zero time dilemma meta
Jan. 10th, 2019 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
graveexcitementit's been not quite two weeks since i finished ZTD, so i've had time to think about it some more. i don't think it holds up as well as 999 or VLR do (and i'm aware i'm not alone in that opinion, lol.) i still like 999 best; i think it has the tightest story/plot, as well as a really nice Aesthetic. (and my favorite character.) (spoilers from here on out:)
i also like VLR a hell of a lot, and i actually may replay it at some point (or hopefully watch my brother play it) with the knowledge of Sigma's (biological) age and Tenmyouji's identity.
(SIDE NOTE: i was rereading my zero time dilemma blogging and realized: what was the electronic key Sean found in Mira's corpse's mouth?? did i just... forget what that ended up being used for, or was that just never brought up again??)
i think ZTD suffers from a few things. i think one of the big ones is Q's identity, which to me felt... unfair, i guess. it's not that there aren't subtle hints, just like there are hints to Sigma's age and other similar reveals, but... i think i came away feeling like i wasn't given a fair shot of figuring out the twist of "there's actually been a fourth person on Q-Team this whole time that is just never shown on screen" before it was actually revealed. this is in contrast to me being able to narrow down Zero's identity to either June or Santa beforehand in 999, and realizing somewhere along the way that fuck, Sigma('s future self) is Zero in VLR.
i mean... hell. i kept careful notes of when "Q" was announced dead and when he wasn't, and i noted that Zero claimed to Carlos that he was on Q-Team, and at the time i was like "it can't be Q/Sean, but i don't see how it's Eric or Mira either...?" not to mention the fourth choice in the Triangle decision that haunted me for most of the damn game, so, i don't know. maybe i had all the clues and just was too stuck on "each team has 3 people for a total of 9 players," but... i don't know. i guess i still feel like it was unfair when i absolutely did not feel that way about the other games.
another thing: i don't have an issue with the "fragments" structure or necessarily with the "90 minutes then your memory's wiped" thing. the thing i think is lacking with the Decision Game's structure is the lack of... choices? i mean obviously the game's about choices, that's not exactly it. i mean like, in 999's Nonary Game you had to pick what doors to go through with which people, and in VLR's Nonary Game (Ambidex Edition) you had to do that and then make decisions in the resultant Ambidex Game, and it was clear how those decisions affected the flow of the plot.
in ZTD the characters don't get to make any choices besides the ones laid out in the Decision Game. and those choices obviously mattered, but i was still left feeling like the characters weren't allowed to choose for themselves how to proceed/make progress in the Decision Game. which... well, i guess that's related to the fact that with the Decision Game there is no victory without 6 deaths. that's the only way you can "progress:" deaths. which is in contrast to 999 and VLR where people die but that wasn't a requirement of the game. as in, sure, the Nonary Games include ways to kill you, but winning doesn't actually require any deaths.
but of course the only way they actually "win" the Decision Game is not to play, to win that first coin toss. there is no route through the Decision Game itself that actually results in all players surviving. so i guess that's part of what makes me feel like there's no way for the characters to actually make progress (except for learning to SHIFT and whatnot, of course).
(also, the escape rooms felt... the most extraneous in the Decision Game than in the other two? like, i remember i got an achievement for finishing my last escape room (i think the Reactor room) and i was just like, wait, really? there's not going to be a Final escape room with elements from the other escape rooms? and also i'm only like 2/3rds through this game and i'm already through with all the puzzles? huh.)
which brings me to my final thought. in 999 morphogenetic field theory was constantly alluded to, with nearly every character stopping you to talk to you about it in some form during escape rooms. the concept that i saw being emphasized in ZTD was diverging worlds and diverging selves, and specifically the question of "what happens to the self who's left behind in the worse timeline?" this concept was brought up over and over again, both in conversation and actual examples of it. and this led me to think that this was the crucial element of ZTD, the idea that's at the heart of this game.
and i don't think i was wrong that that's the central theme to ZTD, but i also wound up feeling a bit disappointed because i think i was expecting for it to mean more, in the end. like, it is the crux of the Final Decision, so there's that, but... i don't know. i guess i just didn't find it as satisfying as i found how morphogenetic field theory plays into the climax of 999.
there were definitely a lot of things i liked about ZTD, especially the characters, but i also found it lacking, especially now that i've had a while to think about it. so it goes!
i also like VLR a hell of a lot, and i actually may replay it at some point (or hopefully watch my brother play it) with the knowledge of Sigma's (biological) age and Tenmyouji's identity.
