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2 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Finished up Raging Loop a couple of days ago and now I'm done with chapter 6 of Higurashi.

Raging Loop

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not that into werewolves, which initially put me off when I considered reading this VN, but I'm glad I actually decided to pick it up. The pacing of the story felt just right and the story itself turned out to be a more exciting read than I expected, with quite a few twists and turns right up until the end. I did see through some of them long before the reveals, but everything leading up to that point was so well executed that it felt satisfying nevertheless.
I really appreciated how you, after clearing the game, unlock a toggle in the options, with which you can activate a ton of internal monologues mixed in with the normal dialogue and narration to get a better understanding of everything that's going on and why certain people act in certain ways. It's a function I'd love to see in Higurashi, to be honest. And so, while we're on the subject...

Higurashi, chapter 6

First off, I agree with @Dreamysyu that this is the best chapter (so far, at least). Anyway, onward to spoiler territory.

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The intro screen of the chapter said that the difficulty is zero, but I don't entirely agree. It's definitely more straight-forward than the previous chapters, but there's some confusing stuff here too. For one thing, Rika is only getting more mysterious. We hear her conversing with some person/entity/whatever that we haven't been introduced to yet, and there are several scenes with her acting much more grownup than her appearance suggests. I'm reminded of a horror movie I watched a few years back, where a malicious child turned out to actually be an adult with some rare disease that made the body age at a significantly slower rate than normal. Then again, she actually says herself that she's over a hundred years old. She claims to have died countless times and retained her memories of that, and if that's true, her mental age would obviously be much higher than her physical one.
In any case, things seem to point at Rika being somehow involved in Tomotake's unusual death. We're told in this chapter that he was apparently injected with something, which Rika later revealed that she knew about, and there's also the fact that she tried to inject Shion with something in the previous chapter. (Also, when she ended up injected with it herself in chapter 5, she proceeded to cut out her throat, much like what happened to Tomotake.)
However, I honestly have a hard time accepting that Rika, however mysterious she may be, would murder someone. If she actually did, there's probably some underlying reason behind it.

For the first time, Keiichi actually mentioned that he remembers events that only took place in other chapters, and I'm not sure what to make of that yet. It could be a parallell world scenario, like I briefly mentioned in an earlier post, but that wouldn't explain how he could have memories from those worlds. Then there's this internal monologue, which makes it seem like Ooishi clearly remembers things that have happened in other chapters, but there are some inconcistencies to this too, like how he seems to barely know who Keiichi is, although he should know him quite well by now if his memories are in fact retained. Another discrepency is why he, if he actually has memories from several timelines, doesn't hide and watch over the area where Tomotake gets killed. If he knows it's going to happen, it seems inopportunistic or even downright stupid not to use it to his advantage. (The same could be said about any other major events he possibly remembers.)

So, Takano.
In a mystery story such as this, it's pretty easy to get stuck in an overanalyzing mode where you just assume that every small piece of information is part of some grander scheme, but if you look at the situation objectively, that might not necessarily be the case. Earlier this week, before I started reading this chapter, I was hit by the thought that rather than Takano being possessed by some supernatural entity, a person involved in some major conspiracy or some other nonsense, maybe she's just an occult writer, going around Hinamizawa collecting information and inspiration for her stories. At the very least, we learn in this chapter that she's written a whole bunch of different stories about Hinamizawa.
The contradiction about her attending the Watanagashi festival while already being dead in an oil drum was pretty much tossed aside as a mistake during her autopsy, and I guess that could explain that part, no matter how unsatisfying a solution it is. It wouldn't explain why she gets murdered, though. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past her to, in a spectacular fashion, stage her own suicide in such a way that it looks like murder, just for the sake of enhancing the mystery and her stories.

The whole Hinamizawa parasite theory. Was it just some mindfuckery for funsies from the devilish Takano, who seems to enjoy messing with people oh so very much? I'm honestly not sure. There are a lot of nasty parasites out there, but it seems a little farfetched that an entire town would be affected by one to this extent.
It conveniently fills in a lot of gaps and it's certainly more plausible than the notion that there's an actual curse at play, but it could also just be a ruse to make the reader get caught up in Rena's delusions.
That said, there's usually an ounce of truth at the core of conspiracy theories, so maybe the existence of the parasite is actually real, while the part about the three houses master plan, UFO invasion and grand revival of the Oyashiro faith isn't. Actually, if everything turned out to be just a delusion, it would mean that Chapter 6 doesn't bring much relevant additions to the overarching plot, and that seems a bit odd for a part of the answer arcs.

