[zane]

any thoughts? this appears to be a ds novel-adventure in the style of phoenix wright, and so far its getting alot of positive reviews. The game was released a few days ago and you can play a browser demo here: http://www.aksysgames.com/999/pages/demo

[Trickless]

I've not been following it much, but I've read some positive stuff from different people on the net. I heard that there's 6 different endings to it. It's certainly a game I wanna try out, but it won't be anytime soon since I'm far too busy with other stuff

[potan]

Looks really interesting, definitely on my play list.
Still trying to save some money after blowing $60 importing Hotel Dusk Last Window

[millenia]

Going to keep my eye on this. Seems interesting but I'm not really a horror fan. So I think I need to hear some reviews and opinions about it first. Thriller yes, pure horror no.

It shouldn't be actual real time 9 hours right? I don't think it is but I hate time limits so I want to be sure.

[Trickless]

So far it's getting good reviews. Destructoid gave the game a 10/10, and Nintendo Power gave it 9/10

You can try out the flash demo on the official website to see if it's to your tastes.

[Origami]

I is getting!

[Pepe]

Pretty excited about this game Considering it was written by Kotaro Uchikoshi (who wrote Ever17, a really great visual novel) and composed by Shinji Hosoe (AKA Sampling Masters Mega, if you play BEMANI games), I am expecting a really great and story with a good plot twist near the end, with good music to boot

The reviews seem to support my expectations as well!

[zane]

im looking into trying ever 17 too. Im not really a big visual-novel fan, but if the story is as good as people says it is, il make an exception. And iv ordered 999, though who knows when il have time to play it

[Origami]

Could someone make a list of all the good?

As of now I own:
-All 5 Ace Attorney games
-Time Hollow
-Jake Hunter Detective Chronicles
-Hotel Dusk

I'll also be getting this one and Last Window(sequel of Hotel Dusk)

Also special mention to The World Ends With You. Although an action/rpg it is very rich of a super quality narrative and has a drawn style. Anyone with a DS that wants an unique experience with a superb story with crazy twists and characters should own this one.

[Pepe]

Originally Posted by Origami

Could someone make a list of all the good?

As of now I own:
-All 5 Ace Attorney games
-Time Hollow
-Jake Hunter Detective Chronicles
-Hotel Dusk

I'll also be getting this one and Last Window(sequel of Hotel Dusk)

Also special mention to The World Ends With You. Although an action/rpg it is very rich of a super quality narrative and has a drawn style. Anyone with a DS that wants an unique experience with a superb story with crazy twists and characters should own this one.

Hmm so far your list seems good. Though I believe Memories of the Past is substantially better than Detective Chronicles?
Check out Trace Memory, too Made by the same developer as Hotel Dusk, though I find Hotel Dusk better. Oh, and I guess Shadows of the Lost Templars deserves mention as well

Originally Posted by zane

im looking into trying ever 17 too. Im not really a big visual-novel fan, but if the story is as good as people says it is, il make an exception. And iv ordered 999, though who knows when il have time to play it

Well, if you haven't played a visual novel before then you might find the first stories a bit boring D: The great part comes at the last "path" in the story (which you can only unlock after you finish the first 4 paths) But yeah, totally worth it.

[Origami]

Hmm so far your list seems good. Though I believe Memories of the Past is substantially better than Detective Chronicles?

Yeah I don't know which one was the better version of the two. But I have the better version one
*looks up* Yeah I have Memories of the Past. =)


We should create a listing of the best visual novels. I only know that Higurashi and Unimeko are very good stories.

[NapkinSchematic]

I have been playing this all weekend. I am really into it. It is very much a "digital novel" with "escape the room" game play, IE, anything by Fasco-CS( "The Crimson/Viridian Room, The White Chamber". The escape segments are easier, but I think that is mostly due to the insane amount of help the game gives you. The game has 6 endings which are based on various choices/paths you choose on a particular play through.

As far as the story goes, it is easily one of the most well written digital novel/adventure games/ds games/games in general that I have played in some time. It has occasional cheesy joke but all of it is for the most part incredibly well written. Good, interesting characters with art by Nishimura Kinu (SF3/4 fame) and really good tunes.

Seriously, get this f*cking game.

[millenia]

Mmm.. Have to consider this, Hotel Dusk, Last Window and The World Ends With You in the near future. Currently I have 4 Heroes of Light and DQIX for DS (both are JRPGS rather than adventures) and I am not made of money. But someday...

[NapkinSchematic]

After having gone through some of the Fasco-CS games again recently, (like last night! lol) I have to say that the pace/structure/challenge level of the puzzle elements in this game are quite well done.

