Okay, the first part is highly speculative. I admit that.
But the second part could fit from a basic structure.
Would it be so unlikely that Isabella works in the S&R library? I don't think so, because the MC also works in the B&R library.
In the intro to EP8, we see Bella and James arguing, and if there's one thing we know about Isabella, it's that she can be a stubborn bitch. She loses her job at the S&R library and gets a new job at the B&R library. James, however, can't come along so easily because he has some sort of commitments (I'm guessing James is an archaeologist. Mask at Isabella's house). Isabella and James have a long distance relationship where they can't see each other every week. Isabella meets Jill and they become friends. The two become closer at a wine tasting. They have sex together, but are caught in flagrante delicto by James. Bella and James fight again, and James accuses Isabella of cheating on her. However, Isabella thinks that it is not cheating, since she is making out with a woman and James already had a threesome with Isabella and another woman before they got married (Isabella thinks that James would not mind if she dispelled her loneliness and sadness with another woman). James flies back to the place he came from, but the plane crashes. (Derek's scene in EP8 with the paper plane.) There were survivors rescued from the sea. (Read the paper) Since then, James has been considered missing. This gives DPC the option of having James live or be dead.
I should also explain what Isabella forgives James for. The two were at the beach one time. To me, it reads like Isabella and James were joyfully experimenting. Three-way sex outdoors, with James having an accident with the other woman. Of course, they were being watched. The peeping tom then became a stalker of Isabella. I think you know what I mean by stalker, and Isabella doesn't like it at all that she now has a stalker. The other woman has a child that Isabella doesn't know about. Who is the child?
Theory. (Very speculative)
It's Sage and her mother is the drug addict from EP6. Not the one from the intro, but the one Quinn passes when she gets drugs from Buddy. It gets even better. That's how Quinn and Sage get to know each other. During a police raid (read the paper), Sage and Quinn are arrested. It turns out that James is Sage's father, but he is considered missing. James' next of kin are informed. Stephen learns that his brother James has a child. Stephen can't leave his niece with a drug addict. Stephen and Jade adopt Sage to get her out of the drug milieu.
Dalli, do you hear voices telling you to do things? Bad things. Don't listen to the voices
Dalli...
We are talking about a game design which divides the players between completionists for whom each scene counts, and roleplayers. For the last ones, the experience is about the ability to play a unique character and assume the twist of fate.
From a creator's point of view, this approach requires efforts, but allows for more scenes while keeping control of the script. The story wouldn't be as interesting if there weren't these trade-offs: our hero having sex with so many girls at the HOTs' last party was hard to believe for me. But how would players react if Dr PinkCake didn't offer options to match their preferences? I don't see any other way to enjoy such a large cast of female characters except to include them more strictly in branch or affinities.
The disadvantages you listed are many; we may have the feeling not to act as we wish for. As some choices have implications despite a trivial aspect, we are compeled to reload; I think in particular of the last scene with Sarah. Again, some players appreciate this feature as a replay value.
So this design corresponds above all to the creator's ambition to have a consistent narrative while meeting the demands for new scenes, but it confronts the very nature of the player to enjoy the game to the fullest. On a personal level, it motivated me to write a guide to deliver more transparency on the many opportunities.
The point is to enhance replayability, and to have actual impacts in gameplay based on (some) of our choices. The latter is something of a rarity in AVNs, it's one of the features which make this game standout from many others.
No one is forcing the player to do anything, some people just play a single save and don't worry about unlocking everything (or use mods to unlock things afterwards).
If you're a completionist however, grind comes with the territory. If you're doing separate runs for each main girl, then the branching side quests are a plus. You can uncover new side girl content on each run, so makes the replays more varied.
All these little details & variations are one of the things which make BaDIK more interesting from my perspective.
Good thing Ren'Py has fast-forward features though, otherwise all those replays would be an even greater test of endurance.
until now it was really a relative problem, with 2 runs you can see 90% of the content
now in the third season will no longer be so and will take at least 5 runs
I'm not a completist, but in the end it was never a burden to make a new run, also considering the long time that passes between chapters to review the story is quite nice
I find that I like to peek behind the curtain, to get a taste of what each decision may bring, and then make my decision and go down that path.
For example, when it came to the scene at the Pink Rose and I got to choose between Nicole, Lilly or Sandy, I saved my game, played all three scenes, went and grabbed a glass of scotch, had a think about it, and then, against everything I've been saying for over a year, I went back and chose Lily over Nicole.
Yes it was a tough decision. But I enjoyed making that decision. Right now I'm more intrigued with what will happen with Lily rather than whether the relationship with Nicole has anywhere else left to go.
All these little branches and with the different girls (stay with Derek and get to fuck Rose, or stay with Sage and have a borderline threesome with Mel and Sarah in the shower, and/or flirt more with Quinn), are what make this game the pleasure that it is.
I don't want there to be the "optimum" way of playing the game, where everyone knows exactly what to click on to get the best outcome. That means everyone's story will be exactly the same. Instead, who here has the exact same BaDIK story as anyone else?
Some will do the MILF run, others are keen on the strippers, there are the Jill purists, the whoremongers, the virgins (well almost if you don't count Zoey), the Sage worshipers, the nice guys, the assholes, the bros, the troublemakers, the dudes waiting for Maya to die so they can have Josy all for themselves, and so on.
Above all, more so than any other game I've played from here, this game is fun. DPC knows exactly what he is doing.
