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Steins;Gate 0 |OT| Another Time Dilemma

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
I agree to an extent
*cough*kagari*cough*
but I do really quite enjoy the beta timeline story, thought maho was a really fun new character, and also exploring an okabe who is completely broken by time travel.
 
I agree to an extent
*cough*kagari*cough*
but I do really quite enjoy the beta timeline story, thought maho was a really fun new character, and also exploring an okabe who is completely broken by time travel.
Maho made S;G0 worth it for me. Even with the flaws, Maho was just amazing.

I enjoyed SG0, but ultimately more as supplementary material to something I already loved than as the next great Steins;Gate saga.

And yeah, Maho was probably the best part of it.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
I kind of don't need the next great steins;gate saga. It's already fully wrapped up for me.

Is robotic;notes worth it at all?
 

LiK

Member
I kind of don't need the next great steins;gate saga. It's already fully wrapped up for me.

Is robotic;notes worth it at all?

I keep reading that all the other games are not as good and more anime if that means anything. I wanna check them out tho.
 
I kind of don't need the next great steins;gate saga. It's already fully wrapped up for me.

Is robotic;notes worth it at all?

The anime is the only version of it in English and it's pretty mediocre.

I keep reading that all the other games are not as good and more anime if that means anything. I wanna check them out tho.
It's more that Steins;Gate is the only one with a decent anime adaptation. Chaos;Child is supposedly really good and I liked Chaos;Head even if the last 1/3 wasn't the best part of it.
 
I enjoyed SG0, but ultimately more as supplementary material to something I already loved than as the next great Steins;Gate saga.

Yeah, that's mostly how I feel. I enjoyed the game quite a bit, but it's mostly just an extension of what I loved about Steins;Gate. Some of the new characters were nice, but ultimately it's really just expanding on some stuff from the original game (and the decent ideas from 0 aren't really expanded on enough on their own).
 
What were the names of the classical songs in the game? I was looking for them on Spotify.
I'm blanking on if anything else was mentioned, but Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 is the big one. It has three movements, and the two featured were the first and third.

EDIT: Oh and Kagari's
trigger
was "The Magic Flute" (Die Zauberflöte) right? That's is a two-part opera of Mozart.
 

ys45

Member
Finished the game yesterday (all endings), it was a nice addition to the Steins Gate story.
Funny thing is I was right from the start on how it end(I'm sure a lot of people guessed it also) .

True Ending spoiler :

You literally end up right before the true ending of the first Steins Gate, right before Mayuri slap Okabe, so Mayuri slapping Okabe was actually from the future, this was the surprise for me

So unless I completely misunderstood the plot
We see what happened to Okabe and the others to get to the Steins Gate in the first game

I heard a while back they would do an anime, I hope it's true, I really liked the original Steins Gate in anime also .
 

hank_tree

Member
Finished the game yesterday (all endings), it was a nice addition to the Steins Gate story.
Funny thing is I was right from the start on how it end(I'm sure a lot of people guessed it also) .

True Ending spoiler :

You literally end up right before the true ending of the first Steins Gate, right before Mayuri slap Okabe, so Mayuri slapping Okabe was actually from the future, this was the surprise for me

So unless I completely misunderstood the plot
We see what happened to Okabe and the others to get to the Steins Gate in the first game

I heard a while back they would do an anime, I hope it's true, I really liked the original Steins Gate in anime also .

We don't know where/when Suzu, Mayuri and Okabe go at the end of SG0. People are speculating that it's setup for another sequel etc. The Mayuri that slaps Okabe is not from the future. At least I don't think that's implied anywhere.
 
We don't know where/when Suzu, Mayuri and Okabe go at the end of SG0. People are speculating that it's setup for another sequel etc. The Mayuri that slaps Okabe is not from the future. At least I don't think that's implied anywhere.
It's certainly heavily implied that Mayuri and Suzuha went back in time to make sure Okabe gets slapped.

If it plays out like one of the Drama CDs that was released years ago, then the time machine arrives while Okabe is gone back to save Kurisu the first time, and future Mayuri talks to past Mayuri from inside the time machine.

