VN Ren'Py Love & Jealousy [Act 2] [Professor Amethyst Games]

[gilgamesh9]

Honestly i thoroughly enjoyed it, yea its fucked up and dark at times. Do have to agree to an extent that the action is to far spread apart though. And to me the sign of a good games is one that gets your emotions up which from the comments i can tell it has for many lol. And also another note thank fuck its not just another fucking ai phone game, those are just utter garbage other then ntr mobile.

 

[FatYoda]

Honestly i thoroughly enjoyed it, yea its fucked up and dark at times. Do have to agree to an extent that the action is to far spread apart though. And to me the sign of a good games is one that gets your emotions up which from the comments i can tell it has for many lol. And also another note thank fuck its not just another fucking ai phone game, those are just utter garbage other then ntr mobile.

i mean it would be weird if there was constant action...when shits bad they shouldn't be fucking...and there's a lot of bad in here. then when things start to look up bang they're fucking alot...then she fucks up again...etc.

 

[DeviantFun]

Forgiveness fuck that bro that bitch wife is going through a window want to make a NTR game not like other ones then maybe make the MC not a pussy ass simp bitch. Lol But nah the same old as any other NTR game the MC is a pathetic simp and Lacey is fucking trash but guessing we won't have the option to tell her to go die in a ditch will we and every single one of the friends are fucking garbage. I have no idea why people think this is good, it's shit story sucks like any other NTR game characters suck, the main MC though holy fuck he is a retard and a pathetic simp the idea of the story is good though. I hope Mia and the hoe trash wife die.

I think you are being too harsh here, we should aknowledge the effort in trying to write something different and unique.

Spoiler

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Overall what I think you are finding frustrating is that the game is long but there is no character growth, at all.
Lacey does the same manipulative shit, Anna and Mia are still enablers, MC is just a slime with a cute face and some abs that every woman find irresistible.

BUT I will give the benefit of the doubt to the author and see what happens in Act 2, because some of the premises I wrote above could spark something really good and while I am trying to give some constructive criticism, I am looking forward for the continuation of the story, yes even if I find the NTR part disgusting to the core.
I mean I never posted here for years, this is one of the few times I find myself engaged in discussing a story so that might mean something, or maybe it is a slow day at work, who knows.

 

[FatYoda]

I think you are being too harsh here, we should aknowledge the effort in trying to write something different and unique.

Spoiler

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Overall what I think you are finding frustrating is that the game is long but there is no character growth, at all.
Lacey does the same manipulative shit, Anna and Mia are still enablers, MC is just a slime with a cute face and some abs that every woman find irresistible.

BUT I will give the benefit of the doubt to the author and see what happens in Act 2, because some of the premises I wrote above could spark something really good and while I am trying to give some constructive criticism, I am looking forward for the continuation of the story, yes even if I find the NTR part disgusting to the core.
I mean I never posted here for years, this is one of the few times I find myself engaged in discussing a story so that might mean something, or maybe it is a slow day at work, who knows.

i disagree I feel like there absolutely was character growth...granted it took the Damian scene and then maybe even the Isaac conversation before it started to show up, but i feel like the last 20% or so of the game showed real growth.

 

[Nimbus Commando]

I think you are being too harsh here, we should aknowledge the effort in trying to write something different and unique.

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Overall what I think you are finding frustrating is that the game is long but there is no character growth, at all.
Lacey does the same manipulative shit, Anna and Mia are still enablers, MC is just a slime with a cute face and some abs that every woman find irresistible.

BUT I will give the benefit of the doubt to the author and see what happens in Act 2, because some of the premises I wrote above could spark something really good and while I am trying to give some constructive criticism, I am looking forward for the continuation of the story, yes even if I find the NTR part disgusting to the core.
I mean I never posted here for years, this is one of the few times I find myself engaged in discussing a story so that might mean something, or maybe it is a slow day at work, who knows.

The MC is a fucking coward, he should be done with that whore wife she is fucking scum and his so-called friends are trash. He needs to fucking leave all these fuckers behind.

