I can't agree at all; no matter how badly Quinn needed the money, there was no excuse not to tell Tommy and/or Rusty the HOTs were ditching so the DIKs could make other plans. That was Tommy's point, and on that point he was 100% correct. Not only was that Quinn's job (explicitly given to her by Sage), but it's the sort of basic courtesy any friend should do for another. Instead, Quinn ducked the responsibility leading to a completely predictable clusterfuck, then lashed out when people called her on her mistake.
Pointing out all the Tri-Alpha parties Tommy ruined is a bizarre defense, because Tommy has never had anything but contempt for the jocks. Are we supposed to take that as an indication Quinn hates Tommy and the DIKs? That seems unlikely, and yet here we are. Quinn would rather avoid a tough conversation than admit she might need some help - even when (as Tommy pointed out) there was no way to avoid that conversation permanently.
Quinn is completely in the wrong on this. I think that's precisely
why she's so angry about it; it's hard to maintain her self-image as a cunning chessmaster when her pawns can easily point out her mistakes. Unfortunately, the only way Quinn seems able to deal with that dichotomy is to completely stonewall any sense of introspection and lash out whoever tries to help her make the connection.
And I think that says everything we need to know about Quinn. She's on some industrial-strength denial.
Given that the only way to help Riona is to fuck her, I'm hoping she'll be okay without our help, too.
And frankly, I'm skeptical this will make much of an impact on Quinn either way, unless the connection between her own actions and what happens to Riona is extremely short and extremely direct. Quinn's mental filter is too strong for any sort of indirect consequence to break through.
Chad was an asshole, I'm not eager to defend him. But I don't think lunging straight to blunt, violent retribution is the best way to handle this sort of situation.
Besides, I don't understand why Chad deserves a beating for all his sins while Quinn gets the soft glove treatment despite her putting both Sage and Maya through a considerable share of shit on her own (and that's before her little pimping ring has been discovered - it can get
much worse for Sage!). Quinn also uses drugs, uses the HOTs for her own benefit, allows beefs to get started between the DIKs and HOTs, and (unlike Chad) takes a personal pleasure in tormenting those under her control; you'll note that Chad does not flip off the MC when walking away (even if the MC remained silent during the hearing).
It's one thing to advocate hyperbolic beatings to fictional characters that happen to be assholes, but it's another to claim that only certain assholes merit that treatment. The only bigger asshole in the game than Quinn is Burke. YMMV, obviously, but that's how I see it.
Chad could have quit the Tri-Alphas in support of Troy, that is true. But we don't know exactly what that would have entailed, so it's hard to say how easy it would have been.
It's clear Chad enjoys the jock culture aside from the homophobia; he seemed very eager to compete in whatever even is happening next year even after being tossed out. If we assume the homophobic culture of the jocks pervades the rest of the "weightlifting/bodybuilding/whatever" world, Chad resigning in solidarity with Troy might have prevented him from participating in future events - to say nothing of the heightened risk his relationship with Troy would come out.
Obviously it would be better for Chad to take a stand and begin to change that culture, but that's asking
a lot for him to do on his own. I'll give mad props to anyone willing to do it, but I'll never blame anyone for wanting to avoid it when there are other, far less painful, options.
Which, IMHO, is basically the deal with Maya and Josy. Maya
could simply come out and be with Josy openly, accepting whatever consequences follow. She chooses not to, because the risks are very high and she thinks she can endure the discomfort long enough to remove her father's threat and still be with Josy. Whether or not she's right, it's not a position that should be dismissed out of hand.
Likewise, Chad probably thought that he was in a better position to protect Troy by hiding their relationship and remaining in charge of the jocks than he was going public and being stripped of his presidency (and possibly ability to compete in jock events altogether). We'll have to wait to learn more about what happened with Troy, but I would not be surprised to learn he WAS trying to keep Troy safe from the other jocks.
Personally, I find the CHICK path more compelling because I find the resulting crude behavior and obsession with casual sex unpleasant. Simple as that. CHICK's still get opportunities for snark, after all.
The guide is correct: calling Sage is only mandatory if you're her fuck buddy. Otherwise it's optional.
