... is going to be an irregular series of game reviews/first impressions.
HuniePop.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fth04.deviantart.net%2Ffs70%2FPRE%2Fi%2F2014%2F258%2F0%2Fd%2Fhuniepop_title_screen_by_huniepot-d7zb412.jpg&hash=1be564f1ffcc35993f5cf8d15fbf45c33c029842)
When this came up in my Steam queue I immediately clicked "Not interested." Anime dating sim? Ugh. :rolleyes:
Then I read and watched comments about it that made it out to be a bit weird and bizarre, so I got intrigued.
The story.
You're a nameless, faceless protagonist (you can choose to be straight male or homosexual female), who is socially awkward, feels uncomfortable around girls and watches porn a lot. One night, while hanging out in a bar, you meet a girl who turns out to be a love fairy. She takes you under her wing to teach you how to get any girl. You then proceed to try and get into the panties of all attractive females in town (of which there's a total of eight).
The gameplay.
The game consists of two main parts: the dating bit and the match-three puzzle bit.
The dating bit is very simple, even by dating sim standards. You have two currencies: Munie (=money) and Hunie (=honey). Hunie is needed to upgrade your base multipliers for the puzzle part. It's earned by talking to girls - asking them about themselves (height, weight, cup size, birth date, hobby, occupation), and answering their questions about whether you remember their data. Additionally, you can ply them with gifts that you buy with Munie. Each girl has her preferred range of gifts. The "unique" gift type for each character will increase the Hunie multiplier for conversations permanently. Normal gifts net you bonus Hunie, unlock hairstyles for the girls, and can spawn you "date gifts" that have special effects in the puzzle section.
Additionally, you can buy the girls food (to be able to talk longer during a meeting) and, if you're in the right spot at the right time, drinks that increase the conversation multiplier for Hunie.
The puzzle game.
When you invite a girl on a date, it's resolved as a puzzle game. To have a successful date you must reach a certain score with a limited number of moves. It's a basic "match three" kind of game. There are certain special tokens:
- Passion increases your score multiplier
- Sensitivity gives you points to use your date gifts
- Joy tokens give you extra moves
Each girl has its preferred date token (romance, flirt, sex, talent) which increases that type's multiplier, and a least preferred one, which has a score penalty. Additionally, broken hearts, if matched, hurt your score.
Date gifts will replace broken heart tokens with others, increase the chance of certain tokens spawning, or score an entire line. Depending on who you date, different gifts may make sense.
At he end of each date you get Munie (more, if successful). For each successful date, the girl will send you an increasingly revealing photo. If you succeed with the fourth date, and it was night time, the girl will come over to have sex. It's another puzzle round, but this time, you have unlimited moves, no negative tokens, and you have to increase the score till the moaning girl reaches her climax (the score will decay quickly if you're slow). On success you will receive a few revealing pictures from her (with cum splatter, if you play the uncensored version).
The required score for successful dates increases at each try. So even if you fail, the next date will be harder. It's therefore important to increase your Hunie between dates to increase your base multipliers and buy gifts to gain date gifts.
The verdict.
The puzzle section is competent, and its constantly increasing difficulty level will provide a decent challenge for some time. The writing can be a bit witty at times.
The dating part is pretty basic and not much of a challenge. Earn money Munie, buy gifts, talk very basic stuff. It's eventually about unlocking the last hairstyles and costumes for each girl.
However, this is one creepy ass game. It starts with your "HunnieBee," a smart phone that lets you track where your romantic interests are at any time, so you can meet them immediately. Yay, stalking! And you get paid for your dates, even if they suck! Yay, whoring!
The girls are from porn clichés 101: the lusty teacher, the bratty raver girl, the romantic student, the single mom, the porn actress ... their personalities are about as three dimensional as their images.
You use gifts to earn points with them, and in conversations you say what they want to hear to gain more points - the single mom is looking for someone stable who is down to earth and responsible, the porn actress wants someone naughty, the yoga teacher someone spiritual and positive ... though there are some hidden bonus characters to increase playing time.
As said, the protagonist has neither face, nor personality. All we know is that (s)he wants to get laid and will go to great lengths to achieve that goal. The player fills in the blanks.
At the same time, it feels there's an underhanded commentary here. Yes, you can get the girls in bed, but each time will be harder than the previous one, even with ones you've had before. It's as if they're saying that if you build a relationship on sex it's getting ever harder to maintain it once you run out of things to say. And once you've unlocked all hairstyles and outfits for a girl there's no reason to see them again except to get paid for dates.