 

[FatYoda]

The MC is a fucking coward, he should be done with that whore wife she is fucking scum and his so-called friends are trash. He needs to fucking leave all these fuckers behind.

he's not a coward, he's a broken human being with an unhealthy attachment and codependency disorder. His entire life has been centered on trying to help/heal a broken child and then woman. That's his entire identity, it doesn't make him a coward. He needs to be seeing a psychologist just like she eventually ends up doing. If he walked away she would kill herself...no doubt, and then he would never forgive himself and he'd take the leap he was stopped from doing multiple times. They'd both be dead if he leaves. If you had actually read the entire story you would know that. And the act absolutely ends in a much better place.

 

[DeviantFun]

i disagree I feel like there absolutely was character growth...granted it took the Damian scene and then maybe even the Isaac conversation before it started to show up, but i feel like the last 20% or so of the game showed real growth.

Where? I don't see it.

At best I see devolution.

Could you make a concrete example? Because the only character growth I can think of is from Bradley honestly.

he's not a coward, he's a broken human being with an unhealthy attachment and codependency disorder.

You're both wrong and right, he is a coward , exactly for the reasons you said.
But remember trauma cannot be the only defining characteristic of a person that you are trying to write, and sadly for MC this is the case.

 

[Nimbus Commando]

he's not a coward, he's a broken human being with an unhealthy attachment and codependency disorder. His entire life has been centered on trying to help/heal a broken child and then woman. That's his entire identity, it doesn't make him a coward. He needs to be seeing a psychologist just like she eventually ends up doing. If he walked away she would kill herself...no doubt, and then he would never forgive himself and he'd take the leap he was stopped from doing multiple times. They'd both be dead if he leaves. If you had actually read the entire story you would know that. And the act absolutely ends in a much better place.

Oh, no she will end herself the selfish backstabbing bitch will end herself, how terrible, and I did read the story bro she is trash and h is a fucking coward for not telling this fucking whore ex druggy to fuck off same with the cunt Mia bro if you like being a cuck good for you bro.

 

[FatYoda]

Where? I don't see it.

At best I see devolution.

Could you make a concrete example? Because the only character growth I can think of is from Bradley honestly.

MC realized his obsession with her college life isn't her problem. Granted...her lying about it is a problem, but his feelings of jealousy for that time period are not her fault. He was not in a relationship and had no claim on her at that time. He realizes his jealousy is unhealthy and that he needs to work on it. He fixes the problem with Jared and starts to understand that he is actually NOT worthless and that his friends are right. She finally starts to make strides to improve her psyche, she starts to recognize that she is incapable of making good decisions because she lives in the moment and never thinks about the negative consequences and knows that she only focuses on the positives. She realizes that she is entirely too trusting and believes everything anyone tells her. She recognizes that her entire life has been about her and that she never once put his feelings as a priority. She recognizes that she loves his jealousy and possessiveness but that she hates the resulting pain that those feelings cause him. All of this starts to happen after Damian, and then even more after the last Isaac situation.

 

[FatYoda]

Oh, no she will end herself the selfish backstabbing bitch will end herself, how terrible, and I did read the story bro she is trash and h is a fucking coward for not telling this fucking whore ex druggy to fuck off same with the cunt Mia bro if you like being a cuck good for you bro.

I'm not a cuck. I hate NTR stories. But as a guy who had a GF in high school who was abused by her adopted parents I absolutely understand his extreme desire to try to protect her...and i understand the extreme damage that those situations cause to a persons psyche. I also know how extremely easy it is to form seriously unhealthy attachments to those people you are trying to save. He is not a coward, cowards give up when they are in danger and walk away and watch the people they love die because they were unable to summon the strength to help them when they needed it.

