| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/999players.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:You have been chosen to play the Nonary Game. [[labelnote:The characters]]Clockwise from top left: [[DisabledSnarker Snake]], [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Seven]], [[TheComicallySerious Ace]], [[SacrificialLamb The Ninth Man]], [[MsFanservice Lotus]], [[ChildhoodFriendRomance June]], [[TheHero Junpei]], [[SirSwearsALot Santa]] and [[FieryRedhead Clover]][[/labelnote]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | -> ''"On April 14th, 1912... the famous ocean liner [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic Titanic]] crashed into an iceberg. After remaining afloat for two hours and forty minutes, it sank beneath the waters of the North Atlantic. I will give you more time. [[ArcNumber Nine Hours]]. '''That is the time you will be given to make your escape.'''"'' |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Junpei, a normal 21-year-old college student, arrives at home one night to find his window open. Upon closing it, [[MirrorScare he spots a cloaked figure in a gas mask in the reflection]]--and the last thing he can remember before passing out is being told that he's just been chosen to participate in the "Nonary Game"... |
| 7 | |
| 8 | He then wakes up in a third-class room on [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic an early 20th-century ship.]] Upon escaping from there, he finds out that he's trapped on the ship with eight other people who were similarly chosen, and forced to play the game lest the bombs planted inside their bodies go off. Needless to say, [[FromBadToWorse things get worse]], and they're forced to trust each other and race against the 9-hour time limit to figure out what's happening and why they're on the ship. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The first game in the ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'' series, ''Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors''[[note]]in the original Japanese: Kyokugen Dasshutsu Ku Jikan Ku Nin Kyū no Tobira?, lit. "Extreme Escape: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors[[/note]], or ''999'' as it is sometimes known, itself plays as one part "escape from the room" games, one part ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' and one part story (though some self-labelled story segments offer the player numerous choice points). Decisions made during story and escape segments determine how events unfold and which characters will interact. There are several branching paths and [[MultipleEndings your decisions impact the ending]]. It was released on Platform/NintendoDS on December 10, 2009 in Japan, and on [=iOS=] on May 29, 2013. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | A sequel titled ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' (in the original Japanese, ''Kyokugen Dasshutsu ADV Zennin Shibô Desu'', or roughly, ''Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die'') was announced for the Platform/Nintendo3DS and Platform/PlayStationVita in August 2011. It was released in Japan on February 16, 2012, and released in North America on October 24 2012. It was released in EU territories and Australia the following month. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | In February 2014, it was announced that due to low sales in Japan, production for the trilogy's last game was being put on hiatus. Fans responded with a successful [[http://www.facebook.com/operationbluebirdze3 Facebook campaign]] to show support for the series. In July 2015, the third game in the series, ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', was finally announced for the 3DS and Vita, to be released in Summer 2016. In June 2016, a [[https://twitter.com/Uchikoshi_Eng/status/741171506827255808 Steam]] and [[https://twitter.com/Uchikoshi_Eng/status/741287790130909185 Vita]] release of ''999'' have been teased and, on Halloween in 2016, [[http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/10/31/fight-for-survival-in-zero-escape-the-nonary-games-out-next-year-on-ps4-ps-vita/ a remastered bundle with VLR]] was confirmed for Platform/PlayStation4, Vita, and Platform/{{Steam}} for release on March 24, 2017. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Despite the use of spoiler tags, this page contains ''many'' spoilers by virtue of not being entirely whited out. Somewhat surprisingly, ''999'' is still [[LateArrivalSpoiler possible to play completely unspoiled]] and most walkthroughs are spoiler-free as well. |
| 17 | ---- |
| 18 | !!'''''[[AC:SEEK A WAY OUT!]]''''' |
| 19 | |
| 20 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[folder:Tropes # to D]] |
| 23 | * EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:Rescuing Snake from the coffin]] in either of the major endings is the thing that changes the course of the ending. |
| 24 | ** [[spoiler:In the "Safe" ending, his arm's a fake, which means he can remove his bracelet and be a non-issue during the doors, allowing the others to enter the 9 door without leaving anyone behind. Afterwards, his rage for Clover's death means he's able to take down Ace out of sheer willpower - even after taking 6 revolver shots - leaving the others to escape the incinerator alive.]] |
| 25 | ** [[spoiler:In the "True" ending, Snake's rescue from the coffin means Junpei, Seven, and Clover have a way to enter the other 9 door in pursuit of Santa (who has taken June hostage and forced Ace and Lotus to go with him). It's only after entering the 9 door and mostly solving the library puzzle that Snake is able to reveal the entire backstory of the previous Nonary Game, something that you've received only hints and suggestions of the whole game.]] |
| 26 | ** [[spoiler:Junpei's ability to access the morphogenetic field is this, too. The entire point of the current Nonary Game is to save June using the morphogenetic field to give her the answer to the final code and save herself. While everyone else has a connection to the Nonary Game and some are transmitters or receivers themselves, in the "True" ending Junpei unlocks the ability to be both a transmitter ''and'' a receiver, and only after Santa takes June hostage and all seems lost.]] |
| 27 | * SixIsNine: [[spoiler:In one of the endings, Snake suspects that June's bracelet is actually 9 instead of 6, and the reason no one noticed is because Santa (who went with her every time the group split up to take numbered doors) has a bracelet which inputs 0 rather than 3, giving a hint as to who Zero actually is. Subverted, though, as Santa has 9 and June has 0.]] |
| 28 | * AbandonedHospital: A large part of the ship is a converted hospital. Some of the rooms are pretty creepy. |
| 29 | * AbsenceOfEvidence: [[spoiler:The 9th Man's bracelet came off his arm when he blew up behind Door 5. However, when Junpei revisited the area several hours later, the bracelet was gone. This leads Junpei to deduce that someone took it and killed to conceal that fact.]] |
| 30 | * ActionPrologue: Before anything about the plot is explained, Junpei has to escape from a 3rd class cabin before it completely floods. |
| 31 | * ActorAllusion: In the ''Nonary Games'' port, Ace is voiced by Creator/RichardEpcar, who uses a voice similar to [[Franchise/LupinIII Daisuke Jigen]], which becomes more promient when [[spoiler:he wields the golden revolver like Jigen's weapon of choice, is shown to be very unscrupulous in general (while lacking Jigen's heroic traits) and in the "Safe" ending calls the late Clover a "[[CharacterCatchphrase bitch]]". His appearance during the first Nonary Game 9 years ago is also a dead ringer for Jigen's.]] |
| 32 | * AdvancedTech2000: The Pushmaster 5000 used for the ''VideoGame/{{Sokoban}}'' puzzle in the cargo hold. |
| 33 | * AirVentPassageway: [[spoiler:Door 2 has a room that has one of these.]] It leads right to [[spoiler:the Incinerator within Door 9. Seven is confused when it isn't present in the jail cells like when he used it 9 years ago on the Gigantic, reckoning that it got removed. It's later revealed that this was actually the Nevada replica which lacked it entirely.]] |
| 34 | * AllIsWellThatEndsWell: Junpei [[spoiler:more or less feels this way after the Game ends, if his pursuit of June is any indication.]] The reactions of everyone else subvert the trope. |
| 35 | * AllThereInTheManual: There's a bit of backstory that's only available [[https://zeroescape.fandom.com/wiki/Answers in an interview with the game's director]]. Be aware of unmarked spoilers for 999's sequel, ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward''! Avoid scrolling down past the 999 section. |
| 36 | * AllTheWorldsAreAStage: The game's final escape room has remixed versions of previous puzzles. The last puzzle of the room recreates the teams formed to pass through the numbered doors. [[spoiler: Including a "9" door. The solution requires you to leave one box empty, while the other box has five numbers (players). Those present, in the puzzle, are the five you exit the incinerator with at the very end of the game. Those missing are Akane, Aoi, Ace, and The Ninth Man.]] |
| 37 | * AntiFrustrationFeature: |
| 38 | ** After completing the game for the first time, you can fast-forward through dialogue that you've heard before in narrative scenes so that you can get to new content faster. [[InvertedTrope But if you save anywhere in the game beyond the first choice point, you have to start back at the beginning in order to restart your path.]] |
| 39 | ** The remaster for ''The Nonary Games'' adds the flowchart mechanic from later installments in the series, eliminating the need to play through the entire game several times to get all the endings, as well as adding the option to jump to specific points to get the information needed to unlock certain paths. Once you do, you're kicked back to the Flowchart to confirm you've obtained what you're looking for.]] |
| 40 | ** Once you achieve the True ending, the game will also mark the Coffin ending as complete if you haven't already seen it, since it's impossible to view once you've completely fulfilled the requirements for the True ending, and it also saves you having to play the whole game again to view what is basically a NonStandardGameOver. |
| 41 | * ArcNumber: You have to ask? Nine. To be specific: |
| 42 | ** The Nonary Game itself: 9 victims, 9 hours to escape, numbered doors from 1 to 9, 9 seconds before the numbered doors close when they open them, and 81 seconds (nine squared, and 81 has a digital root of 9) to find the detonator-deactivation-scanner once inside. Even the name of the game itself, as the word "nonary" means base-9 number system. |
| 43 | ** Speaking of ages, the digital root of everyone's age? Ace (50) + Snake (24) + Santa (24) + Clover (18) + Junpei (21) + June (21) + Seven (45) + Lotus (40) = 243 = 2 + 4 + 3 = 9. The 9th Man doesn't count, unless his age is a digital root of 9 on its own. |
| 44 | ** In several parts of the game you use different bases substituting a letter for an extra number. Taking the whole alphabet into account (A=10, B=11...Z=35, 10=36), if you substitute the letters in zero for numbers you get 35+14+27+24=100. |
| 45 | ** If you got the True Ending, you'll have gone through nine puzzle rooms. [[spoiler:Furthermore, the final puzzle in the True Ending is a [[GridPuzzle Sudoku]] puzzle, which is all about sets of nine.]] |
| 46 | ** Possibly related: NumerologicalMotif, as 9 in Japan is considered cursed. |
| 47 | ** Various bits of dialogue from examining things in puzzles can result in conversations like: |
| 48 | ---> '''Ace:''' "There's nothing in the drawer anymore."\ |
| 49 | '''Junpei:''' "Nuh-uh, there's air."\ |
| 50 | '''Ace:''' "How old are you, 9?!" |
| 51 | ** In the [[spoiler:Captain's Quarters]] after telling [[spoiler:Clover about the bookmark Santa gave you]] she takes 6 paces to the left, 6 paces to the right, then 6 paces to the left. 6+6+6=18 > 1+8=9 |
| 52 | ** A key aspect of the game revolved around the calculation of digital roots. Although not explicitly stated, calculating a digital root is mathematically equivalent to calculating the remainder modulo 9[[note]]Although, if the number is a multiple of 9, the remainder is ''zero'' instead of 9[[/note]]. |
| 53 | ** [[spoiler:The solution to the safe puzzle is 14383421. Multiply this by 9 and you get 129450789, the true values of each character's bracelets if you read them in order, with Santa being 9 and June being 0.]] |
| 54 | ** It may be unintentional, but the digital root of [[spoiler:the numbers of the bracelets the four Cradle Pharmaceutical members wore during the game]] is 9. [[spoiler: 1 (Hongou) + 2 (Nijisaki) + 6 (Musashidou's true no.) + 9 (Kubota) = 18, 1+8 = 9.]] |
| 55 | ** Backstory events critical to Zero's motivations took place nine years prior to the events of the game. |
| 56 | * Area51: Building Q, out in the middle of the Nevada desert, where part of the Nonary Project experimentation is carried out... [[spoiler:and also where the events of the game, unbeknownst to most of the cast, play out.]] In a nod to the real status of the site, it is a private building of a multinational corporation, rather than a government building. |
| 57 | * TheArtifact: The original DS release included a feature called "Memories of the Escape", which allowed the player to replay any escape room they had previously cleared without having to play through the entire game again. The UpdatedRerelease for ''The Nonary Games'' added the flowchart mechanic from the later games in the series, but kept "Memories of the Escape" despite it now being almost entirely redundant. |
| 58 | * ArtisticLicenseHistory: While the ''Titanic'' and ''Olympic'' did have a third sister ship in real life, it was named the ''Brittanic,'' not ''Gigantic.'' |
| 59 | * ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Prosopagnosia is hardly, if ever, as dramatic as [[spoiler: Ace]] claims it is. People who suffer from face blindness tend to have difficulty ''remembering'' different peoples' faces and attaching them to specific people. It's mostly just an inconvenience and can indeed be overcome by looking for other features, such as clothes or hair. Although given how DisappointedByTheMotive Junpei is regarding everything [[spoiler:Ace]] did just to cure his prosopagnosia, this might be less Artistic License and more [[spoiler:Ace]] himself just being completely nuts. |
| 60 | * ArtisticLicensePhysics: The game makes a basic mistake in converting Fahrenheit to Celsius. Santa explains that the reason thermometers do not show a scale above 107 Fahrenheit or 75 Celsius is because at that temperature cells begin dying and there would be no point in measuring temperature higher than that. Actually, 107 Fahrenheit equals 41.7 Celsius[[note]]This is not just the character making the mistake; the thermometer ''shown'' also goes to 75.[[/note]]. Then there is the point that the thermometer which prompted this explanation is hanging on a wall presumably measuring the room's ambient temperature, not a medical thermometer. |
