I saw it, but it's somewhat different beast at this point of the game. For characters who aren't in relationship with MC you don't lose just some vague "dating" content. You lose access to pretty much all of it other than casual interactions, including what up to this point was provided as simple hook ups.
As much as I enjoy this game being locked out of content definitely annoys me. I don't really care about harem stuff specifically, I just like to be able to see all of the content in one playthrough and I'm pretty sure I've just been locked out of Isabella's stuff which sucks since she was one of my favourite characters. Even worse since I think the decision that lead to that was hours ago so going back and playing up to where I am again would take ages, even with skip.
Feels like the more episodes in you get the more stuff you get locked out of which isn't really my style.
Well, I've played through a substantial portion of Episode 9, and I'm sorry to say I didn't like it much.
If I'm being subjective, it was more or less everything I feared: one excuse after another to stall the relationships with the chosen LI, with a *massively* overblown party to distract us from everything else. If I'm trying to be objective things are better: there's still a lot of sharp dialog, goofy fun and (of course) sex to enjoy. But even then, I think the structure of this episode is very badly conceived. The Halloween party goes on way too long, the vaunted branching actually feels less distinct that the old paths did, and there's a real disconnect between DPC's obsession with consequences and the frankly moronic shit he makes the characters do to keep things on his preferred rails.
IMHO as Christmas gifts go, Episode 9 was the relative who spends an obscene amount of money on trendy, high-priced junk to make up for the fact they didn't pay enough attention during the year to know what you actually want. On the one hand, it's comforting to know that they really do care, but on the other hand it's hard not to be a little disturbed at how much they wasted on stuff you're never going to use.
Episode 9 didn't give me the stronger romantic connections I was looking for in the wake of the crossroads, and it certainly didn't do much to advance the plot. It did deliver a lot of sex scenes, but you sure have to slog through a lot to get them. The high water mark is probably some nice work with the side girls on the Others branch (particularly for Quinn, Riona and Zoey), but that just deepens my suspicions that Season 3 will be all about stalling the LI branches while the new girls play catch up. I'm not waiting 2-3 years for that.
We'll dive into the nitty gritty of the Episode then call it a wrap, which will obviously involve spoilers. But first, a quick note to a certain member of the audience:
So that's my take on Episode 9. IMHO it was not the episode we needed at this point. But it's pretty clear it wasn't a mistake, so we might as well accept it or move on.
tl;dr An overgrown free-roam that slows down the LIs, speeds up the side-girls, delivers plenty of spectacle and ends on yet another cliffhanger, all without actually advancing the story.
I'm in the same boat as you in the sense that I think I'll only be playing my main Bella save from now on. Although I didn't particularly enjoy it, I do appreciate the effort DPC made with the haunted mansion and planning mini-game, but the freeroams completely broke me, I was never a hater before but by the middle of this episode I felt like I was doing a chore...
After replaying Bella's scenes a couple of times now, I do like what DPC did with her, despite her being my favourite LI, I also realized that MC didn't look like he'd fit in with her at all even without taking the age gap into account, but man did DPC make it work in this episode in my opinion. MC now understands her better and her sense of humour, their back and forth felt really natural and I found it it funny, their relationship was done well and EP9 Isabella is completely different from EP1 Isabella, seeing her actually smile, laugh and be happy was wonderful to watch and I look forward to see how it evolves.
With this said, I also acknowledge the lack of progress in the story and my main fear became true, even with Jill confronting her, DPC still refuses to bring James into the conversation, it seems a bit absurd to me at this point... But I do understand why Jill is so angry and is avoiding her, Bella really broke her trust, even if MC only goes on one date with her, it was still Bella who incentivized it (in a CHICK route) to the point where she called Jill to the library to try and hook her up with him. The moment Bella involved herself with MC the secret wasn't only hers to keep and should've told Jill as soon as she realized she couldn't fight against her feelings.
Then there's the issue with Bella's route itself for me which is the drama that keeps piling on without none of the other issues she has, being dealt with, there's James, the teacher thing, the Jill thing and now there's also Nick finding out about them, it almost feels like the relationship is reaching a point of no return and Bella's life will be completely ruined... I'm curious to see how DPC will handle it.
But yeah, for the first time since I started playing this game I'm not actually excited for the next episode, I'll certainly play it, but I can't feel hyped after EP9's Bella ending was literally a repeat of EP8 and after DPC pulled that stunt with that bullshit intro which might not even come into play until the end of the season or even on season 4 only.
I saw it, but it's somewhat different beast at this point of the game. For characters who aren't in relationship with MC you don't lose just some vague "dating" content. You lose access to pretty much all of it other than casual interactions, including what up to this point was provided as simple hook ups.
I thought I wouldn't enjoy non-Others route so much but seeing all the girls getting bummed out over MC getting into relationship is so funny to me for some reason
i tried to play the game without the patch / mod and while i'm on jill's route the game acts funny.. bella is my guest dressed as a mummy then she meets jill outside and then comes in and wears a mask.. and now i 'entered' a loop when bella wanted to talk with jill and climbs the stairs, and then sage recognizes bella while dressed as a mummy.. and the scenes repeats in a loop: bella meets jill outside -> she wears the mask -> climbs the stairs -> sage recognizes bella as a mummy..
Come on. Don't be daft. Some people like this innocent virgin trope. All things considered it is done pretty well. If you don't like it just don't go after her. Judging how her path is going so far it looks like you can fuck her into a nympho eventually, so maybe don't be too quick to write her off?
Sorry but do you say, I am lyer and phantasizing about the hexagram and after the snow on each avatars emblem?
Cause you haven't recognized or don't want to recognize or even want to change true to .... ?
Chapter 3 is absolutely disappointing(more like abysmal)... I feel oddly discombobulated
One year for Episode 9 and all we got is a complete Free Roam Episode with searching for magic pussy (thing that doesn't actually exist)
Biggest Disappointment of 2022" Award Goes to...
D (rat) P (enis) C (unt)
Cheers to another year! Wishing you positive new beginnings in 2023!!!