Not to mention that it will become ever harder to make a girl reach orgasmic bliss, because every time you bed a girl, the required score for finishing goes up. A sign of the character getting jaded and bored with sex?
Or me reading too much into things? :P
Anyways, the puzzle component is decent and will be a good challenge for a while. Though unless you're looking for scantily clad anime chicks to go along with it, Bejeweled 3 might be a better purchase.
Interesting review for a seldom reviewed genre. :)
Object to this being called an anime dating sim; its a western game, with the obscenity, laviciousness and revolting dialogue to match. It seeks to mimic what is basest about a visual novel, without coming close to the same quality of writing or art assets. (As neither the art nor writing of japanese visual novels is typically that high, this is a very damning statement indeed.)
*backs away slowly*
Jesus Tittyfucking Christ.
Addendum: the difficulty of the puzzle section caps off after all. The end game therefore becomes boring - with the right bonus items it becomes an exercise of unlocking all questions/outfits for the girls. Also, it appears I missed a chance to unlock one of the "hidden" opponents.
However, as the game hinges on the puzzle mechanic, and at max level it provides only a small challenge, I would recommend to buy this only at 75% discount, unless you're REALLY interested in the subject matter.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 03, 2015, 01:36:55 AM
Jesus Tittyfucking Christ.
Looking forward to your review. :D
For a live gameplay demonstration I recommend Jesse Cox' video on this. :P
Quote from: Syt on February 02, 2015, 04:16:19 AM
It's earned by talking to girls - asking them about themselves (height, weight, cup size, birth date, hobby, occupation), and answering their questions about whether you remember their data.
FYI, I have found that this doesn't work as well in real life as video games make it seem.
Well, I learned something today. God knows who I'll unlearn it.
Why can't these things just be dialog? Seems cheesy as hell even if I was in the market for porn games right now.
Make the game where you are some badass ladykiller with good dialog and hot sex. How hard could it be? Ah well.
Or maybe that is not the need here, it is about being able to wank while playing bejeweled.
Quote from: Valmy on February 03, 2015, 05:23:43 PM
Why can't these things just be dialog? Seems cheesy as hell even if I was in the market for porn games right now.
Make the game where you are some badass ladykiller with good dialog and hot sex. How hard could it be? Ah well.
Or maybe that is not the need here, it is about being able to wank while playing bejeweled.
You already have a working title, it seems.
Quote from: Jacob on February 03, 2015, 05:26:32 PM
You already have a working title, it seems.
Eh the guys at Bioware are better at that sort of thing. Maybe I should forward this title suggestion over the Neil's friends.
So a competent puzzler with appealing visuals for almost everyone in CdM's sig? :hmm: :lol:
I have no idea why he put in the Axis of Anime. Probably because he's mean.
Quote from: Razgovory on February 03, 2015, 07:18:04 PM
I have no idea why he put in the Axis of Anime. Probably because he's mean.
They deserve the shame, unlike the other axes in his sig.
Quote from: Valmy on February 03, 2015, 05:23:43 PM
Why can't these things just be dialog? Seems cheesy as hell even if I was in the market for porn games right now.
Make the game where you are some badass ladykiller with good dialog and hot sex. How hard could it be? Ah well.
Or maybe that is not the need here, it is about being able to wank while playing bejeweled.
Yeah I don't really understand that at all. But then I don't really understand being attracted to cute images.
In the vein of what you are saying, there was a recent gay kickstarter game released that is just dialogue and hot sex. I had to support it. -_-
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 03, 2015, 08:59:26 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on February 03, 2015, 07:18:04 PM
I have no idea why he put in the Axis of Anime. Probably because he's mean.
They deserve the shame, unlike the other axes in his sig.
I don't even like Anime. In fact, I actively dislike it.
Quote from: Razgovory on February 03, 2015, 10:34:26 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 03, 2015, 08:59:26 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on February 03, 2015, 07:18:04 PM
I have no idea why he put in the Axis of Anime. Probably because he's mean.
They deserve the shame, unlike the other axes in his sig.
I don't even like Anime. In fact, I actively dislike it.
Re-read your post. ;)
Quote from: Valmy on February 03, 2015, 05:23:43 PM
Why can't these things just be dialog? Seems cheesy as hell even if I was in the market for porn games right now.
I guess it's more akin to the old strip poker games you could get on early computers. Succeed at a game (poker, match 3, and wasn't there a strip chess?) to unlock nudity. This one has a different paint job and some very simple resource management, but the basic idea is the same. As wanking material these games seem silly, because why go through this when there's a whole internet that will cater to your every whim within seconds? Unless the tension of having to do something to get to the bewbs does it for you.
