like, "video games stories are all sooooo bad lollllll" primarily play story-based games. It's baffling to me.

well when metroid other m gets presented as a story based videogame.....

these people should play more famicom tantei club and less overhyped game

[magus]

tried this for a little.....

still not sure what to think,the scenario is engaging but so far there hasn't been much plot,the puzzle are quite easy,just a matter of searching everywhere and apply some really basic logic (there is a piano puzzle similiar to the one found in silent hill tough not half as obscure or annoying...) it's really reminescent of those "escape the room" games that infest the web

the thing's that annoy me the most is the narrator,he's just too wordy and reading him feels awkward

"and so he pushed the "POST REPLY" button,he tought that he was going to post some impression with his black keyboard as he watched the monitor with a sleepy expression on his face....."

you get the idea...

the whole idea of the plot is that there are 9 character

spoiler (click to show/hide)

actualy 8 because one of them explode like right at the beginning

[close]

trapped on a ship and they have 9 hours to escape... each one of them has a number applied to them and there are doors that can be entered but only by teams of 3-5 character and only if their total number follows a certain rule,so basicaly once in a while the game ask you to which team of character you would like to stick... the character themself are an interessing bunch and in fact the dialogue between them is really enjoyable

and uh i guess i don't have anything much else basicaly,so far is good enough

[Van Cruncheon]

reading: not your thing

[magus]

why are you saying that?

[magus]

i already finished the game twice... reaching an ending doesn't take too much but since there are multiple ending it's not like the game can be called short... also in a single playtrough you only go trough 3 puzzle door out of 9 so on each subsequent playtrough you can pick different puzzle's (which also change the overall plot) you can skip the text of scene you have already seen (more like fast forward) but sadly it doesn't seems you can skip any puzzle you already solved which seems like a lame oversight

the plot is definitely interessing but i still can't say much about it... my first ending was a bad one which really didn't reveal too much

spoiler (click to show/hide)

one of the character goes crazy and murder everybody

[close]

so i quickly tried a replay to get a better ending andddddd i got an even worse one

spoiler (click to show/hide)

everybody gets murdered by a mysterious man

[close]

one thing i really like about the plot is that it loves to leave clue around so that you can try to guess what happens next,but anyway this is infinitely better than hotel dusk and it's lame stair blocking kids

[magus]

sorry for making three post in a row but i just got my first proper ending and i have to say it
this game fucking delivers

[magus]

i got the true ending,the plot kinda jump's the shark but it still was a lot engaging
the final puzzle is kinda lame

spoiler (click to show/hide)

it's a sudoku

[close]

but anyway it's sad to see i was left alone in this thread

here's an ending mini-FAQ in case it helps

spoiler (click to show/hide)

there are 6 endings,3 of them are bad ending that you get if you go trough the doors in the wrong order,the last door you pick decide which of the 3 bad ending you get

the first good ending is got going trough door "5-8-6"
the second good ending has an abridged variant and a good variant,you have to get the first good ending before you can see the good variant to get to it go trough door "4-7-1"

[close]

[cool breeze]

Got this at Christmas and have been playing it the past couple days.  This game is great.

[iconoclast]

I'm about to start this as well. Got Forza 3 on autopilot, time to burn through some portable games while the game 1000's itself.

[Himu]

Hmmm.

I got a 25 dollar best buy card.

This or Batman: AA.

[demi]

Batman of course MORON

[Himu]

yeah but this could cost 999 dollars in the year 2099

[demi]

so pirate it, who cares, you filthy poor.

[magus]

hope you guys enjoy it as much as i did
maybe i should just spoil the ending

[demi]

maybe you shouldnt magus. i'll gut you like a fish.

