[Rias]

Somehow I feel the game was rushed or something. There's no voice acting in TIPS or the first half of the game. It was weird when all of a sudden Keiichi's voice poped up in the 2nd half of the game. However, the new OPs and EDs were really good. I would've perfered if they kept a couple of the original music, but the new music is well done also.

My thoughts about the new story chapters:

~Running away from Tragedy~ Taraimawashi-hen

Spoiler for Watanagashi:

Nothing speical happened (people who have watched the anime or played the PC game would probably know what's really going on), but it is full of spoilers for the other question arcs, as Shion gives the reader a digest version of the question arcs. It's listed as chapter 1, but I think it's better to play all the original question arcs before going into this one. The answers to the questions are all answered in Meakashi-hen, since the story itself is very similar to Watanagashi-hen.

The first time I played this I was like "Eh?" at the end. Only after reading all the other chapters I have realized what this chapter was for. As the preview has stated, "Running away is not a sin...but the real world isn't so easy-going". It also makes sense why this chapter is served as a "fall-back" chapter, where you would enter if you don't satisfy any requirments for the other chapters.

~The Worst "if"~ Tsukiotoshi-hen

Spoiler for Tatarigoroshi:

Advertised as the "most evil scenario in Higurashi history, and it doesn't fail to deliver. Basically Tatarigoroshi-hen, and this time 3 people is after Teppei. I have always wondered what would've happened if Rena and Keiichi failed to convince Shion in Minagoroshi-hen, and this is pretty much it. Afterwards the story is simliar to Tatarigoroshi-hen again. We also get to see what happened at the end of Taraimawashi-hen, and Tsumihoroboshi-hen. Probably better to play Tsumihoroboshi-hen first, becuase of that.

The story is self explatory for those who have read Minagoroshi-hen before. It's also sad to see the culprits (Rena/Keiichi/Shion) to be driven into distrust and paranoia, even tho they were getting along so well in the beginning.

~Another Ending~ Miotuskushi-hen

Spoiler for Minagoroshi + Matsuribayashi:

New ending for the series. A world where Rika has to overcome all the trials at once. They are of course the main ones from all the chapters before, being
-Rena's father getting cheated on
-Teppei's return
-Shion's demon rising due to Keiichi and Mion being in good terms

A world where they have to tackle all the Rule X elements at once, stop Rule Y from happening, and use Rule Z as their advantage.

I personally think this new ending was way better than the one from the PC version. As we all know, matsuribayashi-hen was mainly about stopping Rule Y. Rule X and Z was somewhat not present. Maybe that's becuase Hanyuu was present and stepped in right from the start of Matsuribayashi-hen.

Spoiler for Mitotsukushi:

However, this world, Hanyuu does not exist. Rika believes it's the final world becuase of that.

It feels much more satisfying when you have actually overcome all the trials and finally stopping the true villian. Also have a much better moral in the end than the original.