This is it then... someone finally made me post here for the first time. I really wished it hadn't been for something like this, but here it goes.
The lack of media literacy I've seen in this thread has honestly baffled me in several occasions, but there's been no post that has made me this dumbfounded before. And then seeing some people actually praising it just left me completely speechless... so I felt forced to actually articulate the many things you've theorized wrong, as well as some places to give you praise (very few).
Before beginning, english is not my first language, so I'm sorry if I ever word myself improperly. Also, I hope the post is formated properly since, again, it's my first time doing it. With that out of the way, let's begin.
0 & 1 - The first egregious mistake you make is somehow deciding that the author is wrong about something you say he stated about the game he single-handedly created. Now I can't personally attest to what he actually said about "canon" and "non-canon" LI's, as I don't remember if DPC ever wrote anything like that, but if everything you said is true, then it makes absolutely no sense to go against what he says. "Since DPC said himself for a while, like, there are no canon LI, routes, etc in BADIK. ". If he did say something like that, then you can't say he is wrong about it, just cause you think some characters are less developed or lead to "bad" endings. Plenty of stories have "bad" and nonoptimal endings being canonic. You are also implying that because AL only had good endings if you went for M&M (questionable), that somehow the only good endings MC will have is if you go for J&M just because they share similarities. If that wasn't one of the things you were trying to state with your BaDIK and AL comparison, then it certainly seems like you were trying to imply it.
You also heavily imply that J&M's story is the most important in the game.
Both these statements are wrong on so many levels.
- Josy and Maya had to be heavily developed early. A connection had to be built with both before the big EP3 twist could happen, so it makes sense that they had a lot of content early on.
-Out of the 5 MG's, the simple fact they are two makes it so there is just naturally more content for them. While they come as a package deal, they are still two different people that need their own individual moments.
- They are the only LI's that are in the same grade as MC, so it's obvious more moments will naturally happen between them than with a junior, a senior, and a senior citizen (sorry, had to do it).
- MC has arguably more important plot points with other characters. There is obviously Quinn's story, that will almost certainly affect several aspects of MC's school life with the whole prostitution/drugs deal, either directly or indirectly. But there is also characters like Jill which seem to have some sort of personal connection to MC's past, as implied by Lynette's and Jill's photo being taken in the same place.
- Josy and Maya's story is so important that if you decide to be friends with them, all their issues (Patrick) are resolved the exact same way (that was sarcasm, if you didn't notice). Only difference being that it seems like they won't be together if MC is not with them, which, for the MC does not mean a "bad" ending, since it's only bad for J&M. Their story is as important as many other stories in the game. Nothing specifically important about it.
At the end of the day, BaDIK's main story is the one that DPC advertises in his Patreon, and is also displayed in this thread's overview. All other stories are there to be experienced however you want to.
If you wanna say that J&M's story is more important because it happens and affects the MC, no matter what kind of relationship he has with them, then so are Quinn's, Bella's, Sage's and Jill's (cause of Lynette) stories, as (if you really look at it) they all end up happening wether the MC is closely involved with the girl or not, and they all affect them to a varying level (except for maybe Bella. Maybe Jill as well, but most likely not. I can explain later if you ask me about it, but it's too much to write about when most people probably get why the whole Jill/Lynette/MC storyline develops wether MC is with Jill or not.)
Concluding point 1, nothing indicates that J&M are somehow the "canon" LI's of the story. From DPC's "supposed" statements, to exactly how important J&M's storyline is to the whole story of the game, nothing seems to give irrefutable evidence that J&M are more important than any other LI.
2- Here I will be displaying any point I make about what you wrote but copying a big section of your text into a spoiler, and then debating your points 1 by 1, ordering them by letters. I don't know how to do anything fancy with colored, bold or different sized text, so sorry for the poor formatting once again:
a- Even if MC said it was love in his dream, did he actually mean it like that? He is young and barely knows Josy personally at this point. It is actually pointed out that, even though they've been working together all summer, they barely talk except for work-related stuff. It seems like a crush to me. Actually, I just remembered they also state they had a crush on each other later on during their date in EP1. But even if he does love her, he is arguably less certain about it in EP5 considering he questions J&M about dating other people. Their feelings for eachother aren't THAT deep yet. It's why they have that conversation and discuss exactly what their "relationship" entails. The whole thing about not going too far emotionally or physically. The whole 'not attaching strings' conversation. And that moment is concluded in EP9 when MC finally tells them he wants to commit to the throuple by saying 'his strings are beginning to attach'. With all that, it's arguable that the MC actually fell in love (actual love, not just a crush or simply liking) with J&M somewhere during EP6, 7, or 8.
b- Why would this matter? It's not a race. And once again, Josy and Maya had to be heavily developed early. MC built a connection with Maya much faster than others for that same reason, and for Josy it was already built before the game's story even started.
c- Why would he have the option to choose one of them???????? After the whole conversation Maya and Josy just had in front of MC, they are clearly going to try to rekindle their relationship to what it used to be before they were forced to be separated.
d- MC also calls Jill "my girl" at the end of E9 during the walk of shame. And he would probably also do it for Sage and Bella at that same moment, but in one Sage shows up alone, and in the other Bella doesn't show up at all.
e- I have know idea where that is from. I also have a vague idea of it happening, but it might just be a similar one in EP8 when they have sex at the gym, but that one we can opt out of saying it.
