Recap of Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma (RECAPitation) 

I can tell there will be people that will not support the pace with which I narrate this story, but from where I am, delineating a story that requires a bit of 4th dimensional thinking was the bigger challenge and focus for me (I'm not slowing down for those folks, so keep up please as we discuss time travel and multi-world travel). This is one of those where pictures show the flow for this story better, but I did my best. Definitely had to revisit it a few times to make sure it made sense with continuity and trimmed for length (12k words gets me to 1 hr at a brisk speaking pace). This took longer than I would have preferred, so I appreciate the patience of those awaiting this final chapter. This marks another series closed for RECAPitation, which makes me glad, and oddly enough, another visual novel about a massive death game. Next RECAPitation will be: Lost Odyssey

I couldn't help but laugh at that one timeline where Delta's dropping the bombshell of everything then just mentions "also I killed the dog..." and that's when everyone's like "Dude WTF?!"

1st game: ok I think I get it 2nd game:my head hurts 3rd game:imma lay down and die

My brain, it hurts. I have watched all 3 of the videos and played the games and it still hurts the brain. It all makes sense, but holy shit did so much happen.

Moral of the story: if you see a snail, kick it

You know it's a convoluted plot when someone breaks it down super clearly, timeline by timeline, and it still takes nearly an hour to explain.

Imagine someone who bought the game at full price when it came out and played timeline 0-a thinking it was the only ending

* Gab gets killed * Doesn't update death count

Seventeen years ago, a young mother went jogging in the park. She reached a fork where she usually goes right, but on this day she decided to go left. Why? Because there was a snail on the path. No one knows why she avoided the snail. Was she afraid of them? Or felt a sense of danger from it? Whatever the case may be, the snail caused her to switch to the left path. As a result, she was killed by a girl. The suspect who was taken into custody, a Japanese man, was not the culprit. He was falsely convicted and executed, and his wife committed suicide in her grief. The two children were left behind. The convicted man called a taxi before his arrest, but the taxi ended up picking up another fare instead, a brilliant young surgeon. However, the car became involved in an accident, killing the surgeon as well as the young boy who was waiting for an operation by the surgeon. If that snail hadn't been on the right path 17 years ago, what would have happened? Life is simply unfair, don't you think?

Holy crap, that snail must have been huge

54:15 OOF! 23k copies sold worldwide? That's... not good...

What is a man a miserable pile of Timelines waiting on your other recaputations

Hold on a second 24 thousand copies? That's... Almost nothing! Far worse games have sold for more! 100 thousand would be a decent goal for a game like this right? Did they massively undersell?

Ofc.... There will always be the mandatory boob character in zero escape series...

I cant even imagine the process behind writing the plot for these games

A story to surpass Metal Gear.

Zero being out of frame the entire time is possibly the best worst piece of writing I’ve seen in my life. 10/10 best game

I need a flow chart. Still good! And great job on the recapitation. Just extremely confusing. Flow chart for the entire series actually. At least everyone has a happy ending.

I think you did quite an awesome job covering this one. Each timeline comes to an important piece of evidence that would be used by both the characters and the audience as we all work to solve the mystery together. RECAPing the coin toss in the beginning was the perfect set-up for the payoff in the end when the party shifts to that particular future, and push forward from there. Fortunately, watching all three of these RECAPs aren't necessary due to the nature of the constantly shifting timelines and each game stands on its own. :D Great job on this one, and I'll rendezvous with you on the next battlefield.

Timeline 4 is truly the timeline of suffering

I never understood why they let Mira live... she was still the cold blooded killer... did everyone forget that?

Can someone tell it to me straight, basically, all of these timelines connect into ONE timeline which is timeline one, in which ALL of them shifted to a timeline where they won the coin toss in which that timeline they all survive and remember the game that happened, but it's because of THAT game that they are determined to do good for humanity. But if Mira goes back in time to stop herself from murdering that woman then the timeline of them being together wouldn't exist, no?

Wow, this is amazing! i've just discovered your channel via this trilogy of videos, and i really like your style! I was actually searching youtube to see if anyone has made a story recap of the Professor Layton series, but unfortunately couldn't find one. Consider this a request for Layton!

I have to pause the video several times because of information overload even though I've finished this game already. Great job Oni for manage to make this video.

I enjoyed this game but it did not live up to the expectations set by the second game (which I feel is the best in the series). This game is inferior to the second in story, graphics, and gameplay. Not to mention it is quite a bit shorter. Thanks for the video.

I just finished the 3 games last week and I am looking for videos like this and to fill up those gaps and other questions that I have. Thanks for the awesome video.

Great video. You managed to get the convoluted story into understandable chunks and are commended for it. Few of the things that bothers me about this game are it makes the jokes between Sigma and Phi (If you are a c/d cup I'm 12 inches, used in both VLR and here) a wee bit creepy and Phi raising herself. Also with so many anagrams used in the game, the Title is actually one. Unscrambled it's "Me? I'm Zero, I'm Delta."

