Elhemeer

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Jun 20, 2022
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wait. how do you end up with this ending? i thought i had a great cece ending where they buy the house and look out at the bus stop from the balcony.
That's the right ending. But depending on choices you make regarding her at the end of Chap 4, there will be a "slight" difference in the ending.
 
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binkdink420

Newbie
Aug 11, 2022
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Spoiler:

So did it really lock me into who I said I like when I still thought the EX left me to marry another man? If I would've heard her story first I would've picked Steph! Very stupid to make me decide before I got the story! I think I'm still far from the end of the game so maybe I'm wrong but sure seems like it locked me into Cece already. :confused:
 

Elhemeer

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Jun 20, 2022
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Spoiler:

So did it really lock me into who I said I like when I still thought the EX left me to marry another man? If I would've heard her story first I would've picked Steph! Very stupid to make me decide before I got the story! I think I'm still far from the end of the game so maybe I'm wrong but sure seems like it locked me into Cece already. :confused:
This is why you should always save at important decisions ... but yes, if you want to pursue Steph, you have to at least go back and restart chap 4, or restore a save before you made the decision.

That said, all the paths are worth following, so you could always finish the Cece path and then replay on the Steph path.
 
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binkdink420

Newbie
Aug 11, 2022
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This is why you should always save at important decisions ... but yes, if you want to pursue Steph, you have to at least go back and restart chap 4, or restore a save before you made the decision.

That said, all the paths are worth following, so you could always finish the Cece path and then replay on the Steph path.
Yeah I saved and do plan to play all paths but it was more a critique of the writing. Think the decision should've came after hearing Steph's story since she is supposed to be his soulmate.
 
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Grif1001

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Aug 30, 2017
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Yeah I saved and do plan to play all paths but it was more a critique of the writing. Think the decision should've came after hearing Steph's story since she is supposed to be his soulmate.
I see why it was done though, it almost forces multiple play throughs. And honestly most of them are enjoyable. Steph is certainly his high school sweetheart, but soulmate… eh, I think that’s the players decision to make. Cece’s route is my personal favorite though.
 

binkdink420

Newbie
Aug 11, 2022
32
17
I see why it was done though, it almost forces multiple play throughs. And honestly most of them are enjoyable. Steph is certainly his high school sweetheart, but soulmate… eh, I think that’s the players decision to make. Cece’s route is my personal favorite though.
I remember the term "soulmate" being used. I think both in the MC's memories and what Chris said about their relationship if I remember correctly.
 

Elhemeer

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Jun 20, 2022
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I remember the term "soulmate" being used. I think both in the MC's memories and what Chris said about their relationship if I remember correctly.
The term was used, and you can certainly play it that way, but it's your choice to interpret it as "yes she was" or "yes, I THOUGHT she was" ...
 

cxx

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Nov 14, 2017
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Yeah I saved and do plan to play all paths but it was more a critique of the writing. Think the decision should've came after hearing Steph's story since she is supposed to be his soulmate.
this isn't fuck'em all on 1 play and then make choice.
 
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Elhemeer

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Jun 20, 2022
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Yeah I saved and do plan to play all paths but it was more a critique of the writing. Think the decision should've came after hearing Steph's story since she is supposed to be his soulmate.
I don't think it's a problem in the writing, I think it's a choice in the writing.

You're basically forced to actively choose not to give up on your ex without knowing the details, or you'll have chosen someone else by the time you find out. As Drifty says multiple times: "This is just a game" ... so if you're not happy with your choice, you can just fix it.

But you have to take back the choice to do that, which is kinda the wish fulfillment being played out in this game overall -- the ability to take back a life-changing choice.

So while you can critique it all you want, I think it was on purpose, and meaningful.
 
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Grif1001

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Game Developer
Aug 30, 2017
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But you have to take back the choice to do that, which is kinda the wish fulfillment being played out in this game overall -- the ability to take back a life-changing choice.

So while you can critique it all you want, I think it was on purpose, and meaningful.
Once again Elhemeer nails it!

It actually makes the Game itself more like life in a way, because once you make a choice, that's the path you're on. But then it turns around and also gives you the thing that life never gives you. The option to go back and undo a choice and see how things would have turned out if you had chosen differently.

So YES, it was deffinently on purpose and oh so very meaningful!
 
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Hildegardt

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Oct 18, 2017
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You're basically forced to actively choose not to give up on your ex without knowing the details, or you'll have chosen someone else by the time you find out.
[...]
So while you can critique it all you want, I think it was on purpose, and meaningful.
But we do know the details. They just turn out to be wrong, but only after we already made the choice. At that point there's no indication that Steph's husband is fake, so the player can't really make an informed choice.
Informed choices are generally more meaningful, because they're not just blind guesses.

Choosing Steph in chapter 4 only makes sense, if you assume that she'd leave her husband again or if you're willing to have the PC end up alone. But this diminishes the PC's struggles, because he supposedly couldn't move on for two years, when, from a player's perspective, it's as easy as simply picking another woman, because everyone he talks to immediately falls for him.
There's no explanation for why the PC would suddenly be able to move on in chapter 4. You're only really choosing a LI based on attractiveness and probably because you, as the player (the PC doesn't really help out with inner monolog one way or the other), were made to believe that Steph's a bad person.
Steph's story of a spy infiltrating a highschool is ridiculous to the point of seeming like a retcon. But the game treats it as the absolute truth and Cece, who's supposed to be a savant at reading faces, confirms that Steph is struggling just as much as the PC. This reveal pretty much disqualifies every other LI. But if you already chose someone else, because you thought they were hotter anyway, then the PC's struggles couldn't have been that bad, could they?
 

Elhemeer

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Jun 20, 2022
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I'll just say, I respect that you can't get past the reveal, but I don't think the MC is beholden to Steph just because she was "loyal" any more than I think he should automatically go back to Linda because she's always been in love with him.

Also, you've met and interacted with all the LI's before Chap 4 begins ... certainly enough to have chosen one that you're most interested in. And this game asks you to choose a path and either stick to it, or go back and choose a different path.

I still stand by my opinion about the reason for the choice and when it's made and why I don't think it's bad writing.
 
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binkdink420

Newbie
Aug 11, 2022
32
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I just don't think it's very realistic after the history between the MC and Steph for him to be like, "Well I finally understand now Steph but I told someone I liked this girl I met two days ago so you know what that means - MARRIAGE!!" :ROFLMAO:
 
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Elhemeer

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Jun 20, 2022
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I just don't think it's very realistic after the history between the MC and Steph for him to be like, "Well I finally understand now Steph but I told someone I liked this girl I met two days ago so you know what that means - MARRIAGE!!" :ROFLMAO:
That's your hang up.

My hang up is that he's 24, she's been gone for two years, they were together for nearly 3 years, they met a couple months after his 17th birthday and she left him on prom night.

The story is fantastic. I consciously ignore my hang up.

[EDIT: based on replies, I'm not sure my point came across (at least not to it's target) -- the timing just doesn't work ... at all. But it is easy to ignore because the story is so strong.]
 
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