I really hope, in this instance, that DPC sticks to what they did in AL and leave the whole dumping/getting dumped to near the end of the game and not in the middle of it. What with this being a game about young people in college, I don't feel that there needs to be any emphasis put on serious committment with any of the LIs, at least not when the MC has only been in college for less than a month.
It is, as Jill said, "just dating" and sure, the girls might not like that he's seeing/sleeping with other people, but this is what dating is about; figuring out who is the right one for you, and that's what the MC is doing right now. So he should be allowed the time to do so and not be forced into a committed relationship this early just because DPC wants people to play it multiple times.
I don't think the MC will be "forced" to choose until near the end (though "near the end" might be several episodes, depending on just how long DPC needs to tie up all the loose ends by then). But I do think the branching is going to give us lots of possible scenes with all the various girls, of which we can only pick a few in a given run.
So in a sense the MC will have to make several smaller, soft choices that will eventually matter: if he skips all of Jill's dates, for example, the relationship with Jill will ultimately fail when the time for the final choice comes. But since there will be several opportunities between now and "near the end," no one opportunity will be a deal breaker; as long as the MC attends some minimum number of Jill dates, he will be able to commit to her. (This would also likely tie in to whether the M&J throuple falls apart.) And there will be several branching decisions in each Episode, so MCs who want to play the field will still have the freedom to do so. But it won't be possible to see all the content in a single run (barring mods, of course).
I think that's a fairly reasonable way to handle it, but I'm not sure if it's quite what you're looking for.
Ooooh! It sounds like his own internal testing rather than formal beta testing. So we aren't on the two week clock yet. Still, it's a good sign if the build is this far along already. It keeps an April 9 release in play; it's a long shot, but possible if beta testing is very smooth. But we have a very good shot at April 16, and should hit April 23 even if beta testing goes the full distance.
Almost there. Deep breaths. Just need to stay calm a little longer.
