Just finished reading Higurashi When They Cry

[Lexyvil]

I finished reading Higurashi When They Cry, all the 8 chapters of it. It was an epic experience, and I did kind of wish for the final chapter to be longer~

I soon heard that Umineko was written by the same author. Is it worth reading, and is it close as good as Higurashi?

Edited June 22, 2017 by Lexyvil

[Dreamysyu]

It's even better.

Though it's an extremely different experience, so if you liked Higurashi, it doesn't automatically mean that you will like Umineko, and vice versa.

[KainLegacy535]

I loved Higurashi and Umineko became a must play for my. I just have to say: Its a master piece, its one of my 3 "10" rated vn´s.

Edited June 22, 2017 by KainLegacy535
typo

[Silvz]

Umineko is the second entry on the series (the third, if you consider both Higurashi and Umineko are 2 parts each), and it is the best VN ever. Like someone said above, it is not the same as Higurashi, but it is far better. And there are a lot of references in it, the most proeminent being Bernkastel/Rika. Seriously, you should start Umineko as fast as you can - it is great.

 

edit: it is not a sequel, but part of the same series "When they cry", so besides the ton of references, it is a 100% new story

Edited June 23, 2017 by Silvz

[Vokoca]

Rather than a sequel, Umineko kind of feels like Ryuukishi's answer to Higurashi. He takes everything that he has experienced and learned while writing that and builds upon it; if you read between the lines, Umineko is a really interesting commentary on his previous work and on mystery itself - and you don't even have to look that deep, the story makes no attempts to hide the correlations at all. Silvz calls them references, but that's probably putting it mildly.  

But as others have stated above, that doesn't mean you should be going into this expecting Higurashi. Umineko is very different, in both its story and its message, so in the end you'll just have to see for yourself whether you like it or not. If you're going to check it out, I would highly recommend the PS3 port of the game, as it features both a revised translation and all the perks the console release had over the PC one.

[Lexyvil]

I'm going to try Umineko today. Lastly, do you guys suggest the version with or without Japanese voice acting?

 

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, Lexyvil said:

I'm going to try Umineko today. Lastly, do you guys suggest the version with or without Japanese voice acting?

 

From what I understand, the version @Vokoca mentioned is considered the best (and it's voiced).

I personally played the original unvoiced version, and I believe it has some strange kind of charm about it, but I wouldn't really recommend playing it instead of other versions. There is also an official release on Steam, but it's unvoiced and still unfinished.

[kyrt]

Interesting enough I suggest you go with the the steam release because if you love it you just wanna support it (there may be mods/patches/something to change elements of it though if you want the other feel). I do believe the steam version has the option of the sprites (I bought the game but haven't replayed it yet). The sprites have a certain charm to them and you get over it rather quickly since the writing and the music are just that good. 

Umineko itself is a great game just don't be expecting the same thing as higurashi. If you end up liking the Umineko series though he also has Rose Gun Days which is also a great read. There are a few other vns he's either worked on (Rewrite, Trianthology, Higanbana), there may even be a third when they cry series coming in the not too distant future as development was expected to start this year.