I'm still going through my routes for Ep. 8. It's been a slow process, hindered by life. But, there's another aspect of the episode I would like to share. Apologies if this has been pointed out already, but you all know the difficulties keeping up with this thread.
I broke my own rule on this episode, and did not start with my dedicated Bella route, in which I not only actively avoid relations with everyone else, but I make decisions that discourage them. Instead, I played my main route first, in which I stick mostly to decisions I personally might make, but slanted a bit towards decisions I think would give me the most LI options. As you might guess, my main route is firmly Neutral.
When it came time to choose a love interest, I had the selection of all four major routes. I always knew the decision was coming, because that's what Crossroads always meant to me - sealing a single relationship on a single path. Naturally, I chose Bella, because she's the reason I started playing this game in the first place. Because this was my first playthrough and the episode was fresh, I was the most emotionally invested as I was going to get.
So when Jill spotted a naked Bella and MC through the window, her reaction was like a gut punch. I felt horrible for her, and I felt like an asshole. When I finally played through on my Bella route, I knew what to expect. Nevertheless, Jill's reaction did not have nearly the impact it did before.
So, I went back to my Neutral route, and that's when I discovered Jill's reaction is different.
Here is how she reacts on my Neutral path, where I pursued both Bella and Jill, right up to the time I was forced to make a choice:
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Here is how she reacts on my Bella path, where I actively avoided her, and even tried to discourage her:
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She is obviously hurt on the a path where you were pursuing them both, but in the second snapshot she seems surprised instead.
Not only that, but her emotional state is different when Bella tries to visit her later. Again, here she is from the path for both her and Bella.
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Here she is from the Bella-only path:
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She seems more contemplative in the second one, but clearly pissed in the first.
I always figured Jill would be devastated on a route where the MC pursued them both and she found out about Bella, regardless of who eventually won. On the Bella-only route, I can understand Jill's initial reaction of surprise, but I'm wondering why she still avoids Bella. I have my thoughts on this, some of which include her being upset that Bella is cheating on her husband, or that perhaps she thinks the MC would have given her more of a chance if not for Bella, but I expect all will be revealed in Episode 9.
