EPT![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/Umineko_no_Naku_Koro_ni_cover.jpg)
So since the last part of the Umineko No Naku Koro Ni Chiru VN was finally translated around last week, and I managed to get in some time to play it. Now that it's winter break, I have plenty of time to work on it.
Warning, the following WILL have spoilers for the Umineko series as a WHOLE. Well, actually the mystery itself doesn't have many spoilers but still.
So if you are not familiar with Umineko, the basic premise for the first 4 parts is observing a series of murders on an isla- you know what? Screw it. Go on wikipedia or something. Actually, I'll just post a part of the wikipedia article here.
+ Show Spoiler +
Umineko no Naku Koro ni (うみねこのなく頃に?, lit. When the Seagulls Cry) is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The first game in the series, Legend of the Golden Witch, was first released at Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007 playable on the PC; the game sold out in thirty minutes.[1] The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall most of the people. The goal of the game is to discern whether the murderer is human or of some other supernatural source. Umineko is the third title in the When They Cry series, preceded by Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, and followed by Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru.
Okay, so we're presented a mystery here. Instead of debating whether it was possible for a human to do it (mystery) or if only a witch could do it (fantasy), we are instead assured that this is mystery. So there is a human culprit.
There is red truth, which is absolute. It's taken as evidence and is undebatable. In the 8th episode only, we are presented purple statements. They can be taken as truth, UNLESS they are said by the culprit. The culprit can lie.
Here are the purple truths for the game.
+ Show Spoiler +
Gohda: The dining hall was locked up.
Kumasawa: That's when I arrived.
Gohda: I unlocked the door with a master key
Kumasawa: Eva-sama, Hideyoshi-sama, Rudolf-sama, Kyrie-sama, Rosa-sama and Genji-san, six people in all, were lying there, covered in blood...
Krauss: Everyone gathered in the dining hall.
Shannon: The death of each parent was confirmed by their own child...
Kanon: Doctor Nanjo and I confirmed that Genji-sama was dead.
Nanjo: No one will mistakenly confirm a death, even those other than myself.
Maria: Looks like all of the victims died instantly.
Krauss: After inspecting the interior of the dining hall, we determined that all of the doors and windows had been locked, making it a closed room.
Battler: And nothing suspicious was found in the dining hall.
George: Of course, there was no one hiding in the dining hall either.
Krauss: Naturally. All of us are here right now. It's clear that no one is hiding.
Natsuhi: To be prevent trouble later on, we destroyed Genji's master key.
Gohda: Madam's room was locked!
Shannon: After getting everyone's permission, I unlocked the door...
Kanon: Krauss-sama and Natsuhi-sama lay sprawled on the floor inside the room.
Battler: Doctor Nanjo checked their pulse. Then, he announced that the two of them had died instantly.
Nanjo: I confirmed both of their deaths. There can be no doubt that they died instantly.
Jessica: In the end, I found that the windows and doors were all locked, making it a closed room.
Shannon: All of us servants were together the whole time.
Kanon: All of us servants can prove an alibi for all of the other servants.
Maria: We put duct tape all over the outside of the doors and windows, sealing them!
Jessica: We made sure that no one would be able to enter or leave until the police arrived!
Battler: We also sealed the dining room in the same way.
Nanjo: We also sealed the mansion itself, and all of us took refuge in the guesthouse.
Jessica: George nii-san got upset, so we all went outside to look for them.
George: I prayed she was still alive. However, I was forced to acknowledge that she was dead...
Nanjo: I also examined her and confirmed her death.
Gohda: So, not one of us has an alibi...!
Jessica: At least regarding Shannon-chan's death, it was impossible for George nii-san to be the murderer.
Battler: To turn it around, ......anyone could have killed her besides George-aniki.
Gohda: To prevent the culprit from using it for any mischief, we destroyed the master key Shannon-san had held on the spot.
Nanjo: Judging by these wounds, Gohda-san and Kumasawa-san died instantly, I believe.
Jessica: Gohda-san and Kumasawa-san are both dead!
Battler: Once again, none of us has an alibi.
Jessica: All of us... in other words, the four cousins and Doctor Nanjo couldn't have killed Gohda-san and Kumasawa-san.
George: I guessed someone might have snuck in, so I checked around, but the guesthouse was still completely locked up.
Battler: No master keys exist anymore except the two keys on the two people who lie dead here.
Jessica: H, he's dead... He's been killed......!
George: Even I...can say for sure that this was an instant death...
Maria: Everything is locked up perfectly.
Jessica: Maria, Battler, George nii-san and I all couldn't have killed Doctor Nanjo!
George: In the first place, no one could kill Doctor Nanjo inside the guesthouse!
Battler: Simply put, this is proof that Doctor Nanjo didn't leave the guesthouse...!
George: She probably died instantly.
Maria: There's no way she could live through this.
Battler: George-aniki, Maria and I couldn't have killed Jessica!
Maria: The three of us couldn't have killed Jessica.
George: Maria-chan couldn't kill anyone.
Maria: George onii-chan couldn't kill an adult. He could kill a kid though.
Kumasawa: That's when I arrived.
