90°

Aksys Wants to Ask You About Zero Escape and the Visual Novel Genre

Publisher Aksys has released a survey for fans of their Zero Escape series and visual novels in general.

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ElementX3813d ago

I really wasn't a fan of these games. Luckily I got the sequel free with Plus. The dialogue is really far fetched and honestly, the conversations last way too long. The puzzles were decent but were really inconsistent as far as difficulty goes.

Redempteur3812d ago

i think you just don't like to read.

ElementX3812d ago

Wrong, I love reading. I've read over 55 novels this year so far

porkChop3812d ago

I thought Zero Escape was a great game. However, there wasn't enough gameplay, dialogue was way too long and way too over-explained. The gameplay needs to consist of something more than just puzzles. Maybe add some QTE here and there, just something to break up the routine so it doesn't get so stale. And seriously, the backtracking needs to be toned down a bit.

Redempteur3812d ago

QTE ?

Wft am i reading ....

Listen guys , i mean no harm but if you don't like the genre don't ask for it to becomes something it isn't...
I don't mean to argue that the game should be imune to critics but this kind of stuff is embarassing to you guys.

QTE in a visual novel game ... seriously ...

porkChop3812d ago (Edited 3812d ago )

I enjoyed the game, but in a 30h+ game the gameplay needs to consist of more than just puzzles. Doesn't necessarily have to be QTE's, I was just throwing one idea out there.

MightyNoX3812d ago

999 was amazing

Zero escape was convoluted for convolution's sake.

Gamesgbkiller3812d ago

Zero Escape is just amazing game.

The story has so many twists to it.

Why there are no games like this from a story wise ?

RexFury3812d ago

I'd say the first three Phoenix Wright games are at times on par with the twists of Zero Escape. Especially the final cases.

linkenski3812d ago (Edited 3812d ago )

Hotel Dusk as well, but overall I think Phoenix Wright is by far the most enjoyable of the bunch. Better writing, humor, artwork and less cheesyness.

Although Hotel Dusk probably has the best story and script of them all. I just prefer Phoenix Wright for its great mix of lightheartedness and memorable stories. It's mostly character-driven though.

Nerdmaster3812d ago (Edited 3812d ago )

I got Zero Escape from PS+. It's so amazing that it was the first game I ever got a platinum trophy. In fact, I didn't touch another game until I finished it. The plot just blew my mind. Became a fan of the series, bought 999 online and I'm waiting for it to arrive.

Misaka_x_Touma3812d ago

you were supposedly play 999 first

Nerdmaster3812d ago

Of course. But I didn't know about the series and even if I did, as gameplay revolves around puzzles, I would never have bought any of them. I just played Zero Escape because it was "free" from PS+. If it wasn't for that, I would've never played a single game in the series.

Misaka_x_Touma3811d ago (Edited 3811d ago )

well it best that you stay on sites like Silionera and Dualshocker where Japanese Games are top priority. Not IGN, GameSpot and such.

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Nerdmaster1173d ago (Edited 1173d ago )

Or better yet, they should bring the two first games, pretend the third never happened and make it again with better writers who actually know the characters.As a big fan of the series, I couldn't believe how bad Zero Time Dilemma was not only with its writing, but also its messy game structure, unsatisfying conclusion, ignoring the greatest mystery of the second game, bad new characters, and an epilogue that's actually hidden and made by just some text.
[SPOILERS]
And let's not forget the addition of sudden alien technology shoehorned into the plot.
[/SPOILERS]

EDIT:
"and the final game in the series, Zero Time Dilemma, won our 2016 Game of the Year award"
Oh wow, now I'm truly questioning your site's taste. At least at some point in the article you recognized it's the weakest of the three.

CDbiggen1173d ago

I enjoyed the third, but I completely agree it was a bit of a let down. The characters were so weak.

Unknown_Gamer57941173d ago

Agreed. It would be perfect on the Switch. I especially loved Virtue's Last Reward.

390°

The 10 Worst Game Mechanics (and the Games That Get Them Right)

COGconnected - It might sound like an oxymoron but it IS possible to see a bad video game mechanic done just right and we've put together a list of them.

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maybelovehate2347d ago

I bet it is an interesting read, but I gave up after the 3rd page.. Invasive ads are the worst.

wonderfulmonkeyman2346d ago

Chrome ad blocker took care of that for me in a snap.

Angelin2346d ago

Ios read view is awesome for this

wonderfulmonkeyman2346d ago

Here's one the list didn't touch upon that I feel deserves a mention: Breakable weapons.