I noticed after I finished the game, it allows me to play the escape segments I have encountered again, and has a list of the escape segments available in the game. There is some replay value there because you can't get all the available doors in a single play through and you can have a completely separate sequence of doors the second time through with different partners making for a completely different experience.

Good stuff indeed....

[Pepe]

Originally Posted by Origami

We should create a listing of the best visual novels. I only know that Higurashi and Unimeko are very good stories.

Probably included would be Fate/Stay Night and Clannad

Originally Posted by NapkinSchematic

As far as the story goes, it is easily one of the most well written digital novel/adventure games/ds games/games in general that I have played in some time. It has occasional cheesy joke but all of it is for the most part incredibly well written. Good, interesting characters with art by Nishimura Kinu (SF3/4 fame) and really good tunes.

Seriously, get this f*cking game.

I must agree with this. And I accredit Shinji Hosoe for the wonderful music

Originally Posted by NapkinSchematic

After having gone through some of the Fasco-CS games again recently, (like last night! lol) I have to say that the pace/structure/challenge level of the puzzle elements in this game are quite well done.

I noticed after I finished the game, it allows me to play the escape segments I have encountered again, and has a list of the escape segments available in the game. There is some replay value there because you can't get all the available doors in a single play through and you can have a completely separate sequence of doors the second time through with different partners making for a completely different experience.

Good stuff indeed....

Good replay value indeed! The only terrible part is that there is only one save slot >_>


Anyway, I just got this game last friday, and have gotten 2 endings so far (both bad). Story is extremely addictive, and I can see that Kotaro Uchikoshi is once again implementing a heapload of science, paranormal, and philosophy into his stories.

I am expecting the good end to be like Ever17, wherein, if we get a bad end, there will be many loose holes, which will all be tied up in the good end, with all questions answered

[Origami]

Probably included would be Fate/Stay Night and Clannad

Romance stories suck =P

[Pepe]

Originally Posted by Origami

Romance stories suck =P

Well that's your opinion and I shall respect that :p Go for Fate/Stay Night then XD Although there is some romance, it doesn't drive the whole story, unlike Clannad.




Back on topic, just one ending left for me to get! I am excited to finish this.

Spoiler:

The "locked safe" ending took me by surprise. I did expect Snake to be in the coffin when I got the coffin ending, but I didn't expect Ace to be the bad guy :O Well, in all honesty, I didn't expect any of them to be the bad guy either way. Santa still confuses me though, and his possible relation with June... Rather, Akane =/

EDIT: Finally finished this game. I quite enjoyed the ending, even if it did somewhat remind me of Ever17 Yet a few questions still remain in my head. Check the spoiler tag to see my thoughts on this.

Spoiler:

1. What happened to Musashidou in the "locked safe" ending? - From the circumstances, it seems that it could only have been clover who could have killed him, since she had both the note and the 0 bracelet with her when Seven found her. Though, for some reason, I find it hard to believe. Furthermore, where would she have kept the body so that Seven and Lotus would not be able to notice it? Although Ace, rather, Hongou was the one that killed him in the true ending, it seems kind of impossible for him to have done it in the alternate ending... So yeah, after seeing the Axe ending as well, I guess Clover is just psycho enough to have been able to do all that shit do Musashidou @_@

2. Who killed Junpei in the Knife ending? - Well not much needs answering here. It was obviously Ace, since he was the only one who could have used a knife (which he got from the 9th Man, Kubota). Or it could have been Clover again.

3. Who killed everyone in the Submarine ending? - This is one that baffles me. The only beings who were shown to not be dead in this ending were Musashidou (unless they accessed door 1 while Junpei and co were in Door 2), and Snake (since he was in the coffin). So either Snake escaped from the Coffin and went crazy (unlikely since he wouldn't really have a reason to do so), or Musashidou escaped the Captain's quarters and went on a killing spree.
I don't remember the murder weapon in this ending, but I think it was a gun. I am lazy to replay the whole thing just to figure this one out xD If it was a gun, then that means the others accessed Door 6 and somehow got hold of the revolver, which would make Snake the more likely killer since he was in the vicinity of Door 6 at the time.

So it's either of those two, unless you count supernatural mumbo jumbo.... Or unless you include ALLICE?

