I'll say it. The difficulty on this one is nuts.

[Grave]

Anyone else having a hell of a time with this game? I'm failing constantly having to work between the two, and every pop seems to grant so little affection. I wanted to get back into it on easy and I've failed the same date 7 times.

Quick edit: Don't ever bother talking to the girls, because you'll gain their baggage. Having played more with it, and the baggage system, and looked up the ones I haven't yet gotten... This system is terrible and overly punishing. Only talk to girls if you want to up your difficulty.


Edit 2:After about 15 hours I had enough of it. I found some 'help' online and just powered through the last 45% of the game with that, and then uninstalled it. I realized that no matter how funny the game was, no matter how well voice acted, I wasn't having fun. This game will sit in my library as a regret. Huniepop 1 is still installed on my system and this won't be. That, to me, says enough.

Extra Bonus Edit!: A friend of mine showed me their game, and we noticed something. My game had a bug in which tool tips did not display what baggage did. So, I was playing without even knowing what a girl's baggage was bringing down most the time, as it only displayed the icon and the name, nothing more. How's that for extra difficulty? Not having all the information tends to make life harder. No, verifying files did not fix it, no, reinstalling did not fix it either. Logged it in the bugs thread yesterday.

Extra Extra edit: Glad to see a patch that addressed some of the issues with food and difficulty. There's some stuff that needs to happen with the overall mechanics, but the recent patch was a step in the right direction.

[derufuu]

I gotta say, I agree with quite a lot of what everyone's saying. I don't think the game is beyond saving or that I'm gonna bin it as soon as I'm done but there's a lot of balance issues that I think need tweaking. all of this is, of course, said out of love for the game. if I really hated it I'd just give it a ♥♥♥♥ rating and move on, but I really would like to see it get some love in future patches. just some ideas come to mind:

- stamina is kinda ridiculous, especially since the game basically is punishing you for setting up 4+ matches. I think it should either be a flat -1 stamina per match or there should just be a little more stamina altogether (at least on lower difficulties)

- passion seems to be either very abundant right off the bat or barely trickling in during the date. I know the idea is to buy pre-date food/gifts to buff it up before the date starts, but it's just a tad too rare. I can hardly get both girls past 45% most dates.

- baggage is wildly unbalanced. it runs the gamut from things like nora's baggage which is mildly inconvenient at worst and even useful in some cases (literally consequence free clearing of broken hearts) to ashley's baggage which makes her practically undateable even in easy/normal difficulties. I think nothing short of just overhauling some of the more ridiculous and completely benign baggages will fix this.

- I agree with others that the stat progression and usefulness of stats goes at a snail's pace. it definitely doesn't help that the game doesn't let you know that the key to better style/passion stats is talking to the girls so you can gift them more unique items. I think stats need to be a little stronger overall, especially since passion stat doesn't seem to... do anything?

- default 25 moves (on normal) just isn't gonna cut it. huniepop 1 this isn't, and 25 moves is normally about enough to barely get yourself set up halfway. 9 times out of 10 a date ends with me finally having just gotten to decent passion/sentiment and set up some 4+ matches... and I run out of moves.

- while I actually do like the extra focus on dating gifts as a central mechanic (as opposed to hp1 where they felt more like an unbalanced side-thing) the game seems to rely on them a little too much. this kind of encompasses all of the above problems as well, but it seems like the entire game is less about the match-3 and more about farming sentiment and throwing date gifts at the girls to even have a chance of winning.

overall I just think the game went a little TOO hard this time around. it's a sequel, so it makes sense to ramp things up and build on the previous game's core gameplay while adding new innovations too, but I think huniepot got just a bit overzealous with all the additions and failed to see the forest for the trees. like I said, there's a great game here... it's just got a lot of baggage

[Scabloonshki]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von derf:

I gotta say, I agree with quite a lot of what everyone's saying. I don't think the game is beyond saving or that I'm gonna bin it as soon as I'm done but there's a lot of balance issues that I think need tweaking. all of this is, of course, said out of love for the game. if I really hated it I'd just give it a ♥♥♥♥ rating and move on, but I really would like to see it get some love in future patches. just some ideas come to mind:

- stamina is kinda ridiculous, especially since the game basically is punishing you for setting up 4+ matches. I think it should either be a flat -1 stamina per match or there should just be a little more stamina altogether (at least on lower difficulties)

- passion seems to be either very abundant right off the bat or barely trickling in during the date. I know the idea is to buy pre-date food/gifts to buff it up before the date starts, but it's just a tad too rare. I can hardly get both girls past 45% most dates.

- baggage is wildly unbalanced. it runs the gamut from things like nora's baggage which is mildly inconvenient at worst and even useful in some cases (literally consequence free clearing of broken hearts) to ashley's baggage which makes her practically undateable even in easy/normal difficulties. I think nothing short of just overhauling some of the more ridiculous and completely benign baggages will fix this.

