I was on edge doing this entire chapter and found myself getting irritated throughout this whole ordeal. This whole Valery/Cartel arc has overshadowed everything in these last past couple of chapters, which caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a guy from a farm in New Hampshire to be going toe to toe with cartel members, let alone get kidnapped and have the crap beaten out of him. There's a lot of things I want to discuss but I'll start with the good stuff.
1. Ashley's love scene was beautifully written, I didn't expect her and the MC to make love this soon but it made sense in hindsight. I mean she's always loved him, they've already confess their love for each other a few chapters ago. Add the fact that she almost lost MC if things had went south, it felt like the perfect time to cross that line as lovers. But everything was well done in my opinion, the lighting, the first time awkwardness, the music, I was pleased with the scene overall.
2.Elizabeth and the MC admitting their feelings for one another also came as a surprise to me, I thought the sexual tension and build up would go on for at least a couple of more chapters. We all know that Elizabeth has a thing for the MC but she jumped right on in it and laid down the terms, as did the MC. There relationship is gonna have to be discreet of course but Liz has been one of my favorites since I first started playing so I was happy to say the least.
3. Vicky's scene at the end was unexpected but I wasn't complaining because... It's Vicky, the sexy tomboy, the bombshell, one of my best girls, the S class, I could go on and I should but I won't. Unfortunately though if you wanted to view this scene it's at the expense of Ashley's, which presents a problem for me.
4. There was some progress made with the girls of your choosing, depending on the paths you chose. You got closer to Valery and Aurora, made out with them and got to further their paths. I love how Aurora just didn't hold anything back she told the MC how she felt, laid everything on the line and it paid off for her... that is if you chose her path of course.
5. Jenny admits that she's in love with the MC to Ashley, Ashley handled it like a badass and said that's she's not giving up on MC, she's basically laid down the gauntlet. Jenny and Jade talked about a possible threesome, which I shot down immediately and that was that.
Now I have to talk about the things that bothers me:
1. This whole Cartel arc is completely unavoidable, so no matter paths you're on... you're still risking your life, you're still gonna get kidnapped and have your ass kicked. There's no way out of this sorry, which is the main problem I have with this whole different paths nonsense. It's one thing if this arc happened in like chapter 8, 9 or somewhere down the line when everyone is close and have established relationships, friendships and bonds and it's another to just rush into action for girls you're just friendly with. And I say friendly because if you're not on the Valery or Jenny path you're still putting yourself as well as Ashley in company danger.
2. Relationship wise the paths don't make sense either. If I'm on Valery's path, there's no action with Jenny or Ashley. If I'm on Jenny's path the MC basically ignores Ashley and doesn't even have the decency to let her know that he's okay, even though that's supposed to be his childhood friend. If you're on the Ashley's path you practically miss out on EVERYTHING. Valery doesn't open up to you, nor does Rebecca, no action with Jenny or Vicky. It's definitely not what I expect from a game with a harem tag in it, now if this game wasn't presented as I harem it wouldn't bother me but from what I've seen so far this game is no more of a harem than the Where The Heart Is game.(Pretty Good game BTW)
3. The setup of the relationship paths also irks me. You'd think that since Jenny has her own crew and bonds with her girls that the paths would be connected with that said group. Like if I was to choose to be on Jenny's path, shouldn't I automatically be able to pursue the paths of Valery, Rebecca etc.? And if I'm on Ashley's path shouldn't I be able to pursue Vicky and Sung Li seeing as how close they are? But instead it's switched around. No Ashley means, Sung Li has sex dreams and fantasize about the MC. Choose Jade path and Rebecca doesn't open up to you as much, choose Rebecca over Jade and you get a bunch of Jade content even if you didn't ask for it. I just wish that none was these paths existed this soon in the series that would've made this easier in my opinion. Plus you get to develop actual feelings with these characters versus just wanting the bed them.
4. Ashley's predicament is horrible, as if it wasn't bad enough that she has to see the likes of Jenny and others try to win the MC's heart but now she has to worry about her own best friend also? The Sung Li situation is absolutely terrible because she's all playing the matchmaker one minute, trying to get Ashley and MC hooked up... then out of nowhere she's having sex dreams and now has feelings for him too. I'm sure the weebs love it but I hate it to be honest.
5. I wanna wrap this long ass post up by saying this.. This is not a rant whatsoever, so please don't get mad or moist reading this, I love this game. But what I want to say is this... Look I know that Jenny and the MC are good people with hearts of gold but if some power hungry psychopath is constantly doing things that threaten your life to the point where it's gonna get you and the people you love ones killed. And you have the power and option to stop it and end that imminent threat... for fucks sake make the choice. Adam would be dead ten times over if it was me, you kidnap me at gun point, threaten the women I love and have me beaten? There's more nothing to talk about.
