Virtues Last Reward set us up an epic adventure in which we would try and stop the almighty virus from spreading. Did the interquel fulfill my expectations? Well... The short version is "no"; as to the long version:
The good
As always, awesome plot twists and reveals (except one; we'll talk about that later)
They explained Phi's origins and Luna's reason for existing in VLR in the first place. Both are great.
Some songs from 999 and VLR were included and remixed. Among those, some are awesome, such as Ambidexterity and Clarification.
Delicious memes for everyone — though that's an Audience Reaction, not part of the real work.
The return of young Akane and Junpei, though she acts like she's not a sadistic mastermind and he kinda acts like a jerkass
No immersive narrative whatsoever, which we were used to read in 999 and VLR
Stiff and uncanny animations of all characters. I especially laughed hard in an instance where Eric looked like he badly needed to take a shit while threatening the other characters.
Horrible Tomato Surprise. The camera just hides the most important person in the game just out of sight. The explanation for the reveal comes out of nowhere, and is plain insufficient. There's foreshadowing for this, but ridiculously subtle.
Unsettling retcon about Free the Soul's intentions. Are they the bad guys or the good guys? I have no idea.
No information on the Greater Scope Villain. They are there, but not a single thing is revealed about them other than they are going to cause an apocalypse.
Huge amounts of cuts to the ceiling whenever someone was screaming or doing something that would require a character animation. Maybe due to the low budget, but it's still annoying.
The reason for Radical-6 being created and spreaded is... Well, the latter is decent, I guess (though it creates a Plot Hole). The former, on the other hand, is an Anti Climax. Very questionable reason to wipe out 6 billion people, and I'm not talking about Free the Soul's intention to wipe out humanity (which, again, is dropped in this game).
Overuse of iconic songs like Blue Bird Lamentation and Trepidation, which unfortunately destroys the reason they were spectacular and special in the first place: being played only in a few situations. Special mention goes to the former song.
An Ambiguous Ending that feels... well, incomplete, as you would expect from the trope. I don't really like works whose ending I have to guess myself.
Weird characterization of Zero. Has Pet The Dog and Kick The Dog moments alike, and you ultimately don't know what their deal is.
Overall, this game is the low point in the series for me. Even VLR, which I liked far less than 999, does a better job in almost everything than ZTD.
VisualNovel Zero Improvement Installment
Virtues Last Reward set us up an epic adventure in which we would try and stop the almighty virus from spreading. Did the interquel fulfill my expectations? Well... The short version is "no"; as to the long version:
The good
The bad
Overall, this game is the low point in the series for me. Even VLR, which I liked far less than 999, does a better job in almost everything than ZTD.