Not gonna lie. I'm a bit bumped by this. Your game had a amazing start and i'm not trying to be an ass but ...
You cut things you planned for some of the interesting girls because they are not popular...
Then you upgrade the stripper because she is somehow super popular ... Weren't you saying she would not be a LI? I don't even get it, why is she even popular...there is nothing there honestly. Cut her and keep content for a better one like Dora at least, or something...
And now 4 girls are forced trouple or nothing... that's just bad. Hopefully we don't just like one of them otherwise, fuck us i guess?
Thankfully they will still be others girls, like Mio and stuff, and i can tell the game gonna be really good overall. But those decisions are frankly frustrating... especially the "forced" stuff or that maybe our favorite girl gonna have less content than the other girls just "because". I don't even really mind that you upgraded a girl that i don't really have an interest in, the problem imo is that you scale back better ones for it.
Probably an unpopular opinion (especially since i'm bashing the raven) but oh well, it is what it is.
hoping the best for the game.
Hey, first of all thanks for your input. I cant emphasize enough when I say: its too early to tell.
I definitely plan to significantly establish all LI thoroughly before committing to any decision.
Dora is definitely one of those girls that needs more context, because there is not much to go on atm. I'm fully aware that thats the reason why she isnt as popular as others.
I kinda suspect thats going to change once she makes her reappearance.
As for the throuples, I'm afraid that one of them, the couple from the Ch1 cliffhanger, will only come as a package deal. that was always intended and has nothing to do with my plans of scaling back. Unfortunately this is non-negotiable and no matter how many people desire those solo paths, you wont be able to break them up.
Sorry if that feels "forced" to you, but i never made any promises along that line. maybe you end up liking both girls eventually

This wont apply to the other throuple tho. lets just say that the other throuple's emergence is entirely dependent on your choice.
As for Raven, her popularity is only part of why I decided to create a romance path for her.
As a little bit of background, when I created Raven she was only supposed to be an NPC basically, just like the redheaded stripper. But during creation and writing I just discovered this narrative that you saw during Dora's date. Other writers can probably relate to this. sometimes during writing things just emerge organically.
I created her model and she somehow had a sad look on her face, so i came up with her story. I was always intigued to expand on that from the beginning and her popularity just served as a great excuse to do so. I dont want you to think that she is the reason that other LIs might be scaled back. thats not the case at all. its not an "either or".
Lastly I want to say that I'm extremely blown away by everyones passion and investment in
my characters.
Its so surreal and I appreciate everyones perspective and opinion. Never in a million years would I have thought that other people might feel like that towards my characters.
I also want to say, great to see that the discussion has been overwhelmingly respectful. I dont want to see anyone shamed or harassed for liking one girl over another.
So, thanks everyone!