Where are the panzers? :huh:
Quote from: Valmy on February 03, 2015, 05:23:43 PM
Why can't these things just be dialog? Seems cheesy as hell even if I was in the market for porn games right now.
is about being able to wank while playing bejeweled.
That's most visual novels ever. Just click, click, click.
And they often have hands free options
Quote from: Tyr on February 04, 2015, 02:59:31 AM
Quote from: Valmy on February 03, 2015, 05:23:43 PM
Why can't these things just be dialog? Seems cheesy as hell even if I was in the market for porn games right now.
is about being able to wank while playing bejeweled.
That's most visual novels ever. Just click, click, click.
And they often have hands free options
I watched one of Jesse Cox's takes on it the other day (a dating sim in a school for kids with handicaps :bleeding: ), and that one had *one* decision to take in 45 minutes of gameplay :lol: :bleeding:
If anything I prefer stuff like Princess Maker 2 or Long Live the Queen that at least have some gameplay mechanics beyond walls of text with the occasional branch. If I want poorly written erotic stories I would go to asstr.org.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 03, 2015, 10:47:21 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on February 03, 2015, 10:34:26 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 03, 2015, 08:59:26 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on February 03, 2015, 07:18:04 PM
I have no idea why he put in the Axis of Anime. Probably because he's mean.
They deserve the shame, unlike the other axes in his sig.
I don't even like Anime. In fact, I actively dislike it.
Re-read your post. ;)
Fucking pronouns, why do they elude me?
Quote from: Syt on February 04, 2015, 03:08:15 AM
I watched one of Jesse Cox's takes on it the other day (a dating sim in a school for kids with handicaps :bleeding: ), and that one had *one* decision to take in 45 minutes of gameplay :lol: :bleeding:
What you refer to is Katawa Shoujo- which is an excellent game, and absolutely the best English language original visual novel. It is also free, and thus highly recommended. Its development was a prolonged labor of love.
Quote from: 11B4V on February 04, 2015, 01:49:14 AM
Where are the panzers? :huh:
They're being painted pink by schoolgirls.
Where are the Kaigun ships?
Quote from: Tyr on February 04, 2015, 02:59:31 AM
That's most visual novels ever. Just click, click, click.
Well I guess I was thinking a dialog game with actual tough choices to make. Well ok Bioware game choices to make. Like the Dragon Age without all the pesky battles and adventuring.
Quote from: Valmy on February 04, 2015, 01:41:47 PM
Quote from: Tyr on February 04, 2015, 02:59:31 AM
That's most visual novels ever. Just click, click, click.
Well I guess I was thinking a dialog game with actual tough choices to make. Well ok Bioware game choices to make. Like the Dragon Age without all the pesky battles and adventuring.
So, Telltale Games.
Quote from: Syt on February 04, 2015, 01:56:10 PM
Quote from: Valmy on February 04, 2015, 01:41:47 PM
Quote from: Tyr on February 04, 2015, 02:59:31 AM
That's most visual novels ever. Just click, click, click.
Well I guess I was thinking a dialog game with actual tough choices to make. Well ok Bioware game choices to make. Like the Dragon Age without all the pesky battles and adventuring.
So, Telltale Games.
The Telltale games I played had lots of traditional inventory puzzles and I don't think that is what I am talking about. Which Telltale games are you thinking of?
Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us etc.
Quote from: Syt on February 04, 2015, 02:23:15 PM
Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us etc.
Ah. Never played them.
You should. Those two are both good. :)
I've started playing Apotheon. The story: Zeus hates mankind, so he's withdrawing all divine favor from the mortals, leaving them out to die. A mortal, Nick Andros Nikandros is chosen by Hera to ascend Olympus and bash Zeus on the head to set things right.
It's a platformer, with interconnected large levels, with a hub area with shops from where you reach the other gods' realms. You then go out and seek to impress the deities. Demeter sends you to look for her daughter Persephone in Hades, Artemis asks you to accomplish some tasks (remove Satyrs from her forest, kill a Chimera and a wolf - before she plays a "hunting game" with you), etc.
Combat is oddly similar to Dark Souls. A plethora of ranged and melee weapons appropriate for Greek times are available. You can level up your weapons skills and upgrade your armor. You use left trigger for your off hand item (usually a shield), right trigger for your main hand. You have to learn the length of each weapon's animation to time them right, while at the same time blocking/dodging enemies' attacks and learning their patterns (so far it's easier and more forgiving than Dark Souls, though, not least because you find plenty health restoration).