| 61 | * AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:The planners of the first Nonary Game.]] Arguably, the nine players themselves are stereotyped so that any one of them may be this, and it's not until character development kicks in during NewGamePlus rounds that the trope is defied. |
| 62 | * TheBadGuyWins: |
| 63 | ** In the bad endings, [[spoiler:Junpei gets murdered in two of them by who is heavily implied to be Ace who uses his looted bracelet to get away and gets killed by Clover in the "Axe" ending after she goes on a killing spree to just take the bracelets and escape by herself.]] |
| 64 | ** Eerily and cryptically subverted in the "Safe" ending, where the players run out of time to escape from the ship and are doomed to drown after Zero declares a Game Over on top of [[spoiler:Snake dragging Ace to die with him in the incinerator for his sister Clover's murder]]. However, Zero informs a despondent Junpei that Zero themselves "have lost" the game despite the dire circumstances for the heroes. [[spoiler:This is because Junpei chose the wrong choices and Akane (the real Zero) in the past wasn't able to give him the right information as a result in this timeline.]] |
| 65 | ** [[spoiler:Played straight in the GoldenEnding where even though the players (save for the 9th man) escaped the Gigantic's Nevada replica and are free to go home, Zero (Akane and Aoi) succeeded in their plans to save Akane in the past and get revenge against the original Nonary masterminds with three of them dead and [[PunkInTheTrunk Hongou at the heroes' mercy]], with the siblings still at large.]] |
| 66 | * BagOfSpilling: |
| 67 | ** It possibly occurs after every puzzle except for vital items such as keys. However, the keys are removed from your inventory but still shown to be in your possession so it is possible that you still have everything else. |
| 68 | ** If you beat a puzzle without using all the items and look at the items again before you fully leave the area Junpei will say something about him not knowing why he's carrying the item and he will throw it away later. Which only makes sense, why would you run around carrying a ripped shower curtain all day? |
| 69 | ** Also Seven has been shown to use some of the items to hold the doors open so the group can backtrack. |
| 70 | * BaitAndSwitch: In the "Nonary Games" port, [[spoiler:the final puzzle has letters alongside numbers, suggesting that you’ll need to use the hexadecimal system again as alluded to by the hints. The actual solution requires you to just literally spell the word "PASSWORD" from a fresh board reset which solves the numbers portion for you if done correctly, which doesn’t use any letters above on the grid.]] |
| 71 | * BatDeduction: |
| 72 | ** The participants of the current Nonary Game frequently theorize it's a telepathic experiment used to find ways to access other people's thoughts from a long way away, as well as having the potential to control others to near memetic levels (one person does it, suddenly hundreds of people have the same compulsion). They end up being wrong for two reasons. [[spoiler:1) The first Nonary Game had much simpler reasons: Ace wanted to access other's visual perceptions from around him because of severe prosopagnosia. 2) June is partially able to look through the timelines and control Junpei, but ''only'' Junpei, and in the incinerator at the final puzzle neither June nor Junpei can control the other, only speak to each other and show each other things in their side; it's up to the other to actually do the task that needs transmitted.]] |
| 73 | ** Exploited brilliantly in the True Ending. [[spoiler:The Second Nonary Game could have fallen apart in countless ways, as the bad endings illustrate. But Akane can SEE those bad endings and use the knowledge gained from them to steer Junpei through.]] |
| 74 | * BerserkButton: |
| 75 | ** When Lotus is called old or otherwise, such as being called an "exhibitionist grandma." |
| 76 | ** [[spoiler:Snake, in the Safe End, after Ace describes Clover's death.]] |
| 77 | * BigBad: Plays with this in a surprising way. The current [[DeadlyGame Nonary Game]] is being run by a mysterious person in a GasMaskLongcoat getup known as Zero/[[spoiler:[[SamusIsAGirl June]]/[[LoveInterestTraitor Akane]] and [[TheDragon her secretary]] [[WhiteHairBlackHeart Santa]]]]. As it turns out, they are actually [[spoiler:{{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s trying to punish the four men responsible for the first game and to get Junpei to save June's life. Time travel loops and all that]]. So [[spoiler:the actual Big Bad]] ends up being [[spoiler:Ace, or rather, Gentarou Hongou, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO of Cradle Pharmaceuticals]], creator of the original Nonary Game and murderer of Past!Akane]] as the person who set everything into motion. |
| 78 | * BigRedButton: There's one at [[spoiler:the library. But don't worry; it doesn't blow anything up. It just grants access to the device necessary to unlock the exit]]. |
| 79 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The GoldenEnding has the participants not targeted by Zero for revenge escaping the Gigantic--or what was actually Building Q in Nevada. They speed off in an SUV left by Zero alongside [[PunkInTheTrunk Ace stuck in the trunk]] so they can hand him off to the authorities, but the Kurashiki twins are still at large for masterminding a dangerous game which resulted in a lot of collateral damage in different timelines and primarily [[AssholeVictim the deaths of three very unscrupulous men]], [[DidNotGetTheGirl leaving Junpei separated from Akane again]], at least until ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma''.]] |
| 80 | * BlingBlingBang: In the storage room behind Door 6, there's a loaded golden revolver provided so one player can threaten others with it. [[spoiler:Ace steals it in the "Safe" ending to drag Lotus around at gunpoint and Santa does it instead in the "Coffin" and "True" endings by holding June hostage, but it's later revealed they staged the incident as part of their plan and to avoid revealing their bracelets' true values.]] |
| 81 | * BloodyHorror: |
| 82 | ** At the beginning of the game, the 9th Man enters the Number 5 door by himself and explodes because of small bombs placed in his stomach, foreshadowing the rules for the Nonary Game. You have to walk past a bloody puddle of his remains if you chose to go through that door. [[spoiler:Later on, another man dies in a similar way when being thrown into the Number 3 door by himself.]] |
| 83 | ** This game infamously has a number of bloody deaths for bad endings. [[spoiler:Especially during the Axe ending, where Clover becomes literally AxeCrazy and brutally murders several people.]] |
| 84 | * ChekhovsGun: Plenty, including an actual gun. A minor one is the notebook and pen found in the first puzzle suitcase. One seemingly minor item is [[spoiler:the clover bookmark that freaks Santa out and asks Junpei to hold onto, which can be given to Clover and is one of the few things that keeps her from going over the deep end in the Axe Ending.]] |
| 85 | * CodeName: The main characters except for Junpei and the 9th Man adopts one, though technically [[spoiler:Clover isn't using a code name either.]] in order to protect their identities. Each codename corresponds with the number their bracelet has been assigned. Made better in that many of these names turn out to have double meanings. To wit, in numerical order: |
| 86 | ** #1 is Ace (the playing card representing the number one). |
| 87 | ** #2 is Snake ("snake eyes" refers to a dice roll of two). |
| 88 | ** #3 is Santa (derived from the Japanese word for three, ''san''). Like [[SantaClaus that other guy]], this Santa has white hair. His real name is [[spoiler:Aoi, referencing a plant with three leaves]]. |
| 89 | ** #4 is Clover (referring to a FourLeafClover). Her real name is [[spoiler:also Clover; she's using [[RealNameAsAnAlias her own name]].]] |
| 90 | ** #6 is June (the sixth month of the year). [[spoiler:It's the name of a doll Junpei gave her nine years ago.]] |
| 91 | ** #7 is... Seven (he's amnesiac and couldn't think of a name). |
| 92 | ** #8 is Lotus (a plant which has eight petals). Her real name is [[spoiler:Hazuki (the eighth month of the Japanese calendar)]]. |
| 93 | ** The 9th Man [[spoiler:rejects the use of a codename before dying]]. His real family name is [[spoiler:Kubota, ''ku'' being [[GoroawaseNumber Japanese for "nine"]],]] which foreshadows a twist at the end of the game. |
| 94 | * ColdEquation: All over the place. |
| 95 | ** To exit the ship, the players have to go through door 9, but only 3-5 people can get through one door, meaning at least 4 people will stay behind. [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} when the ''door'''s''''' with the nines are found. Two doors mean all of the players may leave, and no one has to be left behind. Junpei figures out that this is to inflict regret on those who did the math and killed others to be the ones who leave. DoubleSubverted when players reach the incinerator, where is ''yet another'' Number 9 door -- and this time, there is only one. There is still a way to escape for those left, but no one knew that in advance.]] |
| 96 | ** Several times with individual doors. When the players reach doors 3, 7 and 8, they do the math and figure out that they cannot all go through because the numbers won't match and someone has to be left behind. June and Junpei are not happy with the idea, but they're outvoted and Ace volunteers. Turns out it doesn't matter in the end, since they are able to go back for him, but he couldn't have known that in advance. [[SubvertedTrope Except he did]], because [[spoiler:he is the one who planned the game in the first place, so he knew they would have to come back for him]]. |
| 97 | ** Junpei himself does this in the path where he insists on going through door 3. Santa insists that they can't go that way, so he tricks June and Seven into scanning their numbered bracelets with him; Santa beats Lotus and Clover to the door and goes with them (the True ending reveals that [[spoiler: he had to in order to maintain the illusion that his and June's bracelets were actually 3 and 6]]). [[WhatTheHellHero Lotus and Clover are furious with Junpei once he comes back,]] since it shows that he was willing to possibly sacrifice three people just so he could stay with June. |
| 98 | ** Defied when people going through Door 6 reach [[spoiler:Door 9]]. They could go through the door if they left June behind, but everyone agrees that they're ''not'' going without her. |
| 99 | ** In the Coffin/True ending, the players could go on through [[spoiler:Door 9]], but the digital root wouldn't fit unless they left Seven behind. Unlike the other situation, however, no one wants to do it, even those who agreed previously. Then [[spoiler:Santa]] [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]]: leaving Seven ''and'' two other people (namely Junpei and Clover) behind. How does he convince them to listen to him? By [[spoiler:pulling out a gun and taking June hostage, threatening to blow her head of. Of course, since Santa is working with Zero, he knows that Snake is alive and the remaining three and Snake can take the other door]]. |
| 100 | ** Finally in the True ending. [[spoiler:After Santa leaves the incinerator, there are 5 people left inside, with only the last door 9 as an exit. The only way they can make a digital root of nine is by leaving Lotus to burn. This time, however, it's actually averted since, as Snake noticed, even if they did form a digital root of nine, the door wouldn't open. We later find out that the door was in fact ''q'', not 9, which means the trope is inverted -- only by ''not'' leaving anyone behind can they escape.]] |
| 101 | * CommonalityConnection: As the game progresses, it transpires that despite their different backgrounds, personalities and professions, 8 of the game's participants are all connected directly with [[spoiler:the first Nonary game experiment with Cradle Pharmaceuticals, two of the participants having designed and overseen the experiment, four of them being past test subjects, one of them having their children kidnapped to participate in the experiment and one of them being a detective who interfered on the Gigantic test site and helped the kids there escape]]. The sole exception to this is [[spoiler:the protagonist Junpei, who is only indirectly connected through having known test subject Akane as childhood friends and having given her a doll, with her attempt to recover said doll during their escape resulting in her getting recaptured and dragged into the ship's incinerator room to die if she couldn't solve the final puzzle through the use of the morphogenetic field Cradle Pharmaceuticals were trying to exploit... and it turns out that Junpei's inclusion in the second Nonary game is because he's actually [[LivingMacguffin the most important participant]] that it's all built around, as him being in that ''exact'' situation is what allows him to transmit the Puzzle's solution back through time to the twelve-year old Akane when she 'linked' with him through the field, thus necessitating present Akane to start the second game to [[StableTimeLoop re-create the conditions that enabled her past self's survival]] to avoid CessationOfExistance]]. |
| 102 | * CompressedAdaptation: When the game was ported to iOS, every puzzle was cut. Unfortunately, most of the game's characterization (and humour) unfolds in the various conversations had while characters solve the puzzle. [[AdaptationExpansion It does, however, have a new ending]]... which is basically useless as it doesn't reveal anything new about the plot and it's a shorter, less messy version of the Axe ending. |
| 103 | * ComputerEqualsMonitor: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. Lotus mentions this trope in conjunction with a wireless monitor and mentions how someone who wouldn't know better might just assume the computer is the monitor. This ties into the ongoing theme with morphogenetic fields and the theory of seemingly unconnected things passing information between them. [[spoiler: It also adds to the RedHerring of Alice, who would presumably fall for the trope.]] |
| 104 | * ContemplateOurNavels: Some conversations are very philosophical and scientific, but not nearly to the extent [[NeverTrustATrailer that the trailers would suggest]]. The game lampshades it hilariously in the True Ending: [[spoiler: when Ace is about to start going full-philosophical about his motivations for the Nonary Game, Junpei immediately has him gagged again.]] |
| 105 | * CorporateConspiracy: [[spoiler:Cradle Pharmaceuticals CEO Ace/Hongou recreated the Nonary Game to research morphogenetic fields and telepathy, this time using children as the participants.]] |
| 106 | * CuttingTheKnot: Twice in the laboratory. When the group comes across a password-locked computer, Lotus chooses to write a program to find the right password by brute force rather than searching for hints as to what the actual password is. Later on, Clover accidentally starts a fire while fiddling with electrical controls, which ends the experiment being performed prematurely. As a result, it is unknown what the originally intended solutions to these parts of the escape room are. |
