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VA-11 Hall-A: A Cyberpunk Bartender Action


radiofloyd

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VA-11 Hall-A (a.k.a. Valhalla) is a cyberpunk visual novel/lite bartender simulator, released in June 2016. The bartending element is fun and simple. Characters will occasionally  ask for drinks, sometimes they will tell you directly what they want, sometimes just what kind of drink they want, and you have to choose the right drink and prepare it correctly. It's not complicated and in the two hours I've played I've yet to make a mistake. If only another game I've been playing was as sensibly designed as this...

 

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I thought the game had been kickstarted but googling it shows I was wrong. The wikipedia page has a lot of background information on the game. I can see references to things like Policenauts and Blade Runner and Valhalla is definitely in that vein.

 

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The characters that come to the bar have been interesting and it seems like the game is going to have a lot of recurring characters which is cool. Aesthetically, the game looks lovely, not least the title screen which has a kind of PS1-era feeling. In fact it might just be me but the game kind of screams PS1-era Final Fantasy...

 

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Before each day of work you can set the music in the jukebox, and once you are playing you can just sit back and listen, or switch between songs as you like. The game has other neat small touches like the fact that you can change the channel on the tv. Also, I liked the reference to Stein's Gate.

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I mentioned it in the games completed thread:

http://www.mfgamers.net/index.php?/topic/41418-post-when-you-complete-a-game-17/&page=10&tab=comments#comment-208331

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It's a visual novel with a simple drink mixing mini game. You make the drinks as requested and listen to the customers stories, apparently making different drinks can affect the way they react to you and the endings you get. I'm not sure how much that matters.

 

The story is enjoyable, and pretty well written. I like several of the characters. It's slightly anime-styled, but doesn't go all out, so you don't feel like a creepy loser pervert for playing it. The soundtrack is excellent, before each night's work you load up the jukebox with a dozen songs. There were easily more I liked than the jukebox could hold.

https://garoad.bandcamp.com/album/va-11-hall-a-second-round

 

It's a great game, and I love the soundtrack.

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Yeah, up to five hours now and I'm really enjoying it.

 

The bar has a new staff member.

 

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And this is surely a reference to Seinfeld right? (The character's full name is Art Van Delay(

 

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I mean, look at that chequered shirt...

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Finished it after 9 hours. I was quite surprised to see the game-over screen as I thought the game would be a few hours longer or at least develop the story (stories) more. 

 

In my ending, Jill ended up getting evicted because I failed to pay the $10,000 rent and she was staying with Alma. 

 

The game is probably a 7/10 for me. I would have liked to have learned more about most of the characters and also to have had more of a central story, but obviously that wasn’t the intention of the developers. It’s a fine line between a game being too short and overstaying its welcome, and Valhalla feels a bit like the first to me... I could happily have spent 4 or 5 more hours playing it.

 

There is a NG+ where you can carry over your items and money, but it doesn’t seem to offer anything new story-wise so I think that will be that for me.

 

Not a classic, but if you have it, it’s worth playing.

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