I love how some of you think human emotions are black and white. Yes, she understand, but it does not mean she is not disappointed that something she wanted didn't go the way she wanted. You can't judge her for this.
She like a guy, and that guy chose someone else over her. She would be more understandable if its actually a relative to MC , his father his mother , sister, brother. But in the end of the day its just an another bitch , and Jill at this point knew MC dating with others. And Sage is not dying, its just having a fucking flu.
so yeah Jill is selfish, so what? No One actually bother to see this from Jill perspective.
I get it that it might be a sudden shift in Jill personality, but its miles better, than her sudden shift, of believing Tybalt based on just his words.
Of course I can judge her for it; judging people by their actions is the
only appropriate way to judge them. I'm not saying a she's a bad person because she has a character flaw, but I'm definitely saying she has a character flaw.
As was mentioned, the problem is precisely that Jill can only see this incident from her own point of view.
She knows how important this picnic is - that she's defying Tybalt's ultimatum to give the MC the only gift she can give him AND that this is the best chance to left him down easily now that she's been 'forced' break things off with him. But she never stops to consider that the MC doesn't know any of that because she's refused to tell him all week! She never stops to consider that from the MC's point of view, Sage's mild cold is still a more immediate crisis than an impromptu date. She never thinks about how
she'd feel if the MC bailed on her while she was sick to go on a spur-of-the moment date with some other girl.
And it's worth noting that the MC can tend to Sage even if he's not on her path. The basics of the Sage branch wouldn't really change if the MC had to tend to, say, Derek instead of Sage. So even the idea that Jill is jealous of Sage is, IMHO, fundamentally problematic because we know Jill's reaction doesn't actually hinge on the MC's actions. Jill is behaving like a paranoid girlfriend even as she refuses to tell the MC how important he is to her.
Once you see that, it's hard to ignore just how self-centered Jill is being here. Even if we accept that she's hopelessly naive rather than jealous, she still could have tried to reschedule with the MC once she had time to think things over. You'd think she'd *want* to give the MC another chance to prove himself (much as she rationalized a way to give him a first chance despite the ultimatum). But she never does. She goes from being borderline obsessed with the MC to writing him off for the rest of Season 2 (maybe more) in a single conversation.
People rightly give Maya a lot of flak for her passivity, but Jill takes it to a whole new level.
Now personally, I prefer to chalk this up to lousy writing by DPC and either pretend the MC never knew Sage was sick (easy enough if you aren't on her path), or that Jill reschedules her picnic and events proceed otherwise unchanged. If we're lucky, Jill will behave more maturely in Season 3+ and we'll never need to dwell on what happens if you turn down the picnic. But at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the way DPC handled the crossroad and the return of Zoey don't fill me with optimism for how Jill will be handled going forward.
No, she didn't expect anything in return. Her expectation was to call things off, because in her mind, that's what was ultimately for the best. She was going to make the goodbye date as happy and as enjoyable for MC as possible to lessen the blow. If MC doesn't take her up on the offer, Jill takes this as a sign that it's just for the better that it ended that way. Is this naive? Absolutely. But that's her reasoning. Jill believes in destiny, signs, and all that. Naive as hell, but she absolutely expected to end things.
Deep down, I'm sure that part of her hoped that things might work out somehow, but it is simply innacurate to say that she expected MC to talk her out of her decision and win her back, or that she expected MC to climb her balcony and mimic her beloved sister in a surprising way, or that she expected MC to get on stage and save her. That's just asurd.
I'm not saying Jill intended the picnic as some sort of test of the MC. I'm saying Jill takes the MC declining her 'special' picnic as a sign that the relationship isn't meant to be.
As you say, Jill believes in destiny, but she takes it to something of an extreme. She not only isn't willing to fight for the MC's affection, she sees the adversity itself as an indication something is wrong with the romance. That's why she will never try to reschedule the picnic when the MC is busy, and why she nearly collapses in tears if Josy or Sage recognize the MC's... handiwork at Tybalt's presentation.
Don't forget that during the date with Jill, the MC tells her about his life, the death of his mother. They then share a fairly intimate, romantic moment for the rest of the day.
(if I'm not mistaken, this is also what happens with Sage)
In fact it's not really the fact that we go to see Sage that blocks the road with Jill. It's not her who reacts like a selfish bitch, it's rather the fact that by going to see Sage, you don't experience a romantic and intimate moment with Jill which brings the two very much closer together.
Reasoning in terms of game, by going with Sage, we lose the opportunity to earn XP with Jill, and in the end, we miss this XP to level up.
Well, if we're talking about the scene as it happened within the context of the game, see my answer above.
If we're talking about the scene beyond the context of the game (as I prefer to do), then I still think the scene is badly implemented because choosing Sage has no upside unless you've already written off Jill (in which case you may well not even get the choice). Choosing Sage terminates Jill's romance instantly. Choosing Jill costs 2 RPs with Sage (that have yet to do anything in the whole course of the game AFAIK), and forces you to watch the Sandy/Nicole threesome on a separate save.
Personally, I think this was just a bad job by DPC. He wanted the choice to add gameplay and to illustrate how 'tough' Jill's path was, but didn't really think about how Jill's actions would appear from the non-game perspective. As I've said before, Jill should have asked the MC out first before Sage asked for help (assuming you're on both paths). That makes the in-character decision more balanced, and provides a much better explanation for why Jill would take the MC's rejection (after he'd already committed) as a sign to move on from him.
I'm currently planning playthroughs for paths I missed out on on my first blind playthrough (making moves on Jill/Sage, because apparently I'm that clueless).
Any opinions on doing a Sage romance path starting at Ep. 7 only? How rushed/forced does it feel? I initially didn't want to be a fuckbuddy caught in the Chad drama. Meanwhile, I played through it once and while I still don't really need the sex scenes, the other additional scenes (guitar session in the garden, call during DIK party, MC opening up while taking care of her) were actually quite nice. I realise the fuckbuddy path makes sense from a buildup perspective and is probably the preferred way.
While searching this thread I learned there are differences in a dialogue scene with Sage (walk after lunch with Quinn), depending on whether you are Chick or Dik/Neutral path? I actually quite liked the Chick one, didn't see it before and prefer it over the other version. Can you say how many differences like that one are there in general?
I wouldn't say the non-fuck buddy path feels forced, but it sure as hell feels rushed. On the plus side, it avoids the terrible 'rebound guy' discussion early in Episode 7. But on the negative side, it's basically identical to the fuck buddy route the instant they kiss at the party. Maybe we'll see some variations in Season 3, but I'm not holding my breath.
I love the idea of giving MCs a chance at Sage without insisting she cheat on her boyfriend, but I don't think it was well executed. It needed more unique content both to make up for missing romantic moments (most obviously the guitar lesson in Episode 5), and to make this path feel distinct from the fuck buddy path. Treating them interchangeably cheapens both paths, IMHO.