There was one thing that I didn't like in this chapter. If the Chapter 6 explanation of the events at the end of Chapter 1 are actually true, it means that during Chapter 1, the readers were deliberately fed false information for the sake of enhancing the mystery. In my opinion, that's an extremely cheap and uninspired form of storytelling, which I think Higurashi should be above based on what I've seen so far.
Basically, it would mean that you can't really trust any information the game provides you with. If it's fabricated and presented in a way that differs from what's actually happening in the scene, there's just no way for the reader to see through it and it effectively renders the act of making conjectures more or less pointless.
As a consequence, despite being the most interesting chapter so far, Chapter 6 has lessened my opinion of the series as a whole, and Chapter 1 in particular. I just hope it will somehow redeem itself in the final two chapters.

Some random thoughts:

I've entertained the idea that there's some meta element at play here, like maybe the person playing the game is actually resetting the timeline whenever he or she starts playing a new chapter, and then some characters (Rika, in particular) have retained memories by somehow accessing information from the other chapters. (I guess I'm thinking this way because of a certain other VN I read recently.)

I recall a scene during Chapter 1 where there was an offhand remark about a person with seven personalities, and I've been thinking that it might have been some early foreshadowing. Curiously enough, Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Satoko, Rika, Shion and Satoshi equals seven. Well, I'm really just pulling this out of my ass and I'm probably way off the mark, but even if those aren't personalities of one and the same person, which they most likely aren't, it wouldn't surprise me if at least one of the characters in the game suffers from multiple personality disorder.

This turned out to be one of my longest posts here so far, but maybe that's not so strange considering the extent to which Higurashi puts the mind at work.

huh, first, I didn't like the end of Raging Loop.

Spoiler

 

After the protagonist decides to leave Chiemi's eternal resetting to talk to the other characters, things stopped making logical sense to me. The explanations for the mysteries seemed absurd and taken from nowhere, specially the whole wolfs-being-humans-all-along plotline. I enjoyed the game up until the sheep appears, then it went downhill. I didn't even get how the protagonist found out the sheep was his ex and the shop keeper. Maybe I missed something.

 

 

 

As for Higurashi, all I can say is that some of your theories are spot on, but others are far from the truth. Chapter 7 explains A LOT and will probably answer your questions, tho.

About Chapter 1,

Spoiler

you have to consider that the narrator is the main character, seeing and feeling things as he lives them. That means that even though something may or may not have really happened, in his perspective, it did. It's not trying to fool anyone, it is just a trick that if you are not paying attention to may, well, trick you. If you reread chapter 1, you'll see that actualy many scenes didn't have anything really going on [such as the nails in the bread], or many dialogues that for Keiichi seemed awkward, but actually weren't.

After you read Higurashi and Umineko [and possibly Ciconia, although it's far from finished], I'd recommend you to take a look into the Infinity Series. I won't spoil you or anything, but if you liked When They Cry you'll definetely enjoy Infinity. [Never7, Ever17 and Remember11]

Edited by Silvz
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2 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:
Spoiler

There was one thing that I didn't like in this chapter. If the Chapter 6 explanation of the events at the end of Chapter 1 are actually true, it means that during Chapter 1, the readers were deliberately fed false information for the sake of enhancing the mystery. In my opinion, that's an extremely cheap and uninspired form of storytelling, which I think Higurashi should be above based on what I've seen so far.
Basically, it would mean that you can't really trust any information the game provides you with. If it's fabricated and presented in a way that differs from what's actually happening in the scene, there's just no way for the reader to see through it and it effectively renders the act of making conjectures more or less pointless.
As a consequence, despite being the most interesting chapter so far, Chapter 6 has lessened my opinion of the series as a whole, and Chapter 1 in particular. I just hope it will somehow redeem itself in the final two chapters.

 

Spoiler

Oh, well, Ryukishi is quite fond of unreliable narrations, so when you are reading his works it's better to prepare that not everything is what it seems. I'm personally okay with plot twists like that as long as they're actually possible to get from the story itself that some narration is unreliable, or if it somehow follows from the plot. I'm personally satisfied with how Higurashi did this, but let's discuss it after you finish the next chapter, or I might accidentally spoil something.

 

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39 minutes ago, Silvz said:
Spoiler

I didn't even get how the protagonist found out the sheep was his ex and the shop keeper. Maybe I missed something.

 

Spoiler

This and a lot of other stuff is actually explained if you turn on that toggle in the options after clearing the game. In truth, both him and his ex choose to ignore the fact that they know each other, and it's a pretty funny scene with the internal monologue included.

