Completed: Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors

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Yeah....

Okay spoiler free.... or at least as much as i can be.

Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors (999) is a Visual novel game on the DS.

To define what a Visual novel is isn't easy since it can become a point and click or adventure game really fast... so i consider it a type of game that honestly barely needs a player... for example this games length is found completely in the story and most of the puzzles (especially after having beaten them once before) can be completed in a few minutes.

However the story is really really good.... like the title suggests there are 9 people who have 9 hours to traverse through 9 numbered doors... well kinda.... ah but no spoilers...
each person has a bracelet with a number, they use these bracelets to get through numbered doors... they have to make the numbers add up to the digital route of whatever number is on the door

ex. 1+8+6 = 15.... 1+5 = 6
so they could use that combo to get through door number 6 a minimum of three people need to participate but no more then five.... and everyone who clicks in must go through the door and deactivate the detonator.

oh did i mention is is one of a handful of M rated games for the handheld... yeah it is.

Anyways so there seems to be no connection to anyone at first until 6 arrive... it's a girl that the main character has known since childhood... oh and 2 and 4 are siblings... so at first you are given only two doors to go through and this is the best part of the game.... due to multiple branching paths this game has a lot of replay value since doing different things or in a different order yields different endings.
i had to play through the game 5 times to get all 6 endings.

and even on my last playthrough (which was after i managed to get the true ending) i still got new dialogue and info in rooms i had already done... yes the last run took less then an hour to get to the end (you can skip text you've already seen when you restart the game.) also i got the ending many recommend getting first as my last one.... though my first run did yield a bad end... like one that is called bad end.... most of these are bad ends to be honest...

The game does throw a lot of real world theories at you.... to the point where i had heard of quite a few of them... so thats fun... does mean a lot of text....

anyways i can't much more cause of spoilers so it's story time~

So I don't own this game, My friend lent it to me.... as well as Tales of vesperia and Ys 6.... anyways I was at his place playing P.Diva Dreamy Theater and telling him how i was like one room away from getting the ending that allows you to get true ending.... and how i hate when they give you sudoku type puzzles but no numbers and expect you to make everything add up to the same number in every direction.
so he chuckled. "whats so funny"
"i just remember the last puzzle of the game is a Giant Sudoku puzzle.... like with 9 squares and you have to turn your ds upsidedown... and it's timed.

at this point i'm at a loss for word.... but i know him.... i know he likes to pull my leg or tease me cause i can be pretty naive and gullible .... but honestly i couldn't tell.... i mean... it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case..... but i really hoped he was joking... i promised i would blow up on him either way.... one  cause i suck at sudoku an the other cause he made me worry about how much i suck at sudoku...

all i'll say is at least he was wrong about it being timed... i took way longer then the announcer said...

but yeah the game is great and one of the best uses of replaying the game i've ever seen
i really look forward to the sequel Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward