Source
r/umineko•
Sinwit

[SPOILERS] So I'm not even close to beating the game, but there's a question I'd like to ask about the ending

SpoilerDiscussion

So I'm not sure what to expect, but is the ending ambiguous to any degree? Like, does the game even tell you all the answers to the crimes? And does the story have an actual, conclusive ending to it, or is the story left unresolved?

I guess that's more than 1 question, but I'd appreciate it if you could be as non-specific and spoiler-free as possible. If you don't think it's possible to answer without giving spoilers, I'd at least like a simple answer to the third question. Thx

Posted Jun 9, 2018, 11:08 AM UTC · edited

512
shiritai_desu•

The game is not conclusive and won't give clear answers, but it delivers hints. There is also a strong reasoning behind not giving those answers, but if that does not convince you know that the manga provides the official answer to the crimes, said by Ryukishi himself.

There is enough material to solve or at least get your own opinion about what happened but Umineko really goes beyond that so I hope you will be as amazed by the last chapters as I was. Keep unspoiled!

7
SinwitOP•

Alright, so if I'm not mistaken, you're saying that while the game doesn't really wrap things up on its own, it gives a good reason for not doing so in a way so that it's not unsatisfying, right?

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tostitosruler•

Let me try to rephrase what he said a bit.

The game does conclude the tale in a conclusive manner. The overarching big mystery is solved, everything is super satisfying. The story ends.

However, it does not solve every single little puzzles. Like room puzzles, or specific episodes are not explained in details. Instead, you get progressively more hints as you progress through the episodes. While it may be difficult to piece everything together after episode 4, The challenge becomes much more feasible after episode 8.

The way the story is written, there can only be one logical solution to each episode’s mystery, so you can find an answer everytime. This is why it stays satisfying, because the answer is never that there is none.

You can also compare your theories at the end with the explanations you can find on the wiki, if you feel like you’ve figured it out and you want confirmation. Don’t look at it until your done with all 8 episodes though. That would ruin the experience for you!

Hope I helped!

11
opaidefender1•

Pretty much. There are answers to everything. They’re just not all told to you outside of the manga. You can work everything out.

Hell, I’ve seen someone solve the central mystery of the game when they were early in Ep. 3.

5
Eefi•

The game does not spoonfeed you. However you are left with the tools to solve the mystery. Heck, you are already getting the tools right now. You just don't know that you are yet

When you reread after realizing the truth, Umineko becomes an entirely different story. And that's the beauty of it for me.

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SinwitOP•

Alright, I get what you're saying. But the game's finale still has a conclusive feel to it, right? Even if the questions aren't all directly answered?

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Eefi•

EP 8 actually has two endings, at the end you're supposed to make a choice. Neither ending is a bad ending, from what I've heard from interviews w ryukishi, they're supposed to compliment eachother.

I think that it was conclusive, yes. But that's because I had arrived at the truth at the time. I'm not sure what I would've thought if I hadn't.

I personally felt satisfied with the ending, but I know a lot of people didn't.

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AogamiZ•

The Game most certainly has a conclusive end, look forward to it.

As for mystery answers, Ryukishi loves to get you to think, so he doesn’t give them out, but something I’ve found out from replaying all games is that there are some really great moments that reveal some blatant hints and that gave a huge smile to my face. If you don’t know what to look for, however, you won’t pick them up, as they say, without love it cannot be seen.

There is a small section of the game that could be said is dedicated to help you figure out the truth, but it will not give it to you flat out, you must go piecing together what it all means.

This game was just genius fucking writing, I love all of it.

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holy_greentea•

The ending was left open on the game, but if you really want the motive solutions it's all revealed in the EP8 manga.

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Yurigasaki•

Umineko – or more specifically, the part of the game you're talking about, the answers – were written and delivered in a way that no individual screen of the game could be taken out of context and used to spoil the whole thing.

You will never see a line that outright says "X is the culprit, and they did the crimes for Y reason with Z method!". However, the game will take great pains to show you these things without outright telling you. And at the point in the game where it does start outright giving you answers, it does so in a way that will make no sense without the surrounding context (which you, as a player, will obviously have).

As others have said, if you're not satisfied with that or are still confused, the EP8 manga lays everything out more clearly and does so honestly pretty beautifully. So power on through to the end and don't let the witches beat you just yet!

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