Game Completion: Higurashi When They Cry - Chapter 8: Matsuribayashi
Series Completion: Higurashi When They Cry (Main Game)

General Thoughts
In my personal opinion, Higurashi is a mystery Visual novel series with excellent mystery but with some unsatisfying answers to those mysteries and a decent ending

Spoiler Review
Finally the good ending the cast deserved, I found the ending a bit cliche especially where Rika stops the bullet when time is stopped out of nowhere (like why the hell even Hanyuu go to Takano in the first place, it just felt like artifical tension created just for the sake of it, I personally would have been quite satisfied if Takano blew her brains out to be honest) and Takano being sympathized and forgiven, in my opinion it was a fine ending to the game but my dissatisfaction of knowing that all the mysterious thing in the story were caused by Hinamizawa Syndrome and hallucinations still remains, like I get the reason and it's understandable but I still find the explanation unsatisfying, It was unknown but I hope that Takano and the Mountain Dogs got the punishment they deserve for planning such mass massacre and I don't really get why the government would have ordered the mass massacre of the village on other timelines in the first place, since it was obvious that the villagers going insane after 48 hours of death of "queen carrier" was not proved ever since it was first told in Chapter 7 and I think that they would have at least tested and put the village in strict curfew instead of just mass murdering everyone that just felt too unrealistic, and honestly breaks the explanation of the mystery for me

Platform: PC
Rating: 7/10
Overall Series Rating: 9/10
Days Taken: 61 days (August 11 - October 11)
Days for series completion: ? (Early December 2024 - October 11)
Hours Taken: 24h 38m
Total hours for series completion: ?
Playstyle: Read all tips and staff extras including the main story
Recommended: Yeah, read with 07th mod, I recommend to play at least until the end of Chapter 3 because I think Chapter 3 is a masterpiece personally
Up Next: None

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          [7]

Little update and review because I've been accidentally dead with this blog for the last few weeks. For the most part I haven't had a lot to say.

However, we did finish Trails through Daybreak II so small review: I'm... mixed on it.

It had some good character stuff I'm glad for especially for Renne and Quatre. Quatre, in particular, needed that since the first game just kind of drops that he was a cult victim as well near the end of the game and we never got anything more about that, so this game filling in the blanks there was very needed.

However, I'm really not sold on the plot or antagonists. It felt loosey-goosey. The rewind mechanic ultimately led to things just feeling contrived after a time. Like, look how much our various parties in the series, including this party have dealt with and survived, but oops now there's time travel we can have deadly traps and losses. I really wasn't into the Gardenmaster and it doesn't feel like he even really added anything to the overall plot anyway. And corrupted Dingo copy, eh.

I wasn't into the Märchen Garten though I know some people are. For me it was just an interruption to go dungeon crawl which is not my favourite thing. At least there were some nicer environments in there. I wasn't into any of the minigames and so much ugh for the hacking chests. I didn't get any enjoyment out of doing those.

I've heard there wasn't originally plans for this game to even exist and I feel like it shows. It feels more half-baked in a lot of respects and could have used more time in the oven so to speak. Hell, we didn't even get the usual excuse for restarting our orbments. We just had to for some reason...

It didn't leave me mad in the same way Cold Steel IV did, but definitely came out feeling flat about it. It might be the weakest entry now.

I have heard bits of good things about Beyond the Horizon, so got that to look forward to.

We've dabbled a bit more in the Trails in the Sky remake but not a lot. I've also been playing Dragon Quest XI more because who needs to play unplayed games when you can replay! Those two have been the main things lately.

I am planning to play the Macventure games through the 8-Bit Adventure Anthology this month: Deja Vu, The Uninvited, and Shadowgate. Then follow those up with Beyond Shadowgate (2024). I've watched Shadowgate and Beyond Shadowgate before but I wanna play them myself.

