That's a valid explanation, but I personally disagree (at the moment). I haven't even reached the first reset, and the amount of stuff Ami knows is baffling. It is clearly on another level from the compulsion the other girls face. Ami seems to instrumentalize her knowledge, which then has to be knowledge, rather than just a compulsion.
I think a middle ground could be that there's a second Ami that knows stuff, and then there's the overall Ami that acts on compulsion. I can see myself leaning towards that. There's also another matter, which is that Ami knows stuff regardless. For instance, she knows about Maya and Akira. I don't think that's really up for discussion. Ayane knows that Maya likes Akira from the start, I'm pretty sure Ami knows they fuck even (regardless of reset knowledge).
For the event I talked about "something darker" there's really no other explanation for the way she did everything, and especially her confusion about Akira not following through in the end other than her knowing how it was supposed to go. That's one of the things I have been paying attention to, that being "does this make additional sense in a retcon way? Or did it simply not make any sense in the first place, and only now it does? (not retcon, but planned since the start). And I think this event simply didn't make sense before, and we just moved on because "well, sometimes this game doesn't make sense" (like Akira and Ami randomly having to clean brain matter from Ayane killing a janitor). And I'm sure other stuff will continue popping up, we'll see.
While I always like your stances on anything LiL related, I feel like this is one of the rare cases in which I have doubts or am at least cautious to agree with you yet.
In an effort to still go through some chapter 1 scenes before you caught up to me and inevitably leave me in the dust, I got to the first event Kirin is fully introduced and here is where my prior argument regarding confirmation bias comes in.
Looking at the conversation, I could also easily infer that Kirin must have some prior knowledge about resets and how things turned out in the past and that she knows Akira and that he is not acting as she was expecting him to, just like she would have had experienced his "typical" self in prior cycles.
It's just that I don't interpret it this way. I just think that Kirin is very confident and straightforward and likes to provoke.
Similarly, I would say that Ami's behavior could be explained outside of "well, she must clearly know about resets". I agree that there are instances where it might get hinted at, but just like fdsasdf_p I'm refusing to buy it yet. It could very well be coincidences or deliberate red herrings and shenanigans by Selebus.
But at the same time, sometimes playing this game makes me question what the fuck I'm doing with my life.
I don't need this game for me to do that
But in all seriousness, if playing the game is affecting your mental health in a negative way, it might indeed be best to take a break and come back with a clearer and more at-ease mindset.
Personally, I would say I have felt more of a net positive impact from experiencing the game over the years, or specifically also the past year where I caught up on a lot of content.
Sure, there are times where the game makes you feel really bad, deliberately so. But then there also very wholesome moments. And in general, I feel like the whole journey is more entertaining to me than weighing me down mentally. It leaves me more often than not with a good mood rather than depressed. But I also don't self-insert or identify with the MC
too much, I'm sure that helps.
That being said, I chose not to play through Stomachache and also chose the good uncle path during my original playthrough, so there's that.
