Late to the party, I see. Interesting game, I'd say. Just played this game today, up to thee 0.6 updates. Enjoyed the dialogues between PC and Haley, nice touch. Liked the game a fair bit, so here's my two cents. Not trying to shit on the game, quite frankly I just felt the writer could put up a better one than what we are dealing with.
A side note, first. Couldn't quite remember where I saw it, but statutory rape is still rape, yo. Not that many states used the term, but instead classified as sexual assault. If she is below Age of consent, then even if it's consensual, it's still a rape. Romeo and Juliet clauses do not apply to teacher and students. Also the crime doesn't require force. Not that it's relevant in the discussion I presume, but still. Wouldn't want to get the facts wrong, now would we.
I feel like I could give this one a 7.5 or 8 out of 10. Character models are pretty good. Writings are nice, at least in the early parts. Development is okay, though a bit odd, and sometimes out of nowhere, but in general acceptable.
Though despite all the positive traits it has, the game does still have its fair share of shortcomings, the tone shift for one, felt quite rushed. I'm sure many players already talked about it, so I will just very gently say that I don't feel like the game is trash due to the update, it's just not great at what it does.
Sure, I can understand if the writers (if there's more than one) want to answer the question that bothers (not that many people, I'm sure) its players: why would Haley fuck her brothers at that particular time? In all honesty I could care less about why your sister wants to fuck your brains out, or you want to go wild with you mom or your daughter. Most siblings I know wouldn't have to deal with that, because they have gotten used to each other, and I am just playing an adult game that is from f95zone. However, if the writers feel they are obligated, let them; but do not try to shoehorn a statutory rape under the guise of a light romantic visual novel. Doesn't bode well, most likely.
Either they didn't plan ahead or had a sudden change of heart is their own business, I don't give two ffs. Under most circumstances, the creator should be straight forward to its audience, and that would probably for the best. If you are trying to sell a grimdark story and pretend it's a noblelight one, you are being dishonest. Hell for the first hour I played this game I thought it was comedy too. How wrong I was. I am not mad, just a little bit disappointed.
From what I can see, the story gradually turns from my sister and my new life away from home into who the f**k raped my sister when she's 15. As for where the story goes from here, I don't see a clear way out. On the one hand, since this game has already pissed off that many guys, it might as well just continue to piss on them, I don't see the difference. They are not coming back to this game one way or another. Bad impression hardly goes away. On the other hand, it could either backtrack, reiterate the story or just wait it out, but that feels insincere and would probably resulted into a rather sudden and drastic change of tone (again), and might even piss more people off.
Regarding Haley, I'd say the best outcome is probably report to the appropriate authority, assuming the PC is going to do the right thing. There's a reason why vendetta and Lynching ("taken matters into own hands") are prohibited by the law and frowned upon. There's also a reason why there are Mandatory Reporters for child abuse or other professionals. There might also be the probability of unwanted attention and dramatic consequences for Haley, and that would be very unfortunate byproduct of seeking justice. I don't see a win-win outcome out of this, definitely not for Klaus if he loses the case (if PC is going to sue him), losing his family over a crime he committed that many years ago (not trying to defend him, just saying), and very likely not for Haley. However, if PC wants vengeance, that might be the way to go.
Good luck to the devs, hope they turn this boat around.
What I am trying to say is:
1.The writing to me is from good to meh or even urghhh.
2.The game is in a catch-22 situation, and the last two updates probably had a helping hand in that.
3.I don't really believe the writers can pull off a rescue on the whole trauma thing.
4.Worth a try, I guess.
I fully respect your position, but don't you question why people who proclaim, THIS GAME HAS TURNED TO SHIT!!! still hang around and bitch? There must be something better to do!
People argue what they want, it's their freedom and it's up to them how they would like to spend their time. Trash a game that just got into a rough situation? Let them. Do your part and move on. Indeed there must be a better use of their time, but if the customer wants to complain about certain things they don't enjoy, you can't really stop them. It's truly a shame it would come down to this, but alas.
