I'm at a lost for words... (HuniePop discussion)

[Nosebleed]

Almost 100% done with the game

Played through Kyu, Momo and Celesta and am already 2 dates in with Venus.

 

Celesta became one of my top 3 characters, she's just so fascinating and I loved her design.

 

The voice acting is amazing except for 3 characters: Lola, Jessie and Momo

Lola needs to work on having different tones of voice

Jessie's constant attempts at sounding like a sexy milf fall so flat it's painful.

Momo's voice just.. doesn't work.. listening to her talk is obnoxious, the constant cat talk doesn't work in English, or at least not with this voice.

 

But the rest of the characters are spot on and genuinely fun to listen to.

 

The only real problem I have with this game is that it lacks so much on the character development department.

If this game had some short stories for each character for when you complete a date with them or something, it would be such a solid 10/10.

 

But as it stands right now the reward you get after 100% clearing the game is very underwhelming. But I can't deny the journey up until this point has been fun, I enjoyed the ridiculous writing the game had to offer and Audrey became my number 1 girl (already took her to bed 4 times )

 

So, for what it's worth, and given the level of enjoyment it provided and its price point, it's an 8/10

[Nosebleed]

Well, I think we all know what to do.

 

Spam the developers with e-mails demanding side stories

[Katatsumuri]

Calm down there, champ. There is no "real" yuri. The gender option is almost entirely meaningless. Also you should know that there are no h-scenes like there are in actual visual novels, and the CGs only depict the girls after the act is finished, and there is no text narration of the sex. So if you're getting this hoping for hot yuri h-scenes you are in for one hell of a disappointment. 

 

To be fair, I'm just interested in anything that seems to actually give me a choice of playing either male or female, or just a female protagonist, while still being a game filled with pretty anime girls. Yuri or not. And besides, this game seems hilarious.

[Schnarf]

i was having fun playing this up until i finally took a girl on a 'night date'. i can't get past 300 points & i need 500 to get the cg. fml

[Nosebleed]

i was having fun playing this up until i finally took a girl on a 'night date'. i can't get past 300 points & i need 500 to get the cg. fml

Upgrade your traits, make sure you get some passion levels going initially as well.

It only gets harder the more dates you clear so you want to make sure you'reprepared, i'm at 2,300 points needed to clear a date

[Zakamutt]

I think he means the minigame where your traits don't help you, nose.

 

Having trouble on the first night date though... they get harder, yknow.

[Nosebleed]

Ah those.

Yeah they're annoying if you don't manage to get 4 combos or several combos in a row. Honestly those are the more annoying ones.

It's mostly luck but you get no penalty in those so you don't really lose.

[Zodai]

I absolutely cannot comprehend what makes this good.  This was supposed to be shit.  Why are you not shit!?

 

That said I still definitely think this is better than Sakura Spirit and its successors.  Probably won't buy it myself but I'd certainly rather people played this over that.

[Tensa-Zangetsu]

Just finished most of the game, wasn't too bad but could have also been a lot more fun, pretty much what i expected. Teacher Aiko was the BEST.

[John0507]

Just finished the game (at least I think I did), any characters beyond cat + venus? Any point in completing the gifts?

 

This game turned out to be a disappointment for me, but that's mostly due to my own high hopes.

Was hoping for something like an interactive VN, where there's an actual story for each of the girls and where your decisions/answers actually matter. None of that at all.

The game itself is fine for it's price , tho it really could've been so much better.

Audrey rocks <3

[Suzu Fanatic]

The gameplay itself was pretty addictive, but the writing.... I was pretty disgusted with it's attempt at edgy humor, with such quotes as "bad case of the yellow fever" (or something close) I mean, seriously?. Comes pretty close to crossing a line it shouldn't, at least on a mainstream platform like Steam.

 

But to each their own I guess. Not like there aren't worse things already on Steam anyway.

[jjm152]

The gameplay itself was pretty addictive, but the writing.... I was pretty disgusted with it's attempt at edgy humor, with such quotes as "bad case of the yellow fever" (or something close) I mean, seriously?. Comes pretty close to crossing a line it shouldn't, at least on a mainstream platform like Steam.

 

But to each their own I guess. Not like there aren't worse things already on Steam anyway.

