Post by LadyLambdadelta on Dec 4, 2013 18:59:30 GMT
I wasn't sure where else to put this, so for now it'll be here.
Welcome, Mystery High player! You've probably ended up at this thread because you have no idea what this stuff in Umineko Mode is. What's the purpose for talking in red or blue text? What is the witch, and what are they actually supposed to do? For answers to questions like that, you've come to the right place.
What is Umineko Mode?
Umineko Mode features a group of students locked inside the school with a dead teacher, like any other mode. However, instead of a usual killer, the teacher has supposedly been murdered with magic! Will the witch fully manifest in the truest sense, or will humans be able to fight back and defeat them?
Who is The Witch?
The witch is a person just like you and me... Or are they? That's up to the students to believe one way or the other. The witch's goal is to make all humans believe in her existence, and this is typically done through a series of gruesome and mysterious murders. After all, if a corpse is found in a way that seems impossible to have been done by a human being, who's to say it wasn't magic? That is the purpose of the witch's "powers", to kill students in fantastic ways and leave the other humans guessing. You're NOT really meant to go on a thoughtless killing spree with no real care for anything, just abusing your magic to take everyone down in 5 minutes and end the game. If you want that, you're in the wrong mode. Umineko Mode is about intrigue, a glorious battle between Fantasy and Mystery. Were the killings done by magic, or common human means?
The truth is, the witch's powers are only as real as one believes them to be. If someone dies through having a stake embedded in their skull, it's certainly an odd way to go, but it doesn't confirm the existence of a witch in itself unless one truly thinks it does. The purpose of a witch's powers is to use unorthodox means of committing murder that don't initially seem possible for a human. One simple example is to create a classic Closed Room mystery. A corpse is found in a locked room with no other entrances, and to top it off the key to that same locked room was found within the room itself! At this point, students have a few possibilities of what to believe once they break into that locked room and find the body. Here are examples of possible conclusions to draw in such a situation.
Welcome, Mystery High player! You've probably ended up at this thread because you have no idea what this stuff in Umineko Mode is. What's the purpose for talking in red or blue text? What is the witch, and what are they actually supposed to do? For answers to questions like that, you've come to the right place.
What is Umineko Mode?
Umineko Mode features a group of students locked inside the school with a dead teacher, like any other mode. However, instead of a usual killer, the teacher has supposedly been murdered with magic! Will the witch fully manifest in the truest sense, or will humans be able to fight back and defeat them?
Who is The Witch?
The witch is a person just like you and me... Or are they? That's up to the students to believe one way or the other. The witch's goal is to make all humans believe in her existence, and this is typically done through a series of gruesome and mysterious murders. After all, if a corpse is found in a way that seems impossible to have been done by a human being, who's to say it wasn't magic? That is the purpose of the witch's "powers", to kill students in fantastic ways and leave the other humans guessing. You're NOT really meant to go on a thoughtless killing spree with no real care for anything, just abusing your magic to take everyone down in 5 minutes and end the game. If you want that, you're in the wrong mode. Umineko Mode is about intrigue, a glorious battle between Fantasy and Mystery. Were the killings done by magic, or common human means?
The truth is, the witch's powers are only as real as one believes them to be. If someone dies through having a stake embedded in their skull, it's certainly an odd way to go, but it doesn't confirm the existence of a witch in itself unless one truly thinks it does. The purpose of a witch's powers is to use unorthodox means of committing murder that don't initially seem possible for a human. One simple example is to create a classic Closed Room mystery. A corpse is found in a locked room with no other entrances, and to top it off the key to that same locked room was found within the room itself! At this point, students have a few possibilities of what to believe once they break into that locked room and find the body. Here are examples of possible conclusions to draw in such a situation.
- "A human couldn't have done this! There was no way in or out of the room for a human, but a witch could just slip under the door or phase through the wall!"
- "No, it was a suicide! They must've killed themselves in a locked room... How tragic..."
- "Hold on, I think there's something more here... Yes, I've got it! The killer must have done the deed, left and locked the room, but then simply slid the key back under the door!"