Totally feel you on being dead on the blog haha. Had that too, but hey, life comes first. Sorry to hear that Trails through Daybreak II was not exactly the best experience for you... 3:

WEEKLY UPDATE

Hell yeah, a Weekly Update that was relatively consistent. Let's go! Um... wish I could say positive things. There's a mixture, I'll be completely honest haha. Back to work tomorrow! I got some really nice office attire, in which I think I'll make it a theme for my in-office days, and still wear decent shirts on my out-of-office days. I decided that if I'm serious about my career and work, it's high time I ensure my wardrobe follows it. Who knows, it might just shift my mentality towards wanting a promotion and actually earning it.

Dental troubles. Omgsh... my Dentist and I are very nervous about my teeth. I HATE my teeth. To say it's crowded... is an understatement. My mouth has seen better days and I'm currently looking at it going "omgsh... what can I do to improve this?" Lots of money needed to fix it... which is upsetting because I have a mortgage and house to manage as well. I don't know yet, but this was the most recent ticket that's ticking in my brain hole and I'm aware of it... and admittedly quite overwhelmed.

Entertainment-wise still some REALLY strong showings! Anime is going somewhat well, gaming is going well and reading is going well too! I'll have to check a few things out on top of that. So if anything, entertainment is REALLY high on the ticket again, which is good. I just wish the bloody stressors didn't exist as I think I might have to make some tough decisions. Anyways, onto the fun part of the update!



SERVANT OF THE EMPIRE

422/827 (51%)

Still read a little bit, but MAN the machinations that are taking place are awesome! Excited to read more.



ANIME

Monday - Sport - Kurokos Basketball (34 / 75) +0 ~ Eep, thought I watched, but then remembered the previous update was on Monday! Ha... haha... Looking forward to the next ep.
Tuesday - Adult - Bungo Stray Dogs (31 / 61) +3 ~ Another brutal trifecta that made my mouth drop. So good!
Wednesday - Shounen - One Piece (1077 / 1145) +12 ~ They're beginning to close out the arc, quite a nice change of pace actually.
Thursday - Romance - Fruits Basket (22 / 63) ~0 ~ No progress
Friday - Comedy - Zombie Land Saga (12 / 24 ) ~0 ~ No progress
Saturday - Isekai? - My Next Life As a Villainess (12 / 24) ~ Giving Isekai another chance, I remember really liking this one.
Sunday - New ~ Kaiju No. 8 (9 / 23) +3 ~ Yeah I'm liking this a lot. To the point I'm looking to read the manga.

I must admit... This was a REALLY enjoyable week on the anime front. Had some amazing moments despite only watching anime half the bloody week. In saying that though, what I did watch was an outright blast.

Bungo Stray Dogs was the anime highlight of the week. There was a moment that made my mouth drop in terms of the sheer brutality of what I saw. It's not often that content shocks me, but that one did without a doubt. The moment in question was when both Atsushi and Kunikida were invading a base of the mafias to glean some information. But the guy they were trying to glean information from also had a bunch of children under his care. Well, not only did the kids alongside the guy go in the sewers to escape from our two protagonists. They also wielded submachine guns and tried to kill them.

Fortunately, Kunikida brought up a tear gas grenade and disabled them a bit. But then as soon as they dashed past the kids, there was a girl who had a grenade necklace. Kunikida advised Atsushi to carry on ahead, trying to calm her down so she won't be harmed. But as soon as she saw his notebook, she recalled what the guy advised her (telling her it's a trick/weapon) so she pulled all the grenade pins trying to kill Kunikida. Fortunately, Kunikida survived... the girl on the other hand...

Very dark moment, but very powerful. Made me realise what stakes we are dealing with when it comes to the potential levels of conflict.



BACKLOG

METRO 2033 REDUX

No progress.



MUTANT YEAR ZERO: ROAD TO EDEN

No progress.



PATHFINDER: KINGMAKER

Finished with the Branded Trolls! But of course, more troubles await. Oops, sorry for the spoilers in the previous post.



