Ciconia When They Cry: Phase 1 - For You, the Replaceable Ones

Ciconia When They Cry: Phase 1 - For You, the Replaceable Ones

released on Oct 04, 2019

Ciconia When They Cry: Phase 1 - For You, the Replaceable Ones

released on Oct 04, 2019

This is the first chapter in the newest entry When They Cry visual novel series produced by Ryukishi07. It features HD graphics, more detailed animations, and newly created songs by many of the composers from Umineko, as well as several new additions.


Released on

Genres


More Info on IGDB


Reviews View More

This review contains spoilers

Ryu's choice to make the entire arab world get along with israel, have a conflict over the russian minority in ukraine, and be on the eve of a global pandemic really has to be the most unfortunate circumstances in game development ever

The toast scene is peak R07. Lots of potential, looking forward to the future of this series. Let's check how is phase 2 development going...

Oh... sigh

merry gasps for air in between long sobs christmas

It can be a slog at times, but every R07 work is like that to be honest. Ciconia in particular is the one of the longest things he ever wrote, so it can be noticeably slow - mainly in the first half.

Ciconia introduces its entire cast simultaneously really early on, and uses the first half to give everyone at least some surface level development. For what its worth I think every character ended up being pretty likeable by the end of it, but I'd hope that the next parts of Ciconia don't introduce too many new characters. Umineko took that route and a lot of them ended up lacking anything substantial. The second half helps to flesh out some characters a little more, but its mostly concentrated in the beginning.

The second half of Ciconia is a lot more action, and I liked it significantly more. It has a large focus on geopolitics and the global situation breaking down due to tensions and "natural" disasters. If you can make it through the slow beginning, this absolutely makes it worth it.

Probably my favorite part of Ciconia was just trying to piece together the lore and history of the globe, since only some scattered hints and pieces are given throughout it. I made a map in MS paint of the various alliances while I read to try to comprehend it a little better, and it honestly made the first half a lot more enjoyable for me.

Ciconia is also home to some of the best written scenes in the entire WTC series. Ciconia's ending is legitimately the best thing he has ever written and its not even close. It has the perfect combination of aesthetics, music, contrast, etc that it's impossible to put into words how great it is. There's a bunch of other fantastic scenes as well, such as the meat factory and restoring the planet's dignity, but the ending definitely takes the cake. I would argue Ciconia is worth reading for these scenes alone. The ending is a cliffhanger too, adding a lot more to its mysteries and opening up a ton more questions.

Upon finishing Ciconia, a bunch of bonus scenes are unlocked that are essentially slice of life scenes for the primary 6 characters. It's small but it honestly does a lot to make me like the main cast. Definitely worth reading, as it genuinely contains the most fun scenes in Ciconia.

Overall I think Ciconia set a great precedent despite it's slow start. I'd love to read the next chapter of it when he decides to finish it in a million years.