 

45 minutes ago, Silvz said:
Spoiler

you have to consider that the narrator is the main character, seeing and feeling things as he lives them.

 

Spoiler

Yeah, I get that we're seeing it from his point of view, but I think it could have been handled better. There are several situations where the narration clearly states that something is a certain way, like with the needle in the bun. If you're explicitly told that there's a needle there, of course you're going to believe there is. Problem is, as soon as you accept what's presented to you, you derail and any future conjectures from that point onwards will be based on false information.
I think the "protagonist's perspective" kinda ended up acting as a forced plot device here.

 

1 hour ago, Silvz said:

After you read Higurashi and Umineko [and possibly Ciconia, although it's far from finished], I'd recommend you to take a look into the Infinity Series. I won't spoil you or anything, but if you liked When They Cry you'll definetely enjoy Infinity. [Never7, Ever17 and Remember11]

I've actually already read Ever17. It was a bit slow, but the story was definitely interesting and I'm intending to read the others in a not too distant future.

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2 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

I've actually already read Ever17. It was a bit slow, but the story was definitely interesting and I'm intending to read the others in a not too distant future.

So you probably get why I compared it to Higurashi. This is the best of the series, but the other two are pretty good.

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38 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:
 

Yeah, I get that we're seeing it from his point of view, but I think it could have been handled better. There are several situations where the narration clearly states that something is a certain way, like with the needle in the bun. If you're explicitly told that there's a needle there, of course you're going to believe there is. Problem is, as soon as you accept what's presented to you, you derail and any future conjectures from that point onwards will be based on false information.
I think the "protagonist's perspective" kinda ended up acting as a forced plot device here.

 

Spoiler

That may not be true if you actually assume that some of the information you're given is false, and if you're given some clues that you could use to get exactly what information is false. Though, this makes me think, does Higurashi ever do that? I'm actually not sure, it's been quite a while since I read it. I think, it's probably possible to get that something is not what it seems if you reread chapter 1 after you finish a few more chapters, but probably not if you go in completely blind.

Actually, I remember reading somewhere that Ryukishi himself was a bit unsatisfied with how he handled certain aspects of mystery in Higurashi, and he tried to improve them in Umineko. And I'm pretty sure he succeeded, so... :sachi:

2 hours ago, Silvz said:

I won't spoil you or anything, but if you liked When They Cry you'll definetely enjoy Infinity. [Never7, Ever17 and Remember11]

Ever17 spoilers.

Spoiler

It's actually a bit funny, since my main problem with Ever17 ending is very similar to what @Seraphim88 didn't like about the first chapter of Higurashi. Because, while the mystery itself is pretty amazing, the whydunit, basically, comes out of nowhere. The novel never properly explains why exactly You'haru had to start the new "loop". Blick Winkel knew that it has to be done from his knowledge from the future, and somehow creating this unusual and interesting situation would summon him from the 4th dimension (or something like that), but I don't know, this explanation feels very artificial and just turns the whole story into a massive time paradox. It just devalues the purpose of the mystery in the earlier parts. Actually, originally I was so disappointed in the ending, so I had to drop my final rating from 9 to 7, though I raised it again to 8 after some time, because the parts that come before that are actually pretty good.

 

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10 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:
Spoiler

Though, this makes me think, does Higurashi ever do that?

 

Spoiler

In Chapter 1, not to my knowledge. Well, there are some scenes where you're not sure what's going on and are free to make up your own theories, but for the most part, things are presented in a clear way that isn't really up for debate. A few examples:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Combined with all the maniacal laughter and how they start interrogating and accusing Keiichi of things left and right in oddly persistant ways, there's no way any normal person would think "Keiichi is probably just being a bit delusional right now".

I do want to clarify that I don't mind some misdirection for the sake of mystery, but it becomes a bit too much when the entire escalation of the story in Chapter 1 is based on it. To later on just conveniently brush everything aside by telling us that "yeah, none of that actually happened" honestly feels a bit lazy.

 

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9 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:
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In Chapter 1, not to my knowledge. Well, there are some scenes where you're not sure what's going on and are free to make up your own theories, but for the most part, things are presented in a clear way that isn't really up for debate. A few examples:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Combined with all the maniacal laughter and how they start interrogating and accusing Keiichi of things left and right in oddly persistant ways, there's no way any normal person would think "Keiichi is probably just being a bit delusional right now".

I do want to clarify that I don't mind some misdirection for the sake of mystery, but it becomes a bit too much when the entire escalation of the story in Chapter 1 is based on it. To later on just conveniently brush everything aside by telling us that "yeah, none of that actually happened" honestly feels a bit lazy.