 

[Nimbus Commando]

I'm not a cuck. I hate NTR stories. But as a guy who had a GF in high school who was abused by her adopted parents I absolutely understand his extreme desire to try to protect her...and i understand the extreme damage that those situations cause to a persons psyche. I also know how extremely easy it is to form seriously unhealthy attachments to those people you are trying to save. He is not a coward, cowards give up when they are in danger and walk away and watch the people they love die because they were unable to summon the strength to help them when they needed it.

That bitch deserves nothing she is scum and so what bro I was abused as a child you don't see me doing all the horrible shit she has done, and he is a coward for staying with this horrible bitch.

 

[DeviantFun]

So let me break this down a bit because I am interested:

MC realized his obsession with her college life isn't her problem. He was not in a relationship and had no claim on her at that time

This is specifically contraddicted by Lacey, she knew they had a relationship beforehand and MC does too, this is clearly stated by her in a bathroom scene.
She knows she abandoned him and betrayed him, plus her past is ruining them now on more than one occasion.
This is THEIR problem, for Lacey to make amends and to MC to try and digest.
MC saying that it is his problem is a terrible thing to say and counts as a totall devolution of the relationship and MC+Lacey characters.
MC jelousy is unhealthy ONLY when it was directed to people not in a relationship with him, such at the dancing scene with Mia and Anna, maybe understandable but definitely unhealthy, people with broken trust over and over will be jealous and rightfully so, they need time to heal.
Aknowlleding that he is jealous because Lacey keeps on tripping on the simplest things and lies constantly would have been a better direction.

He fixes the problem with Jared and starts to understand that he is actually NOT worthless and that his friends are right

You might be right but only partially, MC proves that even when he gets the director position that he does not aknowledge his sellf worth, this happens after the Jared fiasco (that you have to accept as turboporn logic on some parts, a specific event thay gets sent to Jared phone comes to mind, it wasn't bad per se as a "reward" but...).

he finally starts to make strides to improve her psyche, she starts to recognize that she is incapable of making good decisions because she lives in the moment and never thinks about the negative consequences and knows that she only focuses on the positives. She realizes that she is entirely too trusting and believes everything anyone tells her. She recognizes that her entire life has been about her and that she never once put his feelings as a priority

These things are stated in the first 30-40 minutes of the game, they are true at the beginning and are true at the end.
But her actions NEVER change she is always selfish and NEVER considers MC feelings and emotions up to the bitter end of the act.
We stated that some things are very important to MC, she proceeds to break them over and over up until the end of the act.
Talks about him aving full control many times, then removes it in two specific occasions (video and club at the end).
Lacey is not growing, she never aknowledges that what she does is because she is addicted to male attention, especially from MC, but from everyone else too.
Remember she copes by lying to herself (she admits to it often), what she tells is 90% garbage.
Maybe she doesn't know why she is doing some things, but she is forcing MC to run at her pace, fulfilling HER needs full knowing that he will do anything she tells him to.

This is an absolute devolution or at best, stagnation.

She recognizes that she loves his jealousy and possessiveness but that she hates the resulting pain that those feelings cause him. All of this starts to happen after Damian, and then even more after the last Isaac situation.

This is true, she admits to it at that point, while it is clear from the start by her actions that this is the case.
Even then, does she stop hurting MC? Pushing him to his limit? Didn't we say that she would take him more into consideration? Builld his trust?

She does the opposite, the Isaac event is a total devolution from whichever we learned from Damian.
"I don't like Damian humiliating my husband" develops into "I will invite the man that humiliated my husband on public tv and internet for a nice cup of coffee".

You see, maybe the author tried to paint some growth, but by looking for the next crisis, he invalidates everything.

Anna devolves as well, she has known the MC for the longest time between all the side characters, she could have been the dam to protect him,
In reality she never does and sides with Lacey and Mia up until the end, aside from one occasion which she promptly nullifies by essentially siding with Lacey on the Isaac event.

I appreciate your point of view, I just cannot really agree with it.

 

[FatYoda]

That bitch deserves nothing she is scum and so what bro I was abused as a child you don't see me doing all the horrible shit she has done, and he is a coward for staying with this horrible bitch.

yeah, you can believe what you want...i don't care, but giving up is the cowards way out. have fun with your gaming sir. I'm out.

