The reason I went to 'lots people like it' defense is because that's what you wrote. And when the discussion comes to that, regardless what was before it, I don't personally see much point to continue on after that. Also on the list, not only was there overlap with other responses I gave, but I didn't think it was that convincing to be honest, especially because it skips the interaction in Episode which basically negates that really clumsy reunion at the end of Episode 4. And that's not even starting how horribly that was set up because the story didn't do the work to actually earn the moment. For every moment in your list, I can probably list one to two scenes that massively undercut those 'meaningful' moments.You went straight to the "lots of people like it" and ignored everything else I stated.
You also completely ignored my previous post (here) that lists the various interactions between the two girls.
It just comes down to you not being satisfied that enough has been presented between the girls to convince you that they are in love, when in fact the idea that they are together has been beaten over our head so much that no further visuals are warranted.
Does anyone playing the game not know they are together? Surely not, so why do you need more visuals?
Also, all the other techniques of giving us snippets of details to be fleshed out later, you don't like it (Mona leaving as an example), but others get it. There are heaps of clues as to why Mona may have left, but it seems you need a linear story from start to finish to make you feel comfortable. That's just your preference, it's not an objective criticism.
The game's not perfect, there are lots of issues that people have raised, but to say the story telling is trash is a bit heavy handed.
That is a personal opinion. Now I addressed your list. Still makes impossible anything beyond that because you made it popularity of being signal of how it succeeds in storytelling. Also, while I did get to vent, I don't see that much purpose being a source of negativity, got complaint of my chest, and now the discussion can go back to what it was with reduced complaints. Holy hell that was difficult to write without getting passive-aggressive.
I thought I explained this particular aspect a couple of times, but obviously I failed. So one last attempt. I think we would both agree that Maya's whole tragic backstory and her motivation to resorting to the HOT process is because her father's reaction to finding out she's gay. We even got the flashback scene. So the game makes Maya's sexuality and the price she paid for it a core part of the character. Not only that, the game uses that as the cliffhanger for Episode 6.It doesn't even seem to be about visuals, it's like they just want Maya to look at a girl and say, "Damn, she's sexy. I'd like a piece of of that", because apparently that's what needs to happen to make it clear Maya likes girls.![]()
Now, when writing it like that, I wouldn't think you needed some great sexual scene with her checking out women or hot lesbian scenes. That is sufficient. However, the only character you see Maya show any kind of sexual/romantic attraction to in the university is the male MC. There is an exception here in that if you go in to that relationship with the M&J, you could get that one scene, but even that references the MC. Hell, I could give examples of both women prioritizing the MC even if he turns them down instead of each other. This is why the fact that there's no actual show of her being attracted to women is an issue because that is the core of her story and there are multiple examples of how turned on she is about having sexual interactions with a guy.
By the way, on that longer response you gave, I didn't bother pointing this out then, you gave a real life example which is kind of weird as this is game is not real life. As are not TV shows or movies, even if they were documentaries. As such, games and all those are collections of narratives moments that are supposed to build towards a consistent story based on the scenes that are shown. Actually I always thought the golden rule was 'Show, don't tell', but apparently with Maya it's 'Why would you need to show when you can just tell?'. Sorry about that, that passive-aggressive moment felt too good to pass on.