 

Serious question here, because this kind of response has been bugging me for a while.

 

How do you deal with fiction that has characters in it you don't like? For example, in this game, the characters all have different personalities. Beli is pretty nice and sweet. Audrey is a complete rude jerk who loves calling people "whores". Kyu (the one who's line I believe you are quoting) is pretty insensitive and a bit of a pervert with the innuendo. 

 

To me, that's just their characterizations. It might make me think that I like, or dislike a certain character, but I'm curious about what this "line" is and how you can cross it? I certainly hope that you're not suggesting that all characters in a piece of fiction ought to be as inoffensive as possible at all times - that'd be pretty boring after all. Obviously, this also means that you don't have to like characters either. For instance, my wife loves the show Greys Anatomy, but I can't fucking stand it. To me - almost every character on that show is a terrible human being overflowing with narcissism. Literally, I dislike every character on the show that regardless of the plot, I can't watch it. Even then however, I just... don't watch it. I don't think that just because I think they're all terrible human beings that there is some sort of "line" here that they need to respect for me.

 

I dunno, maybe you didn't mean it to come off this way, but I am seeing a lot of people these days on the internet saying similar comments that seem somewhat shallow to me. To the point where I'm actually wondering why it's not OK to have characters that are, well, rather loathsome to some people so long as other people are entertained. After all, it's all fiction anyway isn't it? 

[firecat]

i am also lost at words... they are trying to add bad dating and adult humor into a game. the whole story seems ridiculous it has no real meaning, its just making jokes with bad words. the art is fine but such a waste has it belongs to a game with bad standards  .

 

 

 

this video shows how a good story is made

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMv5xMwdau4

[Lambda]

 

I dunno, maybe you didn't mean it to come off this way, but I am seeing a lot of people these days on the internet saying similar comments that seem somewhat shallow to me. To the point where I'm actually wondering why it's not OK to have characters that are, well, rather loathsome to some people so long as other people are entertained. After all, it's all fiction anyway isn't it? 

Well, a large amount of people introducing themselves to the game would look at the introductory video, right? Especially since it's been out for a while. How the creators wanted to position themselves is right there. Beli... isn't there. Audrey has a huuuge fight with someone where she uses a whole bunch of insults you only really see on tv. Two women see each other and affectionately call each other "whore" and "skank", which I've frankly never seen... And of course, every interaction is described by "insensitive" Kyu... If they wanted to position themselves differently, they certainly could have. Instead, the devs seemed to embrace their sleaziness. And because that's how most people on the internet got familiar with this game, mixed with screen shots of the most offensive lines because just because characters say them doesn't really excuse the writers for writing them - people will get offended differently but a piece of fiction is never really excused for embracing racism in any form - so you really can't say this is a "poor misunderstood game".

[jjm152]

Well, a large amount of people introducing themselves to the game would look at the introductory video, right? Especially since it's been out for a while. How the creators wanted to position themselves is right there. Beli... isn't there. Audrey has a huuuge fight with someone where she uses a whole bunch of insults you only really see on tv. Two women see each other and affectionately call each other "whore" and "skank", which I've frankly never seen... And of course, every interaction is described by "insensitive" Kyu... If they wanted to position themselves differently, they certainly could have. Instead, the devs seemed to embrace their sleaziness. And because that's how most people on the internet got familiar with this game, mixed with screen shots of the most offensive lines because just because characters say them doesn't really excuse the writers for writing them - people will get offended differently but a piece of fiction is never really excused for embracing racism in any form - so you really can't say this is a "poor misunderstood game".

 

So here is the contradictory statement that I don't understand - you say " but a piece of fiction is never really excused for embracing racism in any form" right?

 

I don't see racism being embraced. I see some characters saying borderline offensive stuff (not even racist really, as tacky as "yellow fever" is, it's not actually RACIST. As someone who has had racism directed at me before, I can attest to the difference here). 

 

In any case, it doesn't appear to be "embracing" anything. Does Silence of the Lambs embrace "cannibalism" because Hannibal Lector is a cannibal? Does "American History X" embrace Nazism because Frank Minke (was) a white supremacist? 