 

[FatYoda]

So let me break this down a bit because I am interested:



This is specifically contraddicted by Lacey, she knew they had a relationship beforehand and MC does too, this is clearly stated by her in a bathroom scene.
She knows she abandoned him and betrayed him, plus her past is ruining them now on more than one occasion.
This is THEIR problem, for Lacey to make amends and to MC to try and digest.
MC saying that it is his problem is a terrible thing to say and counts as a totall devolution of the relationship and MC+Lacey characters.
MC jelousy is unhealthy ONLY when it was directed to people not in a relationship with him, such at the dancing scene with Mia and Anna, maybe understandable but definitely unhealthy, people with broken trust over and over will be jealous and rightfully so, they need time to heal.
Aknowlleding that he is jealous because Lacey keeps on tripping on the simples things and lies constantly would have been a better direction.



You might be right but only partially, MC proves that even when he gets the director position that he does not aknowledge his sellf worth, this happens after the Jared fiasco (that you have to accept as turboporn logic on some parts, a specific event thay gets sent to Jared phone comes to mind, it wasn't bad per se as a "reward" but...).




These things are stated in the first 30-40 minutes of the game, they are true at the beginning and are true at the end.
But her actions NEVER change she is always selfish and NEVER considers MC feelings and emotions up to the bitter end of the act.
We stated that some things are very important to MC, she proceeds to break them over and over up until the end of the act.
Talks about him aving full control many times, then removes it in two specific occasions (video and club at the end).
Lacey is not growing, she never aknowledges that what she does is because she is addicted to male attention, especially from MC, but from everyone else too.
Remember she copes by lying to herself (she admits to it often), what she tells is 90% garbage.
Maybe she doesn't know why she is doing some things, but she is forcing MC to run at her pace, fulfilling HER needs full knowing that he will do anything she tells him to.

This is an absolute devolution or at best, stagnation.



This is true, she admits to it at that point, while it is clear from the start by her actions that this is the case.
Even then, does she stop hurting MC? Pushing him to his limit? Didn't we say that she would take him more into consideration? Builld his trust?

She does the opposite, the Isaac event is a total devolution from whichever we learned from Damian.
"I don't like Damian humiliating my husband" develops into "I will invite the man that humiliated my husband on public tv and internet for a nice cup of coffee".

You see, maybe the author tried to paint some growth, but by looking for the next crisis, he invalidates everything.

Anna devolves as well, she has known the MC for the longest time between all the side characters, she could have been the dam to protect him,
In reality she never does and sides with Lacey and Mia up until the end, aside from one occasion which she promptly nullifies by essentially siding with Lacey on the Isaac event.

I appreciate your point of view, I just cannot really agree with it.

Completely disagree about the club event...he had absolute and total control throughout that entire situation. She kept signaling him to end it and he kept pushing it forward. Yes in the final portion she did take control AFTER he told her to fuck him. She then went on to show him what she intended the Damian situation to be. You finally realize what her motivations and intentions were for the Damian attempt. Which at least makes why it happened understandable. It was still awful, and she completely fucked it up by getting high and drunk...and she only got high and drunk because she realized how much she didn't want to do it but felt like she HAD to do it to help the MC.

 

[DeviantFun]

Forgiveness fuck that bro that bitch wife is going through a window want to make a NTR game not like other ones then maybe make the MC not a pussy ass simp bitch. Lol But nah the same old as any other NTR game the MC is a pathetic simp and Lacey is fucking trash but guessing we won't have the option to tell her to go die in a ditch will we and every single one of the friends are fucking garbage. I have no idea why people think this is good, it's shit story sucks like any other NTR game characters suck, the main MC though holy fuck he is a retard and a pathetic simp the idea of the story is good though. I hope Mia and the hoe trash wife die.

I think you are being too harsh here, we should aknowledge the effort in trying to write something different and unique.