 

Spoiler

Well, I see where you are coming from. I personally don't really think about it this way, but I see why other people could have problems with it.

You see, to me the main problem with the mystery in Higurashi that the author himself admitted is that it's practically unsolvable. It's like with the scientific method - if you want to get the answer, you need to make some basic assumptions about how the things are presented (like, there are no supernatural elements, everything that the characters see is true and etc.) and then use them to interpret the things you see, and if you don't get a self-contradicting picture in the end, then there's a good chance that you got it right. The problem with Higurashi is that you can't really assume anything, and there are just way too many random variables to be able get to the right answer.

That said, the answers are still there. I think I mentioned it in the past, but I actually read the VN after I already watched the anime, so when I started chapter 1, I already knew all the answers. And, you know, sometimes I wonder if that's actually the better way to enjoy this VN, because otherwise I would never be able to get just how well-constructed the story is. Starting from the very first scene there are little details that either don't make much sense or lead you into a wrong direction, but they make completely different sense if you already know the answer. In chapter 1 there exist two complete layers of narration: the psychological horror seen by (delusional) Keichi, and the tragic love story that lies underneath. You say that none of that actually happened, but it's simply not true. Looking through you screenshots, it looks like only the needle scene shows events that don't happen at all. Even then, there is a hint that something is wrong with this scene, since Keichi doesn't find the needle when it starts looking for it the next day... but I guess, it's way too subtle, and it's a lot easier to interpret it like he just lost it. Other than that, everything makes perfect sense if you know the information from the later chapters, and if you just skip Keichi's interpretation of these events. Mion badmouthing Ooishi? But, well, you know from chapter 4 that there's some history about their relationship. Maniacal laughter? But Rena herself isn't exactly very... sane, as it was shown in chapter 6. :makina: It's misleading, sure, but it's just the way this story was written. Could it be handled better? I don't know. It probably could, but I personally don't see an easy change that could handle things better.

Well, I guess I was wrong in my previous post and I don't really care about solveability as long as the plot twist are mindbreaking enough, lol.

 

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In any case, it isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. These are really just my spontaneous thoughts right after finishing Chapter 6, and they're all based on assumptions and information I was provided there. It isn't unlikely that my opinion will change one way or the other once I get some perspective on things. I still have two chapters to go and I expect that quite a few things will have been turned on their head by the time I'm done.

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Yesterday I finished Mashiro's route in Making Lovers. It was very nice. That stunt near the end was stretching things a bit, but it wasn't totally out of character, so I'll let it slip ;) After two routes read (Saki and Mashiro) I'm really enjoying this VN - despite the month long break due to lack of time or strength. I'm looking forward to the remaining three routes :)

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Found myself in the mood for something kind of artsy and weird, so I picked up Myth. Right now I'm at the point where they plan for Shimon's birthday party and so far despite its slow start it seems quite promising. I already have some theories about what is going on although I don't really know yet the Norse mythology motif and the game hinting at 

Spoiler

some meta-stuff

are supposed to fit in.

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1 hour ago, alpacaman said:

Found myself in the mood for something kind of artsy and weird, so I picked up Myth. Right now I'm at the point where they plan for Shimon's birthday party and so far despite its slow start it seems quite promising. I already have some theories about what is going on although I don't really know yet the Norse mythology motif and the game hinting at 

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some meta-stuff

are supposed to fit in.

good luck trying to understand Myth, for me it was impossible

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Understanding Myth made my head hurt. I consider it to be one of those VNs that are supposed to be played for the experience, not for the ending.

I liked Myth very much and I don't know why it isn't more popular.

P.S. : I'm thrilled that Myth is mentioned here.

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Completed Mask of Truth a while ago, and with that, I have finally finished the entire Utawarerumono trilogy. Man, now that I have completed this trilogy, I feel so empty now. I expected so much from this, and boy did it meet my expectations.

Seiyuus
Before I get to the story itself, let me first get to the cast. Fujiwara Keiji (Rest in Peace), Sawashiro Miyuki, Kugumiya Rie, Tanaeda Risa, Sakura Ayane, Minase Inori, Murase Ayumu, Namikawa Daisuke, Takahiro Sakurai; just those names were enough to tell me that the voice acting for the trilogy were going to be splendid. The seiyuus here (for the most part) voiced what they were known for, but what caught me the most by surprise was Sawashiro voicing Aruruu. Ayaneru also sounded different (compared to the characters that I know whom she had voiced) while voicing Uruuru and Saraana, but then she had always been known to have many different voices for many characters, so I wasn't that surprised compared to Sawashiro. This just goes to show how damn well these seiyuus can portray their voices, huh.

