But then if you were simply expected to give in then there's no point in these being choices in the first place.
As long as they're actual choices then some combinations backfiring on the player are fine.
there are so many choices and many completely cut off the possibilities of a relationship, then there are some that are a trap (like Cathy if interested in Bella and Jade if interested in Sage), and then there is college life
in the first 2 seasons that MC testing the ground was an official thing that the LIs knew (Bella less directly).
instead it always seems that if MC looked at another girl she will be punished
after we have made the big decision, the game prevents us from really betraying who we have chosen and puts some pretty stupid temptations in front of us that apart from specific cases (I would say only Heather and Bianca) we have no idea what impact they will have
if MC tells Maya and Josy that he fucked half of BR he loses a few RPs, ok, but I don't feel like the world has collapsed
Too me it feels exactly like a punishment.
Sage's fuck buddy and dating with Jill - get an ugly scene in which you have to choose whether to help your sick friend or let the girl you're dating confess her feelings and let you know about Tybalt's blackmail before your breakup.
Fucking Jade - about to ruining your relationship with Sage.
Suggested throuple relationship to M&J in the library and didn't choose them as LI in the ep.8 - expect a heart-breaking break up scene with them. Feels like shit.
Dated Jill and fucked Bella at the same time - you know what will happen, forget about maintaining friendly relations with Jill.
And so on...
but what punishment are you talking about?
just go to Jill and it's all good. then without going over it again, but going to a sick friend would be a betrayal?
and if Maya and Josy reject you, cheating has nothing to do with it, they reject you even as a virgin in case, like Jill afterwards
there are a lot of choices that matter, but for now who we had sex with has mattered relatively little, more often it has mattered with who we didn't have sex with. for example in the trouple if by chance we decided to avoid sexually either Maya or Josy, for the trouple no apparent problem, but the game remembers this preference and it might matter