Yes the MC is spineless, but you might try to read him as a person with an unhealthy state of mind with abandoment issues (this impact self worth, associating it with being super nice to the point of servilism to people around them to feel validation).

Does everything he does makes sense even in that scenario? No of course not, there is a lot missing, while he has a lot of lines the character feels plain and uninteresting.
He talks about being dangerous if his wife is touched, which could makes a lot of sense, and then proceeds to be an absolute kitten every time, with a couple of verbal quips at most.
He treats jealousy like the worst thing in the world, while it is a completely normal emotion, especially when Lacey betrays him so often in the present and the past (she admits to this at least a couple of times).
His "darkness" never comes out, it is never shown, it is never fleshed out. (I don't know how many times I had to read chest pain during my playthroughs).

That said, some of the things he does make absolute sense, he is caring towards the people around him to the point of being obnoxious, he is super emphatic, which is also a trait related to abandonement trauma and he is well liked for it, even if he is doing it for selfish reasons even if he doesn't realize.

A good path forward for him would be to be less of a "good guy" because that would follow his healing process.

Yes, Lacey is a liar and a manipulator.
But is she realizing what she is doing? Is she lying to herself as well to excape the fact that she is now a broken slut of a woman that can only live and feel validated through sex? sex attention from others? instilling furious jealousy just to feel that someone cares?
Being non confrontational makes a lot of sense as a trait for parental abuse.

Sadly she is actually confrontational quite often with MC and her friends to drive the story forward, this throws a big wrench in the character.
She lies over and over, throwing brain damage excuses over and over, this gets old.
She does the most porn logic things in the whole game and is written VERY inconsitently, for example she states early on that the only time she enjoyed sex is with MC and then proceed to say that she find sex pleasurable and enjoyable with others as well.
An abused child would NEVER and I mean NEVER think that groping her butt or her thigh was ok, she knows sexual touch but we have to stand here and believe that it is absollutely alien from her.
I will not dwelve in the bathub scene again as I did often in these posts of mine.

 

[DeviantFun]

Completely disagree about the club event...he had absolute and total control throughout that entire situation. She kept signaling him to end it and he kept pushing it forward. Yes in the final portion she did take control AFTER he told her to fuck him. She then went on to show him what she intended the Damian situation to be. You finally realize what her motivations and intentions were for the Damian attempt. Which at least makes why it happened understandable. She just completely fucked it up by getting high and drunk...and she only got high and drunk because realized how much she didn't want to do it but felt like she HAD to do it to help the MC.

And there we go: she HAD to, when we already assisted to every single bad decision she made, she, again, HAD to do something to "help" MC more.
A good character growth here is what you mentioned before, which sadly didn't happen, that she would stop, listen and let MC be safe from her.
I think you are forgetting how many rules she broke with Damian, not MC rules but HER rules, I am sorry but your whole character arc cannot be "Ketamine LOL".
She is just doing what she pleases because she feels good (which would match with addiction behaviour), the fact that we are gaslighted in thinking it is for the MC does not make any sense, because it is never about him, he is just a witness.

A witness of her past and a witness of her present, he is never once in control of the events when she is involved.
Remember how when she is on a business trip AFTER the Damian event she insists that she needs to flirt with other men?
Does MC have a say? Is he in control? Is she thinking about him?

She fucked up so much with Damian that she drove MC to being suicidal, she humilliated him, she knew exactly who she was going to bed with (1st rule break) and then the outcome is that they have to chase around to remove even more amateur porn of her from people phones.
All this happens after the tennis events, some of the Jared events and Landlord events, please keep that in mind.

We established that kisses are extremely important to MC to the point where he doesn't kiss anyone but her even in all the other sex encounters, she then kisses a stranger with no hesitation, while hearing MC breaking down on the phone.
She might have heard the MC allowing it, but where is the care for him? Where is her growth? She is still there to satisfy her oral fixation, which at this point is even portrayed in a very strong way that we never saw.
And you know why? Because she is having an absolute blast feeding off MC suffering of jealousy.

