Good timing, I'm halfway through chapter 7 right now. But I probably have to wait for the 07th patch; played the first 4 chapters without it, but I like it better with it

I'm going to reread all the previous arcs

Oh god, finally. It was quite a drag to avoid spoilers after all these years.

don't forget to check out 07th mod, http://07th-mod.com/home/ , for PS3 sprites [higher res] (unless you like the mangagamer/old ones), fixes, additional arcs that were cut from the game and more. I'm still (sadly :c ) one behind on the arcs, i don't own 7 yet, but i believe it's got patches and such for it by now; they usually get em out within a week or two of the game being released.

It's been a long time since I've been hyped for something more than Higurashi. Granted, I was more hyped for 7 given the logn wait-time and all the unanswered questions, but this one is going to be a ride. I believe it's something like 2x as long as the average chapter.

That's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome. There's gonna be so much emotional payoff...

i've already set aside the buxx this is gonna cost, so now i'm just saving up my emotions for 15th of May

This release date is earlier than would be expected given MG's slightly-more-than-a-year wait for the previous 2 arcs after their respective predecessors. Still much slower than it deserves, though.

At this point I'm just happy to see the series through, and not by September xD

For the original 8 arcs, sure. This is Hou, though, and it has 6 more arcs to go. I can't imagine each of those will take as long, but still, it's going to be a while before they're all out.

Originally posted by fllthdcrb:

For the original 8 arcs, sure. This is Hou, though, and it has 6 more arcs to go. I can't imagine each of those will take as long, but still, it's going to be a while before they're all out.

There's another 6? Wut?

Originally posted by Skadazzle:

There's another 6? Wut?

https://vndb.org/r34866 <-- The original Japanese release of Hou. The last 3 are individual arcs. Rei includes 3.
https://vndb.org/v69 <-- Rei
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higurashi_When_They_Cry#Rei (spoiler warning, obviously)

the remaining 6 are called Rei? Or just the last 3? Either way, they seem to be more or less addendums, spin-offs or what-if scenarious rather than full-fledged main story entries. Or I'm totally wrong about that.

The 3 immediately after Kai (which ends with "Matsuribayashi-hen") constitute Rei. The last 3 are exclusive to Hou.

And yeah, I wasn't clear on it. These are all extra things, not part of the main story.

According to my deep probing of the wiki... Rei is 3 arcs, 1 of which is serious and 2 of which are romantic comedy skits. And then Hou brings 3 bonus arcs after that, one of which is essentially the prototype to the story we know, an adaptation of a 40-page story in the soundtrack to the PS2 fighting game Daybreak, and an all new chapter.

And then the PS2 (Matsuri) and 4 DS (Kizuna) versions had their own exclusive arcs that were all compiled together on the PS3 (Sui) with its OWN bonus arc. Matsuri didn't have chapter 8, but one of its arcs is an alternate ending different from chapter 8, Kizuna altered one of the Rei arcs to not have Hanyuu since they released it among chapters prior to Hanyuu's introduction for some reason, and Sui didn't have one of the Rei chapters but had the most arcs in one package. And they all have different art styles.

Original 8 + Rei 3 + Hou 3 = 14 arcs. All of the maybe-maybe-not-canon arcs from the console versions adds 3 Matsuri + 4 +1 manga adaptation in Kizuna + 1 Sui. So that is 9 VN arcs Hou leaves out, so I guess that's 23 arcs altogether? Several of them are adaptations from other sources, so at that point all the manga and anime arcs become fair game as SOME sort of canon, I suppose.

After chapter 8 comes out, I'm fine with all those other arcs coming at a more leisurely pace, since, other than the new arcs in Kizuna that introduce new characters, they seem like they would work well enough as standalone stories and bonus material that don't necessitate continuation like the first 8 chapters. At this point I am embedded in these characters, so the moment a new game comes out, whenever that may be, I will snatch it up instantly.