Review Centre

[Emeralda]

This thread is for the sole purpose of reviewing Assassin Games. Please use the following formatting when reviewing, though if you'd like to add anything extra, feel free to do so. Replies to reviews should not be made in this thread; it is to act as a sole library/archive of reviews and thoughts about various games.
To reviewers, constructive criticism would be much appreciated, but flaming/attacking will not be tolerated. If you liked something, explain why you liked it. If you hated it, explain why and provide solutions you'd rather have seen instead.

Assassin Game: [Write down the name of the game you'd like to review.]
Host: [The host's username goes here. Please use a proper username and not a nickname.]
Story: [Rate this out of 10. 10 being the best.]
Balance: [Rate this out of 10. 10 being the best.]
System & Mechanics: [Rate this out of 10. 10 being the best.]
Overall Grade: [Rate this out of 10. 10 being the best.]
Positive Attributes:[List them.]
Negative Attributes:[List them.]
Additional Comments:
Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

[B]Assassin Game:[/B]
[B]Host:[/B]
[B]Story:[/B]
[B]Balance:[/B]
[B]System & Mechanics:[/B]
[B]Overall Grade:[/B]
[B]Positive Attributes:[/B]
[B]Negative Attributes:[/B]
[B]Additional Comments:[/B]
[B]Suggestions (If Hosted Again):[/B]

 

[raison d'etre]

Assassin Game: Valkyria Chronicles

Host: Emeralda



Story: 7 (Not well versed with the story, but the conveyance seemed fine.)

Balance: - (I won't assign a number to this; I'm not sure if I'd be a good judge of this.)

System & Mechanics: 9 (Very solid role protection system. I've learned my lesson; I will stick to my gut feeling from now on.)

Overall Execution: 8 (Wasn't alive towards the end, but as a first assassin game experience, it was fairly pleasing on the surface level. I found my role pleasing to the eye. Please note that this number doesn't include the atmosphere created by the players, or I would genuinely assign a lower number for it.)



Positive Attributes:

1. Day posts were on time, catering host despite constant last minute changes.

2. A fairly docile atmosphere to a point, but I can't tell if this is truly a positive thing. I spent half the time waiting for accusations to happen.

3. The moment the assassins were released into the game, all relationships built were effectively destroyed. A little disheartening, but at the same time wonderful. There is supposed to be doubt in an assassin game, and that's exactly what happened. Vouching meant nothing then, but then again, vouching seems to be a poor technique to win a game.



Negative Attributes:

1. Communication was a little hard, it fell flat the moment the assassins were unleashed into the game. But I presume that the point of that was to create doubt and chaos, so I suppose this could be perceived positively as well.

2. Dying discussion thread after the second day and a lack of accusations. Tried it on the first day and it was fun until resolved, but playing the devil's advocate is a tragedy if it's the only way to keep a discussion thread alive on a daily basis.

3. A lot of drama (after my death) over the death of one of the players. Taking things a little too crazily or seriously, maybe? I do believe that personal relationships should be kept afar from assassin games, otherwise you're just screwing with the game as a whole. (This is more of a player issue, I would imagine. Not the host's fault.)

4. The inactivity of quite a number of players.



Additional Comments:

1. More liveliness, like on the first day.

2. The host and the hosting itself was perfectly fine.



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

None for now.

 

[♣Kaname Madoka♣]

Assassin Game: [Write down the name of the game you'd like to review.] VCAG

Host: [The host's username goes here. Please use a proper username and not a nickname.] Emeralda



Story: [Rate this out of 10. 10 being the best.] 9

Balance: [Rate this out of 10. 10 being the best.] 8

System & Mechanics: [Rate this out of 10. 10 being the best.] 9

Overall Execution: [Rate this out of 10. 10 being the best.] 10



Positive Attributes:[List them.] fun, well planned, good story



Negative Attributes:[List them.] Mystic killed Tsukiko, didn't know who the assassins were at first



Additional Comments: I really liked it!