- I agree with others that the stat progression and usefulness of stats goes at a snail's pace. it definitely doesn't help that the game doesn't let you know that the key to better style/passion stats is talking to the girls so you can gift them more unique items. I think stats need to be a little stronger overall, especially since passion stat doesn't seem to... do anything?

- default 25 moves (on normal) just isn't gonna cut it. huniepop 1 this isn't, and 25 moves is normally about enough to barely get yourself set up halfway. 9 times out of 10 a date ends with me finally having just gotten to decent passion/sentiment and set up some 4+ matches... and I run out of moves.

- while I actually do like the extra focus on dating gifts as a central mechanic (as opposed to hp1 where they felt more like an unbalanced side-thing) the game seems to rely on them a little too much. this kind of encompasses all of the above problems as well, but it seems like the entire game is less about the match-3 and more about farming sentiment and throwing date gifts at the girls to even have a chance of winning.

overall I just think the game went a little TOO hard this time around. it's a sequel, so it makes sense to ramp things up and build on the previous game's core gameplay while adding new innovations too, but I think huniepot got just a bit overzealous with all the additions and failed to see the forest for the trees. like I said, there's a great game here... it's just got a lot of baggage :sunglassesDoge:

Honestly, I've been doing perfectly with the game in its current state. I can't say I've felt ♥♥♥♥♥♥ over when I've lost a date, mainly because I usually am pretty close to winning it when I lose so it feels like my decisions were making an impact even if the board wasn't being kind.

That being said, I wouldn't mind some of the changes you suggested being implemented. I don't think the more ridiculous baggage's should be overhauled completely, I think they should just be tweaked a bit to be more fair. When it comes to games like this, I feel that a little goes a long way when it comes to balance. For Ashley's allergy baggage for example, instead of just making it so that flower and candle gifts can't be used at all, I would tweak it so that you could only have 1 (i.e. you can only have 1 flower gift or 1 candle gift).

Feel free to list any other tweaks that could improve baggage.

[DryHeap]

Totally agree. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, this game is just wasting my time at this point.

[ViciousSatyr]

Average Joe mode is harder than Lvl 50 Alpha from HP1. there is ZERO strategy and you have to unlock bonuses for EACH girl rather than each token type, and get no abilities yourself?! Was super hyped for this but did not expect a Dark Souls game right out of the gate.

[Kjas]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von ViciousSatyr:

Average Joe mode is harder than Lvl 50 Alpha from HP1. there is ZERO strategy and you have to unlock bonuses for EACH girl rather than each token type, and get no abilities yourself?! Was super hyped for this but did not expect a Dark Souls game right out of the gate.

Hunie Pop2 (Dark Souls edition) would be a better name!

[Grave]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Kjas:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von ViciousSatyr:

Average Joe mode is harder than Lvl 50 Alpha from HP1. there is ZERO strategy and you have to unlock bonuses for EACH girl rather than each token type, and get no abilities yourself?! Was super hyped for this but did not expect a Dark Souls game right out of the gate.

Hunie Pop2 (Dark Souls edition) would be a better name!

You mean Hunie Souls.

[Ace42]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von derf:

- passion seems to be either very abundant right off the bat or barely trickling in during the date. I know the idea is to buy pre-date food/gifts to buff it up before the date starts, but it's just a tad too rare. I can hardly get both girls past 45% most dates.

Items can help this; there's +passion token drop rate candles; there's +passion for each token on the field jewelery; there's double-passion per passion match love egg, there's a "duplicate passion and give it to the other gal" beachball.

The strategy is to use one gal to build passion and then farm power tokens; use the other gal for setup (farming sentiment, for example, which can be shared via items; or farming extra moves from Joy tokens, etc, etc).

Splitting a resource between gals seems like a good idea because of the Stamina system, but it's really not.

baggage is wildly unbalanced. it runs the gamut from things like nora's baggage which is mildly inconvenient at worst and even useful in some cases (literally consequence free clearing of broken hearts) to ashley's baggage which makes her practically undateable even in easy/normal difficulties. I think nothing short of just overhauling some of the more ridiculous and completely benign baggages will fix this.

On Incel difficulty (hard) where all baggage is active simultaneously, Nora's one of the most troublesome because you can't voluntarily switch off her without losing progress on the date. Added to this that there's a bug where her baggage makes late-game bonus rounds featuring her literally unwinnable and you have a world of hurt.

Ashley's baggage is usually more frustrating due to who she's partnered with (denying them flowers or candles, for example, or her wanting to switch-off her turns with Nora and thus fall afoul of Nora's baggage). In isolation, Ashley's baggage is actually within your control (you can choose not to match duplicate tokens, and you can multi-match to reset that baggage; you can switch her out for another gal after a few turns just by right-clicking).

Interestingly, because some baggage is beneficial (Lillian and Zoey both using broken-heart tokens to fuel passion and sentiment respectively, thereby doubling the resource-tokens available to you on the field, effectively), there's a case to be made that incel could be circumstantially easier than normal because you can guarantee you'll get a "good" baggage on gals like those, whereas otherwise the chances of getting the good baggage are 1/3 and the chances of getting a bad baggage with no redeeming baggage to compensate are 2/3.

