Started off good then somehow became even more dull than higurashi
A life changing work, only held back by the fact that I disagree with some of its messages, and the author is a person with rather poor taste. The amount of efforts and honesty within it is something I have never seen in another fiction.
It is not a real game, but it is possible to have as much reflexion as one would allow, and ultimately, I rate it as a book.
It is not a real game, but it is possible to have as much reflexion as one would allow, and ultimately, I rate it as a book.
This is the review of the entire Question Arcs.
Without love, it cannot be seen
I don't even know where to start...
Umineko has been on my radar for quite a while. Always at the most well ranked in game lists, a lot of good reviews and people i follow that claim it to be a masterpiece. But, the very long playtime always scared me because "it's a novel so i can't spent dozens of hours just reading, thats insane". I know i probably spent more time than this in text heavy jrpgs like persona or ffxiv, but i at least played something.
Than, a day I made a bet with a friend so I would read Higurashi and him Umineko, so we could explore this world of When They Cry and discover if it is all that. Of course, I am a game maniac, so i finished Higurashi before he even read 1 hour of Umineko and now i finished the Question Arcs.
Finally, the famous Umineko, did it live up the hype? Of course it did. Reading Ryukishi's first work in Higurashi and seeing now his universe being expanded is a really good feeling. I could see how much he grown as an author, and where he really shines. I will not lie that the first and second chapters of Question Arcs leave a lot to be desired, but the third and fourth made all that reading worth it.
I don't know how much more suffering i will have to endure next at the Answer Arcs (actually i know: A LOT), but I will be there and I am the one who will be crying, damn all these seagulls.
Just a quick note: Please, if you can, read Higurashi first, and all its universe like the manga sequel and extra chapter Rei. The experience will be far greater, trust me. It will be bad without it? Definitely not, but will sure enhance your experience, and not spoil A LOT of things from the previous series for you.
Without love, it cannot be seen
I don't even know where to start...
Umineko has been on my radar for quite a while. Always at the most well ranked in game lists, a lot of good reviews and people i follow that claim it to be a masterpiece. But, the very long playtime always scared me because "it's a novel so i can't spent dozens of hours just reading, thats insane". I know i probably spent more time than this in text heavy jrpgs like persona or ffxiv, but i at least played something.
Than, a day I made a bet with a friend so I would read Higurashi and him Umineko, so we could explore this world of When They Cry and discover if it is all that. Of course, I am a game maniac, so i finished Higurashi before he even read 1 hour of Umineko and now i finished the Question Arcs.
Finally, the famous Umineko, did it live up the hype? Of course it did. Reading Ryukishi's first work in Higurashi and seeing now his universe being expanded is a really good feeling. I could see how much he grown as an author, and where he really shines. I will not lie that the first and second chapters of Question Arcs leave a lot to be desired, but the third and fourth made all that reading worth it.
I don't know how much more suffering i will have to endure next at the Answer Arcs (actually i know: A LOT), but I will be there and I am the one who will be crying, damn all these seagulls.
Just a quick note: Please, if you can, read Higurashi first, and all its universe like the manga sequel and extra chapter Rei. The experience will be far greater, trust me. It will be bad without it? Definitely not, but will sure enhance your experience, and not spoil A LOT of things from the previous series for you.
aci-l is the first documented case of a bms song being taken, used, and claimed for something else (this makes ryukishi the first osu fan to ever exist; he will be taken to a round1 and beat with metal rods alhamdulillah)
if you dont fw battler i dont fw you
Dropped it at first, i thought it was boring. However, 1 year and a whole life arc later, i picked it up again with a different mindset. And holy shit, this is THE peak. Ryukkishi really took Higurashi, added magic bullshit with sprinkles of fetish fuel, and somehow made it a fucking masterpiece. It's a must-read if you've got time.