I’m tickled pink that you ended up recapping this game. I’ve watched the ones for 999 and VLR multiple times over. Any chance you’ll cover Ai: the Somnium Files?

I love that you can just escape by guessing a coin toss. Oh wow, I forgot how convoluted this game series's story was. Couldn't the game just...not explain all the psychics and espers crap!?

It’s been years & I’m still upset Aoi never got more of a story. How can we just ignore best boy?

Absolutely BRILLIANT video! I don't even want to know how difficult writing the script must have been.

Team Q wasn't lead by Sean, but by Q (aka Delta, aka the second Zero). I know it was intended here for misdirection, but in the game, it was misdirection by omission and not misdirection by misinformation/misnomer.

Ok, but like... if SHIFTing works by either swapping or overriding the bodies of alternate versions of the SHIFTer, then what's the point? In the end, all of these timelines exist, right? All Delta did was make a history where his plan succeeds, but there are likely infinite timelines where he succeeds and infinite timelines where he fails, no? At least in VLR, it felt like there was more to it than simply making 1 happy timeline amongst many sad ones; Akane's plan felt like it was more about finding a solution to fix her current timeline by investigating the history behind it, hence her cultivation and use of Sigma and Phi's time-traveling ability (the convoluted nature of her plan felt necessary given the dire circumstances, and its use in the gameplay made it interesting). In a sense, ZTD feels as lackluster as the "it was all a dream" plot twist where none of what happens feel meaningful to the audience. Like, why should I care about any of this if there are infinite good and bad timelines? The more I think of the implications, the less I care about the characters and their situation. Zero Escape is an amazing series to me, but it feels like each successive game becomes more convoluted, less meaningful, and graphically worse. I loved 999 and VLR (even if some VLR end-game reveals are pretty dumb), but ZTD is much weaker in comparison. In 999, I valued the mystery of the nonary game, the characters were all interesting and fleshed out, and the end reveal became cooler the more I thought about it. In VLR, the AB games intertwining in timelines made for an interesting gameplay mechanic, many of the characters were still interesting (tho some were really boring like Dio and Quark), and many of the mysteries were good (tho some had poor reveals); the graphics were wonky, but I was willing to keep going cuz the story, characters, and mysteries were compelling enough. ZTD has worse graphics, the characters weren't particularly interesting or entertaining to me (in fact, some of the characters I liked felt worse than in the prequels), and the mysteries were a messy tangle of convoluted plot lines. Not only that, but the consequences of death felt more meaningful in previous games, but it was poorly used here. Furthermore, it feels as though Delta had simpler options (e.g. tell Sigma and Diana "yo, mom and pops, Phi and I need to be born and y'all're my parents, so get to bangin")

honestly it's my favourite game in terms of storyline thrills, chills, kills and insane twists

Welcome to the most confusing story ever in a videogame franchise: Zero Scape.

Holy christballs... this story is SO complex... as someone that managed the best ending... im STILL confused at some points but i still loved every second.. thanks for explaining it the best you could

I mean, it would have been easy to explain as just A bad thing is going to happen in the future. Time can be reset while keeping the memories of the events that transpired. Someone from the future puts people through trials to eventually create a group of motivated heroes with the experiences of different timelines who can stop the future bad thing.

zero escape plotlines are more convoluted than kingdom heart's

I bet that snail has an evil twirly moustache and a wicked laugh, like "nyah nyah nyah"

Zero Escape is the DARK of videogame medium in terms of the most complex timetravel twists and turns and interweaving branches. Can't wait for it to be adapted into anime (which is already confirmed on the works, but i'm wondering how the hell they'll gonna incorporate all of these alternate timelines well, i hope the adaptation will be good).

I had to watch this video 3 TIMES to understand it fuck this game is confusing and THANK YOU for explaining it

Good video. But they ended virtue last reward with this. Biker comparison. And a big fucking cliffhanger and here? Kill kill kill kill kill die die death Definitly worth only 24k copied sold. That was weak.

This series is truly a hidden gem.

This made me easier to understand the dark series about time travelling, in fact it made it kind of predictable haha, stuff like the girl being the mom and the daighter kinda off like how delta tortured her mom and dad to evolve them and to make them both.

Phi: minding her own business Mira: “I’m going to do what’s called a pro-gamer move”

if people can't follow, they slow down the playback speed haha. You're doing great Oni. Nicely done video sweetie.

This entry wasnt as good as the others, new characters were weaker, animation was bad and it seems as if it did many asspulls to explain the events of the series, still it was enjoyable

models are just awful. 999 is so much better.