| 107 | * DeadpanSnarker: |
| 108 | ** Santa. You can always count on him to make some biting comment insulting Junpei's intelligence. |
| 109 | ** While imparting the Nonary Game rules, Zero decides to demonstrate some lack of incapability in this field. |
| 110 | -->"I have no doubt that by the time you read this note, the bomb will have passed your stomach and found its way to your small intestine. In other words, you will be unable to regurgitate it. I suggest you do not try." |
| 111 | %%** Junpei, in some instances. |
| 112 | * DescriptionPorn: The visual novel sections tend to describe the grisly bodies in horrific detail while showing only an image of the general area around the body, not the body itself. |
| 113 | * DeusExitMachina: [[spoiler:Despite being blind, Snake is one of the most proficient participants of the Nonary Game with intelligence and problem solving, on top of being in the previous Nonary Game on the real Gigantic as well as knowing who Aoi Kurashiki is, but Snake was ordered via a braille card to not speak of the original game and was getting close to realising that Santa is Aoi, which would've screwed up the Kurashiki siblings' scheme. This results in Snake getting kidnapped and has his death faked courtesy of Ace being set up to kill Nijisaki after thinking he was Snake.]] |
| 114 | * DialogueTree: This game is like a Choose Your Own Adventure / VisualNovel, so this is natural. |
| 115 | * DiegeticInterface: There is a reason this game has NewGamePlus - [[spoiler:you as the player are playing from ''June's'' POV from the past as she witnesses all the possible futures Junpei could go through in his Nonary Game]]. Emphasized when [[spoiler:during the True End, the player has to turn the DS upside down, as to now actually play from Junpei's POV while helping June.]] |
| 116 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: |
| 117 | ** In the freezer, you can examine a piece of meat for June to say "It's really hard", which Junpei asks her to say again. [[http://youtu.be/WuX1_L9XEmA And again.]] Doesn't help that his face was red. |
| 118 | ** In the Safe Ending, [[spoiler:when Ace is describing to Snake how he killed Clover, his excitement sounds ''very'' much like arousal.]] |
| 119 | * TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:Akane, childhood love interest and organizer of the second Nonary Game.]] |
| 120 | * DoorToBefore: From a narrative standpoint rather than one that you, the player, get to employ. Most of the numbered doors either return those who go through them to an earlier area or provide keys that unlock hallways in an earlier area. Most of the time the protagonists don't want or need to go to an earlier area, but it comes in handy a few times. Seven also applies doorjams to a few areas specifically so he can backtrack. It also becomes a [[DiscussedTrope topic of conversation]] for the characters. They tend to find map pieces just after they're useful and realize, much to their frustration, that the rooms they've entered and exited are going to return them to the same place. |
| 121 | * DownerEnding: There are six possible endings: two ''short'' bad endings, a decoy bad ending, the "true" bad ending (which must be finished before the actual True End can be unlocked), an aborted/To Be Continued ending that occurs if the player stumbles across the True End out of order (and it ends on a very sharp note), and the [[GoldenEnding True End]]. The iOS version also adds a new bad ending. With the exception of the True Ending, none of them are particularly happy. |
| 122 | ** The Submarine ending [[spoiler:ends with [[EverybodysDeadDave everybody dead.]] Of course, Ace was acting and could have been able to brute-force the q Door with all the bracelets to escape unpunished. It's one of the three endings to have credits, making it the decoy bad ending. If you don't know [[GuideDangIt that the Safe ending]] is the ''bad'' end, the Submarine ending seems the worst of all outcomes.]] |
| 123 | ** The Knife ending [[spoiler:has Ace getting Clover, Lotus, then Junpei with a knife, retrieved from Teruaki's dead body. The fates of the others depend on whether Santa (who may have the gun) found out in time, and even then, Akane will die regardless, and unless Santa survives, unlocking the q door will be impossible.]] |
| 124 | ** The Safe ending [[spoiler:runs as if it were the proper ending, before taking a turn for ItsAWonderfulFailure. After Junpei hits the DespairEventHorizon, Zero hands him a PlotCoupon and forces Junpei (and the player) to admit they made the wrong choices from the start, and the game ends with Junpei getting knocked out and the remaining characters either dead or trapped. It is also implied that June doesn't survive this ending, although Santa's fate is left ambiguous, and given his true role in the story, it's possible that he ensured the survivors returned to their normal lives. The [[DontExplainTheJoke ending name]] is a fandom pun to keep new players from becoming completely spoiled.]] |
| 125 | ** The Axe ending [[spoiler:has Clover taking a dive into the deep end should she never learn that Snake is still alive, killing Santa and Seven for seemingly being the only two people who could have killed him. She also kills Akane for trying to protect them, and kills Junpei ForTheLulz. Meanwhile, Ace has lured Lotus away from everyone else and likely killed her for her bracelet, but will be unable to escape before Clover catches him due to his misunderstanding of the final door. Even assuming that whoever wins their confrontation is able to figure out ''q'', ultimately the only person to leave the building will be a serial murderer.]] |
| 126 | ** The Coffin ending, [[spoiler:the ending you get if you try to take the True End route out of order, leaves you with Santa taking June hostage and you facing an unsolvable puzzle.]] |
| 127 | ** The Syringe ending, a bad ending exclusive to the iOS version, [[spoiler:occurs if you go through Door 3. Junpei follows Clover after she runs off, and she stabs him with a syringe full of Soporil; he falls in the water around Deck D and drowns after succumbing to the drug.]] |
| 128 | ** The "True" Ending is, of course, an EarnYourHappyEnding. Quite literally too, as you can't possibly get it in your first playthrough. [[spoiler:Although how happy it actually ''is'' is in the eye of the beholder.]] |
| 129 | * DramaticIrony: The Axe ending is chock-full of this if you reach it after completing the Knife and Safe endings: |
| 130 | ** [[spoiler:Clover persuades everyone to check out the incomplete Door 2 under the guise of TakingAThirdOption instead of fighting for who leaves through Door 9, not knowing there are multiple Door 9s.]] |
| 131 | ** [[spoiler:Clover goes AxCrazy and murders multiple people because she thinks Snake is dead, but he isn't.]] |
| 132 | ** [[spoiler:Clover makes a big point of having the 0 bracelet, as it allows her and Junpei to open Door 9 without a third person. It turns out the 0 bracelet doesn't actually have the number 0 on it but O, resolving to a digital root of 6 instead.]] |
| 133 | [[/folder]] |
| 134 | |
| 135 | [[folder:Tropes E to H]] |
| 136 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: This game is much more linear than the other installments in the franchise, with a rather basic plot of [[spoiler:"save someone's past self from dying by a CorruptCorporateExecutive"]]. This is compared to the second game, which is much more absurd, including a severe case of [[spoiler:"project your consciousness into before the beginning of the game to stop a terrorist from killing a former/current Nonary Game mastermind to stop the leader of an organization from releasing a deadly virus that would kill everyone on Earth"]], something of which is actually incomprehensible. |
| 137 | * EarnYourBadEnding: While there's an easy way to access the Submarine Ending late in the game (by [[spoiler: going through Door 2 during the third fork]],) there's another way to quickly, irreparably railroad yourself into it as early as the second fork by [[spoiler: insisting on going through Door 3, even as Santa tells you there's no way to do it without leaving more people than just Ace behind, meaning you'll be betraying a big chunk of your party.]] On a second playthrough it makes sense from a meta perspective to do so, since [[spoiler: "Snake"'s body is behind Door 3]], but on the first playthrough it's a completely counterintuitive decision that ultimately [[spoiler: leaves Junpei LockedOutOfTheLoop about a way back into the main stairwell, leaving him thinking that the only way forward afterwards is through Door 2.]] |
| 138 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: The True Ending. [[spoiler:Three people die because of Zero, though, as revenge for having done bad deeds in life]]. |
| 139 | * TheEndOrIsIt: After the credits of the [[spoiler:Safe]] and [[spoiler:Submarine]] endings. The former is the ending you need to get the True ending, and the latter is a decoy that's completely expendable. |
| 140 | * TheEndingChangesEverything: The True Ending has some fairly massive twists and reveals the true purpose of the Nonary Game. [[spoiler:The biggest twist being that you've been playing as Akane 9 years ago through Junpei's eyes, and that she orchestrated the game to save herself in the past.]] ItMakesSenseInContext. |
| 141 | * EverybodysDeadDave: [[spoiler:the Submarine ending. Technically, ''all'' endings in which neither Akane nor Santa survive as they, being the masterminds behind the Nonary Game, are the only ones who know the secret of door q.]] |
| 142 | * EverybodyLives: [[spoiler:The True Ending... except the 9th Man and two more of the Corrupt Corporate Executives...]] |
| 143 | ** [[spoiler:On the other hand, with Nijisaki (Bracelet No is 2), Musashidou (Bracelet is the letter O => 24, 2 + 4 = [6]) and Kubota (Bracelet No is 9), Ace could've escaped with his co-conspirators of the Nonary Project. Add the fact that Santa and June could leave the game, and the alternate way of opening the Q door, it was indeed entirely possible that [[EveryoneLives every player could get out.]] June/Akane and Santa/Aoi's plan to both save Akane via StableTimeLoop and take revenge on their past tormentors involved giving them the ''option'' of getting out safely as long as they played by the rules of the game, but if they didn't, they were the ones who were actually in danger from the bombs, and Ace's betrayal of his various allies directly or indirectly to benefit himself in the game was something he ultimately ''chose'' to do of his own free will even when there was an alternative way out, allowing the 4 executives to all be punished whilst assuaging the duo's consciences]]. |
| 144 | * ExactTimeToFailure: As the game's title implies, the participants of the Nonary Game have nine hours to escape, 9 PM to 6 AM. [[spoiler:Played with, though: there actually is no danger of drowning at 6 AM because they've been in the Nevada desert all along, but due to a StableTimeLoop, Akane disappears from existence if Junpei doesn't save her past self in the incinerator at six via the morphogenetic field.]] |
| 145 | * ExactWords: Zero of all people uses this trope to create unnecessary violence in the Nonary Game with the rules. The goal, as announced over a loudspeaker, is to find an exit, a door with a 9 on it. [[spoiler:'''''A''''' door. It never says there is only one, and in fact there are two, but everyone assumes there's only one door 9 because there's just one of every other numbered door, 1 to 8. If the nine players had known this, there wouldn't have been so many murders because all nine of them could have escaped safely. But this is not the objective of the game.]] |
| 146 | ** At some point, Ace suspects that Zero is still somewhere on the ship, due to their opening message referring to "'''This''' ship" and not "'''That''' ship" or "'''The''' ship". |
| 147 | * {{Eyedscreen}} The "SEEK A WAY OUT!" intros for each escape segment features one of Junpei. In the "Nonary Games" version, starting an escape segment in Novel Mode has this area mysteriously blank. [[spoiler:After reaching the GoldenEnding and doing the latter again, the empty screen now shows Akane's eyes since Novel Mode is her perspective.]] |
| 148 | * EyesAlwaysShut: Snake. Justified in that he's blind. He only ever opens them when: |
| 149 | ** In one of the puzzles, when Seven/Clover/Snake/Junpei spell "pipe" in a cheer-leading fashion. Snake has his eyes wide open as he shouts "Gimme a P and an E!" |
| 150 | ** In the Safe ending, [[spoiler:Ace tells Snake that he killed Clover - and exactly ''how'' he did it - and Snake snaps and his eyes open as he swears to kill Ace. It's actually pretty terrifying.]] |
| 151 | ** When they're putting together what happened to Snake, his eyes are open in the still where he's going for the DEAD [[spoiler:Though as it turns out, that wasn't Snake at all.]] |
| 152 | * FailedASpotCheck: Seems to be the main reason that [[EverybodysDeadDave the bad ends]] happen. |
| 153 | ** An example is in the Knife ending, when [[spoiler:after discovering that Lotus' death had only happened recently, Junpei fails to realize the obvious and terrible reality that the killer is still there, since the floor they were on only had one entrance and exit (which was the same place) and that he just came out of the entrance with no one around.]] |
| 154 | ** Another example is the Axe ending, where [[spoiler:Junpei noticing Clover's sanity slippage may have stopped her from killing them.]] |
| 155 | ** And again in the Submarine ending; had they checked [[spoiler:''every'' body on the stairs for a pulse instead of just one (and, mind you, they made a point of doing this in every other ending involving a corpse), they would have realized quickly that Ace was [[PlayingPossum faking it]].]] |
| 156 | * FairPlayVillain: |
| 157 | ** Despite putting bombs in everyone to keep them in line, Zero makes sure to keep things fair in the Nonary Game, such as giving Snake extra information about the game to make up for him being blind and at a disadvantage. This continues as a story-wide mystery on ''why'' Zero would play such a cruel game completely fair. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that the last part of the game was designed to save everyone from the start, but in the end, was entirely designed to get revenge against the four creators of the previous game alongside providing the conditions for Akane (the true identity of Zero) to save herself in the past. Everyone else who wasn't targeted is free to go, alongside an SUV with a full tank to get out of Nevada.]] |
| 158 | ** Severely downplayed with [[spoiler:Gentaro Hongou; the mastermind behind the previous Nonary Game. While he is honest with providing Akane with a last chance to escape from the incinerator which did work in the true timeline, it's clear he's only doing this for the sake of the experiment and has no qualms about letting a child die.]] |
