Zero Escape

[CaptainMeme]

I'm currently playing through AI: the Somnium Files! I think I'm about halfway through but I'm not sure - I know these games tend to have a lot more to them than you think they will!

I'm enjoying it a lot, although I'm someone who enjoys clicking on literally everything and everyone in the scene to see if you get any special interactions. AI really likes rewarding you for doing that! I'm not a fan of how much of the banter revolves around erotica, but I guess you just have to deal with that when it comes to Japanese games

Pretty major story spoilers ahead:

Spoiler: AI: The Somnium Files Spoilers

The first 'ending' I got to (which is a locked path, but I still can't get further on it) was one where both Iris and Ota died in the cold storage warehouse. Having to go talk to their mothers about it was a hell of a lot heavier than I was expecting the game to be.
The second one I got to was the route where you discover Ota's mother has dementia. The whole somnium aspect around it (especially being able to put the trash can on Aiba's head for most of it) felt a bit out of place when they were trying to go with something so serious, but it still hit me really hard because of the previous ending I'd gotten to and what she must have been going through after her son's death. Just... Ooof.
After that I haven't really come across anything that's gotten me in the feels, I'm wondering whether I went to the endings in the wrong order because of that. I'm also extremely confused about the plot right now but I'm kinda used to that with these kind of games. Nearly everyone I was suspicious of was killed in the same way in that first ending I got to, so either there are multiple killers or it's someone you really wouldn't expect it to be. Right now I think Iris's mother is potentially hiding something big, and I'm also suspicious of Pewter because of how little he's been talked about despite clearly being a major character.

[CaptainMeme]

Spoiler: response

you're playing in the same order i played! don't worry, honestly i've seen some discussion about it and thought about it myself and i think that it's the best order to follow, although it's obviously very possible that i'm biased.

any more theories on what's going on? i'm just interested to hear more about what you're thinking so far from someone who's gone down the same path i did. i've seen one other person who played the same route i did and it was pretty interesting hearing her thoughts, especially compared to what i was thinking at the time!

and yeah, it was first getting to mayumi's somnium that really vindicated the whole concept for me.

Spoiler: very spoilery response

So, right now I'm working on the storyline that involves a frozen Iris corpse that mysteriously disappeared and somehow she's still alive. I think this current line is the one that's confusing me most so I'm just going to ignore it for the moment while writing this

A theory I've had from very early on is that Date was the original Cyclops killer - it makes sense with the missing eyeball, the loss of memory 6 years ago, and Aiba's constant references to increasing his medication dosage that he always reacts in a shocked way too. Somehow they wiped his memories and use Aiba to keep him in check (although this doesn't explain how they dealt with him for the first year).
The whole #89 story throws that off a bit, but I think the original theory was close. Date's original Somnium was the scene where Iris' mother gets shot in the shoulder, which was where the assassin sent to kill #89 barged into the house - which indicates that Date is that assassin. I don't think that entirely rules out the possibility that Date is the OG Cyclops killer too because #89's story doesn't seem to entirely match up with the description Pewter gave of the killer.

That... doesn't really help with the new Cyclops killings though, because I seriously doubt Date is doing any of those. It's pretty clear that the mutual connection between everyone and everything is the Kumakura gang, but they don't have a good reason to be committing these murders nor do they seem like the kind of people who would (and yes, I know they're Yakuza ). Iris is definitely in on it, I'm tempted to say to the point that she was in on her own death in the cold storage warehouse, given that she took the knife from Ota's mother - but I think she's an accomplice rather than the actual killer. That leads me to suspect her mother, because her mother had a very good reason to be angry at the Kumakuras (them going after #89) and killing off people who worked with them, in their own style, seems like something she might do in revenge. The question is really could she have been able to fight off Ota in that Polar Bear costume with her arm like that, and more to the point, would she really have killed her own daughter with the ice cutting machine?