"After MC quarreled with J&M and didn't know what to do, he called his father and asked for advice once again. And dad advised to follow his heart. Which MC did later:"
So? If he decides to keep them as friends he still says he followed his heart.
"Library scene:" "
and the MC himself will continue to doubt and will have the opportunity to preserve feelings for one of the girls."
There are like two moments where he questions any possible lingering feelings. In EP5 with Derek, which MC can deny any feelings for both, and another in EP9 with Josy, where MC can deny thinking about how things would be like if something more had happened between them.
Now, it is also true that there are moments between the two, namely the time in EP7 Josy sleeps with MC, and if you're not on their path, MC's and Josy's conversation seems to indicate some lingering feelings, but considering it's been a week since all that stuff in EP4 happened, it makes sense he wouldn't lose feelings that quickly. I mean, MC took WAY longer to get over Zoey (if he even did at all).
"He never asked dad for advice, except for J&M."
Why would he? He already asked him that time. He doesn't need his father to tell him that again. And once he does have doubts about his feelings he actually has a conversation with (mostly) Elena.
Shit, I think he even uses that same "follow my heart" line in his inner monologue once he decides which girl (if any) to take things seriously with.
3- The start of this one should pretty much all be in orange. What the fuck was going through your mind to actually write half of this stuff. And I thought dalli x had weird theories. Obviously, I'm joking but this has WAY too much speculation.
Not even going to attempt to challenge your opinion that he likes more characters than others. He obviously does, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's normal to be biased, even if just a little bit. DPC does a pretty good job with all other characters and the moments they have with the MC. Jill has the picnic date, the running date, the 'with friends' date, the recital not-date and the sex scene in EP8. Sage has the 'sick' date, the 'I'm adopted' date, and the 'talk about the weather' date. Bella is a character I'm particularly not too into, so I don't really like her dates all that much, but she still has some pretty nice moments, especially in EP9.
Point is: all characters have great moments, and some of the best are arguably some with Jill, and considering she was the last MG to be put into the game, I'd say that any idea that 1st means better is just plain wrong.
It can go both ways. He changed a character meaning he cares a lot about it so he wants to make sure it's perfect.
He barely changed the character meaning his vision for it is set and knows exactly what he wants to do with it.
They can both be viewed as positive. Don't overthink it if it's not part of the game.
"J&M is the only MGs that have RP check and use RP system as it is."
Because their unique relationship works well with it, while others don't really require it. For J&M there is a certain level of competion for MC, most notably at the end of their sex scene in EP9. There is also the very real possibility that at some point, even if you choose them both in EP4 and EP8, if the RP in one of them is too low she might no longer wanna be part of the throuple, or if both are low enough, the MC will no longer be part of it. While other girls require more of the specific flags to be triggered for things to either go good or bad, J&M can benefit from an approach of checking for general events (accumulation of RP) or lack of it.
" If all MG's were "equal" (which is important), then either these details would not exist at all, or all MG's would have them, right? "
All MG's have unique details like those. First that comes to mind is actually Jill with the MC being required to play the guitar a specific amount of times if he wants to play on her recital.
A lot of other things that you point out as attention to detail are just a consequence of them being two different characters and the game needing different moments depending on how involved you are getting with each of them. DPC is careful about things like these, and also does them for other characters. You just notice it more cause, again, two characters means needing more different possible outcomes, and also cause they are you favourite LI's.
Of course if you don't have sex with Josy it might not be the best idea for the MC to wanna sleep with her at the end of EP4. And it makes sense, as well as being easily implementable, to have Josy react to MC's dick differently in case she hadn't seen it before.
I really don't wanna spend a fuckton of time writing down why each of those is a very small deal and that other girls have similar moments with the MC, but if I have to, I'll do it later, but certainly not in this post. I do wanna focus on a specific line you wrote. "Thus, both J&M & Jill paths are "true" or "canonical"". MY DUDE... THIS GOES COMPLETELY AGAINST WHAT YOU'VE BEEN PREACHING THIS WHOLE TIME.
As you were writting all that, once you got to this point, you realized that other characters also have a possibility (according to your weird idea that canonical must = good ending) to be "canonical" LIs. WTF.
"When MC rejected Throuple or got rejected, but feelings left for Josy or Maya:"
I know there are no lines in EP8 for when he says in EP5 to Derek he doesn't have feelings for any of the two, but you should have pointed out that he if says that to Derek, it technically means he has no feelings left for them at this point.
