Links:Umineko no Naku Koro ni (うみねこのなく頃に , lit. When Seagulls Cry) is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The first game in the series, Legend of the golden witch, was first released at Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007 playable on the PC; the game sold out in thirty minutes.The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall most of the people. The goal of the game is to discern whether the murderer is human or of some other supernatural source. Umineko is the third title in the "When They Cry" series, preceded by Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni on Wikipedia
Umineko no Naku Koro ni visual novel official website (7th expansion)
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Just today I finished the first chapter (or first arc) of Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Legend of the Golden Witch. Not exactly played, as what you would expect from a visual novel where the gameplay was very linear (and in this case, straightforward without any branch), and involved mere mouse clicks. And to be specific, I'm only playing the demo version, together with English translation patch.
All information on how to play the game can be obtained from the translator's group website, Witch Hunter translation:
http://witch-hunt.com/
The demo itself cover the whole chapter 1 of the series, which should be enough to give players on what to expect on future chapters/arcs, should they decide to purchase the rest of the series (currently up to chapter 4 is available). And that's what I'm planning on doing, in the near future. Oh, the thriller. Nothing less to expect from the creator of Higurashi, eh :3
These are what I can comment based on the demo I played.
Visual: definitely not the best aspect of Umineko, as most of the characters art were not as appealing as one would expect. Considering the game was released in 2007, I thought they could improve the character designs a bit, but then visual wasn't really the main point of Umineko. The feeling of the game was still successfully channeled to the reader via the story (of course) and music/sound effects.
Music: One of the better elements that made me continued playing this, despite the boredness of just clicking and reading through the texts (wall of text isn't my specialty after all). Clever use of music to fit the mood of joy, horror and suspense throughout the game. Although I think there were some musics that me, the demo player couldn't experience because they are only available in the full version.
Story: The strength of most visual novel, if not all. And this is what driven me to buy the original copy of the game (that is if the torrent isn't available lol). It all happened in the space of 2 days, a series of gruesome murders occurred in the island of Rokkenjima, the gathering place of Ushiromiya family. And this is driven by puzzle created by the head family, Ushiromiya Kinzo that hold the key to the so-called treasures granted by the Golden Witch, Beatrice.
The thrill and horror did send the chill down my spine especially since most of the time I played the game past midnight. Island isolated due to typhoon with communication totally cut. Horrible way of death. Blood all over the place. Mass killing with face totally crushed that they can't even be recognised. Icepick (Seven Stakes of Purgatory) struck into the forehead, to the chest, to the stomach, to the knee and to the leg. Incinerated to the point that the victim can't even be recognised. Each victims were brutally killed in a way that no human could ever imagined.
And in response to the murders, there's the searching for the cause and mystery that clouds the truth. Throughout the game, various theory were devised especially by the main character Ushiromiya Battler, a young man who stubbornly refuse to accept the existence of magic and witch till the very end. He tried to explain the mystery behind each death, the closed room (like we usually see in many detective novels) and the possibility of the existence of the extra person which could be the real culprit. And with that, he kept on repeating the idea of turning the chessboard to look at the motive in the culprit's point of view.
Although, in the end it's all come to nothing as the cases are far from the stretch of human imagination could reach. Simply because it's hard to deny that the murders was done by magic/witch, as many things can't really be explained by logic. Eg: Natsuhi's room and the presence of Maria's talisman at the other side of the knob.
Gameplay: Simple click all the way till the end, so what we really need is the will to read through all the text, although having nice music /special effects accompanied each scenes sorta make up for the lack of gameplay. Opening the menu (right click) allow us to save/load game, as well as Tips menu which contain the hierarchy of Ushiromiya family along with their brief description. The description (and visual) change whenever something happened to the character...that is when they're dead.
All information on how to play the game can be obtained from the translator's group website, Witch Hunter translation:
http://witch-hunt.com/
The demo itself cover the whole chapter 1 of the series, which should be enough to give players on what to expect on future chapters/arcs, should they decide to purchase the rest of the series (currently up to chapter 4 is available). And that's what I'm planning on doing, in the near future. Oh, the thriller. Nothing less to expect from the creator of Higurashi, eh :3
These are what I can comment based on the demo I played.
Visual: definitely not the best aspect of Umineko, as most of the characters art were not as appealing as one would expect. Considering the game was released in 2007, I thought they could improve the character designs a bit, but then visual wasn't really the main point of Umineko. The feeling of the game was still successfully channeled to the reader via the story (of course) and music/sound effects.
Music: One of the better elements that made me continued playing this, despite the boredness of just clicking and reading through the texts (wall of text isn't my specialty after all). Clever use of music to fit the mood of joy, horror and suspense throughout the game. Although I think there were some musics that me, the demo player couldn't experience because they are only available in the full version.
Story: The strength of most visual novel, if not all. And this is what driven me to buy the original copy of the game (that is if the torrent isn't available lol). It all happened in the space of 2 days, a series of gruesome murders occurred in the island of Rokkenjima, the gathering place of Ushiromiya family. And this is driven by puzzle created by the head family, Ushiromiya Kinzo that hold the key to the so-called treasures granted by the Golden Witch, Beatrice.
The thrill and horror did send the chill down my spine especially since most of the time I played the game past midnight. Island isolated due to typhoon with communication totally cut. Horrible way of death. Blood all over the place. Mass killing with face totally crushed that they can't even be recognised. Icepick (Seven Stakes of Purgatory) struck into the forehead, to the chest, to the stomach, to the knee and to the leg. Incinerated to the point that the victim can't even be recognised. Each victims were brutally killed in a way that no human could ever imagined.
And in response to the murders, there's the searching for the cause and mystery that clouds the truth. Throughout the game, various theory were devised especially by the main character Ushiromiya Battler, a young man who stubbornly refuse to accept the existence of magic and witch till the very end. He tried to explain the mystery behind each death, the closed room (like we usually see in many detective novels) and the possibility of the existence of the extra person which could be the real culprit. And with that, he kept on repeating the idea of turning the chessboard to look at the motive in the culprit's point of view.
Although, in the end it's all come to nothing as the cases are far from the stretch of human imagination could reach. Simply because it's hard to deny that the murders was done by magic/witch, as many things can't really be explained by logic. Eg: Natsuhi's room and the presence of Maria's talisman at the other side of the knob.
Gameplay: Simple click all the way till the end, so what we really need is the will to read through all the text, although having nice music /special effects accompanied each scenes sorta make up for the lack of gameplay. Opening the menu (right click) allow us to save/load game, as well as Tips menu which contain the hierarchy of Ushiromiya family along with their brief description. The description (and visual) change whenever something happened to the character...that is when they're dead.
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