Your opinions are just fine. My only issue is that you're suggesting a more complex approach for something that has been made so simple. The two paths are completely different stories with different approaches. You can’t write a story where the protagonist wins everything while also deconstructing their character at the same time. It just doesn’t work. That’s why they’re separate, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Bad Endings are not new to visual novels either.If so, I did, but a bad path that ends the game prematurely is an even worse idea actually, but ok.
I am suggesting that all, or at the very least most, LIs should be up for grabs regardless of which route you choose. And that much of the main story should be the same regardless of route, to not get stuck in developmental hell.
What are you talking about? Most games have a core story. Many games let you choose how to approach LIs. Will the MC be dominant or submissive towards the LI? Will the MC be loving or corrupting towards the LI? And so on. Has nothing to do with sandbox.
This game already have exactly what I'm talking about in the first portions of the game, where the route choosen defines how Millie has sex with Hana, depravity means rape, while NTR means seduction/corruption.
As for the players being able to opt out from futa on futa, that could easily be implemented by letting the players choose which LIs to go after. So instead of forcing players who enjoy futa on futa to forgo non-futa LIs, the players could simply be given the option to not go for every LI. Then every player could tailor their harem/cast of LIs according to their preferences (people can dislike more things than just futa). Many games do this.
Yeah, of course it is my opinion and not some objective truth, that said I do think games that don't create completely separate paths will achieve better results, everything else equal, than games that have completely separate paths, because having, for instance, three completely separate paths means almost three times as much time and resources will be required from the dev to advance the game compared to a game where paths are just variations of the same core story (for instance on how to approach LIs). This update is a good example of this, where all/most of the update is only reserved for those on the depravity route. Had there instead been more of a common main story, you could have updates for all paths.
In a game like this where characters are starting to interact so much, trying to write selective love interests and their own dialogue based on relationship would be a nightmare for the Dev. Especially in a game that tries to give consequences to choices.
The game is just fine with separating kinks into only 2 or 3 paths. And the moment a Dev starts tearing apart his formula, the game starts to collapse. Maybe I'm being parasocial because I have conversed with the dev before and he seems to go through hell just to balance personal life and the game. And I'm just happy the game still remains so amazing. So I'll be fair and ask if you have such a problem with the dev’s approach, have you tried taking it up with him/ her directly?