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DuDraig
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I've now played this game through a couple of plot tracks. It has the potential of being a great game but it has serious problems that make it unplayable as a game without a walkthrough or cheating. There are just too many unexplained or random tasks, objects with no or unreasonable uses, and way too many random path blocking chat decisions. If your only recourse is to randomly wander around looking for something random to say or use to advance a plot track, it's no longer a game and you have no recourse but to use a walkthrough or cheat.
Some examples:
The graphics are nice and the UI is pretty good; Having to click door, choose open door, and having to do it twice on closet doors is just annoying. You should be able to just click on a door to open or close it, and double doors requiring both open for you to pass through should both open or close on one click. The inventory should be a list and not a Tomb Raider set of scrolling images because it takes too damned long to find the object you want to use.
The art is pretty good but does suffer from a lot of intersection artifacts and bland doll-stare facial expressions. Some of the animations are good. Patrick's drunk walk is great.
There is absolutely no clue that you must move your mouse during sex scenes to accelerate her orgasm meter. I still don't know if you are required to use the interaction hand or drag the mouse button. The sex scenes are unfulfilling You spend all that effort getting her orgasm meter to max out first and, not only does she not animate an orgasm, there is no reward for your efforts.
The interaction hand seems useless, clumsy, and redundant. The mouse cursor should just change when you hover over an interactable object and dragging the mouse button should then interact, as opposed to just picking it up with a click.
There are a few game-killing bugs like:
Some examples:
- A microwave that claims to be only for an unwritten tutorial but that is actually needed for the hot chocolate, yet there is no use for popcorn. Popcorn you do in the microwave, chocolate you do over a double boiler without water or you wind up with a clenched mess, and you put cocoa or hot chocolate mix into water not chocolate.
- When Vickie says you need to be on friendly terms with some of the girls. you have no clue that you might be able to make up with Ashley after helping Madison pull pranks on her. You have to randomly run into Derek's new chat choice to find that out.
- Giving a gift in no way implies that there is a red flower in the yard that you can pick much less that she would even appreciate one. As a please-forgive-me-for-parading-you-naked-in-front-of-all-Madison's-friends gift, it's absolutely pathetic unless you were given a solid reason she would appreciate it.
- There is no clue, reason, or even the suggestion of a hint that she wants the flower dyed blue.
- Worst of all, if you did the reasonable thing and tried to apologize before getting the make-up quest, you are permanently locked out from giving her the flower.
The graphics are nice and the UI is pretty good; Having to click door, choose open door, and having to do it twice on closet doors is just annoying. You should be able to just click on a door to open or close it, and double doors requiring both open for you to pass through should both open or close on one click. The inventory should be a list and not a Tomb Raider set of scrolling images because it takes too damned long to find the object you want to use.
The art is pretty good but does suffer from a lot of intersection artifacts and bland doll-stare facial expressions. Some of the animations are good. Patrick's drunk walk is great.
There is absolutely no clue that you must move your mouse during sex scenes to accelerate her orgasm meter. I still don't know if you are required to use the interaction hand or drag the mouse button. The sex scenes are unfulfilling You spend all that effort getting her orgasm meter to max out first and, not only does she not animate an orgasm, there is no reward for your efforts.
The interaction hand seems useless, clumsy, and redundant. The mouse cursor should just change when you hover over an interactable object and dragging the mouse button should then interact, as opposed to just picking it up with a click.
There are a few game-killing bugs like:
- Sometimes, Madison will just disappear from the party and will never appear again.
- Frank will be forever trapped in the unopenable closet in the upstairs spare room (It might be directly above his chair on the ground floor).
- Saves are not restored to the same state as when they were saved. Some characters will suddenly disappear from where they were when the save was made, sometimes never to reappear.
Morpheas
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Say you want to add the credit card in your inventory.
Simply type
Code:
player inventory "credit card" addSo, again its >player inventory "item name" add
- replace item name with the actual name of the item. (The > symbol isnt needed, it has that automatically)
I have no clue why this whole thing isnt a review, but rather you posted it as a comment.
It is very clearly written as a review, based on your experience with the game.
Dont get me wrong, I dont mind, its just that your comment will be buried in a few days and most people will miss it.
BTW, you're right that a walkthrough is probably needed as you are bound to encounter problems, but luckily, there is one. Its for an older version, but I found (through playing) that it works most of the time.
Console commands make it even easier.
Cheating shouldnt really be an issue in a sandbox-style game like this.
You can even create custom stories to make cheating (aka using console) even easier.
The original story is flawed, but its not the only thing that we can have in this game.
My biggest frustration is actually with the loading times. Such incredibly long loading times, and they only seem to be getting longer with each patch, not shorter.
