Recent reviews by jer

Bought this to support the developers. Has some cool art pieces with their art style. Now, all I want now is just a gif or something of the credits video rolling without text!

Great quick-paced FPS with amazing vintage anime art style. It has some good world-building and story (story is unique, but I just want more of it!).

Story mode can be really short. I played on Normal, and did die a few times (mostly by falling), so I will probably replay in a harder mode just to get some more difficulty.

I am not sure if I will play the Endless mode that often, but I would love in the future either updates or DLC for more of the story. I really enjoy the world and our characters.
9/10

Enjoyable city builder/roguelite. It is pretty simple, while having more difficulties the greater your kingdom grows in people. Now, I do think some people will not like this b/c it is not the most in-depth city builder out there, but I was wanting a sort of relaxed city builder.

The roguelite elements are nice, and so far I have not fully gotten into the higher tiers of kingdoms, so there is still more to see. I am not so sure on the "battling" in this game, failed my first defense against an attacking army, but I do not even know how to build an army haha.

Now, I will say I am not that smart. And, it took me a bit to understand how the cards/materials/population even worked. It is not that complicated at all, but honestly just did not understand why some bldgs were able to be built and some werent.

My biggest worry is the price of this game. I am not going to sit here and say how a developer should price their game, but I think even just 5 dollars cheaper then this game could get into more people's hands. I recommend it so far, and I would give it an 8/10.

If I notice anything amazing or terrible then I will update this review, but looks like a great little game!

Solid idler. I beat the game in about 11 hours, I do not have everything unlocked though. Not sure if I would keep on playing this to 100%, but was definitely worth the money for me!

I am keeping my original review down below this, b/c I do love this game, but I just tried to get back into it with the new update and my game is running horrificly.

I redid the tutorial and it ran/worked great. Then when the next murder happened, I investigated the scene, but when I left the apt... I was getting 5 frames. That was outside, but inside went up to maybe about 10 fps? I tried to mess with the settings, but it just would not work. Even restarted the game, but my performance was horrific. I do not have the most up-to-date PC, but prior to this happening I was hitting 60fps, now it is unplayable.

I might start a new world to see if it happens again, but this was my original issue with the game was performance.

Game is great and is getting updates which is amazing, but this performance is making it unplayable for me.

Original Review:
I am having a ton of fun playing this game. A procedural detective game that is not just handholding puzzles or obvious suspects (sometimes). I think as of this moment I would give this game an 8/10, but if updates come in to improve performance and the cases then this will be a 10/10.

Performance is pretty rough for me sometimes. Inside an apartment or business is no issue, but when I go onto the street I drop at least 20 frames, sometimes more. Even on smaller maps I still have the same framerate issues, so I am thinking its the game itself.

Cases can be amazing, or sometimes too simple or broken. I think the non-murder cases are sometimes a little too trivial. And sometimes you just get barely information, so the only way to solve is to spend hours just finding random fingerprints or go searching through a government database then going to their home/office. But, I still love most cases I get and if I am not enjoying it I just drop it.

The murder cases are where the game shines the brightest, but also has its weakest points. Some cases are brilliant, no immediate suspects, having to gather clues/evidence from the murder scene then going searching for potential witnesses or information at the suspects homes or offices. Now, the issue pops up where sometimes there is a certain "formula" to some murders. If you find a fingerprint on something that does not match who lives there, there is a solid chance if you go to their workplace you'll find a matching fingerprint from a disgruntled co-worker.

Those cases are a bit too easy, but I have had cases where it is a random murder, so now its time to find a random serial killer on the loose which can be so much fun. Especially when more murders happen, so your evidence becomes better and the suspect pool diminishes.

This game is a work in progress, but if the devs continue this will be the detective game IMO.

Great detective, mystery game. This game has the pleasure of making you have to think about both the individual case you are trying to solve, but understand the bigger picture. It is not the most groundbreaking story or anything, but I loved the mysteries of finding out about each death.

Also, the graphics were wonderful. 9/10, highly recommend it if you like point and click detective games!

So, this game was disappointing, but I still do recommend it but there are a lot of things to know before buying it. I will run through my positives and negatives for the game, but I give it a 6.5/10. I enjoyed overall the game, but man was I expecting much better.

Positives:
- Combat: I really enjoyed the actual gameplay of Triangle Strategy a lot. Now, I found the game to be rather easy once you learn more about how combat works and the roster expands, but I found the actual positioning and abilities to be rather fun and actual need some thought behind your actions. There are two issues involving combat, but I will mention those later as they are not actual issues with the mechanics of gameplay. 8.5/10

- Story (barely): I will mention my biggest issue with this game (the start) in the negatives, but once the beginning got done with, I found myself pretty interested in the story. Sadly, my enjoyment went down once the story went on a bit too long, and the ending chapters to be sort of disappointing (at least for the route I went). But, this is a war and politics story based game. It does not dive really deep into either one which would have been more interesting, but this story comes out above average to me. I did like that the ending I got (not true ending) wasn't just a perfect ending, felt a bit more real. 6.5/10

- Characters: They are average to above average. No one is revolutionizing the JRPG or RPG formula, but I did not hate any of the main members. The side characters barely have any characterization to them, so they are whatever. Gustadolph did disappoint me though. 8/10

Negatives:
- The start of the game. It is way too slow and meandering for this to be the start of this game. I have no issue with slow, world-building games (I enjoy Trails a lot), but this game had me bored out of mind for the first few hours. This is such a bad impression, and I see why a lot of people would drop this game. One fight for the first couple hours, who came up with that.

