How long is Phase 1?

[Body Improvement Club]

Deciding whether I want to experience Phase 1 now, does anyone know how long it is?

[Mrpico]

Ciconia will have a total of four episodes according to Ryukishi07, even though Higurashi and Umineko had a total of 8 episodes, I don't think that necessarily means that Ciconia is going to be shorter in length, however, I haven't read Phase 1 yet. It is certainly possible that is quite long.

If you want more additional info you can check this article which goes in detail about length and pricing of Ciconia:

https://www.dualshockers.com/ryukishi-07th-reveals-ciconia-when-they-cry-four-episodes/

[Fereleth]

About the length of one of the longer Higurashi arcs, maybe give an extra hour over that at most.

[Corey]

Going off the rate Fereleth read it (as in the hours it took him/her to read it without knowing how fast he/she reads) than Ciconia will be significantly shorter than Umineko and Higurashi, roughly 48 hours long in total. However, if we make the assumption that in the DualShockers article that Ryukishi07 means that Ciconia itself is 4 episodes, it could be that he only means the first act. Past second acts of WTC games have other titles than the first part (Umineko act 2 was titled Chiru, and Higurashi act 2 was Kai), so there could still be 8 episodes happening, and in that case, the entire VN will still be shorter than Umineko and Higurashi but still be lengthy (roughly 96-100 hours).

[Corey]

There's another aspect of the article where Ryukishi mentions a japanese character count of roughly 400k characters, although it's unclear whether that's the length of the whole VN or one Phase. Going off this page, https://somnui.tumblr.com/post/7416284502/an-analysis-of-just-how-big-the-umineko-no-naku , then it's longer than Umineko episodes 7 and 8, but I could be wrong.

[Body Improvement Club]

I'll take the plunge. If it take 20 -30 hours to read phase 1, then its fine cause I didnt pay for Umineko when it came out then.

[λαβύρινθος]

Took me over 14 hours to read the main story and I'm a pretty fast reader. Then, there are "Data fragments" similar to the tips in higurashi that you unlock after the main story.

[(CallipygianMuse) HomieApathy]

Originally posted by The Sheriff:

Took me over 14 hours to read the main story and I'm a pretty fast reader. Then, there are "Data fragments" similar to the tips in higurashi that you unlock after the main story.

To finish the main story, im in the same boat. Also I consider myself a fast reader.

[SuperVolcano]

Certain fast readers have been able to finish everything in 10-12 hours.
The total word count is 194K, or 960K English characters (not including spaces).
Assuming I've not missed anything in determining this total, Ciconia Phase 1 is longer than any previous When They Cry novel.

[Corey]

Originally posted by SuperVolcano:

Certain fast readers have been able to finish everything in 10-12 hours.
The total word count is 194K, or 960K English characters (not including spaces).
Assuming I've not missed anything in determining this total, Ciconia Phase 1 is longer than any previous When They Cry novel.

What do you mean by novel?

[SuperVolcano]

Originally posted by Corey Gaming:

What do you mean by novel?

Any individual arc/episode - Onikakushi, Watanagashi, Tatarigoroshi, Himatsubushi, Meakashi, Tsumihoroboshi, Minagoroshi, Matsuribayashi, Legend, Turn, Banquet, Alliance, End, Dawn, Requiem or Twilight.

[Corey]

Originally posted by SuperVolcano:

Originally posted by Corey Gaming:

What do you mean by novel?

Any individual arc/episode - Onikakushi, Watanagashi, Tatarigoroshi, Himatsubushi, Meakashi, Tsumihoroboshi, Minagoroshi, Matsuribayashi, Legend, Turn, Banquet, Alliance, End, Dawn, Requiem or Twilight.

Yea according to this estimation, it is longer than all Umineko episodes, but it is an estimation: https://www.reddit.com/r/umineko/comments/ccvs6n/another_estimate_of_uminekos_word_count/

[AHA-Lambda]

How many chapters does this episode have?
I'm curious how far along I am, I just got to the "please don't stream anymore" message

[SuperVolcano]

Originally posted by AHA-Lambda:

How many chapters does this episode have?
I'm curious how far along I am, I just got to the "please don't stream anymore" message

That message is at the end of Chapter 7. The total number of chapters is 25

[AHA-Lambda]

Thanks :)

[rcbirdy]

Originally posted by The Sheriff:

Took me over 14 hours to read the main story and I'm a pretty fast reader. Then, there are "Data fragments" similar to the tips in higurashi that you unlock after the main story.

Thank you for mentioning when the Archive unlocks, I've been checking after every chapter worried that I was missing something.