takano
Bio
I spent many years of my life trying to convince myself I like gaming, but in the end I guess I just like glorified reading. AKA mostly VN's get logged here. The occasional JRPG or rhythm game or whatever might pop up.
I spent many years of my life trying to convince myself I like gaming, but in the end I guess I just like glorified reading. AKA mostly VN's get logged here. The occasional JRPG or rhythm game or whatever might pop up.
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This review contains spoilers
[not finished with game]
Hinamizawa Bus Stop
Very interesting to finally see the prototype that inspired what became one of the most iconic VN's of all time. It certainly wasn't stellar, I think the shorter nature of a stageplay didn't allow for the twists to hit right, and I'm sure that's probably a reason that Ryuukishi's entry of this to whatever theater company was rejected. But a lot of the key points were retained in Higurashi which I find really enlightening into exactly how Ryuukishi writes and what he goes about prioritizing when he's planning something. Definitely a worthwhile read if you're at all interested in that aspect.
Also it was pleasantly gay.
[2.5/5]
Outbreak
This adaptation of the anime-original arc glossed over a lot of the details of said anime, which was a bit disappointing to me. As a Higurashi's-political-subplot enjoyer, this scenario and its extremely serious implications on both Hinamizawa and Higurashi's world at large is fascinating to me, so I would have liked a bit more fleshing out of the scenario in general, not massive cuts. We'll see how the next arc which is a sequel plays out, though I think I've heard not to expect much.
[3/5]
Hinamizawa Bus Stop
Very interesting to finally see the prototype that inspired what became one of the most iconic VN's of all time. It certainly wasn't stellar, I think the shorter nature of a stageplay didn't allow for the twists to hit right, and I'm sure that's probably a reason that Ryuukishi's entry of this to whatever theater company was rejected. But a lot of the key points were retained in Higurashi which I find really enlightening into exactly how Ryuukishi writes and what he goes about prioritizing when he's planning something. Definitely a worthwhile read if you're at all interested in that aspect.
Also it was pleasantly gay.
[2.5/5]
Outbreak
This adaptation of the anime-original arc glossed over a lot of the details of said anime, which was a bit disappointing to me. As a Higurashi's-political-subplot enjoyer, this scenario and its extremely serious implications on both Hinamizawa and Higurashi's world at large is fascinating to me, so I would have liked a bit more fleshing out of the scenario in general, not massive cuts. We'll see how the next arc which is a sequel plays out, though I think I've heard not to expect much.
[3/5]
This review contains spoilers
2021
Good introduction to the series, but like Higurashi's Onikakushi, I'm sure it will pale in comparison to other arcs.
2023
Still a really fantastic opening to the series. Revisiting it knowing everything and with a keener eye for how the characters are was a really fun experience, and it's quite funny/interesting seeing exactly how much is revealed blatantly but passed off as just some silly side comment.
Revisiting scenes with my favorite characters in particular was so much fun, I can't wait to do way more of it in the other Question arc rereads. And even revisiting scenes with characters I didn't or still don't like was kind of eye opening in a way.
I hope to keep trying to understand the story even deeper as I keep going (and maybe not take 9 months per reread).
Good introduction to the series, but like Higurashi's Onikakushi, I'm sure it will pale in comparison to other arcs.
2023
Still a really fantastic opening to the series. Revisiting it knowing everything and with a keener eye for how the characters are was a really fun experience, and it's quite funny/interesting seeing exactly how much is revealed blatantly but passed off as just some silly side comment.
Revisiting scenes with my favorite characters in particular was so much fun, I can't wait to do way more of it in the other Question arc rereads. And even revisiting scenes with characters I didn't or still don't like was kind of eye opening in a way.
I hope to keep trying to understand the story even deeper as I keep going (and maybe not take 9 months per reread).
A game I had been meaning to get to for a while due to many people's rave reviews of it. I wouldn't say I found it lacking per say, I had a good or decent time with it, but I'm definitely not as fanatic with it as many other people seem to be.
