The problem with all that is you're forced to be with other girls. There's no real choice. I did everything to avoid Josy and she still latched on, Maya still kissed--it's all a no go you simply can't choose everything. There's still interaction you can't avoid. If you ask me, the better choice is to go after Bella as it will lead you to Jill, and Bella is someone she looks up to, always seeking her approval. I also didn't like the shower scene on their "first date," but it happens if you stick to that route anyway. In the end, it's a sex game.
I think it's fine for the MC to be railroaded into being friends with the LIs. It keeps the story from expanding out of control, justifies the time spent on all their renders, ensures certain ideas and themes will come up, and helps give the MC a certain sense of identity (rather than just being a faceless, blank slate). Plus, the MC might be friends with the girls, but that still leaves the question of whether he seeks a sexual relationship with one or more of them up to us. That seems like a good compromise that keeps the plot and characters on course while still allowing our choices to have a serious impact.
Thus far, that's largely how the game has worked. The MC is forced to fool around with Josy and Maya to a certain degree, but beyond that he can actually be pretty chaste if he puts his mind to it. Either way, however, the LIs are all clearly friends with him in some capacity.
Really, my issues with MC's relationships only come up in two cases: a) when the game offers a choice then ignores or minimizes that choice to force the story back onto the rails, and b) when the girls are forced to act out of character to keep the plot moving.
The former problem can be solved by either adding some cosmetic effect of the choice to maintain the illusion or (if that is impractical) just not offering the false choice in the first place. The latter is DPC's own fault since he's the one who wrote his own characters into a corner. Still, mistakes happen so if he realizes what he's done too late and there really is no credible way for the characters to act as needed, a brief OOC moment is probably the lesser evil. We can just hope he learns his lesson and plans ahead better in the future.