Or maybe I just have no patience
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The game is still in early access. They are still adding a lot of stuff to it, but some of the stuff you are complaining about is just because you missed stuff. There are most certainly hints for most of the stuff you are saying. There's a whole line with Ashley explaining why she hates the color red, and Derek is your go-to for most other hints. Also, there used to be a tutorial, but they removed it recently, probably because it was pretty redundant when you can just press F1, but it did involve the microwave. They probably just didn't get around to changing the inspection text in the main story yet. Like I said, the game is still in development.
This is also a point and click adventure game. There shouldn't be a hint for every single thing. Part of the game is walking around and trying to click on and inspect things and trying to figure out how things go together. I personally don't like too much hand-holding in games. That's what walk-throughs are for, and it's not like this game doesn't have tons of them floating around.
If you play through Ashley's quest, you'd see that you *need* to be able to open both doors individually. They wouldn't have been able to implement the "voyeur" effect if both doors just swung wide open, and I think that is a very unique and great part of the game. Also, Ashley's quest has several branching paths, so you don't always need to give her the flower based on your previous actions. It doesn't lock you out of any content, it's just a different path.
Aside from that, you do make some fair points, and the game does have some bugs and could do with some better fleshing out of certain story paths, admittedly. I would chalk that up to the game being unfinished, but saying this game is "unplayable" is a gross over-exaggeration. This game is so much fun, even if the state it's in. If you scroll back a few pages somebody posted something that the devs were taking some time right now to polish before they started adding more new content again because they just added a ton of new content.
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- May 1, 2017
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I wouldn't have any problem with the game if the loading time weren't so long and saves were working, yes, it's a bother to have to redo everything again because you messed up a little thing with the dialogues and items, it's in no way fun nor interesting.
I was a patreon awhile ago, decided to come back to see how it is now, seems like those game breaking problems still aren't fixed.
I was a patreon awhile ago, decided to come back to see how it is now, seems like those game breaking problems still aren't fixed.
For the real time 3D game?
Maybe try browsing through the game's Steam community screenshots section?
You must be registered to see the links
For me the game doesn't take longer than 30 seconds to load and loads load perfectly!
Morpheas
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WHAT?!
This game has no CG, all graphics are real-time.
The closest to what you're asking, would be if someone took screenshots of certain poses and actions in the game.
Yes there is, you can make everyone have maximum friendliness and lust towards each other.
Type those 2 commands in the console (one after another, not both at the same time):
Code:
social friendship all all add 100
social romance all all add 100Alternatively, select the NPC's you want to be comfortable around each other, and replace the 2 "all" with the 2 NPC's you want to be naked close to each other without covering themselves. Repeat the commands again 1 more time, but this time swap the 2 names, first name becomes second and vice versa.
The "all" specification means literally everyone, not just females, ALL of them.
Just save often, and keep multiple saves in 1 playthrough. You can never have enough saves in this game.
But yes you're right, the loading times are horrendous.
Especially when you know you have to redo some things because you messed up somewhere and have to reload.
I wouldnt say this is game-breaking however. Just requires patience.
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The game loads fairly quickly for me. I think the most I've waited was like 20-30 seconds. It's a 3D game, so it's gonna require a bit of a graphics card to play. If you are playing it on a laptop or a slower computer, you may want to try turning off as many options as you can, but that's more than likely going to be the heart of the issue. I know most games on this forum are 2D visual novels, but this game requires more of a gaming system to get the most out of it. It really looks beautiful now at max settings with all the stuff they've added.
I've haven't had an issue with the save/load system in a long time. If you are seeing any issues, I would report them as they are pretty good about listening to the community and fixing stuff.
Morpheas
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It's actually really cool how this works. The girls only cover if they are around somebody they are not comfortable with. So if you romance one of the ladies, and then are alone with her, she won't cover. If you want them to not cover all the time, the key is the Exhibitionism personality stat. I believe there's a way to change it in the console, but I don't know it off the top of my head. Just press ~ and type help.
Morpheas
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smatt is correct.
So, there are actually 2 ways to make the NPCs stop covering themselves when naked around each other.
1.
Increase their lust to a point where they're not ashamed anymore. According to the console, the value is Romance, aka lust.
As I explained earlier, the relationship that matters is between the NPC's you want to be comfortable around each other.
So for all NPCs, you use the "all" commands.
Use the following command:
Code:
social romance all all add 1002.
Give them the Exhibitionism personality trait.
Type in the console:
Code:
personality all 100 add 16You can use both methods if you want, but only 1 is required.
There may be more ways, but those 2 work guaranteed and tested as of version 0.9.3.
DuDraig
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This is because I do not review in-development releases. I only review finished releases or the developer. The purpose of posted comments on an in-development release is to bring attention to the current pros and cons so that they might be addressed in future releases. It would be grossly unfair to permanently log a review of a game about issues that will hopefully be dealt with in future releases.I have no clue why this whole thing isnt a review, but rather you posted it as a comment.