The main selling point has to be the art style, though, which is fashioned after ancient Greek pottery and looks like paper silhouette theater. 90 minutes in I'm having a good time. Also, maybe the only game on Steam to feature naked chicks and erect dicks. :P
Quote from: garbon on February 04, 2015, 03:01:29 PM
You should. Those two are both good. :)
I loved the Wolf Among Us myself, great little yarn.
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Vietnam '65 is out for €8.99 (I recovered €2.25 by selling three Steam trading cards I got from the game for ridiculous prices).
It's not a game that sims a historical battle but rather generates a random map on the Ia Drang river in which you have to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese villagers.
You start off with an HQ (I name mine Languish Base) on the Eastern side of the map. This is where your supply and reinforcements come in, and where you heal your troops. You can build one fire base that also provides supply to your troops (plus forward bases that don't create as much supply).
There are ten villages on the map, with the flag indicating how much they support you, ranging from NVA to VC, to South Vietnam and US. You win hearts and minds by defeating VC and NVA forces.
Your main unit is infantry (view radius 1 hex, good combat strength). Your scouts are Green Berets. They have a higher view radius but are more vulnerable in combat, and they can train ARVN units. Engineers build roads, clear jungle and build bases. Hueys and Chinooks ferry troops and supplies. Arty can shell enemies from bases. Additionally there's Cobras (mobile arty), tanks (against NVA), APCs (ferrying troops and supplies). Also, you can call in air strikes and supply air drops. Supply is crucia. Units can only operate for a few turns before they need to be resupplied. This can be done by returning to the fire base or HQ, or by sending supplies by air.
All those units cost political capital. You earn capital by killing the enemy. Which is the crux of the game. There are several invisible Ho Chi Minh trails on the map that spawn VC units that try to influence villages, set up anti air ambushes or mine roads and places near villages. NVA will come from the Western map edge (=Cambodia) and try to set up bases, ambush US units or attack US bases. If the H&M score drops for three turns in a row, the NVA will launch an offensive to destroy your forces.
You must search and destroy them. Villagers may help – every couple turns you can enter a village trying to get intelligence (if they want to cooperate, better chance with ARVN units).
Other ways to deplete capital is losing units (huge hit), supplying units (a key feature of the game) and flying around with your choppers. And on top you lose points by default every turn. So you have to make sure to deliver results. Just sitting in bases or villages will get you nowhere.
So that brings me to this AAR. I did a test run to get a general idea of the gameplay – the interface feels clunky. Occasionally I wanted to click "skip turn" but instead the game gave a movement order. And I feel sometimes clicks don't "take", especially when deselecting units. You can tell this game was designed with tablets in mind.
Also, the sound is lacking in variety. Unfortunately, turning it off is not an option, because then you might miss status messages ("Village uncooperative"). A popup with results would be really helpful. A Vietnam-themed playlist (plenty on Spotify) is recommended.
A lot of the game is keeping the supply flowing to your units in an effective fashion, so if managing that isn't your thing, then you should skip this game. Movement (without Huey) is slow and supplies quickly depleted.
Turn 1
So, this is the Languish Sector, commanded by Gen. Sytmoreland:
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Villages have been named after the homes of a few Languishites.
It's not looking too bad. My previous game had more jungle, with 4 villages South of the river and in jungle under almost constant attack from VC. I think I will create the fire base in the Baltimore/Texas/Ohio triangle, with an FoB in the London/Hong Kong/Vancouver/New York area.
I buy an additional infantry and Huey to increase the feet on the ground.
I ferry out Infantry to Kentucky, Hong Kong, Vancouver and New York. Unfortunately, there's no new intel, or the villages are uncooperative (I think the game starts without VC/NVA on the board?). I move out my engineer as well so he can create the FB over West. The Berets are going to check the jungle North of the main base.
So the situation after turn 1 is this:
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I will use the strategic map for screenshots mostly, though. You can't name units, and with choppers it's hard to keep track of them, but with ground units it's easier to assign names. :P
Turn 5.
The fire base is built, and a Huey is carrying in the arty.
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The people of London have told Lt. De Money about VC activity in the jungle North. Unless the VC engage, though, it's likely that I'll lose them in the jungle.
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I've bought a Cobra, plus another Inf/Huey to keep the East locked down.
Turn 6.
Charlie closes in on London. Lt. De Money engages. VC cadre withdraws, but our unit is wounded. I'll have to bring it back to Languish Base to heal up.