| 159 | * FantasticAesop: The lesson to seemingly take away from this game is [[spoiler:"don't let evil pharmaceutical company executives kidnap you and throw you into an incinerator as part of a plan to create morphogenetic fields to cure a man's prosopagnosia or you'll have to set up a replica game nine years later to connect with the field from nine years ago to save yourself in the past." In which case, [[SarcasmMode that's sure helpful to know]].]] |
| 160 | * {{Fauxshadow}}: |
| 161 | ** [[spoiler:There are hints that this is all an experiment by Cradle Pharmaceuticals to make crystals or experiment with humans for mind-control for scientific advancement. Well. That's not totally off-track, but wrong Nonary Game. This one's motive is a lot weirder.]] |
| 162 | ** Take a good look at [[spoiler:June's]] bracelet on the cover. [[spoiler:The upside-down 6 on her bracelet certainly looks an awful lot like a 9! ...Oh, you fell for that? Well, turns out it's a Red Herring, because June's actual bracelet number is 0, not 9.]] |
| 163 | * FinalBoss: [[spoiler:This game's equivalent to one... is a Sudoku Puzzle.]] Changed in the ''The Nonary Games'' version for [[spoiler:a hexadecimal puzzle instead.]] |
| 164 | * FinalExamBoss: The study, which is the last room to escape from and accessed in the game's path to the GoldenEnding, uses puzzles with elements from previous rooms. [[spoiler:Though it's not the final puzzle of the game.]] |
| 165 | * FirstEpisodeTwist: The 9th Man dying almost immediately after his introduction. |
| 166 | * FirstPersonPerspective: We see the action happen from Junpei's perspective, except static pictures here and there where he appears doing something. [[spoiler:However, it's later revealed that Young!Akane is watching all that through Junpei's eyes in the future, and that every interaction with the present is done by kid Akane. Notably, the first Puzzle Junpei has to solve to leave his flooding room has a necessary item taped to a mirror in the room, forcing him to look into his own reflection...and for Young!Akane to recognise who exactly she'd mind-linked to in the future.]] |
| 167 | * FissionMailed: While there are MultipleEndings, you cannot achieve the [[GoldenEnding True Ending]] on your first play-through. [[spoiler:For plot reasons.]] |
| 168 | * FiveSecondForeshadowing: [[spoiler:In the GoldenEnding where Junpei manages to help Past Akane escape the incinerator and she survives, the escaping children with Seven watch the Gigantic sink into the ocean, revealing that the ship is completely gone and shortly after, the present-day players find themselves on top of the Nevada facility.]] |
| 169 | * FlatCharacter: In the routes that have the most plot significance, the only one whose presence isn't really explained [[spoiler:with their connection to the previous Nonary Game]] is Lotus. She just kind of exists within her dynamic with Seven, to force splitting at times, [[spoiler:and her getting captured and being taken hostage by Ace in either major ending.]] The only way you can find any relation connecting her to the major MythArc [[spoiler:is to follow a deliberately stream-lined path that only goes to the Sub ending, that reveals her kids were part of the original game.]] |
| 170 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 171 | ** One of the first things Junpei says while recalling what happened when he got kidnapped by Zero is [[spoiler:him realising that the gas mask and disguised voice made it difficult to discern if Zero were a man or woman. Everyone assumes Zero is male until it's revealed at the end that [[SamusIsAGirl Zero was actually a woman]] - [[TheDogWasTheMastermind Akane Kurashiki]].]] |
| 172 | ** After the 9th Man coerces everyone into opening the [5] door for himself, only to blow up, Junpei tries to open the now-vacant [5] door using his [5] bracelet coupled with two other players, with all of the possible choices totalling 9 which combined with Junpei's [5] would make 14 (1+4=5). This clues in the player about an interesting quirk regarding the number 9 where adding it to a digital root won't change the result. [[spoiler:This was one of the reasons why Ace wanted to kill the 9th Man as he had the most powerful number in the Nonary Game and could go anywhere he wanted, so Ace tricked him into dying so he could use it for his own means.]] |
| 173 | ** There are various {{Info Dump}}s on things like telepathy, synchronous "communication" between molecules, et cetera, foreshadowing [[spoiler:young June transmitting her consciousness to present Junpei]]. |
| 174 | *** At one point, Lotus will show you a picture with black spots and ask you what the "photo" is supposed to be of. Then she will tell you a story about people doing an experiment by surveying a group of Americans about this picture. After a British radio show discussed the picture (Americans had no way to listen to this radio), scientists surveyed a different group of Americans and noticed that the percent who saw the picture correctly was higher than before, and then Lotus will discuss morphogenic resonance, or in short, telepathy. The funny thing here is that [[spoiler:you can start the story over and re-answer the question]]. |
| 175 | ** Memories of the Escape lists all the rooms to be gone through in the game, except they are listed in an odd order. It starts with the Third Class Cabin, your starting point, but then it goes through the the rooms behind doors 4, 7, 1, 9, 5, 8, 6, 3 and 2, in that order. This references [[spoiler:the path to the True Ending (4→7→1→9), the path to the Safe Ending (5→8→6) and the path to the Submarine Ending (any→3→2).]] |
| 176 | ** On certain routes, the team finds [[spoiler:a bracelet with the number zero.]] Upon experimentation, they discover it [[spoiler:actually represents six (the letter "O" is the 15th letter of the alphabet; 15's digital root is 6--this is also a hint about another letter that resembles a number), foreshadowing the fact that Zero is actually June.]] |
| 177 | ** There's foreshadowing all over the place; one particularly subtle bit is in a ''{{panty shot}} gag'' of all things. Santa gets giddy when he sees a staircase that's perfect for a panty shot and wishes that Clover was here to walk up and down them despite June being in the same room as them. [[spoiler:Santa and June are actually siblings.]] |
| 178 | ** In the 2nd Class Cabin, Santa while on the subject of why he hates the number 4 comments that he thinks 9 is a far better number because it's not a 'lameass middle number'. [[spoiler:His bracelet's true value is 9, being one of the masterminds behind Zero. Him also hating the "Love, Faith, Hope and Luck" leaf words tied to four-leaf clovers also foreshadows that he would likely associate it with one of the worst days of his life for a while since Akane died in the incinerator, rendering those four terms moot.]] |
| 179 | ** When the group is looking for Snake, Junpei can talk to Ace, and remark that he's surprised that Clover and Snake are siblings. Ace asks why, and when Junpei replies it's because they look so different, Ace says he supposes so. [[spoiler:Ace has prosopagnosia; he had no idea they looked different.]] Additionally, [[spoiler:Ace states that there are many siblings who do not look alike, foreshadowing the fact that Santa and June are siblings as well.]] |
| 180 | ** In the Safe ending, Junpei learns from Santa Ace's real identity, and that Ace told him this himself. [[spoiler:Given Ace already killed two people to hide that fact, why would he tell Santa? Easy; he didn't. Santa is one of the masterminds behind the game and knows exactly who Ace is.]] |
| 181 | ** The iron-plated windows slightly hint at [[spoiler:the team not being on a ship at all; if they could see outside, the illusion would be broken. Likewise, if Junpei checks the flooded corridors, he'll note that the water in them is mirror-calm and still...which shouldn't be possible on a moving boat in the ocean.]] |
| 182 | ** Not too important, but when you look at the lights in the 1st Class Cabin and Junpei remarks they have light on their side, Snake looks surprised until Junpei clarifies where they are. [[spoiler:Light is Snake's real name.]] |
| 183 | ** In the bad endings, you'll often come across another player who has just died, with the exception of [[spoiler:"Snake" and the 9th Man, which cannot be prevented.]] If you've already gotten another bad ending, [[spoiler:you'll probably realize that it won't be long for Junpei after that. This may be a result of June simply wanting to end that path since it didn't help her.]] Another subtle sign of bad endings are [[spoiler:June's incinerator induced fevers and Seven's discrepancy-possible-false-memories.]] |
| 184 | ** In a bit of genius, during the Safe ending, [[spoiler:you end up with the password 14383421. According to an interview with WordOfGod, he chose that because, if you multiply it by nine, you get 129450789... the actual numerical values of everyone's bracelets if you read them in order, with Santa being [9] and June/Akane being [0].]] |
| 185 | ** The detonators [[spoiler:not being real, except for the ones in the 9th Man and "Snake",]] is hinted at in a couple of places, specifically [[spoiler:when Junpei observes that one of the searches for the DEAD felt like a ''lot'' longer than 81 seconds.]] |
| 186 | ** When choosing door [[spoiler:'''[3]''', after Santa realizes Junpei's plan to go into the same room as June, and that he can't talk Junpei out of it, seems more intent than others on entering. June's bracelet is, of course, not '''[6]''', and Santa's bracelet is not '''[3]''' either.]] |
| 187 | *** The [[spoiler:Coffin Ending]] has the same thing. [[spoiler:The plan to send two groups of three through the doors would've sent Santa and June through separate doors, too.]] |
| 188 | ** The map Junpei finds of the E Deck has a large part of its center burned away. [[spoiler:Rather appropriate, considering there's a gigantic incinerator somewhere in the ship, even if it isn't on that same deck.]] |
| 189 | ** Santa, at one point, says that you shouldn't trust anyone in the Nonary Game, because the person you trust most will turn on you. [[spoiler:The person Junpei trusts most is Akane. She turns out to be behind the whole thing. For bonus {{Irony}}, Santa and Akane, the masterminds behind the second Nonary game, are the only ones in the room with Junpei when this is said.]] Also, [[spoiler: the one most persistent on everyone trusting everyone is Ace, the guy that did the original Nonary Game.]] |
| 190 | ** When toying with the thermometer behind door 3, Santa explains to Junpei that the reason thermometers stop at 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) is because temperatures higher than that will cause permanent damage to the human body (comparing it to hard-boiling an egg) and that there is no point. He also explains that no disease would raise a fever to that high anyways. One would have to be forced into a super-heated sauna or an incinerator to reach temperatures like that. [[spoiler:June's on-and-off fever comes from being burned to death via TemporalParadox.]] |
| 191 | ** There's various foreshadowing that Ace [[spoiler:can't recognize faces due to prosopagnosia]]. Junpei himself notices and thinks to himself that Ace is acting strange. |
| 192 | ** Also on the subject of Ace his reaction to [[spoiler:Junpei choosing Door [5] reveals a lot, in hindsight. Snake summarizes that the easiest way to include Junpei in the [5] group would be to have him swap groups with Ace and Clover. Ace is surprisingly taken aback, and seems reluctant to switch. He wanted to retrieve the 9th Man's bracelet, but doesn't have any other good excuse for forcing himself to go through Door [5].]] |
| 193 | --> '''Ace:''' Oh... all right. That's... that's fine. |
| 194 | ** The demo for the game is different in that it has June in the same 3rd Class Cabin as Junpei at the beginning. [[spoiler: When Junpei recognizes her, a specific song starts playing, called "Who Is Zero".]] |
| 195 | ** Junpei tries to forcibly remove his bracelet right at the beginning of the game, only to discover that it's not possible. Later on, he finds out that there's a game rule that attempting to remove the bracelet by force will trigger a detonator that are inside participants prematurely. Seems like Junpei was lucky enough to give up trying to remove his bracelet before he went too far, else he would have ended up exploding before he had even left the very first room of the game. [[spoiler: But in reality, there was actually no bomb of any kind to detonate inside anybody (besides the 9th Man and "Snake") to begin with]]. |
| 196 | ** One bit of foreshadowing was added in the ''The Nonary Games'' re-edition when June compares the shape of the furnace to kamaboko (fish cake). [[spoiler:Who else uses food-based comparisons? The narrator.]] |
| 197 | ** Once the party discovers [[spoiler: Snake's body]], one of the grisly details Junpei notices is an open fracture on the corpse's left arm, [[spoiler:which at some point gives away that it's not Snake's body at all, as he has a prosthetic left arm.]] |
| 198 | ** Santa's story regarding the evil "[[DarkIsEvil Black Santa]]" and the good "[[LightIsGood White Santa]]" has him wonder if he's the good or bad Santa. [[spoiler:His entire colour scheme is black and white because he's an AntiVillain working with Zero (Akane) to get revenge against the original four planners of the Nonary Game and save Akane, which also fits with his story where the good Santa killed the bad Santa to save others.]] |
| 199 | * FourIsDeath: |
| 200 | ** Not related to the puzzles, per se, but the history and people behind the Nonary Game: [[spoiler:Cradle Pharmaceutical's CEO Gentarou Hongou, who designed the project; Nagisa Nijisaki, Hongou's right-hand man and planner of the game; Teruaki Kubota, who developed the puzzles; and Kagechika Musashidou, who funded the project. Their experiment nearly kills several children in the process.]] |
| 201 | ** The Axe ending. [[spoiler:Most of the group is murdered by Clover, who has bracelet number 4. It's also the only one of the four bad endings where the face of Junpei's murderer is revealed.]] |
| 202 | ** Alluded to when Santa mentions his dislike for the number four. In the English version, Junpei asks if it's about the Four Horsemen; clearly in the original he just thinks Santa is superstitious. It is probable that the reason Santa hates the number four [[spoiler: is that Snake used four-leaf clovers in the first Nonary Game to encourage the other players to have faith, and by the end of the game his sister was dead.]] |
| 203 | ** Four is also the total number of bad endings (not counting the [[spoiler:Coffin]] ending, which is not really an ending at all so much as an acknowledgement that you were too smart for your own good and fulfilled the requirements for reaching the True Ending before the plot was ready to let you get there). |
| 204 | ** Subverted with Door 4. After seeing how Door 5 took out the 9th Man, you might think that Door 4 has some more death for you ([[spoiler:especially when you're locked in the freezer]])... But it doesn't. |
