Not impressed by the "Prologue" - Ch.1 Onikakushi

[Character01]

I could criticize the story itself but the translation, at the very least, leads me to believe that this narrative was extremely poorly written, though mostly at about the halfway mark and onward. Why?

Keiichi's inner monologue. He sounds like a mixture between the "tell, don't show" trope of something like Speed Racer and a broken record. I'll give a generic example. This is not sourced from the game:

"I don't think this was spontaneous. It had to be planned! Basically, for it be spontaneous it would have had to be thoughtless and they would have been sloppy! But they weren't sloppy. They were very precise! Their preciseness is why I am sure of it. They planned this. I just cannot believe that they would have done this as a plan. Good. I will tell someone else that they planned this. They'll have to listen to me and surely, they'll believe that because of how precise they were, it was planned!"

Now, I get it...maybe this writing style has something to do with the stress that Keiichi is under. Maybe. But it is not fun to read. In fact I'd be willing to say it may pad out this chapter by 2 - 3 hours minimum.

That above is the biggest bad impression I get. The characters themselves are interesting enough. The relationships feel interesting.

The plot is not a great hook as far as asking me to read for another 30 - 40 hours though. I'd heard how strong the horror was, especially, and I couldn't disagree more. There is a creepiness to it, which anything covering subject matter like this one naturally has, but the poor writing and lack of subtlety, matched with the fact that nothing surprising ever actually happens has completely lost me.

If you guess what the outcome will be several hours before it happens and nothing at all surprising occurs, I call that a loss. Being that this VN doesn't actually leverage any of the visual part, it can't or doesn't throw any spooky imagery up on screen, doesn't play with sound at all beyond an overused pig squeal....I'm just. I thought for sure that something this highly praised must be better than this.

[fllthdcrb]

Originally posted by Character01:

"I don't think this was spontaneous. It had to be planned! Basically, for it be spontaneous it would have had to be thoughtless and they would have been sloppy! But they weren't sloppy. They were very precise! Their preciseness is why I am sure of it. They planned this. I just cannot believe that they would have done this as a plan. Good. I will tell someone else that they planned this. They'll have to listen to me and surely, they'll believe that because of how precise they were, it was planned!"

Now, I get it...maybe this writing style has something to do with the stress that Keiichi is under. Maybe. But it is not fun to read. In fact I'd be willing to say it may pad out this chapter by 2 - 3 hours minimum.

I'm pretty sure it's meant to convey Keiichi's stream of consciousness, which wouldn't be neatly "written". It is rather repetitive, though. Personally, I didn't find it too bad, but I understand how some people don't like it.

I'd heard how strong the horror was, especially, and I couldn't disagree more. There is a creepiness to it, which anything covering subject matter like this one naturally has, but the poor writing and lack of subtlety, matched with the fact that nothing surprising ever actually happens has completely lost me.

IMO, anyone who classifies this primarily as horror misunderstands. It does have psychological horror elements, as well as some stronger scenes (not so much in this arc, though), including a bit of gore. But it's really much more in the genre of mystery, as well as some other things that become apparent later on. You're supposed to try to figure out what is really going on. And there really is a lot more going on than you're likely to figure out at this stage.

If you guess what the outcome will be several hours before it happens and nothing at all surprising occurs, I call that a loss.

Out of interest, could you describe what, specifically, you predicted?

Being that this VN doesn't actually leverage any of the visual part, it can't or doesn't throw any spooky imagery up on screen

It's technically what they call a "sound novel", which relies more on text, as well as atmospheric sound. It's more like a conventional print novel with a few enhancements than regular visual novels. (You could say it suited Ryukishi07's talents, which are more in writing than in visuals. His character art was a bit on the crude side and has been replaced more than once with professional work. If you press "P" in this version, you can switch between the Steam versions of sprites and the originals, for comparison.)

I thought for sure that something this highly praised must be better than this.

Well, I'm sorry to hear it doesn't work for you. Maybe it's a case of your expectations being entirely different from what it's meant to achieve. Or maybe it's just not something you would have enjoyed no matter what. I dunno. IMO, the praise for Higurashi is well deserved, in spite of the flaws.

[☠Black Knight]

Well, in regards to how people say it's some kind of ultra bloody horror, that's more of the anime's fault (both anime) than the visual novel. Higurashi has never just been pure horror. It has horror elements, but at its core its a murder mystery.

I will agree the first chapter is the most predictable at first, mostly due to the cold opening that gives you a decent idea of where it's going to end... but all I can say is it might be less predictable than you think... as in, what you think happened might not have actually been the case but I cannot say more without spoiling. Just remember you shouldn't take things at face value, the game does a very good job of misleading the audience, and even the narration cannot be fully trusted.

