999: An Introduction

Like I mentioned in my intro, my main focus for the time being will be on this game. So what is 999?

It is a DS game, recently localized by Aksys Games and released on November 16 of this year. It was released in Japan one year prior, on December 10, 2009. The full title is Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.

The game is written by Kotaro Uchikoshi, one of the scenario writers of Ever17, another of my favorite (or rather, my all-time favorite) visual novel. For those who don't know me, Coco Yagami of Ever17 is my favorite character and waifu, if you will. A short history tangent, but I bought the game at Otakon '07 (the trip itself being a whim, and a last-minute planned trip) in July, as part of Hirameki's sale just as they were financially hanging on a thread (they eventually declared bankruptcy right after New Year's, in 2008). Over the summer, I played the game, in on-and-off periods in August and September of 2007. By the time I finished the game, and Coco's route, my junior year of high school started... and I haven't let go of Coco since. Three years later, she's still my favorite, my waifu. Unfortunately, that's a post for another time. But just a heads-up, her birthday is coming up soon...

Anyway, this game, 999, is considered a sort of spiritual successor of Ever17. For good reason... the game can almost be seen as a more compact form of Coco's route, which is widely regarded as one of the best VN routes ever and is the high point of Ever17 in particular. Ever17 is also split into four routes, only two of which can be accessed by the two protagonists. The quality of those routes, however, varies somewhat, and can be at times, difficult to plow through to unlock Coco's route. But the work is well worth it. For those who cannot wait, however, there's this game.

A quick run-through of the game is that it is an "escape-the-room" type of visual novel, similar to games like the Crimson Room. I believe the story is also compared to stuff like Saw, though I've never seen the movie. For those who have no idea what I have just referenced, the game is basically about nine people who have been kidnapped and placed on a sinking ship with nine hours to escape. There are numbered doors throughout the ship, labeled 1-9, with the 9 door being the exit. This is all part of a "game" referred to as the Nonary Game. In case you haven't noticed, 9 is the theme here. Big surprise, given the title.

The rules of the Nonary Game are as such. Each person is given a bracelet from 1-9. To enter a numbered door, 3-5 people must scan their bracelet and add up these numbers to have their digital root equal that number. A digital root, btw, is adding up the totals to get a sum, then adding the digits of that sum, and repeating the process until you get a single digit number. That number, which will always be 1-9, is the digital root. For example, 4 + 5 + 6 = 15 = 1 + 5 = 6. The digital number of those three is 6, and thus, those 3 can enter door 6. There is a catch, of course. Entering a numbered door triggers a countdown on the bracelet, which serves as a regulator of who is allowed to enter which door. Failure to comply to the rules previously stated will trigger a bomb to go off inside them, one that was ingested while they were kidnapped and passed out.

The premise seems simple, but it's not the premise alone that interests me (nor is it the background of this being the spiritual successor to Ever17). Of course, like most other series, what really grabs me the most is the characters. Particularly, this holds true for Clover, but... Well, it may be better to go through each of them. Here are my original initial reactions of the characters.

(some minor spoils may follow)

1. Ace. Initially labeled Lion by the player character, due to his hair and face being that of a lion's mane. Seems to be a calm, respectable old guy, but not much of him is revealed, to my frustration. Carries the bracelet 1, and is codenamed after the ace card signifying the value of 1.
2. Snake. Initially labeled as Prince, due to his elegant clothes. Blind. Clover's older brother. Another seemingly cool, calm guy, albeit younger in appearance to Ace. Named after the value of snake-eyes dice.
3. Santa. First called Silver for his hair color. Swears like a sailor. Seems like he had a troubled past, like every other silver-haired guy. Nickname is a pun on "san" being "three" in Japanese, as well as Santa Claus. Seems like an arbitrary reason, but there is some minor backstory on that as well.
4. Clover. Half the reason I picked up... hell, jumped on this game. Like Coco, she has pink hair (Yes, I have a pink hair fetish. Deal with it.). Younger sister of Snake. Seems energetic, but not in the childish sense that Coco was. Rather, she seems to have a sharp tongue, which gets her into trouble a bit too often. Codename is an obvious reference to the four-leaf clover.
5. Junpei. The main player character. A college student. Seems like your typically average protagonist. Has no nickname, due to #6 revealing his name before #7 threw out the idea of codenames to protect their identity.
6. June. Also known as Akane Kurashiki, Junpei's childhood friend. Calls Junpei "Jumpy." Seems to have a fragile health. Junpei gives her the nickname June, after the sixth month (coincidentally, that's my birth month >_>).
7. Seven. Not a very original name, but he was the first one to throw out the idea, and English wasn't this guy's native language anyway. A huge guy, referred to as Mountain by Junpei before the nickname idea came up. Seemed kinda sketchy at first, but he has good reason for it, which is revealed early.
8. Lotus. A woman who dresses like a "Dancer." And by "dancer," I mean slut. Seriously, she wears next to nothing and has huge boobs. The game makes no attempt to sugar-coat this, so yeah. She seemed the most apprehensive to following the Nonary Game, though more out of fear than anything. She's named after the lotus flower, which has eight petals.
9. Simply referred to as the 9th man, for good reason. A scrawny, sweaty, sketchy looking guy who reminds one of an otaku.
0. Zero. The leader of a rebellion against Britan--wait, wrong series. A mysterious man (woman?) with a gas mask who kidnapped the above nine and organized this game. No other information to really go off of.

Those were my initial thoughts. Next post will (attempt to) reflect and summarize all of my reactions prior to this point in the game that I am in now (which is the final route, the true end).