Uff.. seems to me that the devs ate so much soap opera drama...
There is too much second guessing and dumb missdirection going on.
The chapter 0 was pretty interesting, a very very good setup for the story to unveil. Hell, it also had the potential to be the center of the story.
Characters were flawed, with only Lily being the only "flawless" character. That made the cast pretty interesting and the romance with Olivia and MC was well done and interesting due to the scenario being so tragic.
Here i though, great start... then the story kept going years after, and i come to realize that to mee it seems that the dev just want drama for the sake of it being there.
Don't get me wrong, good drama could drive the story... but hell, here we have a lot of things that doesn't work well just because people could resolve all the drama going by talking the proper topic 3 minutes.
At start the MC had to leave to keep them safe. I'm ok with that... but doesn't make any sense that he had 0 information, 0 talks, 0 ways of communicating through all those years. Hell i was expecting for him to end up in jail for mass murder; that would be more fitting for him not being able to make any contact with his family.
The whole Lucas / Olivia drama, its just there to keep the audience second guessing, like a cheap hook lazily used in telenovelas.
Designed to not make clear where the truth lays... but its so poorly done that it ended destroying a) the characters or b) the narrative.
If Olivia / Lucas were together and Ellie was born from that. it just destroy Olivia as a character for the majority of the audience. Not only that, but it renders her previous words towards MC in chapter 0 as an empty promise. Making her less appealing due to the cast getting bigger. Why should i bother to get with a woman that didn't kept her word, when there are other characters getting into the story. Oh wait, the story won't let that happen so.... character or story is hurt, choose your poison.
Hell, even Olivia as a character didn't wanted to have anything to have with Lucas; if she was in need of a relationship, hell she could have choose to get to know a new man that could fit her taste better, instead of getting involved with MC best friend, who supposedly she wanted nothing to do with; knowing that the MC could eventually return.
She could have just changed, its a lot of years, and that's OK, but then give the player the same agency to choose if the MC forgives her or not.
If Olivia / Lucas were not together, and it's a smoke distraction in the story; that means that Ellie is MC daugther, which could fit in the timeframe (Was heavy foreshadowed that Olivia wanted to get pregnant and tried again and again until they were separated).
This is what i think its happening, but the narrative gets totally wonky just to keep the cheap hook going...
Why at one point seems that Olivia is going to tell the MC something related to that and avoided the conversation days an days, why both sister doesnt even know the reality of that relationship; Mia tells you "she never saw them together", Ellie tells you "the got separated after a while". Why Olivia neglected Mia and avoided nurturing her father memories, knowing that she loved him.
For me it makes no sense for Olivia, to keep the lie and let the MC torturing himself, to the point of "admitting" that she didnt waited for him. What's the point, i don't see any threats, any reason, anything for Olivia to be lying that way (Hell even if she is blackmailed or if some theories that mark Lucas as the new gangster is true... nobody will know what MC and Olivia would whisper to each other the truth after being separated so long)
I think the devs wanted to keep the mistery, but the story suffers when the suspension of disbelief is broken.
If the common sense ask for something to be resolved and the story doesn't let that happen, it feels that the characters are just cheap plot devices, that are trying to tell a story hardly believable.
I still think that this VN is above the majority in this place, and have a great foundation/potential. It just needs to avoid relying on cheap hooks used in TV, and be more consistent with the information given and avoid dumbing down its characters to the point of making them just appealing for the porn aspect of the story.
