Regarding the comments referring to this moment as melodrama... I must respectfully disagree. Sometimes it's necessary for a "dramatic event" to occur to shift the direction of the story- in this case, it appears to be both an important segue and the climax of the story. Tragedies happen every day, even fires. It's just something that *most* of us have not experienced, which will make it seem a tad off... but it does happen.
I do agree that some of the drama in this story is executed better- for example, the Liam plot. However, I don't agree that this event was *bad* storytelling in any way or that the dev needs to redeem himself because of it. I think that's only something we can truly know when we see what happens next- as we don't know the full context of the event or what it's leading to. We only know that it happened.
My only criticism was the general execution, as it kind of came out of nowhere and there wasn't enough tension leading up to it. For example, there could've been a few more screens of the MC realizing what is happening, then realizing that the girls might still be in the house, etc. Perhaps a few more lines of inner-monologue, even. But overall I like the direction that the doctor is taking the story and I don't see what happened as "lacking."
In response to the person who referred to this incident as "disrespectful due to not setting expectations..." I mean- I don't really see how he could raise our expectations more than he has. It's a fairly lighthearted game and fun/sweet in a way... but there's plenty of drama included as well. Liam having cancer, pawning all of his belongings and accepting his fate, Melissa being abused, MC beating up her step-father.... the drama with Melissa when she realizes you're seeing Megan, Liam's friend dying, Megan almost being raped... etc. I think there's a fair balance between drama and fun, enough so that this scene didn't come as much of a surprise. I don't think it was disrespectful at all- but that's just my opinion and you're of course entitled to yours. I agree with faux, btw. I don't think either one of them are going to die- which makes it even "less disrespectful" if you know what I mean.
Just my two cents on some of the banter. I definitely see where you guys are coming from, but I think without seeing what happens next we're jumping the gun a bit.
Hehe, that was more than just your two cents, I think that was a very well thought-out and constructed opinion, opinion I happen to fully agree with. Pretty early on to the story I did have this gut feeling that the story will take a pretty dark and sinister turn at some point, did I know what it was? No, of course not, but knowing that something like that is coming, to me adds to the tension, and even when I knew to expect something, I was still always shocked just how drastic and extreme even some of the events turned out to be.
This story to me personally has always exceeded whatever I may have had expected from each episode, I've never been disappointed, even when plot twists got real heavy, I mean, all of these things that has happened in the story, these things happen in real life everyday, though it may be a bit too big of a coincidence that all these things happen to one small group of people in this story, the odds of that is rather slim, but hey, it's a fictional story BASED on the dev's own personal experiences.
I agree that the story has a good balance of of romance and love, friendship and having a good time together, and then comes the more dramatic stuff like domestic violence, corruption, sense of loss, feeling betrayed, jealousy, loved once battling cancer and things like that, all of which are very unfortunate things.
I can respect and appreciate that not all people want their games to be so gloomy and depressing and such, especially when it comes to pornographic side of things, but I for one appreciate realism in the VNs that I play, the captivating stories that keeps me glued into them and makes me want more and more.
And one thing that people tend to forget, is that this VN was never meant to be highly erotic story containing lots and lots of sexual material, was never meant to act as "fap material", this is a visual novel, the story is by far the primary focus, it just happens to contain adult material (which by the way doesn't always mean sexual content.
Certain context alone are adult materials). And the dev wants to shock his audience, flesh emotions and feelings out of people, whether it's good or bad, that has always been his intention since the start, and he does it VERY well.
I think it should also be mentioned, which the dev himself has said, he's pretty much making this VN for himself, as he has a long history playing VNs and very few, if any at all has ever really given what he would desire from the VNs, so he created his own and if I recall right, he's influenced by the style of Depraved Awakening, which is another damn fine VN. But yeah, he's kinda making things for himself, if the audience likes it too, that's a very welcomed bonus, if people don't, however people may be feeling about it, well, to him all that is complimenting his creation.
I've always been a big fan of this story, even with the dark and sinister turns of events, I can only admire and respect the dev for staying true to his own vision and himself, and this is by far one of the best true VNs out there, in my opinion DA and this would be the only worthy nominees for the "AVN of the Year" trophy, haha.