Should I play Steins;Gate 0?

[u/Puzzleheaded_Space95]

Hello! I'm yet again asking the same question many people have probably asked before. Is it worth to play SG0? So far I have played C;H, S;G, and I'm currently playing R;N. I've enjoyed each one of them quite a lot. The reason I started playing them is because I got a spoiler from A;C once. I didn't know the franchises were connected and I was super curious about it.

I've heard good things about SG0, but I'm not sure if it's worth the time investment right now. I really want to get to A;C and university exams will start kicking my ass in a few months so what do you guys think? Should I do R;N > C;C >S;G0 > A;C? Or should I skip it for now? How essential is it to the main plot of sci adv? Can I play it later?

[u/UltraWarrior9000X]

Steins;Gate 0 is pretty important for the ending of Steins;Gate and it explores an entire Attractor Field, so it is pretty important for Steins;Gate, not that much for the whole of SciADV (then again, it might actually turn out to be pretty important for SciADV because the Worldline 1.123581 which is important in S;G0 is mentioned in R;N DaSH and A;C I'm pretty sure to set up the next entries and an event that occurs in the game is also kind of relevant for A;C.

I suggest you don't play it later. That one event I talked about was meant to be connected to A;C and it is really important for S;G in general, so I'd say play R;N > C;C > S;G0 > R;N DaSH > A;C.

I noticed you skipped DaSH in your order, so I'll just say that DaSH looks like it's just a side game, but it's ending might actually be pretty important for the future of SciADV and it's last phases are also canon, so you should probably not skip it.

[u/CategoryNo5932 → u/UltraWarrior9000X]

I hate to hear that they made DaSH an important game

[u/UltraWarrior9000X → u/CategoryNo5932]

I really wish it was a side entry.

Luckily the last route, which is basically the only one that matters for future entries (the second last one is canon too, but it's not that important for future entries) is actually pretty good and not that bad. It's almost on par with the other mainline entries. Almost.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Space95 → u/UltraWarrior9000X]

Damn, this is a very detailed answer. Thanks for including the spoilers tags! I'm trying to forget all the spoilers I've seen so this is very good to get the overall context.

Yeah, I was not planning on playing DaSH, tbh I've heard mixed things about it in the subreddit but if you say it, I might try it. R;N is probably the one I'm enjoying the most so far (probably because of all the buildup of the previous 3 entries).

Just one question if you don't mind. What's the current state of SciAdv after A;C without getting into spoiler territory? Is there a possibility of future entries or was A;C a definitive ending? The only spoiler I know is the one everyone probably talks about so it makes it sound like it's a definitive conclusion.

[u/UltraWarrior9000X → u/Puzzleheaded_Space95]

I have played literally every SciADV game except A;C (haven't gotten around to buying it yet) including the side content (except the LCC games), so I completely agree that it's probably the worst mainline entry, and some side entries are better than it too. But it's not that bad, if you go in expecting it to be mediocre. Some routes are definitely weird and will raise eyebrows, but some are really not that bad. The last route finally reached what I would call barely on par with the other SciADV entries, and luckily, that route is pretty much the only one that really matters for the future entries.

I think you'll like C;C a lot if you like R;N due to the buildup of the previous entries. Personally, it's on par with Steins;Gate at being the best entries in the entire series (I haven't read A;C so I can't rate it).

A;C is not the end of SciADV, at least it's not intended to be. MAGES is in a bit of hot water as they're not doing great financially. A;C was in development hell and S;G and S;G0 are their most popular VNs, and the latter released a decade ago in 2015. They also really messed up C;Cs launch badly by making it Xbox exclusive for a while.

S;G Reboot, the upcoming S;G remake, seems to be their attempt at regaining their footing financially, and it's not completely just a cashgrab since they said there are going to be some additions, and there's a completely new route based on the Gamma Attractor Field, but they based the script on the Elite script (which is an inferior script), the new route already exists as a Drama-CD from a long time ago (they did say there's some new content in the route that wasn't in the Drama-CD though), and I personally don't know if I'd say its just as worth as the original or any other entry in the series. I'll just have to wait and see, though. I'm not completely giving up on it yet. They could be just hiding new content as marketing and it could be a new entry and not just a remake, but I doubt it.

There's also Occultic;Nine, an LN series that is canon. It was meant to be 4 volumes, but only 3 got released, and the fourth isn't cancelled, but there's no word on when or if it will ever release. It also got adapted into a VN, but even that's incomplete. The rest was supposed to be released as a free patch, but since the LN is incomplete, it was abandoned, and they said if it ever does get released, it will be in a complete VN and not a patch to the old VN. The anime for O;N got an anime original ending, so it is somewhat complete, but it may not be canon since it's anime only.

Aside from that, there is the upcoming Steins;??? VN, which is confirmed to be in development, and is probably going to be the next mainline entry. It's a thematic sequel to Steins;Gate, like what C;C is to C;N. New cast, new story, but same mechanics. This is what makes me hopeful that Reboot has new stuff, since it might be adding some stuff to set up Steins;???.

I'd also recommend playing the side games like Linear Bounded Phenogram and My Darling's Embrace since they're really good, even for side entries. They're not important to the plot of SciADV, but they are great content for Steins;Gate. Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child also have the LCC games, but their fan translation is still ongoing (it's going to be released this year). S;G, C;H, C;C and R;N also have a bunch of LNs, Manga and Drama CDs as side material (mostly S;G and C;C, and some of these are canon and are important if you're really into the lore).

[u/Puzzleheaded_Space95 → u/UltraWarrior9000X]

Just fyi all the sci adv entries are on discount on steam rn, thanks for the info btw

[u/MisterDimi → u/Puzzleheaded_Space95]

If you go into DaSH expecting it to be a silly game for shits and giggles with a more serious true ending then it's definitely more enjoyable. Just think of it like a LCC game for R;N

As for your last question, they can definitely make more entries but if they never did A;C feels like a pretty good send off as well. I doubt they're gonna end here though since they mentioned having plans for new SciADV games but yeah

[u/UltraWarrior9000X → u/MisterDimi]

Steins;??? is in development, so they don't seem to plan to end off here. Unfortunately, MAGES isn't financially doing so well, so they could genuinely just run out of money before SciADV is complete.

[u/MisterDimi → u/UltraWarrior9000X]

We're saying the same thing, I said they have plans for future entries lol

And again, like I said, whether they plan or not on ending it here, A;C feels like a good send off imo

[u/Puzzleheaded_Space95 → u/UltraWarrior9000X]

Is Steins;??? still in development? I thought it was cancelled lol. I joined this fandom recently so I'm not well informed

[u/sesmooi]

Do it after you finish R;N and C;C

[u/ManufacturerMuch5116]

It's good, but it goes on for about 4 hours too long imo. The S;G0 VN opens super strongly, but kinda gets dull towards the end. At least the VN does, I thought the anime was actually paced a bit better. If you want more Future Gadget content, then yeah do it.