| 205 | ** Subverted again with Door 4. [[spoiler:Of the two doors you have a choice to take at the beginning of the game, it's Door 4 that ultimately leads to the true ending with the ''most'' people surviving - in fact, everyone but Ace's former companions on the previous Nonary Game.]] |
| 206 | * FourLeafClover: Clover uses this as her numerological motif. This ties into [[spoiler:the clover bookmark in the second Nonary Game and Snake's nine clovers in the first one]]. |
| 207 | * FreudianExcuse: |
| 208 | ** [[spoiler:The creator of the first Nonary Game, Gentarou Hongou, wanted to research how kids processed information about faces and use those findings to cure his own prosopagnosia (face blindness).]] |
| 209 | ** [[spoiler:The one who orchestrated the second game, Akane, wanted to save the life of her past self and take revenge on Cradle Pharmaceutical, the corporation who ruined her life.]] |
| 210 | * GainaxEnding: |
| 211 | ** [[spoiler:Junpei and his companions have finally escaped the Nonary Game, and everything seems good and well (except that Junpei has to start a pursuit for Akane)... And suddenly you see a naked Egyptian woman hitchhiking in the middle of the desert. And the game just ends with that, implying that Junpei will get to know her in the next installment. And he does.]] |
| 212 | ** [[spoiler:The Safe Ending is this until you get the True Ending, [[MindScrewdriver which answers a lot of questions about it]]. Everything happens in a perfectly understandable manner until Ace and Snake's death, at which point Junpei returns to the Chapel to find June apparently dying from her fever. Suddenly, June disappears when Junpei isn't looking, and Zero cryptically announces their own failure over the loudspeaker before Junpei is knocked unconscious with another gas grenade. Roll credits.]] |
| 213 | * GasMaskLongcoat: Zero. And justified as Zero threw incapacitating smoke bombs at the players to kidnap them. |
| 214 | * GambitRoulette: [[spoiler:Although admittedly being able to see the future, even if only once and when in mortal peril, gives a pretty good edge as to how to set up some of the crazier stunts Zero pulls - such as Snake's switcheroo, and knowing how and when Ace would react to "Snake" alone and seemingly confused.]] |
| 215 | * GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Uses the DS's dual-screen functionality for [[spoiler:the plot twist that you're playing two people]]: |
| 216 | ** When in the novel sections, Junpei's thoughts are displayed on the top/left screen in first person, while most of his actions are described in detail on the bottom/right screen in third person. [[spoiler:This foreshadows the fact that there are two narrators.]] |
| 217 | ** During escape puzzles, the top and bottom screens will show the rooms exactly the same unless the player zooms in on an area or accesses their inventory/files, with the top screen being used exclusively for character speech. [[spoiler:The bottom screen is Akane, the true player character, who is giving all the answers to Junpei with him none the wiser.]] |
| 218 | ** Junpei finally [[spoiler:being in control and solving the sudoku puzzle by himself without the help of past!Akane]] is represented by the sudoku puzzle being displayed upside-down, forcing the player to rotate their DS so the touchscreen is at the top. |
| 219 | ** Even the NewGamePlus is integrated into the story, as [[spoiler:past!Akane is having visions of every possible future during the current Nonary Game. In fact, one of the bad endings is ''required'' to get the good ending, as past!Akane conveys information gained during that ending to Junpei, allowing him to [[SequenceBreaking Sequence Break]] his way past a keypad lock.]] |
| 220 | ** Once it's established that [[spoiler:the bottom screen/Novel Mode is Akane's perspective, replaying an Escape section replaces the previously-blank {{Eyedscreen}} with Akane's. The "Nonary Games" rerelease retains this if the player starts an Escape in Novel Mode since you're in Akane's perspective.]] |
| 221 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: [[spoiler:Late in the game, it's revealed that the bottom screen shows what Akane sees in the past. Despite this, the bottom screen shows the blood spatter from "Snake's" corpse in the shower room behind door 3, something that wasn't there 9 years ago. Unlike the body in the Captain's Quarters, this is unavoidable because there is a clue for the puzzle on the same wall, and leaving the blood spatter out would be a dead giveaway that something was amiss.]] The ''The Nonary Games'' version averts this, since it removes the dual screens entirely. |
| 222 | * {{Gorn}}: Meticulously detailed descriptions of exploded corpses, anyone? |
| 223 | * GoryDiscretionShot: The game refuses to directly show you any of the exploded people, but to undo that, gives ''sickeningly'' detailed descriptions of the corpses in text. This doubles as a way to avoid a spoiler with the second victim since, if the corpse was shown, any decently observant player might notice that [[spoiler:its hair color does not match Snake's. Even with all the blood and half the head gone, it would have been a dead giveaway that Snake was still alive]]. |
| 224 | ** The touchscreen fades to black every time the narration describes a corpse since [[spoiler: it's from the perspective of the first Nonary Game, which didn't include said corpses]] |
| 225 | * GridPuzzle: The true route ends with such a puzzle. In the original Platform/NintendoDS release it's a sudoku[[note]]in the later re-releases it's a number-base puzzle[[/note]] that needs the console to be [[ParadiegeticGameplay held upside-down]] to be solved. Since the bottom part of the screen represents Junpei, it means that it's him who is cracking the puzzle instead of TheProtagonist Akane (who is in the middle of a nervous breakdown due to the impossibility of the challenge and the previous reveals). |
| 226 | * GuideDangIt: One of the most common criticisms of the game was that the path to the true ending was very well hidden, practically requiring the player to make random guesses in order to find it. It doesn't help that you need to obtain a very specific DownerEnding in order to even play the true ending successfully. There ''are'' clues to the two routes you need to take, but it's equally possible to be WrongGenreSavvy or RightForTheWrongReasons when making decisions. ''The Nonary Games'' re-release adapts the flowchart used in ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', making it much easier to track the paths and endings taken. |
| 227 | ** There are only four story checks that ''must'' be cleared to unlock the True End. If you play the game competently the entire time, you don't need to change your dialogue choices so much as line up the correct sequence of doors. [[spoiler:All the choices you're offered while searching for Snake will have absolutely no bearing on the ending you receive, but if you don't know that, then the paths ''will'' seem hidden. The fact that the game greys out previously-used choices doesn't help, as it implicitly suggests that your prior choices were wrong.]] |
| 228 | ** The fact that even if you choose all of the correct doors and [[spoiler:give Clover the bookmark]], you still won't reach the True Ending if you didn't [[spoiler:learn about Ice-9 or didn't talk to Seven about it when he mentioned EDT.]] It really doesn't seem to have any relevance. |
| 229 | ** At the actual choosing of doors, there's only one split where one choice doesn't stand out very well as being the "most logical"--the 7-8 split. [[spoiler:4 is more logical than 5 because given which characters have already refused to go through the #5 door and which ones have volunteered, the only way to make the groups even in size would be to send June and Junpei through the #4 door with Santa and Lotus--and given the perceived danger, keeping the groups even seems wisest. It's the right choice. At the 6-1-2 split, the pairs that choose the #1 and #2 doors have digital roots of 5 and 6 respectively and could therefore go through their chosen doors with the addition of Junpei's 5, but the pair that chooses Door #6 has a digital root of 9; the group as a whole has a digital root of 7, so sending groups through the #1 and #6 doors is the only way to make sure everyone goes through a door. Combining these two truths makes Door #1 the "most logical" choice... and again, it's ''the correct one''. The only hint for choosing Door #7 is that you've already explored a room with Lotus, and thus need to go with Seven. Likewise, the path for the Safe Ending involves going through #5 with Seven and Snake, and thus going with Lotus (Door #8) at the next split. [[MoonLogicPuzzle This all really makes more sense in hindsight]].]] |
| 230 | ** Also, the final puzzle in the torture room. Two switches each on two separate screens, each with three potential positions, and all four switches must be in the proper position to proceed. Unlike most times, there's no clue in the room as to what the proper configuration is, and because of the screen separation, you could have both switches on your current screen in the right position and not even know it because the switches on the other screen are wrong. This is mitigated in ''The Nonary Games'' re-release, where they give you a hint for the correct configuration. |
| 231 | ** The final puzzle in ''The Nonary Games'' updates the Sudoku puzzle to include hexadecimal letters. Though numerous hints are given regarding how the puzzle works, after a certain point, you will be prompted to simply reset the puzzle upon failing. However, this prompt also contains a ''very'' subtle hint about how you can figure out the password. |
| 232 | * HeKnowsTooMuch: |
| 233 | ** [[spoiler:Ace murders the 9th Man and the man he thinks is Snake to avoid his involvement in the Nonary Project leaking to the rest of the cast.]] |
| 234 | ** [[spoiler:Ace also kills Clover in the Safe ending because she can deduce that Ace grabbed the 9th Man's bracelet, which may cast suspicion on him. Also because she found Musashidou, one of the men behind the first Nonary Game, in the Captain's Quarters.]] |
| 235 | * HeroicSacrifice: |
| 236 | ** If you do the math, you'll see that not everyone can go through the numbered doors at the hospital room. [[spoiler:Ace thus decides to stay behind so the rest can go through Doors 7 and 8. However, eventually they all get back to the hospital room, [[SubvertedTrope so the sacrifice wasn't really needed.]] But, later on, you discover that it was a BatmanGambit to keep the others from finding out he murdered who he thought was Snake]]. |
| 237 | ** [[spoiler:Snake himself pulls one in the Safe Ending, combined with TakingYouWithMe.]] |
| 238 | * HidingTheHandicap: |
| 239 | ** [[spoiler:Ace keeps his prosopagnosia hidden]]. |
| 240 | ** [[spoiler:Snake is open about his blindness, but keeps the fact that he also has a prosthetic arm hidden]]. |
| 241 | * HurricaneOfEuphemisms: |
| 242 | ** Junpei and June at the Saturn elevator, if you choose to assume the right (that is to say, wrong) reason for her nervousness. Doubles as InnocentInnuendo, but works better as this trope simply because of how long they go at it before Junpei realizes what June is referring to. |
| 243 | ** There's also a [[spoiler:TooFunnyToBeEvil]] dimension to this: it's unlikely you'd realize [[spoiler:that's '''Zero''' you just had that conversation with!]] |
| 244 | * HurricaneOfPuns: Pick a door, any door. Chances are that you'll see at least one pun if you examine everything multiple times. Junpei, June, Clover, and Seven are the most major offenders of this trope. |
| 245 | [[/folder]] |
| 246 | |
| 247 | [[folder:Tropes I to Q]] |
| 248 | * IdiotBall: |
| 249 | %%ZCE** Junpei can hold onto this firmly depending on the player's actions. |
| 250 | ** [[spoiler:If Akane hadn't gone back for June (the doll) nine years ago, she never would have ended up locked in the incinerator all alone and the Second Nonary Game would have never been necessary in the first place.]] |
| 251 | * ImproperlyParanoid: After Junpei has his name said out loud, the others consider introducing themselves, but decide to use codenames at Seven's suggestion that Zero could be listening to their conversations, ignoring the fact that as someone who meticulously kidnapped them, Zero should ''already'' know their names. [[spoiler: Of course, the reason everyone agrees to this is not to hide their identities from Zero, but from each other.]] |
| 252 | * IncompetenceInc: Plain old bureaucratic incompetence plays a role in the game's backstory. [[spoiler:The first Nonary game was designed to have pairs of siblings transmit information from one location to another, but due to a mix-up Akane and Aoi Kurashiki were placed in the same test site.]] |
| 253 | * InstantSedation: The drug Soporil does this, instantly knocking out the victim with no negative side effects unless the victim is given an extreme overdose (and then, only EasyAmnesia ensues for a while). In a positive case, this makes its inventor very, very rich. |
| 254 | * InterfaceScrew: You have to [[spoiler:flip the DS upside-down]] for the final puzzle. This actually makes sense in-story, because [[spoiler:all this time you've been playing as Akane 9 years ago, sending answers to Junpei in the present, with the top and bottom screens representing the two time periods respectively; this is the first and only time the situation is reversed]]. Averted in the ''The Nonary Games'' version. |
| 255 | * InterfaceSpoiler: Zigzagged with the flowchart in the ''Nonary Games'' release. [[spoiler: While it does spoil certain things such as where major narrative forks are and where certain [[PointOfNoReturn Points Of No Return]] are, all the nodes for the GoldenEnding are hidden away behind the node for the Coffin Ending until you get past it.]] |
| 256 | * InTheBack: |
| 257 | ** In the Submarine ending, [[spoiler:after discovering that everyone around you is dead, you leave them all behind and try to escape in the yellow sub... And just as you're reaching the hatch, you get stabbed by an unrevealed person. It's heavily implied that the one who killed them all is Ace.]] |
| 258 | ** In the Knife ending, [[spoiler:you go down to E Deck and discover that Lotus is dead. Stabbed. [[GenreBlindness Thanks to your great intelligence]], you get knifed as well while examining her body. Again, it's widely accepted that the one who killed both of you is Ace.]] |
| 259 | ** [[spoiler:Clover is stabbed by Ace in the Safe ending because she knows about Musashidou and the fact that he's got the 9th Man's bracelet.]] |
| 260 | * IronicEcho: The question "you really wanna know...?" is asked early on by [[spoiler:the Ninth Man to Clover, moments before he suddenly pulls a knife on her and takes her hostage.]] This phrase is echoed exactly in the [[spoiler:Axe ending]] by [[spoiler:Clover herself -- before she turns out her pockets to reveal [[EverybodysDeadDave the detached bracelets of everyone she entered Door 2 with]] to Junpei.]] |
| 261 | * {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Snake]], after [[spoiler:everyone thinking him dead]], and after [[spoiler:he has just come out of a coffin]]: |
