- It's not for nothing that Bella's route is called a bumpy road, even the achievement on Steam DPC named that for completing her route in Season 2. Their relationship is complicated and has many problems: she is his teacher and the mental age difference. But I wouldn't dig that deep, again this is a "college guy's wet dreams" porn game.
- What surprised me about Jill in Season 2 is that she lost her self-confidence (Season 1 Jill could make decisions, like disperse the bullies, call a teachers council because of bullying, using her status connections with the teachers), but here she doesn't see at all that Tybalt's blackmail is a far-fetched piece of crap, then she needs to be saved from Tybalt and begs Bella for help (save the princess from the tower moment). It's like DPC downgraded the character and all for the sake of the moment where she showed her balls at the end of Ep. 8. And we saw a different Jill - how beautifully she turned Rusty down when he hit on her! She has it from the start and making her so socially awkward is a gap in the writing from DPC for me, he had to shove in this plot line with "blackmailing Tybalt" and pretend that we are dealing with a serious antagonist, although it is clear: The king is naked.
An ordinary Jill would have handled this easily.
- I'll describe Josy and Maya together. Josy is really insecure and simping MC, also doesn't know what she wants. On their route, Josy feels normal when she's happy with MC and Maya and that's really ok if we can make Throuple work. For a player who only plays J/M, it's harder to notice the problems with Josy: she literally stalks Tremolo and vents on him at every opportunity that she has feelings for him. And about the breakup with them at the end of Ep.9, for me, Maya's reaction is much healthier, showing a stronger personality, which I didn't expect from Maya. Plus, Maya is an introvert. She's in pain too, she loves Tremolo, she just doesn't show it so agressive-open style. Plus. she's so hardened by family hell, a tyrant father and a disabled mother that a breakup with a guy is a trifle compared to what she sees every day for years.
But Maya is not a third wheel, she's the main character in Throuple. This is her family history, this is her student loan problem. I understand that people are tired of loan story, but it is what it is. Josy is the trigger that causes this problem to exist, Josy herself doesn't have a story arc like the other LIs and that's a problem. DPC needs to write something for Josy ASAP to make her interesting. Yes, she's a normal girl next door who has a crush on MC...that's all. There are plenty of those in real life and I'd like to see a character arc.
I'll start by saying that Interlude has problems with its narrative structure. DPC should have spent more time showing MC and Zoey past together than her life with California junkies, in order to appeal more to the player's empathy.
Next, they are both young and inexperienced in relationships. MC is secretly in love with her, for Zoey he is a friend+. She didn't leave him and everyone else. She followed her dream, deciding to try, it was her life and she had no incentive to stay with MC, not understanding her feelings and not knowing what he really feels. In addition, she offered him to go with her, which destroys the argument "She dumped our guy" that I often see on the subreddit. In San Diego, she realized what she lost and realized that surfing was just a childhood dream - the emotional growing up of the character.
Running out of money is secondary, she could still find another job, save money by finding cheaper place to live, but the Interlude gives us signs that Zoey decided to return home (to Tremolo) because she realized how much she cares about him. Who is to blame for this situation? I will say both, they were immature and both made mistakes. And both changed while they were not seeing each other. Zoey has grown up, and MC - well, it depends on the player.
Oh yeah:
> Move to California
> You're running out of money
Realism 10/10