POKEMON EMERALD NUZLOCKE

Oof, what a rollercoaster ride this game turned out to be. I partook in a battle far too early and paid a significant price. Unfortunately both Flutters the Dustox and Moistill (blame the chat) Azumarill died in the encounter I had with Maxie.

It was very freaking intense, but fortunately, Noot Noot the Shiftry saved the day... barely. Replaced the two dead Pokes with GaryDoesnt (blame the chat) the Magikarp and Poseidon (my name!) the Tentacool as they're the next in the queue. Who knows what the future may hold, but I'm currently going through the grind phase with these, to get them up to speed and potentially grind a bit to prevent the same tragedy from occurring again.



WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW ORDER

Man what a game! I got bored of the game above and needed something fast and action-packed to play on stream. Then someone mentioned this game! BOY, did I underestimate how good this game is. THIS is what I needed. Something action-packed, brutal and made me feel like a badass when I was playing.

At the moment we have just been taken to the prison undercover and I imagine what's going to happen is that we are going to kill Nazi's and break people out. Always a good time! The other thing I thought I'd mention is that I think the MC is an unreliable narrator in the main story of the game. We shall see! But I think there is more to come.



ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHT

Ooh another close-ish race for this week. But this time I have to give it to Bungo Stray Dogs. Boy oh boy does this anime know how to hit you hard in the feels when it wants to! I am really looking forward to seeing what's going to come next... well on all the entertainment fronts!

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Feels like my Currently Playing list is swelling a little bit. I think I might need to make some retirements soon as I'm beginning to find that the games I want to play aren't scratching that itch anymore. We shall see, I shan't hold myself to any decision as of yet, but I'm looking at my list and I'm going "does it really need to be that long? Or do I need to make some choices?"

Quite similar to my dental situation too... yikes. Oh well. The joys of adult responsibility huh? Anyways, that's enough of the bleak part.

See you next week!

Entertainment Budget: $441

Currently Playing
Metro 2033 Redux
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Pokemon Emerald (Nuzlocke ~ Skyhler's rules)
Wolfenstein: The New Order

Overall Backlog
Games: 341
Hours: 7815

12/10/2025 - Monument Valley II Completion.
Current Backlog: 835
Currently Playing: 11

I honestly went into Monument Valley 2 thinking there was no way it could top the first game — but wow, I was wrong.
It’s absolutely stunning. The art is even more colorful, bright, and full of life this time around, and the music? Just beautiful.
It somehow manages to be calming and emotional at the same time, perfectly matching the gentle pace of the game.

The story follows Ro and her journey through motherhood, and while it’s simple, it’s also really touching.
The way it tells a story without many words feels so natural — you just get it through the visuals and movement.
I love how the game captures that feeling of connection and independence in such a subtle way.

Gameplay-wise, it’s the same relaxing, meditative puzzle experience I loved from the first game,
but with new mechanics and environment types to keep things fresh. None of the puzzles were super challenging,
but that’s kind of the charm — it’s not meant to frustrate you. It gives you just enough of a brain tease
to keep you engaged while still feeling peaceful.

It’s the perfect game to unwind with — something you can sink into for an hour or two and just breathe.
I finished it with a big smile and immediately added the third game to my wishlist.
If you enjoyed the first Monument Valley, you’re going to love this one even more.
- Marisa (JK)

I just finished the first one a few weeks ago though I still have the DLC, but I have 2 waiting too, so this is great to hear <3

Vagrant story

Correct! Sorry for the delay... Internet issues on the past few days x.x

12/10/2025 - Monument Valley II Completion.
Current Backlog: 835
Currently Playing: 11

I honestly went into Monument Valley 2 thinking there was no way it could top the first game — but wow, I was wrong.
It’s absolutely stunning. The art is even more colorful, bright, and full of life this time around, and the music? Just beautiful.
It somehow manages to be calming and emotional at the same time, perfectly matching the gentle pace of the game.

The story follows Ro and her journey through motherhood, and while it’s simple, it’s also really touching.
The way it tells a story without many words feels so natural — you just get it through the visuals and movement.
I love how the game captures that feeling of connection and independence in such a subtle way.