Turn 8
Infantry sent to gather intelligence in Hong Kong. Ran into VC. Instead of calling in the Cobra, infantry engaged and was wounded. VC disappeared. Reports speak of 3 VC and 2 NVA units operating in our sector.
Situation Turn 10:
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Both infantry units have healed at Languish Base. I have two units combing the jungle near London, and the engineers clearing the area, so choppers can pick up people if need be.
Intel from Vancouver revealed an NVA unit operating two hexes from our Fire Base. Artillery took care of them.
Turn 12
One infantry had to go step into a minefield. Yay. A Huey sent to pick them up was attacked by an RPG and had t go in for repairs.
Turn 13
Almost out of political capital, but I finally catch the VC/NVA operating near London!
Unfortunately, the NVA attacks my Fire Base and I have to evac an infantry unit back to HQ.
Well, I suppose I can at least bring back the infantry units from the jungle near London.
Any drag marks?
Situation Turn 23
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Rather screwed. I've been chasing VC for a while, losing time because I had to keep sending helicopters and units to heal up. A big blow was losing an infantry unit that ran into a minefield in the NW, and then was overrun by NVA tanks. I'm moving my infantry, my own tank group, and cobra in the direction to repel them and score some sorely needed political points.
I've finally gotten around to creating a forward base where my Green Berets can train some ARVN who can pick up some slack.
Fuck you, Charlie. Seriously.
They built a base right next to my Fire Base. With most my troops in the West, my Hueys are vulnerable to RPG fire in the hinterland. And my cobra, tank, and artillery failed to take out the NVA tank formation.
Again, FU Charlie!
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Turn 35
NVA has been beaten back into the jungle. Time to make sure things in the East are still ... oh, a mine field. And an RPG. And another one. Well, at least I can eliminate a fair chunk of them.
An overview of the situation, with an overlay where NVA/VC contacts were made so far during the game.
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Lt DeMoney would've been calling fast movers and Arclight to blow back the tree line 20 Knicks.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on March 08, 2015, 09:54:29 AM
Lt DeMoney would've been calling fast movers and Arclight to blow back the tree line 20 Knicks.
Not an option. No defoliation campaigns, either. :( (Well, you can clear jungle with engineers, but it doesn't increase visibility much, but creatse more DZs for your choppers.)
The situation at the start of the last turn:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs21.postimg.org%2Fp0ip5nrxj%2FNam09.jpg&hash=d764328c1919a5286cc1965b46a1236d557aeb5a)
The situation is under control, except for two VC friendly villages in the South. The upshot of losing the Hearts and Minds score at the start is that it gives you more targets that, if you don't mess up, provide you with more political points to get more troops in.
Then again, this is regular difficulty, not veteran.
And the final situation, the silver markers are the (previously hidden) spawn points for the VC. Ideally, you would hunt for those and cover them with troops. But with the number of them it's not really possible to keep them all covered.
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It was pretty rough for me in mid-game, and I was lucky to buy a tank at the right time. Once this was weathered, though, the remaining troops were more of a nuisance than anything else. You have to find a rhythm of checking the villages for intel and reacting to enemy contacts while keeping everything supplied.
I didn't do brilliantly, I think. At one time 4 of my 6 Hueys were in the repair shop, plus two of five infantry units. It felt pretty tight at that point. Still, a decisive victory on "Regular" difficulty. It might be different on another map (as said, I was struggling with a jungle heavy map which was much more slow paced). I find Cobras much more useful than artillery. They have good range, and while you have to return them to base to resupply, you don't have to ferry their supply in with additional units from HQ. I guess it makes more sense to have artillery at home where it's auto-supplied, and cobras in the field.
Green Berets are super useful for scouting. In fact so much so that I'm not sure if it's worth to use them to train ARVN (takes three turns per unit, and you need an expensive forward base for each two ARVN units). That's 6 turns that they don't spend searching for Charlie.
All in all, a very decent game (especially at this price point), with a distinct solo board wargame feel to it. You can play through a scenario in an afternoon.
BUT.
The interface sucks balls. The big pop ups for unit special orders are clunky, and I occasionally find myself ordering a move because I missed the button by a pixel. And vice versa, the buttons obscure hexes you may want to move to, and you have to aim between them. I imagine it might be a even more of a pain on tablet. Would be better if those buttons popped up in a separate non-map area.
I like what they do with achievements, though. Instead of just giving you the usual Steam achievements, they addes a uniform and medals:
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Reminds me of X-Wing and TIE-Fighter. :)
It remains to be seen how the replay value is.