[magus]

i was only joking :'(

[cool breeze]

I really liked this game, but I'd say if anyone is considering it, the meat is a basically a choose your own adventure book.  There are puzzle rooms that aren't very hard or difficult and the majority of it is reading and making choices in where to take the story.  The nice thing is that after the first playthough, you can skip text you've read; though, you need to replay the puzzles.  Each playthrough reveals a lot more about the characters and story.  So if you're not into reading a lot, I dunno, still give it a shot? the story is manga-ish, but more of the good variety like something like Monster.  I thought the story are characters were interesting, as were watching your decisions affect your relationships with those characters, or just what your character knows.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I'm playing this ... not really feeling it, about halfway through. There is a LOT of text and the text is slow. There were like 60 minutes of reading between my first Room Escape and my second. I like the characters and the writing's not terrible (it's not great, either) but I don't think I can deal with the pacing. It's too bad because the actual room escapes are pretty fun.

Has anyone hacked the ROM to have instant text? Not only is it slow, the moody music and SFX are overdubbed by 5-times-louder MEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLE Dragon Quest text tones. Get a brain, J-devs!

Anyway, is it worth plowing through multiple endings (how much less painful are subsequent playthroughs?) or should I just read a spoiler FAQ and move on with my life?

EDIT: Actual quote demonstrating how stupid wordy the narrator is. No plot spoilers, but behind tags just in case.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

There was a metal plaque bolted above the door.

It read [Operating Room].

If it was to be believed, the room on the other side of the door was an [operating room].

Something about it made Junpei feel nervous...

[close]

[magus]

yes please stick trough with it,you'll want to know how it ends and you won't be able to think about anything else until you do so

subsequent playtrough? you can skip text you have already read by pressing L and if you pick a different set of room,you also get a different set of puzzle so not that painfull at all

[tiesto]

Can't find this game anywhere

[magus]

if you don't want to replay the game for every ending just ignore the bad one,they are just kinda of "and everyone was murdered" ending which aren't really required but they help making the mystery more mysterious

if you do ignore the bad ending you only need to finish the game twice tough one puzzle room in particular can't be accessed unless you aim for a bad ending

[iconoclast]

Not only is it slow, the moody music and SFX are overdubbed by 5-times-louder MEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLE Dragon Quest text tones. Get a brain, J-devs!

I hate this. I want to play this with headphones, but the sound of the text hurts my ears unless I keep the volume really low. I wish you could turn that off.

[cool breeze]

I'm playing this ... not really feeling it, about halfway through. There is a LOT of text and the text is slow. There were like 60 minutes of reading between my first Room Escape and my second. I like the characters and the writing's not terrible (it's not great, either) but I don't think I can deal with the pacing. It's too bad because the actual room escapes are pretty fun.

Has anyone hacked the ROM to have instant text? Not only is it slow, the moody music and SFX are overdubbed by 5-times-louder MEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLEMEEBLE Dragon Quest text tones. Get a brain, J-devs!

Anyway, is it worth plowing through multiple endings (how much less painful are subsequent playthroughs?) or should I just read a spoiler FAQ and move on with my life?

EDIT: Actual quote demonstrating how stupid wordy the narrator is. No plot spoilers, but behind tags just in case.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

There was a metal plaque bolted above the door.

It read [Operating Room].

If it was to be believed, the room on the other side of the door was an [operating room].

Something about it made Junpei feel nervous...

[close]

I'd say you need to play through it multiple times.  Each new playthrough lets you speed up any text you've already read (but you need to still do the puzzles, which is lame) and makes it manageable.  And each playthrough has new information and builds on the previous and next playthrough.   Without spoiling it, though, just in case:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

each ending is a piece of a larger puzzle.   You slowly learn more and more.

[close]

If you want to speed the process up, there are spoiler-free playthrough guides that just tell you which choices lead to a certain ending.  Probably worth doing that because one of the endings requires a different ending to be complete to lead to a different ending....it will make sense if you keep with it.  Even the

spoiler (click to show/hide)

narration will make sense if you stick with it.

[close]

But yeah, the game is mostly reading and the sometimes the slow text and the noise get trying.  The option to speed up text is fast, but you can't skip it altogether, and that makes sometimes you're holding down the skip button for a while waiting to solve the same puzzle again only to hold the speed text button up.  Again, with each new playthrough, that stuff gets easier to deal with.  I really liked the game and thought the pay-off was totally worth it so I may come off as just defending it. 

