If Rayman Raving Rabbids has a million fans, I am one of them
If Rayman Raving Rabbids has 5 fans, I am one of them
If Rayman Raving Rabbids has 1 fans, that one is me
If Rayman Raving Rabbids has no fans, I'm no longer alive
If the world is against Rayman Raving Rabbids I'm against the whole world
Till my last breath, I'll support Rayman Raving Rabbids

I was rooting for this and really wanted to love it, but I generally wouldn't recommend it. Not a DNF but a barely finished.

I so wanted to find something great to enjoy here. But the shooting is pretty dull, the traversal mechanics aren't consistently interesting, and most of the jokes don't land. The potential here is pretty huge: voiceover from a laundry list of funny comedians , Tobacco's score, and Roiland's unique absurdity. Sadly, this is another illustration of the difficulty of making comedy games.

It does have one of the best achievement jokes I've seen, but you'd have to get about 90% of the way through the game to see it.

This is the Question Arcs, right? Anyways, this score is an average of my scores for each episode:
Episode 1: 3/10
Episode 2: 7/10
Episode 3: 7.5/10
Episode 4: 6.5/10

3+7+7.5+6.5 = 24
24/40 = 6/10

I wish I had uncomplicated emotions towards Umineko. If I hated it I could drop it and if I loved it (as most seem to) I would have zero reservations about reading more. At points I have found these games both incredible and chairgripping, and at other points banal and difficult to sit through. I'll still probably read the answer arcs not too long from now though, given that (aside from the first half of episode 4) each episode has progressively gotten better.

I'm convinced people are swayed by solid finales (which most of these have), and forget the amount of filler and repetition and fanservice that's in pretty much all of these. But me, I don't forget. I can't! It's a curse!

Episode 1 is easily the worst one so far. Yeah, I know it's set up to be subverted/expanded upon/whatever, but I think that's almost like saying "they made this one boring on purpose so the other ones seem better in comparison". Which, they do, but it is a really weird and probably unintentional decision. Battler's internal monologue sucks in this one, and there's a TON of repetition. Just tough through it, it gets better.

Episode 2 is kind of where this game actually starts. By this point a lot of the really bland archetypes from Episode 1 have been replaced with actual character depth, which lets you actually think about the characters. Mysteries are cool too and you start to really see a lot of the battle of wits stuff, which is great.

Episode 3 isn't nearly as large of a jump in quality but it's still slightly better than 2. Less filler, relationships are more tightly woven, etc etc. Basically what I have to say about Ep2 except just slightly better.

Episode 4 is weird. The back half is really fucking good but the first half is kind of shockingly bad. Does anyone actually enjoy the SoL sections? There's like 6 hours of them in this. And they're not good. Whatever though since the back half is probably the best stretch of this VN yet.

Hope episodes 5-8 don't stumble as much as these did--when these were good they were darn good but it's not as consistently good as something like echo or 428 shibuya scramble (these are just going to be my VN comparisons forever i guess). anyways Onto Answer Arcs In A Couple Days I Guess

An earnest attempt at simulating early-00s internet communities that nails the presentation but stumbles in developing a world outside the fraught interpersonal drama of its four-piece cast. The first half is a goofy high-school comedy that excels at small moments in online relationships (doing a virtual new years toast is an early highlight), and only occasionally gets bogged down by overwritten fantasy fics. There is little sense of an internet beyond your AIM window and the blogs of your friends, but the limited focus works when your character's only concern is roleplaying and understanding new acronyms.

The second half, however, goes hard into relationship drama, LGBTQ+ identities, and eating disorders, little of which is handled well and some is actively distasteful. There's clearly a desire to wrestle with the contradictions and confusions so many isolated and/or marginalized teens feel, but neither the systems nor narrative offer the space to actually speak to those experiences in meaningful ways.

As time accelerates in the second half and there are fewer and fewer interactions with individual characters, the game lurches towards a "good" ending that actively undoes the game's emotional arc. I really enjoy Terranova's conceit, but watching it bulldoze its characters for the sake of a more dramatic and "meaningful" end left a gross taste in my mouth.

Mechanically frustrating and the plot spins around at the end but it’s so damn charming for most of it.

Edit: Revisiting my thoughts years later: I'm spoiled by a skip feature in vns. I get anxious waiting around when I have other things to finish. I have so much stuff to do! I need to skim sometimes.

But the character work is just incredible. You have your sharp rookie detective, who fits out a general charming archetype. You have your overeager young punk who gets in way over his head. You have the cynical, deeply broken scientist struggling between his morals, his love for his family, and his own detached nature. You have perky amnesia girl getting through her day job.

But the true highlight is Minoru Minorikawa, the arrogant journalist. Minoru buys into his own hype. He's the greatest writer the world has known. He doesn't waste his time on pointless stories. But, he'll also write anything on anyone and anywhere. That's where the nuance appears. Minoru will write about every topic. He doesn't waste his time on pointless stories. Thus, every person he interviews or topic he covers is something he considers the most important subject ever crafted. Minoru believes in himself so much, he believes in everyone. He's the most interesting man ever conceived. Utter delight of a bastard man and the 25 hour runtime is worth it just for him.

an unforgiving masterpiece of making you lose time. you can't speed-up text in a decent way? who's the evil mastermind who design the 100% run requisites?

that's about it. best visual novel ever made

Tama is cute.

Honestly amazing, although incredibly lewd at times. A story about finding romance in the crux of familial decay, a tragically normal tale for trans people. I absolutely love how insecure the naturalism is here. To illustrate, I will quote the best examples:

"Hey", I say as I wave back. I doubt she hears me, since I forgot to raised my voice, even though there's a good distance between us."

"It would have haunted me forever if I hadn't seen her all night."

""Can I sit here? Do people ask if they can sit somewhere? I usually just sit." "

I recently had a girl stay over for only 36 hours at my families house and I was so insecure, when you're around people for the 1st time you feel an urge to put on the best face but it generally falls apart super quickly. It felt mundane but also terrifying, the precarity of it all. Of being seen for the bodysituation you exist in.

Romance is in saying somebodies name back to them simply, I was anti-romance for a long time but I understand now that its as simple as that.

This is a visual novel but also an aesthetic treat for anybody that can deal with an erotic transgirl relationship. We've almost all met online, because there's only roughly 7% of us on earth, and most of us are in hiding. As such, Love meets beyond the flesh.