Also remember that most baggage turns off if the girl is exhausted; temporarily knocking a gal out to dodge their baggage is a fundamental tactic on incel.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von ViciousSatyr:

you have to unlock bonuses for EACH girl rather than each token type, and get no abilities yourself?

Nope. Giving a slushie to a girl who prefers the matching token type doubles its effectiveness, but the stat-bonus goes to your personal stats. Girls don't have personal stats.
Ditto for unique gifts and shoes - unique gifts buff passion multiplier for all gals irrespective of who got which gift; shoes buff power-token drop chance for all gals irrespective of who got the shoes.

[Rayne of Salt]

The weirdest thing I've seen is that favoured tokens don't seem to generate as often as hated ones, even with using the "+25% more" sentiment items. For example, if I'm on a date with someone who likes orange, and someone who likes green, i'll get 3 times as many of the red and blue tokens for the entire date.

[Alka]

once the dates get to the 2500+ range they are damn near impossible

[Jitsu]

The fact that the affection they need after every single date, failed or not, keeps growing is killing me, i could manage at first but the game just gets harder and harder and the gifts i give to the girls don't have any noticeable effect.

[Tearmisu]

The regular dates are fine. The last boss is just ridiculous and completely RNG dependent.

[Marksman Max]

Generally speaking, its definitely harder, but not impossible. I actually have to put a lot of thought into this ♥♥♥♥ to succeed the dates, and having solid date gifts makes your life a hundred times easier.

[Scabloonshki]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Marksman Max:

Generally speaking, its definitely harder, but not impossible. I actually have to put a lot of thought into this ♥♥♥♥ to succeed the dates, and having solid date gifts makes your life a hundred times easier.

Agreed. I honestly really like that you need to really think about what you're doing. The feeling of satisfaction when you nail a date with that last move by strategic use of a date gift or baggage, MAN, you can't beat that.

[Marksman Max]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Scabloonshki:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Marksman Max:

Generally speaking, its definitely harder, but not impossible. I actually have to put a lot of thought into this ♥♥♥♥ to succeed the dates, and having solid date gifts makes your life a hundred times easier.

Agreed. I honestly really like that you need to really think about what you're doing. The feeling of satisfaction when you nail a date with that last move by strategic use of a date gift or baggage, MAN, you can't beat that.

Also, I just beat the ending, and... ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Feels like going into Sovngarde in Skyrim.

[Slipstream]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von derf:

I gotta say, I agree with quite a lot of what everyone's saying. I don't think the game is beyond saving or that I'm gonna bin it as soon as I'm done but there's a lot of balance issues that I think need tweaking. all of this is, of course, said out of love for the game. if I really hated it I'd just give it a ♥♥♥♥ rating and move on, but I really would like to see it get some love in future patches. just some ideas come to mind:

- stamina is kinda ridiculous, especially since the game basically is punishing you for setting up 4+ matches. I think it should either be a flat -1 stamina per match or there should just be a little more stamina altogether (at least on lower difficulties)

- passion seems to be either very abundant right off the bat or barely trickling in during the date. I know the idea is to buy pre-date food/gifts to buff it up before the date starts, but it's just a tad too rare. I can hardly get both girls past 45% most dates.

- baggage is wildly unbalanced. it runs the gamut from things like nora's baggage which is mildly inconvenient at worst and even useful in some cases (literally consequence free clearing of broken hearts) to ashley's baggage which makes her practically undateable even in easy/normal difficulties. I think nothing short of just overhauling some of the more ridiculous and completely benign baggages will fix this.

- I agree with others that the stat progression and usefulness of stats goes at a snail's pace. it definitely doesn't help that the game doesn't let you know that the key to better style/passion stats is talking to the girls so you can gift them more unique items. I think stats need to be a little stronger overall, especially since passion stat doesn't seem to... do anything?

- default 25 moves (on normal) just isn't gonna cut it. huniepop 1 this isn't, and 25 moves is normally about enough to barely get yourself set up halfway. 9 times out of 10 a date ends with me finally having just gotten to decent passion/sentiment and set up some 4+ matches... and I run out of moves.

- while I actually do like the extra focus on dating gifts as a central mechanic (as opposed to hp1 where they felt more like an unbalanced side-thing) the game seems to rely on them a little too much. this kind of encompasses all of the above problems as well, but it seems like the entire game is less about the match-3 and more about farming sentiment and throwing date gifts at the girls to even have a chance of winning.

overall I just think the game went a little TOO hard this time around. it's a sequel, so it makes sense to ramp things up and build on the previous game's core gameplay while adding new innovations too, but I think huniepot got just a bit overzealous with all the additions and failed to see the forest for the trees. like I said, there's a great game here... it's just got a lot of baggage :sunglassesDoge:

AMEN to all of this. I loved HP1 and I very much want to love this new title too. I certainly expect some bugs and tweaks needed for most any game release, but there's just so many little balance/gameplay things like this all happening at once, and it really knee-caps the fun factor for the player.