Isabella - Chasing Shadows (Link)
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Val is my favourite too here. I started playing the game cause of Isa, but ended up sticking around for Val. Unlike you, though, I don’t think Isa will take over again in future updates, she feels like a shadow of her former self, partly cause of Alex and BTT trying to develop a proper throuple chemistry. The whole MT and players on Discord have been pushing for a throuple too, so I’m not getting my hopes up. It feels more like the focus will be more on the throuple angle while leaving Isa’s solo route in the background.
As for Val I wasn’t her fan at first, but she really grew on me. Even though we are FWB (for now), I feel stronger emotional connection to her than to Alex and Isa combined. These two seem more into just joking around and teasing each other anyway and in the last update it felt like MC is not even needed there. So personally, I’m looking forward to the development of Val’s romantic path - she’s a sweet girl, and I find her very attractive as well.
She's that trope I really dislike, but seems to be popular. Constantly snippy and always making smart ass comments. MC is never allowed to call her on her bullshit. Only ever does what she wants to do and doesn't care about anyone but herself. Doc says stay in bed, she's up before he's even left the house. Everything is always someone else's fault. Her cat rips the curtains, but it's Zeus' fault. There's no cat food in the house - it's MC's fault. For baffling reasons to me, that type of LI is very popular, but I can't like it at all.
People pull the "she helped MC through the dark", but what did she actually do. She fucked him, that's it. She didn't talk with him and help him work through his grief and feelings. She didn't hold him, comforting him as his grief got too much. (Granted, she might have if MC had told her what was going on). She gave him a vagina, he could have got that in many other places. I'd argue, since she was looking for a daddy to fuck, she got just as much out of the fuckbuddy, if not more.
People claim she had a hard life. Lost her father and then got scammed out of the thing that reminded her of him. Isa had just as hard a life, if not worse, her parents died when she was young (I'm pretty sure we'll discover they were murdered) and then her Uncle gave her to a group that drug/rape/pimp out women. It's only that Isa took responsibility for herself she was able to avoid it. Isa turned out pretty nice, she's helpful, self-reliant and caring to others.
I don't like Alex as a friend either (yet), because it still feels like a relationship to me. The dialogue and behavior is still closer to lovers than friends. Alex is going to be talking to her sister for a while, so MC goes to talk to Isa, before they even get 2 sentences, Alex arrives 'am I interrupting?' Isa is coming to MC room for a massage, so what does Alex do, comes in there before her and climbs on top of him, to be lying on top when Isa comes in. Everytime you sit on the lounge, she puts her feet on you. Even Isa knows and can see how badly she still wants him. I know she will be an integral part of the story going forward, I just can't wait to get to the point where she lets him go and acts like a proper friend.
A lot of that is on the MC too, if you dumped your fuckbuddy, you don't let her come and lay on top of you, you don't let her put her feet on you, you don't let her shit get uncalled, you don't give her a hope that there's a chance. That just creates drama and problems and Alex gets hurt even more further down the line.
Looking at the render backgrounds and the dialogue, she is deliberately written to be like that. If you turn down Val, you get different stuff, so IMO, BTT has written her like this on purpose. So, I'm not pissed at the writing or the AVN, just her as a person. I actually really enjoy the story, the way it's written and the shit that Alex is doing. BTT warned me a while ago, so I knew what was what, going in. But Isa is getting going in the next update, so I decided to get it set up ready for the update. I do expect those things that annoy me about her will slowly disappear as the Isa path develops.
As for LI's (as Meatloaf once famously said, 'Two out of Three ain't Bad'), so I'm happy.
OK, I'll go and take a chill pill now, climb off my soapbox and warn BTT I went on a rant.
Ok, you started one of my favourite discussions, I see. And here I thought I was a proper Alex hater
.
Pretty much agree with everything you wrote. Not gonna start it all over again - I already tortured
metamorphMP enough with my rants back in the day. Besides, I played it a while ago, but now I know who to go to when the next update drops
To add to this - from time to time, I can put up with characters who push boundaries or have rough edges, sometimes they grow on you, a few of my favourites started that way, as long as it feels like there’s real depth or emotional context behind it. But when it’s mostly just snark, toxic and selfish behaviour, with almost zero growth or meaningful emotional support for MC, it starts to feel caricatured and gets very annoying. I agree, though - this trope is very popular (for whatever reason).
Long story short - Alex has been on my "special" list for a very long time. One of the most unbearable characters I’ve encountered in VNs.
Don't get me wrong though, I like the story and I'm curious how it plays out, it's Alex and the whole throuple set up I'm not fond of.
Like you, I am a little scared, that the push from the thread is all about the throuple, so that's where the focus will be. The three will always be together, and the Isa path will be the side path.
I’ve already addressed this part- I share pretty much the same thoughts, I think the main focus will remain on throuple, especially since it's a canon path, as Dess mentioned.
I wonder if I can move into Val's place.
Yeas, I wouldn't mind moving in with Val, her apartment is very "cozy"
, and most importantly - there is no Alex there.
Those goddamn throuples… Killed a ton of great LIs for me as a monogamy fan…
Mallory,
Lexi, Isa... Damn.
You're twisting the knife...
Unfortunately, monogamous players like us have it a bit tough here from time to time
.
Mallory,
Lexi,
Isa, also
Cathie,
Alexandra,
Josy (yep, I liked her at the very beginning, but after all the revelations she went straight to the bottom of my list).
wow, you and
AlexMpog have a lot in common when it comes to edgy girls and Alex in general, he wrote walls of text about how badly he hates Alex and why, when we talked about it long ago
, just saying
You’re just a very good listener, what can I say
, and Milton too - so whenever I feel the urge to bitch about smth, I know where to go. Unfortunately, Milton hadn’t played the game till recently, so you took the brunt of it.
Now that you mention it, I do get that feeling sometimes that yours and his pfps are similar despite it not being the case…
Must be my gut sensing the truth!
Careful, you’re exposing our secret plan to standardize all opinions on waifus
Come to think of it, has anyone ever seen me and Alex in the same room together?
Apologies for my long post, got carried away a bit.
Finally, want to finish it with throuple discussions since
Dessolos,
MiltonPowers and
Zorro#34 started it. While I'm a monogamous player most of the time, there're are exceptions of course (for different reasons), so, throuples I would like to get (or already got) (priority order):
1) Astrja & Astrid (Snowstorm) - I just can’t choose between them. They are so different, yet they complement each other perfectly. Astrid is very smart and intelligent girl, while Astrja is a great warrior and a strong leader. Astrid is more feminine, thoughtful, and strategic, while Astrja is bold, fierce, and action oriented. They balance each other in the best way possible.
So, I find both sisters equally attractive, each for different reasons.
Funny thing though - it's still not decided whether there will be their throuple route or not...
2) Chandra & Abby (CoBD) - there aren’t any particular endings for these party girls in the game. Basically, you get the neutral ending, where it’s implied that you’re FWB with them, and you only get it if you reject all other LIs in the game. This is probably one of my biggest disappointments - not even having a solo ending for Chandra. She’s still featured on the main banner on Steam, though...
3) Sarah & Megan (Shut up and Dance) - we can get a throuple with them, but only on a corruption route so far. I haven’t even played it cause it heavily leans on mind control, which is one of my most despised tropes in VNs - I don’t brainwash LIs. We’ll see how it goes on the love route, though, it’s still unclear.
OK, it's enough for now. If anything else comes to my mind - I'll add it here.
