- Sep 26, 2016
- 1,628
- 5,414
Turns out Dean scene flag is getting the Kate bj scene. Apparently that shows MC has no problem sexually coercing others and that allows Dean scene to happen. Which is weird since you can have a save where MC practically rapes Emma (much darker than Kate's scene imo) and you still don't get the Dean scene if you haven't gotten sucked by the lead bitch before.Is there are an option for anything but to forgive Ashley? It seems you don't really have a choice but to forgive her, even if you haven't banged her and broke it off. I still have no idea what triggers hating Annie or not, either. Had one route where things were coming off as more flirty between the MC and her, but MC was on the Ashley route, and at the last big choice in 3.5 had the MC saying she was as bad as the others, despite being on fairly good terms. Then, in a route where the MC treats everyone like crap, Ashley was still forgiven, and somehow despite everything, the MC ends up on good terms with Annie.
Hell, in that route he didn't force the Dean into sex. Whatever hidden stat is governing the character of the MC, it is hard to predict, that is for sure.
I think this game's main problem is how it handles different routes. When you have a game that has two very opposing routes, the baseline plot (what you see no matter which route you are on) needs to have neutral characterization. So the MC needs to behave in a way that neither route A, nor route B, are so much different than his baseline character that make him look bi-polar. The problem in this one is that his baseline behavior is very similar to the "redemption" path, so whenever you see scenes from the darker/revenge route, they seem out of character. Like he suddenly went psycho. And on the same note, players who want to go all out revenge are frustrated by his timid and often positive behavior in baseline plot. Also kinda related, info and exposition that should have been in baseline story, is hidden behind choices on who you want to bang. One example would be that you shouldn't be looking to bang Annie, in order to be able to know what the fuck happened to your relationship with your stepsis.
Granted it's not uncommon in choice based VNs, branching storytelling is a bitch to do properly. It's just frustrating that a game with such good characterization for its NPCs, has an MC who seems borderline schizo with his inconsistent thoughts and actions.