- Voice Acting: I really have never been such a huge guy on voice acting breaking a game. But, it is so clear that the voice acting for a lot of characters (especially main characters) is just not up to par. Hurts the story and the scenes when the characters are just not performing well.

- Number of Battles: In a normal run (which you will do your first playthrough unless you purposely go for the true ending), is 20 chapters which translates to 20 battles. 20 battles in your long, TRPG. There are some mind battles which is your place to train and earn rewards, but those are not even close to a real battle that shapes the story. I did not expect this game to be overflowing with battles, but this feels like a VN with some battles along the way (especially in the beginning).

- Port: It is not terrible. I had no crashes or lag. But the controls are where the PC port falls a part when in combat. The camera mixed with keyboard and mouse controls just does not work sometimes. I would click on a space and it would not allow me, even though it should. Did not hamper my experience that much, but I get this was made with controller in mind.

A lot of negatives, but I maybe went into this with slightly different expectations then what I actually played. Maybe one day I will replay it to get the true ending, but I wish the game just had some more gameplay to it and that the story went a bit further into the intrigue of war and politics.

Symphony of War is a good game, made by clearly dedicated/passionate people but does have issues. This game is much like Fire Emblem and Ogres or other Tactical RPGs you have played. So, if you have played those then you will know generally how the actual gameplay works in this game. I give this game a 8/10 (mainly for gameplay) and some positives and neutrals + negatives down below:

Positives:

- Gameplay: I really think they nailed the actual game itself. Creating squads of heroes and soldiers then being able to see them grow more powerful throughout the game is a lot of fun. You actually need to carefully think out what units are in what squads and then how to properly utilize them. Also, there is a fair bit of customization and upgrade trees for characters, so it does feel like your characters are getting stronger and you can see actual changes in their designs. Every chapter I had a lot of fun trying to best figure out how to win while being able to hit all/most of the extra objectives (turn counters, chests, etc.)

- Graphics: The actual pixel graphics are really well done in my opinion. They are not very detailed, but I really do not think they need to be. The only slight here is when characters are talking (non-voiced FYI), a portrait comes up and it is a completely different art style. Rather weird, but it did not affect my enjoyment at all.

Neutral:

- Story (sort of): I actually enjoyed rather 70% of the story. Now that might seem rather low, but honestly a lot of the game is rather boilerplate. When it does something different it peeks my interest, but it just is not the best written game. Things happen, and then you move on. I did not want this game to be a VN with gameplay, but if you are going to have some twists and turns, you need to flesh them out a bit. There is one point where I was like "Wooo, can't wait to play next chapter for the story", but it does not carry on much after. Ending is fine, does have a cute little epilogue too.

Negatives:
- Characters (mostly): While I put the story in Neutral, the characters here just do not work for me. They are just stereotypes, but its not even like you become attached, or care, or anything really for them. There just is not enough substance to get these characters to become interesting to me. Were there some characters that I would put as a bit above average? Yea, a few. But, most just blended in and were there for the cutscenes. There are little dialogues you can have in between chapters, but a lot of them are just so rushed and do not add really anything except saying "Oh I guess these two are in love for some reason, or ooo I guess these two are angry at each other for some reason." This game does not need hours upon hours of cutscenes and dialogue between characters, but I just never got attached to any character.

- UI: It is rather rough. I have had many times where I would accidentally close a box, or accidentally open one. Make the wrong move b/c the box did not respond correctly. I had one time where I was moving a squad, but my crosshair went to the far end of the map, and I could not move it so I had to send my squad there. Cleaning this up should be a priority.

Final Thoughts:

This review may seem a bit harsh, but this game was a lot of fun for me when I was actually creating my army and controlling them in battle. I would love for another game with this type of gameplay, but perhaps with a more refined story and just some characters that are interesting. The developers should be proud of this, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in tactical RPGs.

Valhalla is an amazing Visual Novel. Set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future, you play as a bartender named Jill. And, that is all you really need to know. Make drinks and listen to your patrons. If you like VNs at all, then I highly recommend this game b/c it just is so relaxing and nice to play. Some quick positives and one slight negative.
Rating: 9/10

Positives:
- Writing: This game really has some of the best writing that I have seen in a game. Of course, this game is basically an interactive book, but the dialogue between Jill and everyone around here is such a joy to read.

- World: You learn quite a bit regarding this future city, Glitch City, that you are working in. It is such a well-crafted world without spending hours spilling out everything. You learn enough to make the world interesting, and quite frankly I would love to play another game set in Glitch City and see the city more.

- Characters: Amazing cast of characters. Even smaller characters who only appear a couple times are strong enough to leave an impression and not just blow them off as the same character you have seen in other games. Are all characters equal in strength of writing? No, and that is fine b/c the characters here really do get to shine.

- Music: Really good music. Perfect for the setting this game takes place in.

Negative:
- You will need a guide if you want all the endings. There really is no way to know what to do for an order to get one of the secret endings for characters unless you follow a guide or play through the game again. I followed a guide for most of the second half of the game b/c this game to me was just about enjoying Jill, the world, and all the amazing bar patrons and staff. So, if you want to experience all parts of the game, follow a guide.

This is another cute, quirky, "anime-aesthetic" game where everything is not how is presented at the start. This game is a rather dark story (more like stories) of a girl wanting to become a popular streamer. You play as p-chan, her producer/boyfriend/choose what she does each day. And, this is nearly perfect for what it is aiming for.

I am not a major fan of near any types of streamers, but I still have been loving this game. I really do love the portrayal of mental health, online communities, and just having to navigate a girl dreaming of blowing up from... well blowing herself up. There are many endings which really does add to the playthrough value. Highly recommend this if you have enjoyed games like DDLC and other more dark visual novel games.

9/10