I wanna give some feedback because I think this game has crazy potential and is criminally under-appreciated.
Lots of usefull feedback there!!
Some things:
0. Thank you about the performance improvements, I hear all players and try to make my best, I'm not a coder after all, but always learning and improving.
1. Yes, the second occasion to open up Katerina in the game is forced. Was a quick fix in order to allow her story starts reusing same renders without a lot more of work just before release. Now that the community of players know how to play the game, I can more safely just put an option to Ignore
the nature call and block Katerina in that moment for the rest of the game. I'll adress this issue among others when I do a Leffrin update more close to the end of the chapter.
2. I barely test without the standard way the game was designed for (With scrolling text at speed 75, sound on text...) I just cannot play the game without those options, the tempo and the lack of speech feels unbearable to me. (Also, the changes of expressions while they say different lines on the same bubble...). And not many people has given me feedback about those options, I just included them for those who asked. I think the problem you encounter is the pauses on text; I fear I cannot code a way to compatibility those pauses with and without scrolling text; Have you tried With Scrolling text and Max Scrolling speed? That at least will solve the possibility of missing text, because you'll be forced to click again if all the text is not shown.
3. The Options being remembered but not applied... Thanks!! I just fix that. As said, not much feedback about using different text modes. Now every time the player goes thru the Tittle Screen, the remembered options are applied so it would have the correct ones when starting the game.
4. About game setting, that's very good theorycrafting. But nobody hit on the location yet. The game is full of little references and there are many hidden clues in the renders here and there. And for those that suggest that the game could be on an earlier colonization of the americas, Is Not a Bad Idea, but on Hartlepool dock one can only see Galleys and Cogs... And a prototype, tho.