There are very VERY few examples of this system being done right, let alone in a way that doesn't result in the player throwing their controller every time one of their best finds goes down the drain, never to be seen again due to exact copies, let alone better ones, being few and far between.

Breath of the Wild, again like with the second bit, takes the idea of breakable weapons, and removes the frustration factor of never getting anything similar again; everything you find, with the exception of reforgable champion weapons, can be found out there in the wild, in the hands of your enemies or hidden away in poorly-buried chests.

So no matter how many of those 101+ ATK Lynel Crushers you go through, you can rest assure that, with enough hunting, you WILL eventually find an exact copy of your favorite precious murder instrument.
Not only does this solve the biggest problem of a disposable weaponry system, it also encourages two of the game's biggest systems; combat and exploration.

When you're constantly in need of new weaponry, there's always going to be a constant reason to hunt down the locations of, and go into, those camps filled with monsters, even if you've cleared them out once before the respawn event, in order to see what they're hauling around to attack you with this time that you can jump in and take from them after their defeat.

Even better is that, if you aren't a fan of a prolonged fight, have all the drop materials from them that you need, and just want the gear, the game gives you that option as well; a single electric attack, of any sort, will forcibly purge any gear held from the hands of your foes, allowing you to snatch-and-run at your leisure.
The only foes this does not work with are the Lynels, which are meant to be fought and defeated to claim their rewards and are so tough that elemental arrows do not show secondary effects upon them, the Gerudo desert-dwelling Moldolga, which have their loot stored in treasure chests in their stomach, which only pop up after they're killed, and the Stalnox, which has its weapons buried in its bones.
Even the giant fleshy contemporary of the Stalnox, the Hinox, can be raided of its loot early, simply by cutting their necklaces, before they can awaken and stand up, using a single well-placed arrow.

In BotW, weaponry is everywhere. Quite literally to the point where you'll run across something new that's great, and realize that you have so many other good things that it makes it difficult to choose whether to ditch or keep certain ones.
But since they'll all break eventually anyways, a bit of spare room for that new find is usually only a battle or two away.

Nothing, save the Master Sword which runs on a recharge anyways, is irreplaceable.
And this benefits the exploration and combat aspects in a HUGE way.

More games with breakable gear could, and should, learn a thing or three from how BotW does it.

thekhurg2346d ago

BotW is the worst example of a breaking weapon system in gaming history. It's ridiculous, absurd, and a completely silly inventory management system. There is nothing "fun" or "entertaining" about having to constantly replace your weapons at the frequency that it happens.

If ANY other game had done what BotW does, it would have been crucified by every gaming journalist and gamer out there. But because it's Zelda, it gets a free pass on everything.

wonderfulmonkeyman2346d ago

That's your opinion.
One that, by the way, doesn't even have a reasonable counterpoint as to how I'm wrong; in every instance where I've found a decent weapon, another one is literally so close at hand due to fast travel that I don't feel as if I've missed a single thing.
Being given a reason to continue hunting down groups of monsters, even after you have no more use for their material drops, is a positive thing.
It's not a free pass; that's a cop-out line that people use when they can't find a decent argument against what's being said.
Try again, or sit down.

TallonIV2346d ago

Here we go again with the "free pass comments"... -_______-

_-EDMIX-_2346d ago

Agreed.

One of the many things I hated about that game, it literally stopped me from enjoying so much of it, that and its boring world that just seemed like a huge waste of time and pointless space.

Theknightofnights2346d ago

"free pass on everything"

No it doesn't. The game is just a great experience for the majority of people who played/reviewed it. If you don't agree that's fine, but jesus these "free pass" comments are tiresome. There is no evidence that they would have ripped the game to shreds had it been a different IP.

thekhurg2345d ago

@ Theknight

There's countless evidence. Just look at reviews for EVERY OTHER GAME OUT THERE. Games all the time are docked for poor framerate/performance, bad gameplay decisions (like weapons breaking every 10 minutes), etc...

Theknightofnights2341d ago

@Khurg

Bethesda games regularly get great scores with poor performance. The Witcher 3 suffered from many framerate drops on Xbox One and PS4, but that game is universally lauded here on N4G. Look at The Last of Us (one of my personal favorites) with framerate drops regularly into the low 20's and sometimes in the teens just like BOTW. Also, "bad gameplay decisions" that's your subjective opinion. I personally enjoy the weapon breaking as it gives the game a more dynamic feel.

