Umineko When They Cry - Question Arcs Reviews

splendid

Live Chandelier Reaction

Peak literature, every other games will feel stale after playing this game

This is maybe the best story ever written I am not kidding, this shit is magnificent...

Valentina: Quiero unos tacos de Umineko Taquero: ¿Umineko? Valentina: Jeje, si. Asi bien peak y god

This is for both the Question and Answer arcs; I for the most part enjoyed Umineko, it's a very verbose VN (Think fate/stay night, 100+ hours) but stays entertaining and engaging through most of it. It's essentially a mystery VN that challenges you the reader to engage with it and continue thinking, and to avoid giving up and simply passively reading. The game presents this as a battle between the MC and the witch Beatrice each fighting to solve the story as a solvable traditional mystery, or an unsolvable fantasy story. This energy is kept through the first four chapters (Question arcs) and will ask you to go back and re-read previous chapters after giving you the clues to solve it. The next four chapters (Answer arcs) give more hints and stop one stop from completely solving the mystery and themes of the story. Like many people I found the back half to be overly long, with WAY too much focus on fantasy elements. There is a fun in parsing the meaning and intent of the first half's fantasy writing, but the back half just feels superfluous. Overall, glad I read it and recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind working and engaging with a story like this. The manga is also a great option for the second reading, cutting much of the unnecessary dialogue. And get ready to ruminate on, "Without love, it cannot be seen.".

You might have heard Umineko described as a murder mystery, or possibly a horror story. This is a lie. Calling Umineko either of those things would be selling it terribly short. It's a mystery, a fantasy tale, a thriller, a cosmic horror story, a character drama, a puzzle book, and probably a few other genres that haven't been invented yet. It'll make you feel joy, sadness, anger, and all the emotions in between, often at the same time. And it might even change your worldview. I just finished reading the Question Arcs using Umineko Project (which is why my Steam playtime is low), and I've enjoyed the ride thoroughly so far. The interface is a little jank, both with and without mods, but the story is top-notch.

i just finished the first episode using the Umineko Project version of the game (basically mandatory, please believe it's worth the effort for this story), i'm in shock just from how good the narrative was. It started off painfully slow, but i'd sit through ten times the amount of boring reading if it meant i got another experience like this. Even after only reading the first episode, i can assure you it's more than worth the price, i can't remember the last time i got to enjoy a story this good.

I haven't been successful in finding anything that would top this for me for 12 years. Even though there are pretty much no choices I'm going to die on the hill of it still having the best gameplay out of everything I've played before and since if approached from the situational game design perspective. It's a thrilling mystery that strikes a perfect balance of tone, serving you the drama, comedy, tranquility, surprise and suspense. It's subtle but extremely effective in converying beautiful ideas which, while I can't speak for everyone else, they have changed how I see the world and people around me. It does require you to read but it's very much equipped to make it pleasant with the NVL layout that covers the entire screen in text. I love video games, I've certainly found a lot of great ones. I'm a fan of many different genres, including Nintendo games, RPGs (and jRPGs), point'n'clicks, shooters, you name it. I've read quite a few visual novels too, been a VN game jam judge once. I'm simply saying that nothing else has made such an impression on me and I honestly wish something would capture that feeling for me again. I'm not really going into every single game comparing it to Umineko, I'm conscious of the fact that it's pretty much always apples to oranges. It's a lot of self-conscious rambling, I know but I'm pouring my heart out and just trying to convey that I've been ready for something else to claim the top spot for me for over a decade and it just didn't happen yet.

While I really enjoyed the first chapter and it still remains as my favorite, I got a bit overwhelmed when reading the following chapters for the first time, which caused some frustration, but I've pushed through it and after digesting everything for a while I can say that I quite enjoyed it. I definitely recommend you try it, just don't go in expecting something similar to Higurashi like I did. As someone who read both Higurashi and Umineko without modifying anything, such as using the 07th-Mod for voice acting, I personally preferred it this way as I found it more immersive in comparison to when I looked up how the voice acting sounded, it's certainly good but it ultimately boils down to preference. If you decide to try it, I hope you enjoy your stay in Rokkenjima~ 🏝️