Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (aka 999's sequel)

wat

Isn't the entire point of cold sleep to preserve the body as is? And even, that doesn't explain Clover still being young. I guess I'll have to play the Phi route to even begin to grasp this one.

Umm, you just explained it in first spoilered tag Let's just word it in another way: Cryogenic sleep. Its rather common scifi thing that cryogenic sleep stops aging as it stops body functions or at least slows them down enough. And one that treatment pods have is apparently advanced enough to not kill you. Really, "Cold sleep preserves body as it is" doesn't ring to you "You don't age in same speed when in cold sleep as your body preserved as it is"? xD

edited 8th Dec '12 10:10:55 PM by SpookyMask

(about tenmyoinjii) Its not even stretching. He knew about the Pipe joke.

Ask box for the Q&A section is now open. Ask the creator anything you are confused about, what you want to know about the characters, or to explain possible plot holes. (other questions about the game are also welcome of course)

edited 12th Dec '12 8:48:31 AM by Moth13

I think I just beat the game. Think being the key word here. Does it really just end with Sigma/Kyle/? talking to Akane/June? I'm taking it there will be a squeal?

Yep and yep.

Well then, I know what to look forward to in the future ... or should I say past? No, I should look forward to point E, right?

edited 31st Dec '12 11:56:30 AM by OrionAurora

Yes. We can look forward to Deathtraps. What the heck was NASA thinking?

So I just got the game, played it for 13 hours and then saved in the PEC room and got my save file corrupted. This is... frustrating. I guess it technically goes faster if I don't need to read dialog or think about puzzles, but mashing the "go forward" button isn't very fun either.

Yikes. My condolences to you. I was lucky enough to avoid any crashes, but I was shaking the whole time I was in there.

What do you think of the game so far?

Well, it's good enough that my first instinct was to think about how to most efficiently do it all over again instead of wanting to put it down for a while.

I really have to wonder why there's so much betrayal going all the time though. Why didn't anyone just sit down and explain Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma after the first one? Seems like things would have been so simple with just three cooperations for all. Well, excluding all the murder and viruses and whatnot.

Edit: Actually, the most frustrating part is that I intentionally saved in there after having it crash in there (without corrupting the save file) when my last save was like an hour of dialog earlier. So when I went back I saved as many times as possible in that room, which looking up the problem online afterward turns out to be exactly the wrong response.

edited 9th Jan '13 10:05:37 AM by Clarste

Yep. You NEVER save in the PEC room ( Except in the PS Vita version.)

Oh, I guess they do mention Prisoner's Dilemma, and fairly early on. Just on the route I put off until last.

Okay, beat it. My only real complaint other than game-breaking bugs would be how much time it spends showing us unskippable scenes of doors opening and dots moving across maps. I mean, do I really need to to watch them run back to the warehouse every single time? I know where the warehouse is by now!

Obviously I can't really say anything else without spoilers. Regarding the hidden ending, my impression is that you're neither Kyle nor Sigma. You're you, the player. The guy holding the 3DS or Vita. You're the one with the perfect memory because you're writing stuff down, and you're the one exploring the timeline using the flowchart. They make a number of allusions to this throughout the game, such as G-OLM (btw, wouldn't this be pronounced Golm rather than Golem?) talking about individuals also subconsciously being the arms and legs of another intelligence, the whole termite analogy of being part of something bigger that can't be seen, as well as Sigma mentioning multiple times after AB games that he has no idea why he chose certain paths. As if he has no real motivation other than "being curious about what would happen" and his choice was directed by someone else sitting inside his head. IE: you. He has no true autonomy because he's being controlled by the player. The whole story is of course about the player saving and reloading story paths over and over again. You are the fourth dimensional intelligence that can see the big picture. The place where the roots connect. It was all you, from beginning to end.

Well, that's my impression. Incidentally, this makes the game-breaking bug that deletes your save, in other words your memory, incredibly ironic.

edited 11th Jan '13 8:18:03 AM by Clarste

The author did in fact confirm that Kyle's mind at the end is the player.

Oh yeah, there was that Q&A thing you mentioned earlier on this page. That was just the question submitting form though. Is there the actual Q&A somewhere?

As far as I know the author hasn't finished answering them yet. The Kyle thing is from his twitter.

I kind of wonder if the game-breaking bug related to the PEC room and the Crew Quarters has anything to do with the fact that you can occasionally see character faces there covered by the weird "scan lines" that indicate they're talking to you through telephone/radio? Both rooms have that happen, and both rooms are the source of the crashes. Obviously, I'm not a programmer, but I do wonder.

Anyway, I've been mararthoning it since last night to beat it. I basically managed to hit just about every lock possible on my way through the game... I essentially started at the wrong side of the flow chart.

But there was one part that amused me while I was going Phi's ending. I was playing in my darkened room, something like 1:30 in the morning:

"Yay, I defused the bombs! Now I get to go on to the last white door! One more puzzle room for me and then it's smooth sailing 'til the end. Oooh, I wonder what it'll be this time?''

*enters door*

"Huh... What? "Q?" Oh man... last game reference... What on earth is going to be..."

"..."

"NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE g'night game see you in the well-lit morning!"

The radio character boxes also appear in Dio's end without any issues, so those probably aren't related. I've also never had any issues occur whatsoever in the Crew Quarters myself, despite making the phone calls.

Questions and Answers for Virtue's Last Reward. It should go without saying that you should not check this out if you have not finished the game fully.

Santa confirmed ambiguously gay.

He is the Yaoi Kurashiki. It is him.

Also I just completed the game and WOW THIS GAME IS JUST SO GREAT.

Sad to hear that it was executive meddling that resulted in VLR's tone being lighter than 999.

The Φ trolling was glorious though. And I love that Clover's full name is Clover Field.

^^^Wait, which question was that one?

Also I found it amusing how he was being annoyed at higher ups telling him for sequel to be less gory/horrory xP

I think I'm getting ninjaed :P

edited 14th Feb '13 8:52:17 PM by SpookyMask

Q59: "Do you think Clover and Aoi could be potential love interests?"

"I don’t know? Does Aoi even like girls?

I have to start considering from that."

edited 14th Feb '13 9:05:46 PM by Moth13

"Q15: How were the bombs that Dio planted synced to Radical-6 time? Why didn’t they go off before the players’ watches reached 0:00 due to the discrepancy in perceived time passed and actual time passed?"

I'm so glad somebody asked that, because that was bugging me like you would not believe. Even if it is a bit of a Hand Wave.