Yes, the tooltips were on, and I believe I noticed them where they are early on, thought having them in place (floating), should help visibility. The problem with the banner tooltip currently is that it does not explain what the banners mean. To add to it the money does not have a commonly recognizable symbol (how about a '$'?). I was initially wondering if banners were some kind or resources (including money). It took me a while to figure out that they were "house" points and what gameplay importance they had. It took me even longer to know which were griffendor and slitherin (the only two that actually matter, correct?). A tooltip saying "griffendor points", "slitherin points," "gold", "current date", would help eleviate some of the confusion. Alternatively a small help page in the game menu describing interface elements and gameplay elements, such as character stats and goals would help. It can also include some basic hints, like needing to be freinds with Snape.
Many games start with a tutorial. I know it would be contrary to the plot line of being thrown into an unknown location by a spell, still you want the new players to get enough information to continue playing instead of leaving in bewilderment and frustration. As is, the gameplay development is slow at the begining even without the confusion. Do not rely on new players knowing that the game world is based on the Harry books and knowing every detail in the books. I actually read some of them a while back (despise not being the target age group), and I do not remember ginis or sexual harassment, so similarities are not 100% to be absolutely honest here.
Nah, I could not be bothered with the original, just like the majority of the "trainers" that I tried. This is the first one I actually enjoyed playing despite occasional warts. Might have even downloaded it (the original) in the past and dropped it.
I do not know how I got the slitherin so behind, but I had to forget about Hermoine for some 20 to 40 turns. I had to max out Snape and Cho in the meantime (to where she wants Hermoine to strip first), before Hermoine returned into the gameplay. I am sure that I did not take the most optimal strategy in the process, which should be expected for the first time play-though. This may be at least in part the result of not understanding the banners, so I am not sure if there is a huge problem here, but maybe small re-balancing of the points is needed too.
I currently have everyone (except Luna whom I do not have yet) at the maximum story progression with the exception of Hermoine. And she is the first one you get. One more thing that probably adds to unnecessary grinding is not knowing what activity would move the stats forward and the package delivery bug. A number of times I'd try something with Hermoine, loose out in slitherin vs griffendor points and get her angry (without progressing the stats), spend my available money on gifts to mollify her and after several days get the package, open it and nothing would be added to the inventory, so I have to wait again. The money is not too difficult to get in the game, but with the package bug it becomes a little limiting, not to mention the time lost on the delivery. Needless to say that the bug needs to be fixed, but regardless the delayed goods delivery is absolutely unnecessary for the story of the game and is counterproductive to enjoyable gameplay. Gini goes to a physical store, why can he not pick the stuff up on the spot? I guess the custom clothing could take time to make, but even so it is a game in a magic world, so why should it?
Speaking of the package bug when I open it first time it would say in a pop-up what was supposed to be in it. Sometimes, I'd get diferent things added to the inventory sometimes nothing at all. I tried saving before opening the package several times and trying again from save, but then the package simply disappears with no pop-up (and still nothing added).