That's the loophole I used on my Jill-centric run; just assume he didn't realize Sage was sick and thus had no reason to turn Jill down. Otherwise, as everyone has already said, ditching on a sick friend to have a spontaneous date with another girl (that could easily be postponed, as far as the MC knows) is a real dick move.
Really, DPC should have scheduled the date with Jill first, to make it a much less one-sided choice.
Yes, Jill is turning out to be a much less interesting character than it first appeared, which is a real shame. Virgin drama is tiresome IHMO, but the real problem is her egregious stupidity.
Tybalt has never made a secret of his elitist views, yet Jill still seems surprised at the contents of his anti-welfare presentation. Plus, she recognizes that Tybalt is blackmailing her to have dates with him and agreed to his terms... but apparently never realized that she'd actually have to go on those dates! It takes a week for her just to beg Bella to get her out of the mess she specifically volunteered for! Bella can lampshade it all she likes, that makes no sense.
I mean, I want to sympathize with Jill; making a sacrifice for a loved one is a classic trope. But this has to be one of the worst implementations of it I've ever seen. On top of that, the game makes it clear that Tybalt is
zero (zip, zilch, nada) threat to the MC. He's an incompetent boob who's been nothing but a laughingstock for 7 episodes running, and his punishments keep getting worse! The way this game is going, if he did try to get the MC in legal trouble, Tybalt would probably wind up tortured by Jack Bauer on suspicion of terrorism.
Frankly, this has been a mess. I'm hoping Jill can recover if this blasted blackmail subplot finally dies, but it's sure taking its sweet time dying.
Well, my main route is Maya/Josy, exclusive so I've seen all the friendship Sage path stuff. And I've been hoping we would get another chance to date her properly when Chad finally broke up with her. That said, I was a little disappointed that the scene plays out as just an over-the-top sex fest with no real discussion of what else might happen between them.
I mean, I get that Sage likes sex, doesn't like introspection, and isn't ready to leap into a new relationship. But I would think an MC (particularly a CHICKish one) who didn't feel comfortable cheating with Sage would want something a little more involved than a very public roll in the hay with Sage. Maybe it's just me, but I think I'm slightly less enthusiastic about my planned CHICK Sage non-fuck buddy run now than I was back before I knew it would be possible.
On a similar note, it's odd that fuck buddies automatically want more with Sage this time out, without any say so on our part. Perhaps that would create too much branching even for DPC. It's clear the whole "rebound guy" issue is going to be a thing for a while. I guess we'll see what happens when Episode 8 rolls around and we the MC and Sage have time to explore their new relationship outside the heat of the moment.
To date there are no scenes that appear only if the MC declined to party at the Pink Rose. It's possible that could change, but my guess is you can safely party if you want to. The real question is why a CHICK would want to.
(The answer, of course, is Nicole, but the MC won't know that at the time.
)
Josy can even have dialog on this. If the MC in the throuple "seduces" Josy, she'll admit:
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Interestingly, if the if the MC isn't on her path but still has feelings for her, she can say this instead if the MC "comforts" her:
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It's pretty clear Josy has very strong feelings for the MC despite her feelings for Maya. I think, in vacuum, she would choose Maya over the MC if it came down to it, because as she says, she doesn't want to be a cheater. But as we saw back in Episode 2, when things aren't in a vacuum it's not certain how she would act. If Maya keeps taking her frustrations out on Josy, she probably would choose the MC over Maya.
As I see it, that means the key to keeping Maya & Josy together is to help them find healthier ways to express their fears and frustrations when they can't be together. The real question is how to combine that with being a direct part of their relationship.
I sincerely hope it will be possible to end up with both of them; I'm going to feel really bad if I end up having to drop out of the trio (or worse, picking one of them over the other). I've played a lot of AVNs that offer multi-girl routes, but BaDIK is the only one that's actually made me genuinely invested in such a relationship to anywhere near this degree.
I *think* it will be possible if we play our cards right, but I'm not sure. I'm not even sure exactly what playing our cards right will be. Makes for a very nerve-wracking experience, but I certainly can't claim I'm not invested.
Nah, Josy's always been hands down the hottest girl in the game. She's just increasingly comfortable showing off to the MC.