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):give Tsukiko an Op role!

 

[VivaLaDementia]

Assassin Game: Valkyria Chronicles AG

Host: Emeralda



Story: 8/10

Balance: 10/10

System & Mechanics: 7/10

Overall Execution: 9/10



Positive Attributes: Daily posts were done very nicely, made it seem like something straight out of the game. It was clear the host put effort into it, I only wish I understood the game more to have had a better understanding of the posts.

Can't ask for a more balanced game, everyone had a shot at winning.



Negative Attributes: I didn't see all the roles, but it seemed like the game was a bit slow paced. I can understand pulling back on abilities, but I think its one of the reasons people stopped posting after awhile.



Additional Comments: Posting was weakened after the first day or two, then was brought back briefly. This had nothing to do with the host, thats why I don't consider it a negative attribute.



Suggestions (If Hosted Again): Though the Black Rebels as a second rolesheet prevents role gathering, it basically made the Black Rebels untraceable unless they screwed up themselves. I think thats why the game got so close to the end. Its a personal choice with benefits and negatives to both sides, so there is no real "good" answer.

 

[Misaka Mikoto]

Assassin Game: Valkyria Chronicles AG

Host: Emeralda



Story: 9/10

Balance: 10/10

System & Mechanics: 8/10

Overall Execution: 9/10



Positive Attributes:

~Daily posts are detailed and done nicely...and on time

~Balanced Factions

~some OPed roles... that speaks pwnage...



Negative Attributes:

~mostly the activity of the thread, after the numbers dwindled but meh... it was bound to happen...



Additional Comments:

~I kinda like the system of killing the leads...

~also the dual role thing



Suggestions (If Hosted Again): N/A

 

[Hadriel]

Assassin Game: Persona 3: Memento Mori AG (Cycle 2)

Host: PiFace314



Story: 10/10

Balance: 8/10

System & Mechanics: 8/10

Overall Grade: 8/10



Positive Attributes:

The Day Posts were engaging. They weren't just an update on what happened. They ensnared us and left us wanting for more. There was a lot of suspense and tension leading up to the Day Post, and it was because they were just so damn fine. Breaking the fourth wall, putting in personal comments in the form of Victoria's speech, changing from comedy to gore quickly, having admittedly touching moments; It was excellent. Never have there been Day Posts of finer quality that I have seen.

Changes to the game meant that it was unpredictable and fun.

Very unique system and mechanics.

Every player was important due to group abilities and the necessity of linking to group up.

A lot of emphasis was on cooperation. By ourselves, human's skills were rubbish, and only when we grouped up did our attacks actually hold some weight. It was a good test of whether humans could work together, and not an individual game.

Player-hopping side role Pharos was a real shocker. When I got him I was like ;omg;



Negative Attributes:

The systems and mechanics were very rarely used this game. In the end it was all about repeatedly attacking others with your basic skills.

Too much of an info-gathering game. I would have liked to see more actual debates on the discussion thread. Pretty much every debate ended with "PM me your rolesheet and I'll be satisfied".

Some errors on PiFace's part, leading to epic amounts of discrepancy-induced confusion (for me at least).

I felt that it was theoretically incredibly difficult for humans to win. I mean, you know there's a bunch of Guardians/Strega, but you can't just kill all of them because killing too many Guardians will cause Nyx to appear or something. You have to actually find out who the specific person is before you can ascertain whether killing him would stop Nyx or not. It's pretty uncharacteristic of a true Assassin Game where victory = killing all baddies, but since it's part of the system and mechanics I won't complain too much.





Additional Comments:

Don't be harsh on yourself. This iteration of this game was equally as good as the last one. I enjoyed myself, although I did get a bit out of hand. It was interesting probing other people and rofling when they faked roles wrongly.



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

Nothing much. It was good.

Oh yeah, tell us clearly that Nyx is a woman. I swear I didn't know until just now.