Prelude to the Fallen
And now to the story, starting with Prelude to the Fallen. It started off well, and while there were numerous slice-of-life events in between, the pace was decent. The villains were very typical though, so I couldn't help but roll my eyes at how the villains behaved.

Spoiler

It was certainly an eventful journey for Hakuoro, from being just a villager to being an ouro to being a divine entity. It was also nice that some of the enemies that Hakuoro faced were actually decent people, and I’m glad that they would eventually become part of his group. Sakuya losing her shit was a huge pity though, considering that there was quite a lot of development surrounding her prior to her breakdown. The final reveal which revealed Haukuro to be some God, Eruruu to be his former wife’s (Mikoto) reincarnation and Kamyu to have an alternate personality in Mutsumi, was something I couldn’t predict, considering that there was close to no hints until the very end. Plot reveals are always good, and it was overall a very enjoyable experience.

Final score: 8.7/10.

Mask of Deception
Next up, Mask of Deception. This is probably the weakest entry in the series, with a myriad of slice-of-life events, so much so that they probably outnumber the number of fight scenes. It started pretty well though, just like its predecessor.

Spoiler

Oshtor's death at the end was a huge surprise, and I could feel myself slowly trying to process the implications of that, since he’s a big shot, and it would cause huge political turmoil if news was to break out that Oshtor was dead. However, before I could finish my train of thoughts, Haku came back to his group donning Oshtor’s mask, and that’s when I knew that Haku’s in for a long and arduous ride. Unsurprisingly, Kuon decided to go back home after learning of “Haku’s” death, and just when things were starting to get good, the story decided to end itself (*Labyrinth of Grisaia flashbacks*). Come to think of it, there was a particular event where Haku acted as Oshtor earlier in the game, so I suppose that sort of foreshadowed what was to come, huh.

Anyways, this entry was interesting but had its shortcomings: namely too much slice-of-life and pointless fanservice, so I'm giving a score of 8/10. 

Additional note : I love the OP so much.

Additional note 2:

Spoiler

I still can’t believe Kuon is the daughter of Yuzuha, despite her looking more like Eruruu.


Mask of Truth
Last but not least, Mask of Truth. Considering that this entry is #9 on vndb, I had the highest expectations for this. Although the start felt a bit like Mask of Deception with all the slice-of-life events, that all changed with the start of the rebellion arc. Not gonna lie; Raiko really felt like Lelouch. His methods of manipulating his opponents to his needs, and ability to adapt to situations, is reminiscent of S1 Lelouch, and it amazed me how Haku was able to escape from most of his strategies.

Spoiler

Really, if it wasn't for a certain other guy's interference, Haku and co would already have been obliterated by Raiko's mortar. When Raiko died, it initially felt like the game was going to end, because the battle between Raiko and Haku was pretty damn epic, and felt like a final boss fight. However, there were simply way too many loose ends (at that point) for a VN rated so highly on vndb, so there should be at least one more major arc afterwards, and I was right. Woshi turned out to be the true mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes, and while I definitely had my suspicions, I never could quite figure out his intention. However, when his intention was eventually revealed, I couldn’t help but sigh in exasperation as it turned out to be a pretty lame one, which got even lamer when Woshi was revealed to be a clone. So much for being a true human, huh.

Honestly though, I can’t help but feel that the cast in Prelude to the Fallen would have easily dispatched every enemy which Haku and his group had difficulty facing.They could literally defeat

Spoiler

a divine entity,

while Haku’s group was struggling against mere humans/kemonomimis. I really wanted Hakuoro’s group to play a more active role here, and I’m glad that they got more screen time towards the end of the game.

Spoiler

Seeing Eruruu and hearing Hakuoro for the first time since Prelude to the Fallen made me feel just how long the Utawarerumono journey has been for me; I couldn’t help but feel emotional :’).

While the final battle in Mask of Truth may not be as epic as that of Prelude to the Fallen, it certainly evoked the same amount of emotions as it did in Prelude to the Fallen,

Spoiler

and I couldn’t help but feel saddened by the loss of Haku. Dude’s been using his Akuruka whenever he feels cornered, so I knew he would definitely use it against Woshi. I can’t help but feel for Nekone; first Oshtor died, then the Haku died; it’s almost like her brother died twice. On the bright side, Haku was the only casualty amongst the main cast, and even allowed Hakuoro to turn back into a human and return to Eruruu’s side. 