Gohda: I unlocked the door with a master key
Kumasawa: Eva-sama, Hideyoshi-sama, Rudolf-sama, Kyrie-sama, Rosa-sama and Genji-san, six people in all, were lying there, covered in blood...
Krauss: Everyone gathered in the dining hall.
Shannon: The death of each parent was confirmed by their own child...
Kanon: Doctor Nanjo and I confirmed that Genji-sama was dead.
Nanjo: No one will mistakenly confirm a death, even those other than myself.
Maria: Looks like all of the victims died instantly.
Krauss: After inspecting the interior of the dining hall, we determined that all of the doors and windows had been locked, making it a closed room.
Battler: And nothing suspicious was found in the dining hall.
George: Of course, there was no one hiding in the dining hall either.
Krauss: Naturally. All of us are here right now. It's clear that no one is hiding.
Natsuhi: To be prevent trouble later on, we destroyed Genji's master key.
Gohda: Madam's room was locked!
Shannon: After getting everyone's permission, I unlocked the door...
Kanon: Krauss-sama and Natsuhi-sama lay sprawled on the floor inside the room.
Battler: Doctor Nanjo checked their pulse. Then, he announced that the two of them had died instantly.
Nanjo: I confirmed both of their deaths. There can be no doubt that they died instantly.
Jessica: In the end, I found that the windows and doors were all locked, making it a closed room.
Shannon: All of us servants were together the whole time.
Kanon: All of us servants can prove an alibi for all of the other servants.
Maria: We put duct tape all over the outside of the doors and windows, sealing them!
Jessica: We made sure that no one would be able to enter or leave until the police arrived!
Battler: We also sealed the dining room in the same way.
Nanjo: We also sealed the mansion itself, and all of us took refuge in the guesthouse.
Jessica: George nii-san got upset, so we all went outside to look for them.
George: I prayed she was still alive. However, I was forced to acknowledge that she was dead...
Nanjo: I also examined her and confirmed her death.
Gohda: So, not one of us has an alibi...!
Jessica: At least regarding Shannon-chan's death, it was impossible for George nii-san to be the murderer.
Battler: To turn it around, ......anyone could have killed her besides George-aniki.
Gohda: To prevent the culprit from using it for any mischief, we destroyed the master key Shannon-san had held on the spot.
Nanjo: Judging by these wounds, Gohda-san and Kumasawa-san died instantly, I believe.
Jessica: Gohda-san and Kumasawa-san are both dead!
Battler: Once again, none of us has an alibi.
Jessica: All of us... in other words, the four cousins and Doctor Nanjo couldn't have killed Gohda-san and Kumasawa-san.
George: I guessed someone might have snuck in, so I checked around, but the guesthouse was still completely locked up.
Battler: No master keys exist anymore except the two keys on the two people who lie dead here.
Jessica: H, he's dead... He's been killed......!
George: Even I...can say for sure that this was an instant death...
Maria: Everything is locked up perfectly.
Jessica: Maria, Battler, George nii-san and I all couldn't have killed Doctor Nanjo!
George: In the first place, no one could kill Doctor Nanjo inside the guesthouse!
Battler: Simply put, this is proof that Doctor Nanjo didn't leave the guesthouse...!
George: She probably died instantly.
Maria: There's no way she could live through this.
Battler: George-aniki, Maria and I couldn't have killed Jessica!
Maria: The three of us couldn't have killed Jessica.
George: Maria-chan couldn't kill anyone.
Maria: George onii-chan couldn't kill an adult. He could kill a kid though.
So if anyone's still reading, you've probably already read Umineko. So I'm going through the mystery as we speak. I'll insert blurbs of my reasoning. Again, SPOILERS
+ Show Spoiler +
So I initially worked on the assumption that there was only one culprit. So I went through the list. Krauss died and his death was confirmed by Nanjo. Since the culprit cannot die, either Nanjo is speaking the truth and Krauss is dead, in which case Krauss is not the culprit, or Nanjo is lying and he is the culprit, which means Krauss cannot be the culprit. I went along this method for a while until I was left with Battler being the only possible person who could be the culprit.
Of course, because of several other statements, this was denied. I took a look at the rules. There is nothing specifying that there was only one culprit. I consulted someone else who already finished Episode 8 (because I did not want to go on a wild goose chase if there WAS only one culprit) and had my theory confirmed.
Now I have a few problems with figuring things out from this point on. 1- I don't know how many culprits there are. It could be two or three or maybe even four. 2- The culprit could be lying or he could be telling the truth. There's no guarantee that he's lying. So I'm kind of stuck.
Of course, because of several other statements, this was denied. I took a look at the rules. There is nothing specifying that there was only one culprit. I consulted someone else who already finished Episode 8 (because I did not want to go on a wild goose chase if there WAS only one culprit) and had my theory confirmed.
Now I have a few problems with figuring things out from this point on. 1- I don't know how many culprits there are. It could be two or three or maybe even four. 2- The culprit could be lying or he could be telling the truth. There's no guarantee that he's lying. So I'm kind of stuck.
This is just a basic summary of how far I am at this point. I checked the first hint, but that didn't help out that much. I'll continue updating on my progress. No spoilers please if you've already finished the episode.
