How does this compare to Higurashi or Umineko? [minor spoilers]

[tricosahedron]

Just in case there will be a sequel at some point in the future ... is this more similar to Higurashi, or Umineko so far?

I gotta say I'm a big fan of the Higurashi VNs. I liked the focus on friendship, mixed with the uneasiness that you potentially couldn't trust anyone in a rural area, where the locals are worshippers of a cult with a dark history. The club games were a fun way to occasionally distract from the dark plot for a while, and gave hope that the young protagonists could somehow solve the situation, since the club games showed that the protagonists were capable of adapting to difficult situations, and not to be messed with.
The plot felt relevant, and character choices mattered.

Regarding Umineko, I kind of liked the setting and the style, and it had great music. But I found it more stressful than enjoyable to read such a long VN with a lot of trolling, where the immediate plot felt absurd and irrelevant, just to indirectly tell a story that was quite short. I was also quite disappointed that the English translation didn't give a hint somehow, that a puzzle near the end could only be solved with the knowledge of a kanji double-meaning.
(Or maybe there was a hint? If so, then I missed it.)
I read it until the end, since I greatly enjoyed Higurashi, and was hoping for a (to me) satisfying resolution. But in the end, I felt like it would have been better not to put up with it.
It still felt like a high quality work, and it's likely that I didn't understand some important plot points, so I can understand it if there are people who adore Umineko.

So, how does Phase 1 feel compared to Higurashi / Umineko to you?

[SeeMoore]

It’s very focused on it’s crazy setting, with so many weird and interesting mysteries about what’s going on and the true nature of how the world works. Definitely the most complicated Ryukishi plot yet. It also has a small friend group like in Higurashi that is pretty fun but unfortunately kind of loses focus on them due to having many other characters to also give screentime. There are a couple scenes that make it seem like it may end up having a vaguely Umineko-style ending, but it’s hard to say.

[tricosahedron]

Thanks! Well, I guess there's no way to tell how Ryukishi07 intends to have the story unfold, at this point. ^^

[brendancasey1987]

It's not particularly reminiscent of either overall, but Ciconia is closer to Higurashi in the sense that it seems to be attempting to tell a conventional and straightforward story, whereas Umineko was more of a Mawaru Penguindrum 'Everything is symbolic and obfuscated and you can't take anything at face value' type.

In terms of scope, Ciconia is a far cry from both; Umineko has more in common with Higurashi than it does Ciconia. Umineko has a larger primary cast than Higurashi, but at its core is meant to tell a small, intimate story just like Higurashi does. Higurashi takes place entirely in a small rustic town, Umineko is confined to just a mansion.

Ciconia on the other hand is more of an ensemble piece (there is a main character, but he isn't the dominant POV character to nearly the same extent that Battler is - Battler is in the driver's seat at almost all times, whereas Ciconia's main character feels more like 'first amongst equals'). It also takes place in various locations across the world and never stays in any one place for very long. So Umineko is similar to Ciconia in sheer character count, but the scope of the story still leans Higurashi - more intimate and with more of a small home base (Hinamizawa/Rokkenjima mansion), whereas Ciconia is so globetrot-y that there isn't really a central location at all.

[tricosahedron]

Thanks a lot! :)
I think I should give it a try if Ryukishi07 decides to continue this series. :)

[☠Black Knight]

Originally posted by tricosahedron:

Thanks a lot! :)
I think I should give it a try if Ryukishi07 decides to continue this series. :)

Yeah. Some small part of me is hoping that maybe now that he is done writing for Silent Hill F, maybe he will actually have time to go back and revisit this series. It's not much of a hope, but it's something.

Coming from a fellow writer myself, I suspect he got cold feet or a really bad case of writer's block, and maybe didn't know how to continue the story. And once you are ripped out of the headspace / focus zone you were originally using to write something... it can be really, really hard to find that same exact spark of inspiration again.

[brendancasey1987]

Originally posted by ☠Black Knight:

Originally posted by tricosahedron:

Thanks a lot! :)
I think I should give it a try if Ryukishi07 decides to continue this series. :)

Yeah. Some small part of me is hoping that maybe now that he is done writing for Silent Hill F, maybe he will actually have time to go back and revisit this series. It's not much of a hope, but it's something.

Coming from a fellow writer myself, I suspect he got cold feet or a really bad case of writer's block, and maybe didn't know how to continue the story. And once you are ripped out of the headspace / focus zone you were originally using to write something... it can be really, really hard to find that same exact spark of inspiration again.

Yeah... *something* weird is definitely going on. The amount of time that Ciconia has been on hiatus is close to the same length of time that Ryukishi wrote and released all 16 volumes (plus Rei) of Higurashi and Umineko (August 2002 -> December 2010). He did say two or three years ago that releasing Ciconia is his main life goal and that he continues working on it and writing new scenes here and there, but the progressively flimsier excuses (Pandemic in 2020 kind of makes sense since that was a rare type of incident, but the Russia-Ukraine War? When is there not a war going on?) and extremely long hiatus is odd. Hopefully he fills us in sometime because the past six and a half years have been almost complete silence.

[八丈 ロ川モ巳凡 HIDALGO]

Originally posted by brendancasey1987:

Originally posted by ☠Black Knight:

Yeah. Some small part of me is hoping that maybe now that he is done writing for Silent Hill F, maybe he will actually have time to go back and revisit this series. It's not much of a hope, but it's something.

Coming from a fellow writer myself, I suspect he got cold feet or a really bad case of writer's block, and maybe didn't know how to continue the story. And once you are ripped out of the headspace / focus zone you were originally using to write something... it can be really, really hard to find that same exact spark of inspiration again.

Yeah... *something* weird is definitely going on. The amount of time that Ciconia has been on hiatus is close to the same length of time that Ryukishi wrote and released all 16 volumes (plus Rei) of Higurashi and Umineko (August 2002 -> December 2010). He did say two or three years ago that releasing Ciconia is his main life goal and that he continues working on it and writing new scenes here and there, but the progressively flimsier excuses (Pandemic in 2020 kind of makes sense since that was a rare type of incident, but the Russia-Ukraine War? When is there not a war going on?) and extremely long hiatus is odd. Hopefully he fills us in sometime because the past six and a half years have been almost complete silence.

Something about George R. R. Martin laughing his ass to Hackysi07 for still no accepting the grim dark true after all this years (?).