 

[Crestham]

Assassin Game: P3 MM AG 2nd Cycle

Host: PiFace314



Story: 8/10

Balance: 7/10

System & Mechanics: 9/10

Overall Grade: 8/10



Positive Attributes:

The linking system was well tied-in with the LP and SP system, once again

Role protection screwed me over >_>

Good way to put a twist on killing Shuji Itsuki: Pharos



Negative Attributes:

I just noticed the small design that encouraged role-gathering (group skills)

Inactives, though that wasn't the host's fault.



Additional Comments:

Overall it was pretty good but the previous one had more discussion XD though I don't wanna point fingers or anything lol, but it was fun. But the passing around of Pharos was kinda screwed up OTL. Again, wasn't your fault :3



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

Go with what you can think of, your creativity astounds me~

 

[Wolfnagi]

Assassin Game: Persona 3: Memento Mori AG (Cycle 2 on MT)

Host: PiFace314



Story: 8/10

Balance: 9/10

System & Mechanics: 10/10

Overall Grade: 9/10



Positive Attributes:

-Just like last Memento Mori AG, this is well made xD

-The Day Post is okay, but like the last cycle better xD

- People above me has stated



Negative Attributes:

-Inactives.... (guess all game have this...)

-How the hell does you formed a group, anyway!!!!!



Additional Comments:

Doesn't have much to say but,

The original is better......

Nevertheless, this one is also good xD



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

Well, make sure that Pharos doesn't self-suicide again!!!!!!

 

[VivaLaPony Onee-chan]

Assassin Game: Valkyria Chronicles

Host: Emeralda



Story: 9

Balance: 8

System & Mechanics: 10

Overall Grade: 9



Positive Attributes:

Best role protection ever for bad guys

Ok balanced, if abilities is used correctly, but investigate was getting kinda useless towards the end, when you know mostly everyone except some valkyrurs.

Nicely written day posts

The 3rd bad guy in our group had an amazing ability



Negative Attributes:

Misunderstanding about Cornelias immortality when Welkin was a bad guy

Investigate got tad bit useless



Additional Comments:

Good choice of music to the day posts <3



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

Make sure that the bad guys have more then 1 kill ability, etc a bad guy with investigate got a 10% chance to kill the target



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Assassin Game: Persona 3 Memento Mori

Host: Piface314



Story: 10

Balance: 6

System & Mechanics: 8

Overall Grade: 8.5



Positive Attributes:

Good linking system

Great variety in abilities



Negative Attributes:

Everything was useless until my rank 4 ability

I wasnt having a hard time finding hints on humans in day post, but guardians and Strega? no chance...



Additional Comments:

Update the shop sometimes :3



Suggestions (If Hosted Again): N/A

 

[VivaLaDementia]

Assassin Game: Persona 3 Memento Mori

Host: Piface314



Story: 9

Balance: 5

System & Mechanics: 7

Overall Grade: 7



Positive Attributes:

Daily posts were written nicely for the most part: It wasn't obvious who the baddies were.

Abilities were interesting and so was the ranking system, ignoring the balance issues.



Negative Attributes:

Linking: Linking, in theory is good, however it also lets players do random searches of others to find out who is good or bad, based off LP. It can easily be abused by the goodies to find the baddies, luckily it wasn't. You should keep that in mind if you plan to use the system again.



Additional Comments:

Game wasn't fair to the baddies imo, they didn't have a real shot of winning.

Also, take your time with sending out pms. I heard there were a few errors that caused false mistrust among players. So next time, just relax and take it slowly.

Also, consider changing the shop up a bit. I completely forgot it existed until after the game ended, so it showed how little impact it really had.



Suggestions (If Hosted Again): Think about the linking system and give the baddies a better shot at winning. Besides that, it was a unique change from the normal AG system, good job.