| 262 | -->You're acting as though I've returned from the grave. |
| 263 | * ItsUpToYou: In spite of everyone working to escape the place, you're the only one who actually does any real work in the groups you're in. Granted, some of your teammates are more helpful than others. [[spoiler: Justified by the fact that certain characters ''have'' to play dumb to certain puzzles, as they've seen them before. Only one character uses advance knowledge of the solution to sneak off.]] |
| 264 | * JigsawPuzzlePlot: The Safe ending path contains many plot-relevant revelations that are required to unlock the true ending. |
| 265 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The upper screen displays everything as an ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney''-style visual novel, while the lower screen shows text typical to games such as ''VisualNovel/WhenTheyCry''. [[spoiler: This is to reflect that the player is controlling two people, one in the present and one in the past.]] In the ''The Nonary Games'' version, the two screens' text has been modified into two modes for one screen, with the upper screen text changed to ADV/Adventure Mode and the lower screen text changed to NOVEL Mode, with a few new lines added to each so that the experience is as fluid no matter what the player prefers. [[spoiler:To keep the twist, when the game switches to Past!Akane's point of view in the True Ending path, the modes' names change to JUNPEI Mode for the former and AKANE Mode for the latter.]] |
| 266 | * {{Leitmotif}}: |
| 267 | ** [[spoiler:Even Ace has his own theme.]] |
| 268 | ** [[spoiler:There's also a track on the OST called "Imaginary" that seems to pop up whenever you're talking to June...]] |
| 269 | * LackOfEmpathy: [[spoiler:Ace/Hongou. The problem might be related to his prosopagnosia: at a few points, he rants about how he can't really "see" people.]] |
| 270 | * LetsSplitUpGang: Forced by the way the numbered doors work (only three to five players can pass at one time). This trope is also played with and discussed -- characters show reluctance to split up for fear of becoming even more lost. |
| 271 | * LockedInAFreezer: |
| 272 | ** In the kitchen behind Door 4. |
| 273 | ** [[spoiler:The Incinerator.]] |
| 274 | * LoopholeAbuse: |
| 275 | ** 3 to 5 bracelets have to verify in the RED and DEAD in order to safely enter a numbered door. All bracelets are strongly attached to their owners and can't be taken off while they're alive. So a player would think that they need 2 to 4 more players to enter a door. It's the only option, right? Wrong! There is no rule that says that the ''person'' themselves has to verify — just their bracelet. [[spoiler:This allows for characters to use other dead players' bracelets with no punishment whatsoever.]] |
| 276 | ** Once 9 seconds pass after a numbered door is opened, it closes, and it won't open the other way. Exit doors in some puzzle rooms also appear to work this way. So the players can't backtrack, and instead have to use the provided keys and keycards to unlock the [[DoorToBefore doors to the original corresponding areas]]. Or so it seemed at first glance! There is no rule saying that the players can't jam a numbered/exit door with an item to keep it open the whole time. In fact, this is a habit of Seven's that proves to be important to the plot later on. |
| 277 | ** In a late puzzle of the game, you must make digital roots with numbered balls. It has 4 stages, which all share the same mechanics and rules: there are 2 numbered areas and you have to use all balls to match one digital root or the other (each one allowing 3-5 balls), [[DontExplainTheJoke which seems an awful lot like players entering numbered doors]]. In the first 3 stages, you have to use both areas, so you would think that the goal is to have both areas filled. But! If you try to do so in the 4th stage, which has only 5 balls, you will never solve it. Why is this fair? Because the rules never said that you had to fill both areas. They just stated that each area can contain 3-5 balls. You just need to place all balls in one area, and leave the other empty. |
| 278 | * LostInTranslation: |
| 279 | ** Santa is a downplayed example. His codename puns off of the Japanese word for three, "san", but obviously most English players wouldn't know this off-hand. This forces Santa to go out of his way to explain this in the English translation. |
| 280 | ** Unfortunately, what's lost is a pronunciation pun, which is rather important during the climax of the True End, and makes no sense for the players unless they know Japanese. [[spoiler:Specifically, the most common pronunciation for the number ''9'' in Japanese is "kyu" which is a homophone of "q". This also gives more meaning to the "Captain's Quarters," a door with a "q" where a witness is waiting for Ace to confess to his crimes; if he chooses to do so, he will be freed.]] An attempt was made to fix the most important part by changing it into a VisualPun ([[spoiler:the instructions were moved to a card in Junpei's pocket, and the number 9 does awfully like a lowercase letter q]]), but a {{Flashback}} towards the end of the game mistakenly shows the wrong thing, making most players forget that detail. The ''Nonary Games'' re-release fixes the mistake. |
| 281 | ** Junpei's deduction of [[spoiler:figuring out how the authentication of the 'q' door works would make sense for a non-native English speaker, but a more simple explanation for a native English speaker is "Q is the 17th letter and its digital root is 8." The logic of the 'O' bracelet working as a 2nd 6 falls under the same logic; O = the 15th letter and its digital root is 6.]] |
| 282 | ** While investigating Room 4, Junpei and Akane find a bed with two pillows, which causes Akane to turn bright red. If you examine the bed three times, Akane will notice the tall bed frame and tell Junpei that they don't have to worry about falling off, since she "tosses and turns when she sleeps". While it is a harmless statement in English, the original phrase in the Japanese version is "negaeri o utsu" (lit. "to strike sleep turns"), also meaning [[spoiler:"to betray", i.e. not only to turn in one's sleep, but also to "turn on somebody"]], packing a clever mix of {{Foreshadowing}} into an arguable AccidentalPun. |
| 283 | ** [[spoiler:In Japanese Akane and Aoi mean "red" and "blue", respectively. When code names are chosen, Akane's is "Murasaki" which means "purple" and is derived from the number 6 due to some Japanese wordplay. This also ties into the ending where the voodoo doll is thought by Junpei to be a "budou doll", "budou" meaning "grape". As a result they end up naming it "Murasaki" or "purple". There are consequently numerous instances of the colors red and blue being used throughout the game along with a few cases of combining to form purple.]] |
| 284 | * LoveTranscendsSpacetime: [[spoiler:Junpei did not previously have a strong connection to the morphogenetic field, but still managed to awaken his potential to send and receive through the field to transmit the information needed to save Akane in the past simply through his bond with her.]] |
| 285 | * LuminescentBlush: June is prone to getting these, [[ShipTease especially when alone with Junpei]]. |
| 286 | * MagicSquarePuzzle: There's a 3x3 square that must be filled with the numbered pins you find in the Cargo room. If it wasn't difficult enough per se, part of its nastiness comes from figuring out what the rows, columns and diagonals must equal. It gives you a hint in hexadecimal, though, which is a numerical base you've been using in previous puzzles; but you might as well have forgotten about it by the time you encounter this square, especially due to NewGamePlus reruns. |
| 287 | * MaidenMotherAndCrone: The main female characters. [[spoiler:June could be this trope all on her own, given how the game skips between time periods.]] |
| 288 | ** Clover is the Maiden. She's whimsical and emotional - intelligent but lacking in maturity. Lotus - apart from being a literal mother - is the oldest, and tends to treat the other players like they're children. [[spoiler:Future!]]June[[spoiler:/Zero]] is the Crone - she possesses knowledge both rare and mystical, [[spoiler:and she's manipulating everyone as fate dictates.]] |
| 289 | * MeaningfulName: |
| 290 | ** [[spoiler:On a meta level, Lotus's twin daughters, Nona and Ennea. The game is centered around the Nonary game, and the main characters are modeled after UsefulNotes/TheEnneagram]]. |
| 291 | ** [[spoiler:Ennea is Greek for 9 and Nona the Latin prefix for 9th]]. |
| 292 | ** [[spoiler:Cradle Pharmaceuticals turns out to be a little ''too'' appropriate of a name, due to them eventually kidnapping children.]] |
| 293 | * MindScrew: Being a [[JigsawPuzzlePlot really complex story whose dots you have to connect in order to understand any of it]], you can expect ''999'' to be filled with really weird events every now and then, which will only make sense when you have completed the game. To name a few: |
| 294 | ** [[spoiler:The pieces of the [=REDs=] at the hospital room go missing and appear out of nowhere a while later.]] And no one has any clue as to [[spoiler:who tampered with them, where were they in the meantime or when they were placed back.]] |
| 295 | ** You find a blown up body in [[spoiler:Door 3's shower room]], a room that supposedly no one visited before you did. [[spoiler:And it's the person who went missing while you were searching for the [=RED=] parts. Or, at least, that's what the characters thought at the time.]] |
| 296 | ** Later on [[spoiler:you find another corpse. But this time, it's a man who wasn't even participating in the game, was killed with an axe, no one seemingly could've done it, and he wears a bracelet with the number 0 in it. And wears the clothes of a captain.]] |
| 297 | ** You finally find Door 9. Nice. But turns out [[spoiler:there is another one at the back of the room. And you were never told there were two doors with a 9 all along.]] |
| 298 | ** The whole Submarine ending is confusing as hell. You get the Sun key after escaping an unsettling puzzle room, and the first thing you find when you get to C deck is that [[spoiler:a door that was locked last time you checked is already open. Then you encounter three people seemingly stabbed lying on the staircase. You decide to use your Sun key, but the door for the key is already unlocked as well. But wait, there's more: June is lying on a pool of blood at the other end of the Sun door, and she never tells you who stabbed her. Then you back to check up on your companions, but they're already dead. And to top it all off, the killer stabs you in the back while you're trying to make your escape with the submarine. The game never shows the killer's face or name. The most likely theory judging from the Knife and Safe endings is that Ace (who had the knife at the time) was FakingTheDead in order to ambush the last three players.]] |
| 299 | ** TheReveal that someone was the NarratorAllAlong, especially considering their circumstances, is the very name of this trope. It hits really hard on the player. |
| 300 | ** The many {{Info Dump}}s can be pretty confusing. Especially the ones about morphogenetic fields and All-Ice. [[spoiler:And only the morphogenetic fields are useful to understand the story.]] |
| 301 | ** Some symbolism and extremely obscure foreshadowing can be seen as this, such as [[spoiler:the note with the "Truth had gone" riddle]]. They're only obvious in hindsight. |
| 302 | ** [[spoiler:Telling the younger self of your love interest how to solve a sudoku/letter scrambling puzzle in order to ensure that her present self doesn't disappear from existence and her past self can create the way to save herself in her future so the loop keeps stable.]] |
| 303 | * MirrorScare: In a flashback, we see Junpei getting back home at midnight. Right when he was going to close the window, he sees the image of a masked person in a coat behind him. And he's kidnapped right after that. |
| 304 | * MisplacedRetribution: [[spoiler:In the Axe ending, Clover snaps and kills Santa and Seven in revenge for her brother's death since their numbers were the only ones which could open Door 3 as well as June who tried to protect them, then kills Junpei for good measure. Not only was Snake actually alive, none of them were responsible for the dead man in the Shower Room in the first place.]] |
| 305 | * MoodWhiplash: The game goes from mystery to funny to dark to funny again to really dark. In a moment of FridgeBrilliance, that's how humans in a similar situation would respond. [[DiscussedTrope It becomes a discussed trope]] in one room. |
| 306 | * MoreDakka: In the Safe ending, [[spoiler:Ace wastes his entire load of bullets onto a [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge furious]] Snake, thinking that will bring him down]]. [[{{Determinator}} It does not.]] |
| 307 | * MultipleEndings: Six of them, with an extra bad ending added for the iOS version. [[spoiler:They're technically ''all'' canon, thanks to the TimeyWimeyBall, but the True Ending is more canon than the others]]. |
| 308 | * MurderByMistake: [[spoiler:Ace's prosopagnosia results in him murdering Nijisaki, the decoy, instead of Snake. Granted, judging by the murder of the 9th Man partly being motivated by him [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]], he would have murdered Nijisaki, an accomplice in the Nonary Project, anyway.]] |
| 309 | * MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:Seven couldn't save kid Akane from being burned alive in the Gigantic's incinerator 9 years ago. However, either he was outright lying or he didn't remember correctly, because Akane clearly made it to the present.]] |
| 310 | * NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler:Akane. Not June from the game, but Akane from 9 years ago. While, for most of the game, it seems like there is third-person narration, in the True Ending, Akane reveals it was her all along. See WhamLine below.]] |
| 311 | * NeverSayDie: When on the elevator with Junpei, June inadvertently fuels existing sexual tension by referring to dying as going to heaven instead. |
| 312 | * NeverTrustATitle: Each part of the title is subverted in some way as the story progresses. |
| 313 | ** Nine Hours: [[spoiler:The "ship" that everyone is on is not a ship at all, but a building in the middle of the desert, obviously not in any danger of sinking, let alone in nine hours. At least, [[TimeyWimeyBall in the present.]]]] |
| 314 | ** Nine Persons: [[spoiler:While there initially seem to be only nine characters, two more later show up dead: the Captain (Kagechika Musashidou) and Guy X (Nagisa Nijisaki).]] |
| 315 | ** Nine Doors: [[spoiler:While there is only one each of doors 1 through 8, there are three doors labelled 9. Or rather, two nines ''and a q''.]] |
| 316 | * NeverTrustATrailer: |
| 317 | ** [[spoiler: The Ninth Man is played up in promotional materials and game art as having just as big a role in the plot as everyone else. Which he ''does'', kinda, but only long after he's [[WeHardlyKnewYe killed in the first hour of the game.]]]] |
