The game assigns permanent CHICK or DIK Affinity when you run out of opposing boxes to remove during Major Decisions. If you haven't achieved either by the end of Episode 8, the game assigns permanent Neutral Affinity instead - regardless of what your Affinity would otherwise have been. There are 11 boxes on each side (not counting the two Neutral boxes in the middle), and we get a total of 15 choices by the end of Episode 8. That means if you make 5 or more decisions on each side you'll be unable to reach permanent CHICK/DIK Affinity.
This has some counterintuitive side effects because of the way the metrics switch between temporary and permanent Affinity. The earliest you can earn permanent CHICK/DIK Affinity is the 11th Major Decision - the option to take Tommy's Fake ID near the end of Episode 6. The latest is obviously the 15th Major Decision - using the bathroom notes to cheat on the midterm in Episode 8. Simple enough.
But the earliest you can lock in Neutral Affinity is actually the
10th decision (fighting Tommy at the start of Episode 6), it's just that the game won't acknowledge it at that time. You'll be forced to play through the next 5 Major Decisions as normal even though the die has already been cast. You can thus achieve permanent Neutral Affinity by (seemingly) reinforcing an existing CHICK/DIK Affinity.
That's interesting. We've been referring to the trio as Vixens, but I had wondered if that might be an informal oversimplification; we'd barely seen two of the girls and had never seen any sign they were an actual group. Apparently DPC does consider them a group. It's possible DPC is using the term informally as well, but if the three are a previously unmentioned team that bears thinking about.
For example, perhaps the reason it's been so hard to find a suspect in Cathy-cluck gate is that the actual perpetrators hadn't been introduced at the time?
Eh, I think it's pushing the envelope a bit past sloppy. It's not just that Sage assumed the MC knew, it's that she still didn't mention it even if she *knows* the MC helped set off the sprinklers at the prep party (which happens if you're on her path by not M/J's). At that point you'd expect her to at least suggest the MC prepare himself in case the topic comes up, right? Of give him a head's up on whether Tybalt will be at the meeting as well?
Combine that with the way DPC bent over backwards to downplay the possibility prior to Episode 8 and I have to call it a bit of a cheat. Even in hindsight there's equal evidence for and against the twist. The only compelling reason to favor Sage being a Burke was that the amount of time spent discussing her parents would be excessive for effectively new characters - which is nicely blown out of the water by the arrival of the Vixens.
I might still let it slide if the MC didn't also massively overreact to the twist even when he didn't bang Jade, but no such luck.
Well... no. If you don't care about the story, playing through a nearly sexless prologue of a supporting character is an even bigger waste of time.