 

[godofwar7]

Assassin Game: Persona 3: Memento Mori

Host: Piface314



Story: 8

Balance: 8

System & Mechanics: 7

Overall Grade: 8



Positive Attributes:

The Assassination website was up at the start of Day 1 this time.

All guardians knew each other from the start.

It's the same type of game as the first cycle.

The shop. When your abilities aren't enough you can buy something.



Negative Attributes:

Yuuki

Frap

Tsu

The three inactive guardians...

Day 1 was not extended despite technical difficulties to multiple players on entering the site.

Day 2 was extra long. Could of used that time for Day 1...

Day posts take 5+ hours to come up completely. (I'm asleep at the time so it doesn't really affect me)

Redundant Abilities makes ranking up rather pointless.

(Example: Rank 2 Ability: Megido- Does 10 LP Almighty Damage to 4 people. Requires 20 SP.

Rank 3 Ability: Megidola- Does 25 LP Almighty Damage to 4 people. Requires 50 SP.

Rank 4 Ability: Megidolaon- Does 50 LP Almighty Damage to 4 people. Requires 100 SP.

They are the exact same really in damage and SP used. 10 Megido = 4 Megidola = 2 Megidalaon)

Only 1 STREGA member. At least make it 2 to be fair(to them and the Guardians).

The shop stayed the same throughout. And items(medicine and snuff soul) were nerfed too much from the first game considering the costs are the same.

Role-gathering once again.

The shop. Gives an unfair advantage to the Humans. A limit on each item is needed. If the humans had all bought maragi or mabufu on Day 1, they could forego all linking and just rolegather before wiping out the guardians despite the fact that Day 1 and Day 2 should be to the Guardians advantage.



Additional Comments:

I'm neutral about faction colors. I don't like them, but I don't hate them.

Unlike what MW says, the guardians really did stand a chance, but only if certain members weren't inactive... Even though they came online...



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

Don't. I think we've had enough. Time to rack your brain on a fresh idea. :]

 

[Hadriel]

Assassin Game: Tsundere vs Yandere AG

Host: Wolfnagi



Story: 6 (The Grammar Nazi in me wants to give this a 2 or 3)

Balance: 5

System & Mechanics: 5.5

Overall Grade: 5.5



Positive Attributes:

Interesting concept, having Tsunderes and Yanderes fight each other.

Kami Forces was a surprising addition to the game.

Can't really complain much about the system & mechanics. It was simple. Scratch that. I've got complaints.

Interesting abilities



Negative Attributes:

Once again, the presence of "unblockable" attacks and supposed invincibility. That's just stupid. Keep it simple. The presence of such abilities only serves to confuse players and gives your mechanics a lower score.

Epic imbalance towards the Kami Forces. We had too many kill abilities and one too many members. In a 25 player game there should only be four assassins, not five.

Day posts were mediocre, though the truckload of grammatical errors irritated my Grammar Nazi blood.

Vague assassin goal, and in the end it wasn't even followed. We were supposed to kill all girls to win, which in itself was heavily unfair towards us, although our imbalance more than made up for it, but in the end you ended the game with 2 assassins and 2 civilians remaining. Why?

You didn't even tell us what the Tsundere and Yandere goals were. Did you achieve normal victory if you wiped out the assassins, and achieve ultimate victory if you killed the other faction as well?

Expanding on that, many of the mechanics were not mentioned at all, like how, if I died, leadership of the assassins would be passed on to someone else.

Some abilities were heavily OPed and were vague to top it off. Reality Warping? What are we supposed to do with that?

Some players didn't contribute much to the AG, disappointingly.

Negotiation with the GM? That's just wrong and illegal.

Epic bias. You know what I'm walking about, Wolfie.

The day always ended late, and the day posts were always horrendously delayed. I know your internet has problems, but you could at least have taken countermeasures or even predicted this kind of situation.

The whole thing basically felt very amateur. I know that this is a basic framework and you intend to improve on it, but for Chrissake put a bit more dedication, will you?