(SIDE NOTE: i was rereading my zero time dilemma blogging and realized: what was the electronic key Sean found in Mira's corpse's mouth?? did i just... forget what that ended up being used for, or was that just never brought up again??)
i think ZTD suffers from a few things. i think one of the big ones is Q's identity, which to me felt... unfair, i guess. it's not that there aren't subtle hints, just like there are hints to Sigma's age and other similar reveals, but... i think i came away feeling like i wasn't given a fair shot of figuring out the twist of "there's actually been a fourth person on Q-Team this whole time that is just never shown on screen" before it was actually revealed. this is in contrast to me being able to narrow down Zero's identity to either June or Santa beforehand in 999, and realizing somewhere along the way that fuck, Sigma('s future self) is Zero in VLR.
i mean... hell. i kept careful notes of when "Q" was announced dead and when he wasn't, and i noted that Zero claimed to Carlos that he was on Q-Team, and at the time i was like "it can't be Q/Sean, but i don't see how it's Eric or Mira either...?" not to mention the fourth choice in the Triangle decision that haunted me for most of the damn game, so, i don't know. maybe i had all the clues and just was too stuck on "each team has 3 people for a total of 9 players," but... i don't know. i guess i still feel like it was unfair when i absolutely did not feel that way about the other games.
another thing: i don't have an issue with the "fragments" structure or necessarily with the "90 minutes then your memory's wiped" thing. the thing i think is lacking with the Decision Game's structure is the lack of... choices? i mean obviously the game's about choices, that's not exactly it. i mean like, in 999's Nonary Game you had to pick what doors to go through with which people, and in VLR's Nonary Game (Ambidex Edition) you had to do that and then make decisions in the resultant Ambidex Game, and it was clear how those decisions affected the flow of the plot.
in ZTD the characters don't get to make any choices besides the ones laid out in the Decision Game. and those choices obviously mattered, but i was still left feeling like the characters weren't allowed to choose for themselves how to proceed/make progress in the Decision Game. which... well, i guess that's related to the fact that with the Decision Game there is no victory without 6 deaths. that's the only way you can "progress:" deaths. which is in contrast to 999 and VLR where people die but that wasn't a requirement of the game. as in, sure, the Nonary Games include ways to kill you, but winning doesn't actually require any deaths.
but of course the only way they actually "win" the Decision Game is not to play, to win that first coin toss. there is no route through the Decision Game itself that actually results in all players surviving. so i guess that's part of what makes me feel like there's no way for the characters to actually make progress (except for learning to SHIFT and whatnot, of course).
(also, the escape rooms felt... the most extraneous in the Decision Game than in the other two? like, i remember i got an achievement for finishing my last escape room (i think the Reactor room) and i was just like, wait, really? there's not going to be a Final escape room with elements from the other escape rooms? and also i'm only like 2/3rds through this game and i'm already through with all the puzzles? huh.)
which brings me to my final thought. in 999 morphogenetic field theory was constantly alluded to, with nearly every character stopping you to talk to you about it in some form during escape rooms. the concept that i saw being emphasized in ZTD was diverging worlds and diverging selves, and specifically the question of "what happens to the self who's left behind in the worse timeline?" this concept was brought up over and over again, both in conversation and actual examples of it. and this led me to think that this was the crucial element of ZTD, the idea that's at the heart of this game.
and i don't think i was wrong that that's the central theme to ZTD, but i also wound up feeling a bit disappointed because i think i was expecting for it to mean more, in the end. like, it is the crux of the Final Decision, so there's that, but... i don't know. i guess i just didn't find it as satisfying as i found how morphogenetic field theory plays into the climax of 999.
there were definitely a lot of things i liked about ZTD, especially the characters, but i also found it lacking, especially now that i've had a while to think about it. so it goes!