4. What was Akane doing alive in the first place? - Considering Seven's original story of her dying in the incinerator, why was she alive in the first place? For this I have two possible theories:
a) Seven lied. She never really died in the first place. She was able to survive with the help of Junpei 9 years later through the use of the morphogenetic fields. Since Akane knew that Junpei saved her 9 years in the future, she HAD to plan to repeat the Nonary Game, of course with the help of her brother, otherwise, she wouldn'tt have been saved at all! Seven must have been in contact with Santa the whole time, and they talked about how their plan would have gone. He must have even faked the whole Amnesia thing (because if he hadn't had amnesia in the first place, the story would have become very different... and it would be hard, I believe, to force someone to have amnesia!) But why would Seven lie in the first place? So that Junpei would think that she died. Let's say that Seven didn't lie and told Junpei that Akane was alive and well. How would Junpei react upon seeing the machine in the incinerator? I am assuming that, if Seven did not lie, Junpei wouldn't be able to come into contact with Akane from 9 years ago, because he would be missing one of the two aspects required to open the field: danger. Remember the thing about epiphany and danger causing morphogenetic fields to be stronger? Well if Junpei knew that Akane never died, then he would not sense the danger, which would cause him to fail in contacting Akane. This would also cause him to fail in saving Akane, which would have made Seven's original story of Akane burning to an ash the actual truth, which would cause a time paradox, etc etc... In other words, it wouldn't be pretty (Something similar happened [or at least, would have possibly happened] in Ever17 near the ending xD)

b) She was in a different body. Out of all the scientific, philosophical, and psychological theories presented in the game, there is one that never became part of the main plot: Locke's Socks. I was honestly expecting it to appear in one way or another, the same way that ice-9, prospognosis (or whatever way you spell it), and morphogenetic fields had appeared in the story. But no, it was mentioned once in Room 7, then ignored for the rest of the story. Which led me to believe that Akane, who I assume possessed quite powerful control over morphogenetic fields, was controlling the body of "June" 9 years later from 9 years ago. this fits with the Locke's Socks theory perfectly because it would have the mind of Akane, but in a different body (so would she still be Akane?). The idea of mind control through morphogenetic fields was mentioned once in the story, and, as shown in the true ending, that power can easily cross the boundaries of time. So it would seem quite possible that Akane would be powerful enough to control her fake body 9 years later through morphogenetic fields. That, of course, would mean that during the first nonary game, she would have been controlling her own body, her fake body 9 years later, all while viewing Junpei's perspective of the game 9 years later at the same time! I guess she must have been powerful enough to do all that, and more?
Which leaves me to question, if she was controlling a fake body, whose body was it? Was it a random body that Santa found that looked as close as possible to Akane? Or maybe it was ALLICE, fashioned to look like her... That is one part of my second theory which I cannot answer, which leads me to believe my first theory is more likely.

5. ALLICE - Seriously, WTF. I have no theories as to why and how the hell she would have been there, or had even existed at all!

So yeah, all in all, it still made me think quite a lot even after the ending >_<

[Mikekelly]

I'm playing right now and just love it! I'm glad the Nintendo DS continues to get great games like this one. As I will be playing this game into 2011 it will get my Best Adventure Game played in 2011 award for sure.

Amazingly - the bargain priced game Crime Lab is getting great reviews:

http://justadventure.com/reviews/Vam...ble/VM_CL.shtm

I payed $34.99 for 999 and well worth every cent!

And Crime Lab is well worth $19.99 also. In the US, we have tons of good adventure games like these on the DS - with PC gaming on the wane here - quality titles like this keep me buying more. Now 3DS adventure games should be a real treat too.

[harald]

Originally Posted by Mikekelly

I'm playing right now and just love it! I'm glad the Nintendo DS continues to get great games like this one. As I will be playing this game into 2011 it will get my Best Adventure Game played in 2011 award for sure.

2011 isn't here yet, and already you've played the best adventure game of that year? That's must be disappointing. But the game does seem good. I played the flash demo at the website. There seems to be a significant number of interesting DS-exclusive games; I'm considering getting one.

Or this could be the perfect Christmas present for my friend who actually owns a DS, since I could make sure we'd play it together. But I'd have to cough up over $50 to get a copy to Sweden.

[zane]

Iv played for about 3 hours now and im having a blast. So far i like this better than ever17. The adventure/escape the room elements are great. And the atmosphere is edgy, dark and almost scary. Also iv been pleasantly surprized with the music, i might have to seek out the soundtrack.

And yeah, the ds is actually a great system for text-ish adventures. professor layton series/hotel dusk/last window/theresia all range from good to great adventures. And of course the first phoenix wright game is an epic classic that has to be played to be believed. Theres also some ports of good games like syberia and broken sword (though you lose out on voice acting). Theyr probably winding down with putting out new games, but the system has a sweet library.