I finished my first play through the story of VA-11 HALL-A last night and...seriously, why didn't I try this game sooner?
I am about to rant and rave about your game, Jill! Sit down for a sec.
I enjoy a good VN, but VA-11 HALL-A remarkably unique in its premise and structure. Throughout the game, you play as a bartender named Jill just living her life and doing her job while living day to day in a cyberpunk dystopia city-state. The vast majority of the gameplay is, appropriately enough, preparing drinks for the various customers, regulars, and goofballs that come into the bar. It's generally not difficult. Customers often tell Jill what they want, or at least offer a clear enough hint that screwing up most orders is hard to do unless you're not paying attention.
The strength really comes from the game's writing, which comes from Jill's point of view. She's not an empty cipher, but someone with a personality that comes clearly across and who we learn more about as the game goes on. And then there are Jill's coworkers, friends, and other assorted weirdos, who all come across with different personalities and viewpoints of their own. Some of these folks are people Jill knows well, and others...well, she tolerates their presence because they buy drinks. All of them are really entertainingly written. Even the one's you'll want to (at minimum) punch in the face.
(Also, yes, the game does feature several references to the shit-ass RPG YIIK, though that's largely due to both games sharing the same publisher and the tendency of indies to reference each other through cross-promotion. VA-11 HALL-A was also originally released at a time when YIIK was still in deep development and at least publicly still showed promise. That YIIK is a cult classic in the VA-11 HALL-A universe with merch, cosplayers, and multiple remasters per year is actually pretty hilarious in retrospect and I salute the fictional devs in this alternate universe that actually made a good YIIK.)
I'm set to start a NG+ run through the story, and will probably go through it again at least once before I move on to another game. It's an easygoing VN and one of the most relaxing games I've played in a long time. I'm not sure what else to say about it at this point without descending into rambling about the graphics (which are incredibly stylish) or the music (which is also really cool and catchy). But yeah, I was late to the party on VA-11 HALL-A, and I'm glad I finally caught up.
I am about to rant and rave about your game, Jill! Sit down for a sec.
I enjoy a good VN, but VA-11 HALL-A remarkably unique in its premise and structure. Throughout the game, you play as a bartender named Jill just living her life and doing her job while living day to day in a cyberpunk dystopia city-state. The vast majority of the gameplay is, appropriately enough, preparing drinks for the various customers, regulars, and goofballs that come into the bar. It's generally not difficult. Customers often tell Jill what they want, or at least offer a clear enough hint that screwing up most orders is hard to do unless you're not paying attention.
The strength really comes from the game's writing, which comes from Jill's point of view. She's not an empty cipher, but someone with a personality that comes clearly across and who we learn more about as the game goes on. And then there are Jill's coworkers, friends, and other assorted weirdos, who all come across with different personalities and viewpoints of their own. Some of these folks are people Jill knows well, and others...well, she tolerates their presence because they buy drinks. All of them are really entertainingly written. Even the one's you'll want to (at minimum) punch in the face.
(Also, yes, the game does feature several references to the shit-ass RPG YIIK, though that's largely due to both games sharing the same publisher and the tendency of indies to reference each other through cross-promotion. VA-11 HALL-A was also originally released at a time when YIIK was still in deep development and at least publicly still showed promise. That YIIK is a cult classic in the VA-11 HALL-A universe with merch, cosplayers, and multiple remasters per year is actually pretty hilarious in retrospect and I salute the fictional devs in this alternate universe that actually made a good YIIK.)
I'm set to start a NG+ run through the story, and will probably go through it again at least once before I move on to another game. It's an easygoing VN and one of the most relaxing games I've played in a long time. I'm not sure what else to say about it at this point without descending into rambling about the graphics (which are incredibly stylish) or the music (which is also really cool and catchy). But yeah, I was late to the party on VA-11 HALL-A, and I'm glad I finally caught up.
