[PC] Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (When They Cry 3,4, & Ougon Musou Kyoku)

[Brucelee41126]

I was originally just go over OMK, but screw it, let me just do the whole damned thing.

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (Translates to "When the Seagulls Cry") is a visual novel (or rather "sound novel," as 07th Expansion put it, seeing as you don't really need to much else except pay attention to the story and read hints) series by 07th Expansion, written by Ryukishi07. The Umineko no Naku Koro Ni saga is 8 episodes long, and also has a PS3 remake called ~Majo to Suiri no Rondo~, as well as a fighter called Ougon Musou Kyoku.

Story

The story is mainly about an incident that took place on the island of Rokkenjima, through the days of October 4th - October 5th, 1986; involving the Ushiromiya family. The incident is that on the 4th, the annual Ushiromiya conference took place and was supposed to end that day. However, due to a typhoon coming through, everyone had to stay for one more day. Later, police were contacted that something was happening on Rokkenjima. On October 6th, 1986. Police found that all of participates of the incidents are dead.

Later, bottles started appearing ashore. Inside these bottles, were storie, describing the events that took place those two days. These were stories saying that it all happened for a witch to come back to live, because no one could answer the riddle of the island. They were stories of the Endless Witch: Beatrice, the Golden.

The story mainly follows the point of view of Ushiromiya Battler, a 18 year old boy who hasn't gone to the annual conferences in six years, and was living with his grandparents after his mother's death. It shows that he is quite the intelligent guy and likes a detective story and riddle, as well not believe in superstition or witches.

When the murders occured, he was one of the last left alive, and when police came, they never found his body, so he was assumed dead. However, Battler was pulled into another world, the Meta-world, facing the self-proclaimed Endless witch.

Because of his denial of her existence as a witch, Beatrice challenges Battler to a game. She will "reset the game board" to perform the twilights yet again. If Battler can prove that each of the crimes she did can be done by a human, he wins. If Beatrice can make Battler submit and admit that witches do indeed exist, she wins.

And now the game begins.....

[should be noted that the audio that's playing there is from the Drama CD, not part of the actual game.]

Basically, the novels basically about Battler's games against Beatrice to prove that witches aren't real, which later becomes more than just that. The story very complex and can be very confusing and clever at times. On the other hand the murders can be rather brutal and the battles can be pretty intense. It also gives you some space to think and come up with your own theories. Bravo, Ryukishi, bravo indeed.

Rating: 9/10

Characters

Jeez, I tried to list all the characters in this damned novel, I'd be here for quite some time.

Let's just go with this. There are over 20 characters involved in this story, and each have their personalities and traits, making each of them unique.

Though, technically, some of them are actually the same damn person.

But the two main characters in the beginning are:

Ushiromiya Battler - The 18-year-old Ushiromiya family member that has been chosen by Beatrice to face her for his denial of the existence of witches. When he was going to the family conference in 1986, he had been gone for six years mourning the death of his mother, Asumu Ushiromiya. He is normally a carefree kind of person with a good heart, though he can be a bit of a pervert at times. However, he is actually quite sharp and seems to know quite a bit about detective and mystery novels as well as chess. He will need to use all of his cunning and skill to face Beatrice

Fun fact

He has an phobia of falling off things and as a results starts screaming "Fall, I'm gonna falllll~!" when he gets scared from something that seems easily to get knocked off from.

Beatrice - The Golden Endless Witch and Sorceress of Rokkenjima that gave the Ushiromiya family head Kinzo gold that made his family so wealthy. She can use magic and can do anything between making others and herself out of golden butterflies to making two towers fire at you. She seems to be quite rude and restless, and seems to know quite a few people, both human or otherwise. She also sees Battler as the answer to her thousand year boredom problem.

Fun fact

She becomes rather childish when she loses

Graphics

Well, the ingame character portraits look pretty crummy, however the actual portraits that some characters get, as well as the character design is superb to me. Not that, but they sure don't hold back on effects. It's pretty creative

Rating: 8/10

Sound

The sound is pretty damn nice to say the least. Just listen to these tracks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_VTvrHDDd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IHiTRjMrYo

And theres a good amount of good songs left to hear in the game. The best part. They're all there in wav format, so you can listen to them whenever you wish.

Just be warned that if you play this game, this will probably be stuck in your head.

Annoying, isn't it?

Rating: 8/10

Gameplay

LOL, What gameplay?

But seriously, all you need to do is just shut up, watch, and pay attention.

The episodes are cut into three pieces: Main episode, the tea party, and ????. The main episode is basically where you get the see the actual game take place, while in the tea party you either A. get a recap of wtf just happened or B. EPIC PLOT TWIST!

???? is basically the sequel hook, so yeah. After that, you get to move onto the next episode[if you have it.]

You can save where you want and pause at anytime to read character profiles, tips, and translation notes. You can also simply unlocked chapters that are locked if you just so happen to already have read the previous ones. Also, once you finish reading the entire pack, the music box is unlocked, so you can listen to any of the songs you wish. Not to bad, but damnit, LEMME HAVE A CHOICE!

[though you get some in the final episode]

I should probably point this out, sense it's critical.

There are two types of truths often seen in the series.

Red Truth - The red truth is used by the witches side to lay down facts of the game or crimes. Though, the Red Text can be seen at different perspectives by the human side.

Example : Ryon enjoys touching other members slightly too much. He can in fact appear in a member's bathroom and wait there for them to come in to rape them

Blue Truth A truth used by the human side that is used to make theories that can prove that something can be done without magic.

Example: It is possible that Ryon lockpicked the window open, and then proceeded to slip in through it before closing it back.

Overall

All and all, a great story to read if you wanna kill time, and its a good novel to read if you wanna think in theories or just like a good mystery.

Grade:B+

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Ougon Musou Kyoku

Ougon Musou Kyoku (OMK) is a fighting doujin game spinoff from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni that doesn't really have anything to do with the main story. It uses a unique tag team system that has both fighters on the team use on life meter together as well as uses the Meta-world concept as a fighter mechanic.

Media

Battler LOVES boobs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=479LCEfemb

[Kirimaru]

Just thought since OMK Cross has been released and 2.20 patch has been released that I should post the new things, Lambda I think and Willard are now playable.

[Dark Spirit]

Lol.Battler has a boob fetish. What sane guy doesn't.

[raremew]

hm..never heard of this..