The problem addressed in the true ending of S;G 0 is that the time machine didn't have enough battery/fuel to make a return trip so it got lost in time. Okabe decides to go and save them instead of dying in 2025, but it really doesn't matter what the outcome of this mission is, because at that point it's all up to 2010 Okabe who receives the video mail (and the slap) to pave the way to Steins Gate.
 

ys45

Member
We don't know where/when Suzu, Mayuri and Okabe go at the end of SG0. People are speculating that it's setup for another sequel etc. The Mayuri that slaps Okabe is not from the future. At least I don't think that's implied anywhere.

She clearly say near the end I need to go back to the past to slap some sense into Okarin so he doesn't give up on saving Kurisu, my understanding is at the the start of zero instead of doing this she just asked Suzuha to leave Okabe alone, and now she will go back to slap him so he doesn't give up (and then the message from the future will arrive on his phone) and it lead to the true ending of the first Steins Gate That's how I understood it anyways the thing that makes everything complicated is the different timeline they could make infinite sequel with just the different time line I personally think they should stop and leave the series as it is .
 

hank_tree

Member
She clearly say near the end I need to go back to the past to slap some sense into Okarin so he doesn't give up on saving Kurisu, my understanding is at the the start of zero instead of doing this she just asked Suzuha to leave Okabe alone, and now she will go back to slap him so he doesn't give up (and then the message from the future will arrive on his phone) and it lead to the true ending of the first Steins Gate That's how I understood it anyways the thing that makes everything complicated is the different timeline they could make infinite sequel with just the different time line I personally think they should stop and leave the series as it is .


The Mayuri that slaps "Okabe" is still the original Mayuri. If "Future" Mayuri and Suzu go back and alter the events to create that scenario that's fine(I mean it's dumb as shit, but whatever) but Mayuri isn't replaced by "future" Mayuri.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
Just finished and got the true ending.

Overall I enjoyed it, but the original is IMO a much stronger game.

Maho was great. Kagari was
a complete mess full of WTF did I just read moments, and not in a good way. Why the hell did she suddenly look like Yuki? I never noticed anything about plastic surgery either. Then there was the flashback about how she escaped as a kid. Then some other shit about her being grown up and going back in time (to where, and to do what?). The only decent storyline with her in it was the one where she had Kurisu's memories and even then, that storyline would sometimes flick off like a light switch or just peter out into randomness depending on your choices.

Speaking of choices, I'm glad that the game executed its cell phone choice system much better than the original did, which felt completely arbitrary.

Story-wise, I enjoyed some of the story paths but some of them outright sucked. Mainly the
Kagari ones
. The original game had a much stronger sense of cause and effect
whenever a time skip happened, and the story was much more engaging for it. This game has a lot of time changes happening that weren't necessarily triggered by you, or ones that didn't give you a very deliberate and clear answer for what you changed. It made the whole story feel a lot more disjointed than the first, and also fucked with the pacing quite hard.
It was offputting at times. A lot of the time I had no idea why a character was doing something, or what was happening.
It's not a good way to tell a story, even if the intention was to create a disjointed feel of multiple timelines contributing to a singular goal

I was really disappointed at how
the key changes that appeared at the end of some arcs (like the D-Rine, cracking Kurisu's laptop, and so on) basically amounted to nothing. I was hoping that they would affect one of the other paths and unlock a different path towards the true ending, but they never did that. While the D-Rine was a part of the true ending, it was really underused imo. I was expecting it to show up when Okabe was at some really low point and pick him up, or something dramatic like that.

Character-wise I think almost the whole cast is improved, except Faris and Luka. I liked Okabe maturing as a character,
then eventually re-embracing his own Kyouma bullshit (but actually being self aware about it this time) as a way of coping.Suzuha, Daru, Mayuri and Moeka were all fleshed out in a good way.

Moeka surprised me, really. I always alternated between pitying and hating her in the previous game, but I found myself actually kinda caring about her in the path where she hangs out with Maho. Kinda funny how Maho of all people was the one to bring Moeka out of her shell.
 