Gameplay-wise, it’s the same relaxing, meditative puzzle experience I loved from the first game,
but with new mechanics and environment types to keep things fresh. None of the puzzles were super challenging,
but that’s kind of the charm — it’s not meant to frustrate you. It gives you just enough of a brain tease
to keep you engaged while still feeling peaceful.

It’s the perfect game to unwind with — something you can sink into for an hour or two and just breathe.
I finished it with a big smile and immediately added the third game to my wishlist.
If you enjoyed the first Monument Valley, you’re going to love this one even more.
- Marisa (JK)

Daily Challenge - 2025-10-12
Score: 206 / 300
🟦🟦🟪 🟦 = 84 | R | Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
🟧🟩🟩 🟦 = 50 | S | Higurashi When They Cry - Chapter 2: Watanagashi
🟩🟦🟩 🟦 = 72 | P | Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

Play @ https://howlongtobeat.com/play

Little update and review because I've been accidentally dead with this blog for the last few weeks. For the most part I haven't had a lot to say.

However, we did finish Trails through Daybreak II so small review: I'm... mixed on it.

It had some good character stuff I'm glad for especially for Renne and Quatre. Quatre, in particular, needed that since the first game just kind of drops that he was a cult victim as well near the end of the game and we never got anything more about that, so this game filling in the blanks there was very needed.

However, I'm really not sold on the plot or antagonists. It felt loosey-goosey. The rewind mechanic ultimately led to things just feeling contrived after a time. Like, look how much our various parties in the series, including this party have dealt with and survived, but oops now there's time travel we can have deadly traps and losses. I really wasn't into the Gardenmaster and it doesn't feel like he even really added anything to the overall plot anyway. And corrupted Dingo copy, eh.

I wasn't into the Märchen Garten though I know some people are. For me it was just an interruption to go dungeon crawl which is not my favourite thing. At least there were some nicer environments in there. I wasn't into any of the minigames and so much ugh for the hacking chests. I didn't get any enjoyment out of doing those.

I've heard there wasn't originally plans for this game to even exist and I feel like it shows. It feels more half-baked in a lot of respects and could have used more time in the oven so to speak. Hell, we didn't even get the usual excuse for restarting our orbments. We just had to for some reason...

It didn't leave me mad in the same way Cold Steel IV did, but definitely came out feeling flat about it. It might be the weakest entry now.

I have heard bits of good things about Beyond the Horizon, so got that to look forward to.

We've dabbled a bit more in the Trails in the Sky remake but not a lot. I've also been playing Dragon Quest XI more because who needs to play unplayed games when you can replay! Those two have been the main things lately.

I am planning to play the Macventure games through the 8-Bit Adventure Anthology this month: Deja Vu, The Uninvited, and Shadowgate. Then follow those up with Beyond Shadowgate (2024). I've watched Shadowgate and Beyond Shadowgate before but I wanna play them myself.

You don't need to ask. Just retire it. Resident Evil 6 is the RE fan's Goku Button and you make it pretty obvious that you don't even like most over revelied games in long running franchises. If there was a narrative that "RE6 gets better after a certain point" like say Final Fantasy 13, this would've been commonly stated. The people who enjoyed RE6 were the guys who played Mercs mode than the actual campaigns.

I'm playing through RE6 right now and I'm finding it very hard to keep playing. I genuinely don't like anything about the game so far, especially the gameplay. The long length of chapters is also pretty daunting considering there's 20 of them and I've only finished chapter 2 after 4 hours. Does the game get any better after Leon's campaign? If not, I'm just gonna retire it.

Wallpaper Engine

Did you know that Wallpaper engine has achievements? Pretty strange as it is a piece of software and not really a game. If you want the 17 achievements just do as they say, its very easy.

BTW if you like frogs you should check out Abi toads on wallpaper engine, those wallpapers are seriously awesome.