[GilloD]

This game was terrible. A text speed appropriate for a Dyslexic class of Kindergarten kids, nonsense AniMu Weeaboo OH ITS SO MATURE storyline, and multiple endings so ridiculous that it's absolutely astonishing anyone would sit through this fucking SEVEN TIMES to find them.

[magus]

and multiple endings so ridiculous that it's absolutely astonishing anyone would sit through this fucking SEVEN TIMES to find them.

but there are only 5 endings

[Howard Alan Treesong]

okay, I went and read a full spoiler plot FAQ

this is the dumbest story I've ever heard

so glad I dropped this piece of animu crap

spoiler (click to show/hide)

mostly talking to magus, Linkzg is a cool guy ... oh well!

[close]

SEVERE story spoilers:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

morphic resonance? sending information back and forward through time? GTFO

also, I read Cat's Cradle for the first time 20 years ago and twice more since then - dropping Ice-9 into your plot like it ain't no think just pisses me off

[close]

[magus]

i tought i was cool too :'(

[Howard Alan Treesong]

between this and Hotel Dusk my new working theory is visual novel fans don't read books

"So, it's like there's an invisible man who can see into all the characters' minds! No, it's not like a movie - with movies, you only see what's happening on the surface. Here, it's like you really know what all the characters are thinking!! VISUAL NOVELS ARE LIKE TELEPATHY."

[Van Cruncheon]

which boils down to "i am not interested in anything unless it has animu girls in it"

[Himu]

Been playing Ghost Trick instead of this.

[demi]

This game is already a piece of shit and I havent even done the first puzzle.

Fuck this pixel hunting bullshit.

How am I supposed to know there's something under the pillow.

[magus]

you guys are the worst
THE WORST

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[demi]

I clicked everything and Junpei is like WELP NOTHING THERE O WELL

And you have to face a specific camera angle and click on a teeny tiny angle of the bed to trigger a different view to find the pillow.

Jesus christ.

[demi]

I got an ending where Junpei gets an Axe to the... forehead or something

And then I saw it makes you start -at the beginning of the game-

So... I'm gonna just go watch the endings on youtube instead

[magus]

oh what a wuss!
as i said previously,if you don't want to bother with the bad ending just do the good ones! is it so hard to do so?

[demi]

This game is basically one big waste of time. Nothing gets answered because everything is a lie and made up.

Magus further plummets from the respect tier

Go play Last Remnant please.

[originalz]

between this and Hotel Dusk my new working theory is visual novel fans don't read books

"So, it's like there's an invisible man who can see into all the characters' minds! No, it's not like a movie - with movies, you only see what's happening on the surface. Here, it's like you really know what all the characters are thinking!! VISUAL NOVELS ARE LIKE TELEPATHY."

I requote part of the SA thread!

The point is most of the people writing these games have barely read anything harder than a Star Wars novel. Games could have a lot better writing if people just got their standards up.

Really, you might as well just read a translated "light novel" or some Goosebumps literature or whatever, you'd probably get an equally stimulating reading experience with the bonus of being able to imagine your own world instead of looking at cliche anime pictures.

Steins;Gate is really the only VN game I could really recommend and that's mainly due to the cool atmosphere and artwork.

[Bebpo]

fuck

So I spent like 2-3 weeks playing this game and dealing with the sloooooooooow text and kind of shitty writing/pacing/brain dead puzzles and hit all the story checks to get the true ending so I only have to play the game once but then at the part after the operating room where Junpei is drawing numbers out of a hat and goes "durrr, where do I want to go?  Door 1/6/8" and I figure "well obviously whichever one June is going to, so door 6" and then BAM FUCKED. 

So now if I want to get the actual ending I have to replay this long ass boring game.  WHY DOESN'T THIS GAME HAVE MULTIPLE SAVE STATES WTF.  I just wanted to see the damn ending to get the answers to everything so I could move on and play another game.  Now I'm going to be stuck playing this for another week or two

[demi]

You can hold the d-pad or something and it speeds up text you've already seen. You just have to re-do the puzzles.