Now, these could all turn out to be false, as even C could be discounted if the key's too far away from the door for that to be a feasible theory. That's the whole point of the game, however. Finding more clues should lead you to the logical answer behind a murder, or maybe just thinking about it a little longer will bring you to a solution that accounts for everything. The witch should always keep these things in mind and make sure their murders ARE solvable. One way to make sure you do that is to simply imagine how your character would pull off this killing as a human, not a flying intangible butterfly-shitting magical death machine. Rather than thinking in terms of "I'll kill them with this magic power and fly out of the room afterwards," try instead thinking of it like "I'll kill them with a knife to the head, then slip out of the room through this vent." You don't necessarily HAVE to use the vents in this case, and can simply fly away while invisible, but it's something.
What is the Red Truth?
"The boy with red hair died instantly! Additionally, it was not a suicide!"
The Red Truth is simply that, the truth. A cold, hard truth that cannot be overturned by usual means. This can be wielded by a witch for a few purposes, but in Umineko Mode its main use is as a tool for disproving a student's theory. Statements written in red are meant to be the absolute truth, but it's important to know what you should and should NOT say in Red.
DO NOT...
DO...
What is the Blue Truth?
"The killer used a taser to knock her unconscious, then dragged her to the locker room before killing her! That's why there was only lots of blood splatter in there, while the signs of a struggle were in the classroom."
If the Red Truth is a witch's prized rifle, the Blue Truth is like a shotgun. While a single Red Truth can be shot and pierce right through, the Blue Truth is something like taking a lot of shots, as one of them is likely to hit. To be more literal, Blue Truth is what is used to formulate proper theories. They can be destroyed by the Red Truth, but it's also possible for the blue to become Red Truth in itself should it prove to be the actual truth. Blue Truth is quite literally what one person believes to be true. By speaking to the witch in blue, you are asking them to either refute your claims with the red or accept it as Red Truth of its own.
"How naive. That taser was dead before the initial attack, so it couldn't have been used for that purpose! Also, the corpse was found in the classroom."
Exchanging blows with the Red and Blue Truth are what Umineko's logic battles are about. It can be difficult to handle all the red the witch sends your way, but you can't give in if you wish to find the truth! Keep firing your own Blue Truth until it hits!
"That presents no problem at all! Instead they used a bat to knock her unconscious, then. And where the corpse was found is irrelevant! Nothing stops the murderer from killing in the locker room and moving her body to the classroom afterwards! How's that?"
"Kuh! The bat is broken! A broken bat was not used!"
"Also irrelevant! If the bat is broken now, that's just more proof it was used! They hit her with the bat, and it broke as a result! Don't think I'll fall for a cheap trick like that! Go ahead, try saying it in red, 'She was not hit with a bat, and she died in the classroom.' You can't do it, can you?!"
"... Ufufu... How interesting. I won't say it, then. You passed this test for now, but let's move on. There are still a few more murders for you to deal with. To start off with... The black-haired boy is dead, and it was an instant death! He had no time to react!"
And so on. I think you get the idea.
Closing Statement
For now, this is all the help I can give you for understanding the intentions behind how Umineko works. Should there be more features added to the mode, I'll be glad to update this guide. Hopefully I was able to help everyone who hasn't read Umineko understand the mechanics of it a little more, and the intentions behind the Witch role. Good luck, and happy witch hunting!
What is the Red Truth?
"The boy with red hair died instantly! Additionally, it was not a suicide!"
The Red Truth is simply that, the truth. A cold, hard truth that cannot be overturned by usual means. This can be wielded by a witch for a few purposes, but in Umineko Mode its main use is as a tool for disproving a student's theory. Statements written in red are meant to be the absolute truth, but it's important to know what you should and should NOT say in Red.
DO NOT...
- State outright anything along the lines of "Witches exist!" or "It was done by magic!" Just don't do it. It's very taboo, and even if you were able to say it, it would ruin the entire point. The witch should be trying to force humans to admit the existence of magic through other means, not simply showing it. Plus, it kinda causes a paradox in a way since (SPOILERS) your character is not actually a witch, they're supposedly human.