Price: 4,99
My Time: 10 minutes
Rating: 85%

I noticed that if I use the Steam Features feature (located in Options) once and add some games to the lists (which removes them from the import list), then when I import again, the same games will appear again, and they will all show (Select List) instead of the actual list to which they were previously added. This appears to be a bug.

I suggest that after importing games from a Steam profile, either not display games already added to the user's HowLongToBeat lists, or display the actual list they are added to on the user's list (instead of the invalid (Select List)).

At `howlongtobeat.com/user/%username%/options`, in the Options tab, in the General section, in the Quick Game List list, I see the following set of seven values:

1. Recent Games (apparently, this is a dynamic list, and the user can't manually add games to it)
2. Playing
3. Backlog + Replays
4. Custom Tab 1
5. Custom Tab 2
6. Custom Tab 3
7. Completions

One block below allows you to set custom names for Custom Tab 1, Custom Tab 2, and Custom Tab 3, but you can't hide them.

When you click on the user icon in the site header, an almost identical list is displayed, but with eight items:

1. Playing
2. Backlog
3. Replays
4. [Custom Tab 1]
5. [Custom Tab 2]
6. [Custom Tab 3]
7. Completed (not Completions)
8. Retired (new)

When adding games to my profile, I see a different list of values ​​in the Select List lists:

1. 1 - Playing
2. 2 - Backlog
3. 3 - Replay (not Replays)
4. 4 -
5. 5 -
6. 6 -
7. 7 - Completed
8. 8 - Retired

It's not clear to me:

1. What is Backlog in terms of this site?
2. That only the Completions item (≡ 7 - Completed?) is public;
3. What exactly do "Backlog + Replays" (≡ 2 - Backlog and 3 - Replay?) and 8 - Retired mean;
4. Replays / Replay — is it "I assume most people use it to list games they intend to play again, nothing stopping you from using it as a secondary "playing" list" or "is for games you have already completed before and are playing through again"?

5. How can I hide some items, leaving only four? —

7 - Completed, renaming it to Completed
4 -, renaming it to On-Hold
5 -, renaming it to Dropped
6 -, renaming it to Completed on other platform (or Done in other place)

---
For example, here's a list of statuses a user selects for anime on the MyAnimeList:

1. Watching
2. Completed
3. On-Hold
4. Dropped
5. Planned to Watch

You'll agree that with the ~ same number of statuses, the meaning behind each status is much clearer.

---
Some of my questions were resolved by the explanations provided earlier in this thread. But to do that, I had to find the thread. The general principle of interfaces should be to minimize user questions (ideally, no questions at all). I'm sure this site functionality can be improved.

Daily Challenge - 2025-10-11
Score: 212 / 300
🟦🟪🟩 🟦 = 75 | R | Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
🟦🟩🟧 🟩 = 51 | S | Hitman 2
🟦🟪🟪 🟦 = 86 | P | Little Nightmares II

Play @ https://howlongtobeat.com/play

Daily Challenge - 2025-10-10
Score: 204 / 300
🟩🟩🟦 🟩 = 59 | S | Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
🟧🟦🟪 🟦 = 73 | R | New Super Luigi U
🟦🟩🟦 🟦 = 72 | P | Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Play @ https://howlongtobeat.com/play

I have a Steam key from September's Humble Bundle for:

WWE 2K25
Spellforce: Conquest of Eo
Grapple Dog

DM me if interested.

Daily Challenge - 2025-10-10
Score: 135 / 300
🟩🟩🟦 🟦 = 70 | Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
⬛🟥⬛ 🟧 = 12 | New Super Luigi U
🟩🟩🟩 🟦 = 53 | Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Play @ https://howlongtobeat.com/play

Is anyone interested in a Steam key for Persona 5 Royal? PM me if you are.

Persona 5 Royal (Steam key)

Edit: It's gone.

https://howlongtobeat.com/user/OnlyOneHere

Look at their reviews. This is a troll account and fake user. This is the 2nd time we see something like this and this obviously impacts real review scores.