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Dark_Knightmare22346d ago (Edited 2346d ago )

Bro botw is the worst example of breakable weapons. You should have used another game for your example

wonderfulmonkeyman2346d ago

How so?
Unlike other games, there's a replacement for everything near-at-hand in BotW. Finding new ones that are just as good, if not better, than what you've spent is never a difficult task, which makes the fact that they break completely irrelevant.
There are many cases where it's actually not a bad idea to just toss the weapon for that extra crit damage once it gets into the red, come to think of it, since finding and raiding a camp for a similar weapon takes literally no time at all once you know where to look.

staticall2346d ago

IMO, breakable weapons are done right in Diablo and Dark Souls (there are more examples, those are just most popular, IMO). Your weapon never "shatters" into million pieces, instead it's stats just decreases and you have to visit town to repair it.

Breath of the Wild is the worse example, IMO. You can spend a lot of time and find great weapon (great damage, looks, etc) but after you kill few enemies with it, it just "disappears" and all the time you spent is just gone, you feel like you made something good but then some bully just takes it away from you for no apparent reason.

wonderfulmonkeyman2346d ago (Edited 2346d ago )

The problem with your statement is that all of those "great damage great looks" weapons are, quite literally, one in thousands of EXACT COPIES that can be found scattered around the world.
Copies not only held by enemies, but also in specific spots designated for specific weapons, that respawn after every blood moon.

When I can pick up a fresh Royal Spear with a durability increase bonus on it almost literally every two or three camps with no effort, having to go back and forth to town just to continuously upkeep the same spear, despite tons of exact copies being readily available everywhere, seems more like a pointless trudge.

Having weapons that never truly break, and have to be repaired, works for games like Dark Souls and Diablo because the rules those games play by are a lot different than BotW.
You'd be dead in a heart-beat if weapons broke in those games because there are a ton of variable stats attached to everything you find, and very rarely are two weapons the same, so there's a NEED to have weapons become repairable just so that you can make some progression because you aren't nearly as likely to come across the exact same weapon ever again, and would more than likely run across something worse, which would impact your survivability to a much worse extent than it EVER does in BotW.

In BotW, finding new weapons that are just as good, if not better, than what you've just used, happens so often that I find myself tossing out a lot of weapons that I don't use whenever I find one that fits whatever I'm hunting down better.

Spears in particular are great finds for a Talus with a rock directly on its back instead of its head, but for a camp of Bokoblins a Royal Sword+shield is the better choice.
And both of those are as easy to find as fast-traveling to literally any tower, then gliding towards a monster encampment.

What none of you seem to understand is that this system WORKS for BotW because of how the game is structured.

Have any of you even PLAYED THROUGH a significant portion of it?
Because it REALLY doesn't seem like any of you have, since you can't seem to fathom why breakable weapons works out so well here where it fails in other games.
And no, it's not because of getting a free pass just for being Zelda.XD

staticall2346d ago

@wonderfulmonkeyman
I have played Breath of the Wild for around 3 hours (i do not own a Switch, so i borrowed it from a friend for a short time). I was enjoying the game, found a glowing sword (Flameblade, i believe, near some tall structure in a small round lake), was really happy with it, but then after killing like 4 or 5 enemies, it shattered. I was really disappointed by this, because i instantly lost all interest in exploration. My thought process was: if next time i'll find something great, it will break before i get all the use/enjoyment out of it, so there was no point in doing so.
For me, personally, exploration (and reward for it) VERY important, especially in a Zelda game. And that was a "Party OFF" switch.

And they're literally the same rules, you explore the world, find treasure, better weapons, items to aid you on your quest and use them to defeat enemies and beat the game. Diablo and Demon's/Dark Souls/Bloodborne have a lot of weapons too, yet they don't break THAT easily. Yes, when weapon breaks, it's the game's way of telling you "Hey, buddy, you spent a lot of time in the fields, how about you repair your equipment, refill your supplies and sell all the junk?", but you're never FORCED to go back, you can just switch gear and continue if you choose so, there are even second weapon slots, just hit a button and boom, you can continue. Why Zelda didn't do that, instead of forcing you to carry whole arsenal of same weapons in your backpack, just because yours might break on next attack?

wonderfulmonkeyman2345d ago

Three hours is a horrible sample size for an example. Especially since, at that point, you haven't even started to run across weapons that drop with durability+ modifiers on them, which happens A LOT once you've hit a certain point.

Come back when you've put in at least ten and have started discovering a lot of the enemy encampments, not to mention silver enemies and respawn points for elemental weaponry, and then maybe, if you've discovered silver enemies by then and have learned how easy getting a large inventory of great weapons is when you take advantage of electric arrows, you'll have a better sample size for your opinion to be based off of.

That flame greatsword you mentioned?
I can quite literally find a good half-inventory amount of them, plus flame spears and flame one-handed swords on top of electric and ice variants, with no effort at all thanks to fast traveling.
The fact that they break is inconsequential when it's so easy to find a replacement literally right afterwards if I want one bad enough.

RpgSama2346d ago (Edited 2346d ago )

Mr. Wonderfulmonkeyman, "what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul"

Last_Boss2346d ago

Lmfaooo!! Billy Madison.

wonderfulmonkeyman2346d ago

Cute. Not clever, but cute.
Of course, I didn't expect you to say anything even resembling an intelligent counterpoint, so I guess a copy-pasta suits you just fine.

_-EDMIX-_2346d ago

Basically.

Its like, damn, I like Zelda too, but BOTW imho is easily one of the worst Zelda titles RIGNT NEXT to Skyward Sword.

BOTW basically has me done with the 3D titles, I don't think they can be saved. Boring over world with TONS of filler for the sake of it, (OH BOY can't wait to collect all that pointless FILLER with um "SEEDS", yup, BORING when Assassins Creed does it, but REVOLUTIONARY when Zelda does the same thing)

Weapons in the game suck BIG TIME, missing hook shot, feels just garbage
Frame rate is trash
Looks like a Gamecube game, yet in 2017
Story is just stupid beyond belief stupid, I'd rather hey just gave us the classic (Zelda kidnapped, go finder her bruh)
Took away the roll
REMOVED dungeons and instead have stupid NEW GROUNDS quality level puzzles and idiot could solve
Walking temples are legit, the worst temples in any Zelda game to ever release.

Thank god I didn't waste jack on buying a Switch and just played it on a friends Wii U. Most are SCARED to talk about this games short comings, this game is trash. Its the most BASIC Zelda game, even saying "basic" is to suggest it even has STAPLE Zelda content, dear god YOU CAN'T ROLL IN THE GAME! The items break simply by looking at them lol piff, Nintendo bought this game's reviews, I knew that the second I started playing and realized this was easily the worst feeling zelda, on TOP of missing features and moves.

Nintendo fanboys do this all the time, they brag about it when it comes out, yet in private, they won't shut up ab out its shortcomings, yet suddenly when we want to talk about a BOTW2, OH BIG SURPRISE, you folks have a list of fixes? Wait...I thought it was perfect? I thought it was a 10? I thought NOTHING was wrong with this game?

Watch, you'll only see a bit of a crack from them, when someone talks about a sequel, suddenly they can remember things are wrong about the game. Funny...

ninsigma2346d ago

Nail on the head edmix. Nail on the head.

2346d ago
RommyReigns2342d ago

RpgSama you legend! And Edmix you just burned that monkey!

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Dark_Knightmare22346d ago (Edited 2346d ago )

It doesn't matter that there's a another weapon close at hand it's a superfluous addition that adds absolutely nothing to the game and is there just to be there. It's dumb being in a fight and hitting an enemy three times just for your weapon to break and that's just with normal weapons with the really cool ones they might last a little longer but it's a still a big problem that could have been solved if it was tweaked like dark souls or just wasn't there to begin with.

wonderfulmonkeyman2345d ago

Yeah, no.
Later on, you start running across weapons with durability modifiers, and if you raid camps and find chests often, you'll quickly get to the point where you're finding more good weapons than you'll actually use up from battle to battle.
The only weapons that break in less than ten hits, are tree branches.
And if that's the best example you've got to go by, then that just shows you know nothing about the game.
The "really cool ones", especially later on, also drop with durability + modifiers on them quite frequently, and last more than long enough to be useful as well as appear quite frequently when you actively look for enemy encampments.

Haters exaggerate BotW's issues.
It's not a flawless game but it's nowhere near as bad as cowards like Edmix make it out to be.

ninsigma2346d ago

Not a chance.

The weapon breakage in BOTW is just frustrating and nowhere near fun. It just makes weapons pointless. Witcher 3 did it better but overall it's a crappy mechanic.

wonderfulmonkeyman2345d ago

"It just makes weapons pointless"
Go kill a camp filled with gold or silver enemies using nothing but the bomb rune.
Let us know how that works out for you.
Until then, you're wrong.XD

ninsigma2345d ago (Edited 2345d ago )

Too bad the combat is also crap and made me just want to skip everything. And even if it wasn't, why should I have to?? It's a BS mechanic and you'll literally defend anything with Zelda on it. The only people that are wrong are those that call this game a masterpiece. It's just so painfully average and if it had any other name and was releases on any other platform you would have torn it apart.

