Shame MGD will never get finished. It was great when it started.
It's been almost 4 years since main story was put on "pause". They've been adding only 1 or 2 side characters once in a blue moon ever since.
Actually last story update whas 31.3.2023 when we can finally go to the capital. But the problem is not that Threshold had added to few side characters but that he is now working on Side Characters just as we get finally a new thing of Story content.
I think it's less about the non-existent story and more about progression in general. Most people want to feel like they're actively working towards something and implementing a ton of dead-end side characters doesn't help with that. When you just keep spamming content in existing areas instead of pushing things forward, it fucks with the gameplay loop, which can be a big deal. Instead of adventuring through dungeons towards the ultimate goal of beating the demon queen while romancing monster girls on the side, you just sort of bum around for an indefinite amount of time without actually engaging in the core systems of the game in a meaningful way.
This. We got finally to the capital. We got finally another important point about the story and then after it it is all about a slime village and adding stuff for side characters.
Personally I don't mind it too much as long as the side content that gets introduced is meaningful and has some sort of depth to it, but like 4 years of having the same areas with the addition of like one dungeon(could be wrong, don't know if there's content past Labyrinth) is... kinda ridiculous. Especially with the game being in development for over 6 years total.
Well slime village has some meaning to it as it is the typicall backwater village place that is kind of run down and also is like half about explaining why Perpetua our rival has gotten the ambition of becomming the next demon queen.
Personally I would have had no problem with it would it not just happen to come exactly after we are finally allowed to enter the capital. And Threshold decided to not just work another few years without content so we can have capital in one big patch so instead he is going to split it into several ones. But when already the slime village is taking three updates how many updates is going to take the biggest city on the planet?
What even is the main story?
You are suppossed to be just another adventurer wanting to become a hero and do humanity a service why fighting against monsters and defeating the demon queen. But arriving on the continent it turns out that the monsters have no more desire to war and instead only search for husbands as most are content that on the whole island the only way to fight is to fuck. And also somehow is all what the "free" adventure school teached you useless and they scammed you by not being allowed to leave the continent without paying a tution fee that is in the local currency who is useless outside of it as it is generated via sex energy and so also tends to disappear after some time or having to defeat the demon queen.
Then to make the mystery even bigger Venerae the goddess who is suppossed to be missing for thousands of years is now suddenly talking to you and only you. Later on you also find out you have to collect all four gems to prove you are worthy of entering the castle but those actually not the real ones and instead just copies to give out like gym badges in Pokémon and instead someone tried to steal all of the true gems. Then there is another plot point when you talk with Venefica which is further expanded when you enter the capital but I do not want to spoil.
I've never understood why so many people want games like this to be "finished". I'd love it if content released a lot faster sure, but the game can go on forever imo as long as the quality is there.
Because either a game is a mainly sandbox like game where instead of one big plot you have little local plots only about a character or you have little sub plots. Depending on this the progress is different. If you decide to focus about Sandbox you can do it like Paradox and just deliver more and more and more and more updates as long as your community pays. Meanwhile if it is a big plot game then people want to know how it continues and being resolved. Because most people long for answers and can not really stand having things left unresolved. Most infamous for it is Tower of Trample. Just as the game decided to turn away from "just fight the next domina" to it having your childhood sweetheart somehow being one of them and asking you to let to past burried and just go away" it went on the four year delay.
CoC2 is actually an example of doing this the other wayy round. First starting to be big plot but soon resolving most of the mystery and then choosing to be more of a game for doing local things.
Of course it is possible to combine the two playstiles but that needs either focus or brilliant writing. You could first start with the troupe that you need to rescue the world to go out with your girl and after the main plot have it being an open world playground or you could do it other way round that during the open world playground after reaching a certain completion you suddenly have main story but this is way harder to pull of.