Just an educated guess here...
Shitstain is a low-level villain used by his father and uncle to get the upper hand in the forthcoming lawsuit/plot.
AD-1/ He got a job in Polygene to act as a spy
AD-2/ Nope, the fact that they found him out makes him a compromised witness that can not be used in the Polygene case unless the corrupt judge discards that and allows it.
AD-3/It's just a power play - asserting dominance as a Lawfirm owner's nephew.
Btw, you did identify a weak spot in the plot.
Using Shitstain as a spy working in Polygene mailroom and then making him appear as a paralegal for his uncle Lawfirm to serve the court order is not a very bright asspull plot twist that makes the villains, in this case, look extremely stupid and incompetent.
I expected better from Stoya, sigh.
That's not necessarily a plot hole. Christian was hired by the law firm because of his connection to Jaye; Prizer was already a client at that point. This suggests they had already had reason to suspect Polygene.
It's possible Prizer hired the firm to pre-emptively find out if Sarah had taken any of their intellectual property with her, and Christian became their inside man in the investigation. But it's also possible Prizer already had an inside man feeding them secrets, and Christian was hired to follow up on those tips. In that case allowing his cover to slip could be effective misdirection (assuming there's no immediate link between Christian and the real mole, obviously).
I know it wasn't your intent, but I do feel a little bad when I see stuff like this. I should have kept points hidden because they do more to guide conversation and disposition toward the MC than to really influence choices, with a few exceptions. (For example, at maximum trust, you can't choose to keep Mallory's access low in Ch3.)
In general, building love and trust with either or both of the ladies isn't a bad thing, and the consequences for behavior will be more choice based. Meaning, if you do something underhanded, mean, or dishonest, characters will respond in kind.
That said, I also totally understand people wanting to stay utterly faithful to the idea of one of the main LI's even if there are no consequences for failing to do so, I would just hate to see people steering clear of huge chunks of content because they're afraid they're going to get burned.
Hopefully I put enough warning signs in when somebody's fucking up a relationship. This was never going to be a "gotcha" game where if you make small mistakes or don't have a perfect score, you won't get the ending you want.
For what it's worth, I think keeping the points visible is the preferable alternative. It's true seeing points encourages us to metagame them, but I think the degree of metagaming is easy to overstate. After all, we're playing a game so trying to influence the outcome is the goal. If you hide the points and we wind up forced into an undesired outcome later on, we're just going to be even more determined to hunt down the 'mistake' and retroactively correct it even if the exact mechanics are completely invisible (assuming we don't just abandon the game in frustration).
As long as the points are visible, we can get a better sense of how the girls (and the game) are inclined to view our actions. That's a much better feedback loop for gauging just how big an impact a tempting "sub-optimal" choice might have; I know it was helpful when I wanted to skip a few love points on my main run just to avoid Jaye getting too intimate with the MC. It also gives us a better sense of how other, hidden variables might matter even when we don't see the metrics ourselves (things like major decisions, or points for non-standard attributes like jealousy or regret).
That said...
For the most part that is correct. In Chapter 2,
with a perfect score, but not getting that
in no way means her path is in jeopardy. The end of chapter summary should give you an idea of when your relationship with a girl is in trouble, and I'm sure it won't take modders long to figure out what those thresholds are by looking at the calculations applied to the summary messages.
As stated in previous posts, what will really get the player into trouble is lying, cheating, or being needlessly cruel, just like in real life. Love points don't necessarily mean romantic love, because there is a "Path Open" variable pair it with. Path Closed with high love will be reflected as a more platonic affection.
I always prefer when max points are not required, so thank you for that! But I do find the split between Trust and Love a bit confusing. Consider this summary:
I'm told Jaye wants to work alongside the MC despite actively disliking him. My goal in this run was to mend fences with Jaye in a purely platonic way. Judging by the Trust score, it looks like I succeeded. But judging by the Love score it looks like I failed spectacularly. Within the game, the dichotomy is present as well: Jaye will seem happy to work with the MC in one scene, but lament to Tara that it's like the MC is a stranger in another.
Now granted, some of that may come down to me trying different choices (compared to my main run) just to see what happens, but I was never trying to dismiss Jaye. Perhaps it would be better if the results of each stat took the other stat into account as well? Maybe something along the lines of:
Chapter Summary (Love Points) | Low Trust | High Trust |
---|
Low Love | Jaye has begun to actively dislike you. | Jaye fears she will never be more than friends with you. |
High Love | Jaye is still drawn to you, even against her better judgement. | Jaye is on the verge of admitting the love she kept secret. |
I know that might become impractical as the game progresses; it's a quick suggestion, take it for what it's worth. But do I think it would help clarify things a bit. As is, I'm not certain what high Trust is meant to indicate for an MC Jaye dislikes. I suppose it could be some level of "she knows where she stands with you," but that seems very different than wanting "to carry on your parents' legacy by your side."