Yeah, that was a big part of it. She is pretty much almost every one of my pet peeves rolled into one package.
For me it was mostly the follow up knife event with Maria that killed basically any interest in Ashley for me. Went scorched Earth way to damn soon and when we have other ladies with similar figures, maybe not exact, I'd rather spend time with them.
Fair. About the sleep rape thing, it didn't bother me at all, as long as the girl is attractive to me, I don't really mind the situation. But I understand that it is a matter of taste and point of view, so I respect who completely shuts down for her after that.
And the knife situation was pretty wild as well, but the point of Ashley in the beginning was to fill the yandere personality type, so from the start I was expecting some wild shit from her. It surprises me that she didn't do things much more fucked up, but I think if she had gone too far, people would be even more put off by her. Also, after getting to know her story better, it is not excusable, but it becomes more understandable. She never felt loved by anyone in her life, she grew up in a dangerous place, with a father that if she allowed, would probably beat the shit out of her, so it makes sense she would go too far to protect the only person who has ever shown her any kindness.
I think it would be great if players could choose how to react in some situations, specially situations like these. I love this game, but my biggest problem with it is the lack of player agency and the blandness of the MC. Most of the choices the game offers you are just dialogue fluff. There should be options to call out Ashley for her behaviour. I know the main focus of the game is on the girls, but the MC is the players' avatar in this world, and him just being a no personality goes with the flow guy is kinda bland for me, and it is irritating in some situations as well. I wouldn't even ask for much player agency, since I am interested in all the girls anyways, but at least some semblance of personality from MC would be interesting. He could be smart, he could be stupid, he could be strong, he could be angry, calculating, reckless. Anything really. But he feels mostly like a blank sheet of paper. Sometimes he shows some personality or initiative, like when he brings the gun to Lowtown, or when he gets pissed at Cornwal because of what happens to Maria, but it is mostly just a bunch of nothing.
It is specially bad when there is a big problem that needs to be taken care of, but the MC just goes with the flow until the girls just solve everything by themselves. And in some cases that is ok, most of Android's problems he can't do anything about, other than offer her his support, but in some cases it pisses me off, and the biggest case is Felicity and Emma. When they start to catfight for his attention. Sure, giving people time and space to work through their problems and trusting their capacity to do it is a great thing. But this is the type of shit that can break the dynamic of a harem, and saying "I'm going to talk to her", then kissing, or fucking one of the girls behind the other one's back, fueling their jealousy for each other is not really the best way to go about it.