So either the plan is to make MC numb to her escapades so she can enjoy more, remember she often lies to herself, we should not trust the fact that she doesn't want to be shared (the fact that MC is turned on by it all has to be the worst porn logic of it all, completely out of character), or she is just enjoying his suffering since Mc suffers when he is jealous and she knows this full well.
Maybe it is both.

But thank you for the conversation, I hope I am not coming too strong with my thoughts

 

[Nimbus Commando]

I think you are being too harsh here, we should aknowledge the effort in trying to write something different and unique.

Yes the MC is spineless, but you might try to read him as a person with an unhealthy state of mind with abandoment issues (this impact self worth, associating it with being super nice to the point of servilism to people around them to feel validation).

Does everything he does makes sense even in that scenario? No of course not, there is a lot missing, while he has a lot of lines the character feels plain and uninteresting.
He talks about being dangerous if her wife is touched, which could makes a lot of sense, and then proceeds to be an absolute kitten every time, with a couple of verbal quips at most.
He treats jealousy like the worst thing in the world, whille it is completely normal, especially when Lacey betrays him so often in the present and the past (she admits to this at least a couple of times)
His "darkness" never comes out, it is never shown, it is never fleshed out. (I don't know how many times I had to read chest pain during my playthroughs).

That said, some of the things he does make absolute sense, he is caring towards the people around him to the point of being obnoxious, he is super emphatic, which is also a trait related to abandonement trauma and he is well liked for it, even if he is doing it for selfish reasons even if he doesn't realize.

A good path forward for him would be to be less of a "good guy" because that would follow his healing process.

Yes, Lacey is a liar and a manipuilator.
But is she realizing what she is doing? Is she lying to herself as well to excape the fact that she is now a broken slut of a woman that can only live and feel validated through sex? sex attention from others? instilling furious jealousy just to feel that someone cares?
Being non confrontational makes a lot of sense as a trait for parental abuse.

Sadly she is actually confrontational quite often with MC and her friends to drive the story forward, this throws a big whrench in the character.
She lies over and over, throwing brain damage excuses over and over, this gets old.
She does the most porn logic things in the whole game and is written VERY inconsitently, for example she states early on that the only time she enjoyed sex is with MC and then proceed to say that she find sex pleasurable and enjoyable with others as well.
An abused child would NEVER and I mean NEVER think that groping her butt or her thigh was ok, she know sexual touch but we have to stand here and believe that it is absollutely alien from her.
I will not dwelve in the bathub scene again as I did often in these posts of mine.

Well, I think the best path for him is fucking leave her, she is a dumpster fire all she does is use the fucking drugs as excuse to do horrible shit and yeah I was abused as a kid, but I don't use that as an excuse to be a shit person.

 

[FatYoda]

And there we go: she HAD to, when we already assisted to every single bad decision she made, she, again, HAD to do something to "help" MC more.
A good character growth here is what you mentioned before, which sadly didn't happen, that she woulld stop, listen and llet MC be safe from her.
I think you are forgetting how many rules she broke with Damian, not MC rules but HER rules, I am sorry but your whole character arc cannot be "Ketamine LOL".
She is just doing what she pleases because she feels good, the fact that we are gaslighted in thinking it is for the MC does not make any sense, because it is never about him, he is just a witness.

A witness of her past and a witness of her present, he is never once in control of the events when she is involved.
Remember how when she is on a business trip AFTER the Damian even she insists that she needs to flirt with other men?
Does MC have a say? Is he in control? Is she thinking about him?

She fucked up so much with Damian that she drove MC to being suicidal, she humilliated him, she knew exactly who she was going to bed with (1st rule break) and then the outcome is that they have to chase around to remove even more amateur porn of her from people phones.
All this happens after the tennis events, some of the Jared events and Landlord events, please keep that in mind.

