{"id":4678,"date":"2022-08-22T22:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T13:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/?p=4678"},"modified":"2022-08-18T15:09:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T06:09:36","slug":"using-zero-escape-lore-to-explain-ai-nirvana-initiatives-most-meta-ending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/using-zero-escape-lore-to-explain-ai-nirvana-initiatives-most-meta-ending\/","title":{"rendered":"Using <i>Zero Escape<\/i> Lore to Explain <i>AI: Nirvana Initiative<\/i>\u2019s Most Meta Ending"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>AI: Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative<\/em> has more than a few endings\u2014but one stands out from all the others: the hidden ending titled \u201c\u95ad\uff61\u965c\uff76\u8375\u53e5\uff64\uff62\u90b1\uff68END.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>*This article contains massive spoilers for both <em>AI: Somnium Files<\/em> games and all three <em>Zero Escape<\/em> games.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative | Ryuki Chapter Diverge: SECRET END (\u95ad\u965c\uff76\u8375\u53e5\u90b1\uff68)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TUbir7CQSy4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This ending is only unlocked by going to see Mama at Marble in the epilogue which in turn leads you to Tokiko\u2019s office in the NIAX building. There, the hologram of the already deceased Tokiko teaches you a number. If you then go back to Ryuuki\u2019s first chapter where he meets Tokiko for the first time, she will as if there is a \u201cFlayer\u201d inside of Ryuuki. Answer yes to her questions and give her the code you learned from her hologram and you seemingly break the world. According to Tokiko, as there is no logical way you could know that information, you have created a tear in reality by proving it to be a simulation (it is a game, after all) which allows her to escape to the \u201creal world.\u201d However, there is another explanation for what happens if you\u2019ve played <em>Somnium Files<\/em>\u2019 creator Kotaro Uchikoshi\u2019s <em>Zero Escape <\/em>series as well.<\/p>\n<p>After playing the first <em>Somnium Files<\/em> game, I wrote a bit about <a href=\"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/30\/how-zero-escape-fills-in-ai-the-somnium-files-biggest-plot-hole\/\">how its biggest plot hole is explained if we assume the rules of reality are the same in both game series<\/a> (regardless of whether they happen in the exact same fictional world or not). This holds double true for the second. So, let\u2019s break down the main supernatural conceit of that series before we apply it to <em>Nirvana Initiative<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/C7s1rmmUwAA202Q.png?w=700&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"  \/><em>Image source: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aksysgames\/status\/845328464290840576\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aksys Games<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Zero Escape<\/em> centers around several groups of people who can interact with the Morphogenic Field\u2014the human collective unconsciousness. These people, known as ESPers, come in two types. The first are called SHIFTers. They have the ability to send their thoughts across not only time and space but into alternate realities as well. With the weakest manifestation of this power, they can only send or receive a few words across long distances. With the strongest, they can transfer their entire minds into other versions of themselves in parallel worlds.<\/p>\n<p>Date, Ryuuki, Bibi, and Mizuki are almost certainly SHIFTers\u2014though they are not familiar with the term. Each, at one point or another, remembers something from another timeline\u2014be it Ryuuki remembering Tearer\u2019s fake name or Mizuki remembering the passcode to Chikara\u2019s computer. Now, they don\u2019t remember <em>how<\/em> they remember\u2014which is common for less experienced SHIFTers in the <em>Zero Escape<\/em> games\u2014but they do know this information nonetheless.<\/p>\n<p>However, that alone is not enough to explain the \u201c\u95ad\uff61\u965c\uff76\u8375\u53e5\uff64\uff62\u90b1\uff68END\u201d ending. After all, Ryuki never learns the secret \u201cnil code\u201d in the first place\u2014it\u2019s Mizuki and Bibi who do. And while such information has been transferred across time and realities and between SHIFTers before, it was only once and involved two close friends trapped in the most dangerous of situations&#8230; which brings us to the second type of ESPer we meet in <em>Zero Escape<\/em>: Mind Hackers.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4679\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biggestinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ZE.jpg?resize=960%2C553\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biggestinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ZE.jpg?w=960&amp;ssl=1 960w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biggestinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ZE.jpg?resize=300%2C173&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biggestinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ZE.jpg?resize=768%2C442&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mind Hackers have the ability to enter into another\u2019s mind\u2014and even control it for a limited time. However, while a Mind Hacker cannot jump between parallel worlds themselves, should they enter the mind of a SHIFTer, they can see all they have experienced across any realities they\u2019ve been to.<\/p>\n<p>(On a side note, it\u2019s likely that all Psyncers are SHIFTers. That\u2019s probably the special thing about them that makes them compatible with both the Psnyc machine and the A.I. Balls while most normal people are not. After all, the Psnyc machine is basically a crutch that allows them to act as watered-down versions of Mind Hackers despite that not being their innate ESPer ability.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zero Escape: Virtue&#039;s Last Reward - [Extra: Another Time] - Pc English Walkthrough\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vyQaEB87DKE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There are two prominent mind hackers in <em>Zero Escape<\/em>, Delta and \u201c?\u201d\u2014but let\u2019s focus on the latter. In the final ending of <em>Virtues Last Reward<\/em>, K\u2019s recently awakened body is under the control of the mysterious entity (\u201c?\u201d) who had previously been riding around in Sigma\u2019s head and influencing his actions throughout the game up. In <em>Nirvana Initiative, <\/em>Tokiko calls the being inhabiting Ryuki and doing much the same the \u201cFlayer.\u201d Basically, \u201c?\u201d and the \u201cFlayer\u201d are the same person\u2014a proxy for you, the player\u2014and explain in an \u201cin-universe\u201d way how you interact with the story on the screen.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than controlling Junpei, Sigma, Date, Ryuki, or the Mizukis, it\u2019s the \u201cFlayer\u201d\/\u201d?\u201d that you are controlling. He is both a SHIFTer and a Mind Hacker\u2014which explains why you can jump back and forth through both the timeline and alternate realities while also influencing the decisions of various characters at key moments.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zero Escape: The Nonary Games - 999 Playthrough Part 16 [END: Zero Lost]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/diS4plB7f2g?start=2063&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Keeping all this in mind, Tokiko is likely a Mind Hacker as well\u2014as she is able to tell right away that the \u201cFlayer\u201d is inside of Ryuki. She uses this to trick the \u201cFlayer\u201d into using his unique combination of powers to create a paradox through which she is able to disappear from reality (just as Akane does in <em>999<\/em>\u2019s \u201cZero Lost\u201d ending). And as Tokiko departs, she even uses her Mind Hacking powers on Ryuki\u2014allowing him to remember all the events of the game as the \u201cFlayer\u201d experienced them. In the end, Ryuki uses these memories to make a perfect world where none of the hardships of the game ever happened (though the dual sets of memories seem to leave him confused). But even then, both Bibi and Mizuki retain partial memories of the game\u2019s original ending; they are SHIFTers as well, after all.<\/p>\n<p><i>AI: The Somnium Files \u2013 Nirvana Initiative<\/i> is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/22\/using-zero-escape-lore-to-explain-ai-nirvana-initiatives-most-meta-ending\/\">Click to Read<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Using &lt;i&gt;Zero Escape&lt;\/i&gt; Lore to Explain &lt;i&gt;AI: Nirvana Initiative&lt;\/i&gt;\u2019s Most Meta Ending<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[299,298],"class_list":["post-4678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ai-the-somnium-files","tag-zero-escape","excerpt","zoom","full-without-featured","even","excerpt-0"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biggestinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/AI2.jpg?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4678"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4683,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678\/revisions\/4683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}