While I wont be going into too much detail on any specific plot points, I'll be talking about the themes of the game in general, so be warned I suppose


"All is in the name of guiding humanity down the right path"

Over the past 6 months, I've been dedicating the majority of both my free time and what was supposed to be my non free time to going through Ryukishi's main (and most well known) franchise, that being the No Naku Koro Ni series (or, as it is more well known in the west: When They Cry).
From the quintessential VN classic that is Higurashi, to the somewhat flawed but still ultimately beautiful masterpiece that is Umineko, these games have been an hell of a ride to experience even with all the quirks that are oh so common with works written by this guy. And while I've been loving going through these, I've never felt like writing up something about them, mainly because of the feeling that I would never be able to do these games justice.
This time, however, it's kinda different.

Let's get the obvious jokes out of the way: Ciconia Phase 2 is never coming out; GouSotsu was trash; Umineko Gold is dead; what the fuck was 07th smoking when they came up with Beako; Ryukishi is an hack and a fraud so on and so forth.
That being said HOLY kerokero Ciconia Phase 1 is without a shadow of a doubt (at least in my eyes) the single best introductory arc of any WTC game EVER, and one of the best works by Ryukishi IN GENERAL (at least from what I've read, I'll read Higanbana and RGD eventually I swear).

When looking at the synopsis, it's clear from the get go how much the scope has expanded. A story of global conflict, conspiracy, and military action makes it a far cry from the series' old settings of a rural Japanese village and a small island turned catbox of infinite possibilities, and even if this isn't Ryukishi's first rodeo when it comes to alternative history/speculative fiction/whatever the fuck you wanna call it, just the sheer girth of this game's setting would make it seem like it would end in failure at first, but as the game progresses it's very clear that not only does Ryukishi have a really good grasp on competent worldbuilding, but he also does it while providing interesting discussions on the game's various themes.

Even if the game's writing comes with all the Ryukishi quirks you would expect, like repeating ideas ad nauseam or classic Ryukishi Bloat™, aside from the first half being admittedly a bit too much expository the writing is without a doubt excellent. While at times feeling somewhat preachy, the game discusses a lot of relevant stuff without feeling too much patronizing. From the game's setting you would probably expect the characters to repeat stuff like "errm war... bad!" over and over again, but instead Ryukishi just assumes that the reader is intelligent enough to already know that, and uses that time to discuss and explore surrounding ideas like radicalism, mob mentality, the nature of the military outside of war as a means of stability, as well as various other things. However, and probably most surprisingly, the game doesn't really discuss directly what its arguably the most prominent issue in this story, the nature of child soldiers, but while the game's character don't really discuss this at length (after all, in this society this is already not only normalized, but also needed, so it really wouldn't make sense for the characters to do that at lenght), the game instead uses its extended cast to explore this.

Ciconia's cast is... big. Really big. Even when only looking at the gauntlet knights, we're talking about 24 of them. And while of course not everyone has gotten their chance to shine in this phase, the ones that did get screen time are for the most part pretty fun! The main two squads that the game focus on in particular were very much highlights. Although seeing these kids goof off is fun and all, at the end the game is sure to remind you that at the end of the day, the situations they've been put in are not good in the slightest. Being the carriers of the most advanced form of weaponry in the game's world, the weight they carry is a lot, way too much for anyone to carry, let alone a child.

And as the game progresses, as it becomes more and more clear this is going to end in tragedy, as the cast discusses what it means to be a soldier, if they really have free will, or if they really are just pieces on a gameboard, to be discarded after they got no more use, the game reaches its climax, where their individuality gets stripped of them and they turn into what they're supposed to be... soldiers.

Without spoiling what actually happens, saying that the game's ending is great, would honestly be a severe understatement. The game shows you, at the start of every chapter, the Doomsday Clock. And as its hand reaches the end, you realize that what's about to happen is inevitable... And yet, that doesn't stop the ending from being absolutely tragic, with an incredible last chapter+epilogue combo that will leave you feeling betrayed, angry, confused, sad, and most importantly of all, craving more.

Early jokes aside, it really is worth pointing out that as of writing its been 4 years and a day since the release of Phase 1, and while this wait hasn't been exactly radio silent, with Ryukishi giving a couple of small updates here and there that basically boil down to "I'm still working on it guys!", the fact that he's probably busy with other projects like Silent Hill f means that we might still need to wait a while to see this story get continued.

But, to be honest, I'm willing to wait, because what I see here is something that, even if it hasn't reached the peaks of his previous works yet, absolutely has the potential to be Ryukishi's single best work yet. And hell isn't the notion that in order for a miracle to happen you need to believe in it one of the biggest messages in Higurashi? So I guess I'll believe in Phase 2.

However long it takes, I'll wait to be welcomed again to A3W, even if I have to wait 2 more years for it to come on a white horse.

Gluttons for punishment, rejoice, because once it gets rolling, there are no brakes on this pain train. It’ll test your limits, challenge your worldview, and by the time it’s all over, you’ll be so emotionally spent that it’ll be weeks before you can fully process the implications of what you’ve just witnessed. Fair warning, though: common side effects include feelings of emptiness, PTSD, and unrealistic expectations for any and all other visual novels.
Playtime's over. Time for despair. Experience the definitive version of a masterpiece in the When They Cry trilogy's thrilling conclusion. Note: therapy not included.

Positives:
One of the most unique stories or introductions to a story I've ever seen. With fantastic world building and a very good cast, this is very well written and pretty engaging, but not phenomenal.
Negatives:
Some character designs absolutely suck, and the soundtracks are not anything special except for a few that stand out.

I recommend this to When They Cry fans with an open mind. Don't go into it with high expectations; it's good, though.
I would give this an 8/10 as I enjoyed it that much, but I think most people would give it a 6 or 7.

Ryuukishi has improved a hell of a lot since Umineko. The man finally learned how to stop padding story with as much annoying pointless filler, and the battle special effects are actual animations now instead of seizure-inducing powerpoints. Bravo.

The story is definitely a much larger scale than Higurashi and Umineko, and I hope that he won't be biting off more than he can chew (which I slightly felt about Umineko). I'll have faith in him, though, if we ever get the second phase. And goddamn I can't wait to see the characters develop, his characters are why I always come back.

I have my fair share of problems with Ciconia so far but thankfully my expectations were tempered from the start due to the setting and scale. The abnormally large and varied cast is handled fairly well and they have good interactions. The non-wartime parts are entertaining and do a good job of endearing you to the characters while building up the world. The wartime parts end up feeling very repetitive with a lot of redundant dialogue regarding the WALLS OF PEACE and DONT KILL DONT DIE and generally uninteresting action scenes. It feels like every other scene features ryukishi using the game as a mouthpiece to tell the reader how bad humanity is and how much war sucks and it ends up detracting from the story. The themes are meaningful and interesting but the lack of subtlety makes it feel very tiring after a while. Often I was subjected to scenes where everyone would be all buddy buddy and spend 5 minutes talking about how much they'll support peace which is annoying when anyone with more than a couple brain cells knows from the start that they will end up killing each other. Presentation is upgraded from the other WTC games but it doesn't really get a lot of chances to shine given how few legitimate fights there are. Music is good as usual but not really as memorable as umineko's or as impactful as higurashi's. Despite my problems, the ending was great and I'm interested to see where the story is going to go from here now that they've built everything up.