I’ve heard about 999 for the first time on a French website about videogames. It was a review, and it got a very high ranking (19/20, 20 being the best). I was already an Ace Attorney fan at the time, so I wasn’t scared of reading text, but I wasn’t good at English back then. A few years later, (after becoming fluent in English (^: ), I suddenly remembered about this game and decided to give it a shot. I really really really loved it. I loved the ambience, the characters, the puzzles, the stories/scientific theories etc (I actually used the Chinese Room, from VLR, as a basis for an English presentation. I found it great how the game gave a completely different interpretation to the experiment than the philosopher who emitted it). It only took me 3 days to go through all 6 endings, and the final twist really got me. And I loved the final scene, upside-down. And I also loved how knowing everything completely changes your perception of the story. The tiniest word at the corner of a sentence can suddenly takes a completely different meaning. There are a lot of things I love about this game. I thought it was the best story I had ever seen, I loved it. But that’s it, I “just” loved it. Something happened a year and a half later, something that I would never have imagined.

A few months after finishing 999, I bought a 3DS. I knew 999 got a sequel, but I didn’t paid much attention to it. I have to confess, I thought 999 “didn’t need a sequel”, and they “just made it to get more money”. Months later (again), I was bored and had little money, but wanted a new game. So I bought VLR, ‘cause it was cheap on the e-shop. It just took me a few seconds ingame to wonder why I didn’t buy it sooner. I completely loved it, everything felt better than 999. I loved the flowchart, I loved the characters (Sigma, particularly), I loved everything, just like I did back then with 999. And then, I finished the game.

And suddenly, this “love” felt really dull compared to what I had been feeling until now. I was completely speechless. I couldn’t express myself about the game. I couldn’t let out a single word about it, because I was in front of something better than the best had ever seen, better than the best I could imagine, and I don’t know any word to express something like that.

There’s one thing I could say though, one thing that never left my mind since then: I NEED THE SEQUEL. That’s when I heard about Operation Bluebird. However, I was a bit late for the “Operation”, since ZTD had been announced already. Since then, I haven’t spent a single day without checking their Facebook page, (sometimes even yours), to check if there had been a new announcement about ZTD. And I can say I loved the teasing. The way the participants were revealed, one by one, was like a sweet torture. And it’s not just the teasing. The GAME itself seems great. I have no doubt I’m gonna love it even more than VLR.

Following the news about ZTD also allowed me to catch some informations about “the guy who wrote Zero Escape”. And I wasn’t disappointed. You seem really dedicated to your work, and to your fans, and that’s something I really admire. Knowing the one who created these games is someone like you, it just makes me love the series even more. If I could, I would read this right in front of you, but that’s not possible (^: I’ve read recently that you felt awkward in front of fans, and you have no reason to. The world needs more people like you :)