hhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa where do I even start

The first couple of hours of this game are truly some of the most excruciating I think I've ever experienced in a piece of media. Most of the characters are loud, abrasive and immediately unlikeable, the rest are just sort of ... there. And aside from having to deal with the horrendous first impressions of the cast, you then also have to sit through lengthy, repetitive explanations of the Nonary Games and how they work that left me feeling like a 5 year old child who was being taught how to count to 10 for the first time. Like yes, I understand that snake is two and seven is seven and together that makes nine. I GET IT.

The sense of urgency that the time limit and the imminent danger of a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean presents is pretty much immediately disregarded as the characters enter into petty squabbles and it was frustrating to the point that I considered just giving up and refunding the game before I even stepped through my first numbered door BUT I STAYED STRONG.

The overarching story that begins to unfold as we get further in to the game is at least interesting enough that I wanted to learn more, though there was some truly bizarre choices that I can't seem to understand when it came to character backstories. like the Akane/Junpei sub plot that involved them facing off against a bunch of kids that kept murdering animals but was somehow framed as these sweet romantic moments between them and I just?????? I don't understand.

I think my favourite part of the entire game was the actual escape room sections, the puzzles were all fun and pretty satisfying to complete, even if I did think they were WAY too easy to figure out. I would have loved more of a challenge, but I suppose given that the original players of the Nonary Games were a group of kids, it at least works for the story that they're not insanely difficult.

Ultimately, this is a game that had some really cool and interesting ideas that were weighed down by a cast that I just couldn't connect with in any real meaningful way and a script that was filled with so much repetition and needless explanations about every little thing that I spent most of my play time begging everyone to stop talking.

I went into 999 expecting another Somnium Files and unfortunately what I got felt closer to a Danganronpa experience, especially when it came to the dialogue and characters and that just wasn't what I was hoping for. 😔

The final couple of hours of the true ending were by far the strongest part of the story, but even still the game ended up stumbling at the finish line for me when they finally revealed Ace's motive for setting up the original games in first place which was just so lackluster and nonsensical that all I could do was sigh and be glad that the game was finally over.

I have no idea what it is about this game, but something just clicked the moment I started playing it and it had me HOOKED. I've played a number of other JRPGs from around the same time Phantasia released and this is absolutely one of my favourites of the bunch.

The main story itself isn't anything revolutionary, in fact it's pretty generic, but there is something about the characters and how they interact with the world and the people around them that, to me, feels so unique for games of this era. I think the inclusion of skits in the open world definitely helped with developing the party and their relationships with one another in a really effective way that didn't require any tedious sidequesting or optional exploration to unlock.

I was honestly caught off guard by the game's main antagonist and how much I adored him. Dhaos, much like the main party, has so much more depth than I was expecting going into this game. I loved the parallels between his own quest to save his homeland and that of our protagonists. His goals were noble but so poorly executed, and the conclusion to his story was tragic because throughout the game he was presented as a villain, yes, but one that under other circumstances could have been a powerful ally.

I think the game stumbles in places for sure, especially in the latter half. The combat grows a bit stale after a couple dozen hours and the reused/recoloured enemy models that are used throughout the last couple of dungeons don't help with keeping battles all that engaging. I also found the unskippable magic animations to be incredibly frustrating as they slowed a lot of fights down to a crawl. I also think that the ending could have been improved slightly if we got to actually see flashbacks of Dhaos' backstory or even if we had him tell us his story himself before he died instead of the hard cut to the party standing by Yggdrasil which was pretty jarring.

All in all though, this was a fantastic introduction to the Tales of series and I'm so glad that I decided to start from the beginning instead of with the newer releases. I'm excited to see what's in store for me if this is the foundation that the series was built off of!