I’ve said this once before, during the intro to my review of Portal 2, but I feel it is worth repeating for this game as well: Virtue’s Last Reward is in the awkward position of being a sequel to a game so fantastic that by design it becomes excruciatingly difficult to live up to expectations. Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward is a sequel to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, one of the extremely few games to receive a grade of A from those of us writing reviews at Gaming Bus. The game was nearly perfect: the exposition and plot twists were flawlessly executed; in the end all loose ends were tied and holes covered, and there was a sense of ultimate closure regarding the events in the game.
There was no way that Virtue’s Last Reward could surpass 999 with the bar set so high to begin with. It just couldn’t happen. After having completed literally everything in this game, I can say I was right. However, the developers of Spike Chunsoft have definitely taken lessons learned from 999 and improved these things in VLR. As a direct result, the game comes very close to 999 in terms of excellence. I should note that while I could give a lot more detail to support my claims here, I intend to make this review as spoiler-free as possible. This means I will be rather vague when speaking about the plot in an effort to ensure that those reading this review will enjoy the same experience as I had when they play it.
The Zero Escape series is classic and should come to Nintendo Switch.
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.
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And let's not forget the addition of sudden alien technology shoehorned into the plot.
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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.
Agreed. It would be perfect on the Switch. I especially loved Virtue's Last Reward.
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.
I bet it is an interesting read, but I gave up after the 3rd page.. Invasive ads are the worst.
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.
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.
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!?
"Top 10 worst web page clickbate scams and the sites that get them wrong"
COGconnected
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?
I agree that Zero Escape VLR is a fantastic game. I absolutely love it.
I don't agree that 999 set the bar that high. It was a good game, don't get me wrong, but very--very--flawed. I think it got a bit overrated, partly because the most similar game to it on the 3DS was Time Hollow, and Time Hollow was godawful.
its my new obsession. thats my opinion.