 

This is my entire point - characters are just characters. If you wanted to say that HuniePop had a racist message, or a political message on racism or something, then that'd be one thing, but it seems somewhat beyond the pale to claim that because a character is written to be insensitive, that the game itself is "embracing racism". There is a pretty huge difference here, because once you start going down this path of loose correlation you're making it "politically incorrect" to have any character in any game, movie, book, tv show, etc, that has any behavior that is objectionable.

[Crimrui]

Pledged when it was still active, kinda forgot about this. Downloaded my copy and played it few hours ago. It started kinda fun, but then it all turned out in the same thing. I thought there would be... more to the characters and some story. After you meet all the girls you don't get to know their story much aside from few conversations. After the minigame on a date I thought that some scene would play but no, you just get back to the regular screen where you can pop a same damn question or just buy something for her... disappointing...

 

And that damn sex minigame! I raged on that, it was so frustrating. It's probably just me cuz' I'm a bit slower so this thing just took few years of my life. Glad that people are having fun, but for me it wasn't worth it...

 

And man do girl in other countries really swear that much? Kinda repulsing really. In my country they only use F words for special reasons or when they are angry. But all these ''tight shit!'' kinda phrases makes me think of street talk...

[Tyrael]

And man do girl in other countries really swear that much? Kinda repulsing really. In my country they only use F words for special reasons or when they are angry. But all these ''tight shit!'' kinda phrases makes me think of street talk...

 

It's supposed to be a parody so don't take it too seriously

[Suzu Fanatic]

Serious question here, because this kind of response has been bugging me for a while.

 

How do you deal with fiction that has characters in it you don't like? For example, in this game, the characters all have different personalities. Beli is pretty nice and sweet. Audrey is a complete rude jerk who loves calling people "whores". Kyu (the one who's line I believe you are quoting) is pretty insensitive and a bit of a pervert with the innuendo. 

 

To me, that's just their characterizations. It might make me think that I like, or dislike a certain character, but I'm curious about what this "line" is and how you can cross it? I certainly hope that you're not suggesting that all characters in a piece of fiction ought to be as inoffensive as possible at all times - that'd be pretty boring after all. Obviously, this also means that you don't have to like characters either. For instance, my wife loves the show Greys Anatomy, but I can't fucking stand it. To me - almost every character on that show is a terrible human being overflowing with narcissism. Literally, I dislike every character on the show that regardless of the plot, I can't watch it. Even then however, I just... don't watch it. I don't think that just because I think they're all terrible human beings that there is some sort of "line" here that they need to respect for me.

 

I dunno, maybe you didn't mean it to come off this way, but I am seeing a lot of people these days on the internet saying similar comments that seem somewhat shallow to me. To the point where I'm actually wondering why it's not OK to have characters that are, well, rather loathsome to some people so long as other people are entertained. After all, it's all fiction anyway isn't it? 

 

Didn't quite mean it that way - or at least not to that extent. I'm not very good with words , hmm. I have no problem with any form of characterizations when it comes to a story, as you say it would be pretty boring if everyone was as inoffensive as possible. And actually, a detestable character can make us realize just how much we should value what is "good".

 

"comes close to crossing a line." might not have been the right wording...  I feel concerned about how the meaning gets mixed up with the "edgy humor", it's meant to be taken as jokes and laughed at - but is it really something that "should" be laughed at and trivilized?

 

Im not so silly as to think a bunch of people will start acting racist or calling people whores due to playing Huniepop, ;p but even a small ripple in the ocean will change tides over enough time.

 

But I'm also a hypocrite in this discussion haha, after all, I enjoy VNs and anime.. a medium that almost always sexualizes and objectifies women.

 

So, I guess damned if you do, damned if you dont. \o_o/

[mbl]

The only thing that separates Huniepop from the standard CG-collecting flash games that circulate internet is that it has voice acting and original art. For a game crowdfunded for 50k and making plenty in sales, I would have hoped for more than once scene introducing each girl, a few lines of generic 'what's your age/cup size' dialogue, and then 5 or more puzzle sequences to unlock 2 semi-erotic and 1 cumshot CG for each girl. This game is just another case of people getting way more out of crowdfunding than they would ever deserve for the product they intend to put out.