As far as the sound effects go... not sure what your talking about there. For one, I don't recall a pig squeal being used at all. And there should be multiple sound effects. Cicada's, wind, etc... unless something is wrong with your game or a recent update broke something.

You are correct about the writing style being intended as a way of reflecting Keiichi's mind. It's deliberately showing the extent of Keiichi's paranoia and overthinking things. It's meant to put you in his shoes, by directly showing you what it's all doing to his mind.



Lastly I just want to add, if the slice of life elements aren't to your liking you should probably be warned ahead of time that the second chapter, Watanagashi has about the same amount. The third chapter has a little bit of it, but from that point onward the story picks up its pace and shifts its focus to the larger mystery at hand. It's up to you whether or not you want to stick it out till then.

[fllthdcrb]

Originally posted by ☠Black Knight:

For one, I don't recall a pig squeal being used at all.

OP may be talking about lsys31.ogg. In this version, it's a bunch of string instruments playing very heavily, with rising pitches. I guess it could be interpreted as a pig squeal.

[velie]

Originally posted by The Sylvan Learning Center:

bye ♥♥♥♥♥, don't let the door hit you on the way out

Why do you think making comments like this is necessary on a post that is generally civil and honest?

[fllthdcrb]

Originally posted by The Sylvan Learning Center:

bye ♥♥♥♥♥, don't let the door hit you on the way out

There's no call for that. People can think what they like about Higurashi, and there's no need to hate them just because they're critical of it, especially when they're being quite civil. It might be a different matter if someone stuck around and harassed us, of course, but that hasn't happened here.

[Snek]

I would suggest watching the anime instead maybe? I got a little annoyed at first too by the excessively long inner monologues and the plot not really advancing. I played chapter 2 and was more annoyed but powered through and didn't really get invested until 3. I now think the wait was worth it and have even considered playing it over again. If you're looking for more violent gory stuff the anime would probably be best. IMO it's not really much of a horror, more of a creepy mystery and I would say it's not the focal point of the story.

[Character01]

I appreciate the comments since my posting. I needed to fire off what I was thinking right after I finished, since the criticisms were fresh. I do think that I had incompatible and mislead expectations going in.

For one reason or another and after digesting this, I'm going to try to get to and through chapter three in order to give this series a fair shake. I'll take the readjustment of expectation toward mystery along with me.

I will say as someone who writes a lot that the prose themselves aren't good in this chapter. But since it's translated that has to be a casualty of localization, I'd imagine. The structure and the plot are intriguing enough that I can look beyond that. I'll have to stand by the repetition being...well..overused. That's only my opinion though.

My final curiosity is why the author has this message of "difficulty" before each chapter begins. It sounds like a poorly translated message, again, unless it is some statement about the complexity of the mystery, warning about content...or...something. I don't know.

I'm interested in doing a visual novel myself and reading this is a bit of research just as much as it is for pleasure. The reputation here says a lot so I won't write it off just yet.

Thanks folks.

[fllthdcrb]

Originally posted by Character01:

My final curiosity is why the author has this message of "difficulty" before each chapter begins. It sounds like a poorly translated message, again, unless it is some statement about the complexity of the mystery, warning about content...or...something. I don't know.

Probably not a mistranslation. It goes straight to the murder mystery aspect, because you're encouraged to try to solve things before the author solves them for you. Some arcs* are more difficult in this sense than others.

*The Japanese title of each arc uses the word 編 "hen" as a suffix. This literally refers to a volume, as of a book, or a story arc, but MangaGamer has translated it as "chapter", which is ridiculous IMO, because it means each "chapter" (VN) is divided into "chapters". I definitely prefer "arc".

[☠Black Knight]

Originally posted by Character01:

My final curiosity is why the author has this message of "difficulty" before each chapter begins. It sounds like a poorly translated message, again, unless it is some statement about the complexity of the mystery, warning about content...or...something. I don't know.

Well, I personally believe he is talking about the difficulty of the mystery. Some of the other chapters have similar things in the opening. But what I like about Higurashi is none of it is without a purpose. Even the quotes at the beginning of each chapter will matter later on. The author once said that mysteries are like a game between the author and reader, where the author proposes a riddle and gives out clues, and wants the reader to try to solve them.

So in that sense, Higurashi (and all when they cry games, really) are like a game in the sense that the author is challenging the reader to come up with theories and figure out what's going on. That's why the chapters are set up the way they are, with the first 4 being called "question arcs" and the last 4 being called "answer arcs".



But it might also just be a badly translated content warning, since before the series got its reputation some people might have accidentally purchased it thinking it was some slice of life game lol...