Additional Comments:

Don't be a biased host.

And make sure the day ends on time.

Don't use unblockable skills or invincibility ever again. It's too confusing and self-contradictory.



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

I've already expounded on this above.

 

[VivaLaDementia]

Assassin Game: Tsundere vs Yandere AG

Host: Wolfnagi



Story: 6/10

Balance: 7.5/10

System & Mechanics: 7/10

Overall Grade: 7/10 (Decent)



Positive Attributes:

- Fairly decent balancing: I know people have been complaining but I honestly don't see it too much. We killed 3/5 assassins in 3 days - If we didn't go crazy on day one and actually used the lynch properly, we could have won this game just as easily. Thats how its suppose to be, in the end it could have been anybody's game.

- Kami Force: Though many of us suspected an outside force as the assassins, I doubt anyone suspected this. Great idea and made the game enjoyable to see Keima capturing the hearts of girls xD





Negative Attributes:

- Semi-Run-Away Host: Though not your fault completely, it really hurt your game.

- Players Activity: Again, not totally your fault, but it hurt the game.

- Bias Actions



Additional Comments:

Story - Interesting concept with decent daily posts, but there was room to improve

Balance - The Game was not that unbalanced, I've seen far worse.

System & Mechanics - Again, it had a decent set-up. I would have given you a higher grade if you explained things more clearly (Like Goals for example)

Overall Grade - Decent game that was enjoyable. Problems with your internet + not enough time put into the rolesheets/front page really hurt you.



Suggestions (If Hosted Again): Make sure you have the time for the game. You could have done a much better job with this game if you put more time into it.

 

[VivaLaPony Onee-chan]

Assassin Game: MSvsMS

Host: Graham Aker



Story: 8.5

Balance: 7

System & Mechanics: 9

Overall Grade: 8.5



Positive Attributes:

Great day post

Interesting plot

Weapon systems /w energy regen

Lots of good discussion

Negative Attributes:

Lynch system

OP'd assassin

Writing Suzaku Kururugi wrong in my role sheet

Geass wasnt a passive

Additional Comments:

Lynch system could need a remake other then that, it works



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

I would like to see how this game would have been with 2 assassins with less power. ^^

 

[VivaLaDementia]

Assassin Game: MSvsMS

Host: Graham Aker



Story: 8

Balance: 8

System & Mechanics: 9

Overall Grade: 8.5



Positive Attributes:

Good day post - For the most part is was good, but people kept telling me you were making it obvious I was Lelouch in the daily post.

Interesting plot

Weapon systems /w energy regen

Lots of good discussion

Lynch system - Really good idea and honestly something I hope to see more of in the future. My only suggestion is to do something like Allow tie = no lynch one Day 1, but from then on out do something like tie = 1 dies randomly or both die. Once you get rid of that loophole from the start, it works flawlessly.



Negative Attributes:

Host effort - The only thing I can honestly say negative about this game, is how you handled it. You had a solid start and I know your a first time host, so don't take this too far to heart, but you need to give yourself more time to do a better job in the game.

• Less posting! You kept hinting at things when you really should have left it up to the players. If they screw up, its there fault!
  
• You should never assume people have contacted each other. Razy might have been inactive for all I knew. Never PM more then one person the same PM. With the virus infected PM on Day 2(?), you pm'ed all 9 people and they all knew who they were. Use BCC! It is literally made for that!
  
• Take more time to format your posts, front page, and PMs. I am not a huge grammar nazi, but there is always a degree for me.
  

Day 5 WTF - The no lynch + suddenly 2 extra assassins? No. Just no.



Additional Comments:

OP'd assassin - Technically it worked out, but as Avan said I would have rather seen 2-3 less powerful assassins. However, it worked out good this time.



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

Make sure you have more time to properly format and type out your posts/pms. Stop spamming your own game and stop dropping hints. Let players do as they want.



