The sexual relations are almost completely by choice - you can avoid almost all of them. Some exceptions are kissing Josy on the bench, having Maya grind on you, and the dream sequences, which aren't part of the "real" events of the game.
No doubt it's handicapped by the perspective of the author's gender, as is any work of fiction written by a single person.
What are some of your favorite aspects of the game?
Sure, you can pretty much take or leave each girl at will. Taking or leaving each girl has (or should have) consequences. I'm a straight heterosexual female who has to put herself in the shoes of a not necessarily straight not necessarily heterosexual male and then guess what he would do under any given set of conditions or circumstances. There's a high probability I'm wrong with my guesses because I can't relate to being a male at all, let alone one in the MC's place.
What I like about the game is what DPC thinks is important or unimportant to include or exclude from the game. I wonder if he's writing it from the perspective of what he would do or if he's pandering to a particular audience or both. There's a psychology behind the writing in games. It's interesting to see how a male writer perceives each female character, even if the characters are entirely fictional. But the odds are each character is based in whole or in part on someone DPC knows on some level.
One of the best things about the game, especially in comparison with other games, is that you can choose to take or leave each girl. Most games are just like, "You're fucking everyone, whether you want to or not!" If I were lesbian or bisexual I wonder which girl I would pursue. I'm sure I would have a preference. Because I am "straight" I can pursue every option without any personal feelings. I think I have that over a lot of the males playing the game because they almost refuse to deny the girl of their choice, even if it's just to see alternative paths.
I'm kind of hoping DPC doesn't dumb this down at the end. There should be hard choices involving taking one girl over another, i.e. Bella over Jill or vice versa, Maya over Josy or vice versa, Quinn despite her problems, Nicole despite her baggage, etc.
