Like, Umineko is the only mystery I have read that I would say actively punishes you for trying to engage with it fairly as a puzzle and thats the main thing I noticed watching my friend play through it blind. And it would not be so funny if the game did not glaze its own writing so hard.

As soon as you realize what the main trick is, it becomes clear how every single murder in the story is solved by this one trick and its a trick that only makes sense if you disregard everyone's characterization until this point and the core mechanics of the puzzle.

Also on the topic of Ryukishi writing the ultimate murder mystery that shit is hilarious because the more you research the genre the more you realize that Umineko is genuinely awful in terms of mystery novel game design. Like the optimal way to solve Umineko is to not engage with it at all.

You will not believe this.

(This was like the perfect excuse to shill who I still argue is my favorite author of all time lmao. Highly recommend his work if you're looking for something that scratches the same itch as Ryukishi's writing but in a way more self-critical way. He's not for everyone but I always recommend him).

Bottom line is that like, I have played a lot of his stuff (playing Higanbana with another friend but they're always busy so lmao) and in none of the stories of his I read I feel that he's intentionally trying to pull a rug under the audience with the final thesis. He is no Satou Yuuya.

Like, when I got to the ending of Gerokasu (earlier this year also) and I saw so many of the same self-hating nihilistic remarks within Sayo used be presented as the completely separate story's natural conclusion, it kind of solidifed how I felt in how this is the way Ryukishi has always written.

So like, I think specially given my own experience (and frankly I think thats kind of an useless thing to weigh debates on since its, by its very nature, something that no one else will fully understand), the way Sayo is written just brings the same kind of disgust as his other works.

Like, CH5 in Higurashi works for me because it is this deeply sad look into a girl who never got help and at her last moments realized the other ways things could have played out. Umineko is like if they kept jumping in to say "you are right Shion it was perfectly valid to brutalize a 12 year old".

But like, the thing is that Sayo's story is not presented as an individual perspective. There are multiple other major characters in Umineko whom we are signified as being generally reliable moral grounds for the moralistic story the game tries to present. And all of them seem to agree with Sayo.

The tragedy of her character comes from how multiple times she is given an out for her troubles, but past experiences lead her to disregard any and every solution that doesn't align with her fantastical ideals of what romance and mystery are. Thats the "certainty" that she traps herself with.

Like, the thing with Sayo (specially as a trans woman who went through a lot of similar experiences as whats shown there) is that Episode 7 is very much presented as her story from her perspective and as such its expected that a lot of it would be distorted. Sayo is a pessimist, thats her deal.

Yeah Ciconia is currently my one blind spot hence why I plan on playing it alongside my friend next year. Umineko I would argue has a case where a lot of stuff is plausible deniability on the characters being flawed by itself but as a whole it becomes clear the narrative 100% agrees with them.

Like, man I'm playing Silent Hill F because I'm hoping people are right on this game but with every Ryukishi work I read it seems people take his "women are either backstabbing whores whom we cannot comprehend or beautiful damsels who aid the male main character" attitude as progressive and like.

Like I do genuinely think a lot of new fans starting with Umineko is what makes people be way more charitable on it compared to his other stuff because with some characters its more subtle but then you get to Kyrie in EP7 and the misoginy becomes not even underlying its just the text.

Watched my friend replay all of Umineko this year and like I don't think people are ready to start talking on how everything that Ryukishi says in Gerokasu (and pretty much every work before and after this that I read) is also something he says in that game but through way less direct means.

do i have a book for you

Ima 100% uncovered some kind of state corruption scandal relating to tax fraud by the TRC government or something while working as a child prostitute and doing the math and just never felt like doing anything about it because it was too much work.