And I have no idea where So Sejima fits into all of this. He said 'killed by your own father' when he shot me so I assume he's Date's dad, but I don't see how that ties into everything. Overall I think I've still got a loooong way to go

[CaptainMeme]

it's a little bit of a different experience. i think a lot of the charm of the zero escape games is both the setting mystery (e.g. where you are, how you got there, why you're there, what's going on, etc) as well as the individual mysteries and fantastical elements that get brought up frequently and keep you wondering. staying very general, i'd say that AI is a lot more focused in its mystery, as well as really being more about the cast of characters (there's also the fact that it's not a "wake up in a mysterious location" mystery. have i said mystery enough?).

anyways, i think it's good, and probably better than ztd. get it for aiba, she's great.

Agreed on all of this. It feels like a solid murder mystery detective-y game and stays pretty focused on that throughout, and in general it feels a lot more grounded in reality than Zero Escape. It's still sci-fi and futuristic - but the setting feels normal despite that, and being in this normal city throughout makes you focus a lot more on the characters themselves.

I'm enjoying it a lot, but I also enjoyed ZTD so I might not be the best advice giver here

[CaptainMeme]

Spoiler: response

you're playing in the same order i played! don't worry, honestly i've seen some discussion about it and thought about it myself and i think that it's the best order to follow, although it's obviously very possible that i'm biased.

any more theories on what's going on? i'm just interested to hear more about what you're thinking so far from someone who's gone down the same path i did. i've seen one other person who played the same route i did and it was pretty interesting hearing her thoughts, especially compared to what i was thinking at the time!

and yeah, it was first getting to mayumi's somnium that really vindicated the whole concept for me.

Spoiler: very spoilery response

So, right now I'm working on the storyline that involves a frozen Iris corpse that mysteriously disappeared and somehow she's still alive. I think this current line is the one that's confusing me most so I'm just going to ignore it for the moment while writing this

A theory I've had from very early on is that Date was the original Cyclops killer - it makes sense with the missing eyeball, the loss of memory 6 years ago, and Aiba's constant references to increasing his medication dosage that he always reacts in a shocked way too. Somehow they wiped his memories and use Aiba to keep him in check (although this doesn't explain how they dealt with him for the first year).
The whole #89 story throws that off a bit, but I think the original theory was close. Date's original Somnium was the scene where Iris' mother gets shot in the shoulder, which was where the assassin sent to kill #89 barged into the house - which indicates that Date is that assassin. I don't think that entirely rules out the possibility that Date is the OG Cyclops killer too because #89's story doesn't seem to entirely match up with the description Pewter gave of the killer.

That... doesn't really help with the new Cyclops killings though, because I seriously doubt Date is doing any of those. It's pretty clear that the mutual connection between everyone and everything is the Kumakura gang, but they don't have a good reason to be committing these murders nor do they seem like the kind of people who would (and yes, I know they're Yakuza ). Iris is definitely in on it, I'm tempted to say to the point that she was in on her own death in the cold storage warehouse, given that she took the knife from Ota's mother - but I think she's an accomplice rather than the actual killer. That leads me to suspect her mother, because her mother had a very good reason to be angry at the Kumakuras (them going after #89) and killing off people who worked with them, in their own style, seems like something she might do in revenge. The question is really could she have been able to fight off Ota in that Polar Bear costume with her arm like that, and more to the point, would she really have killed her own daughter with the ice cutting machine?

And I have no idea where So Sejima fits into all of this. He said 'killed by your own father' when he shot me so I assume he's Date's dad, but I don't see how that ties into everything. Overall I think I've still got a loooong way to go

Spoiler: response, random musings

funnily enough, i actually never saw that line from so when i played, only from seeing other people discuss it.

anyways, keep going! i think the right path has a bit of a different tone than the left one, interested to hear more when you get further in. also, this is a bit random, but i felt like the localization was worse in the right path than in the left path. have you noticed anything similar? i can elaborate more if you don't have any idea what i'm talking about. (this is not a spoiler thing at all)

Spoiler: response

I don't think I know what you mean on the localisation front? But I've only done part of one path down the right hand side so far. I did notice that at one point the text said 'Iris was in So's Somnium' but Aiba's VA said 'So was in Iris' Somnium'.
There have been a fair few bugs while I've been playing - torsos disappearing, peoples' eyes floating away from their faces and suchlike - but nothing I'd class as localisation

[CaptainMeme]

One of the face glitches happened at a mildly amusing time:

Spoiler: Not much of a spoiler but game screenshot