Final score for Mask of Truth: 8.7/10

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2 hours ago, wei123 said:

Next up, Mask of Deception. This is probably the weakest entry in the series, with a myriad of slice-of-life events, so much so that they probably outnumber the number of fight scenes. It started pretty well though, just like its predecessor.

No kidding here, when you arrive in the capital, pretty much the whole plot is thrown overboard and replaced with tons of random slice of life scenes of questionable quality. I wonder if it's really worth finishing at all, or if it wouldn't just be better to skip straight to Mask of Truth that has all the good stuff.

BTW, I think the review would have been also readable with normal font size. :blink:

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6 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

it wouldn't just be better to skip straight to Mask of Truth that has all the good stuff.

Nah you probably shouldn't do that. There's a major plot reveal at the end of Mask of Deception which links directly to the start of Mask of Truth, so it's better not to skip MoD.

6 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

BTW, I think the review would have been also readable with normal font size. :blink:

Sorry about that; I've changed the font size and colour now.

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Just finished chapter 7 of Higurashi, somewhat later than expected due to me being pretty busy this past weekend.

Spoiler

If Chapter 6 was the most exciting and interesting chapter, Chapter 7 was the most satisfying one. Even the ending, while dark and gritty, left me with a feeling of hope for better things to come. I guess the proper term would be "bittersweet".

Satoko had to endure hardship much in the same way she did in Chapter 3, but it was heartwarming to see all the people come together and fight for the sake of ending her torment.
I do have to say though that I think the whole rescue operation was poorly handled. Asking Satoko to openly rebel against the person who's supposedly abusing her, knowing full well that she's currently alone with him, seems to me like one of the most idiotic ideas they could have come up with. It worked out in the end because the police secretly stormed the place right after the phone call, but if that hadn't been the case, who knows what would have happened to Satoko by the time rescue had arrived.

When Satoko went bonkers in the classroom, it was revealed that she, due to her illness, needs to be injected with some medicine to calm down. This reminded me of a few other scenes, namely when Rika tried to inject Shion with something in Chapter 5 and Rena in Chapter 6. The reader was probably expected to think of it as some kind of dangerous substance at the time, but I'm pretty sure by now that it was the same type of medicine Satoko uses. After all, Rika brought it when Shion and Rena started exhibiting erratic behavior.

The Hinamizawa Syndrome twist itself didn't come as much of a surprise. I had started suspecting there might be some sort of mass delusion, mental illness or something along those lines influencing the citizens of Hinamizawa. When I learned at the start of the chapter that Satoko was undergoing treatment for something, that more or less solidified that theory in my mind, and it was confirmed later on in the story. I'm glad to finally get a real explanation about the particulars of why some people have gone delusional/crazy in the previous chapters. It seems pretty clear by now that Takano deliberately sowed seeds of doubt in the minds of the characters for that purpose specifically. Coincidentally, Ooishi does the same thing, but I doubt it's intentional on his part.

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed that Takano turned out to be a bad guy, since that's basically the picture the game has been painting all along. I was hoping there was something more to it than that; that it might be meant as some play on misconceptions with the reader and that she'd turn out to just be an ordinary person. In a way, I feel like that would have been more interesting.

One thing that blows my mind is that Rika knows a ton of information about the Tokyo company, including their goal of weaponizing the Hinamizawa Syndrome, that Takano works for them and that she is in charge of a special task force specializing in kidnappings, assassinations, manipulating information and whatnot, and despite all this, Rika, over the course of 100+ years, doesn't think even once that "Gee, maybe I shouldn't trust Takano". I mean, she's basically strutting around right in front of Rika's eyes with a huge signboard saying "Guilty, hee hee!" while playing Billy Eilish's "I'm The Bad Guy" on a loudspeaker.
If I was Rika, I would have been highly suspicious of her right from the getgo and would have asked Hanyuu to spy on her in secret to make sure of her intentions.

Some random thoughts:
- The thing I'm most confused about right now is what Takano means by all the talk about realizing the curse of Oyashiro-sama, becoming a god, etc. She might just be batshit crazy, but that doesn't seem like a very interesting pretext.
- If Hanyuu is indeed a supernatural entity and it's true that she goes on living when Rika dies and also retains her memories, that should mean that she knows full well what actually happens to Rika in her final moments but she's choosing not to tell her for some reason. This doesn't seem to sync with her claim that she wants Rika to stay alive, since giving Rika information about her unfortunate demise should increase her chances of doing just that.
- We're told that Satoko is a terminal Hinamizawa Syndrome patient and that there's something she shouldn't remember. This seems to indicate that she's actually the one responsible for her parents death, pushing them off the viewing platform in a state of delusion and then forgetting all about it once she recovered her sanity. However, there's some info at the end of the chapter claiming that a terminal patient will never recover from their delirium, and that seems contradictory in this case.
- Big shocker that this trustworthy-looking guy turned out to be a not so nice person.