I came in expecting something similar to Higurashi in its structure, so I was left disappointed. None about this is any fun, and ryukishi's writing feels like filler because this is a chore to read through. Not a single fun character, not a single fun fight, it's just the damn mystery which the story doesn't really make you care about personally, you just clinically try solving it because it's the point of the story.
The first half of Umineko. I'd give it 4 stars if it wasn't followed up by Chiru, which is a life changing experience. This half is vitally important though, I'll never forget reading this series.
Masterpiece
Que pasaría si los muebles tuvieran sentimientos
vi o cellbit jogando ent eu joguei tmb e parei na metade 🤓☝️
i fell off right at the start of episode 6 somewhere... soundtrack was booming, and i was intrigued throughout most of the episodes, but at some point perhaps things got too meta
there's also the point of concise storytelling. this one takes copious amounts of text to get anywhere
there's also the point of concise storytelling. this one takes copious amounts of text to get anywhere
Peak.
Umineko seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it experience for a lot of people. It was more of a love-it-and-hate-it kind of thing for me. There is just...so much packed into this story, both good and bad! The good is super good, but the bad is also pretty bad. For the sake of my sanity, this is going to be more of a list than a proper review.
Loved:
(1) The premise. Umineko is, from the start, just a really fun genre parfait. You’ve got mystery, horror, and fantasy tropes in there, mixed with nice crunchy bits of gothic family drama, and it’s all drizzled with a metafictional fudge on top. It’s a unique set-up with tons of atmosphere and so much storytelling potential.
(2) The characters. Umineko has a huge cast of memorable characters brought to life by some of the best voice acting I have ever heard. I could listen to Ohara Sayaka cackle all day long. (If you like evil laughter, Umineko occupies at least, like, six out of ten spots in the Top Ten Best Evil Laughs in Video Games.) The character writing in general is extremely good. It’s possible to forget—for hours at a time—that these are silly-looking sprites in a goofy anime game, because they feel so much like real people. Even the most despicable characters remain compelling (Rosaaaa), and all of the relationships, especially the family dynamics, are believable and complex.
(3) The themes. Umineko is thematically ambitious to a fault, but it’s refreshing to see a story just really go for it. There are so many Big Ideas in this game. While I’m doubtful that it succeeds in saying much of anything sensible in the end, I appreciate that it is earnestly trying to say something—often several things at once—and if I had, oh, a few hundred spare hours of free time lying around, I might be tempted to read it a second time to peel back more of the layers.
(4) The artwork. I know I called the sprites “silly-looking” (they are) but Ryukishi’s art really grows on you—the clumsiness is endearing and the facial expressions are wonderful. (I hate the console and pachinko sprites but ymmv.)
(5) The soundtrack. It’s banger after banger p much.
Hated:
(1) The otaku shit. Umineko was written for an audience of hardcore VN fans. Every time I was reminded of this target audience, and how much I do not belong to it, it was like nails on a chalkboard. They aren’t so pervasive as to ruin the experience, but the pandering in-jokes and fanservicey moments really pulled me out of the story. Moreover, the game was released serially for the most dedicated fans to devour chapter by chapter, line by line, going over each scene with a fine-tooth comb for clues. Many of the storytelling choices make less sense removed from this original context. I often felt like the author was being maddeningly opaque for no reason; in fact, he is being opaque on purpose (to give fans more grist for the theory-crafting mill), but unless you have approximately ten zillion hours of free time to set aside for note-taking and puzzle-solving, this habit of never saying anything directly will likely just drive you up the wall.
(2) The mysteries. Umineko is not really about the mysteries—it’s more interested in the abstract concept of Mystery Fiction than in the nitty-gritty details of each murder—but, on the other hand, it’s not really not about the mysteries, since they take up at least a hundred hours of the time you will spend reading this dang thing (and considerably more time than that if you actually try to solve them). It is a shame, then, that the mysteries kinda blow. Ryukishi wants us to believe that the “whodunnit”—it was Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick!—is less important than the “whydunnit,” the tortured heart behind the crimes. But the one time that “whydunnit” matters, it is explained in such a convoluted way as to be virtually nonsensical, and actually made me understand the character less than I did before. You also have to wait seven chapters for this motive to be revealed—and that’s it. That’s all you get. The rest of the mysteries are just soulless logic puzzles. The author has so little interest in them by the end that he just sweeps them all aside in a single scene—and frankly I don’t blame him, because the solutions are so underwhelming, I wouldn’t want to draw any attention to them either. A few questions are raised which do have satisfying answers, but they are mostly regarding background details; overall, Umineko is far more successful as a story about mysteries than as a mystery story.
