07th Expansion‘s Umineko When They Cry – Question Arcs has at last made its English debut, allowing fans in the west (who likely only know of the title through the relatively notable anime) to decipher the mystery themselves without being hindered by the ever obstructive language barrier.
Players take on the role of Battler as he attends an annual reunion with members of his wealthy family, though the initially cheery situation progressively grows much darker as a tragedy unfolds and forces the unlucky protagonist into searching for the truth.
Umineko When They Cry – Question Arcs features the first four chapters in the series; “question arcs” that suggest several ways in which the homicide could have happened, exposing several small truths and various subtleties for players to analyze along the way.
Umineko When They Cry -Question Arcs- boasts new artwork, English and Japanese subtitles and is also completely uncut, no doubt boosting the quality of the experience considerably – the game is on sale now for 10% off.
That’s some really mediocre artwork…
A lot of weebs threw up their hands at sound novel episode 2 (or even at the end of episode 1–to clarify, I’m not talking about TV episodes, of course) crying foul because there was “magic” and didn’t bother to read any deeper or further to get to the real mystery underneath.
Technically all the most important clues are there for the whodunnit, howdunnit and whydunnit by the end of episode 4 (technically you can solve the who and how in every episode if you are really clever, but the motive and such is very hard to solve without more info). The “core” arc (sound novel episodes 5-8) present more and more clues to the whydunnit, pretty much spell it out in episode 7, and conclude things in episode 8.
That said, it doesn’t hand these answers to you on a platter, not even at the end, and if you haven’t figured it out by then, a reread with the info learned in the later episodes should mostly set things straight.
But if you are STILL lost, and really can’t figure out the answer, then the *manga* actually explains EVERYTHING in its alternate version of episode 8 (along with some added details to episode 7), and all penned by Ryuukishi07 himself–this is the canonical, official solution to the whole thing.
I’m not going to spoil anything major, but I will say that if you actually made it into episode 3 of the sound novels, you will have a better idea of how the “magic” actually works, and how to deal with it if you are serious about solving the mystery. The outrageousness of the magic itself in episode 2 should be a giveaway though that you shouldn’t take it at face value (in other words, think about unreliable narration and where the info about the more fantastic elements is coming from…was the detective actually THERE to witness these magical events? Should we believe what the “witch” tells us happened? If you have been through Higurashi already, you should know better than to interpret every scene as literal events…).
And now I’ve said too much. Good luck hunting the witch!
Magic is fine, but the way he handled ep8 at the first place was the biggest cop out.
The main theme was magic vs deduction. It’s fine that they spin it so “magic” is someone’s narrative. I get that, and I can accept that. What is stupid about it is the fact that many of the things were not confirmed Yes, you can deduce it, and it most likely happened a certain way, but would it kill him to actually write it out and confirm it? “If you feel that’s how it happened, then that’s how it happened.” isn’t an acceptable solution when he hyped about the deduction portion throughout the story.
That whole Knox’s 10 commandment? He broke like 8 of them himself.
The final straw is gotta be the resolution. You believe in magic? Then you are a sheep who is incapable of thinking for yourself. You believe in deduction? Then you are a heartless bastard who just blew up everyone’s hope and dreams.
Ryukishi07 used to be huge. One of the big 3 writers of Comiket. Anime, games, live action movies. If you want to know why he’s so minor these years, or why the anime never finished, give Umineko a good read.
I think I would be less angry about it, if I read ep1-8 in a go and just enjoyed it as is. But I read it over 4 years, as each episode came up one at a time, and tried to deduced the events with people over at animesuki forum. I even joined the witch-hunt translation project. In the end, it was “if you think it happened this way, then it happened this way.” that killed it for me, that I realized that Ryukishi07 did so much work trying to debunk net-theories, that he didn’t leave himself an exit, and ultimatly did not care about the resolution to give any solutions.
“You believe in magic? Then you are a sheep who is incapable of thinking for yourself.”
That’s now how it is at all. Read it again.
” It’s fine that they spin it so “magic” is someone’s narrative. I get that,”
That’s not what magic is at all. You are confusing magic with “the reader”. You don’t understand the story as much as you think you do.
Thank you. Finally, someone gets it.
The same thing happened with the TV series Lost. It was wildly ambitious, but all they ever cared about was hooking people with more and more mysteries. By the end of the show they had so many questions, it was just too much to answer every little thing.
” It’s fine that they spin it so “magic” is someone’s narrative. I get that,”
That’s not what magic is at all. You are confusing magic with “the reader”. You don’t understand the story as much as you think you do.
You both do not understand it. It isn’t too much to answer every little thing. He didn’t answer every little thing because the whole point of the story is to train the reader to be able to easily answer every little thing on his own.
ps3 art > original art >>>>>>> this
I loved Episode 1, since it was this awesome murder-mystery VN. Then the magic showed up. And then the magic was never explained. And then it ended without explaining anything at all.
Ryukishi: It’s all fucking magic. Deal with it.
Higurashi was so much better.
Huh? What’s so fun watching static image with lots of text..
I’d rather watch anime or play games we can wander around.
It’s static but somehow more interactive than most games. Try it out and you might like it.
Dude u can resolve ALL the visual novel with only episode 1, since all of the others episodes are only here to help the reader. The magic and the red truth exist for the sole purpose of creating a path to the truth. And the epitaph can be solved since the first episode.
Then explain every single locked room murder throughout the series.
“You can solve everything on your own.”
You: “Then solve everything for me.”
You are retarded.
I doubt anyone can realistically solve the Epitaph on the first episode unless you are Furudo Erika herself. You need to know about the old train-stations of Thailand or something.
taiwan
It doesn’t end with an explanation because you have already been given enough clues to solve the mystery on your own.
The novel has characters constantly saying, “Fantasy doesn’t belong in a mystery.” It is the complete opposite of what you are saying, 14:42.
The division between mystery and fantasy, the nature of magic, and belief are heavily discussed in the novel, you dumb f♥♥k.
Sankaku commenters: I misunderstood and am now misrepresenting the novel. Deal with with it.
Stay in school, dumbass.
Keep felating Ryukishi and his s♥♥t writing, you brainwashed moron.
You think his writing is s♥♥t because you are s♥♥t. It is greater than anything you will ever accomplish.
“You called me out on misrepresenting the novel. You must be a brainwashed cocksucker.”
AYYYYYYYYYY LMAO
That’s not how it is at all, you miserable idiot. Everything can be explained without magic if you look for it– that is a major theme of the novel.
Sankaku Commenters: We misrepresent because we are too dumb to understand. Deal with it.
Yes. Wonderful. Ryukishi: solve it on your own because I’m too lazy to explain it.
That sure sounds like a wonderful theme, you dumb f♥♥k.
Actually Episode 8 goes like this:
“Do you want to believe in magic, then here, have some magic.”
“Do you deny magic, then here, have what happens without magic.”
There is a truth if you look for it. The interactivity of Umineko is what makes it great.
Ep8: “If you feel that’s the way it happened, then it’s the way it happened”.
It is a wonderful theme for ordinary people. Retards can’t understand it, but they don’t matter anyways.
He isn’t lazy, moron. You aren’t ready for the explanation if you do not find the explanation yourself. It’s not his fault that you are too damn dumb.
Cum on l♥♥i Ogura Yui’s face!
http://anipla.net/curations/777