The main thing that held it back were the routes. I played blindly and my route order went Iris > Ota > Mizuki. It seems that many people recommend Mizuki route first and I completely understand why. The other two routes just don't hold water at all to the suspense that hers has. Iris's route did not feel like a good one to start on, and Ota is just.... I question why he even exists as a character, because everyone else had some major relevancy to the plot while he's mostly a simp for Iris and not much more. I wouldn't go so far as to say his route was a waste of time but I certainly don't understand why he was written in as a main character. There are several characters, even minor ones, who I could see being a little more pivotal to deserve their own route.
Furthermore, the routes end up converging into a weird.... I wouldn't say plot twist per say, but just a strange detail that isn't really explained all too well. I've been told it somehow relates to Uchikoshi's Zero Escape series, or is tangentially similar to it, but I haven't played those games so I can't really say one way or another what he was trying to get at.
As far as gameplay goes, it was okay? I wasn't too much of a fan of the Somnium stages, usually dreading whenever one was about to start. I definitely had fun with most of them though once they actually started, but some of them felt a little too arbitrary with their solutions, and some of the map designs were just a slog to deal with.
Voice acting was pretty good in both English and Japanese, I switched back and forth as my whims dictated and was content with each. Though I forgot how bad English dub pronunciations are for Japanese names... Atrocious, I cringed every time I had to hear me-zoo-key.
Despite this review being largely complaints I did have a decent time with this. Maybe not particularly memorable, I can't see this sticking with me for more than a few months from now, but fine for the experience it was. None of my over 30 hours with it felt like too much of a slog except for when I was making myself check every bit of flavor text (I think I cut that out after Iris route). I really like what they did with the flavor text in this game, it was just too much to be constantly rechecking.
I'm not really sure if I'm going to check out the sequel. I don't feel compelled enough by this game to drop the money on it. If my friend who bought me this one gets to it and recommends it, maybe I will. Otherwise probably not.
The main thing that held it back were the routes. I played blindly and my route order went Iris > Ota > Mizuki. It seems that many people recommend Mizuki route first and I completely understand why. The other two routes just don't hold water at all to the suspense that hers has. Iris's route did not feel like a good one to start on, and Ota is just.... I question why he even exists as a character, because everyone else had some major relevancy to the plot while he's mostly a simp for Iris and not much more. I wouldn't go so far as to say his route was a waste of time but I certainly don't understand why he was written in as a main character. There are several characters, even minor ones, who I could see being a little more pivotal to deserve their own route.
Furthermore, the routes end up converging into a weird.... I wouldn't say plot twist per say, but just a strange detail that isn't really explained all too well. I've been told it somehow relates to Uchikoshi's Zero Escape series, or is tangentially similar to it, but I haven't played those games so I can't really say one way or another what he was trying to get at.
As far as gameplay goes, it was okay? I wasn't too much of a fan of the Somnium stages, usually dreading whenever one was about to start. I definitely had fun with most of them though once they actually started, but some of them felt a little too arbitrary with their solutions, and some of the map designs were just a slog to deal with.
Voice acting was pretty good in both English and Japanese, I switched back and forth as my whims dictated and was content with each. Though I forgot how bad English dub pronunciations are for Japanese names... Atrocious, I cringed every time I had to hear me-zoo-key.
Despite this review being largely complaints I did have a decent time with this. Maybe not particularly memorable, I can't see this sticking with me for more than a few months from now, but fine for the experience it was. None of my over 30 hours with it felt like too much of a slog except for when I was making myself check every bit of flavor text (I think I cut that out after Iris route). I really like what they did with the flavor text in this game, it was just too much to be constantly rechecking.
I'm not really sure if I'm going to check out the sequel. I don't feel compelled enough by this game to drop the money on it. If my friend who bought me this one gets to it and recommends it, maybe I will. Otherwise probably not.