I hope Chapter 8 has some glorious retribution in store for Takano and the people who side with her. I'm not entirely sure that will happen, though. I've heard that in Umineko, there's supposedly a character that spoils Higurashi, and Takano seems to fit the bill better than anyone for that particular role. Then again, I don't even know when Umineko takes place. If it's before Higurashi and Takano's actually part of the Umineko story, she might still meet her demise in Higurashi. Time will tell.
As for the other characters, I hope they'll finally be able to find happiness at the end of this long and winding road.

As of right now, the 07th mod for Chapter 8 has yet to be released. The previous ones have been completed roughly a month after the release of the chapters themselves, and if that's the case this time as well, I'm still on schedule to read that chapter this coming weekend. Otherwise, I'll have to put off reading it until the mod is released.

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1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

Just finished chapter 7 of Higurashi, somewhat later than expected due to me being pretty busy this past weekend.

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If Chapter 6 was the most exciting and interesting chapter, Chapter 7 was the most satisfying one. Even the ending, while dark and gritty, left me with a feeling of hope for better things to come. I guess the proper term would be "bittersweet".

Satoko had to endure hardship much in the same way she did in Chapter 3, but it was heartwarming to see all the people come together and fight for the sake of ending her torment.
I do have to say though that I think the whole rescue operation was poorly handled. Asking Satoko to openly rebel against the person who's supposedly abusing her, knowing full well that she's currently alone with him, seems to me like one of the most idiotic ideas they could have come up with. It worked out in the end because the police secretly stormed the place right after the phone call, but if that hadn't been the case, who knows what would have happened to Satoko by the time rescue had arrived.

When Satoko went bonkers in the classroom, it was revealed that she, due to her illness, needs to be injected with some medicine to calm down. This reminded me of a few other scenes, namely when Rika tried to inject Shion with something in Chapter 5 and Rena in Chapter 6. The reader was probably expected to think of it as some kind of dangerous substance at the time, but I'm pretty sure by now that it was the same type of medicine Satoko uses. After all, Rika brought it when Shion and Rena started exhibiting erratic behavior.

The Hinamizawa Syndrome twist itself didn't come as much of a surprise. I had started suspecting there might be some sort of mass delusion, mental illness or something along those lines influencing the citizens of Hinamizawa. When I learned at the start of the chapter that Satoko was undergoing treatment for something, that more or less solidified that theory in my mind, and it was confirmed later on in the story. I'm glad to finally get a real explanation about the particulars of why some people have gone delusional/crazy in the previous chapters. It seems pretty clear by now that Takano deliberately sowed seeds of doubt in the minds of the characters for that purpose specifically. Coincidentally, Ooishi does the same thing, but I doubt it's intentional on his part.

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed that Takano turned out to be a bad guy, since that's basically the picture the game has been painting all along. I was hoping there was something more to it than that; that it might be meant as some play on misconceptions with the reader and that she'd turn out to just be an ordinary person. In a way, I feel like that would have been more interesting.

One thing that blows my mind is that Rika knows a ton of information about the Tokyo company, including their goal of weaponizing the Hinamizawa Syndrome, that Takano works for them and that she is in charge of a special task force specializing in kidnappings, assassinations, manipulating information and whatnot, and despite all this, Rika, over the course of 100+ years, doesn't think even once that "Gee, maybe I shouldn't trust Takano". I mean, she's basically strutting around right in front of Rika's eyes with a huge signboard saying "Guilty, hee hee!" while playing Billy Eilish's "I'm The Bad Guy" on a loudspeaker.
If I was Rika, I would have been highly suspicious of her right from the getgo and would have asked Hanyuu to spy on her in secret to make sure of her intentions.

