Anyone not wanting to read a long post should skip this now & be assured that no Dylans were disparaged in the following paragraphs. I stress that I intend to speak openly, honestly & not be bound by convention on this occasion. This, to me, is appropriate when discussing a game/VN which deals in blood-relative incest, corruption, moral degradation, under-age sex (by some standards) & addiction. I do not attempt to spoil others fun, as I've said before & as if I could anyway. I do not expect any kudos but by the same token will not accept any condemnation for what I'm about to write, as I'm talking about incest & blackmail, two key elements of AWAM.
I try to avoid as much of the incest as I can, (which is becoming more difficult) but have thought of a potential 'happy' ending for one of the routes. This would concern Dylan breaking up with whichever long-term girlfriend he manages to have a genuine emotional connection with. It's essential that he has had a full relationship & is no longer a fumbling virgin but now has a level of knowledge more appropriate to his age, which is certainly over 18 at this point. He feels the type of misery that he has never experienced or imagined before & confides his anguish to his mother, who seeks to console her son in the loss of his first love.
One thing leads to another & you can guess the rest. Given the right script & renders, this could play out as a tender loving scene.
Incest fans could imagine that it was the start of a different relationship between the mother & son. Those who don't care for incest could imagine that it was a one-off due to specific circumstances. Everyone would have the question of, "How far would you go?" answered before the credits rolled. [Those who dream of ahegao faces, pregnant Sophias, or a playing house scenario in an alternate universe would be disappointed. I would say two things, "this game is for adults" & "good"].
I was trying to think laterally without prejudice to arrive at a reasonable endgame & yes, I know incest fans have probably thought of half a dozen better (for incest fans) endings. Now, however, I ask for the same consideration when discussing blackmail, which frankly, I enjoy. I will qualify that & say 'I enjoyed' it up to a point.
I have no wish to play a game where a virtuous woman discovers her inner slut one day & decides to give it free rein. I thought the slow-burn was meant as a corrective to this tired & boring pixel powered stereotype. It's much more diverting to play a game where changes are made due to a combination of coercion, persuasion & free will. Bennett, Aiden & possibly the Morello brothers now provided the coercion, while Sophia's family members, Sam, Alyssa & possibly Vicky, DeShawn, Nathalie et al provided the persuasion & Sophia herself, has her free will. Everything was going along nicely, (albeit at a glacial pace), despite diverging paths & script glitches, until several developments threw things out of balance.
First there was the curtailment of Bennett due to "popular demand." Who demanded it, is a good question but I've discussed this elsewhere. Then there was Aiden who seemed to have potential. This was limited from a very early stage by the revelation that there would be no gangbang, or similar activity in this game. Automatically this removed the inherent suspense & tension from the unfolding tasks, which now became just items of curiousity, as in 'what will he demand next', 'what CAN he demand while staying within these imposed restraints?' Now before the outrage starts, I'm not saying that these things should happen or should be possible but even if there'd been no ruling them out the likelihood is that they would have been avoidable. This took some getting used to because it's not normal in this type of game but because AWAM is meant to have "class" it was a case of 'like it, or lump it,' or 'it is what it is.' So, now Bennett was going, the Aiden tension was going, was that enough? Absolutely not, as along came another double or triple whammy. It now was revealed that the coding had shown that tasks 4-8 were not there. They, the tasks, might be abandoned , or compressed because they're photographs, (I've got a beautiful, sophisticated woman who has to comply with my outrageous demands, (as long as I don't try to rape her).....I know, let's get her to take some selfies?????), or they might be retrofitted in flashbacks (WTF?). [OK let's retrofit some incest in flashbacks shall we/I think not].
Still not enough, what..... because here comes the Mafia who can make any blackmail, (& the blackmailer, if required), disappear in a matter of minutes in return for certain 'things.' Why not get rid of Bennett & Aiden now. Bennett is going anyway & Aiden's position looks untenable. "Why kill the wolf & leave the cub alive?" Why was blackmail included in the first place? If you don't like it & nobody else likes it, just get rid of it...in a Morello minute but wait aren't they blackmailers of a kind? (Turf war could do for the brothers).
Next I'm half expecting Sophia to ask Aiden for extra tasks, or maybe she will become the sexual aggressor to get him on the run & he turns out to be another teen virgin. It's another tried & tested move from gameworld.
I think that those who do not wish to pursue an incest route are not being treated fairly, especially those amongst them, like myself & surely there must be some patrons, who try to follow the blackmail path. It's taken a long time for something to be said but if Dylan fans can shout & bawl etc..... This doesn't just encompass blackmail either but that's enough for now.