RommyReigns2342d ago

The weapon breakage is just a way to artificially inflate the total playing time.

Kos-Mos2346d ago

I am amazed by the people who desperately tries try to talk bad about Zelda. They are so confused in their replies to you. It's like religion, they won't accept that there is another path that can be good, in this example how well Zelda: BoTW handles breakable weapons.
I really didn't want to spend time and energy in this topic, but I had to because you make such valid points while the negative replies are cries of confusion and plain stupidity.

N4G is a good page to read news, but it is a nest of confused fanboys that should focus on evolving their personality instead of making a fool out of themselves in public.

A little off topic: If you don't like Zelda, it is a matter of taste, but not accepting that it is a masterpiece that will be remembered makes you inhabile in discussions like this.

UnHoly_One2346d ago

I've not played BOTW, I just want to put that out there first, so I'm not going to say it is good or bad, because I don't have any experience with it.

What I do know, is that I wanted to play it, until I read about how quick the weapons break, and now I don't want to play it anymore.

Even your glowing review of how awesome the system is still sounds terrible to me.

I haven't played it, so I can't say for sure that the game is awful. But to me it SOUNDS like the game is awful.

wonderfulmonkeyman2345d ago (Edited 2345d ago )

Let me put it this way; don't trust anyone who says the system sucks.
Most of those saying that, haven't gotten at least a good ten hours into it, so they haven't experienced a wide portion of the map and discovered how easy it is to find more of the exact same weapons.
Anyone telling you that it isn't easy to find a replacement for that great flame sword or electric blade, or even just a high-powered one-handed blade, and that it ruins the game, is lying to your face.

The 'quick break" of weaponry is inconsequential because you're literally going to find a replacement the very next battle. It's a none-issue for anyone who's played the game extensively and knows what they're talking about.
Most of the people here on N4G bashing the way the game handles weaponry, do not know what they're talking about, and haven't had extensive experience with the game. [most here hate it simply because it got glowing reviews around the same time that Horizon released, actually, and say it gets a free past just because it's Zelda.]

blawren42345d ago

Totally agree with you on this. 170 hours in the game and I can honestly say the breakable weapons work for this game. Weapons are a commodity just like everything else and for a game like this, it makes sense. People mainly are complaining about things that aren't in the game instead of considering what is in the game and they are just not willing to accept this game just isn't what they wanted. They don't have to like it, but they are in the small minority of people that didn't like the game, and that's fine. Just shows what kind of audience N4G has that the overwhelming number of dislikes are showing up. My only complaint with the game is the insanely common thunderstorms. Normally in these games, you get the awesome weapon and none of the other weapons matter anymore. BOTW does this perfectly, and if y

UnHoly_One2345d ago

See MonkeyMan, here's my problem with your assessment.

You say that the weapons break quick, but it's ok because you find a lot of weapons and you can easily find one to replace it.

Well that seems balanced wrong to me. Why do they have to break at all, if you are always going to have a replacement?

So maybe the problem isn't being left without a good weapon to use, the problem is a ton of time spent doing inventory management when you shouldn't have to.

Make the weapons harder to find, but they last longer, or don't break at all, and you've got the same game but without the big giant pain in the ass of managing this weapons that are all made out of particle board or something.

Just my 2 cents, and again, I'm speaking from reviews and impressions I have read and not from personal experience.

+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 2341d ago
Nacho_Z2346d ago

God of War is the king of QTEs for me, many unforgettable moments that probably couldn't have been handled any other way apart from a less exciting cut scene. Decent windows for the button presses too, they wanted you to get it right not try and trip you up.

Aither2346d ago (Edited 2346d ago )

The Ninja Turtles dam level was a nightmare as a child. It haunted my dreams more than any other cliche 80's horror film. As a big fan of Ninja Turtles, the dam level was the first time I realized the world was unfair, and the level that followed after is when I first knew there was true evil on earth. Only someone with a sadistic mind would've created the Ninja Turtles game for kids. Who would've thought that you were supposed to have walked over that blasted crack in the floor!?

mochachino2346d ago

"Top 10 worst web page clickbate scams and the sites that get them wrong"

COGconnected

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70°

Examining the Zero Escape series' many rooms

August 2017 is a big month for the Zero Escape series. This marks the first time that every entry in the trilogy is available on the PlayStation 4. Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma has made its way to the console for the first time. Which means it is a perfect time for someone to begin playing these thrillers. But where are can someone find them and how do they get started?

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