Umineko no Naku Koro ni: Gyakuten
When the Seagulls Cry: Turnabout
Written for AAO's "Never Trust the Narrator" competition.
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A crossover between the Umineko no Naku Koro ni/Professor Layton series, Professor Layton and the Turnabout of the Golden Witch is meant to serve as a hypothetical ninth entry in the Umineko series. You play as Professor Layton, who gets taken to the world of witches and fantasy to prove the events that took place on Rokkenjima in 1986 belonged to the world of mystery and reality. As this is meant to be the ninth episode, I highly recommend playing the games or reading the manga first, since this will include spoilers of Umineko episodes 1-8 (in fact, up until you see Layton in the game for the first time, the game will completely spoil part of the ending of episode 8 ). That said, the game was also designed with newer players in mind, so if you don't mind spoilers, there will be enough information included to get you up to speed. It also bears mentioning there will be some spoilers for Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, but not quite to the extent of Umineko.
...but seriously, go play the original games or read the manga first. It will be well worth your time.
Spoiler: Credits
Play the Original Games
If you haven't played the original games yet, I highly recommend picking up the official English release on Steam. This release includes an updated English translation, as well as the original Japanese text (which is nice, since there are a few subtle nuances in the dialogue here and there in the original that don't translate well to English at all). It also includes the original artwork as well as "updated" artwork. However, if you have space on your computer for it, you may want to look into the PS3 sprites/backgrounds/voice acting patch. Not only will you get some fantastic voice work, but you'll also get to see the full-resolution version of the backgrounds and sprites I'm using in Turnabout of the Golden Witch. Even if you prefer the older artwork, there's a version of the patch that will let you keep the older artwork, only adding the voice acting (you'll have to search a bit for it though).
To compare:
Spoiler: Images scaled down to save space