Overall - You had a really, really nice set-up and it was very refreshing to see originally brought to an AG for once. You did good and should be proud of it, you just need to work on managing the game once its started. Very good job for a first time host.

 

[VivaLaDementia]

Assassin Game: Touhou AG

Host: Miki Sayaka



Story: 9

Balance: 6

System & Mechanics: 8

Overall Grade: 7.5



Positive Attributes:

Great daily posts - good quality and wasn't too revealing.

Assassins were random - Kept people on their toes until you revealed Meimu as one of the assassins



Negative Attributes:

Rate of Deaths - Should have either reduced the HP amounts or increase the damages that attacks could do, so the first few days weren't so dry.

Unbalanced Assassins - We never stood a real chance, even more so since regular users had more powerful attacks then us until we were basically dead. However, if we are basically dead, it means they know we are assassins most of the time. Add more assassins or make the assassins stronger.



Additional Comments:

It was fun, though unbalanced and slow at first. Some minor changes and I think you could use this system in another AG and it will work nicely.



Suggestions (If Hosted Again):

Make more assassins or strong assassins.

Fix the damage-to-HP ratio so more things occur within the first days.

Trust in how you set-up the game originally, Do not modify goals or conditions mid-game since it only screws with the players. Most time it is better if you don't do anything at all~

 

[Pimp]

Assassin Game: Game for Kings
Host: Geoff
Story: 8 out of 10 it wasnt detailed but it got enough through to not hurt the game play
Balance: 10 or 10 everyone had a shot to do somthing big.
System & Mechanics: 8 of 10 Some hiccups in the system
Overall Grade: 9 out of 10
Positive Attributes: Easy game play for Noobs and experienced alike
Negative Attributes: Not all things worked out how they were meant to
Additional Comments: I think it was fun and with a few changes it could be better.
Suggestions (If Hosted Again): Work on the Checking system

 

[Placa]

Assassin Game: Game for Kings
Host: Geoff
Story: 7/10 I'm not exactly sure what the story was. That may have been the intention to add an enigmatic atmosphere.
Balance: 10/10 No one was too powerful
System and Mechanics: 9/10 I'm sure it would have executed better had there not have been so many inactives
Overall Grade: 9/10
Positive Traits: The Check system was interesting and the game itself was that far off from a simple AG so new players don't have to worry too much
Negative Traits: Oh, the inactives.... -.- Make too many checks and it could be taken advantage of from the baddies
Additional Comments: No game will be perfect but this game had little flaws that can easily be worked upon if done again
Suggestions (if hosted again): Limit the checks someone can make

 

[Nightmare Gear]

Assassin Game: Game for Kings
Host: Geoff
Story: n/a
Balance: balance game, goodies had an edge but assassin side needed a bit more help.
System & Mechanics: there were loop holes in abilities that let ppl avoid some effects. Like never lying. lol
Overall Grade: 7/10
Positive Attributes: made ppl get into game with the no PMing rule, players had to risk a lot to win.
Negative Attributes: none, maybe game just requires no lurking.
Additional Comments: Geoff puts his best effort in all the AGs he makes, its worth trying out his games.

 

[Sanae]

Assassin Game: Game For Kings
Host: Geoff
Story: I would say it was a 10 considering the theme of the game.. Went well with a casual game of chess.
Balance: Not sure tbh.. I mean, yes, the King and Queen were outnumbered, but the Aces could be used to their advantage, so.. 5 (I have no clue)?
System & Mechanics: 10 Well done considering there was no PM allowed.
Overall Grade: 8/10
Positive Attributes: Geoff really put the mention system to use. Really love the highlighting in red or blue for lies.. Really went well to replace PMing. Allowing pawns to upgrade made the game funner for them..
Negative Attributes:
[List them.] Can't think of any tbh...
Additional Comments: Can't think of anything.. I think Goeff made good with what was available to him ^^
Suggestions (If Hosted Again): Hmmm, maybe another baddie role? I'm not sure..