It is very clearly written as a review, based on your experience with the game.
Dont get me wrong, I dont mind, its just that your comment will be buried in a few days and most people will miss it.
BTW, you're right that a walkthrough is probably needed as you are bound to encounter problems, but luckily, there is one. Its for an older version, but I found (through playing) that it works most of the time.
Console commands make it even easier.
Cheating shouldnt really be an issue in a sandbox-style game like this.
You can even create custom stories to make cheating (aka using console) even easier.
The original story is flawed, but its not the only thing that we can have in this game.
My biggest frustration is actually with the loading times. Such incredibly long loading times, and they only seem to be getting longer with each patch, not shorter.
Or maybe I just have no patience
My point about the walkthrough is not that it is difficult to locate or use, but that this can not be called a game if you have no recourse but to use a walkthrough or console cheats to get through it. The idea is to improve the plot tracks so that the game may be played without the requirement to cheat.
I don't feel that the story is flawed; It's just not yet properly implemented and can easily be improved. The basic premise and the intent of the different plot tracks is entertaining and interesting but they should be refined to eliminate the many bugs, plot-holes, and situations where the player has no idea what to do outside of random wandering. A percentage of each release should be dedicated to improving and fixing already existing content.
I have always been confused with these idiotic complaints about the load time and graphic card load of Unity games. It's a real-time 3D rendering engine that is configured by default to use as much of your GPU power as possible. Every other commercial real time 3D rendering game takes a long time to load so why the complaints about Unity games? You expect to configure the graphics settings of commercial games down if you do not have a top end graphics card, so why is anyone confused about doing the same thing with a Unity game? True, developers can take steps to better streamline the loading process to improve game load times, but that is something you do for a finished release and not the current in-development releases.
DuDraig
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The whole point of posting comments is to present issues that will hopefully help to improve the future releases of the game.
There is a vast difference between plot hand-holding and leaving your player with no clue. In my play through, Derek does not provide you with any information on how to make up with Ashley until after you pick the red flower. There was never any comment from anyone about Ashley and the color red. There is no indication or hint at all that you need a flower in a situation where a flower as a make-up gift for parading her around naked would be considered by anyone as an appropriate gift. The only way for the player to look for, find, and get the flower is to be told you need to in a walkthrough, and that immediately stops this from being a game. This is just one example of many instances like this in this game. The idea is to bring them to light so that they can be fixed.
If no one brings up that the tutorial microwave description has been missed then it will not get fixed.
The biggest complaint about point-and-click games has always been poor plot design leaving the player with no clue what they need to do. Plot discovery is a legitimate game process but being forced to randomly try thousands of object/character/action combinations to find the one you need since you have to clue what it might be and it doesn't make any legitimate sense is just poor game design.
There is a vast difference between interesting UI interfaces and animations and wasting the player's time. To go through the closet doors in this game, you need four clicks, two menus, and two animations when a single-click would perfectly suffice. Since you do not choose whether that closet door should remain ajar or not (it always closes ajar), it can easily remain ajar when both doors close at once. The focus should be on playing the game and not constantly waiting to get through the interface.
When you are told you need to perform a chain of tasks that then can not be completed because of an option chosen before that chain, that is not a "different path"; it is a plot track state bug. When you chose that option, you should never be told to perform a task chain that can not now be completed unless it leads to a different plot track and doesn't simply come to an unexplained and illogical stop. Again, if this is not pointed out to the developer then they will not know to fix it.
You unfairly characterize my comments as "complaints". The whole point of forum feedback during in-development releases is to point out those issues that need attention and to present alternatives to the developer to consider in future releases. I certainly appreciate different opinions about how plot tracks might be handled, the level of tediousness in the UI, or the level of quality in implementation; but I will never accept telling anyone not to post comments about an in-development release simple because it is an in-development release when the entire purpose of this forum is to post such comments to help improve future in-development releases.
Morpheas
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You do know that you can edit your review in order to update it, right??
You can change the rating and everything, even delete your whole review and post another one.
This forum gives you all the tools and options you need.
You dont need to use a walkthrough or console, technically all can be accomplished without those things.
Realistically though, most people would get stuck somewhere, and would need to either ask for help here or use a walkthrough for help.
This game isnt meant to be easy, in the sense that you accomplish everything without effort. If you were basically handed the answer, whats the point of having to do stuff in order to complete quests? It would just be a boring hassle.
Some things could have a little more indication however, to that I agree.
For example, I found out about the use of the flower by accident! Vickie had told me that I need to do something Ashley would appreciate, and since I had no real options (that I could see), I was like: "well, maybe I can give her something. I got a flower, maybe that will work?"