Some random thoughts:
- The thing I'm most confused about right now is what Takano means by all the talk about realizing the curse of Oyashiro-sama, becoming a god, etc. She might just be batshit crazy, but that doesn't seem like a very interesting pretext.
- If Hanyuu is indeed a supernatural entity and it's true that she goes on living when Rika dies and also retains her memories, that should mean that she knows full well what actually happens to Rika in her final moments but she's choosing not to tell her for some reason. This doesn't seem to sync with her claim that she wants Rika to stay alive, since giving Rika information about her unfortunate demise should increase her chances of doing just that.
- We're told that Satoko is a terminal Hinamizawa Syndrome patient and that there's something she shouldn't remember. This seems to indicate that she's actually the one responsible for her parents death, pushing them off the viewing platform in a state of delusion and then forgetting all about it once she recovered her sanity. However, there's some info at the end of the chapter claiming that a terminal patient will never recover from their delirium, and that seems contradictory in this case.
- Big shocker that this trustworthy-looking guy turned out to be a not so nice person.

I hope Chapter 8 has some glorious retribution in store for Takano and the people who side with her. I'm not entirely sure that will happen, though. I've heard that in Umineko, there's supposedly a character that spoils Higurashi, and Takano seems to fit the bill better than anyone for that particular role. Then again, I don't even know when Umineko takes place. If it's before Higurashi and Takano's actually part of the Umineko story, she might still meet her demise in Higurashi. Time will tell.
As for the other characters, I hope they'll finally be able to find happiness at the end of this long and winding road.

As of right now, the 07th mod for Chapter 8 has yet to be released. The previous ones have been completed roughly a month after the release of the chapters themselves, and if that's the case this time as well, I'm still on schedule to read that chapter this coming weekend. Otherwise, I'll have to put off reading it until the mod is released.

About Umineko, were you in the discussion we had on 07th Mod's discord channel these days? There are in fact characters in Umineko that spoil some of Higurashi's twists, but as for the one that you mentioned, it's not the same character, but just a red herring [according to Ryukishi himself]. About when Umineko takes place:

 

Spoiler

It takes place in 1986, but the story is completely standalone and aside from some references to Higurashi and its worldbuilding, [and one character that is the same], there is no relation storywise to it.

 

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2 minutes ago, Silvz said:

About Umineko, were you in the discussion we had on 07th Mod's discord channel these days?

Nope! I've never checked out their channel.
 

5 minutes ago, Silvz said:

as for the one that you mentioned, it's not the same character, but just a red herring [according to Ryukishi himself]

I guess I'll find out more about what that entails in the near future then!
 

5 minutes ago, Silvz said:

About when Umineko takes place:

Unless it's something that's revealed early on, like how you learn more or less immediately when Higurashi takes place, I think I'd rather not know. Thus, I'm avoiding that particular spoiler box.

Anyway, if the mod for chapter 8 of Higurashi is released this weekend, like I hope, the plan is to get started on Umineko as soon as I finish that. Not sure if I'll end up writing impressions and theories for every part like I did with Higurashi, but it wouldn't surprise me if I get the urge to!

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1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

Anyway, if the mod for chapter 8 of Higurashi is released this weekend, like I hope, the plan is to get started on Umineko as soon as I finish that. Not sure if I'll end up writing impressions and theories for every part like I did with Higurashi, but it wouldn't surprise me if I get the urge to!

It won't. They've already said that it will be released in the end of the month, if not later.

" It's time for the news! Matsuribayashi has been coming along great, with @orian34 making great progress since he took over. From the script count, he should be around the middle already. There's a 100% chance we will miss the 30 days ETA (since the game was released in May 14th), but I believe that if we keep this pace, we should be talking about the release by the end of the month. No promises, though. Let's see what happens next week!"

The full statement.

As for the spoiler, there's nothing major in it. I only said the year the story takes place and if it's related to Higurashi or not :P

You can start Umineko before Chapter 8, as long as you only read the first episode in order to avoid all spoilers [as what can spoil the end of Higurashi is only shown in the beginning of episode 2].

But if you want to avoid this risk, you could start reading Ciconia, that as for now doesn't have any relation to the other games, besides character references.

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@Seraphim88 By the way, ideally I would recommend to read Saikoroshi-hen from Higurashi Rei right after finishing the main Higurashi series. I wouldn't really call it a requirement, but it gives the proper closure to the character development of

Spoiler

Rika.

The problem is that, even if it does have a fan translation available, there's a chance that Mangagamer will retranslate it. At least, originally they were planning to translate the whole PC release of Higurashi Hou, which includes Rei. I'm not sure if the plans are still valid though.

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18 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

Is it a quick read? After reading the other chapters with the 07th mods applied, I'm not sure I'd be able to endure Ryuukishi07's own artwork for more than a couple of hours. :ren:

To be honest, I don't really remember how long it was. I'm pretty sure it's shorter than the main story chapters though.

Edit. I don't think it was shorter than two hours, but I doubt it was much longer than that.

Edited by Dreamysyu
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