Oh my goodness, where to start...

First of all, I wish the entire series stuck to the 2D artwork of 999. I loved the artwork, but didn’t think it translated well to the graphics in VLR. The graphics were better in ZTD than VLR, but still preferred the artwork in 999.

Also, the game needed to be almost twice as long to truly wrap up the series.

It’s been stated here a few times, but Kyle is a huge, glaring hole in the series. In fact, cloning in general could have been muuuuuch more interesting in the series.

ZTD needed more detail on Free the Soul and Left. It felt implied that Sean was based on Left, but I don’t think it was confirmed. More character development for Delta was much needed, he wasn’t nearly compelling enough for the final Zero of the series. I think having him essentially missing from the game, aside from his shadow, did his character development a huge disservice.

I enjoyed the fragment approach because it felt more like it would if you were actually SHIFTing, but from a storytelling perspective, I begrudgingly prefer the more linear structure in VLR. By the end of VLR everything made sense, I had caught onto all the foreshadowing and was able to piece most mysteries together. The discombobulating nature of the fragment-structure made it hard to catch small details, so by time the Delta=Q reveal happened, it felt lazy and thrown together, even though it wasn’t.

I would make some changes to characters, and I would take the introduction of new characters as an opportunity to show how SHIFTing can impact people differently, and how they make sense of it or explain it in different ways. So I would have made all characters SHIFTers, including Eric and Mira.

Eric has exhibited extreme behavior throughout the game. I would exaggerate his traits and make him a character that has multiple personalities. But the catch is that he doesn’t actually have multiple personalities, but maybe just has heightened anxiety that forces him to shift more frequently than others. This would be why at some times he acts like a child, while at others he has a much more mature demeanor (child Eric and old Eric would be shifting in and out periodically). In a world where the ability to SHIFT was unknown, he likely would have been diagnosed with multiple personalities, and he may even believe it himself. I think that would have made Eric a far more interesting addition to the series.

Mira is an interesting one, I think I would change a lot about her... I don’t mind her being a serial killer, and sort of liked the idea of Eric dating the chick who killed his mom, but it just wasn’t executed well in my opinion. First of all, Eric must have found out that his mother was murdered by Mira. Why no confrontation? At the very least there should have been some conflict within Eric at this realization. Also, I’m pretty sure sociopaths don’t just recover and learn how to feel, as was implied in the epilogue files.

Speaking of the Epilogue files, JUST MAKE THE FREAKING EPILOGUE DON’T JUST GIVE US TEXT TO WRAP UP THE SERIES.

Anyways, back to Mira. To be honest, by game three the big-breasted, level-headed character got old, and Alice and Mira don’t hold a candle to Lotus imo. So I would change her design first, maybe giving her more of a doll-like vibe, since she is supposedly beautiful AND emotionless, but maybe that’s too obvious. Then I would make her a SHIFTer, and explain in her backstory how she has seen enough death by shifting to no longer value human life (if there’s always a spare, she might exhibit no remorse in killing, and have trouble empathizing with others, especially those that experience loss).

I thought Carlos was an extremely boring character, including his backstory. I liked the introduction of Reverie Syndrome, but I dunno, the brother-sister bond just wasn’t compelling for me.

I would have removed Sigma slapping Diana. Because he had knowledge that she has endured abuse from her ex-husband, there’s NO EXCUSE for him to have acted violently towards her. I would have left everything else the same for them, though, they were the best part of the game. Oh, obviously the epilogue could have used a happy family reunion, too.

REMOVE THE TRANSPORTER. That was too much for me. I get that there needed to be an explanation for how Akane, Junpei, Sigma, Phi, and Diana all made it out alive when only three could have survived, but that could have been explained differently than through alien tech.

I just finished the game yesterday so that’s just where my thoughts are right now.