Chance variables in a stat-building game can be fun. For example, if there was a 50% chance that the MC gains certain stat points for some interactions with the girls, that makes sense. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, just like real life I suppose.
But having randomness built into crucial advancements in the game just isn't working, in my opinion. In my first playthrough I got stuck with Bree... I went to the arcade three weekends in a row because the game hinted that was what I was supposed to do, but nothing happened, so I spent wayyyy too much time trying to figure out what I was missing and eventually figured it was just another bug in the code. But what I was missing was simply a coin-toss of whether she would be there or not. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results, than this game is for the insane, because maybe the first time or maybe the fifth time you visit a location at the right time, it will unlock the next step.
Even just a simple note like "Hmmm, Bree isn't here today. I better check next Saturday!" would at least give the player the notion that they're on the right track. If I hadn't looked over the posts in this forum, I would have no clue that the solution was simply to try the exact same thing again until it worked.
This game is too good to give up, but I keep finding myself just giving up because the luck element negates any rewards for paying attention to clues or being smart about how to seduce the girls. When I actually got to the date, I enjoyed figuring out how to do it right, so the dev obviously knows how to construct scenarios where smart choices bring rewards. I like it when games make me feel clever! But so much of this game is just luck and chance. Frustrating.