(3) The themes. I know I said I liked the themes, but the thematic ambition of Umineko is also kind of its downfall. Especially in the second half, the more Ryukishi tries to draw all these thematic threads together into a bow, the more they get tangled up in a big perplexing wad of nothing. Part of the problem is a terminal case of trying to have his cake and eat it too. Like, do the mysteries matter, or don’t they? If the pursuit of a single truth is so wrongheaded, why expend so many thousands of words encouraging readers in that pursuit? Why must love and truth, empathy and reality, be diametrically opposed? The last chapter, rather than bringing clarity to these contradictions, retreats into boring cliches, and sometimes plain old falsehoods. It is quite seriously suggested that the only way to overcome trauma, actually, is to run away from reality and escape into a fantastical delusion, because, uhhh, that’s the power of magic, folks?? Ryukishi’s best writing is rooted in his experience as a social worker, and his sharp observations of human behavior, but every once a while he just runs obliviously into the limits of his own perspective with a resounding smack, and it’s a huge bummer that one of his most embarrassing fumbles comes as he is trying to deliver a grand statement. He simply does not understand trauma well enough to say anything meaningful about it, and I’m not convinced that the other themes fare much better in the end.
(4) George Ushiromiya. He sucks.
This is, of course, an extremely distilled and spoiler-redacted version of my thoughts on Umineko; I could probably write a dissertation or two about this game. While I’m on the fence about whether I think it’s good or not, I am glad that I read it, and I can see why it resonates with so many people. I will certainly remember the characters, if nothing else. As for the rest—well, as Ryukishi would probably tell you if your family had been brutally murdered by goat demons, just use the power of magic, and pretend it never happened!
Loved:
(1) The premise. Umineko is, from the start, just a really fun genre parfait. You’ve got mystery, horror, and fantasy tropes in there, mixed with nice crunchy bits of gothic family drama, and it’s all drizzled with a metafictional fudge on top. It’s a unique set-up with tons of atmosphere and so much storytelling potential.
(2) The characters. Umineko has a huge cast of memorable characters brought to life by some of the best voice acting I have ever heard. I could listen to Ohara Sayaka cackle all day long. (If you like evil laughter, Umineko occupies at least, like, six out of ten spots in the Top Ten Best Evil Laughs in Video Games.) The character writing in general is extremely good. It’s possible to forget—for hours at a time—that these are silly-looking sprites in a goofy anime game, because they feel so much like real people. Even the most despicable characters remain compelling (Rosaaaa), and all of the relationships, especially the family dynamics, are believable and complex.
(3) The themes. Umineko is thematically ambitious to a fault, but it’s refreshing to see a story just really go for it. There are so many Big Ideas in this game. While I’m doubtful that it succeeds in saying much of anything sensible in the end, I appreciate that it is earnestly trying to say something—often several things at once—and if I had, oh, a few hundred spare hours of free time lying around, I might be tempted to read it a second time to peel back more of the layers.
(4) The artwork. I know I called the sprites “silly-looking” (they are) but Ryukishi’s art really grows on you—the clumsiness is endearing and the facial expressions are wonderful. (I hate the console and pachinko sprites but ymmv.)
(5) The soundtrack. It’s banger after banger p much.