 

As far as the racism goes, I'm a bit desensitized to the tropes/stereotypes used when every girl has the voice of an Asian-American. 

 

If you're gonna play it, I'd suggest immediately setting it to easy, unless you want to actually be challenged by the puzzle you're gonna be repeating 60+ times to get it with all the girls.

[mbl]

Pretty sure the game is making fun of the stereotypical spoiled, bratty American teenager, at least with Audrey and "bitch", "whore" and "skank" being dropped every few lines for a few of the characters.  Ever seen Mean Girls?  It's pretty similar.

 

I don't get why everyone is complaining about the lack of story in a dating simulator.  They're almost always grindfests where the main goal is to get into the characters' pants, or at least have implied sex.  If you want a good story, I sincerely doubt you'll find it in this game, much less dating simulators in general.

 

When her character is introduced, she is literally described as a bitch. She is a bitchy party girl, essentially. The girl she is fighting with is a hispanic single mother who had a kid young, which is IMO the only highly insulting character stereotype used in the game.

 

When a dating sim has a 50k budget, I don't think it is wrong to expect more content than the stream of flash games made by hobbyists. This game has less content than many of those dating sims you can find on newgrounds.

[Suzu Fanatic]

That said that's what they said they'd do, stretch goals included. It was all laid out there. People funded it out of their own free will. That was their project and adding more and different stuff because people suddenly paid attention to it would probably lead it to development hell.

They delivered what they promised, nothing more, nothing less. There's no such thing as "deserving".

 

True enough, just look back at some of the crazier Kickstarters out there, like that potato salad kickstarter that made a ridiculous amount of money... it's no ones responsibilty except the investors when it comes to kickstarter projects. I don't always like what Kickstarter devs "do" (or dont do) with the money, but really it's basically giving money to a stranger, no garuntee it will equal the money it managed to raise.

 

I first realized that with Shadowrun Returns, it raised afew million, but developed an engine that could have been designed ten years ago, and the storywriting of a adolesent -_- (thankfully Dragonfall was much better, and restored my faith abit hehe).

[kyrt]

Honestly while the game is ok (from a non-visual novel type of game) it really does feel like one of those flash games that used to be popular on the net that people used to play for free. The quality of this game is nowhere near what you would expect from the budget they had and it was quite a bit of a disappointment. They didn't do anything against their kickstarter...hell they made the originally backer only characters unlockable for everyone but definitely is not what people expected it to be. The lack of cgs is also a major disappointment as we only get 4 a character and they are more or less rewards rather than a point story wise (of which there isn't). It was more of a parody type of game and it seemed ok on that front and despite it's rather mixed cast of characters there was still something endearing about some of them. Basically the game comes down to puzzle and memory game and felt a lot like bejeweled reskinned. Don't get me wrong the game was somewhat fun but really since you can get every girl in one time through the replayability is severely limited. I would have much preferred the game only allowing you to get with one girl for each playthrough which would help in replayability. As it is you can play it twice for a slightly different (not really) experience...male or female. It could have been worse but it also could have been so much better than it was. Get it if you have the money to spend (the steam cards alone will probably make up half the cost if you sell them) and some time to kill. It's like those old flash games...felt a lot like Sim Date (think this was the name) where you go around talking to characters and ocassionally give them items to raise affection and get a sexy image. Some people will like this others won't. If you absolutely have to have it you probably already do and if you don't but still have an interest in it wait until it goes on a sale and pick it up then. It's not a terrible game just don't expect it to have a semblance of story or character development because this is no visual novel.

[Crimrui]

It's supposed to be a parody so don't take it too seriously

 

Ah, yeah I guess you're right. I mean, normally fairy would not say ''Pack your shit.''

[Zakamutt]

Anyone who takes HuniPop seriously is greatly misguided. Even if the author takes it seriously (I have no idea).

[Zalor]

Anyone who takes HuniPop seriously is greatly misguided. Even if the author takes it seriously (I have no idea).

 

I treat HuniPop as a satire of dating sims. And it had me seriously laughing at times. Also, speaking as an American teenager/young adult, the stereo types these girls portray is hilariously accurate in some cases. Specifically, there are real people I know who remind me of Tiffany and Nikki.