- State things in red blindly without consideration for the possibility you may be wrong. Think VERY carefully about what you're going to say in red, because wording means a lot. As I mentioned before, you should already KNOW how the person died through human means, so build your red around that. "There was nobody on the second floor during the time of the murder!" See, this is a problem, because in most cases you have no way of knowing for sure that every inch of the second floor didn't have a single living person on it. Well, unless it was just you and the last student you killed, but at that point the round would end before you could even state that red truth due to the last guy dying. Even if you lock some people away in a room on the first floor, there's usually no guarantee that they'll stay there. For all you know, they had an axe. So be VERY careful. If you're going to speak in red, be COMPLETELY positive that it's the truth.
- State anything that's the exact opposite of #1. Yes, do not say "Magic doesn't exist, she was killed by a human." either, as that also makes no sense and ruins everything.
- State things to deny student theories, while also giving them new information as a result. "The blue-haired girl was not killed by a knife like you claimed!" is an effective Red Truth that destroys a theory, but at the same time it makes some students think. "Well, if a knife wasn't the cause of death, it must be something else... Could a knife have still been involved through some other way though? She only said the knife wasn't what killed her..." You see, Red Truth can make it harder for students, but at the same time it's a crutch to help them along. When you say something in red, they can use it against you just as well as you used it against them.
- State things to confirm things, just as much as you would deny them. "Yes, he was taken by surprise. He had no time at all to react!" works as a Red Truth to confirm something a student may ask, and you are encouraged to sometimes do this kind of thing if they're not even close to on the right track. After all, what's the fun in it if they have no chance at figuring it out and are completely clueless?
- State humorous things like "You are incompetent!" and "ahaha.wav" all the time. Wait... Erm... Maybe not? Well, it doesn't usually hurt to say opinions or non-statements in red, but that's something you should avoid when possible. If you start saying absolutely everything you can in red, then that's bad.
What is the Blue Truth?
"The killer used a taser to knock her unconscious, then dragged her to the locker room before killing her! That's why there was only lots of blood splatter in there, while the signs of a struggle were in the classroom."
If the Red Truth is a witch's prized rifle, the Blue Truth is like a shotgun. While a single Red Truth can be shot and pierce right through, the Blue Truth is something like taking a lot of shots, as one of them is likely to hit. To be more literal, Blue Truth is what is used to formulate proper theories. They can be destroyed by the Red Truth, but it's also possible for the blue to become Red Truth in itself should it prove to be the actual truth. Blue Truth is quite literally what one person believes to be true. By speaking to the witch in blue, you are asking them to either refute your claims with the red or accept it as Red Truth of its own.
"How naive. That taser was dead before the initial attack, so it couldn't have been used for that purpose! Also, the corpse was found in the classroom."
Exchanging blows with the Red and Blue Truth are what Umineko's logic battles are about. It can be difficult to handle all the red the witch sends your way, but you can't give in if you wish to find the truth! Keep firing your own Blue Truth until it hits!
"That presents no problem at all! Instead they used a bat to knock her unconscious, then. And where the corpse was found is irrelevant! Nothing stops the murderer from killing in the locker room and moving her body to the classroom afterwards! How's that?"
"Kuh! The bat is broken! A broken bat was not used!"
"Also irrelevant! If the bat is broken now, that's just more proof it was used! They hit her with the bat, and it broke as a result! Don't think I'll fall for a cheap trick like that! Go ahead, try saying it in red, 'She was not hit with a bat, and she died in the classroom.' You can't do it, can you?!"
"... Ufufu... How interesting. I won't say it, then. You passed this test for now, but let's move on. There are still a few more murders for you to deal with. To start off with... The black-haired boy is dead, and it was an instant death! He had no time to react!"
And so on. I think you get the idea.
Closing Statement
For now, this is all the help I can give you for understanding the intentions behind how Umineko works. Should there be more features added to the mode, I'll be glad to update this guide. Hopefully I was able to help everyone who hasn't read Umineko understand the mechanics of it a little more, and the intentions behind the Witch role. Good luck, and happy witch hunting!