Hated:
(1) The otaku shit. Umineko was written for an audience of hardcore VN fans. Every time I was reminded of this target audience, and how much I do not belong to it, it was like nails on a chalkboard. They aren’t so pervasive as to ruin the experience, but the pandering in-jokes and fanservicey moments really pulled me out of the story. Moreover, the game was released serially for the most dedicated fans to devour chapter by chapter, line by line, going over each scene with a fine-tooth comb for clues. Many of the storytelling choices make less sense removed from this original context. I often felt like the author was being maddeningly opaque for no reason; in fact, he is being opaque on purpose (to give fans more grist for the theory-crafting mill), but unless you have approximately ten zillion hours of free time to set aside for note-taking and puzzle-solving, this habit of never saying anything directly will likely just drive you up the wall.
(2) The mysteries. Umineko is not really about the mysteries—it’s more interested in the abstract concept of Mystery Fiction than in the nitty-gritty details of each murder—but, on the other hand, it’s not really not about the mysteries, since they take up at least a hundred hours of the time you will spend reading this dang thing (and considerably more time than that if you actually try to solve them). It is a shame, then, that the mysteries kinda blow. Ryukishi wants us to believe that the “whodunnit”—it was Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick!—is less important than the “whydunnit,” the tortured heart behind the crimes. But the one time that “whydunnit” matters, it is explained in such a convoluted way as to be virtually nonsensical, and actually made me understand the character less than I did before. You also have to wait seven chapters for this motive to be revealed—and that’s it. That’s all you get. The rest of the mysteries are just soulless logic puzzles. The author has so little interest in them by the end that he just sweeps them all aside in a single scene—and frankly I don’t blame him, because the solutions are so underwhelming, I wouldn’t want to draw any attention to them either. A few questions are raised which do have satisfying answers, but they are mostly regarding background details; overall, Umineko is far more successful as a story about mysteries than as a mystery story.
(3) The themes. I know I said I liked the themes, but the thematic ambition of Umineko is also kind of its downfall. Especially in the second half, the more Ryukishi tries to draw all these thematic threads together into a bow, the more they get tangled up in a big perplexing wad of nothing. Part of the problem is a terminal case of trying to have his cake and eat it too. Like, do the mysteries matter, or don’t they? If the pursuit of a single truth is so wrongheaded, why expend so many thousands of words encouraging readers in that pursuit? Why must love and truth, empathy and reality, be diametrically opposed? The last chapter, rather than bringing clarity to these contradictions, retreats into boring cliches, and sometimes plain old falsehoods. It is quite seriously suggested that the only way to overcome trauma, actually, is to run away from reality and escape into a fantastical delusion, because, uhhh, that’s the power of magic, folks?? Ryukishi’s best writing is rooted in his experience as a social worker, and his sharp observations of human behavior, but every once a while he just runs obliviously into the limits of his own perspective with a resounding smack, and it’s a huge bummer that one of his most embarrassing fumbles comes as he is trying to deliver a grand statement. He simply does not understand trauma well enough to say anything meaningful about it, and I’m not convinced that the other themes fare much better in the end.
(4) George Ushiromiya. He sucks.
This is, of course, an extremely distilled and spoiler-redacted version of my thoughts on Umineko; I could probably write a dissertation or two about this game. While I’m on the fence about whether I think it’s good or not, I am glad that I read it, and I can see why it resonates with so many people. I will certainly remember the characters, if nothing else. As for the rest—well, as Ryukishi would probably tell you if your family had been brutally murdered by goat demons, just use the power of magic, and pretend it never happened!
yeah its p good
it's peak, your honor
This story changed my life.
PEAK FICTION
This review contains spoilers
peak question
beatrice laugh.mp3
they were def high on something when making this vnand whatever it is i want it
they were def high on something when making this vnand whatever it is i want it
I
I liked it a lot. It doesn't reach the highs of the answers arc but anything that wasn't the beginning of episode 1 or 2 I thoroughly enjoyed.
