So I just finished.
It took me around four days, both because of the language difficulty and the sheer level of emotion built into this Episode.
More than the other 7, I felt like 8 was truly endless. So many sections with such different moods... (I started wondering if there really WAS an ending, or if I'd be doomed to read this Episode for all eternity
)
I was skeptical about the whole "choices" thing, but I think he pulled it off well... if slightly confusing. I still don't know if choosing a different cake slice than I did affects anything... I tried about five others without any immediate changes so I just gave up and went with my first choice (a la Ange XD)
I managed pretty well with most of the riddles (I even realized the atomic number one, despite my poor knowledge of Chemistry. I didn't know the answer, but I knew how it was derived...
) There were a couple that, even after reading the explanations I had no idea how they got there. (And there was at least one I didn't even bother trying to read I was so burnt out at the time x__x)
I chose the Magic ending... I'm a little afraid to choose Trick/Slight of Hand, to be perfectly honest
I'll stick with my Magic ending for now~
For a while, I was wondering how the diary could possibly be observed if Ryuukishi claimed to not spoonfeed the answers... but as expected, there were no hard fact answers in this Episode (aside from perhaps some minor background facts in the Quiz Party after answering correctly, but nothing earth shattering) .
Am I satisfied with the end?
For the most part, I think so.
It's bittersweet, certainly, and as much as I'd love a completely happy ending (oh you don't know how excited I was with that boat scene for a while...) ... it wasn't realistic. Ryuukishi didn't betray the reality he'd constructed (much, anyway) and he didn't betray his readers, either.
But, that's just my take.
Time to read the previous pages of this thread...