Higurashi When They Cry

i just finished chapter 1. i didn't like it at all, it was completely bloated with filler and the actual, serious plot was a pretty generic horror story

for me the thing about the pacing is that, i think the idea of establishing the friendship of these characters to lower your guard is not bad on base level, but the way the game establishes their friendship is so fucking stupid and repetitive. it's written in the most cliche'd anime bullshit form possible and it feels so fake, like a person who never had a childhood friend group imagining what childhood friend groups are like. and it's so repetitive too, there's no actual character building or deep connections made which make the character conflict way, way less engaging. i don't care if the friendships between these characters is put into jeopardy because they never showcased that the connections they were making was anything emotionally meaningful

I just finished like 5% of the story. anyway, here's why it sucks

The atmosphere with the updated soundtrack is the most immersive in any piece of media I've experienced and I cannot imagine reading the question arcs with the original soundtrack

where do i play this without paying five dollars for separate chapters

the classroom scene in tatarigoshi where keiichi tries rubbing sakoto's head and the twist at the very end of watanagashi are the only two scenes which stuck out to me as something i really liked so far