I just suddenly remembered, thinking about this more, hearing about how Higurashi on the switch was censored. And not censored in the way people tend to mean about nudity or something in videogames but actually super impactful changes to, like, political references and stuff like that, that significantly muddled big themes.
So Iāve been trying to search about Umineko and have found some very vague references that the JP switch version does indeed have some ācensorship,ā mostly in episode 7 (in addition to some alcohol drinking?). Thus far I canāt find anything concrete about what kind of thing that means, thoughā¦ sounds like itās less than Higurashi but might still be a meaningful drawback?
Thatās a little concerning, Iāll probably just get the steam version in that case. I wouldnāt mind much if it was something really minor but that sounds like it could potentially affect the story so better safe than sorry.
omg!!! I want to join!!! One of my goals for this year is to start reading visual novels because Iāve been SO curious about them, and Iām such a slave for thicc mammoth media (especially fantasy/gore?) - so this seems perfect.
I am worried about my reading level, though. I know I canāt rely on Mokuro for this, so itās going to be a huge challenge. Iām not even sure if itās a good one for beginners. Iāll read about the VN and how to set it up and then decide if I want to join!
The upfront setup on Umineko specifically is a bit of a pain, but itās worth knowing visual novels are actually extremely good for that sort of automatic lookup! The program is called a texthooker, and it grabs the script as it plays and can be set up to output it on a webpage for easy yomitan lookups and all that.
I do think it seems this will fit your taste. As for the writing, Umineko isā¦ well the writing style isnāt crazy; Iām finding the bit Iāve read at the start here entirely comprehensible for my level, but Iām still coming across new words quite often. The vocabulary is broad and for a VN itās probably on the longer sentence, slightly more āliteraryā side. If nothing else you can always check out videos like this yourself to sample the writing:
Oh! I think automatic lookups are all I need, even if the reading level is well beyond my comprehension I can be overambitious, but reading challenges gives me so much joy (as much pain).
Thanks for sharing the video! Seems medium-hard to me. I guess I need to figure out how to setup and install the texthooker. Iām not technically sound, so I may end up here with questions
This will also be my first VN! I also successfully got it set up and got the texthooker working despite being totally new to that whole process, so if I can do it, I know you can! The WK film club discord was a great help in sort of hand-holding me through the process, haha, so if youād like some assistance on getting the right version of the game and also getting the texthooker working, feel free to join us!
Please donāt be too offput by this moving quickly ā among those of us who were planning this before posting the thread, javerend is starting soon and fallyleaf has just read a few thousand characters as of pretty much now. I have a little head start but I plan to slow down in a bit, take a little break with some other stuff and see how people are doing with getting started first. I sprung this up very suddenly but because weāre running it casually and independently I want slightly ālateā starting to be totally encouraged; youāre not missing out if you need a little time, I promise.
Announcing it early with some warning wouldāve been smart! But planning this has been in conflict with our schedules and my health problems for a long time, and it kinda had to hit the point where I almost went ahead without making a club before going āwell ok I can post it and see if someone wants to hop in, no harm in it.ā
I really want to finish Higurashi before Umineko. Iām currently at the start of chapter 7, last thing I remember is Keiichi is about to be the talky person at an auction.. If I ever get around to finishing it, I might find my way back here to do Umineko in Japanese.
I have a couple things to share! Firstly, episodes 1, 2, and 3 of the Umineko stage play are currently available for free on the theater companyās youtube. I havenāt looked too closely so I donāt know if itās a forever thing or a temporary thing, but I thought Iād share anyway. Episode 1 has previously been available, but I think the others are new?
The other thing I wanted to share is that I got annoyed with the texthooker character count dropdown continuing past the bottom of my window (which meant I couldnāt see the character counts past a certain date unless I cleared my progress), so I edited the texthooker websiteās CSS to give it a scrollbar. I also changed the height of the dropdown so that it doesnāt get in the way of the text as youāre playing the VN.
Maybe thereās an easier way to do all of this, but I couldnāt find any settings that would let me do this nativelyā¦
If anyone wants to modify their own page, I made a Stylus script here that you can use:
/* ==UserStyle==
@name Texthooker Character Count Scrollbar
@namespace github.com/openstyles/stylus
@version 0.1.0
@description Adds a scrollbar to the No. of characters/No. of lines dropdown at the top of the TheMoeWay Texthooker page.
@author fallynleaf
==/UserStyle== */
@-moz-document url-prefix("https://learnjapanese.moe/texthooker.html") {
#detailed-counter {
display: block;
overflow-y: auto;
height: 575px;
width: 170px;
padding-right: 5px;
}
}
Iām very much an amateur, so no guarantees that this is the best way to do it, and also no guarantees that Iāll maintain the script if they change something on that page and it breaks, but it works for my purposes. Feel free to adjust the pixel height (or other qualities) to fit your own window size and your own personal preferences.
I figured with such a long VN, there was a chance that other folks might run into the same issue I was having, where it takes so many sessions to get through it, the texthooker doesnāt seem to be set up for that.
I did have that problem with ISLAND was extracting the stats by looking at the source code of the page basically haha. Good idea with the style, might use it next time I read a long VN with texthooker, thanks!
Ended up cleaning up my texthooker scrollbar script a bit. The scrollbar is thinner/less intrusive now, and I adjusted the pixel height of the container so that it doesnāt cut off the top number if you scroll all the way to the bottom (with the default font size, at least).
I went ahead and just published it on the Stylus site. Felt like thatād just be easier. So for anyone who needs it, you can install it there if youād like.
I donāt think my example screencap has any major spoilers from the VN, haha. Or at least, there arenāt any character names in there lol.
This is great thanks! I think you could add a link to the main Visual Club Novelās first post, I often refer to it if people want to get started with VN and look at which tools to install. Will definitely be using it myself next time I read a VN! (Fata Morgana in May)
Iāll check in with how the club is going by the time I have time to join!
I can be overambitious, but reading challenges gives me so much joy (as much pain).
and fallyleaf has just read a few thousand characters as of pretty much now. I have a little head start but I plan to slow down in a bit, take a little break with some other stuff and see how people are doing with getting started first. I sprung this up very suddenly but because weāre running it casually and independently I want slightly ālateā starting to be totally encouraged; youāre not missing out if you need a little time, I promise.
was extracting the stats by looking at the source code of the page basically haha. Good idea with the style, might use it next time I read a long VN with texthooker, thanks!
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