LogFAQs > #922394636

Episode 3 is a lot meatier than the last one. I spent much more time here, though I don't know if it is really longer or I took too long pausing and posting. Either way, it's a lot more eventful, with highlights like Beatrice 'vs' Virgilia, Evatrice's succession, Rudolf and Kyrie fighting (my absolute favourite), etc. Quite a roller coaster as they keep shaking things up in unexpected ways. Lots of new characters too.

Mystery solving is better, it's not all similar murders with locked rooms and keys this time. The one on why Kyrie went to the mansion has real logic and using evidence brings me back to the usual murder mysteries and is nice to have once in a while. Not that I hate the bullshitting and action scenes, I've already fully accepted they are part of Umineko.

As for the reveal that it is all an act... might as well describe my thoughts during the playthrough. Beatrice getting development is something I thought would occur soon and was glad to see it, setting up Evatrice as the main villain some time in the future. As it goes on I started to feel it's way to quick - a cruel witch who lived 1000 years is doing a complete 180 because, um, Battler got mad at her? Shoving a complete face turn into a single episode? I was thinking about complaining during character rankings.

Instead he plot went the opposite direction at the last moment. Needless to say, I got bamboozled.
A lot of it became non-events in an instant and I left rather unsatisfied. Now I still would have issues if Beatrice became a good guy here, so my preferred situation would be somewhere in the middle, like Beatrice is still your enemy but has changed a bit. Maybe it could still happen, idk really.

Episode rankings
1. Episode 3
2. Episode 1
3. Episode 2

Even with this problem I still put ep3 at the top because almost everything else is great, but it's not above second place by much.

In the end the most substantial developments are some history on Beatrice, and Ange getting dropped into the game. Hopefully it would lead to something bigger.