I loved Triangle.
And so far I really like this game.
There are elements I would probably have liked better if they had been a little different, but that happens if you don't write your own storyline. I can very much live with the result presented here.
I know, I'm a little late to the last installment of the ever-recurring discussion about the MC and Cathy, but here is my take on it:
I'm actually a little between two seats here.
On one hand, I have no problem with the MC's personality, personality-wise.
He is in a loving relationship and a laid back guy. I can very much relate to that.
More to the issue at hand, the role model relationship is a monogamous one.
We know he is no Macho/fucks around behind her back, he is happy with the love of his life - nothing 'unmanly' here.
So of course, when Cathy asks him if he wants other relationships, he says NO. He loves Cathy and she might suspect his budding feelings towards Alice. He definitely has to reassure her and show her that her assumed fears are ungrounded.
Cathy HAS to take the initiative here to show him that it is OK for them to change their relationship into something more uncommon.
On the other hand, this is a game with an MC - and the more common presentation of games with an MC is that the MC/player has an active part in evolving the story. That is even true for RTS games for example where the MC is only present in the story intermissions you have no real influence about.
Now, VNs are a special case in that they are much more story-centric and a story that completely caters to the MC being the center of every decision wise would be a sandbox.
In my experience, sandboxes often aren't that great at telling an enthralling story (there are exceptions, mind you). And too many branches all too often kill a VN in the long run.
So again, the level of influence I, the player, have is a compromise, and how strong I feel 'lacking influence' is a problem depends on many things. One of them potentially being how much story direction is driven by whom or what else.
The difference here, in relation to Triangle, is that the story direction is set that actively (and domineering) by Cathy. Not in telling the MC what to do, but the impulses seem to originate from her pretty much.
Story-wise that makes a lot of sense, especially in the beginning.
Also, nothing wrong with that relationship-wise and going pretty well with the laid-back way of the MC - if everything goes his way without doing the work ... well more time to just enjoy it without anyone being able to oppose him really.
(What damages this a little, is that all this could be there and can be explained - but it isn't communicated to the player. If the MC would have some thoughts about it for example and express that this is actually what he wanted from the get-go or something like that, it would much more feel like the MC was an active part in this. I too felt a little like the MC was lacking his own personality from time to time. Just a little edge here or there ... Nothing bothering the tone of the game, just something to give him more of his own standing so to speak.)
BUT (this had to come at some point
) - from a gaming perspective, it would indeed be nice if the game would feel more like the protagonist had some more influence on the direction as well.
This might come in the upcoming action that many complained about that the game was lacking (I like it much more this way - first the relationship is properly set (although it did take some time to get there
), so we can actually have it threatened and saved, supporting the MC, ...). All the same, after Cathy established the possibility of them all being together, it would be a nice touch for some (more) ideas/suggestions coming from the MC in the first place.
This does not necessarily mean active choices and clicking buttons. Told choices of our MC can still represent active contributions to the story.
And with that, on to more 'knightly' adventures to come, saving the kingdom and a felt more prominently MC.
I'm really looking forward to how the story will progress.
