Some thoughts on the episode...
Disclaimer: I don't care about the story in BAD as much as many people here do but I do enjoy the story & characters.
I think the update overall is a mixed bag. There's a lot to appreciate and admire here so I'll get the positives out of the way first. I enjoyed the branching possibilities in this, there's a lot of work put into not just the different LI branches, but also the way you can progress the party. I play with minigames disabled so I'm not commenting on that, but its cool that you get to decide what to include in the party, which can play out very differently, depending on your path. I also felt like the update is good for your relationship development with whichever LI you picked, and not all LI paths follow the same formula (end of party sex aside). The "others" PT also plays out well in many ways too. I was satisfied with the amount of time you get with each main LI and how those relationships are developing.
Now on the negatives...I think it was a mistake to base the entire episode on a Halloween party. Story development becomes very limited due to this, and it keeps adding to the feeling of how slow things move in BAD. Overall, this episode was not good at all for the pacing of the whole story. Personally, I think it has been a mistake from the start on DPC's part, with how he has utilized time passing in the story. By now, we should have been in 2nd or 3rd semester of college, not midway through first semester. Time barely passes in the story, yet character relationships can move super fast (with LIs), which doesn't make sense. I think the episode needed a longer post party section/timeframe that at least gives some feeling of time passing. I also find it a bit odd that if you're DIK status/affinity and in a relationship, you can't cheat on your LI. Maybe that changes in the future.
The other thing that I would like to add is the development of some of the side LIs (Riona, Camila, Lily). It's hard to determine what the game wants them to be, because it hints at them developing into more serious LIs (at least with Riona & Lily), but the game sends you mixed messages at the same time about investing in a relationship with them. On the "others" PT, for much of the episode, you feel like your relationship with Lily is building into potential GF/BF, but then the end scene happens to discourage you. I guess you can attribute it to story/character development (to put doubt in MC's head & Lily's nature), but what I'm trying to say is that it's hard to know DPC's intent here. Camila keeps getting lower priority treatment, and is treated like someone for MC to just fool around with, when I wish that there would be potential LI development there. On the flip side, I like the direction with Nicole. Among these side LIs, my hope going forward is that Lily becomes more prominent, not just in the story, but also as a potential LI for MC, because to me, she's a much more interesting, likeable version of Quin.
Overall, an entertaining update that does many of the main LIs justice, but falls short of satisfaction due to all of it being the halloween party, and the long gap between releases of episodes 8 & 9. I wish I wouldn't have to mention that long gap, but it's unfortunately a big factor here. If this episode comes out with a 6 month gap from release of ep 8, the reception would be very different. I hate being critical because I enjoy BAD a lot and look forward to each release, but the development time is a huge concern, and it is only getting worse.
P.S. forgot to mention, Zoey does very little for me, either as a character or a LI. It was odd to see her being given this much importance and screentime.
Disclaimer: I don't care about the story in BAD as much as many people here do but I do enjoy the story & characters.
I think the update overall is a mixed bag. There's a lot to appreciate and admire here so I'll get the positives out of the way first. I enjoyed the branching possibilities in this, there's a lot of work put into not just the different LI branches, but also the way you can progress the party. I play with minigames disabled so I'm not commenting on that, but its cool that you get to decide what to include in the party, which can play out very differently, depending on your path. I also felt like the update is good for your relationship development with whichever LI you picked, and not all LI paths follow the same formula (end of party sex aside). The "others" PT also plays out well in many ways too. I was satisfied with the amount of time you get with each main LI and how those relationships are developing.
Now on the negatives...I think it was a mistake to base the entire episode on a Halloween party. Story development becomes very limited due to this, and it keeps adding to the feeling of how slow things move in BAD. Overall, this episode was not good at all for the pacing of the whole story. Personally, I think it has been a mistake from the start on DPC's part, with how he has utilized time passing in the story. By now, we should have been in 2nd or 3rd semester of college, not midway through first semester. Time barely passes in the story, yet character relationships can move super fast (with LIs), which doesn't make sense. I think the episode needed a longer post party section/timeframe that at least gives some feeling of time passing. I also find it a bit odd that if you're DIK status/affinity and in a relationship, you can't cheat on your LI. Maybe that changes in the future.
The other thing that I would like to add is the development of some of the side LIs (Riona, Camila, Lily). It's hard to determine what the game wants them to be, because it hints at them developing into more serious LIs (at least with Riona & Lily), but the game sends you mixed messages at the same time about investing in a relationship with them. On the "others" PT, for much of the episode, you feel like your relationship with Lily is building into potential GF/BF, but then the end scene happens to discourage you. I guess you can attribute it to story/character development (to put doubt in MC's head & Lily's nature), but what I'm trying to say is that it's hard to know DPC's intent here. Camila keeps getting lower priority treatment, and is treated like someone for MC to just fool around with, when I wish that there would be potential LI development there. On the flip side, I like the direction with Nicole. Among these side LIs, my hope going forward is that Lily becomes more prominent, not just in the story, but also as a potential LI for MC, because to me, she's a much more interesting, likeable version of Quin.
Overall, an entertaining update that does many of the main LIs justice, but falls short of satisfaction due to all of it being the halloween party, and the long gap between releases of episodes 8 & 9. I wish I wouldn't have to mention that long gap, but it's unfortunately a big factor here. If this episode comes out with a 6 month gap from release of ep 8, the reception would be very different. I hate being critical because I enjoy BAD a lot and look forward to each release, but the development time is a huge concern, and it is only getting worse.
P.S. forgot to mention, Zoey does very little for me, either as a character or a LI. It was odd to see her being given this much importance and screentime.