| 318 | ** [[spoiler: The very first scene of the game is an exterior shot of the Gigantic, lending credence to all the claims that you're trapped on the ship. In reality, the Gigantic sank 9 years ago, in the previous Nonary Game, and everyone is ''actually'' in an interior replica built in Building Q in the Nevada desert, where the second half of the previous experiment took place.]] |
| 319 | * NewGamePlus: Upon beating the game for the first time, the game starts tracking which endings you've earned. You can also "begin with memories" which allows you to speed past dialogue you've already seen and dims choices you've already made in previous play-throughs. Also a rare instance of [[spoiler: the NewGamePlus being canon, as thanks to time-travel morphogenetic field shenanigans, Junpei is able to know things in the GoldenEnding route [[RippleEffectProofMemory that he only learned in other routes.]]]] |
| 320 | * NightmareFace: |
| 321 | ** A hopeless Junpei in [[spoiler:the Axe ending, where he falls down to his knees and bemoans the loss of June, Santa, and Seven to an AxCrazy Clover]]. |
| 322 | ** [[spoiler:An irate Snake opening his blind eyes and puling out a RoaringRampageOfRevenge on Ace for killing Clover]] in the Safe ending. |
| 323 | ** The True Ending route gives you several repeated shots of [[spoiler:young Ace gingerly looking through a small window outside the incinerator room, waiting for young Akane to unlock her power to get into the morphogenetic fields to save herself from being burned alive]]. |
| 324 | * NoEnding: [[spoiler: The Coffin Ending, a truncated version of the True Ending that just abruptly stops with Junpei, Seven and Clover trapped in the Chapel with a coffin with someone trapped inside and loudly banging on the lid, but no way to actually open the coffin (the passcode to open it is found in the Safe Ending.)]] |
| 325 | * NoNameGiven: The 9th Man. [[spoiler:At least, not initially.]] Also Seven, who unlike the people listed under OnlyOneName doesn't get this remedied in [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials.]] |
| 326 | * NoOneGetsLeftBehind: |
| 327 | ** In the True Ending, [[spoiler:Lotus offers to stay in the incinerator so Junpei, Seven, Clover, and Snake can escape. They refuse.]] |
| 328 | ** And before that, [[spoiler:Seven offered to stay by himself in the Chapel, so that two teams of three could go through the nine doors. He was summarily refused by everyone... except for Santa.]] |
| 329 | ** [[spoiler:Snake offering to stay behind for the ninth door. He had a trump card.]] |
| 330 | ** [[spoiler:Defied by Ace, who offers to stay behind in the hospital, and injects himself with anesthetic to force everyone to go along with it. Turns out, however, that he had less than altruistic reasons for doing so, as he did so simply to block anyone from going through the Number 3 door, where "Snake"'s body is.]] |
| 331 | * NotEnoughToBury: Implied to be the fate of [[spoiler:Kubota (a.k.a. the 9th man) and Nijisaki (a.k.a. "Guy X")]]; based on the descriptions given, all that's left of them is [[LudicrousGibs bits of flesh, bone, and organs]] after the bombs inside them detonated. |
| 332 | * NotHisSled: The final puzzle of the DS version is [[spoiler:a game of Sudoku played by turning the DS upside-down]]. This became fairly memetic due to its simplicity despite being the final puzzle. The remaster for ''The Nonary Games'' replaces this with a different puzzle entirely, possibly because [[spoiler:the systems it was developed for do not have two screens]]. |
| 333 | * NumberTwo: [[spoiler:Nagisa Nijisaki was the right-hand man of Gentarou Hongou, the CEO of Cradle Pharmaceutical. Hongou killed him because he thought it was Snake, who knew his past as the creator of the Nonary Game. It makes sense he mistook him for Snake, though, as Hongou can't differenciate human faces and Nijisaki was dressed as Snake. By Zero.]] |
| 334 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: A creepy variant in the Axe ending: [[spoiler:Clover (the smallest character) kills Seven (the largest character and a trained cop), Santa (who was armed with a gun at that point) and June, using only the aforementioned hand axe.]] |
| 335 | %%ZCE* OneDialogueTwoConversations: The Saturn elevator conversation mentioned in HurricaneOfEuphemisms. |
| 336 | * OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: {{Invoked|Trope}} for everyone to obscure their identities in case Zero tries to use their personal information to threaten them except for Junpei since Akane mentioned his name already. Doubles as MeaningfulRename as the names are themed after the bracelet numbers. {{Subverted|Trope}} with [[spoiler:Clover]] after [[spoiler:it's revealed in a flashback that her name is actually Clover.]] |
| 337 | * OnlyOneName: The game doesn't tell us the last names of Junpei, [[spoiler:Light]], and [[spoiler:Clover]], although ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' reveals [[spoiler:Junpei's last name]]. [[spoiler:Lotus']] first name [[AllThereInTheManual isn't revealed in the game either]]. |
| 338 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The game is built on subverting and deconstructing stereotypes, but there are several times this trope is played straight. |
| 339 | ** [[spoiler:Snake snaps his eyes open while Ace is describing exactly how he murdered Clover during the Safe End. Snake then proceeds to trap Ace in the incinerator after being shot ''six times''.]] |
| 340 | ** [[spoiler:Santa. Everything he says when he's not playing the fool will receive a meaningful callback.]] |
| 341 | * OpeningMonologue: "Why do I...know? Why...Why do I know...these things?" |
| 342 | * PaintingTheMedium: Done differently by each release in regards to a major lategame [[TheReveal Reveal]] that [[spoiler:the narrator is actually young Akane, who has been witnessing the game's events from nine years prior through her psychic connection with Junpei]]: |
| 343 | ** In the original DS release, [[spoiler:it becomes apparent that the top screen is Junpei's perspective while the bottom screen is Akane's. For the final puzzle, you have to turn the entire console upside-down to solve it on the "top screen", signifying that Junpei is taking the lead this time.]] |
| 344 | ** In the ''Nonary Games'' rerelease, [[spoiler:the Adventure Screen turns out to have been Junpei's perspective while Novel Screen is Akane's. After the reveal, they are renamed Junpei Vision and Akane Vision.]] |
| 345 | * ParadoxPerson: [[spoiler:June is revealed to be an unstable present-day version of Akane whose existence hinges on Junpei obtaining the right information to save Akane in the past and stops becoming unstable upon this plan working. In the routes where it's too late, June fades from existence.]] |
| 346 | %%ZCE* PlotCouponThatDoesSomething: There is exactly one of these in the game. It's required to unlock the True Ending. |
| 347 | * PlotTime: Might as well list the whole index. Suffice it to say that your characters do things in ''exactly'' the amount of time they are allowed to get things done, no matter how long or how short a time it takes for you to solve puzzles, read dialogue, and walk around the ship. |
| 348 | * PointAndClickGame: The game is in first person perspective, where you use the stylus/cursor to inspect and interact with things. |
| 349 | * PoliceAreUseless: [[spoiler:In the case of this game, the law enforcement lets a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive group of executives]] conduct the [[DeadlyGame Nonary Game]] on nine children nine years ago because their chief, Ace/Gentarou Hongou, [[{{Narcissist}} wants to see the faces of other people]] and is unable to due to prosopagnosia. Might also count for Akane in the present day, who repeats ''that'' game nine years forward [[MindScrew so she can save herself in the past from the future by connecting with her past self through the awakening to morphogentic fields she received nine years ago in that past Nonary Game]]]]. Zig-zagged, however, in that [[spoiler:Seven is actually a police officer, and he saves those children from that game in the past, but he's the only police officer to be shown ''actually'' doing something about it.]] |
| 350 | * ThePowerOfLove: |
| 351 | ** WordOfGod states [[spoiler:Junpei]] did not have any affinity with the Morphogenetic Field like the original 18 children prior to the Nonary Game, but managed to gain powers to access the field to transmit the solution for the last puzzle simply through his bond with [[spoiler:Akane]]. |
| 352 | ** [[spoiler:Also, Snake was able to withstand 6 bullets to the chest out of his love for his sister.]] |
| 353 | * PreRenderedGraphics: The backdrops are pre-rendered 3D models, while the characters are depicted with a handful of static 2D illustrations. |
| 354 | * ProperlyParanoid: Seven suggests using codenames to conceals as much information from Zero as possible in case he tries to use that as leverage to any of the participants like threatening their families for example. [[spoiler:Zero did threaten Snake into not revealing he and Clover were in the previous Nonary Game by threatening to blow up Clover's bomb if he did so, via the braille card left to him. Subverted when it turns out that Zero (Akane) had no intention of hurting Clover and Snake from the start and it's implied Seven was in on the scheme.]] |
| 355 | * PurpleProse: The description of certain things tends to veer verbose. Especially the gruesome corpses. |
| 356 | [[/folder]] |
| 357 | |
| 358 | [[folder:Tropes R to Z]] |
| 359 | * RedHerring: |
| 360 | ** There are several, the most major being [[spoiler:Ice-9 and Alice]]. [[spoiler:You still need them to reach the True Ending.]] |
| 361 | ** [[spoiler:The Sun door]]. Despite being the setting of an ending, there is ''nothing'' behind it: no puzzles, no keys, no reason to ever go. There is only a submarine [[spoiler:that goes nowhere]]. |
| 362 | * RefugeInAudacity: [[spoiler:While in the series of rooms beyond Door 1, Ace pickpockets the solution to the puzzle from Junpei, goes into the next room while Junpei and Clover are talking, murders "Cap," and then slips back and puts the solution back in Junpei's pocket. And then, after finding the body and some information about "All-Ice," Ace suggests that the murderer was a defrosted mummy. Right.]] |
| 363 | * RenamedTheSame: When you learn what [[spoiler: Clover's real name actually is.]] |
| 364 | * {{Retcon}}: 999 was originally made as a standalone title. When ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' was released, it changed some of the already-stated-by-the-creator backstory. [[spoiler:Ace is retroactively made a member of Free the Soul and Snake's robes became Free the Soul robes, erasing a plot point about Lord Gordain being the originator of the Nonary Games.]] |
| 365 | * RetroactivePrecognition: [[spoiler:''The entire game'' is about Akane using this to save her past self]]. |
| 366 | * RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Snake in the Safe ending]]. |
| 367 | * SanDimasTime: Necessary because of the morphogenetic fields requiring both parties to be experiencing the same situation; the two Nonary Games, nine years apart, remain perfectly synced and therefore [[spoiler:even though the nine-hour time limit is essentially meaningless to the participants of the Second Nonary Game as far as their own lives are concerned, failure to complete it in time results in a bad ending where Akane dies nine years in the past.]] |
| 368 | * ScareChord: |
| 369 | ** An unsettling, shocking piano note usually plays when you discover someone's corpse. It also sounds when you see Zero's image at Junpei's house. |
| 370 | ** Another special example of this trope occurs at [[spoiler:the shower room, after you go through Door 3: June screams out of the blue well after you discover (and read the super-detailed description of) the blown up corpse, complete with a freaked out shot of her face.]] |
| 371 | ** [[spoiler:Akane's existence itself is Schrodinger's Cat.]] The cat is dead in all endings other than the True Ending. The cat is alive in the True Ending. |
| 372 | * ScrollingText |
| 373 | * SequelHook: [[spoiler:Akane and Santa make a getaway in the True Ending, with Junpei and the other Nonary Game contestants chasing after them and coming across a strange hitchiker dressed as an Egyptian woman,]] setting the stage for a number of plotlines in ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward''. |
| 374 | * SequenceBreaking: |
| 375 | ** In-game, Seven puts things into the doors so they won't lock. These tend to be {{plot point}}s. |
| 376 | ** Checking out [[spoiler:Door 3]] before the characters are supposed to leads to an [[ItsAWonderfulFailure inescapable bad end]]. |
| 377 | * ShootTheShaggyDog: |
| 378 | ** The Coffin ending, which you only get by trying to reach the True Ending too early, leaves the characters stuck trying to figure out a passcode that they haven't yet found a clue for. |
| 379 | ** The Knife ending, where you learn very little of importance and are killed right in the middle of trying to figure out stuff. It's very confusing for both you and Junpei. Even the other "bad" endings give you more hope than this. |
| 380 | ** Plot-wise, the Safe Ending. [[spoiler:At the cost of a few lives, the villain is finally brought down and the road to Door 9 is clear... and then for some reason, Akane [[RetGone literally vanishes into thin air]] because of a TimeParadox, Santa disappears, and [[CrypticConversation Zero tells Junpei some things he can't understand yet]] before putting him to sleep]], leaving everybody's fate unknown. However, gameplay-wise it's a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] because it actually unlocks the True Ending. |
| 381 | * ShoutOut: |
| 382 | ** ''Literature/CatsCradle'' with Ice-9 and the name of Cradle Pharmaceutical. |
| 383 | ** Keeping with Creator/KurtVonnegut, Zero drops a "[[Literature/SlaughterhouseFive So it goes]]" in the Safe ending. [[spoiler: Consider who brings up the Vonnegut references.]] |
| 384 | ** At one point, June brings up ''Literature/FutilityOrTheWreckOfTheTitan'', taking note of the similarities between it and the sinking of ''UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic'' 14 years later. [[AgentScully Junpei]] brushes off the similarities, claiming the book was rewritten after the fact. [[spoiler:That said, the later reveals regarding the Morphogenetic Field indicate it ''could'' have been precognition or ghost writing....]] |
| 385 | ** There's also instances where Junpei says "WellExcuseMePrincess" and "[[Film/TheDarkKnight Why so serious?]]" during conversations with Lotus/Santa in the kitchen. |
| 386 | ** Also from the kitchen: [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Who the hell do you think I am!?]] |
| 387 | ** While exploring the first class rooms, if Junpei examines the lit candle while in the room with Lotus, she'll comment "I'm sure it'll be a light in dark places, [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings when all other lights have gone out]]." |
| 388 | ** [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Urge to kill... rising...]] |