Thank You man for continuing the zero escape series

This series was so greatly complex! I played through all the games and had a hard time piecing together. You did a terrific job!

If i was the jogger i would just ignore the snail and just carrie on with my run and then boom i save the world

I was disappointed with this entry in the series. Definitely not as good as Virtue's Last Reward.

god i hated this game cause what it did to some of the returning characters and it just bothers me

18:42 39:06 Just look at the text, this is ridiculous.

mira and eric are beyond hateable in this game

Moral of the story, kill snails

TL:DR Snail

YESSSS! The story was so good! I hope you cover AI next time!

Wow... THIS JUST BLEW MY MIND! I might have to play this game in 6-8 months so I can forget what I have seen here.

Hola bro, Muchas gracias por resumir todo el juego, la verdad con tanta critica que le vi la mismo, no me motive a jugarlo, asi que vi ti video, agradezco mucho la buena explicacion, ahora me quedo satisfecho con conocer el Final (aunque es decepcionante) de Zero Escape :D

What a time to be awake! Been waiting for this since work earlier.

In this game several timelines are canonical In real life I am canonically confused as fuck

Still don't like how Q team had a 4th person that no one ever mentions but 1 or 2 off comments

Someone get Brian David Gilbert on this

I enjoyed the first 2 games, except the ending of the second one. This one is just way to crazy haha 😂 lol

Oh thank god been playing this game for 3 Years now and I’m still trying to figure out what happened

Plot twist: The entire series is intended as a guide to stop Radical-6 in real life

Death Game games are always ALWAYS fucking weird.

Oooh! I had just finished the game and didn’t realize that epilogue text was there, thanks for that!

Holy mindfuck

23:06 After the second timeline where they die, again 54:14 But what of Delta’s goals?

Beautiful as always oni. No worries with pace, these games are insane. Looking forward to hearing lost Odessy next. Also looking forward to last xenosaga part as well!

Timeline one is worst timeline for OBVIOUS REASONS!

Yes! Thank you so much for doing Zero Time Dilemma! 😃

Love your videos! Do Parasite Eve?

I love these games and Danganronpa!

Why do so many youtube creators speak so fast?? You're learning the experience because you don't give people thinking time.

The watch does also tell time.

How to beat the Zero Escape series. Salt

I completed the Zero Escape Trilogy back-to-back recently and love how crazy it is. I need more games like this to play ❤

i have three words: diana best girl

Timeline 3 AB Carlos’ Journey 24:03-29:01 37:05-37:19 39:56-42:30 45:36-45:58 16:36-19:10

999 made sense once you went through every path and learned the story, VLR also made slight sense...but this...this thing makes everything unable to be understood at all...

First two timelines: "pff this is stupid" After hearing 4th timeline: "wtf is happening?"

So, I'm a little confused. Does the actions taken by Mira and Eric at the end, not do anything to the timeline/prevent the virus from happening? Or does it just reboot the timeline, causing the need for Akane and Junpei to just between timelines to save humanity? (I realize that humanity will still be bombed by the terrorist organization, if they do this because the second nonary game wouldn't have happened, since they would not have gathered there.)

Wait. If Mira went back in time and killed her past self to prevent the murder, does that mean literally all of the games were erased? So then nobody ever knew about the future terrorist so they weren't stopped and everyone died in a nuclear apocalypse? Actually, how did Delta know about the terrorist? So in the best timeline, original Sean, Eric's mother, Eric's brother Chris, Akane's parents, the taxi driver, and the surgeon are still dead, Mira is still a murderer who escaped prison, Quark may never be born, and Luna, Kyle, and Lagomorph don't exist. Amd even if Mira's new timeline doesn't end in nuclear armageddon, Mira is suddenly much older, nobody else remembers anything, Quark still probably isn't born,, and Q-Sean, Luna, Kyle, and Lagomorph still don't exist, and who knows if Gab will even ever be born.

Phi being the child of Sigma and Diane is just full on "nope" in my head. This shit was convoluted ass fuck though.

Wait...wait...so at the end...he breaks out and undoes the catalyst for literally ALL these games... and it ends there? Can we get alternative timeline evil versions of all these characters? An Alice and Clover spinoff game? That is some atraight up rug pull shit to end on.

Ah yes the multiverse theory which states if time travel works all versions of time travel must work

How dare delta shoot gab! He a good boy

all for one snail xD

Holy jesus my brain is hurting, haven't even watched the 2nd game yet LMFAOOOOOO

Thanks for looking at my request for this.

I love this game, but goddamn is it complicated... the timetravel, the paradoxes, the alternate realities...

I chose blue at the very beginning and the game ended lol.

God this is too much damn math

You got something wrong (and I JUST found this out) the robot boy is not called Q...

Recommend me some more underrated games like this.

A watch? Telling time? Inconceivable!

YESSS THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! Ive been requesting this