Melkaz

Member
Finished! Sadly I read about the save bug after starting so I delayed the update and kept the Vita in rest mode between sessions. Then 10+ hours in, after 2 endings completed, the game crashed and auto updated itself. bye bye save games, gah!

Due to the restarting i might have auto skipped a few conversations that I haven't seen yet, so did miss the following part or was it never explained? :
Was it explained why Kagari looked like Kurisu? Thought it was Kurisu's child from a different time time when I first saw here. Not like the ages matched up but hey time travel! Guess it was just the compatibility they had on why she was chosen to carry the memories.

Overall, I liked the original more(finished earlier this year, watched the anime back when it aired) but it still had some very high highs.

The good points: I really liked Maho! Most re-designs were really nice. The new phone system was a big improvement(better readability, less choices to mess up with) and some characters got some good further character development.

The bad:Having the art style switching mid game in certain parts was quite jarring, the save bug was annoying and the true ending
was quite abrupt, it does makes sense tho in the bigger picture but I would have liked a more standalone story.
 

Kalor

Member
Finished! Sadly I read about the save bug after starting so I delayed the update and kept the Vita in rest mode between sessions. Then 10+ hours in, after 2 endings completed, the game crashed and auto updated itself. bye bye save games, gah!

Due to the restarting i might have auto skipped a few conversations that I haven't seen yet, so did miss the following part or was it never explained? :
Was it explained why Kagari looked like Kurisu? Thought it was Kurisu's child from a different time time when I first saw here. Not like the ages matched up but hey time travel! Guess it was just the compatibility they had on why she was chosen to carry the memories.

Overall, I liked the original more(finished earlier this year, watched the anime back when it aired) but it still had some very high highs.

The good points: I really liked Maho! Most re-designs were really nice. The new phone system was a big improvement(better readability, less choices to mess up with) and some characters got some good further character development.

The bad:Having the art style switching mid game in certain parts was quite jarring, the save bug was annoying and the true ending
was quite abrupt, it does makes sense tho in the bigger picture but I would have liked a more standalone story.

I think it was just a coincidence that Kagari looked like Kurisu.
 

Flandy

Member
Should I just go into this without a care in the world or with a guide with me all the time? Will the alternate paths be obvious like in the first game? In the original i did the alternate endings until I get to the normal ending and then restarted using the auto skip feature and used a guide to get the true ending. Should I expect the same experience here?
 

Shizuka

Member
Should I just go into this without a care in the world or with a guide with me all the time? Will the alternate paths be obvious like in the first game? In the original i did the alternate endings until I get to the normal ending and then restarted using the auto skip feature and used a guide to get the true ending. Should I expect the same experience here?

You can use a spoiler-free branching guide to know when the stories branch, I liked using it during my playthrough.
 
Should I just go into this without a care in the world or with a guide with me all the time? Will the alternate paths be obvious like in the first game? In the original i did the alternate endings until I get to the normal ending and then restarted using the auto skip feature and used a guide to get the true ending. Should I expect the same experience here?
The paths are even simpler in S;G0 than they were in S;G. You can actually probably 100% this game basically without a guide.
 

Flandy

Member
You can use a spoiler-free branching guide to know when the stories branch, I liked using it during my playthrough.

The paths are even simpler in S;G0 than they were in S;G. You can actually probably 100% this game basically without a guide.
Thanks for the info.

Will I be able to get the platinum in a single play through or do I need to reload saves to send different emails or something?
 

Deimo5

Member
Maybe my memory card is crapping out but my save file got corrupted after 30+ hours. Is this the will of Stein's Gate?
Ugh at least you can skip text fast, just hope I don't need a new card.
 
Maybe my memory card is crapping out but my save file got corrupted after 30+ hours. Is this the will of Stein's Gate?
Ugh at least you can skip text fast, just hope I don't need a new card.
Did it happen after you installed the game patch? If so, that's (unfortunately) normal. But the patch with clean save data works perfectly, at least.
 
I've gotten two endings, I seem to be close to a third, and I'm not really liking this game at all. Besides Okabe and Maho's characterizations, the story is a complete bummer. The only cool idea introduced is
someone out there changing the worldlines with a couple interesting results
. Other than that it feels page-turnery, and not in a good way. Masked figures, unexplained events, blah blah blah. Too much for me to care.

