What a fantastic game.
In the first playthrough, in the beginning, I was going to go the Cece route, aaand then Lexi invited everyone to L.A. I went with her instead. Seeing Lexi find herself and her independence with MC was fantastic. However, the entire game, I had this feeling that Steph was the one who got away.
She had been forced to ruin both of their lives through her self-sacrifice (although that twist was sort of weird), and it had effectively been for nothing. Also, I was not too fond of the idea that she'd done so much to get back to MC, only for him to choose someone else with her right back where she started. So, for the second playthrough, I chose her ending. It was nice, but I liked the Lexi ending more. Steph still ended up where she started, albeit with MC, instead of running away from him.
However, through both playthroughs, I kept thinking about how I'd almost selected Cece the first time. It was hard not to notice that every one-on-one interaction between Cece and MC was so full of emotion, and the game focused on her in ways it didn't focus on the other love interests. I also thought her ending was gut-wrenching for both the first and second playthroughs. All of these people's lives had come together, and Cece found a new lease on her own, and just like that, she was gone. I decided I'd do the Cece playthrough and see what all it changed.
It blew Lexi and Steph out of the water. There may not technically be a canon romance, but... Cece very well ought to be. Everyone ended up in a good place, and the dynamic between Cece and MC fit. I'm not going to bother with the other choices. I don't see how they'd top Cece's ending.