| 389 | ** "[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons The keyboard!]] [[GogglesDoNothing It does nothing!]]" |
| 390 | ** [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/MetalGear "Snake!]] ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Snake!"]]'']] |
| 391 | ** Examining some barrels in the engine room leads to a conversation about [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong an old video game where you had to avoid barrels thrown by a gorilla.]] |
| 392 | ** June's reference to [[spoiler:heaven ("I'll go to heaven") out of the blue whilst talking to Junpei about drowning (in the elevator scene)]] could allude to ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'', where [[spoiler:characters certainly drown and go to "heaven".]] The writer of ''[=Ever17=] did'' lead the design team of ''999'', after all. |
| 393 | ** [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack "No, that's not true! That's impossible!"]] |
| 394 | ** When [[spoiler:Snake]] emerges out of the coffin: "Just like RipVanWinkle". |
| 395 | ** The achievement for getting the Submarine ending in ''The Nonary Games'' is [[spoiler:"[[Music/YellowSubmarine We All Die By a Yellow Submarine]]"]]. |
| 396 | ** "Don't Forget Your Towel" in ''The Nonary Games'' is probably a reference to towels in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (where towels are important for hitchhiking). Fitting, as [[spoiler:Alice is hitchhiking at the very end of TheStinger]]. |
| 397 | ** As for the achievement "Is That Your Final Answer?", it's a reference to the show ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''. |
| 398 | * ShownTheirWork: The Gigantic? That one's mostly real. It was to be the intended name of the third ship, the ''Britannic''. William Thomas Stead is also completely authentic. The mummy, however, is a debunked legend, just HistoricalFiction. |
| 399 | * {{Spinventory}}: Your inventory shows your collected items in the escape room you're in, and it lets you spin them manually. Sometimes, this is necessary to find important clues in the back of an object. |
| 400 | * SongsInTheKeyOfLock: The WestminsterChimes puzzle must be solved to unlock the exit of the First-Class Cabin. The rearranged keys of the piano make it somewhat harder, but once the first line is played, the piano finishes the melody by itself. |
| 401 | * SpiceUpTheSubtitles: The localization is ''very'' fond of putting in f-bombs, occasionally to the point where characters will start using them almost every time they get frustrated. |
| 402 | * StableTimeLoop: [[spoiler: The whole point of the present Nonary Game (aside from getting revenge on the organizers of the previous one) is to create a time loop where past!Akane links with present!Junpei through the morphogenetic field, allowing Junpei to give her the solution to a puzzle she never solved previously, and was killed as a result. If Junpei fails, it creates a TimeParadox, and present!Akane [[RetGone vanishes from existence]] as a result.]] |
| 403 | * StealthPun: Near the end, [[spoiler:you have to "twist" the DS]]. |
| 404 | * TheStinger: The ''very last scene.'' [[spoiler:They've escaped the Nonary Game, and everyone is driving off through the desert, trying to make sense of everything that's happened... and then a strange, vaguely Egyptian, woman shows up in their path hitchiking.]] |
| 405 | --> "It would not be long before Junpei realized who [[RealAfterAll she]] was." |
| 406 | * SummationGathering: [[spoiler:The "Safe" ending, after Junpei opens the safe and learns Ace's identity. Combined with the knowledge that Snake's left arm is fake yet the corpse dressed as him has a real one, he summons everyone to the Hospital room to implicate Ace as the culprit.]] |
| 407 | * TakeAThirdOption: |
| 408 | ** At the large hospital room, when the gang has to decide who goes through which door, the player has to choose between [[spoiler:Door 7 and Door 8. Santa says you can't choose the one with a 3 because then someone is left behind, but you can actually stick with Door 3 and leave Lotus and Clover out of the party. This is pretty rough at that point in the plot, because everyone thinks they won't make it to the ninth door if they don't go through the other numbered doors]]. This example is ultimately subverted in the iOS version, [[spoiler: in which going through Door 3 locks you into a bad ending]]. |
| 409 | ** In the True Ending, [[spoiler:the gang gathers at the chapel and try to work out how all seven of them can escape through both doors 9. They can't. Seven then makes a proposal: he offers to be left behind so the others can split in two teams of three. So it's either they all die or only Seven dies. Both options are rejected, and Santa comes up with a third one: he takes June hostage by means of the gun found at the cargo room and forces Ace and Lotus to go through one of the doors 9 with them. Seven, Clover and Junpei are left behind instead]]. |
| 410 | * TakeYourTime: |
| 411 | ** All the puzzles aren't on a time limit and when people start talking, they can talk a while. This gets kinda of silly when Junpei is locked in a flooding room or when they're talking while freezing to death in a sub-zero freezer. Apparently, TalkingIsAFreeAction. [[spoiler:Of course, it could be a clue that the characters aren't actually on a sinking ship.]] |
| 412 | ** [[spoiler:In the incinerator room during the True Ending path, you only have 6 minutes left when you start working on the puzzle. That's 12 minutes of time wasted just talking, and seven minutes of that is of Junpei ''talking'' with Past!Akane. And the puzzle itself has no actual time limit, you can take as long as you want.]] |
| 413 | * TeensAreMonsters: The 8th-graders who killed the rabbits at Junpei and Akane's primary school. Later, the two kids caught them ''dousing a kitten with gasoline''. |
| 414 | * TemporalParadox: In the Safe ending, the success route is destroyed completely and [[spoiler:Akane just blinks out of existence.]] |
| 415 | * TenLittleMurderVictims: Our characters don't get invited to the party, but rather, they are kidnapped and forced to play the Nonary Game... But murders show up. The characters speculate whether it was Zero or TheMole who killed them, and ultimately you discover [[spoiler:that it was Ace]]. There are instances (some bad endings) where it's just implied, not confirmed, who's the culprit. |
| 416 | * ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: At the beginning of the game. |
| 417 | --> ''"This game is fiction. All names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious."'' |
| 418 | * TimeBomb: Invoked when a group registers their bracelets on a RED and enter the corresponding numbered door, leaving them 81 seconds to find the DEAD to deactivate a countdown or the bomb in their guts will explode. |
| 419 | * TimeTitle: The protagonists have 9 hours to survive their situation. |
| 420 | * TimeyWimeyBall: In order to progress towards the GoldenEnding, you have to go through other paths that result in failure. [[spoiler: All of which are later revealed to be an AlternateUniverse where that ending ''does'' happen, and also explains both Akane's fevers and Seven's EasyAmnesia - since her fate is currently in flux until the game's resolution, she's in danger of being burned alive, and his memories of the event hinge on whether or not she actually survives]]. |
| 421 | * ToBeContinued: The player gets this if they haven't gone through the Safe ending before attempting the True Ending path. Very appropriately, it's known as the "Coffin" ending, as it's the last thing you see. |
| 422 | * TooDumbToLive: Characters leaving a loaded gun behind unattended, despite the presented possibility of one of the players being a traitor. |
| 423 | * TortureCellar: One of the rooms beyond Door 2. |
| 424 | * TrialAndErrorGameplay: The path to certain endings may seem like this at first, although more and more hints pop up as the game progresses. Plot-wise, [[spoiler:the whole game can be seen as Young Akane experimenting with all of the story paths to see which one will lead to her salvation. Santa, behind Door 6, will discuss rats trapped in a flooding box and how, after enough repetitions, they figure out the exit from among seemingly arbitrary choices... Hmmm...]] |
| 425 | * TricksterGame: Unlike many visual novels, this game is narrated in third-person, not first-person. Turns out, [[spoiler:it ''is'' a first-person narration. ''From another one of the players.'' '''''In the past.''''']] |
| 426 | * TwentyMinutesInTheFuture: The game was first released in 2009 and takes place in 2027. |
| 427 | * TwoAliasesOneCharacter: [[spoiler:June/Akane and Zero were the same person all along.]] |
| 428 | * UnderestimatingBadassery: Junpei decides not to test Snake after he informs him that, despite his blindness, he is quite capable of beating him up. |
| 429 | * UpdatedRerelease: It has one in the form of ''The Nonary Games'', a bundle with it and ''VLR'', complete with full voice acting, a flowchart, and updated graphics. [[spoiler:It also changes the final puzzle from a Sudoku puzzle to one with some letter-scrambling and in which you need to enter a password after doing it.]] |
| 430 | * VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Taking the counterintuitive and seemingly selfish option of going through Door 3 railroads you into the [[DownerEnding Submarine ending]] in most versions of the game. The iOS version doesn't even let you get that far and has a specific downer ending for it where [[spoiler:Clover drowns Junpei by injecting him with Soporil]]. |
| 431 | * VomitDiscretionShot: During the Safe ending, the camera obligingly focuses in on the room sign while Junpei tosses his cookies from seeing [[spoiler:the 9th Man's body again]]. |
| 432 | * WeirdScience: |
| 433 | ** Some of the paths make repeated references to "morphogenetic fields," the ability to transmit information between seemingly unconnected things. Morphogenetic fields are an actual phenomena - though it's very localized and revolves around discreet biochemical signals (and the shapes cells will conform to) rather than memories and image-sending. The game actually uses the concept of that name developed by Rupert Sheldrake (who is mentioned by name at one point when the concept is being explained). |
| 434 | ** Not to mention Ice-9 and the entire Alice incident.[[note]]Ice-9 is real, but the substance discussed in the game is a fictional element (inspired by Creator/KurtVonnegut) and Alice is a reference to the UrbanLegend of the Titanic sinking caused by a mummy's curse.[[/note]] |
| 435 | * WestminsterChimes: Used as a puzzle; you have to play the tune on a piano that's had its keys rearranged. |
| 436 | * WhamEpisode: The Safe ending contains a large amount of reveals that radically alter the conceptions you've had so far of the game. The True ending has a lot of plot twists as well, but you are prepared since you saw the Safe one. |
| 437 | * WhamLine: |
| 438 | ** One can be seen in one of the previews: [[spoiler:"Unfortunately, that's the wrong answer. Actually, I'm Santa". It's not what you might think before even playing the game, and not what you'd think when you hear it even after playing it at first [[note]]Santa is NOT Zero, though he is helping her[[/note]]; [[ItMakesSenseInContext but it's just as shocking in its context]] [[note]]Junpei starting to reveal to everyone that Ace can't identify faces and what levels of bastardry Ace had committed since the start of the Nonary Game[[/note]].]] |
| 439 | ** "The answer to that is easy. [[spoiler:He knew because ''I'' knew [[note]]Spoken by the ''narration''[[/note]]]]". |
| 440 | ** "Her name was... Her name was [[spoiler:Akane. She was the girl who died]]". |
| 441 | * WhatTheHellHero: If you choose to go through Door 3, [[spoiler:Junpei leaves Lotus and Clover behind, dooming them to drown at 6 AM. They actually were fine, because Junpei and his group returned to the hospital room, but they all thought that Lotus and Clover would have died when Junpei did the shenanigan.]] Santa insults him, and Lotus slaps the crap out of him when they're back. |
| 442 | * WhenItAllBegan: According to the WordOfGod, [[spoiler:the Nonary Game was created by Lord Gordain]]. Meaning it all began with [[spoiler:the sinking of the RMS Titanic]]. |
| 443 | * WhiteHairBlackHeart: [[spoiler:Santa]] at first in the Coffin and True Endings, then subverted because it was all part of a big plan to [[spoiler:set right what once went wrong]]. |
| 444 | * WritersCannotDoMath: At one point, Santa says there's no way they're on a ship that's "almost a hundred years old", despite the fact that this game takes place in 2027, 115 years after the sinking of the ''Titanic'', and 111 years after the sinking of the ''Britannic'', the real-life ship the ''Gigantic'' is based on. Likely a side-effect of the fact that the game was released in 2009, and it taking place in 2027 wasn't settled on until [[{{Retcon}} after it came out]]. On the other hand, he did say ''almost'' meaning he could simply be guessing the age because he doesn't know the exact time difference. |
| 445 | * YouAlreadyChangedThePast: The second Nonary Game is set up [[spoiler:by Akane so that Junpei can save her past self... But she's only alive to do so because Junpei already saved her past self...]] |
| 446 | * YouKnowTheOne: Near the beginning of the game, the Ninth Man ends up entering a numbered door without the rest of his team, dooming him to blowing up. Just before his death, he says that "he" lied to him, "he" put him in there and "he" killed him, obscuring the identity of the Ninth Man's killer until they're revealed during the Safe Ending. |
| 447 | * YouShouldntKnowThisAlready: |
| 448 | ** Even if you know the true password for the Saturn key in the kitchen ahead of time, the game won't let you enter it unless you already have the paper with the hint (the one that comes with the chunk of pork). This means that you have to go through the entire freezer section. [[spoiler:Given how you get one of the hints for the True Ending path while in the freezer, this was made on purpose.]] |
| 449 | ** In the Captain's Quarters, you can't input the morse code until you get the paper that reveals it. Examining the telegraph will just not let you use it. You'll have to print the cylinder's marks on paper. |
| 450 | ** Averted in 3rd Class Cabin and the shower room. You need one code for the former and two for the latter, but you can input them right off the bat without having to find the clues to figure them out. You still are obliged to find the keys for the former and the keycards for the latter, though. |
| 451 | ** If you try to get the True Ending right away without seeing the Safe Ending first, the game focuses on the coffin before stopping with a ToBeContinued, giving you the Coffin Ending. |
| 452 | [[/folder]] |
| 453 | ---- |
| 454 | ''"You found it!"'' |
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FollowingContext VisualNovel / NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors
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