I go like Luke and Faris more in this game, and it's nice that the endings aren't just Okabe picking a girlfriend.
 

Belker

Member
How do you decide whether to play a visual novel versus other games in your back log?

I rented SG0 without really knowing what it was - I use my rental service to take chances on non-mainstream games.

I played for an hour or so, that's all the time I had. About 30 minutes in began to understand that it wouldn't have gameplay in the sense that I was used to and seemed to be a cross between a choose your own adventure book and an encyclopaedia. I found it a bit confusing, but I started to see the potential in the story when I was was reading about the opening lecture.

The thing is, I had this thought that in the time spent with SG0, I could actually be reading a non-fiction book from my actual backlog, or playing a more traditional game where I was involved in ways other than reading and watching.

And that's something that had never happened to me before, because I have always seen games as as worthy a pasttime as any other hobby. But here the mechanics of were VO was somehow competing with books.

So, how do you decide to set aside time for a game like this? Do you treat it more as media than game - like a TV series - or equal to any other genre? Are VOs something you play more than other titles or do you try a mix of games?
 

Aaron D.

Member
I think it's limiting to categorize VN's as game vs. non-game in the same way people used to call Walking Simulators non-games. They just are. VN's are more passive than other genres like FPS, etc. but I'm not the type of person to place a value judgement on that. Good entertainment is good entertainment regardless. I just enjoy the good stuff and worry little if it's classified as this or that.

I usually reach for a VN when I'm looking for something on the more relaxed side of gaming. When I come home from work tired and want to fire something up, but don't have the energy for full-on engagement.

As for competing with traditional books, I just consider the context. My current work-commute book is Wolf Hall. I'm enjoying the hell out of it, but considering that it set in 16th century Europe, it can be pretty dense at times. Conversely, Steins; Gate is a bit lighter in style. So again, I just reach for whichever style I'm in the mood for at the time. There's no right or wrong to it. One is not more valuable than the other.

Pretty easy stuff as far as I'm concerned. Esp. considering the whole deal (books, VNs, FPSs) is simply personal entertainment anyway.
 
How do you decide whether to play a visual novel versus other games in your back log?

I rented SG0 without really knowing what it was - I use my rental service to take chances on non-mainstream games.

I played for an hour or so, that's all the time I had. About 30 minutes in began to understand that it wouldn't have gameplay in the sense that I was used to and seemed to be a cross between a choose your own adventure book and an encyclopaedia. I found it a bit confusing, but I started to see the potential in the story when I was was reading about the opening lecture.

The thing is, I had this thought that in the time spent with SG0, I could actually be reading a non-fiction book from my actual backlog, or playing a more traditional game where I was involved in ways other than reading and watching.

And that's something that had never happened to me before, because I have always seen games as as worthy a pasttime as any other hobby. But here the mechanics of were VO was somehow competing with books.

So, how do you decide to set aside time for a game like this? Do you treat it more as media than game - like a TV series - or equal to any other genre? Are VOs something you play more than other titles or do you try a mix of games?
I just started 0, but the original Steins;Gate is likely better than those nonfiction books and more engaging that those other games on a story level. You also shouldn't have played it without playing the first one.

I would say I treat it similar to watching a movie or reading though. Break out a glass of wine and play a chapter after a long day of studying sort of thing. I like VNs more than books because music and good VA can really drive a certain mood home.

Anyway, right off the bat I'm kind of annoyed that the translation is a little more Americanized. The fact that they didn't bother to reverse first/last name and kept all the weird otaku names untranslated in the original fit the game pretty well considering who the main characters are. Normally I'd prefer this sort of thing but it doesn't fit Steins;Gate.
 

Flandy

Member
Well that was abrupt Got my first ending
I got Gehenn's Stigma ending. Okabe basically just gives up lol


Edit:
does the game quicksave before every major branching point? I was looking at the guide and one of them says to not answer a call in front of Daru. I conventitely have a quick save at that exact spot.
 