We established that kisses are extremely important to MC to the point where he doesn't kiss anyone but her even in all the other sex encounters, she then kisses a stranger with no hesitation, while hearing MC breaking down on the phone.
She might have heard the MC allowing it, but where is the care for him? Where is her growth? She is still there to satisfy her oral fixation, which at this point is even portrayed in a very strong way that we never saw.
And you know why? Because she is having an absolute blast feeding off MC suffering of jealousy.

So either the plan is to make MC numb to her escapades so she can enjoy more, remember she often lies to herself, we should not trust the fact that she doesn't want to be shared (the fact that MC is turned on by it all has to be the worst porn logic of it all, completely out of character), or she is just enjoying his suffering since Mc suffers when he is jealous and she knows this full well.
Maybe it is both.

But thank you for the conversation, I hope I am not coming too strong with my thoughts

but once again...i said the character growth started after Damian...she was absolutely wrong here and was continuing to make the same mistakes...and once again...MC had control in the bar, she said he was the director and decided how far everything went adn that she was his puppet. she tried to signal him to end it...he told her to kiss him...she hesitated, but she did it because not doing it when he told her would once again mean she was running the show. HE was in control. Did he do it because he mistakenly thought that is what she wanted/needed...i think so. But it was still his decision...and if you play it all the way out i truly believe the bathroom sex was good for him. But you're right, we're not gonna change each others minds. I think they've grown, it might be only minor growth so far, but i think they ended well.

Edit: I think this Act was supposed to be 80-90 percent constant fuck ups and making the same mistakes and the intended to show a small character growth and improvement in the end to show they are starting to turn a corner. You are right the vast majority of this is them just constantly doing the same shit and hoping for better results. But I believe they have truly recognized their problems and are making serious attempts and small strides to fix them. I do tend to believe the best of people though...

 

[kedewess]

Great game, I like that, finally, someone is trying something different.

Lacey and mia are fucked up, but Anna is an angel though

 

[DeviantFun]

but once again...i said the character growth started after Damian...she was absolutely wrong here and was continuing to make the same mistakes...and once again...MC had control in the bar, she said he was the director and decided how far everything went adn that she was his puppet. she tried to signal him to end it...he told her to kiss him...she hesitated, but she did it because not doing it when he told her would once again mean she was running the show. HE was in control. Did he do it because he mistakenly thought that is what she wanted/needed...i think so. But it was still his decision...and if you play it all the way out i truly believe the bathroom sex was good for him. But you're right, we're not gonna change each others minds. I think they've grown, it might be only minor growth so far, but i think they ended well.

Edit: I think this Act was supposed to be 80-90 percent constant fuck ups and making the same mistakes and the intended to show a small character growth and improvement in the end to show they are starting to turn a corner. You are right the vast majority of this is them just constantly doing the same shit and hoping for better results. But I believe they have truly recognized their problems and are making serious attempts and small strides to fix them. I do tend to believe the best of people though...

I went through the whole scene with all 3 options, speaking plainly it was one the top 3 porn logic moment of the whole game.

You say he was in control, once again he did not even want to be in that situation, he is doing this for HER, to make HER happy.
It is stated clarly that he is doing it because she was super happy about it, you can read the resentment and the suffering all along the scene.

Do you think it is healthy that at the end he almost chokes her to death? Is this the healing we are talking about? The anger management? So rough sex becomes another vessel for HER to be happy.

IT. IS. NEVER. ABOUT. HIM.

He is being manipulated, again.
Because he is weak to her, due to his trauma.
He wants peace, he is then forced to witness her cheating, again.
The "director" part is bullshit, she is there to fulfill HER fantasy and it is clearly stated.

Last time they tried, he turned suicidal, this is definitely not for him, he didn't even have time to heal, Isaac just happened and he got gaslighted in thinking it was an ok behaviour, because she manipulated him with the help of Anna.

I have to correct myself tho, MC (or in this case, the player) is in control once, at the separation of the three paths.

EDIT: I have read your edit and yes I agree, I hope for a better turn out in Act 2, but that has to go through the understanding of her true motivations and MC finally growing and being in control, for once.