[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Ssol

I don't think it sucks.

Using that MMO analogy, we defeated the last boss and obtained the incredible rare item. I think even MMO players will argue with you about this.

What was the correct goal of the MMO game?

• To defeat the final boss? “I was part of this guild and we were first to kill boss X on server Y.”
• To make friends in an online community and have fun with them? ”I don’t remember any of the stats of those rare items. However, we worked hard together so that we could obtain them.”
• To identify the item since the description doesn't mention what this incredible rare item actually does? ”We put in years of work for this. The reward must be worth our time.”

I don’t have a problem with any of those goals. They are all correct goals. However, for this game, we have received an official statement saying that the item will not be identified for us. He’s given us the identification tools and all we have to do is identify it ourselves.

MMORPG players being satisfied just by the fact that they killed a strong Boss?
Have you really played a MMORPG before?

That could be true if you just spent the 1-2 hours necessary to kill a particularly strong endgame boss.
But if you worked 1-2 years to get an item, it means that you have killed that very boss so many times that it became boring routine, and then the only thing that could make up for that wasted time is the idea that you finally got your reward.

Now if we were just talking about the few hours spent in actually reading the novels I would agree with you. But I can't agree with that when I think about the 1-2 years spent on speculating and discussing about this story, especially when Ryuukishi asked us to do so.

Originally Posted by Kylon99

Ok, so you ARE concerned about what happened on Rokkenjima Prime. And that EP8 was supposed to show you this? Ok, I just want to sort out that this part of the story has absolutely nothing to do with the Beatrice Mysteries in regards to whether he promised us an answer or not.

Yeah so why he was expecting us to understand that Rokkenjima was engulfed in an explosion?
Certainly you can't tell me that this could be reached without any reasoning or without the 1998 perspective. If he was expecting this it means he was expecting that we reasoned even about that part.
Then he should have expected that we speculated even on what actually caused that tragic event, and he should have expected that we were expecting an answer.

Originally Posted by Kylon99

The only promise for answers that I recognize is the ones for the mysteries.

which weren't given.

Originally Posted by Kylon99

So there hasn't been a 'switch' for me at all.

I didn't mean to say that there's been a switch for you, or for everyone. But I know that the vast majority believed in an answer.

Originally Posted by Kylon99

The whole story has been going exactly as I foresaw. I mean, how many times does he have to say that there's no happy ending (in interviews and from characters mouths) for us to realize that there was no way to prevent the Ushiromiya family from dying? EP8 pretty much summed up what I was expecting; a bittersweet ending was the best ending possible...

A bittersweet ending has nothing to do with the lack of explanations. We could have had both things.

Originally Posted by Kylon99

I'm sorry to have to say what I was able to foresee. I'm not trying to say I was a genius because after I posted these ideas, I thought it should've been kinda obvious. But ultimately, I cannot argue that you should've seen this coming, if you hadn't been thinking the same things I had. I'm just saying that someone else could see this coming, so maybe you're mistaken about what was promised or not.

I can say that I picked up all these clues to arrive at the conclusion:
1. No happy end. Interviews and multiple EPs.
2. An explosion that cleans the island of evidence. EP1, EP4.
3. The question of Meta Ange trying to change the events so that someone can come back but then realizing that no one will be coming back. Furthermore if someone comes back that they wouldn't be coming back for her. EP4.
4. The question of which world is real and the emergence and validation of the Author Theory. Suggested at end of EP1. Question came up in EP2 and beyond. Verified in EP6, 7 and 8.
5. Beatrice being described as 'Endless' and therefore Umineko was like a shifting maze; endless stories are possible. Bernkastel's Letter, EP1 or 2 and the emergence of the Author Theory.

Kylon, you should know me enough to be aware that in addition of having realized the very same things, I got even more stuff. But how exactly does that change the problem at hand?

The problem here isn't that I wanted to see my theories confirmed to be happy, I clearly stated that I could be happy even if I saw them all denied, as long as the solution was really well done.

The problem here is that there are still huge holes in this story, stuff that doesn't have any plausible explanation or that only have lame unsatisfying explanations.

Originally Posted by Kylon99

There's more; the whole theme of the story is about what truth can be had when the truth is shut up in a cat box. Until it can be revealed both mystery and fantasy can be made to exist. And it's been said that the mysteries are beautiful; or that the fantasy is a lie to soothe your heart. Or that they are what gives rise to love between author and reader. This is what the story has been going on and on and on again. You don't expect EP8 to betray that do you?

The whole story was about a catbox that several main characters tried to break open. With a clearly implied message that the readers were supposed to do the same.

Please... don't deny this basic evident and blatant truth.

If now you tell me that Ryuukishi wanted us to struggle in order to open this catbox only to tell us in the end that it was useless because the catbox will never open, then I'll have to conclude that Ryuukishi toyed with us, and I'll be very displeased.

Originally Posted by Kylon99

Actually, someone said he wanted to do an Umineko Rei. I was wondering about this and it seems to me, unless he actually said the word "Rei" himself, that he should do an Umineko Kai. As in "解式" or solution/explanation.

Well I wonder about that. But at this point why I should still hope?

Originally Posted by Kylon99

I don't see how 900t of left over explosives would be too unrealistic, actually. As someone I know from the army said; we're all overestimating the organizational abilities of the military. And to boot, this was a military that just surrendered and some of the high ranking leaders executed. I mean, they've left soldiers on islands up till 1975, even...

No, really no... and I don't want to go over it again because I've been discussing this "ad nauseam".

Originally Posted by Kylon99

Here's the problem. The explanation is satisfying to you, but it wasn't to some other poster I remembered reading. He brought up that it seems Qilian was not a right solution because of the pinyin system that uses Q wasn't invented until the 50's or 60's, basically by the Communists. Taiwan never inherited that and so it should've been.... etc, etc.

However, I remember reading about that area and in the 1920's and it really was romanized with a Qilian. Because I was also wondering why they used a 'Q.' But for whatever reason they did.

So you see what's going on here. That guy who didn't know that answer, would still have this 'question' in his mind. I'm saying you still have this same 'question' to Ryukishi and you demand an answer. An answer he told you already.

Look. When an author writes a story with a mystery or with mystery elements he must expect that not everyone will be satisfied with his explanation in the end, the same way he must expect that not every person will like his story.

But he still needs to strive to give the best possible and satisfying explanation in order to please as many readers as possible.

There is no point in mentioning an isolated case that is even wrong. The epitaph answer was a clear answer and it was for the most parts a satisfying answer.
Yeah I actually I'm not going to say that it was 100% satisfying, there are still some parts that I find kinda unfair, but at least it's an answer that was shown clearly and that makes sense for a good 95%. I can be satisfied with that, as most people are.