- Jun 30, 2018
- 3,020
- 8,070
i like your thinking - but be assured, her path is not that simple
- Nov 28, 2017
- 141
- 101
- Jul 26, 2023
- 5,983
- 11,544
Only a couple of weeks now.Just can't wait for the next update
honestly can't wait for this one just to see the animationsOnly a couple of weeks now.
- Jul 26, 2023
- 5,983
- 11,544
I'm hoping we get real choices instead of those fake ones we've had so far. And they've dropped the forced kissing/touching & thoughts.
haha I don't recall that but I take your word for it. Honestly when it comes to forced content in these games. I can't stand forced thoughts I rather be forced into a lewd scene than have forced thought about a certain LI. That bothers me more than anything.
- Jul 26, 2023
- 5,983
- 11,544
One I can think of off the top of my head is walking with Ariel and get choice to hold her hand or not. Choose no and then Ariel asks MC to hold hands and MC says ok and does. 2 or 3 kisses with Vivian without a choice. And getting a hard on because you hugged your mom.
- Jun 30, 2018
- 3,020
- 8,070
nothing will be forced except the story related sex scene with the party girls in EP 1.
You will be able to avoid everything by doing the right choices.
And be asured that most of the choices matter - you might not notice for now, but they really matter.
Some choices grant different dialogues, but most of them have a big impact later on. How far you will be able to take scenes with each girl is determinated by your reactions you've done prior.
For example: you can't expect to reach the final base with a girl, if you haven't made enough "right" choices before. Like you rejected a girl first, but then decide to pursue her path, you can't expect her to let you go that far (for now).
Still if you've done everything "right" to be on her lewd side, you will always have the chance to avoid scenes by doing decisions.
But be aware that everytime you avoid a scene, you will miss points which most likely will exclude you from some scenes later on.
TL/DR:
In ToH most choices MATTER in one way or the other
Regarding the "thoughts", i don't know why you are still chewing on them. They are already reduced to a bare minimum
wasn't talking about this game but just in general since it was brought up so was more just saying my overall opinion on it. I don't even recall seeing any that was an issue for me
- Jun 30, 2018
- 3,020
- 8,070
you are right - we don't deny - we made these faults prior in our games. We never claimed to be perfect, but we strive to be as perfect as we can, so we try to change things over time once we think we have to.
Best example are the massive textwalls and inner monologues. To be honest, i personally hate inner thoughts as much as you guys. In my opinion thoughts should be made by the player and not be given by script. Of course there are exceptions where inner thoughts are needed to lead the story, but they should be as few as possible.
Actually that's one of the main reason i was called into the dev team -> my main job is to flesh out scenes, character background creation and mostly giving the ideas for further scenes. Also main part of my job is to proofread and beta test and making sure that exactly such long monologues and forced inner thoughts are reduced to a bare minimum we can allow.
- Jul 26, 2023
- 5,983
- 11,544
Thanks for responding, I'll try and explain where I'm coming from. It's not a complaint, but an observation, I have played all Dots games through to the end (except DMD). I like the girls, I like the story and didn't even mind the party girls scene. Please take this as constructive, rather than bashing.
I'm an immersive player, so I get frustrated when the MC says and thinks what is opposite to what I would do. Example, If I'm playing a Bella path, I do not like that MC is thinking how hot his mom is (even after taking every negative choice with her).
I don't have a problem with inner thoughts at all if they are player choice. For eg. If at some point there was a choice to say I thought Vivian was hot, then I would understand inner dialogue thinking that. Or if I made so many positive choices about Vivian. But in this case he was thinking these thoughts with my choices completely opposite. I get the hard-on for mom was intended to be funny, but if you are making all the choices that you don't like her that way, then it just feels weird. Like the kisses, or sitting chatting with her, with your hand on her leg.
You say all choices matter and I see how they do, but as an example, when you are given a choice like will I hold Ariel's hand or not and choose no, then Ariel asks to hold hands and MC does, that has completely disregarded the choice I made. You made it compulsory to hold Ariel's hand, so why the choice? It just made me feel irrelevant. Surely there was another way to get what you wanted without ignoring my choice.
I have hope that as we move forward and paths become more defined that things like this that frustrate me will become less, and like I said, please don't take this as mindless bashing, I'm enjoying the game and can't wait for the next update. It's just these things stop me from enjoying it even more.
- Jun 30, 2018
- 3,020
- 8,070
don't worry - i feel ya - no offence taken, and i will keep that in mind for future episodes. I can't promise to affect the next update though as it's mostly done (we are about to include the very last features). The game is entering BETA testing and bug fixing - so the writing is completely done for now.
But i keep your words in mind for EP 3 which should be released somewhere around christmas.
EDIT:
I am an immersive player myself, so be assured i completely understand your thoughts. I love to sink in the story and immerse myself emotionally. So we are on the same side, even it's kind of difficult to get that to the main writer. Unfortunately English is not my native language, so i am not able to write scene texts myself and i am restricted to input and drawing the plot direction - and i can't trash ALL writing and demand it to be redone, so i have to take compromises here and there ... if you get, what i mean. The style of writing has alrady changed a lot compared to our other games, but Hearsz is falling back into old habbits here and there
.We still work on that - we might not achieve what we want from now to then, but we'll do our best to be there one day.