Surprisingly, it sort of worked. Ashley told me she hates that color though, so I had to change the flower's color.
BUT it is not a random guess as to what color the flower needs to be, btw. (That part is fine)
You are not given a whole palette of colors to choose from.
You actually get only 1 color dye: Blue Hair Color Dye.
So the answer becomes, DUH - I need to use my only color dye to change the color of the flower.
This is purely intuitive, and yes you dont know for sure until you try it, but thats the kind of game that this is: You need to figure stuff out by yourself.
So, you saying the game needs to be played without the requirement to cheat is just disingenuous, since you dont need to cheat anyway. That is not a requirement.
Sure, some parts can be improved, no doubt.
That is what I meant when I said the story is flawed. The story as in the Original Story. Not the plot, the Original Story as is defined by the game. The game uses Stories that are written by people, and those stories include much more than just plot. Items, behaviour of NPCs, Clothing, hints, etc are all determined by the Story files.
I think we are in agreement here, you just misunderstood my previous comment.
Well, if you've played several other real-time 3D games, you'd know that most of them have shorter loading times than House Party. Even those that have long loading times, once you actually load the game from the main menu and you get in game, if you simply load a save file to go back to some other point, the game will load faster than the initial load it does from the main menu.
House Party simply has unusually long loading times (even after the initial load), and this is frustrating because it is a kind of game where Save/Load is very important since you are bound to make mistakes, piss off NPCs, select the wrong dialogue option, go down a path you didnt want to, etc etc.
Now, I realize that this isnt a AAA game, and I am comparing it to AAA titles, so the game (and its devs) is actually excused.
This doesnt eliminate my frustration at times however. But I do understand that this isnt a freakin Ubisoft game, dont worry.
The GPU load is also unreasonably high, and this screams poor optimization. I am not particularly bothered by that however, since the "fix" is ridiculously simple and easy. I just turn off Realistic Shadows, and all is well. The graphics quality loss isnt even that significant in my humble opinion (feel free to disagree).
So with that option alone turned off, GPU-load is at more than acceptable levels, allowing me to get a good framerate.
The addition of a GPU-limiter is also pretty handy, especially for those that dont use V-sync.
Btw, "use as much of your GPU power as possible" isnt something thats good if at the highest degree. You should already know, that every real-time rendering game has to compromise between using a good amount of graphics resources and graphics quality.
In other words, (for ex.) a game could have 16392x16392 shadow resolution, but that would "KILL" most if not all gaming rigs. Plus, the actual quality benefit would be negligible.
But as for taking advantage of the resources that are available, then yes graphics engines should be able to take advantage of every resource, to provide maximum performance.
There's a difference between "use as much of your GPU power as possible" and "put unnecessary load that most single GPUs cant handle resulting in low frame rates" however.
I hope you understand what I mean. A gamer with a GTX 960 couldnt hope to run this game at max details. My GTX 970 cant handle that, how would the 960?
Basically, you need something like a GTX 1070 or better, to run it at max details.
THAT is the complaint. The complaint isnt that the game uses as much of the GPU as it can. Its that an excessively powerful GPU is required in order to run the game at max graphics details.
However, I am not gonna be the one who will complain about this, since the game offers tuning of key graphics details that make a difference and allows me to run it at perfectly acceptable frame rates.
This is simply something the devs can work on, to improve overall experience of the users.
You dont need to have a top end graphics card for most commercial games. You dont even need to have the latest gen of graphics cards. My GTX 970 is usually enough, for 1080p, with my setup. I have neither a high refresh rate monitor nor do I try the most demanding games out there. Most games are actually easier to render than House Party at max details.
At the end of the day, most of this talk is just pointless. You have your opinion and preferences and I have mine.
I know people that are absolutely disgraced if they cant run a game at max details, ~120FPS stable, and using any high resolution packs and mods that are available, and in some cases they even demand Supersampling AA, and use of DSR for upscaling, etc.
The thing is, that some stuff is just entirely subjective.
This is why I told you to submit a review, because this is mostly a matter of subjective opinion.
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I still disagree with most of these points for reasons I've already explained, and I feel they are pretty subjective and nit-picky in terms of the game that YOU want to play verses what this game is trying to be. The reason your post sounded like a complaint is because you said the game was "unplayable", again, a gross over-exaggeration of the game's current state, so it's hard to take that seriously. I honestly don't use walkthroughs very much for this game, and I find most of the game easy to figure out on my own. Could they enhance on a *few* scenarios? Sure, but that doesn't make the game unplayable, nor does having to click 4 times to open a door. I feel like the positives of this game far outweigh the nit-picky stuff you are talking about. I agree, you should definitely call them out and let the dev know if you feel these elements should be improved upon. However, I feel it's overly dramatic to call the game "unplayable".