Or just retcon the part before things start getting awkward when it's Nea and the MC's underwear, because that was kind of crossing a line in the friendship, just as if a female friend who has expressed zero romantic interest in you left and came back to find you jerking off in her panties. Ask the player the romance question before that scene, and have the same scene happen later as a sign of the growing sexual tension between the two instead of at a time where the player hasn't had a chance to state their intentions.
But also obviously retcon the suicide in either case. The deciding factor for Nea killing herself shouldn't be the MC not wanting to romance them. Although I think if you retcon the masturbation scene that should make things play out differently anyway.
And maybe at the end of the friendship route in the game, ask the romance question one more time. Maybe at that point players have changed their mind about Nea. Maybe recycle sex scenes from the love route then, before older Nea joins the MC in the restaurant or wherever as they finish their story about how he met his girl.
I could see that as crossing a line as friends and that suggestion is solid, I would do that retcon regardless of the suicide issue. Maybe don't even retcon the suicide, except making the reason not be that the player rejected Nea, but give the player the chance to stop it from happening right at the last second so that it still remains in place. Then the two could proceed as friends and, maybe once Nea is cleared of this obviously suicidal state, the romance question could be asked again with no possibility of suicide and with the player having had a chance to get to know Nea further. At that point, I would say yes to the romance for sure since I'm no longer being guilt tripped into it and there is no suicide to deal with.
I think the Nea situation is handled perfectly and I wish more games would incorporate similar outcomes with characters that the player might have no interest in.
Not even close, it is handled in the absolute worst, most off-putting way possible and makes it seem like it is our fault for not romancing whoever the target character is. That's not a way to attract people, that's a way to drive them away.
the irony is, for a game that wants to treat lgbtq+ content seriously, making the trans character mentaly unstable to the point of commiting suicide because you didnt fuck them is sending it backwards by decades.
i mean, even a parody wouldnt get shit this wrong. let alone the emotional manipulation. this is just idiotic, no matter how you slice it.
i will say this, there's nothing that is more of a turn off to me, than stuff getting overly serious. and this here is prime reason why, i know alot of people love their porn to have good story, but to me, i rather have a cookie cutter same ol same ol crap, than when people try to reinvent shakespear, only to deliver a wigglestick instead.
Yes it is, this is absolutely terrible representation, and that's coming from someone who is part of that group (not trans, but LGBT, specifically on the asexuality spectrum as a demisexual). It makes Nea seem mentally ill just because Nea is trans, which in turn makes it look like all trans people are mentally ill. That is not the case, in fact, that is far from the case. They do suffer trouble like bullying and family that won't accept them, that is accurate, and the percentage of mental illness among trans people due to what they face is higher than the rest, but they are not automatically suicidal just because a love interest rejected them while Nea is exactly that.
i fail to see how that makes it any better. in case you didnt get it, what you describe is an mentaly unstable person. no matter how you slice it, nea's life revolving around someone else wanting a relationship with her doesnt make the scene any less disrespectfull.
also, as a side note, i never said nea was mentaly unstable because she was trans, but that doesnt change the fact nea is a mentaly unstable trans character who will kill herself because she couldnt date a guy.
and i wont even talk about how the "living hell" could be argued as being caused by her decision to come foward as a trans person, since the bulling she suffers revolves around that. which, like i said, the game sets enough breadcrumbs to make that a valid consideration as well.
It doesn't, the portrayal by the game as it stands now is that Nea is mentally unstable because Nea is trans, this illogical conclusion coming from the undeniable evidence that Nea jumps from a roof because Nea was rejected, not because of going through literal hell from even Nea's own family, but because somebody told Nea no. That needs to be fixed, that is the most egregious error in the character in that it totally misrepresents what actual trans people are like. They won't just automatically jump off a roof after being rejected, something that drastic takes time to build no matter the person and it is far too early in Nea's story for that.
You are correct, Nea is NOT mentally unstable because Nea is trans, Nea is mentally unstable because of the "living hell" Nea went through at the hands of bullies and even the people Nea was supposed to be able to trust the most, Nea's own family. However, as I said above, the current Nea route portrays Nea as mentally unstable because Nea is trans, which is just not the case, it can't be, Nea is just as normal as every other character.
The "living hell" Nea went through is because people are afraid, Nea's family and the people at school who bullied Nea are afraid of what Nea is, a trans person, because they don't understand what it means to be trans. A common human reaction to things one does not understand is fear and fear can do terrible things, though this fear still does NOT justify the actions of Nea's family and the bullies. Nea's decision to come forward did indeed trigger the perpetrators, but coming forward in itself is NOT the cause of that "living hell" Nea went through. That "living hell" had to be perpetrated by an outside actor, the actors in this case being the bullies and Nea's family. Nea cannot be the cause of Nea's "living hell" just for coming forward.
