Post by shuwaty on Aug 17, 2012 16:50:06 GMT
"Higurashi is a murder mystery game described as a "sound novel" by 07th Expansion. A sound novel is similar to a visual novel in that the gameplay requires relatively little player interaction as most of the game is composed of text dialogues. The original release contained no voice acting for the characters. While a visual novel's basis would be the visual aspect, as the name suggests, a sound novel's basis takes more care in producing an atmosphere via the music, sound effects, and the story itself.
The game utilizes intermissions where the player can obtain several Tips. These Tips allow the player to read various supplementary information that may or may not be useful in solving the mystery. For example, one of the Tips can be as simple as "this is a small village; children who go to this school are combined into one classroom regardless of what grade or year they are in." On the other hand, they can provide valuable hints, such as being able to read the excerpts of the newspaper articles regarding the murders that occurred in Hinamizawa. At the beginning of each of the story arcs, a cryptic poem by someone known as Frederica Bernkastel is read; these reveal some of what is going to happen in the following arc."
I'm sure a lot of people know more about the animation or the comic version of Higurashi than the original source, the game, but I found that when it comes to 07th-expansion games, and Ryuukishi is involved, that the original source is always better and has much more depth.
I found that the twists and mindfucks that happen on it are simply delighting. Being Ryuukishi, you can guess who the true villain is after the first 4 arcs, Question, are finished but I must say I never expected it to be who it was and the Answer arc was even more astounding than the first 4. I loved guessing and seeing all the mischief, paranoia, crazyness, death, suspicion going around and getting worse and worse. It was certainly a thrilling ride and I became a huge fan of Ryuuk.
Has anyone played this game yet? The story is bounds different from it's counterparts, so if you liked the other sources...you'll like even more the game~!