When I do a playthrough that is "me," wherein I act like it's real life and try and do what I would do in that situation, I tend to be neutral with occasional slips into Chick and Dik territory. The full-on Chick and Dik playthroughs are the ones that are strategic for me, in that I want to see what those paths look like.
There are plenty of games on this site where being a total horndog and a jerk will allow the MC to grow a big harem, but in real life that just wouldn't fly for a poor nobody college freshman, no matter how big his schlong is.
While it would be ridiculous to say that BaDik is realistic at all, the game does present tradeoffs for every decision and there are consequences for the MC's actions, just as there usually are in real life. As such, when approaching the game honestly, I would think most of us would find ourselves in neutral affinity/status territory pretty often.
I agree that the game presents interesting tradeoffs for choices; I'm honestly amazed at how well it manages to do that. It's probably why I'm so eager to make a whole bunch of alternate runs to see the content I've missed on my main.
But following my heart has led me to an almost pure CHICK affinity; most of the DIK actions just weren't that appealing to me (though they're great fun on alts). I might have decided to get the Alphas kicked out of the HOT party purely on the grounds of helping Jacob, but by then I was no longer able to make the decision.
I just found and started this game today and got into Chapter 4. Have a few questions that I would love if someone could answer before I go much further.
Can I be full DIK on the scale and still have a successful romance with Isabella? She is, by far, my favorite of the girls and I'm not sure if you can fully romance her as a DIK, despite it being my preferred style thus far. Just curious to know if I'm gonna be able to complete all her current content as a DIK or if I need to start over and go the CHIK route.
Also, are either Quinn or Riona actually romancable? I really like both, probably Riona over Quinn but not by much, and am just generally curious if they are romanceable or not because they aren't considered the, from what I can tell, main girls.
As of the end of Episode 7, you can pursue Bella even if you max out your DIK Status/Affinity and only miss out getting a 69 with her in Episode 7 (you also need to give up on Cathy by the end of Chapter 5, but that has only a minor impact on DIK stats). That said, Bella doesn't seem to like the MC's more DIKish actions, so there is a risk you could wind up cut off at a later date. My advice would be to try it if you want to, but keep a couple of saves in each episode in case you need to go back and revise your decisions later.
On pursuing side girls, currently Quinn has a "path" that mimics a lot of features of the main girls (Hangouts, sex scenes and the like); it requires that the MC be a DIK, turn down Maya & Josy, and generally do the sort things Quinn likes. But it's highly unclear if this means she'll have a full path like the LIs, or if this is something subtly different that may end badly. Riona, at least for now, seems to be a side girl (if a very prominent one) that you can have sex with at various times.
How do all of the girls sound in you guys head? Maya sounds like Courteney Cox to me. Sage sounds like Lindsay Lohan. Bella sounds like Scarlett Johannson. Jill sounds Zooey Deschanel.
I almost never hear distinct voices for characters in my head, so most of them sound undefined. The glaring exception is Jill: during the Episode 5 shower scene (and only during that scene!) she sounds like Jennifer Hale as Bastilla Shan, right down to the faux-British accent. I assume it has something to do with her reaction to being kissed and/or her hairstyle in that scene, but it's still rather uncanny.