Well that was abrupt Got my first ending
I got Gehenn's Stigma ending. Okabe basically just gives up lol


Edit:
does the game quicksave before every major branching point? I was looking at the guide and one of them says to not answer a call in front of Daru. I conventitely have a quick save at that exact spot.

The game quicksaves every time you get any sort of phone interaction option, I believe. At least by default, I think it's configurable.
 

Flandy

Member
Got another ending
Vega and Altair this time. Much better than the previous ending I got. Mayuri goes back in time with Suzy and Okabe uses the time leap machine. Can't wait to get to the rest.
 
Finally started this, got it for Christmas but other games were a priority first. What a fantastic start, can't wait to play more tomorrow.

What is the best route for the Platinum? Play at my own leisurely first until I hit the end, then use a guide?
 

bobawesome

Member
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the game - localization issues aside.
Unfortunately, for the past few weeks I had been building a pretty wild theory in my head so of course I was disappointed when it didn't bear fruit.

Finally started this, got it for Christmas but other games were a priority first. What a fantastic start, can't wait to play more tomorrow.

What is the best route for the Platinum? Play at my own leisurely first until I hit the end, then use a guide?

Experience the pain of hitting dead ends when you can't figure out how to trigger an ending and create your own flowchart using draw.io. Or, if you're not an insane person...use a guide, I suppose.
I spent so much time making flowcharts.
 

Flandy

Member
Just got the true ending
I didn't think it was very good. I feel like ending the game after sending the D-Rine would have felt a lot more satisfying
 

Deimo5

Member
Did it happen after you installed the game patch? If so, that's (unfortunately) normal. But the patch with clean save data works perfectly, at least.

Yeah I guess I feel better if it's just a normal thing with the patch although that is a pretty horrible bug. Just started skipping through to catch up now.
 

Jimrpg

Member
I have two flights with a layover in between to New Zealand next week, so i'm looking forward to starting this. I wanted some time in between S;G and the sequel as I only beat that last year. I'm only held back by the Vita's battery power.
 

Shizuka

Member
I have two flights with a layover in between to New Zealand next week, so i'm looking forward to starting this. I wanted some time in between S;G and the sequel as I only beat that last year. I'm only held back by the Vita's battery power.

Dim the brightness, put it on airplane mode.
 
Just got to one of the endings. Yoooooo WTF. I can't wrap my head around this.

It was the recursive mother goose ending. I am not really sure why Kagari and Suzuha are going back in time agaim (don't tell me!!!). I am hoping everything gets explain.

This game is so god damn good. Feels good to be back in this world.
 
Just finished it. Damn feel so empty now lol. I want more! :(

Some questions;
1. Where should I go from here? This is the only Science Adventure related series I have played. Is there any other canon STEINS GATE stuff besides the movie coming out in March? Is there any other VNs where the writer of STEINS GATE also did that VN too? I don't know what it is but I seem to have issues googling information on the Science Adventure series on general, as in websites like Wikipedia or the STEINS GATE wiki itself is missing tons of information


2. Question regarding the true ending (Spoilers!):

Right before it cuts to the Milky Way Crossing Complete screen, there was a couple of flashbacks with Kurisu but with black hair. What the hell does that mean?

3. Will we ever see more canon STEINS GATE content in the future?
 
1. Where should I go from here? This is the only Science Adventure related series I have played. Is there any other canon STEINS GATE stuff besides the movie coming out in March? Is there any other VNs where the writer of STEINS GATE also did that VN too? I don't know what it is but I seem to have issues googling information on the Science Adventure series on general, as in websites like Wikipedia or the STEINS GATE wiki itself is missing tons of information

As far as I know, Chaos;Head is the only other translated SciAdv title right now. While very different from S;G, it's still pretty enjoyable, especially knowing that it takes place in the same world. There's only a fan translation unfortunately, but if you make sure to install the most recent patch (a new one released just a few weeks ago), it shouldn't be too buggy. Apparently the anime adaptation is awful, so either play the VN or don't bother with it.

There have also been rumours of PQube releasing Chaos;Child (the follow-up to C;H) this year, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.
 

ffvorax

Member
Just finished to see the Anime after playing both the games... I definetly prefer the games, but it's not so bad after all...
 
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