Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die Had Many, Many Different Titles

A Famitsu interview with director Kotaro Uchikoshi reveals many interesting details about the upcoming Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die, slated for release on Feb 12 for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita.

The game is stuffed chock full of puzzles, Uchikoshi says. Sometimes, solving these may unlock hidden aspects of a room. For example, if you solve puzzle A, and then B and C, the room’s appearance may suddenly change completely, and you might find a surprise waiting for you. However, beginners need not be daunted; if you challenge and fail a puzzle too many times, your companions will drop hints (and the clear, precise way to solve the puzzle). If you don’t want to use this option, just play the game on Hard mode. In addition, beating the game on Hard nets you a nice prize.

As a whole, the “game” (meaning, the game within Extreme Escape Adventure) is called the Nonary Game: Ambidex Version. This is because you approach colored doors, undergo the Ambidex (AB) game, and open the door labeled “9” to escape. The AB game — the game of cooperation and betrayal — is a game in and of itself contained within the Nonary Game: AB Version. The AB game plays in rounds until someone can open the “9” door.

Speaking of the Nonary Game, Extreme Escape Adventure shares the same world as 999, but but the story is self-contained. There are some references to the previous game, though, so it’s best to play 999 first. Some of these precise connections are mentioned in our previous coverage (spoilers abound).

How does the AB game work? It’s explained here in this article, but here it is again. Each player in the game has a bangle attached to them, with BP, which presumably stands for bangle (or bracelet) points. Like in 999, you travel in pairs, and can cooperate with or betray your partner.

AB rooms have a voting machine set up within them, and each pair of participants must make a choice within a time limit. Do you “cooperate” or “betray”? Each choice you choose unlocks a different scenario and, depending on different situations, you’ll see different stories unfold. The key is to get more than 9BP so you can open the door to escape. On the other hand, if your points fall below 0, you’ll get injected with poison from your bangle and die.

The different combinations like this: (The point changes affect both players.)

– If you choose to cooperate and the opponent chooses to cooperate, +2BP.
– If you choose to cooperate and the opponent chooses to betray, -2BP.
– If you choose to betray and the opponent chooses to cooperate, +3BP.
– If you choose to betray and the opponent chooses to betray, -0BP.

What is a possible dilemma? Uchikoshi gives the following example:

“What if both players have only 1 BP left? The opponent would invite you to cooperate with him and then both of you would get 2BP. Should you cooperate, trusting those words? However, if the opponent chooses to betray you, then your BP will go “1 – 2 = -1” and you’d die. Then, would the safe route be to betray? But if you do that and the opponent really was planning to cooperate, then his BP will go “1 – 2 = -1” and you’ll end up killing that person.”

Uchikoshi also dropped some trivia about the game’s title. Originally, there were three names that made it to the final cut: Uragiri x Girigiri [Betrayal x Just Barely], Want to be Saved? Then Die, and Good People Die. In the end, the proponents of each wouldn’t give in, so ultimately, the title was chosen using rock-paper-scissors.

Some other names that were dropped included “Sigma Control,” “Lost Escape,” “Contagious Distrust,” “Escargo,” “Human-mode Killer,” “Nine Mice Bite the Cat,” and “Sigma and Phi and Tenmyouji and Quark and Alice and Yotsuba and Dio and Luna and K are All Trapped in Weird Place! Oh No!” There were apparently many, many more that aren’t mentioned.

The final chosen name in Japanese, Zennin Shibou Desu, also contains a pun. “Shibou” can mean “to hope,” which would transform the meaning behind the original title into “We hope for everyone to become a good person.”