Last edited:
- Jul 26, 2023
- 5,983
- 11,544
Thanks again for responding, I appreciate you listening. I certainly won't be dropping it after 1 or 2 episodes, cause overall I really am enjoying it, like all of Dots games. One other thing I thought of, was asking Juliet on a date, I didn't mind personally (cause I would of asked anyway), but I felt pushed into it without having a choice. Thanks.
- Jun 30, 2018
- 3,020
- 8,070
well - about Juliet:
That was kind of some "flirt" and particially ironic. I am not going to spoiler, but after this upcomming update you may understand the Juliet plot a bit more.
In general (not only related to Juliet), in ToH MANY things are not what they look like on first sight
To be honest, this type of setup kind of sucks: it you have to perform all (or "enough") certain steps in order to "get to final base" with the girl then that, effectively, no longer makes them choices but just mandatory hoops the player has to jump through for a choice they've already made ("i want to get on with this girl") or they're left with a screwed up run and may as well restart.
I mean, on one hand this is okay since most of these games are like that. But then you play something like ORS which gives the player multiple "points of entry/departure" for many of its relationships, and it's so much more flexible (in terms of how many different stories you can get out of it) it makes the "industry standard" stilted and limited in comparison.
- Jun 30, 2018
- 3,020
- 8,070
it would be.
But i explained it simplified. More detailed it is like you get, let's say up to 5 points for a girl in a scene - you will end up with 1-2 hearts (1 heart for reaching 3 points, another heart for reaching 5 points).
In later scene you can reach for example 3 different bases (0 hearts, 1 heart, 2 hearts).
So it doesn't matter when or where you got these hearts. You don't even need ALL hearts possible - just the less hearts you got, the more unlikely you will get all content (but still being able to get the scenes, just not in full length).
We have to do it that way, as there is no way we could script a rendered story for every single combination of possible choices - for obvious reason.
EDIT:
And yes, if you do your choices wrong, you might miss content - that's intended -> choices matter
Anything else would be a kinetic novel and we wouldn't even need choices at all
PS:
But that's EXACTLY how we did it. You can "enter" a path at any point - but you can't expect a girl jumping your dick once you've first met her. So people who entered and maintained her path earlier of course might be able to get further with her, while others need to build up the relation more first.
We still try to balance it in a way that even those who entered paths later on still be able to get the full path at the end, but still while missing some parts of scenes during their playthrough. (can't bring back lost scene parts which player missed in earlier parts of the game depending of his previous choices)
Last edited:
It's 21st century and people been hooking up and having one-night stands with people they've just met for long decades, i absolutely can expect that.
I kid, mostly. What you write sounds good, although re: hearts, i can't help but complain a little about how getting these hearts so far seems mainly tied to taking all most thirsty and often pathetic options of perving on girls at every opportunity in scenes (which is what gives you the A+ ratings) I kinda wish these ratings were tied more to MC actually performing like a professional and competent thief, perhaps impressing girls this way... than having to go all creep on them.
- Jun 30, 2018
- 3,020
- 8,070
Well - some girls are like that (Tattoo Parlour girl, 2 flight attendants) - while other girl aren't "that easy to lay"It's 21st century and people been hooking up and having one-night stands with people they've just met for long decades, i absolutely can expect that.
You are wrong about that. Actually it's the other way around: while going for A+ ranking (which gives you heart points) you most likely need to stay professional and NOT being pervy. Being pervy (like in Tattoo shop) will open other paths, but you may miss some hearts for main girls.
No, i don't think i am wrong about it -- take for example first scene with Ariel, if you choose to wait for her while she is changing out of her stained clothes like a normal and sensible person would, instead of following her "to apologize" only to end up staring at her like a creep, you will only get A rating, not A+
The tattoo parlor is a bit weird in the sense in order to get the best rating you have to make some counter-intuitive choices like telling suspicious guy you're interrogation that a girl you're with is your sister, and there's absolutely no reason a professional would just volunteer with info like that (when such information is true)
Vivian scene with stealing clothes requires you to peek on her twice to get multiple task points, instead of keeping lookout like a professional would. If you keep watch instead you end up with a B or worse.
Ariel's break in scene gives you a point for choosing dumb option that leads to getting a dick foot rub, and penalizes you if you avoid it.
Bella's break in scene (the branch in girl lockers which starts with choosing to peek under her skirt) has two points for getting all nosy about Bella's missing skirt and then getting her to show you her ass, instead of just moving on.
Vivian museum scene gets you point for taking unnecessary creep shot of her, on top of another which depends on choosing her pose when taking picture of a painting. As if Vivian's pose there actually mattered beyond MC getting his mother to show him her ass.
So, no, i definitely don't think i'm wrong in getting this impression, that acting like a professional and not going for the creep options gets you penalized more often than not.
Last edited:
yeah I got that impression too I actually used the in game walkthrough for once if I recall correctly most of my default choices would of been non pervy options but If I recall correctly it said doing the pervy option was better. Tho there is a chance i'm wrong and miss remember.