This update confirmed the direction that Aiden's route is taking, both for what happened during the meeting and for the initial dialogues before Morello's boys enter the scene ("
In two weeks..."). It is really moving towards pure humiliation, whether it is in front of the students or in front of the gang members.
Probably I'm a broken record, but I feel that it is moving away from the eroticism to embrace a more "classic" porn approach. In that I completely agree with what
GingerSweetGirl wrote. **For me** there was nothing erotic in what happened during the meeting, the erotic tension that a reader could feel, at different extents, during the previous tasks has completely gone.
The scene in which she shows the breast felt somewhat "flat" **for me**, no emotions, just a semi-naked woman in front of strangers. Compare that e.g. with the same scene in Larry's visit with all the build up and the thrill of being seen by others, you see that there is something really different going on.
Same for the groping, it felt almost a remake of the tube station scene, nothing really erotic there, IMO.
And, to be clear, it's not a critic because it's a matter of personal taste, it simply doesn't do it for me.
De gustibus.
It is a clear shift from the previous tasks. Sure not all the tasks can be well thought and presented like the 3rd one: whether one liked it or not, one must at least admit that there was an effort in presenting something different than the usual cliché/trope.
He said that the first 4 tasks up to Morello solution
wouldn't have been that extreme, probably now if you miss the Morello's chance we are headed to more classic porn stuff. And I don't say it in a derogatory way, it's simply moving towards a different thing. And all this, I'll say it once again, keeps reminding me of that apocryph
"So, will she stay the good, faithful wife or will she fall into all the temptations and become a filthy wh**e soon?" of the OP. We don't know where it comes from but it seems that the Aiden path is going into that direction. Which, again, there is not right or wrong, it's a choice and probably can make sense if you really wanna have a darker route like that.
Now if I allow myself to make a critical remark about this update, I will join what
jamdan said in his
post. The end of the meeting, whatever choice you make, beside leaving immediately the meeting, felt very rushed and not on par with standard of quality of this game. I would have expected at least the "usual" scene in the car or at home where Sophia recollects her thoughts on what happened. We often discussed about Sophia "resetting" after each event, but after what she went through going home and watching TV it's really a "hard reset"!
One of the good things of this VN was the attempt to dive deep into the MC, expressing her feelings, convey her emotions and try to rationalize the choices and the events. With obvious ups and downs in the effort but generally with good results. And that gave a great level of immersion. So I really felt that the end was rushed and some Sophia's perspective should have been done other than a simple sentence. Even during the event there were less space for her inner thoughts, before and after the choices.
IMO one thing is that a the story goes down to a path that I might not like or being particularly interested in, but if even the quality and the "little things" that made the VN stand out are disappearing (ok, it could be just an update, but I can see other signs even in the previous) that is much more worrisome to me.
Probably it is also an effect of the new development cycle that does not help the continuity of the scenes. And, as I was afraid when announced, that also gives him the temptation if not the necessity of feeling the vacuum of a short update with more content that was not planned. I'm saying this because I will come back with a crazy theory of mine.
To end in a more positive note and at the cost of
GingerSweetGirl feeling stalked
I too stopped on that expression of Sophia during the playthrough, really vivid and beautifully rendered IMO. Which, incidentally, would be also my expression while reading through the update.