"When MC dated several MGs, but picked someone else over J&M:"
He also has similar lines for the other girls.
"Break up with J&M is the severest scene in the whole game, at least up to the moment. I think we will see something worse later, but nevertheless it's so, at the moment."
You've already made some of the points I'm going to point out, so it means we don't completely disagree here, but you considerably downplayed several moments so I'm still going to write about it.
Jill's scene is just as bad. It really is up to personal preference which is worse. Don't downplay it just cause you have a personal preference. One happens early, the other happens later (he cuts it off very slowly."). So what? The reason he delays this moment is cause he wants to explore how J&M react to it at a later date. If he had done it now, it most likely would have meant extensive amounts of flashbacks to what J&M went through before Halloween started. It would take way too long. It would also mean that what happened between Jill and MC during Halloween, if you rejected her, would also happen between J&M and MC, if you rejected them, with slightly different reactions and interactions to account for the difference in personalities between the 3 LIs. It just makes the most sense to leave it for later.
Also, a relationship with Bella is pretty much doomed to fail. Not my personal thought, as most likely there is a way to get a good ending with any LI and probably even SG, but it is most likely what she thinks in that moment. She was happy that she was getting a chance to be in love again, but ultimately realizes that the age gap, and it being a teacher-student relationship meant it wasn't going to work out (and her being 'married'), so she realizes it's probably for the best. But that might not be the case either, just a way to explain it that feels logical.
With Sage it was never about love. From the start the MC and her are just fuck buddies. They become closer starting EP7, after the MC took care of Sage in EP6 (and even if he didn't). Regardless of that, they have a pretty understanding conversation when MC rejects her, and at that point Sage states that she wasn't quite ready for it yet, but she was starting to feel that way towards the MC. The whole thing feels pretty light-hearted, and it ends on a note that seems to indicate that she isn't necessarily giving up on him.
So there are enough reasons to explain them having weaker break up scenes, and it is also important to remember we don't know what the future of the story holds. They might still have plenty of fight to give regarding the MC, irregardless of his decision in EP8.
The whole rest of the orange wall of text just SCREAMS bias. Once again, I can tackle each line specifically and explain why you are wrong. About most. I do agree that J&M's as well as Jill's break ups are better that the others, but that thought also comes from a place of bias. I prefer the more tragic breakups, that eventually, after many talks end up in a friendship, yet a sign of possible feelings from 1 or both sides still linger (what I'm hoping will happen for all these 3 LIs), than the ones where couples remain as friends from the start, and once again, possible feelings from 1 or both sides still linger. But like I said it all comes from a place of bias, and ultimately the better stories might come from Sage and Bella in the future. I mean, we can't forget were are at the halfway point of the game, so how the stories and feelings develop from now on is still very much a mistery to us.
"Summarizing the above, I'll raise this question again - why is all this so, since J&M supposed to be "equal" to other MGs ?" - You are biased and clearly have a skewed perspective of what events and LIs are better. Everyone thinks their favourite LIs have the best moments for the most part (unless we are talking about specific moments like Sage's "adopted" talk, Jill's picnic date, Maya during the dorms party and Josy in the same party as well). Except for moments like those that we all would love to see on our favourite LI/LI's, all other more day-to-day/mundane moments are the best with our LI/LI's of choice.
5- Not reading any of that. Like you say at the start "This part has nothing to do with the facts and this is just speculations, because the end is still very far away and we can only guess what options we will have in each case."
You are making predictions for the ending at the halfway point of the story to a DPC game????????????????????????????
This is the kind of guy that I imagine writing a twist to his story in the last two lines of dialogue.
6- Musics are tricky. It depends a lot on finding the right music for the feelings you are trying to express, and in a game like this, it also means doing it for as cheap as possible. Looking at my BaDIK playlist (which, full discloure, does not include all the songs in the game), I have 6 for J&M (some only J, some only M), 6 for Jill, 3 for Sage, and 4 for Bella. While this means almost nothing considering it's only the ones I have, and not actually all of them, it's still not showing much, also considering that Jill actually has more than J&M, but once again, personal preference. Also, "Run run runnin" (Bella's song)... I don't think I need to point out why you're wrong, since it seems like you know and are just joking. In case you're not, it's run run runnin by grace mesa. Check the lyrics.
p.s- Who's first????????????????????? Checkmate. Quinn wins. (see what I just did there).
To finish, I'm sick of writing. Been doing it for an hour. Not even gonna bother proofreading.
Since you like making assumptions so much, I'm gonna make one of my own. You created your account a bit over half a year ago. You probably haven't playing BaDIK all that much yet. I'm going to assume my almost 400hours on it are more than whatever you've put into it and say: Play more. Specifically other routes. There are so many great moments with all the characters that I've even developed a sort of morbid liking for characters like Tybalt and Dawe. I'm not saying your tastes are going to change, but you'll certainly learn to appreciate the story a whole lot more, and even start to try out new things in your playthroughs.
