I don't remember ever playing a match-3 style game except Ironcast. This game looks much different. Which means I don't know how well a mouse works with these things on a timer. Or anything about match-3.

Any tips on not getting wrecked?

There is no timer; but a limit of moves. You can earn more moves and there are penalty matches too.

-Make sure to match passion tokens(the pink hearts) early on so your regular matches get more points.
-Go in knowing what color match she prefers. The main colors are orange, green, blue, red(Romance, Flirtation, Talent and Sexuality)
-Make sure to Utilize the gifts and get the sentiment to use them. Gifts I would recommend are the ones that increase the chance of a certain gem from appearing on the board. get the one you need for the girl your dating. It kind of ties in with the previous tip in that way.
-It should be obvious when you play, but avoid the broken hearts at all costs. I know from experience from playing this game today was that accidentally matching a set of broken hearts can screw you over and mess up a successful date. there is even a gift early on where you can convert all broken hearts into passion tokens, also there is one where it counts up all the broken hearts on the board and for every one you get %2 of the maximum amount of the progress meter to fill the meter( if that's confusing that because it's hard for me to explain.)
-Talking to the girls gets you experience points which you use to upgrade eight skills. this is absolutely necessary because later on, shit gets difficult because every successful date the bar you have to fill gets bigger, but you still start out with 20 moves. Focus upgrading based on what girl you are going for at a given moment.
- I almost forgot. their are move tokens you should probably match as much as possible. seriously every available move counts. Bonus points if you can match four of those bastards which gives you two moves.

That's all I can think of besides it helps to have a good memory when you talk to all the girls, but that is separate from the match three stuff.

Ok, so I can take my time to plan moves. That's good to know. I'll pick this game at the beginning of next month and have at it. I should have watched a let's play to see some game play but I didn't want to spoil any story. Enjoy being surprised with twists and turns.

As for talking to the women, I'll pick whatever options that they seem to enjoy and try not to get killed or jailed. Just like real life... if it involved dialog options floating in front my face. Huh. I wonder if someone though of a use for AR glasses like that yet?

Thanks.

A quick note: there are *some* cases, where your moves are unlimited but you have to be fast (you cannot fail though) to succeed. Not the best experience with a touchpad, but still very doable.

Not to ruin your expectations, but the amount of actual "story" is very minimal.

This is not a visual novel in any way, shape or form.

Is there any way to slow the point drain during this mode down? I've set it to easy but my points are still draining away faster then I can earn them. I can usually get to around 250 to 280 but no higher.

Barring that any cheat codes?

I'm not aware of any, because I never needed them. My advice is not to stress over it. Just find any match towards the bottom of the board. If you see 4- or 5-matches under your cursor, go for them, otherwise don't bother with them. The points mainly come from chain reactions (thus the advice to always be towards the bottom of the board), so you need to get a bit lucky, but it shouldn't be difficult. Just make sure you're not wasting your time looking for a 'better' match. Go for whatever's closest to your cursor.

If you're anything like me... stop trying to enjoy the audio and visuals and just focus on matches. ;)