That answer is neither bad, nor good. ...60 percent, I believe you could call it. ...I'm a little disappointed.
my fav
i mean. i started playing this because a guy i know spent 1 hour trying to convince me that eva ushiromiya is a lot like cersei lannister. but he was kinda right: it IS a life-changing masterpiece
what can I say beyond memes here, I love when people shove the situation into someones face and the protag goes "uhh nuh uh no nope yeah not true" . There are lot of jokes and real criticisms about the bloat but to me its really soul pulling when Battler screams at Beatrice for 40 seconds on auto mode over being tricked or bamboozled.
Muito bom
Dies of kino peak fiction
Higurashi es mejor, soltadme el brazo.
(son ideas sueltas btw, hablar de este juego da para demasiado y paso de extenderme tantísimo)
Supongo que es porque me gustan muchísimo más las historias que tienen pocos personajes y se sienten más cercanas a la realidad, que suena raro porque soy fan de Nasu, pero también será que me cuesta muchísimo conectar con cualquier personaje de esta VN.
El capítulo 8, al igual que en Higurashi, vuelve a ser una cosa que tiene un cacho bueno y otro malo, donde el malo vuelve a ser momentos de acción uno tras otro escritos fatal porque Ryukishi es fan de Nasu pero no sabe hacer nada que se le acerque.
Ojalá hubiese más terror, o terror a secas, porque creo que es lo que mejor sabe escribir, además de lo que me gusta, que es algo contenido en un solo personaje como hace con Rena en Tsumihoroboshi (siendo esto además lo mejor que ha escrito y uno de los peaks del género).
El mensaje aunque es bonito me parece hasta peligroso y en parte demasiado escapista, hay cosas como lo de Maria y Rosa que me parecen directamente delirantes.
Ojalá hubiese cerrado todo mejor en el 7 y ese hubiese sido el final, porque habría sido mucho mejor que lo que sea que hay aquí.
Otra cosa que no me gusta nada es este intento de multiverso extraño que se ha montado al cual le sigue añadiendo reglas sin parar según le convenga o porque se le ha ocurrido, me da una pereza impresionante cualquier tema de este estilo. Que, otra vez, siendo fan de Nasu suena raro pero es que aquí me parece que está hecho de forma risible muchas veces.
El mejor "está genial y el mensaje es bonito pero no he sentido nada" que he leído nunca, la verdad.
(son ideas sueltas btw, hablar de este juego da para demasiado y paso de extenderme tantísimo)
Supongo que es porque me gustan muchísimo más las historias que tienen pocos personajes y se sienten más cercanas a la realidad, que suena raro porque soy fan de Nasu, pero también será que me cuesta muchísimo conectar con cualquier personaje de esta VN.
El capítulo 8, al igual que en Higurashi, vuelve a ser una cosa que tiene un cacho bueno y otro malo, donde el malo vuelve a ser momentos de acción uno tras otro escritos fatal porque Ryukishi es fan de Nasu pero no sabe hacer nada que se le acerque.
Ojalá hubiese más terror, o terror a secas, porque creo que es lo que mejor sabe escribir, además de lo que me gusta, que es algo contenido en un solo personaje como hace con Rena en Tsumihoroboshi (siendo esto además lo mejor que ha escrito y uno de los peaks del género).
El mensaje aunque es bonito me parece hasta peligroso y en parte demasiado escapista, hay cosas como lo de Maria y Rosa que me parecen directamente delirantes.
Ojalá hubiese cerrado todo mejor en el 7 y ese hubiese sido el final, porque habría sido mucho mejor que lo que sea que hay aquí.
Otra cosa que no me gusta nada es este intento de multiverso extraño que se ha montado al cual le sigue añadiendo reglas sin parar según le convenga o porque se le ha ocurrido, me da una pereza impresionante cualquier tema de este estilo. Que, otra vez, siendo fan de Nasu suena raro pero es que aquí me parece que está hecho de forma risible muchas veces.
El mejor "está genial y el mensaje es bonito pero no he sentido nada" que he leído nunca, la verdad.
Cima de la ficcion